After Transmigration, I Snag a Stunning Bigwig as My Husband-Chapter 876 - 872: Set Ablaze

Su Jin turned around and saw flames soaring from the direction of Peony Garden.

Unexpectedly, Peony Garden caught fire.

The fire at Peony Garden lit up the night as if it were daytime.

The night seemed even more beautiful with the fire’s glow.

She looked at Xie Jingchen and said, "Did you set that fire?"

"I didn’t set this one," Xie Jingchen replied.

"...."

Not this one?

From his words, it seemed there was another fire?

Su Jin looked further and saw that the courtyard not far from Peony Garden was also on fire.

In that direction...

Su Jin couldn’t help but laugh.

That’s Peony Garden.

Princess Nanzhang was unwilling to let Peony Garden go for the Princess Consort to live in, so she burned it down, leaving nothing but ruins for the Princess Consort as a way to vent her anger.

But she didn’t expect that Xie Jingchen had seen through her plan, and while she was secretly rejoicing over setting the fire, he had already set a fire at Peony Garden.

Peony Garden was just an empty garden, and burning it down gave the Princess Consort a chance to rebuild it as she wished.

But the things in Peony Garden belonged to Princess Nanzhang.

Judging by the extent of the fire, it seemed like it would burn up most of her belongings.

After the fire at Peony Garden, Princess Nanzhang, to show she had nothing to do with it, frantically rushed to Peony Garden, ordering people to put out the fire.

But as soon as she arrived at Peony Garden, Peony Garden caught fire next.

By the time Princess Nanzhang rushed back to Peony Garden with her people, the fire was already out of control.

Now Su Jin had the household’s administrative power in her hands. With two gardens in the Prince Mansion catching fire, she couldn’t just ignore it.

With a heart to watch the commotion, Su Jin reached Peony Garden, noticing Princess Nanzhang’s expression was so bad that Su Jin couldn’t find any suitable, less-than-crude words to describe it.

The maids and servants carried water to douse the fire. Su Jin saw and said, "How did it catch fire?"

Princess Nanzhang suddenly turned her head.

If looks could kill, at that moment, Su Jin would have died several times over.

Xie Jingchen stood right beside Su Jin as the Prince and Princess Consort arrived.

A Hidden Guard came over with an oil barrel and said, "Your Highness, this oil barrel was found in the bushes at the foot of Peony Garden’s wall. Someone deliberately set Peony Garden on fire."

Xie Jingchuan’s face turned livid.

Dumb as pigs!

Didn’t they think to throw the oil barrel into the house and burn it altogether?

Hmm.

Not just this one, but there was one at Peony Garden too.

Just as the Prince ordered someone to investigate who brought the oil barrels into the mansion, another servant came over carrying an oil barrel.

The two oil barrels looked identical.

But this one was found in the Lotus Pond.

Perhaps because it was thrown down too hard, the oil barrel broke, and the oil spilled out, floating on the surface, easily noticeable.

Everyone knew how Peony Garden caught fire, and there was no need to investigate.

But the fire at Peony Garden puzzled the maids.

Princess Nanzhang burned Peony Garden to mock the Princess Consort, but burning her own belongings — was she mad?

Yet, the oil barrels looked the same, and the timing of the fires was similar.

As the blaze gradually devoured Peony Garden, Princess Nanzhang was so enraged she could hardly stand, but she didn’t utter a word to ask the Prince to investigate who set the fire and give her justice.

Because she knew very well that, in the end, the only outcome would be that it was her own fault.

But just because Princess Nanzhang didn’t ask the Prince to investigate, does that mean the Prince wouldn’t?

Two gardens in Prince Zhenbei Mansion were set ablaze overnight, and the fires were so big that the entire Capital City could see them.

This happened while he was in mourning at home. If he had been attending court, the Emperor might have asked about it.

The Prince has military power, and if he can’t figure out why his mansion is being mysteriously burned, it might be considered a personal matter, but on a larger scale, it could become a state issue.

If he can’t protect his own mansion, how can he protect the country?

The Prince Mansion had quite a few staff, but even they couldn’t handle two gardens burning simultaneously. The Prince dared not deploy everyone to extinguish the fire for fear someone might seize the opportunity to sneak into the study.

Xie Jingchuan instructed everyone to put out the fire at Peony Garden.

No one opposed his suggestion.

Since Peony Garden was already burning, they might as well let it burn completely. They could rebuild it, making the Princess Consort happy, without traces of Princess Nanzhang having lived there.

But even with all the maids and servants gathered to extinguish the fire at Peony Garden, it couldn’t be saved.

The fire consumed everything.

The flames were only extinguished in the late hours of the night.

Though Peony Garden was large, the crowd of maids and servants couldn’t help bumping into Su Jin. Xie Jingchen quickly took Su Jin back, even though she wanted to watch a bit longer.

Reluctantly, they returned to Agarwood Pavilion, where a Hidden Guard jumped in through the window, taking out a stack of silver notes from his sleeve and placing it on the table.

Su Jin looked at the Hidden Guard.

The Hidden Guard said quietly, "These are the silver notes of Princess Nanzhang. It would be too much of a waste to let them burn, so I took them all."

Apart from the silver notes, the Hidden Guard hadn’t touched anything else.

The gold ingots and silver ingots there weren’t flammable.

Xingxing happily counted the silver notes, saying, "Miss, it’s thirty-five thousand four hundred taels."

"Quite a sum," Su Jin said.

"...."

The Hidden Guard thought how Princess Nanzhang, handling the household finances for so many years, must have skimmed off quite a bit, all of which seemed to end up with the Heir’s wife.

Su Jin rewarded the Hidden Guard with a thousand taels.

The rest, Su Jin gave to Xie Jingchen, who raised an eyebrow, "For me?"

"I don’t know if you’d consider it given to you," Su Jin replied.

"...."

"When you head to the border, take these silver notes with you. There’s not much to spend on in the military camp, though money is always needed."

"Just consider it as helping Princess Nanzhang accumulate good deeds."

Using Princess Nanzhang’s money to win hearts, if she knew, it might kill her out of anger.

Xie Jingchen instructed the Hidden Guard to store the silver notes safely.

Su Jin sat down to drink tea and looked at Xie Jingchen, "Is there more to come?"

"Go to bed early today, and watch the show tomorrow."

After all, both Peony Garden and Peony Garden caught fire. Claiming that a maid accidentally tipped over a candle is too far-fetched for anyone to believe.

Xie Jingchuan almost cost Su Jin her life back then.

This grudge had never been settled.

This time, he planned to ruin him completely.

Su Jin roughly guessed what Xie Jingchen had done.

But Su Jin never thought Xie Jingchen would do something even more ruthless than she imagined.

She assumed the fire at Peony Garden was set by the Hidden Guard.

After all, he’s the person Xie Jingchen trusted the most, and given that the Hidden Guard had brought back the silver notes, it indicated he’d been to Peony Garden.

But what Su Jin hadn’t expected was that the fire at Peony Garden was actually set by Xie Jingchuan’s people.

The Hidden Guard only had Xie Jingchuan’s servant buy two barrels of oil while bringing them into the mansion.

One was used to set Peony Garden on fire, and the other was poured outside Peony Garden.

Once Peony Garden caught fire, the blame shifted to Princess Nanzhang. But if Peony Garden burned as well, it could clear Princess Nanzhang of suspicion.

The Hidden Guard disguised himself as Xie Jingchuan’s personal servant. The naive servant didn’t suspect anything and even believed it was well thought out.

As long as the fire was put out in time, Peony Garden wouldn’t be destroyed, and Princess Nanzhang’s name could be cleared. It was a win-win strategy.

To avoid detection, the servant sneaked into Peony Garden and poured oil on the walls.

Once Peony Garden caught fire, he ignited Peony Garden and quickly left the mansion to find a place to hide.

The Hidden Guard rewarded him with twenty taels.

If the incident didn’t escalate, he’d return.

If it did, he’d flee the scene.

Clearly, the servant never got the chance to flee.

With Peony Garden on fire, Princess Nanzhang’s mother and sons were the prime suspects. Who left the mansion, who brought things in, who went missing — all would be revealed under investigation.

Manager Li brought people to capture the servant and questioned him on the spot.

After twenty lashes, the servant confessed everything about the fires at Peony Garden and Peony Garden.

Xie Jingchuan set Peony Garden ablaze to vent his mother’s anger and, fearing suspicion towards Princess Nanzhang, pretended to set Peony Garden on fire, resulting in its actual destruction.

As the news spread—

Many sympathized with Princess Nanzhang for having such a foolish son.