The Night the Xie Mansion Burned Down

Xie Zhaozhou’s face darkened.

Without asking further, he grabbed his coat and car keys and left.

“Second Brother,”
Ning Shixue also got out of bed.
He caught up to Xie Zhaozhou.
“I’ll go with you.”

Although he didn’t know why the fire had started, it was so sudden that Ning Shixue felt it couldn’t be an accident.
He was worried Xie Zhaozhou might be in danger going there.

Xie Zhaozhou’s lips moved.
He seemed to want to say something but stopped.
In the end, he didn’t refuse him.
He just found a thick coat for him and wrapped it around him.

By the time they drove there, the fire was already quite fierce.
Half of the old residence was engulfed in flames.

The old residence was located halfway up the mountain, far from the city.
It would take time for the firefighters to arrive.
And it was an old-fashioned courtyard with many wooden structures.
Now it was blazing, flames shooting into the sky.

The servants who had escaped were terrified.
Crying, they told Xie Zhaozhou,
“The master and madam are still inside!”

After Xie’s father left the company that night, he was very annoyed driving home.
He had originally wanted to persuade Xie Zhaozhou to let Jiang Zhan off.
After all, Jiang Zhan was also his biological brother.

He hadn’t expected Xie Zhaozhou to be unmoved by either soft or hard tactics.

He even started to regret going to see Xie Zhaozhou.
What if, instead of getting Jiang Zhan out, he got himself implicated?

Of course, he didn’t want Xie Sui to die.
Both he and Liao Yanwan were so grief-stricken at Xie Sui’s funeral they almost fainted.
He also didn’t want Jiang Zhan to go to prison.
After all, Jiang Zhan really was his son.

But he cared more about himself!
If he got implicated for covering up Jiang Zhan’s crime, would he still care whether that bastard went to prison or not?

He arrived home, flustered, only to find Liao Yanwan there.
He couldn’t help being stunned.
“When did you get back?”

Liao Yanwan had been in the sanatorium for so long that her condition had stabilized.
At least she wouldn’t throw knives at Ning Shixue anymore.
Her attending physician agreed to discharge her.

Xie’s father was actually quite happy to see her.

But Liao Yanwan’s lips were tightly pressed together.
Her face was ashen.
Her eyes stared fixedly at him.
It was like the gaze of someone not alive.
His back tingled from the stare.
He frowned uncomfortably.
“Who upset you now? Why are you staring at me?”

Xie’s father didn’t take it seriously.
Anyway, Liao Yanwan was always losing her temper with him.
Especially when she was ill, she was unhappy with everyone she saw.

“Who is Jiang Zhan?”
Liao Yanwan suddenly spoke, her eyes red-rimmed.

Xie’s father was startled.
He never imagined that name would come out of Liao Yanwan’s mouth.

His palms broke out in a cold sweat.
He thought Xie Zhaozhou must have told her.
He couldn’t help getting angry.
But when he calmed down, he realized Xie Zhaozhou and Liao Yanwan had a terrible relationship.
They wouldn’t even see each other if they could avoid it.

He wouldn’t deliberately tell her this.

Xie’s father had originally planned to play dumb.

Until he glanced at the sofa. His expression darkened, and he gritted his teeth.
“You planted a bug on me?”

On the sofa lay an eavesdropping headset.

This wasn’t the first time he had seen this thing.
When they were young, they fought a lot.
Liao Yanwan was always putting tracking and bugging devices on him.

“What else?!”
Liao Yanwan suddenly raised her voice, sharp with anger.
“Otherwise, I wouldn’t know what you’ve been doing behind my back, Xie Xiangshan! You have an illegitimate child?!”

Her lips were trembling.
Tears uncontrollably fell.
She had grown up with Xie Xiangshan.
Even if it was an arranged marriage, she thought Xie Xiangshan was different from the others.

She married Xie Xiangshan when she was twenty.
After the wedding, they had Xie Sui.
She was so young then.
She had a husband who loved her.
She was still singing opera in her father Liao Qingchi’s troupe.

Liao Qingchi was a famous master of Peking opera in the country.
She was the lead actress for several years.
She thought she would definitely be her father’s successor.

Relying on her youth and good health, she was back on stage soon after giving birth to Xie Sui.
Nothing affected her.

They said she favored Xie Sui.
But how could she not?

Xie Sui was born in the best and most beautiful time of her life, to the man she loved.
She raised him herself.
She barely let the nanny touch him.
Every night, she哄 him to sleep herself.
Xie Xiangshan was right there with her.
This child cried, this child laughed.
He clapped for her performances.
He grew up before her eyes from a boy into a youth, and then gradually into a man, until finally he was taller than her and she had to look up at him.

When she got pregnant with Xie Zhaozhou eleven years later, she was already older.
Her whole body swelled during pregnancy.
Xie Xiangshan didn’t come home to be with her either.
When Xie Zhaozhou was born, Xie Xiangshan even had a fight with her, causing her to fall in anger.

She almost died from the difficult labor.

Even though she didn’t die, she could no longer perform.

She couldn’t help resenting Xie Zhaozhou.
All the misfortunes in her life seemed to have started with giving birth to this child.
Her health collapsed.
She was no longer young.
Xie’s father also started getting impatient with her.

At that time, Xie’s father made a mistake at the company and was banished by Old Master Xie to the overseas branch in anger.

What was the difference between that and giving up their inheritance rights?

Not until Xie Hanzhou was born.

Xie’s father had a son in his old age.
He was very attentive to her and his youngest son.
She thought, she hadn’t lost anything after all.
She was still a favored wife, the madam of the Xie family.

And what was the result?

Liao Yanwan’s eyes were red.
Her chest heaved violently.
Tears streamed down her face.
She could barely stand.

While she was pregnant with Xie Sui, Xie Xiangshan had already done that outside and fathered a child.
And then this illegitimate child had killed her son.
It turned everything she cared about most in this life, everything she was most proud of, into a joke.

“Xie Xiangshan!”
Liao Yanwan stared at him, her voice filled with hatred.
“How will you repay me for my son?!”

Her whole life seemed to have been lived in a beautiful dream.
Now that dream had been shattered by the man she once loved most.
Even the perfect image of Xie Sui in her heart was cracked.

Xie’s father panicked.
After all, he was in the wrong.
He went over to support her.
“Calm down first…”

“How can I calm down?! How can I calm down?!”
Liao Yanwan struggled free, her face streaked with tears as she screamed.
“That illegitimate child is your son, but isn’t Xie Sui? You don’t even care that he’s dead. Tell me, what do you care about?!”

Actually, on the night Xie Sui died in the car accident, she had seen him.
They had even argued.

She wanted Xie Sui to divorce that woman, or move to the old residence with the child.
She couldn’t understand why they had been so close, but after he got married, he distanced himself from her.
He wouldn’t even let her name Xie Yaoyao.

It was absurd.

Xie Yaoyao’s name was actually chosen by Xie Zhaozhou.

At first, Xie Sui patiently calmed her down.
But when she got more and more agitated and started cursing Xie Zhaozhou and that woman, Xie Sui suddenly sighed softly.

“What are you sighing about?”
Liao Yanwan asked, wiping her tears, dissatisfied.

There was a deep sadness in Xie Sui’s expression.
Even now, remembering that look caused her pain.
Xie Sui said to her,
“Mom, actually, Zhaozhou and I are the same to you. You don’t love me either. You and Dad only care about yourselves.”

Liao Yanwan had never laid a hand on Xie Sui before.
For the first time in her life, she slapped him.

Then, late at night, around two or three in the morning, she suddenly got a call from the police.
They told her Xie Sui had been in a car accident and died at the scene.
When she got to the hospital, all she saw was Xie Sui’s body.

She had always had manic depression.
After Xie Sui died, her mental problems got worse and worse.
She even developed some split personality traits.

She didn’t dare sleep.
When she closed her eyes, she would think of that night.
She would remember all the silent looks Xie Sui had given her over the years.

She would remember Xie Sui asking her when he was little: why didn’t they bring the second brother to live with them? Why didn’t the brother look like him? Didn’t he like him?

This pain completely engulfed her.

If she blamed herself, she couldn’t go on living.

She could only blame everyone around her.
Blame Xie Zhaozhou.
They were the ones who killed Xie Sui.

If it had been Xie Zhaozhou and Old Master Xie driving that night, maybe no one would have died.
If Xie Sui hadn’t married that woman and hadn’t gone home to see his wife and child that night, driving directly to the neighboring city, maybe the truck wouldn’t have hit him.

Now she knew it wasn’t even an accident.
Even her years of resentment were a joke.

Liao Yanwan cried hysterically.
She coughed violently, barely able to breathe.

“Stop crying!”
Xie’s father was full of irritation.
He scolded her harshly.
“Listen to me first!”

He hadn’t wanted Xie Sui to die either.
But Xie Sui was already dead.
Shouldn’t the living be more important?

Jiang Zhan was a capable man.
He and Jiang Xin had started from scratch and built such a large company.
He was ruthless enough.

Only he could deal with Xie Zhaozhou.

Anyway, Old Master Xie was either dead or incapacitated.
Once the Xie Group was back in his hands, couldn’t Liao Yanwan continue to live a life of luxury with him?

Xie Hanzhou wasn’t that filial to them.
As for counting on Xie Zhaozhou, it would be good if he didn’t kill them.
He thought Liao Yanwan was smart enough to understand this logic.

Xie’s father softened his attitude and patiently explained to her.
But Liao Yanwan’s face remained dark.

“Xie Xiangshan,”
Liao Yanwan finally exploded.
She used all her strength and pushed Xie’s father hard to the ground.
Crying and screaming, she said,
“Go and accompany my son in death!”

Xie’s father, caught off guard, was pushed to the ground.
He hit his head and passed out.
Liao Yanwan dragged him into the bedroom and set the fire.

…

The night sky was stained red.
The old Xie residence was like a fractured monster.
Half was still swallowed by the pitch-black night.
The other half was blazing with fire.

This old house had never been this bright before.

By the time Ning Shixue and Xie Zhaozhou arrived, the firefighters were already trying to put out the fire.
The Xie family servants were also helping.

But the fire hadn’t been completely contained yet.

Xie Zhaozhou stood silently by the car.
The firelight flickered, reflected in his dark eyes.
Ning Shixue’s lips moved.
In the end, he said nothing.
He just took Xie Zhaozhou’s hand.

Even if Xie Zhaozhou had no extra feelings for these people, this was still the place where he had grown up.

Ning Shixue thought that if his home planet exploded, he would probably be at least a little sad.

He held Xie Zhaozhou’s hand.
His cold knuckles were warmed by him.
Xie Zhaozhou held his wrist in return and put his hand in his coat pocket.

Outside the old residence, there was now a huge crowd.
Xie Mengyuan and his wife had also arrived with their children.

Ning Shixue was held in Xie Zhaozhou’s arms.
But he always felt something was behind him.
His cold eyes were hidden in the night.
He cautiously turned his head and looked.

Not far from the crowd, a car was parked.
Two people were also standing by the car, watching the sudden fire.

Even though he couldn’t make out their faces in the dead of night, Ning Shixue was sure it was Jiang Zhan and Jiang Xin.

He hadn’t expected this pair of siblings to dare come directly.

Xie Zhaozhou also noticed them.
He pulled Ning Shixue to the other side, shielding him from them.
He said quietly,
“It’s fine. Don’t mind them.”

All the servants from the old residence had escaped.

Liao Yanwan was soon rescued too.
Her whole body was disheveled.
In one night, she seemed to have aged many years.
She looked completely mad, laughing and crying as she was put into the ambulance.

Liao Yanwan probably wasn’t badly hurt.
Just some burns on her face and arms.
Ning Shixue didn’t know what to say.

She had wanted to perish together with Xie’s father.
That’s why she deliberately set the fire, even locking herself and Xie’s father in the bedroom.
But now she had been rescued first, without much injury.

Probably when the fire started, she got scared, regretted it, and abandoned Xie’s father to escape herself.

What was this?

Each bird for itself when disaster strikes?

Xie’s father was the last to be rescued.
He wasn’t dead yet.
But he was badly burned, his flesh charred.

Ning Shixue couldn’t see clearly.
When Xie’s father was carried out on a stretcher, Xie Zhaozhou raised his hand and covered his eyes.

The fire gradually weakened.
Xie’s father was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment.
Ning Shixue also drove there with Xie Zhaozhou.

Xie’s father had severe burns.
While they were resuscitating him, Liao Qingchi also arrived.
It was the first time Ning Shixue had seen Xie Zhaozhou’s maternal grandfather.

Liao Qingchi was about the same age as Old Master Xie.
He was over seventy, with white hair.
But he was thin and energetic.
Despite his age, his eyes were still sharp.

Right now, though, they were full of exhaustion.

“Zhaozhou.”
Liao Qingchi nodded at Xie Zhaozhou.

He knew about the things Liao Yanwan had done over the years.
But he didn’t have the energy to deal with her.
And ever since he had refused to let her be his successor over twenty years ago, they had grown distant.

Liao Yanwan always thought she couldn’t perform anymore because she had given birth to Xie Zhaozhou.
But actually, it had nothing to do with Xie Zhaozhou.

She never had that much talent to begin with.
She also lacked the endurance.
She was always focused on the Xie family’s wealth with Xie’s father.
Her foundational skills had been neglected long ago.
She couldn’t perform anymore.
How could he possibly entrust his life’s reputation to such a daughter?

Liao Qingchi, exhausted, leaned on his cane.
On the way there, he had heard the whole story.

Liao Yanwan had deliberately set the fire.
If Xie’s father died, it would be murder.
It was definitely a crime.

But judging by her state, she was probably completely insane.
She would have to spend the rest of her life in a mental institution.

“Don’t worry about her anymore. You don’t owe her anything,”
Liao Qingchi said, patting Xie Zhaozhou’s shoulder.
He assured him solemnly,
“I won’t let her bother you again.”

There wasn’t much he could do.
But at this critical moment, he could at least prevent Liao Yanwan from causing more trouble for Xie Zhaozhou.

Xie’s father was still being resuscitated.
After Liao Qingchi left, Xie Zhaozhou draped his own coat over Ning Shixue’s shoulders. He touched his cheek and asked quietly,
“Tired? Go get some sleep. I’ll have Song Li take you to a nearby hotel.”

He didn’t care whether Xie Xiangshan lived or died—they had to save him, of course. But Ning Shixue didn’t have to wait with him.

“I’m fine,” Ning Shixue said, shaking his head.

He was indeed tired and sleepy. He also felt dizzy and nauseous. But he didn’t want to leave now. Jiang Zhan and Jiang Xin hadn’t left either. They had followed them to the hospital. They probably wanted to see for themselves whether Xie’s father lived or died.

He was very uneasy about these two.

Old Master Xie was also in the hospital. What if they suddenly attacked Xie Zhaozhou or Old Master Xie?

Liao Yanwan was crazy enough, but Ning Shixue thought these two were also very likely to lose their minds.

Ning Shixue leaned against Xie Zhaozhou’s shoulder and dozed off for a while. Suddenly, the light above the operating room went out. Xie’s father was quite resilient. He had actually survived.

But his burns were severe. His whole head was wrapped in bandages. His body was covered in tubes.

“President Xie, your father is temporarily out of danger,” the doctor said. “But we’ll need to observe him for follow-up complications. He needs to be moved to the ICU now.”

This hospital was the Xie family’s private hospital. The director had also rushed over in the middle of the night.

Xie Zhaozhou’s eyes were dark. His Adam’s apple moved as he quietly responded,
“Okay.”

When Xie’s father was wheeled out, Xie Mengyuan accompanied him to the ICU. He stopped outside, watching the nurses push him in, and couldn’t help sighing.

“Zhaozhou,” Xie Mengyuan said, wiping tears from his eyes, “you and Xiao Ning are tired. Go back and rest. I’ll stay here with him.”

Xie Zhaozhou nodded slightly. He wasn’t tired, but he had originally wanted to take Ning Shixue home anyway. Ning Shixue had stayed up almost all night with him.

While Xie Zhaozhou was talking to Xie Mengyuan, Ning Shixue was still sitting on the hospital bench, wrapped in Xie Zhaozhou’s coat. He had been watching Jiang Zhan and Jiang Xin. The police took Jiang Zhan away.

Although the evidence wasn’t enough to arrest him, it was enough to prove his involvement. The police needed him to cooperate with the investigation.

Jiang Xin wasn’t implicated for now. After Jiang Zhan was taken away, she also left the hospital. She moved like a ghost.

Ning Shixue couldn’t stand it. What kind of people were these? No wonder Xie Zhaozhou had fought for custody of Xie Yaoyao. Otherwise, Xie Yaoyao might have experienced a fire like this too.

Ning Shixue’s heart felt inexplicably tight.

This fire had burned for one night, but it also seemed to have burned for many years. Xie Zhaozhou had been trapped in this fire all these years, attacked from all sides. The long night had never dawned for him.

What was Xie Zhaozhou thinking when he took Xie Yaoyao away? What was he thinking at the end of the original story, just before his death? Ning Shixue couldn’t imagine.

After Xie Mengyuan left, Xie Zhaozhou went to find Ning Shixue. He saw him wrapped in the coat, half his face buried under it. His complexion was extremely pale. He looked very thin, like he might melt into the moonlight in the hospital corridor. He also sulkily pressed his lips together, looking unhappy.

Xie Zhaozhou’s narrow, dark eyes couldn’t help curving. He walked up to Ning Shixue and drawled quietly,
“Whose baby is this? Why are you alone again?”

The tips of Ning Shixue’s ears reddened. He glanced up at him.

“Where’s your boyfriend?” Xie Zhaozhou asked, pushing further when he didn’t answer. His tone was annoyingly suggestive, lowering his voice. “If he won’t come pick you up, why don’t you come home with me?”

Ning Shixue had originally wanted to go with him. But now his fists were clenched. He felt that if he obediently stood up, he would lose face.

He turned his head away and said stiffly,
“I need to wait for my boyfriend.”

“You like him that much?” Xie Zhaozhou asked plaintively, looking down. “What’s so good about him?”

Ning Shixue: “…At least he’s not this flirtatious. Thanks.”

Ning Shixue stood up and left. Xie Zhaozhou followed him, ignoring his resistance, and put his arm around his shoulder, forcibly pulling him into his arms. The night was still dark. It was a bit cold late at night in Yan City, but Ning Shixue’s whole body warmed up.

The old Xie residence was destroyed. Xie’s father was seriously injured. Ning Shixue had been burned many times in the alternate timeline. He knew that in his state, he probably wouldn’t live long. Liao Yanwan was as good as dead now. In one night, Xie Zhaozhou had lost both parents.

“Second Brother,” Ning Shixue couldn’t help asking when they reached the parking lot, “what are you thinking?”

Xie Zhaozhou paused. Standing in the hospital, he suddenly remembered something from his childhood.

Xie Sui had once taken him to run away from home.

When he was seven or eight, Xie Sui came back to the old residence for a few days to participate in a competition. He even went to his parent-teacher conference for him.

Liao Yanwan was busy with a meeting and wasn’t home that night, but she told them to be back on time. Xie Sui colluded with the old butler. He didn’t take him home. Instead, he rode a motorcycle and took him to the seaside.

The bonfire was especially bright. People were barbecuing. Xie Sui bought a lot of skewers. They walked along the beach, eating.

“The stars here are especially beautiful,” Xie Sui told him.

He hadn’t wanted to go with Xie Sui at all. Xie Sui hadn’t told him in advance—he had only been brought to the seaside.

They stayed out for half the night. Before leaving, Xie Sui suddenly said,
“Come see the stars again sometime.”

“Whenever you want.”

Xie Zhaozhou didn’t understand at the time.

When Liao Qingchi agreed to the marriage alliance between the Liao and Xie families, he had made a request to Old Master Xie: every child of the Xie family had to learn opera from him, unless they really had no talent or couldn’t continue learning.

Old Master Xie needed an heir. He needed one too.

Actually, Xie Sui didn’t want to inherit the company. He wanted to learn opera from their grandfather, or become a teacher.

But on that night when Liao Yanwan forgot Xie Zhaozhou’s parent-teacher conference, he gave up.
He owed Xie Zhaozhou.
Even if he didn’t owe him, he was willing to shoulder the burden of the Xie family.

Then Xie Zhaozhou could go wherever he wanted.

Xie Zhaozhou didn’t really want to admit it.
But on the night Xie Sui died, he felt like he had lost his only family.

He also had no home.

Ning Shixue didn’t know how to comfort people.
He reached out to hug Xie Zhaozhou.
But Xie Zhaozhou was too tall.
He couldn’t possibly hold him the way Xie Zhaozhou held him.

He fumbled for a long time.
In the end, he could only pat Xie Zhaozhou’s back awkwardly.
It was a very clumsy gesture.

Xie Zhaozhou hadn’t wanted to laugh.
He was, after all, very focused on survival.
But in the end, he couldn’t help it.
He chuckled.
He held Ning Shixue in his arms, his chest vibrating with laughter.

Ning Shixue was embarrassed and angry.

What was so funny??? Was his comforting that funny??? Would he still be able to laugh if he got punched???

Xie Zhaozhou’s dark phoenix eyes curved.
He leaned lazily against the car door, seemingly boneless.
He was laughing quite freely.

Ning Shixue pushed his hand away.
He went around to the other side, opened the car door, and got in.
His back was full of humiliation and anger.

When Xie Zhaozhou had laughed enough, he found Ning Shixue had locked the car door.
He had to lean down and knock on the window.

Ning Shixue still ignored him.
Xie Zhaozhou finally stopped laughing.
He lowered his eyes and said very gently,
“It’s fine. If Teacher Xiao Ning doesn’t want me in the car, I won’t get in. I still have a few dozen yuan on me—I can find a cheap hotel to stay in tonight.”

“I won’t be homeless.”

Xie Zhaozhou’s voice was low and pleasant.
The words ‘homeless’ sounded especially lonely in the night.

Ning Shixue: “…”

It wasn’t that bad.

But after saying that, Xie Zhaozhou actually started walking away.
Ning Shixue panicked for a moment.
He didn’t really know how to work this car door.
Watching Xie Zhaozhou walk away, he simply called him.

“Hm?”
Xie Zhaozhou answered, his voice still carrying a hint of a smile.
He was obviously deliberately teasing him.

“Your wife wants you to come home!”
Ning Shixue said, the tips of his ears red enough to bleed, stuttering angrily.
“If you don’t come back now, you’re dead!”