Chapter 114 Life and death are preordained
Dai Li summoned Hu Bao and asked him about the situation at the time.
Hu Bao truthfully replied, "Madam Dai, I'm not entirely clear on the specifics. I initially received a message from the Third Young Master's attendant, instructing me to lead men to provide support. When I followed him to a small noodle stall, I encountered a city guard who gave me directions. This continued until we arrived at a small hut. But before I could even enter, I suddenly heard a loud bang."
When Hu Bao mentioned the loud noise, both Dai Li and Qin Shaozong paused for a moment.
The two of them simultaneously recalled the roar they had heard not long ago.
Hu Bao continued, "At first I thought it was an earth dragon turning over, but when I saw flames shooting into the sky not far away, I knew I was wrong, so I immediately led my men inside. There was a secret passage inside that small house, part of which had collapsed, and Qin Xiaolang and the others were trapped inside."
For a moment, Dai Li thought it was explosives.
This guess was just formed when she denied it.
The Sui Dynasty established the gunpowder system, but gunpowder officially appeared in the Tang Dynasty.
In his poem "New Year's Eve," Bai Juyi wrote, "After the firecrackers have died out and the lamps have burned out, at dawn, there are only sixty ordinary people left." Here, "after the firecrackers have died out and the lamps have burned out" refers to the end of the firecrackers and the burning of the lamps.
It wasn't until the Song Dynasty that gunpowder began to be widely used in the military. The government took the lead in building gunpowder workshops and producing a number of firearms such as cannons and rockets.
No matter how much a butterfly flaps its wings, the timeline is still far from that point.
Besides, if the Qinglian Sect really possessed such a deadly weapon as explosives, why would they hide? Wouldn't it be easier to simply send people to infiltrate the mansions of the powerful rulers and bomb them all to death?
Dai Li frowned as she pondered, but couldn't come up with a solution.
Just then, two horses galloped closer from outside. One of the riders was none other than Shi Rongyue.
Shi Rongyue reined in her horse at the courtyard gate and dismounted on her own without needing anyone's help.
The once radiant young woman now has a crooked hair bun, her jade hairpin teetering on the verge of falling off, and a few strands of her dark hair hanging down from her temples, brushing against her dusty little face.
Not only was she covered in dust, but her skirt was also torn in many places by pebbles or other things, and its bright color was covered in dust.
Upon seeing Qin Shaozong and Dai Li in the courtyard, Shi Rongyue was visibly stunned for a moment, looking bewildered, but she quickly regained her senses and greeted the two of them.
"Second Uncle, Madam Dai."
Her movements were very standard, and if you didn't look at her outfit, you couldn't find anything wrong with her manners.
Dai Li was still thinking about the gunpowder, but now seeing Shi Rongyue in such a sorry state, she knew that Shi Rongyue must have been there at the time. She immediately called her by her nickname and asked her to come over, "Rongrong, you were there at the time, weren't you? Tell me what happened then."
Shi Rongyue began her story from the moment Qin Yanzhou first saw Fan Muqi.
They recounted how they chased her and followed her into a seemingly abandoned house with a secret passage; they also repeated Fan Muqi's words.
"...My cousin and I suggested that she come with us to the manor to see you. She seemed to be persuaded and abandoned her plan to kill Qin Xiaolangjun. Later, Qin Xiaolangjun asked her if Diting had come to Yuyang and where he was now. Fan Xiaoniangzi said that he was originally in the bookstore, but later left. However, through the secret passage of that room, one could reach another place. She also said that there were traces of another minor leader there, whose status in the sect was equal to that of Diting." She recalled.
Upon hearing the words "bookshops," Qin Shaozong called out to Hu Bao, who was still there, "You take a troop of soldiers and immediately take control of all the bookshops in the prefecture, as well as the places that Qin Yanzhou had previously been keeping an eye on. Seal off the city today, allowing no one to enter but no one to leave."
After a slight pause, Qin Shaozong added, "Send another team to the various post stations throughout the prefecture to closely monitor the travelers who stayed at the post stations this afternoon."
Hu Bao bowed and accepted the order.
Dai Li recalled Ding Lianxi saying that her son had been hit by a heavy object, and guessed that after they entered the passage, the passage collapsed, which caused the blood in her son's body to accelerate and become violent.
But, the passageway collapsed?
If the passage was obviously unreliable, Zhouzhou and his group would never have risked entering it. Therefore, the passage must have been extremely sturdy. But if explosives hadn't been used yet, what could have caused the passage to collapse?
"What did you encounter in the passage?" Dai Li asked, frowning.
Speaking of this, Shi Rongyue is still confused. "We went down the stone steps and there were many small bronze mirrors in the passage for lighting. We could barely see our surroundings with the light from the mirrors. The passage was funnel-shaped, narrow at first and then wide. Later, I saw many empty wooden frames, all covered in dust, and I don't know how long they hadn't been moved."
Dai Li pursed her red lips tightly.
Using bronze mirrors for lighting and placing wooden shelves indoors—these all sound quite ordinary…
"Besides the wooden frame, there were a bunch of open-mouthed small jars on the floor inside, and in the center there were tables and chairs, with a coiled dragon lantern on the table." Shi Rongyue described in detail the several scenes of the coiled dragon lantern rotating.
"Did you see clearly what was inside the small jar?" Qin Shaozong asked.
"It looked like some white things, but I didn't pay much attention to what they were. I was too busy looking at the lights at the time," Shi Rongyue said with some embarrassment.
"...Not long after seeing the coiled dragon lamp, for some reason, Young Master Qin suddenly grabbed my cousin and me and turned to run. Just as he left us ahead, there was a loud crash behind us. A stone slab on top collapsed, but luckily we had reached the corner of the wall by then, and the slab tilted at a small angle, which gave us a place to catch our breath."
Dai Li was terrified when she heard this.
Qin Shaozong frowned. "You didn't see anyone else in the passage?"
Shi Rongyue shook her head. "No. At that time, besides that young lady from the Fan family, only I, young master Qin, and my cousin were there."
A blurry image suddenly flashed into her mind, and Shi Rongyue hurriedly said, "That's right, when I was pulled away by Qin Xiaolangjun, as I turned around, I seemed to see that Panchi Lantern slowly rising into the air. However, I don't know if I saw it wrong, I'll have to wait for my little cousin to come back and ask him."
After rescuing Qin Xiaolangjun, his younger cousin immediately took him back to the manor for treatment. Later, feeling that the place was dangerous and that there might be remnants of the Qinglian Sect, he let her go back first, while he stayed there to continue leading the troops in digging.
"The lamp has risen into the air?" Dai Li murmured.
Suddenly she shuddered. "Wait, Rongrong, when you say 'slowly rising into the air,' do you mean the entire lamp rises into the air, or just the lampshade?"
Shi Rongyue's face scrunched up. "It seems... it wasn't completely airborne! Yes, only the lampshade rose up, because the images on the Pan Chi Lantern were no longer complete, only a small part remained."
The scene was so bizarre that if Shi Rongyue hadn't been influenced by her mother since childhood and didn't believe in such supernatural things, she would have thought she had encountered a monster.
Dai Li closed her eyes, and tiny nodes were connected by invisible threads. "It was a dust explosion. You encountered a dust explosion. If I'm not mistaken, there must have been wind blowing into the passage at that time."
Shi Rongyue's pupils narrowed slightly. "Yes, there was indeed a gust of wind blowing from behind. I was wondering why there was wind on the ground. But why would a gust of wind cause a loud rumbling sound in the room, making the stone slabs on the ceiling fall down?"
It's just a gust of wind; this is far too much.
Qin Shaozong was also looking at Dai Li. "Madam, what is a dust explosion?"
“A dust explosion is also known as a dust explosion. When flammable dust floats in a relatively confined space, and this dust comes into contact with an open flame, the local temperature will rise suddenly, thus triggering an explosion. Rongrong, the white powder you saw earlier in the small can was actually flour,” Dai Li explained.
The indoor space is limited, requiring relative enclosure. The lampshade of the coiled dragon lamp rises, and an open flame appears.
At the same time, air was blown into the room, and all the conditions were met, which would indeed cause a dust explosion.
Shi Rongyue listened in a daze, as this was a topic she had never encountered before.
Hearing Dai Li say this, Qin Shaozong recalled a past event.
Six years ago, several "miracles" occurred in Jingzhou. Initially, members of the Qinglian Sect openly declared that certain places were not favored by the gods, and that the gods would release earth dragons to punish those places.
At first, not everyone believed it, until the "earth dragon" stirred up a certain spot, precisely destroying the house and swallowing several people whole.
After the incident, ordinary people were in uproar, while the powerful and wealthy turned pale.
At the time, he thought it was just a rumor that had been exaggerated. After all, such things had happened many times in the past, such as insects eating leaves to form patterns, or foxes calling around campfires. They were all carefully planned to create momentum for those in power.
Therefore, when he heard about those "miracles," he thought that they were probably just deliberately choosing dilapidated houses so that the subsequent "earth dragons" could appear smoothly.
But now it seems that's not the case at all. That so-called precise "divine punishment" was most likely just the dust explosion the lady was talking about.
"The Green Lotus Sect is indeed full of cunning schemes. If one doesn't understand their intricacies, it's very easy to be deceived," Qin Shaozong clicked his tongue lightly.
Dai Li remembered that Shi Rongyue and Qin Qinian had both been taken away, so she asked Fan Muqi, "What about the young lady of the Fan family? Is she still alive?"
Shi Rongyue shook her head and said she didn't know, "When my cousin told me to come back, I hadn't seen her dug out yet."
*
On the other side.
After the previous collapse, this secret passage has been brought back to light. No, it can't be said to have been brought back to light; rather, the ceiling collapsed, squeezing out most of the space below.
Fearing a second landslide, everyone moved to the top to dig out the soil.
Qin Qinian, covered in dust, also moved upstairs and directed, "We can move the small stones first. Go and find more wooden buckets and shovels; it'll be easier to use wooden buckets to hold the small stones."
The soldiers obeyed the order and went ahead.
When they returned with their tools, the excavation progressed much faster.
The area was cordoned off, and some curious commoners came over to take a look.
"Isn't this Old Li's house? How did it collapse?"
"It's probably because no one has lived here for too long. I remember Old Li took his wife and children south for more than two months. When no one lives in a house, problems are likely to occur."
The soldiers waved them away, saying, "Go home, everyone, and don't gather here."
...
More than an hour passed in the blink of an eye.
Suddenly someone shouted, "Third Young Master, I've seen the hem of that young lady's dress!"
Qin Qinian, who had just taken a sip of water from his water pouch, perked up and went over with the pouch in hand. Sure enough, he saw a piece of light blue cloth peeking out from a pile of rubble not far away. He led the men to move the stones, and as soon as the first slightly larger stone was moved, Qin Qinian saw bloodstains.
He paused for a moment, then worked even harder to carry the load. "Hey, how are you? Are you still alive?"
"It's...it's alright."
Hearing a reply, Qin Qinian became even more energetic. While talking to Fan Muqi, he led his men to continue moving stones. "After this ordeal, you should finally believe that there isn't a single good person in the Green Lotus Sect. They were just using you as a pawn, exploiting you. If it weren't for our good luck, we would have really died here today. By the way, which bookstore did you just mention?"
"The Lai Mo Bookstore in the west of the city." The voice below was weak, but better than at the beginning.
Qin Qinian then asked, "Did they only have one place to stay? Besides that bookstore in the west of the city, where else did you go with them?"
“I was assigned to stay at the bookstore, while Di Ting and Bai Xiang have other accommodations. However…” At this point, the person below coughed twice, making Qin Qinian’s heart pound with fear, afraid that she might suddenly pass away and not be able to finish her sentence.
"But what?" the boy pressed.
"They always came by donkey cart. On two occasions, I noticed a few osmanthus petals stuck to the wheels of the cart; there must be osmanthus trees near where they lived. And..."
Her voice suddenly rose, "Once I was looking for them, and the servant was ordered to go and announce my arrival. About half an hour later, I saw the white elephant. They must live not far from the bookstore!"
After clearing away some of the surrounding stones, Qin Qinian finally saw that Fan Muqi was being pressed down by a rather large stone slab.
The stone slab didn't press on her head, but only on her lower body.
"You guys move it over there, and I'll move it over here with them." After Qin Qinian finished giving the instructions, he said to Fan Muqi, "Just hold on a little longer. Once you're out, I'll take you to get medical treatment. Then you can tell me more about the inside story."
They were all strong and capable elites, and they also had tools at their disposal. Soon, the stone slab pressing down on Fan Muqi was slowly moved away.
Qin Qinian was overjoyed and was about to speak when he saw Fan Muqi suddenly vomit a mouthful of blood. The girl, who had been so energetic just moments before, was now withering away like a dead flower.
Qin Qinian stood there, stunned. "What's wrong with you?"
Hu Bao, who later returned, was also in this place.
He had fought on far more battlefields with Qin Shaozong than Qin Qinian. He remembered one time after a siege, the city wall had probably been in disrepair for years, so a small landslide occurred, burying several soldiers who happened to be below the city.
The prisoners have value; once everything is settled, they will naturally be rescued.
However, those who were still able to speak died within a very short time after the stone slabs pressing on them were removed.
Later, Hu Bao learned from Mr. Ding that poor blood circulation could cause necrosis of internal organs, which was no different from severe internal injury.
"Third Young Master, I'm afraid she won't make it," Hu Bao said.
Author's Note: Please give me some nutrient solution! [clasped hands in prayer]
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