Once she had locked all the doors and windows from the inside, Duan Hongyu picked up an oil lamp and began, bit by bit, to set fire to everything flammable in the room. When the fire was well underway, she sat down before her zither and began to sing "The Phoenix Seeks Its Mate": "A beautiful woman, I saw her, and cannot forget. A day without seeing her, my longing turns to madness. The phoenix flies soaring, seeking its mate across the four seas..." As the flames grew fiercer, Duan Hongyu continued to sing, until at last, choked by the thick smoke, she collapsed in a suffocation over the zither stand.
"Fire! It’s a disaster, there’s a fire!" The night watchman on his rounds was the first to notice the anomaly at the Third Prince's Estate. He rushed to the gates and hammered on them, shouting, "Open up! Open up! A building in the estate is on fire, hurry and put it out!"
By the time the gatekeeper received the news and went to investigate, the fire had already spread toward the outer courtyard. The two servants assigned to guard the quarters were still slumped against the courtyard wall, drunk and muddled, reeking of alcohol.
Chapter 94