Surprise! The rough husband is the hidden boss of the period literature

Chapter 334 Lighting the Match

At night, a warm orange glow illuminated the window paper. Dong Liangcheng nudged Shen Jinju beside him, "Wife, is it dawn yet?"

As soon as Shen Jinju opened her eyes, she sensed something was wrong. She quickly nudged the man, "Liangcheng, get up and go check if there's a fire?"

Dong Liangcheng got up and was about to get off the kang (a heated brick bed), but Shen Jinju stopped him, saying, "It's cold, put your clothes on before you go."

After he got dressed, he ran out and saw that the east wing across the street was already engulfed in flames. Suddenly, the roof collapsed. At this time, it wasn't just the two of them who were awakened; everyone from the educated youth settlement ran out to see what was happening.

The smoke from the burning also faintly smelled of kerosene.

"Quickly call the captain! Save them!" Dai Yifeng arrived last, but he was the first to react and quickly organized people to carry out the rescue.

It was very cold, but fortunately it had just snowed and there was no wind yet. There was a gap of more than a meter between the east wing and the main house at the back, so the collapse of the house was timely and did not affect the main house.

Dai Yifeng and the others pulled open the locked door from the outside, and two charcoal-black bodies fell out, making it impossible to identify who they were.

"Quickly, where is Xu Zhiqing? Hurry up, there are two people here who have been burned."

Xu Qinghuan came over and took a look. Both of them had severe burns. One was already dead, and the other was still clinging to life. The one who was alive should be Jiang Chengxu. As for the dead person, Xu Qinghuan didn't care who it was.

She handed Dai Yifeng a pill, saying, "Let's keep him alive for now!"

The main problem is that if someone dies, it will cause trouble for the living. When the police arrive, there will be no one to question them, and no one will know the whole story.

The police arrived very quickly.

I arrived around 11 a.m. The winter sun slowly climbed into the sky, its cold light falling on the ground.

The snow was falling heavily, and as far as the eye could see, everything was white except for the black, ruined area of ​​the east wing, which looked extremely unsightly.

The police performed an autopsy on the dead body, but it was so badly burned that the person was unrecognizable, making it impossible to determine whether the deceased was Xu Manman or Qu Qiongfang.

In fact, bone age can be used to determine this, but it's none of Xu Qinghuan's business, and she can't be bothered with it.

"It should be Xu Manman!"

The police asked Duan Qingmei, who was closest to Qu Qiongfang, to come and take a look. She circled the body and saw that there was almost no intact skin left. She didn't actually know who it was, but she knew that if the dead person was Xu Manman, then the murderer was Qu Qiongfang.

Compared to being an innocent victim who dies with the stigma of being a criminal, the latter option is naturally worse.

"Can it be determined?" the police officer asked.

Duan Qingmei shook her head. "I can only tell from her figure. Besides, Sister Qiongfang didn't come home last night."

"Do you know what she did yesterday?" the police officer asked.

“Xu Manman bought a chicken yesterday and started stewing it in the afternoon. It smelled delicious,” Duan Qingmei said. “Later, Xu Manman invited Sister Qiongfang over to eat chicken, and she came along.”

"What's their usual relationship like?" the police officer asked.

"not so good."

"Then why did you invite her to eat chicken?"

"I heard it's to apologize." As she spoke, Duan Qingmei glanced at Zhou Chang'an. The police noticed and pressed her for details, "What is it to apologize for?"

Duan Qingmei said, "It seems that Xu Manman did something to wrong Sister Qiongfang, something related to a man."

"Please explain yourself more clearly. We are investigating a case." The police officer's tone became stern.

Duan Qingmei shrank back slightly. "Yes, I overheard it. Xu Manman and Zhou Chang'an did that kind of thing. Zhou Chang'an and Sister Qiongfang are, yes, have a very good relationship. Xu Manman apologized to Sister Qiongfang for this, saying that she did not mean to break them up."

The police asked Zhou Chang'an, "Who is Zhou Chang'an? Please step forward." Zhou Chang'an stepped forward with his head down. Most of the educated youth in the settlement knew about this, but he never expected to be so frank in front of everyone and face trial at this time.

"Zhou Chang'an, what is your relationship with Qu Qiongfang?" the police officer asked bluntly.

"Among the educated youth who came together, we were the first... I liked her, and she probably liked me too. I originally wanted to date her, but then she stopped paying attention to me and got very close to another educated youth named Zhang Tieshan."

I resented her. Later, when Zhang Tieshan was arrested, I learned that she had been coerced by him. I was about to forgive her, but then Xu Manman seduced me.

The onlookers were watching what felt like a movie.

At this moment, Jiang Chengxu woke up.

The police came over to ask him questions, but his voice was so hoarse that he couldn't speak at all. Xu Qinghuan had no choice but to give him some medicine to treat his throat. He cleared out a mouthful of black phlegm, which almost disgusted everyone.

"Jiang Chengxu, do you know who died?"

Jiang Chengxu shook his head. "I don't know."

He spoke in a breathy voice.

He was awakened by the fever and desperately crawled towards the door. When he finally reached the door, it was locked from the outside. He lay on the door and shouted for help. Fortunately, the gap between the two doors was large, and he gained a good position, which allowed him to stay alive.

Qu Qiongfang, who died, was not so lucky. She was already weak, and after she crawled over, Jiang Chengxu pushed her far away. She leaned against the door and suffocated to death.

In the pitch black, Jiang Chengxu didn't care who she was. Moreover, he subconsciously thought she was Xu Manman. He had already made arrangements to sell Xu Manman, and now that she was dead, it saved him a big problem.

But he himself became useless.

"Let Xu Qinghuan save me, save me!" Jiang Chengxu opened his eyes and looked around for Xu Qinghuan, but couldn't find her. He was very anxious. "Save me, let Xu Qinghuan save me!"

But the police ignored him, saying, "Let's send him to the county hospital first. We still have a lot of questions to ask him."

Xu Manman huddled in the cave. It was very cold, and she seemed to be all alone in the vast mountains. Fortunately, the cave was not big, but it was still warm.

She squatted in the cave, took out all her clothes and put them on, then ate the leftover bread from the night before. The bread was hard, so she softened it with her saliva before slowly swallowing it.

Last night felt like a dream.

She overheard Jiang Chengxu discussing with someone about selling her to people in the mountains. Originally, when she lost her child, she couldn't help but hate Jiang Chengxu.

She was devoted to him, but he never looked at her properly; his gaze always followed only Xu Qinghuan.

At that moment, she wanted Jiang Chengxu to die.

But she didn't want to get herself involved, so she came up with this plan to escape unscathed.

As for why she chose Qu Qiongfang, if she could, she would like to choose Xu Qinghuan, but she knew that was unrealistic. Xu Qinghuan would not fall for her tricks because the bargaining chips she used to lure Xu Qinghuan were simply not enough.

Qu Qiongfang was different; a bowl of chicken soup was enough to fool her.

There weren't many female educated youths at the settlement; there were only two: Qu Qiongfang and Duan Qingmei. Although she didn't like Duan Qingmei either, she hated Qu Qiongfang even more.

She was impersonating Qu Qiongfang, which is why Zhou Chang'an got her into trouble.

Taking one's anger out on others is always a petty person's trick.

She pulled out all the firewood and lined most of the east wing. Because she was afraid people would hear the noise, she skipped the north wall closest to the main house and the west wall opposite the west wing, which is why she left Jiang Chengxu a way out.

Then, she poured all the kerosene onto the firewood and lit a match.

Happy reading, my dears!