Chapter 2: Even if I die here to save my old friend, I will meet my old friend again...

The two were just looking at each other in silence when they suddenly heard a commotion outside, mixed with chaotic shouting:

"The fire is happening!"

"Put out the fire!"

Jiang Tong quickly walked to the door and looked outside, and saw a wisp of thick black smoke rising from about several blocks away.

"Where is the fire?" Su Guanqing also groped his way to the door.

"Looking at the direction, it should be towards the dock." Jiang Tong's face suddenly changed as soon as he finished speaking.

She remembered the dock fire.

She had heard about it at this time, but she didn't truly understand the inside story of the fire until she was middle-aged.

At that time, she had no one to care about in the secular world, so she devoted her heart to the art of restoration, with only one ancient painting after another waiting for her to restore.

She never cared whether the owner of the painting was a noble official or a scholar.

There was only one exception.

When the man came to her with the painting, he was dressed elegantly, like a scholar. But he had a cold temperament, and the calluses on his hands, the kind only seen from someone who had been wielding a sword for a long time, clearly not a scholar.

Jiang Tong later learned that this man was the leader of the largest underground organization in the dynasty at that time. The power he held was so great that even the imperial court was wary of him.

Coincidentally, that person and Jiang Tong were from the same hometown, and both of them encountered misfortunes in their youth and were forced to leave their hometown.

The origin of that incident was the fire in front of us.

When the fire broke out, the man was in the dock warehouse. Although he escaped with his life by chance, he was seriously injured and disfigured. From then on, he had to use disguise to cover up his face and never showed his true face again for the rest of his life.

......Now that the fire has just started, do I have a chance to save the leader who will be able to shake the entire country with just a stomp of his feet more than 20 years later?

When Jiang Tong thought of this, his heart started pounding and he ran out.

Su Guanqing heard something was wrong with her voice and called out to her, "Tongtong, where are you going?"

"Save people."

Su Guanqing was shocked and wanted to persuade her not to go, but he knew that Jiang Tong was never an obedient person, especially not to his words.

Hearing the footsteps fading away, Su Guanqing had no choice but to light his bamboo stick and hurriedly chase after them: "Tongtong, wait for me, I'll go with you."

Just as he reached the edge of the screen wall, he could no longer hear Jiang Tong's footsteps. He was getting anxious when he suddenly felt a warm touch on his wrist. Before he could react, he was pulled forward.

For a moment, Su Guanqing's mind went blank. He had never thought that Tongtong would take the initiative to pull him and take him with her.

After all, even when I was still able to see, Tongtong hated me following her around and always tried to get rid of me.

But what is happening now?

He wondered anxiously, has Tongtong finally stopped hating him?

A hint of joy quietly emerged, but he immediately suppressed it.

No, how dare I think so.

A hint of bitterness appeared on the corner of Su Guanqing's lips. Tongtong probably just couldn't bear to refuse a poor blind man.

His mind was full of random thoughts, but his feet were running very fast in coordination with Jiang Tong.

After he lost his sight, he moved around with the help of a bamboo stick, exploring and walking a little bit, and he had never run so fast before.

Su Guanqing could feel himself brushing past one person after another, sometimes rubbing against the corners of someone's clothes. Before he could apologize, Jiang Tong had already pulled him away.

He could only try his best to keep the bamboo stick away and not hit others.

Later, the noises around him became louder and louder, with people constantly shouting for help. He even smelled the pungent smell of smoke, and he knew that they had arrived at the dock.

Jiang Tong's pace also slowed down.

She remembered that the leader had said with some pride that although he was less than twenty years old at that time, he had made some progress in martial arts and no one could get close to him easily.

But this time, they were drugged by their enemies and trapped in a warehouse at the dock. They watched the fire coming and had no way to stop it.

Jiang Tong pushed his way through the crowd and soon found the warehouse door.

Fortunately, the fire hasn't spread yet.

There was just a big iron lock hanging on the door.

"Where are the keys? Who has the keys?" Jiang Tong shouted to the crowd who were passing by to throw water on the fire.

No one in the crowd responded to her.

Jiang Tong was helpless. He looked around and picked up a stone to smash the lock.

But no matter how hard she smashed the iron chain until sparks flew, she couldn't break it.

Su Guanqing felt the heat wave coming over him. He grabbed the corner of Jiang Tong's clothes and advised, "Tongtong, since the lock was hung from the outside, there must be no one inside. Let's go."

"Someone's here, I know." Jiang Tong hit the lock again and again, even harder, completely ignoring the fact that the temperature just across the door was hot enough to roast someone. "You go first, I don't need you here."

Su Guanqing was unwilling to go alone, and was getting anxious when he suddenly heard a familiar voice behind him:

"What are you doing here?"

"Fu Liu?" Su Guanqing recognized the voice and asked, "Why are you here too?"

"I just saw you two running around like crazy on the road, so I followed you over to see what's going on. You can't break it open like this, get out of here," Feng Fuliu walked forward and pushed Jiang Tong aside, "I'll do it."

"Do you have the key?" Jiang Tong staggered after being pushed by him, but she didn't care about these details at all. She just looked at him hopefully.

Feng Fuliu didn't answer. He pulled a thin hairpin from his head, carefully inserted it into the keyhole, and twisted it gently. With a "click", the iron lock fell to the ground.

He then curled his lips and said self-deprecatingly, "It's just a low-class trick."

Seeing the door lock open, Jiang Tong kicked the door open and wanted to rush in, but found that the fire inside was already fully started and no one could get in.

However, no matter how big the fire was, one could still see through the thick smoke that there was no cargo in the warehouse. Lying on the ground were motionless firemen.

Feng Fuliu's expression changed slightly. He subconsciously turned his head to glance at Jiang Tong and Su Guanqing, and said again, "It's too late to save him. Let's not wait here to die, shall we?"

Jiang Tong's mind raced. Her old friend had escaped, so there must be an exit from the fire.

She suddenly stepped back about ten steps and looked at the entire fire scene from a comprehensive perspective.

The dock warehouses were not built according to a unified plan, and the overall layout is very messy. Some warehouses that were built later chose to build an extra floor in order to gain more space.

Those who are even more greedy will choose to extend a little further in the air to build a small attic or something.

The entire second floor has been connected together. If you are not familiar with it, you can't tell which floor is whose.

Jiang Tong's gaze followed the fire scene outwards and landed on a row of attics. Her eyes lit up involuntarily. She hurriedly said to Su Guanqing who was chasing after her, "You go back with Master Feng, don't worry about me," and ran towards the attic, completely ignoring the fact that Su Guanqing was shouting at the top of his lungs in anxiety.

The Jiang family was a family of military commanders. Jiang Tong had been practicing martial arts with her father since she was a child. Although her skills were certainly not as good as her friend who could call the wind and rain in the martial arts world, climbing a building was still a piece of cake.

Jiang Tong tore off a piece of her skirt and stuffed it into the bucket in the hands of a passerby who was putting out the fire. After wetting it, she wrapped it around her mouth and nose, then immediately climbed upstairs and searched every attic around the fire scene.

The fire continued to spread outward, burning even faster in the attic.

Feng Fuliu pulled Su Guanqing and watched from below. He saw Jiang Tong simply tear off a piece of the burning skirt and rush into an attic again.

To gain more space, the attic was extended from the second floor and overhung over the canal. The part connected to the main building was already on fire, and the overhanging part was crumbling.

It was like the gaping mouth of death.

But when Jiang Tong rushed in, he did not hesitate at all.

Feng Fuliu's eyes twitched. Facing Su Guanqing's constant questioning, he remained silent for a while before sighing, "I didn't believe you when you said she had a heroic spirit before. Today I know you were right."

Jiang Tong was choked to the point of being unable to breathe, and she didn't know how many places on her body were burned, but she didn't care about all that. She just anxiously checked every place one by one.

Suddenly, she paused, a hint of joy flashing in her eyes.

In the firelight of the attic, a person lay face down. He was trying to crawl towards the window, but his limbs were obviously weak. After struggling for a long time, he did not move.

Jiang Tong avoided the fire, ran over, and turned the man over with difficulty. What came into his sight was an unfamiliar young face.

"What's your name?" Jiang Tong asked.

The man's lips moved, but no sound came out. However, Jiang Tong understood what he said.

——Aqiao.

Many years later, the powerful leader was named Qiao.

What made Jiang Tong even more overjoyed was that A Qiao was not burned by the flames at this time.

At that moment, she was certain that this strange situation must be God's pity for her loneliness and allowing her to fulfill her lifelong regretful dream.

Jiang Tong grabbed the other person's armpits and dragged him towards the window away from the flames.

But she obviously overestimated her strength. Although she had practiced martial arts since she was a child, she was still young. Although she could drag Aqiao, she could not carry a person who was a head taller than her over the chest-high window. As her hands lost their strength, they both fell under the window.

Jiang Tong met A'qiao's eyes.

Jiang Tong still remembers Boss Qiao. He was nearly fifty years old at that time, and his eyes were full of weariness for the fighting in the underworld. Unfortunately, he had many things to do and couldn't get away.

But now Aqiao is just a small character with special skills, powerless and alone. However, even though he cannot move his whole body, there is an indescribable energy between his brows, and his eyes are still rolling around.

Jiang Tong smiled for no apparent reason and breathed in relief, "Don't be afraid, I will definitely get you out."

......Even if I die here, meeting old friends will be just a beautiful dream.

Aqiao's eyes moved faster and his fingers moved slightly, obviously hinting at something.

Jiang Tong looked in the direction Ah Qiao was looking—

There was just a ground made up of wooden planks.

Jiang Tong's idea suddenly moved. He walked over and stomped hard. A piece of wood fell down and fell directly into the rushing canal below.

Downstairs, Feng Fuliu hugged Su Guanqing's waist, refusing to let him rush into the fire. "What are you going to do in there? You can't see anything! Don't expect me to go in with you! I don't want to die yet!"

"I don't want you to accompany me, let go!" Su Guanqing pushed his elbow back and hit Feng Fuliu's stomach.

Feng Fuliu felt pain and loosened his grip, and Su Guanqing rolled and crawled forward.

Seeing that Su Guanqing was about to rush into the fire, Feng Fuliu pounced forward and knocked Su Guanqing to the ground.

"Let go! Let me in!"

"I told you that going in now would mean you'd die! If you were to die for her, would she even look at you?"

As the two were pulling each other, they suddenly heard a loud "boom". Feng Fuliu looked up and saw that the connection between the attic and the main building was finally burned off and fell down with a loud bang.

"What's going on?" Su Guanqing raised his head in panic, and "looked" in the direction of the sound in helplessness and fear.

Feng Fuliu's voice trembled: "The attic fell, fell into the canal."

The attic was not big, and the canal was too wide. As they were talking, the remains of the entire attic had already floated downstream along the canal water.

In an instant, all the blood in Su Guanqing's body seemed to be drained away, and his originally fair face suddenly turned pale.

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