Siqin wanted to ask something more, but Song Xizhi returned to the carriage and told the coachman outside to set off immediately.
The coachman was completely stunned by what he had just witnessed outside.
Now, upon hearing Song Xizhi say he was leaving, he felt as if he had done something wrong, so he pulled on the reins, turned around, and slunk away.
Song Xizhi sat in the carriage, ignoring the scrapes on his body, and repeatedly examined the shovel in his hand.
Something's not right. Zeng Yaxian is definitely hiding something from her.
If she wasn't mistaken, the baskets those burly men were carrying on their backs contained more than just stones and mud...
Looking at the long, thin handle of the shovel, Song Xizhi felt that its top-heavy appearance was not suitable for making a shovel. He was afraid that if he exerted force in the pile of dirt, the handle would break.
Her eyes were dark as she thought, and she tentatively bent the head of the shovel again.
Unexpectedly, the head of the shovel showed signs of loosening when pried open with force. After Song Xizhi gritted his teeth and pried it open completely, a sharp spearhead came into view.
The sharp spearhead was completely fixed to the original wooden handle of the shovel.
With the shape of the wooden handle, what Song Xizhi held in his hand at that moment became a brand new red-tasseled spear.
Song Xizhi recalled the red-tasseled spear she had seen during the assassination attempt last night, and her heart trembled.
Zeng Yaxian gave all the girls in the shelter a red-tasseled spear. What was she trying to do?
After Song Xizhi returned to his maternal grandfather's house and carefully inquired about the fire last night, he originally planned to return home.
But she was always restless, so she instructed Siqin to secretly stop Zeng Yaxian.
As Song Xizhi sat in the carriage on the way back, he felt a strange pang of sadness when he gave Siqin his instructions.
Besides Siqin, she had no one else around her who was skilled in martial arts and trustworthy. Unfortunately, Siqin was also He Jingyan's person.
Ah Lian's master is still nowhere to be found, but she is about to divorce He Jingyan.
As Song Xizhi was thinking this, he felt the carriage slowly come to a stop.
She lifted the curtain of the car window and saw a narrow alley.
Before Song Xizhi could see clearly, he heard the musician outside the carriage shout, "Master! They've arrived!"
The sound of clashing swords immediately rang out outside.
Song Xizhi hurriedly lifted the curtain of the carriage and got off to look, only to see a chaotic scene of fighting.
It was already dark, and there wasn't a soul in the narrow alley.
Song Xizhi's carriage and Zeng Yaxian's carriage presented a confrontation, and the people on both sides were fighting to the death, without holding back at all.
Zeng Yaxian stood silently in the distance, watching the fierce battle unfold before her, without uttering a single word.
The coachman had been scared away at some point, and Zeng Yaxian was clearly surrounded by many people. Siqin could tell that she was no match for them.
After Song Xi got off the carriage, Zeng Yaxian showed no intention of telling her subordinates to stop.
Song Xizhi couldn't see through Zeng Yaxian's gaze, but he stared at her with a cold look in his eyes, so he asked, "Zeng Yaxian, do you want to set fire to all the shelters?"
Song Xizhi's voice was not loud, but it was very heavy.
The meaning behind her words stunned everyone present.
Siqin looked at Song Xizhi in disbelief, her fighting motions paused, and even Zeng Yaxian's guards stopped and looked in Zeng Yaxian's direction.
Zeng Yaxian remained silent, so Song Xizhi continued.
"This morning, I smelled sulfur and saltpeter in those baskets. Your parents fought on the battlefield, so you must know that sulfur and saltpeter are the raw materials for gunpowder, right?"
As Song Xizhi spoke, he took out the shovel again, slowly twisted the shovel head, revealing the shape of a red-tasseled spear.
"What are you trying to do by giving those girls red-tasseled spears?"
The scene fell inexplicably quiet.
Zeng Yaxian's somewhat dazed eyes were now fixed on the red-tasseled spear in Song Xizhi's hand.
Tears rolled down her cheeks one by one, and she began to tremble all over.
"I don't know what I'm doing, and I really don't know what Zhao Qingshu is going to do."
Zeng Yaxian looked at Song Xizhi with red eyes, like a mother beast driven to the brink of despair, almost hysterical:
"I have no other choice, I'm at my wit's end. I can't let my parents down! I can't become a sinner..."
She became more and more excited as she spoke.
Seeing this, Song Xizhi felt a pang of sadness in his heart, and reached out to grasp her wrist, trying to calm her down.
But to everyone's surprise, when she grasped her hand, Zeng Yaxian trembled and abruptly withdrew her hand.
When Song Xizhi rolled up her sleeve, he saw shocking scars on her body.
The wounds were bruised and purple, some from being bound, others from being burned by smoke; there was hardly a single patch of undamaged flesh on the entire arm.
Song Xizhi's eyes narrowed sharply, and Siqin beside him was also startled.
A coldness crept onto Song Xizhi's face: "What happened? Did Zhao Qingshu attack you?"
Upon hearing this, Zeng Yaxian's previously numb heart finally felt a pang of grievance, and she suddenly broke down.
"I volunteered, I volunteered..."
She used her scarred hands to pull at her clothes, but suddenly laughed: "Want to see? I have even more on my body."
As soon as she finished speaking, the servants beside her could no longer contain themselves. The long sword in their hands fell to the ground with a crisp sound, followed by the faint sound of their sobbing.
Song Xizhi felt her eyes sting with tears. Looking at Zeng Yaxian's inhuman appearance, she asked with some difficulty:
"So you're going to commit suicide?"
"You made gunpowder and forged red-tasseled spears just so you could take the girls from your shelter and commit suicide?"
As Song Xizhi spoke, there was still a hint of disbelief in his eyes: "Zeng Yaxian, you didn't seem like a coward when you saved me."
Zeng Yaxian shook her head, her unfocused eyes filled with sorrow: "I have no other choice. Zhao Qingshu has already taken a liking to them."
Song Xizhi's eyelids twitched: "He's taken a liking to them?"
He's taken a fancy to those girls in the shelter?
Those girls weren't pampered; they lived a simple life and weren't particularly beautiful. Zhao Qingshu had long been a womanizer and already had countless beauties in his secret room, so how could he possibly be interested in the girls in the shelter?
Zeng Yaxian said in a low voice, "He has his eye on my shelter because my shelter applied to the government for expansion a month ago, so he can take this opportunity to send his people in."
"I don't know how many soldiers and weapons he plans to deploy, but I do know that his ambition is boundless. If they come in, what will happen to my girls?"
Zeng Yaxian simply couldn't imagine it.
She closed her eyes: "I'm caught in a dilemma, there's no way out."
Upon hearing this, Song Xizhi's heart began to pound.
Zhao Qingshu wants to... usurp the throne!
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