“Inside… why is there still someone inside?…”
The chirping of insects filled the night. Chu Mingse tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. She sat up and gently pushed open the window, letting the moonlight pour in like flowing water, illuminating the white cotton cloth plastered to her brow.
The wound no longer hurt much, but Brother Xuetuan had said it was no small cut and would take some time to heal.
She rested her chin on her hand and let out a worried sigh. She wondered if the wound would heal before her father and mother returned. If they saw it, they would surely be heartbroken. She didn’t want to worry them.
As she thought, her mind drifted back to what Lin Ergou had said to her after she’d seen the doctor during the day.
“Some of the kids already had nightmares about Pei Zhaoxue being a ‘murderous demon.’ Now that they’ve seen blood today, they’ll probably have nightmares again when they go home. You should tell him… well, forget it. He doesn’t go out much anyway. But there’s no telling if someone might come knocking to cause trouble. Remind him to be careful.”
“They don’t understand anything,” Chu Mingse muttered softly, her toes unconsciously rubbing against the cold floor tiles. Brother Xuetuan had only acted to defend her honor, yet now he was being misunderstood even more.
The more she thought about it, the more frustrated she became. She was about to close the window when—
“Mrrrr…”
The little chestnut-colored cat at her feet suddenly arched its back and jumped up, fur bristling all over. Its feline eyes gleamed in the darkness, fixed intently on the direction of the courtyard wall. This was the warning sound it made only when it sensed a threat.
Chu Mingse’s heart skipped a beat. She quietly picked up the agitated kitten and slipped out the door.
Her room happened to be next to the back courtyard, only a few steps from the back gate. She tiptoed over and peered through the crack in the door.
In the moonlight, she spotted two furtive shadows creeping toward the Pei residence. One of them was short and fat—it was the squat little bully who had shoved her during the day!
Why would he come back at this hour? He definitely wasn’t up to anything good!
Thank goodness she had trouble sleeping in unfamiliar beds and hadn’t listened to Brother Xuetuan’s advice to stay at his place. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have caught these two “little thieves” red-handed!
Chu Mingse huffed and turned to run back into her room, pulling two drumsticks out from under her pillow.
Before her father left, worried that she’d be home alone and might run off by herself chasing Little Chestnut like before with no one to call for help, he’d gotten her a small drum. He told her to beat it whenever something happened to summon people.
In the dead silence of the early summer night, dong dong dong—the crisp drumbeats exploded like thunder, abruptly shattering peaceful dreams.
“Thieves! Catch the thieves!” Chu Mingse shouted at the top of her lungs, her clear voice echoing along with the drumbeats. She slipped on her embroidered shoes and ran to open the small door leading to the Pei residence. She’d barely dashed a few steps when she collided with Pei Zhaoxue, who had come looking for her after hearing the commotion.
The young man was turning the hand-wheels of his Plain Sedan Chair himself, his robes slightly disheveled—clearly he too had risen in a hurry. Steward Wang and Ping’an came chasing after him, panting heavily.
Ping’an shouted as he ran: “Miss Sese, this Plain Sedan Chair you made is way too fast!”
“What’s going on?” Pei Zhaoxue steadied the stumbling Chu Mingse, his brows knit tightly.
“I saw those two people from today sneaking toward your back courtyard!” Chu Mingse pointed urgently in the direction of the Pei residence’s rear yard.
Everyone followed her gaze and saw a wisp of blue smoke rising slowly from beyond the back wall.
That direction was…
“The community granary!” Steward Wang slapped his thigh.
To guard against famine, the town had established a community granary every four or five streets, storing grain donated by local gentry and wealthy households. Lampblossom Lane had one such granary, built not far from the rear gate of the Pei residence.
By now, the green smoke had thickened, veiling a large swath of the night sky.
“That damned brat—could he have set the granary on fire?” Steward Wang’s vision went dark.
Pei Zhaoxue’s gaze sharpened, and he made a snap decision: “Ping’an, take the men to fight the fire. Uncle Wang, take Sese’s drum and beat it to rouse the people!”
Everyone scattered to their tasks. Chu Mingse followed Pei Zhaoxue through the rear gate, racing toward the granary.
From a distance, they could see flickering flames tearing a scarlet gash into the darkness of the night. The closer they drew, the more oppressive the waves of heat became. Leaping tongues of fire twisted and licked at the straw, crackling with faint popping sounds as ominous wisps of black smoke curled upward.
The air was thick with the smell of ash, gradually turning acrid and choking.
The area before the granary was empty. The rampant flames illuminated every corner, leaving nowhere to hide—yet no suspicious figures lingered. The two men must have heard the drumbeats, set the fire in haste, and fled.
“Did I scare them off too soon?” Chu Mingse stared at the growing blaze, a hint of regret in her voice. “If I hadn’t beaten the drum and shouted, maybe we could have caught them!”
“Precisely because your drumming startled them, they didn’t have more time to spread the fire. Otherwise, the flames would be far worse than this.” Pei Zhaoxue patted Chu Mingse’s head, his voice gentle in reassurance. “Now that we know who did it, once the fire is out, we’ll go settle the score with them.”
As he spoke, he shifted to shield her behind him. “Step back further—don’t choke on the ash.”
“A bit of grain and straw—if it burns, it burns. What matters is that no one gets hurt…”
Pei Zhaoxue was mid-sentence when he suddenly heard a faint, feeble cry for help from within the flames.
“Help! Is anyone there? Save me!”
The voice was young and weak, trembling with fear and broken by violent coughing.
There was a child inside!
“There’s—there’s someone in there?!” Chu Mingse panicked instantly, pacing in anxious circles on the spot. “Why haven’t Ping’an and Uncle Wang come back with people yet?”
Pei Zhaoxue’s gaze tightened, his sharp eyes sweeping the surroundings. The granary had been built cheaply, without even the most basic fire-prevention measures—only a small water vat sitting forlornly in the corner, filled barely halfway.
It was practically useless.
“The well is still some distance away.” Pei Zhaoxue’s voice was taut. “Fetching water will take time…”
The cries from within the flames grew fainter, the intermittent coughing gradually swallowed by the roaring crackle of the fire.
“Wait here. Don’t move.” Pei Zhaoxue instructed Chu Mingse calmly, then turned his wheel and moved forward.
“Xuetuan-gege?” Chu Mingse hadn’t yet realized what he intended to do. She instinctively reached out, her fingertips only grazing the hair that swept back from his brow.
Then she watched him stop before the water vat in the corner, lift the bucket, fill it to the brim, and douse himself from head to toe. Water droplets rolled down his handsome profile.
He swiftly lifted the hem of his robe to cover his nose and mouth, then turned his wheel, propelling the Plain Sedan Chair like an arrow released from its bowstring, charging straight into the sea of flames.
The fire swallowed him in an instant, like the maw of a wild beast.
“Xuetuan-gege!”
Chu Mingse stood frozen, her hands and feet ice-cold. In a single breath, numbness shot from her fingertips to the crown of her head. Tears welled up belatedly in her eyes, blurring her vision in an instant—until all she could see was a searing expanse of red.
Was he out of his mind? The Plain Sedan Chair was made of wood—what if it caught fire too?
Just then, Ping’an arrived at a sprint with the servants of the Pei household, each carrying buckets of water. “Quick! Put out the fire!”
Water splashed into the flames with a loud hiss.
Chu Mingse opened her mouth to shout for someone to rescue him, but no sound came out. Fear seized her throat and froze her in place.
“The Border Defense Army will be here soon! Everyone, hold the line!”
Steward Wang had also arrived with nearby residents, and the crowd immediately set to work fighting the fire, shouldering buckets and carrying wooden basins.
Chu Mingse grabbed Steward Wang as he rushed past her, her voice trembling with tears. “There’s someone inside—Xuetuan went in to save him!”
With a clatter, the copper basin in Steward Wang’s hand fell to the ground, splashing half its water onto the two of them.
“Y-young master…” His pupils trembled as he instinctively tried to reassure her. “It’s alright, we’re all here now. The young master will surely rescue him and come out safe!”
“Stay right here, miss, don’t run off. I—I’ll go fight the fire!”
With that, he bent down with shaking hands to retrieve the copper basin, fumbling several times before he managed to pick it up. Seeing that half the water had already spilled, he wept with heartache.
He straightened up and staggered toward the blaze, clutching the remaining water.
Just then, the sound of orderly footsteps and copper bells came from outside the alley.
“The Border Defense Army is here!”
The firefighting unit moved swiftly forward, setting up water bags and bladders to stem the spread of the flames, erecting bamboo ladders and pouring water down from above.
Water fell like rain, turning to mist upon meeting the fire.
In the shifting light of water and flame, a figure seated in the Plain Sedan Chair charged through the rolling smoke over the dying embers, and faintly visible in his arms was an unconscious child.
“Xuetuan!”
Chu Mingse pushed through the stunned crowd and rushed toward him, bursting into loud sobs.