Chapter 435

Su Qiao looked at her and reminded her.

Suyun quickly lowered her head and answered: "This servant knows, this servant will only pretend not to know."

"Mm, not bad. You just need to follow their plan."

"Yes!"

Seeing Su Qiao close her eyes again to think, Suyun did not dare disturb her, so she could only sit to one side as well, quietly waiting.

Time passed little by little, and outside it was utterly still, as if it were the brief calm before a storm.

…….

289, go!

Seeing that it was almost midnight, Su Qiao rose and instructed the Embroidered Uniform Guard opposite her: "It's almost midnight, tell everyone to be careful and stay alert!"

"Yes!"

Returning to the room and sitting down, Su Qiao slowly began to drink tea.

Suyun sat to one side without a word.

The midnight watchman's clapper had just sounded.

Lu Hong and the others could no longer wait.

No one knew where in the villa, but suddenly a light flared up, and then, as if set alight, thick smoke rose and flames shot into the sky.

"Fire! Fire…"

The silent black night was torn apart by a patch of red light and a hoarse voice.

Su Qiao inside the room also heard the sound outside.

He immediately opened his eyes; at this point he basically already knew the Lu family had made their move.

"Tear your clothes open a little!"

Su Qiao was just about to rise, but catching sight of Suyun sitting to one side, not daring to move, he could not help but open his mouth to remind her.

It was simply that her clothes were too neat and tidy.

In this panicked moment of fire, how could one's clothes be so neat?

Su Qiao still had to put on an act in front of the Lu family, and naturally was unwilling to expose them now.

Hearing this, two red clouds flew across Suyun's face. She answered softly, and did not care whether Su Qiao was still standing in front of her.

Quite obediently, she directly stretched out her jade-like hand and tore at her own ample chest.

Instantly the fair skin beneath was exposed to the air.

Su Qiao felt a rush of heat at the tip of his nose and quickly turned his head away.

Turning, he strode off. "You be careful in the room by yourself!"

Su Qiao pushed open the door and went out. Sun Youxu had already led the Embroidered Uniform Guard to guard the courtyard.

He would not let anyone in.

However, hearing that the fire was large, quite a few wealthy merchants had already caught wind of the blaze and come to the gate of this courtyard to wait and offer their regards.

Wasn't this precisely the chance to show oneself off!

Every one of them was sharper than a monkey once they grew hair; they would absolutely not let slip a single opportunity.

The fire seemed to be very fierce; right now in the villa there were still many Lu family servants rushing about in panic, carrying water.

Fortunately, at present it seemed no guests had been hurt or anything.

It seemed as if everything were perfectly calm, but Su Qiao knew that since the Lu family had already made their move, there would surely be follow-up moves.

Sure enough, Su Qiao had only just stepped out with Sun Youxu

when, pretending not to know much and asking about what had happened, Lu Hong and the other three family heads came hurrying over in a "flustered" rush.

"My lord, forgive us, my lord, forgive us! We don't know what happened—suddenly the main hall caught fire, and right after that the rear caught fire too. The weather is dry, the flames spread very fast, and we've disturbed all of you. It really is our Lu family's fault in handling this. I offer my apologies to all of you!"

The moment Lu Hong arrived, he set his posture extremely low.

Even if the others wanted to pick a fight and say something, it was hard for them to keep on.

Su Qiao also pretended he truly did not mind, and consoled from the side: "Patriarch Lu, you speak fairly. A fire is no small matter—are there any casualties?"

"None, none! We can guarantee that—no one has come to harm. It's only that some houses have burned, and for now the fire is already under control."

Lu Hong shook his head very decisively.

That resolute manner was plainly afraid that Su Qiao would open his mouth and send people to help investigate and turn something up.

But since the other party was unwilling, Su Qiao naturally would not press the matter; he still wanted to see what Lu Hong would do next.

"So that's how it is. Fortunately nothing major happened—that counts as good news!"

"Yes, yes, yes, good news, good news!"

The other wealthy merchants hurriedly chimed in to flatter.

Right after that, Lu Hong and the others did not disappoint Su Qiao—they made their move.

"Patriarch, patriarch! Young Lady Suyun is missing!"

Just then, from afar there suddenly came a clamor as several maidservants and some servants ran over in a noisy, confused rush.

Suyun—missing?

Su Qiao's heart stirred.

The old fox Lu Hong instantly became a born actor.

He immediately slapped his thigh.

Putting on an extremely shocked and flustered look, he demanded: "When did she go missing—before the fire, or after?"

"Reporting to the patriarch, we don't know either. This afternoon we were busy with other matters, and the Young Lady also said she didn't need help on her side, so we left for a short while. But after that none of us saw any trace of the Young Lady…"

"Then why are you only saying so now?"

Lu Hong demanded, red in the face and bloodshot-eyed.

Several servants hurriedly lowered their heads in a fluster. "We really did search several places and couldn't find the Young Lady anywhere, it's just that…"

As they spoke, the servants deliberately cast a fearful glance toward Su Qiao's courtyard.

The meaning was perfectly clear!

The person couldn't be found, and every other courtyard and so on had been searched.

Only Su Qiao's courtyard had been left unsearched.

If someone claimed these people weren't arranged by Lu Hong, Su Qiao wouldn't believe it even if you beat him to death.

Moreover, after the servant finished speaking, he could clearly feel the gazes of the crowd all converging on himself.

He had no idea what kind of stories they were cooking up about him in their heads.

For instance: the Imperial Inspector my lord is worse than a beast, caught an accidental glimpse of Miss Suyun's heavenly beauty, was instantly seized by wicked thoughts, and then used threats and bribes to do something terrible.

Or perhaps: Su Qiao and Miss Suyun fell in love at first sight, and the two of them secretly got together, and so on.

Everyone present felt as though they had accidentally stumbled upon a huge piece of gossip!

Su Qiao's face was expressionless; he knew perfectly well that Suyun was in his room.

If they searched, they would definitely find her.

Lu Hong, that old fox, was really playing a disgustingly nasty trick.

He'd arranged Liu Rushi in the side rooms, deliberately separated from Su Qiao's quarters by an entire courtyard.

Fortunately, she was also under the protection of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Get Liu Rushi drunk, bring Suyun into his own room, drug himself, and now pull a stunt like this.

And right under everyone's watchful eyes!

That's really something!

At this moment Lu Hong, along with several other clan heads, looked at Su Qiao. "Lord Su, Suyun is my sworn younger sister, considered the apple of the Lu family's eye. The whole clan dotes on her. Now that she's gone missing, I…"

The meaning was perfectly clear!

I need to search.

Su Qiao couldn't possibly be so boorish as to drive them away and forbid the search.

If Su Qiao really put on such an attitude, the Embroidered Uniform Guard would block them, and they certainly wouldn't be able to barge in.

But afterward?

Don't forget Su Qiao's objective—his goal was to lure Lu Hong and the others into showing their true colors.

Naturally, he had to go along with their script.

So Su Qiao pretended to be extremely hesitant, his subtle facial expressions perfectly controlled.