Chapter 121 Who Set the Fire (3)_1
Everyone was startled, giving Mo Dashan strange looks. If Mo Dashan had tried to make an excuse, they certainly wouldn’t have believed him, but since he had revealed the purpose of his late-night visit, they really couldn’t suspect him anymore.
Mo Qingze walked over, patted his shoulder with a smile, and said, "I owe you thanks for tonight. If it hadn’t been for you discovering the fire and calling for help in time, the consequences would have been unimaginable."
Instead of succeeding in his plan to harm others, Mo Dashan was receiving their gratitude; he found himself at a loss for words, not quite able to identify the feeling in his heart. Glancing at the sincere face of Mo Qingze, his own face felt as if it were on fire. He pushed Mo Qingze away and turned to leave.
Mo Qingze just smiled, unperturbed, but his mood sunk again upon thinking that the arsonist had not been found.
Everyone gathered to discuss the matter for a while, but came to no sound conclusion. Tired from getting up in the middle of the night to fight the fire, they decided to continue the discussion the next day.
...
It wasn’t until the next day that Mo Yan found out that most of the wood meant for building the house had been set ablaze.
Learning the full story and reassured by Mo Qingze’s promise, she also felt that the arsonist was unlikely to be Mo Dashan. However, with the recent construction at home and the purchase of the barren hill, the household had certainly attracted a lot of jealousy. If someone really committed arson out of jealousy, it wouldn’t be impossible.
This broadened the pool of suspects considerably, but her intuition led her to suspect Old Man Mo’s family first; nevertheless, with only suspicions and no hard evidence, she wasn’t about to accuse anyone.
With the beams burnt and some rafters and purlins lost, there was no time to chop and dry new wood from the mountains, so Mo Yan had to put aside the hill matters for a while and ensured that Mu’s Shop had a sufficient supply of wood prepared in advance.