I just want to live a good life

Chapter 121 The Truth

"You didn't start the fire, but it was caused by you. After the fire, you fell seriously ill. Every time Zhou Zhe's name was mentioned, you would cry and sometimes have a high fever. The most serious time was when the fever wouldn't go away. Daddy called in a royal doctor to save your life.

After that, you forgot about the fire, and your parents forbade anyone to mention it in front of you again.

Since you have already remembered Zhou Zhe and haven't gotten sick again because of him, I think it should be okay for me to tell you the truth."

After Xia Qingyao finished speaking, she dismissed the maid in the room and asked Lily to guard the door.

Su Nuan was a little surprised. It seemed that there was some unspeakable secret hidden in the fire that year.

The story of what happened back then started when the cousin of the Xia family came to the Xia family with her child.

That year, Xia Qingyan was ten years old. She was a beautiful young lady, but she was a little devil. All the boys of her age from the noble families in the imperial city had fought with her.

But Xia Lian is a protective person. It would be fine if Xia Qingyan beat up someone else, but if she was beaten up, he would have to seek justice for his daughter.

There were several times when Xia Qingyan was beaten by some boys from military generals' families. Xia Lian couldn't do anything to the kids, so he beat up their fathers.

Since then, Xia Qingyan became famous in the circle of nobles. Everyone knew that the second daughter of the Xia family was not easy to mess with, and they all sneered behind the Xia family's back, saying that the Xia family had raised such a daughter who would never be able to get married.

Just then, Xia Lian's distant cousin Chen appeared with her fourteen-year-old son Zhou Zhe.

Zhou Zhe was gifted, diligent and studious, a promising young man who was deeply loved by Xia Lian and Madam Xia, so they decided to find a son-in-law for Xia Qingyan.

Zhou Zhe's father was originally a illegitimate and unfavored son of the Zhou family. After the family split up, the family did not live a wealthy life. Later, Zhou's father fell seriously ill. The family spent all their savings to treat him, but in the end he still died, leaving the orphan and his widowed mother to live a difficult life.

They came to the Xia family because they could no longer make ends meet.

So when Xia Lian and his wife told Chen about the idea of ​​marrying a son-in-law, Chen readily agreed.

Then Chen deliberately let her son spend more time with Xia Qingyan.

Putting aside the matter of marrying into the family's family, Zhou Zhe really liked Xia Qingyan. As soon as he entered the Xia family, he was attracted by the girl's beauty and treated her well in every way.

At that time, Xia Qingyan was still a child and knew nothing about matters between men and women. She thought Zhou Zhe was a weak scholar who was not as powerful as her brothers, and her attitude towards Zhou Zhe was lukewarm.

Later, she heard from someone that she would marry Zhou Zhe when she grew up, which made the girl very angry.

So on the Mid-Autumn Festival night seven years ago, she gathered a group of followers, tied Zhou Zhe up and locked him in the woodshed, and threatened him that he must not marry her when he grew up, otherwise she would burn him to death.

Xia Qingyan originally just wanted to scare Zhou Zhe, but who would have thought that one of the kids in her group of followers took it seriously and actually set the woodshed on fire.

Looking at the blazing fire and Zhou Zhe howling in pain in the fire, the group of children were terrified. No one went to put out the fire, and no one went to ask for help.

The weather was dry and the fire started in the woodshed. With the help of the autumn wind, the fire quickly spread.

By the time the adults discovered it, the fire was already out of control.

A group of children were trapped in the sea of ​​fire, and only a few were rescued.

The fire not only burned down half of the Xia family's old house, but also killed seven children.

But what was unexpected was that Zhou Zhe, who was the first to be burned, survived.

Xia Qingyan was traumatized by seeing the tragic state of Zhou Zhe when he was burned, and would become ill whenever she mentioned the incident. Finally, she forgot about the incident. Xia Lian then ordered the Xia family not to mention the fire again and to tell others that the fire was accidentally caused by children releasing sky lanterns.

After hearing the whole story, Su Nuan was deeply saddened.

And she was 100% sure that the person who kidnapped her was Zhou Zhe.

Zhou Zhe was indeed innocent, but Xia Qingyan was only ten years old at the time. She could not take responsibility for her own actions, and it was not her intention to burn him to death.

Su Nuan could understand Zhou Zhe's return for revenge, after all, Xia Qingyan had ruined his life.

So she got into a dilemma.

She had originally planned to catch the kidnappers and send them to the government office, but now she is not sure whether she should do so.

Just when she didn't know what to do, she suddenly remembered the charred body of Zhou Zhe.

"Sister, who was the kid who set Zhou Zhe on fire? Where is he now?"

"That's not clear. Seven children were killed in the fire. Those who survived were all terrified and couldn't tell who set the fire. However, most of those children were children of Daddy's subordinates. Most of them would inherit their father's business. They are probably in Daddy's military camp now."

"Little sister, this happened so many years ago, don't let it affect you anymore. It's not your fault. If you want to blame someone, blame the kid who set the fire."

"Don't worry, sister. I'm fine."

"I'm glad you're okay. Let's not talk about this anymore. I'm hungry. Let's eat something."

Xia Qingyao asked Lily to get some snacks and tea.

Su Nuan was thinking about one thing. Zhou Zhe had a simple background without any foundation, and he was burned into that state. How did he gather those men in black?

Those people are quite skilled in martial arts and it is obvious that they have been well trained.

If those people were Zhou Zheyang's killers, why didn't he come to seek revenge on the original owner earlier, but waited until she married the prince.

You know, killing a young lady from a general's mansion, especially a young lady like the original owner who likes to go out and show off, is much easier than killing a prince's concubine.