Princess, something terrible has happened! The prince consort has attempted suicide again!

Seeing Feng Yi's serious expression, Zhao Erniu knew that the situation was serious; otherwise, she wouldn't have entrusted him with such a difficult task.

He took a deep breath, his eyes gradually hardening with unwavering resolve, and nodded emphatically, "I will never disgrace the princess!"

"very good."

Feng Yi withdrew her hand with satisfaction.

Immediately, while the people at Faye Temple were busy putting out the fire, Zhao Erniu quietly and easily made his way away.

After an unknown amount of time, the fire was finally extinguished.

As dusk fell, the moonlight shone down.

The entire library was burned to the ground, and almost all the scriptures inside were destroyed.

Du Ming didn't care about these so-called scriptures. He rushed into the ruins and quickly found several wooden boxes.

The boxes were burned beyond recognition, revealing piles of gold and silver.

As for those silver notes, they have already turned to ashes.

Du Ming was so angry that his facial muscles were twitching wildly, and he looked so ferocious that he seemed to want to devour someone.

His savings over the years, apart from a little gold and silver, were almost entirely destroyed by fire.

Not a single banknote remained, resulting in a huge loss.

"What exactly happened? Why did the scripture pavilion catch fire?" Du Ming grabbed a monk who was on duty at the scripture pavilion and roared hysterically.

The monk was so frightened that his legs trembled, and he stammered, "I...I don't know, it just suddenly caught fire."

"You're lying!"

Suddenly someone shouted.

Looking in the direction of the sound, they saw Zhang Xiaomeng, covered in dust and dirt, stepping out from the crowd.

Everyone was busy putting out the fire, and no one noticed him. Judging from his disheveled appearance, he seemed to have been in the fire the whole time.

He pointed at the monk, indignantly saying, "I clearly saw that you neglected your duty and accidentally knocked over the oil lamp. I originally wanted to immediately notify everyone to help put out the fire, but you were afraid of taking responsibility and watched me put out the fire myself, which led to the fire spreading and becoming uncontrollable."

"You're lying! I didn't do it, it was you! You must have done it!"

"Bullshit! Why would I set fire to your scripture repository for no reason? Besides, the scripture repository is a sacred Buddhist site for you. With you guarding it, how could I possibly get in?"

"That's because of you..."

The monk suddenly stopped talking halfway through his sentence.

He only let Zhang Xiaomeng in to read the document because he had accepted money from him. If Du Ming found out, he would definitely not let him off the hook.

"Why is that? Tell me!" Zhang Xiaomeng pressed on deliberately.

"Say it! Was it you?!"

Duming gripped the monk's robe tightly and questioned him in a stern voice.

"It really wasn't me, it was him, it must have been him, he deliberately framed me."

Knowing the ruthlessness of Zen Master Duming, the monk dared not conceal the truth any longer and immediately took out a silver ingot from his pocket. "He gave this to me, saying he wanted to go into the Sutra Repository to take a look. Who knew that a fire would break out not long after he went in, and there was no one else there but him."

Du Ming suddenly glared at Zhang Xiaomeng.

Feng Yi, standing behind Zhang Xiaomeng, immediately became vigilant and gripped her sword tightly.

If Duming dares to make a move, she will draw her sword immediately.

Before Du Ming could interrogate him, Zhang Xiaomeng blurted out in a fit of rage, "How could I, the heir of the dignified Marquis of Yongwu, commit such a despicable act? You dare to claim that I gave you a mere tael of silver? I have always been generous with my money. If I really wanted to bribe you, why would I give you such a small amount? Do you look down on me?"

He didn't give the other party a chance to argue, and pointed to the two martial monks who had come to put out the fire.

"I, the Crown Prince, ran desperately to call for help to put out the fire; those two can testify for me. If I had really started the fire, would I have needed to go through all that trouble?"

The two monks truthfully replied, "It was indeed Prince Zhang who summoned us."

"Did you hear that? What else do you have to say?!"

Zhang Xiaomeng's stern rebuke left the monk speechless.

Du Ming still harbored doubts, but thinking of the back mountain, he immediately ordered, "Take him away. I don't want to see him again."

"Master, spare me! Spare me!"

The monk kept begging for mercy, but Duming remained unmoved until he was forcibly taken away.

Du Ming glanced at Zhang Xiaomeng, no longer concerned about the extent of the fire's damage, and simply said, "Clean this place up."

Then they hurriedly headed to the back of the mountain.

"Zen Master, where are you going?"

Zhang Xiaomeng originally wanted to go with them, but was stopped by the two martial monks.

"Mr. Zhang, the fire is now out. Thank you for your help. Please go back and rest."

Zhang Xiaomeng knew they definitely wouldn't let him follow, so he stopped pestering them and pretended to be very tired, rubbing his shoulders. "This young master is indeed exhausted. I'll go back and lie down for a while."

Seeing Zhang Xiaomeng leave, the two monks quickly followed Du Ming.

Before long, the three of them arrived at the back of the mountain.

The courtyard gate had been closed again, and the marks left by Feng Yi's forced opening had been covered up; they wouldn't be noticeable unless you looked closely.

Du Ming was worried that the secret of the courtyard would be discovered, so his mind was on the room. As soon as he arrived, he opened the door and went straight into the courtyard, without noticing anything unusual about the gate.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that everything in the room was intact and all the girls were still there.

He then coldly questioned the girls, "Has anyone been here just now?"

All the girls chose to remain silent, without prior agreement.

One of the monks picked up a stick, tapped it against the wooden fence, and shouted, "The Zen master is asking you questions, speak quickly!"

The girls trembled with fear, curling up tightly in a ball, their eyes filled with terror.

One of the older girls, mustering her courage, answered tremblingly, "No...no one has been here."

Du Ming walked over, pulled the girl out of the wooden cage, stared straight at her, and threatened in a cold voice, "If you dare to lie, I will drain you of your blood, skin you alive, and make you wish you were dead!"

The girl's thin, delicate body trembled uncontrollably, her eyes brimming with tears; she was terrified.

But she still insisted, "I wasn't lying, really..."

"It's best if not."

Du Ming then released her and locked her back in the wooden cage.

He then instructed the two monks, "Keep a close eye on them for me. No matter what happens in the future, they are not allowed to leave on their own."

"Yes, Zen Master."

The two bowed in agreement.

Duming returned to his meditation room and began to think calmly.

The fire at the library was too suspicious. Zhang Xiaomeng's explanation seemed reasonable, but it couldn't stand up to scrutiny.

Regardless of whether he did it or not, this son deceived me with a fake son, and I cannot forgive him.

I'll think about it.

Duming found a monk.

This man was named Watari, and he was tall and strong, like a mountain.

"Junior brother, take care of Zhang Xiaomeng, and remember to be clean," Du Ming instructed.

"Yes, senior brother, I'll go and take him down right now."

Watanabe exuded a ruthless and violent aura, showing no trace of the compassion of a monk.

"Now is not the time to take action. Wait until I leave."

Duming wanted to create an alibi for himself so that if something happened, no one would suspect him.

"Where are you going, senior brother?" Watanabe asked.

"The Marquis of Yongwu's residence." A glint of light flashed in Du Ming's eyes.