Chapter 57 How Could She Possibly Die

Last night, in the middle of the night, the Qin family’s courtyard suddenly caught fire. The blaze swept through the entire household in an instant, showing no mercy. In less than half an hour, the Qin residence was reduced to its current state.

A strong smell of animal fat hung thickly around the yard. Clearly, someone had poured large amounts of flammable oil outside the house.

Was it him? Or was it her?

Qin Youtian suddenly remembered that, when he left last night, he’d forgotten to untie Hua Qinci’s ropes.

Panic seized him.

“Qinci! Qinci! Qinci!” He rushed forward, clawing desperately through the billowing smoke.

“It’s gone, all of it is gone! Heaven above! I ask for nothing, nothing at all! I only wish to be together with my son, living simply and peacefully, content with plain meals and quiet days—why? Why won’t you let us have even a few days of peace?”

At first, Qin Mingyue had lost control, thinking that Qin Youtian was still trapped in the flames. When Hua Qinci rushed in after him, she believed they were both lost. Now, seeing Qin Youtian return, she knew Hua Qinci had run into the fire to save him.

Watching Qin Youtian’s frenzied state, she too was filled with sorrow.

If only she had known, if only she hadn’t let Hua Qinci go in to save him.

“Tian’er, Tian’er! It’s all my fault, it’s all my fault that Qinci is gone! I am to blame, I am to blame!”

Qin Mingyue beat her chest and stomped her feet, weeping bitterly, but Qin Youtian ignored her. He kept digging madly through the thick, blackened ashes.

“No, no, nothing will happen to Qinci, absolutely not! I promised, I promised to take good care of her! I still want to give Mother a fat, healthy grandson with her! She’s so clever, so resourceful, cunning, shrewd, ruthless—she’s skilled in everything, always full of surprises, deceiving even the heavens! How could she die? How could she?”

Qin Youtian had lost his mind. He hated himself, hated the one who had set the fire, and hated his own father even more.

He would never be like his father—fickle and unfaithful, neglecting his wife. Hua Qinci was his woman, his wife. Whether in life or death, she was his. Ever since he agreed to marry her, he had sworn to protect her. It was his duty.

But…

But he had failed. He felt unworthy of being called a man, unworthy of being Hua Qinci’s husband, and even less worthy of being a good son.

The two most important women in his life—he had failed to protect them both.

One, aged and ailing; the other, in the prime of her youth, never truly happy, was burned alive because of them.

He should have seen it coming, but he was too afraid to think about it, too afraid to believe it. He had cowardly assumed that they wouldn’t go so far as to destroy even a useless man.

But he was already a cripple, a man as good as dead!

Tears of sorrow slid from his deep eyes. He stood amid the ruins, his hands stained with blood.

Why? Why, when I have given up everything, when I am already ruined, can you still not leave us in peace?

His long, narrow eyes grew redder and redder. In that moment, he resembled a bloodthirsty beast.

“Qin Youtian? You weren’t in the house? Where did you go in the middle of the night?”

Hua Qinci’s voice shocked Qin Youtian to his core. His rigid body turned around.

Hua Qinci was standing right in front of him. Suddenly, he didn’t know what he was supposed to feel.

He laughed, then cried and laughed all at once.

“You’re insane! You nearly scared me to death. Last night, Mother and I thought you were trapped in the fire!” Seeing him safe and sound, Hua Qinci realized she had worried for nothing. She turned to help the equally stunned Qin Mingyue.

“Mother, didn’t I say? He won’t die—he’s too tough for that! Now you can stop worrying.”