Chapter 96: Decision in Fire
Hour of Hai
The scattered spectators in Shixianglou were listening with great interest when they suddenly noticed the fire and immediately the crowd ran out in a disorderly manner.
Upon hearing about the fire, Su Shengsheng was the first to stop playing cards and said, "Second Brother Bao, take a few of the old shopkeepers out first."
Qing Ning opened the door and saw the fire raging downstairs. She turned back and said, "Miss, I'll go help evacuate too."
Su Shengsheng was helping to lift up an elderly man who was so frightened that he could not stand, and she warned Qing Ning, "You should be careful too."
Shopkeeper Yu originally thought that the game was about to be decided, but when he saw Su Shengsheng discard his cards and leave, a complicated look flashed in his eyes.
Amidst the chaos upstairs and downstairs, Uncle Liu San also stood up and helped the old shopkeeper downstairs with everyone else.
Su Shengsheng walked out of the wing room and saw Zai Qing hurried upstairs, so she handed the old man to him and said, "Don't panic, send everyone out first."
Seeing that people were in chaos and without any order, she decided to evacuate everyone first.
The water in the water tank here is not enough.
Besides, it’s too late to pick it up now.
He glanced at the flame-shrouded kitchen and the panicked crowd pouring out from everywhere, then looked back at Zai Qing. Seeing that Ning Jie was nowhere to be found, he was suddenly startled: "Where is Ning Jie?"
Zai Qing, who was helping a few elderly people downstairs, was also surprised. "Just now, when I went to collect the bill, the young master was still in the private room?"
The door was open at this moment, and Ning Jie was not inside.
"Ning Jie!" Qing Ning, who was in the crowd on the stairs, shouted anxiously, regardless of the choking smoke.
Su Shengsheng pushed open the doors of several other private rooms upstairs, but found no one there.
Although Ning Jie is usually taciturn in front of others, he is not so indifferent as to hear the shouting.
Could it be that he was frightened by the sudden fire and hid in a corner?
Thinking of this, Su Shengsheng ran out of the box and shouted to Brother Bao who was evacuating the crowd, "You evacuate the people, I'll go find Ning Jie."
Ning Jie has a strange personality, and usually only Su Shengsheng can control him.
The others were afraid that he would be frightened and hide even further, so they all agreed quickly.
It was okay for the other people upstairs, after all, it was late at night and the guests with children had already gone home.
The rest are adults, and they are evacuating in an orderly manner according to the evacuation instructions.
Su Shengsheng opened the lid of the teapot, poured the tea all over the handkerchief, covered her mouth and nose with it, and pushed open the doors of the private rooms one by one to search.
In just a short while, the fire below became bigger and bigger.
Just when Su Shengsheng was extremely anxious and couldn't find Ning Jie, she suddenly saw the little fat bird, who had been healed but Ning Jie refused to let her return to the forest, stumbling and flying towards her.
It flapped its tender little wings and chirped eagerly.
A glimmer of hope flashed in Su Shengsheng's eyes, and she immediately followed.
The kitchen was undoubtedly the source of the fire. At this moment, the flames had turned into a layer of fire cloud.
Seeing the little fat bird flying in recklessly, Su Shengsheng followed without hesitation.
The flames burned people and the smoke was so thick that people couldn't open their eyes.
Su Shengsheng half relied on the little fat boy to lead the way, and half followed the route she remembered, and walked all the way to the back of the kitchen without any obstruction.
When she saw Ning Jie lying motionless on the ground, she was shocked.
"Ning Jie."
She tentatively felt his breath and found that he was still breathing, but she couldn't wake him up, so she could only try to half-lift him up.
The restaurant was built entirely of wood, and the fire spread very quickly.
If the fire had not been blocked by the stove and Ning Jie had not fallen to the ground with air flowing, he would have died in the fire.
Just as Su Shengsheng was struggling to pick up Ning Jie, the sound of wood exploding suddenly came from above her head.
Then, a figure suddenly rushed over: "Miss Su, be careful!"
Everything happened so fast that when Su Shengsheng clearly heard a loud bang, she had already been pushed out.
Ji Yanli rushed forward and pushed Su Shengsheng away, but in the end he could not avoid the huge rafter falling from above his head.
"Hmm..." The heavy rafter, which was as long as a person, hit his leg hard, knocking him to the ground in an instant.
Even though there were strange noises in her ears, when Su Shengsheng looked up, she heard the sound of bones breaking coming from under the purlins.
The flames quickly spread from the purlins, illuminating the beads of sweat that instantly covered Ji Yanli's forehead.
Seeing this, Su Shengsheng quickly dragged Ning Jie to a shelter from the fire and anxiously looked for tools that could be used to lift the purlins.
This restaurant uses a raised beam structure with layers stacked on top of each other. Although this purlin is not a load-bearing structure, it is the key to fixing the rafters.
Without the support of the purlins, the wooden boards above the rafters would soon fall to the ground, and the situation would be critical.
When Ji Yanli saw her put Ning Jie down to save him, his eyes couldn't help but warm up, but he shouted, "It's too late, take Ning Jie out quickly."
The main door of Shixianglou was wide open, the cold wind rushed in, and the fire rolled in.
Su Shengsheng seemed not to hear it. She picked up two water-carrying poles and a heavy chopping board and came to Ji Yanli's side.
"When I say three, you pull your legs out."
Ji Yanli saw her put down the chopping board, and then placed two shoulder poles on it and extended them under the rafters at his legs.
I understand now.
Before he could think about it, Su Shengsheng had already started to push: "One, two, three."
Fortunately, only one of Ji Yanli's legs was trapped under the purlin. Upon hearing this, he tried his best and finally pulled his leg out from under the purlin.
At this moment, the sound of explosions could be heard above the head.
Ji Yanli had no feeling in his legs. He knew that he couldn't move and was afraid of dragging her down, so he shouted, "Miss Su, save Ning Jie first, and then let others save me!"
Su Shengsheng didn't respond, but just said, "Help me watch it."
The flames were everywhere, and Ji Yanli could only see her determined eyes.
Su Shengsheng's expression was calm, but her movements were extremely quick.
It’s not that she hadn’t thought about saving them one by one, or calling for help.
But the sound of explosions above her head was so frequent, how could she wait for someone to rescue her?
If there was still time, she could save herself without risking others.
Now, everything depends on God's will.
Su Shengsheng quickly fetched a basin of water and poured it on herself and the other two. Then she carefully helped Ji Yanli sit on the skateboard she had made for Ning Jie, and then picked up Ning Jie and put him in his arms.
Because of what happened on the mountain, Su Shengsheng didn't have time to take Ning Jie roller skating, so she made a skateboard for him.
This skateboard was specially widened by Su Shengsheng to improve Ning Jie's sense of balance, so even if Ji Yanli sits on it and holds Ning Jie, he can maintain balance.
Fortunately, Ning Jie likes this skateboard and always carries it with him for fun.
Ji Yanli originally struggled to stand up, wanting Su Shengsheng to hold Ning Jie while he followed behind.
But unexpectedly, she pulled him directly to sit on something that could roll, and then Ning Jie was also put into his arms.
Just when he was confused, he heard Su Shengsheng shout, "Hold on tight!"
Su Shengsheng held the person tightly with one hand and the board tightly with the other, and suddenly rushed out.
Fortunately, in order to facilitate the transportation of goods, the restaurant did not design a threshold in the back kitchen, so Su Shengsheng was able to push the person out quickly.
At this time, Zai Qing had already evacuated the crowd, but could not find Su Shengsheng, so he hurriedly rushed up the stairs to look for her.
When he saw Su Shengsheng rushing out of the sea of fire with others in another stairwell, he immediately shouted, "Sister, the young lady is here!"
There was chaos just now, and they didn't even know when Su Shengsheng went to the kitchen.
As Su Shengsheng still hadn't come out after waiting for a long time, Yanshu followed Ji Yanli back to the inn. Not far away, they heard someone shouting that there was a fire, so the two turned back.
Just now they went in from the left and right to help look for someone, and they didn't know that the young master went to the kitchen where the danger was the most.
Yanshu was horrified when he saw Ji Yanli, looking extremely pale, emerge from the sea of fire. "Young Master..."
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