Alliance, Fire

Qiao An’s eyes overflowed with amusement when she saw Xing Chen’s jealous expression. She leaned her head gently against his folded legs and murmured softly, “Brother Xing Chen, look at me. I’m so beautiful, so smart, and so understanding. Of course, there will be many men who like me. However, don’t worry. You’re the only one in my eyes and heart.”

Xing Chen could not withstand her sweet words.

His slender fingers slowly stroked her hair with some uncertainty. “An’an, why do you only like me? What’s so good about me?”

As Qiao An looked up at him with an innocent expression, her eyes were filled with gentleness. “Because you’re the man who will make me smile.”

Xing Chen pursed his lips. Although Qiao An’s words were emotional, Xing Chen understood their deeper meaning.

Because he used to keep a straight face, others said that he was cold and unreasonable. But recently, he had Qiao An. Every time he thought of Qiao An, he would feel happy from the bottom of his heart. Even his good friend, Dahai, and the others said that he had been much more cheerful recently.

Xing Chen picked Qiao An up and placed her on his lap. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his tight chin on her shoulder.

“An’an, I’m really lucky to have met you.”

Qiao An only gave him a bright smile.

As the two of them were whispering sweet nothings, who would have thought that disaster was slowly approaching them?

Xing Xiaoya divulged Qiao An’s eavesdropping to Chen Jing’s husband. Moreover, she exaggerated the truth. With her embellishment, Qiao An’s crime was basically fixed.

“Brother, I saw Qiao An secretly recording you beating up your wife with her phone. She has evidence of you abusing your wife, so she can turn you in at any time. You might go to jail then.”

Chen Jing’s husband became trembling under her alarmist words.

Moreover, Xing Xiaoya knew how to read between the lines. She said reasonably, “Don’t forget that after your wife was beaten up last time and she chose to leave home, we found her in Qiao An’s cabin. I keep feeling that these two things are a little too coincidental. Anyway, you’d better be careful of Qiao An. Don’t let her bring you disaster.”

When Chen Jing’s husband heard this, he firmly believed that Qiao An wanted to expose him.

He gritted his teeth and said angrily, “Qiao An is indeed a scourge.”

Xing Xiaoya said, “Isn’t that so? She bewitched my Brother Xing Chen. Now, my Xing Chen listens to her. Brother, if Qiao An isn’t eliminated, more families will be implicated.”

“But, if we get rid of Qiao An, we would end up in jail, right?”

Xing Xiaoya instigated, “Our village is far away. Besides, anything can happen in the back mountain. She could have eaten the wrong herbs and got poisoned to death. Or there could have been a fire. She fell asleep and didn’t run out… Isn’t it normal for such an accident to happen? Brother, don’t wait for Qiao An to return to the city and report your matter. At that time, you’ll be finished.”

The man’s ferocious face twisted. “Qiao An, you forced me.”

However, he was also a cunning person. As he looked at Xing Xiaoya darkly, his eyes were filled with calculation. “Xing Xiaoya, will you turn me in after I do this?”

Xing Xiaoya quickly patted her chest and promised repeatedly, “Brother, don’t worry. I won’t betray you. It’s not like you don’t know that Qiao An snatched Xing Chen away. I hate her to the core.”

The man said, “In that case, let’s do this together. How about that?”

Xing Xiaoya was stunned.

The man said, “Let’s do this together. After it’s done, Xing Chen will return to you. We’re in the same boat. Who will know if you don’t tell?”

Xing Xiaoya thought for a moment and nodded firmly.

Then the two of them discussed how to commit the crime.

Xing Xiaoya said, “We can’t implicate Brother Xing Chen in this matter, so we have to wait for Xing Chen to go out before we take action.”

“OK. No problem.”

In the corner, Chen Jing, who had fainted from the beating, heard in a daze that Xing Xiaoya and a man had conspired to hurt Qiao An. Her heart couldn’t help but clench.

Hopefully, the righteous Qiao An wouldn’t be implicated because of her.

In the evening, Xing Chen brewed the herbs he had gathered during the day before sending the medicine down the mountain.

Before he left, Xing Chen repeatedly reminded Qiao An to be careful and close the doors and windows at night. Qiao An agreed to everything.

But after Xing Chen went down the mountain, an uninvited guest sneaked into the cabin. She sprinkled powder in the vat outside the cabin. Then she squatted outside and saw Qiao An open the door and come out with her own eyes. After scooping up a pot of water, Qiao An walked back in.

Not long after, the lights in the house went out.

Presumably, Qiao An was asleep.

After a while, the house became abnormally quiet.

She waved at the man hiding in the cropland. The man shouldered a can of gasoline to the cabin, then scattered it around the cabin’s perimeter. Finally, he lit a match and dropped it into the gasoline.

The fire suddenly surged and surrounded the cabin.

Seeing this, Xing Xiaoya and Chen Jing’s husband looked at each other meaningfully before secretly leaving.

“She took knockout pills and won’t wake up tonight. This fire will definitely kill her,” Xing Xiaoya said sinisterly.

“Hmph, the back mountain is so far from the village. When the villagers discover that the cabin is on fire, they won’t be able to rush over in time to extinguish the fire. Qiao An is done for.”

The two of them left.

The flames spread and the entire cabin fell into a sea of fire.

The villagers at the foot of the mountain quickly discovered the fire. “There’s a fire in the back mountain.”

Word of this matter spread by word of mouth. Xing Chen, who was examining the patient in the confinement area, naturally heard the bad news.

He was so frightened that his body went limp, then he ran towards the back mountain. His good friend, Dahai, gathered many young lads and ran towards the back mountain together.

The journey from the foot of the mountain to the mountain usually took an hour, but today, it was shortened to thirty minutes by Xing Chen.

He ran for his life up the mountain. The burning fire devoured his heart.

“Qiao An, nothing can happen to you,” he prayed.

By the time the eager villagers arrived at the cabin, it had burned down to a few broken walls. There was also a pile of charred ruins.

“Qiao An,” Xing Chen screamed.

He scuttled into the flames, and his friend pulled him tightly. “Xing Chen, it’s too hot in there. You’ll get burned.”

“Let me in. Qiao An’s still in there. I’m going to save her. Let me in.”

“Xing Chen, even if Qiao An is inside, she won’t survive.” Dahai tugged at him.

Xing Chen suddenly lost his strength because of his words and collapsed to the ground.

“Qiao An.” After a brief moment of confusion, he crawled desperately inside again. “Qiao An, Qiao An.”