“Besides, I don't even smoke. I don't carry a lighter or anything that can start a fire. What am I supposed to light it with? Empty words?”
“And finally, I'm an outsider. I'm leaving as soon as my job is done. Why on earth would I burn down your village's apiary? What do I stand to gain from that?”
Qu Ling's barrage of rhetorical questions left the man completely speechless and shut down any further baseless speculation.
The villager who had insinuated her guilt suddenly found himself tongue-tied. He opened and closed his mouth but couldn't utter a single word of rebuttal, standing there in utter embarrassment, his face flushing red and white.
From a player's perspective, Bai Ci agreed that Qu Ling was indeed somewhat suspicious, but it might not necessarily be her.
Sang Lan's reaction was proof enough that she had entered the apiary, and her subsequent attitude toward Xie Lai suggested she had indeed found something.
As for the loophole she mentioned about the fire starting a full day later, from a player's perspective, that was actually the weakest defense.
After all, players had access to too many bizarre items and strange class skills. Who was to say there wasn't one capable of starting a delayed fire?
Instead, what best argued for Qu Ling's innocence was her motive.
What would she gain by burning this place down?
She had already obtained the clues. It was highly unlikely she had burned the place to the ground just to stop Xie Lai from getting them too.
It would make more sense to claim that a mini-boss was sleeping inside, and burning it early was meant to ease their burden later on.
But if she could have burned it, why wait until now?
Wouldn't it have been better to set it ablaze last night?
Most people were asleep at night. If it had burned then, there wouldn't have been such a timely firefighting effort, and the place would have definitely been reduced to a pile of ash.
Despite her suspicions about Qu Ling, Bai Ci decided to speak up to prevent the blame from falling on the entire wedding planning team, which would only invite unwanted scrutiny to her own subsequent actions.
She had been observing the ruins of the fire and had noticed a few obvious details.
“Everyone, please look closely at the burned area and the scorch marks.”
“The outer walls and the ground show the least amount of burning. The deeper you go into the building, the more severe the damage. The wooden beams and pillars are almost entirely carbonized.”
“It's very clear that the fire didn't start outside, but rather inside the apiary.”
“In other words, if this fire was arson, then the culprit must be someone who had access to the inside of the apiary.”
Seeing an uninvolved party speak up, the team leader immediately followed up, stepping forward at the perfect moment.
“Brother, I've been to your village three times now. I know the rules of your apiary very well. It's strictly controlled, and the doors and windows are kept locked at all times.”
“My team members are all outsiders. Where would we even get a key to your apiary?”
“We didn't even have a chance to enter, let alone commit arson inside. How can you pin this on us outsiders so carelessly?”
With multiple pieces of evidence and testimonies presented, the facts were clear. The villagers no longer had any reason to continue their accusations and suspicion.
Seeing this, the village chief stepped forward, raising his hand to silence the quiet murmurs around him. He spoke in a deep, decisive tone, settling the matter: “Alright, listen to me. We'll drop this for now.”
“The wedding team has worked hard. Please return to the Red Church to finish your rehearsal so we don't delay the progress of the Honey Rite. As for the rest of the villagers, go back to your homes. Don't crowd around here just to watch.”
“The village cadres and young men will stay behind to take inventory of the losses and work with me to thoroughly investigate the source of the fire.”
The village chief's words carried a great deal of authority in a place like this.
As soon as he finished speaking, most of the crowd murmured in agreement and began to disperse.
However, Qu Ling suddenly stepped forward, blocking the village chief's path, showing no intention of backing down. “Chief, I'm not leaving.”
“My makeup and styling duties aren't critical during the rehearsal. What is critical is that I refuse to take the fall for something I didn't do.”
“I must stay today and investigate the source of the fire with you to clear my name.”
“What if everyone in your village tries to save face and sweeps it under the rug? If the cause of the fire isn't found, people will start gossiping and blame me again. What then?”
Her words were blunt and cut straight to the point, leaving no room for pleasantries.
The village chief's expression darkened slightly, but he had no rebuttal.
The villagers had made baseless accusations first, putting them in the wrong. Forcing Qu Ling to leave now would only make them look guilty and validate her suspicions.
He turned to look at the team leader, his gaze urging him to intervene.
The team leader instantly caught his drift and began to smooth things over in a gentle tone: “Chief, you have the final say.”
“This employee of mine just speaks a bit too directly, but she means well and only wants to help. I hope everyone can understand.”
Since things had been put this way, the village chief had no reason to refuse. He could only nod in agreement. “Fine, you may stay.”
With that, the wedding team went their separate ways.
Qu Ling remained at the fire site on the back mountain to join the investigation, while the team leader led Bai Ci, Sang Lan, and Wang Dong back to the Red Church to continue the unfinished rehearsal for the Honey Rite.
On the way back, everyone remained silent, and the atmosphere was exceptionally heavy.
Bai Ci's mind was completely elsewhere, far from the upcoming rehearsal. Her thoughts repeatedly flashed back to the moment she left the Red Church for the apiary, when she had caught a fleeting glimpse of something as she looked back.
Beneath Shen Tan's gown, there was a bulky, rigid outline that was definitely not the shape of a young girl's body.
Yet now that they were back at the Red Church, the wind still blew around Shen Tan, causing her gown to flutter and fall.
But this time, the girl's figure appeared slender and delicate. The hem of her dress fell naturally, and her silhouette was perfectly smooth and normal, without any hint of abnormality.
It was as if that fleeting glimpse from earlier had been nothing but an illusion.
But Bai Ci knew deep down that she hadn't misseen.
Since the outline had disappeared now, there was only one possibility left.
The rigid, unknown object—it had to be an object—that was hidden beneath Shen Tan's gown must have been quietly removed and stashed in some corner while the church was empty.
With that thought, a bold suspicion arose in Bai Ci's mind.
Could this sudden, unprompted fire have been planned by Shen Tan?
She needed an accident to distract everyone else, facilitating her own movements.
When so many coincidences stacked up, they could no longer be called coincidences.
Unfortunately, there was no good opportunity to test her theory right now.
The group returned to the Red Church, quickly ran through the entire rehearsal process, and wrapped things up in a hurry.
After the rehearsal, Shen Tan maintained her doll-like demeanor. Silent and expressionless, she slowly walked away down the path by herself, leaving no one with an opportunity to strike up a conversation or probe further.
Bai Ci wanted to step forward and test her several times, but she was interrupted either by her work or by the villagers passing by, forcing her to give up in the end.
Once Shen Tan left, the team leader gathered the remaining members to review today's rehearsal mistakes, plan the flow of tomorrow's official ceremony, and double-check everything step by step.
The tedious details took a long time to sort out.
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