The two houses at the western entrance of the village had already collapsed.
They had not withstood the blaze.
Only an old woman stood there blankly, staring.
I grabbed her arm, and she turned to look at me. "They're dead. Everyone in the house is dead."
My heart skipped a beat. What did she mean, everyone in the house was dead? I hurriedly asked, "Was there a girl around twelve or thirteen living here?"
The woman's face was numb as she kept muttering, "Dead. They're all dead. The grown ones, the little ones, all dead!" I was frantic, especially after hearing her say that both adults and children had died. Could Xu Qiuyan really have lived here? Had she failed to escape?
I felt as though this fire had been aimed at Xu Qiuyan.
Whoever was behind it clearly did not want me to find her. I did not know whether it was one of the two doctors or someone else entirely.
I tugged hard on the woman again. "Wake up! I'm asking you a question!"
She looked as though she had suffered a terrible shock, staring at me stiffly with fear in her eyes.
I tried my best to calm down and took a deep breath. "Answer me. Was there a girl around twelve or thirteen living here?" Only then did she nod.
My heart sank even deeper. I continued, "Do you remember what she looked like? Did she resemble the Embroidery Woman?"
The woman said, "I can't remember what she looked like. She'd been here for quite a while, but I only saw her a few times. She rarely went out and was almost always in the house."
The more she said, the more afraid I became.
After all, young Xu Qiuyan had been missing for a long