Chapter 118 Fire
Raobeiying.
Xia Zhihua sat next to Lu Shiyan and asked in confusion, "What's going on with General Song? Why did he send us to suppress the pirates?"
They are all newly recruited soldiers!
They hadn't even been training for a few days, but they were already so impatient to send them out to suppress pirates.
I'm afraid that suppressing pirates is fake, and letting them die is the real deal.
The day before yesterday, Lu Shiyan was called in by General Song for a talk. Afterwards, everyone praised him for his past as a general at the border. When he was finally promoted to the position of Quchang, he felt that something was wrong.
It came true today.
Although the situation was extremely grim, he was not panicked. "Don't worry, I promised Manager Xia that I would keep you safe. Just relax and go to sleep to get some rest. Don't delay our departure tomorrow."
This time they were brought to the woods for training!
However, they had only been training for a few days when they suddenly received an order for Lu Shiyan to lead troops to suppress pirates.
Xia Zhihua couldn't sleep at all, but there was nothing he could do.
He was just a new recruit, so he had no other options. In the end, he could only pin his hopes on Lu Shiyan.
Putting aside what happened in Rao Beiying, Jiang Tangtang and Zhao Jia went back to the farm together that day. They had originally planned to stay there that night, but suddenly remembered that they had something to do, so they hurried back to the county town. They were so busy that when they returned to the shop, it was already dark.
Jiang Tangtang was so tired that she just wanted to go back to wash up and go to bed, but when she walked to the back door of the yard, she saw someone stealthily pouring something against the wall. When he saw someone coming back, he dropped the things and ran away.
But Guo Yu would not let him get away like that. He pounced on him and pushed him to the ground.
"Who are you? What were you doing just now?" Guo Yu held the man and said in a rough voice.
"No...I didn't do anything, just let me go..." the man said, shrinking his neck.
Jiang Tangtang picked up the things the man had thrown away and smelled them. A fierce look suddenly appeared in her eyes. She walked over and stepped on the man's chest and said, "You poured sesame oil into my house. Are you trying to burn it down? Do you have a grudge against my family? Or did someone ask you to come?"
"You actually tried to set fire!" Guo Yu slapped the man in the face several times and shouted angrily, "Tell the truth, or I'll send you to the authorities!"
"It's none of my business. Someone gave me ten taels of silver and told me to dump the stuff in your yard. I didn't realize he was planning to set it on fire!"
The man wailed, "If you don't believe me, search me. I don't even have a lighter, how can I start a fire?"
Guo Yu searched him thoroughly, but found nothing except ten taels of silver and a few copper coins.
Guo Yu kicked him angrily and said unwillingly, "Sister Jiang, what should we do? Are we just going to let him go? Or I'll just beat him to death!"
"Hero, please spare my life. I won't dare to do it again. Please forgive me! As long as you forgive me, my life will belong to you from now on. I will do whatever you ask me to do!"
The man knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Jiang Tangtang and Guo Yu repeatedly.
Jiang Tangtang pursed her lips, glanced around, and said to Guo Yu, "Don't fight yet. Bring the person in. I'll ask him carefully. You keep an eye out. If anyone suspicious comes over, arrest them."
"Yes!" Guo Yu tied up the man and threw him into the yard. He quickly climbed up a tree on the side of the road, curled up into a ball, hid in the lush bushes, and carefully observed his surroundings.
Such a loud noise woke up everyone in the room and they all came out to check.
When they saw the man tied up on the ground, everyone was shocked and asked Jiang Tangtang what was going on.
Jiang Tangtang briefly recounted what had just happened and said, "Guo Yu is guarding outside. You should also be alert and make sure no one burns the house down."
Several servants lowered their heads in shame.
If Jiang Tangtang and the others hadn't rushed back in the middle of the night and happened to meet them, the house might have been burned down.
Jiang Tangtang ignored the few people, lit the candle, and looked at the man carefully.
It was dark outside just now, so I couldn't see the man's face clearly. Now I see that he is actually quite good-looking and not very old, maybe around 22 or 23 years old.
He was born with a good appearance, but unfortunately he is a thief!
Jiang Tangtang spitted inwardly and said coldly, "Was the person who gave you the money a man or a woman? What did they look like? Would you recognize them if you saw them again?"
"It's a man!" The man cautiously hunched his neck and hesitated for a moment before saying, "It was too dark, I couldn't see clearly, I only heard his voice."
"How did he find you?" Jiang Tangtang stared at his face, trying to figure out if he was lying.
The man was unable to speak and said, "I was really out of money, so I wanted to steal something. Then he gave me a jar and said that if I poured water on your house, he would give me ten taels of silver."
"What if you just took the money and didn't do what he said? What else are you hiding from me?" Jiang Tangtang suddenly said in a stern voice.
"without……"
"You won't tell me, right? If you don't tell me, I'll send you to the government!" Jiang Tangtang said as he was about to call for help.
The man was anxious and said quickly: "Don't..."
He gritted his teeth and stammered, "It's the household registration certificate that allows me to go to Beijing to take the imperial examination! I... I know stealing is wrong, but someone stole my travel expenses and I really have no way to deal with it. I didn't expect that I would be caught just after I had such evil intentions. He said that as long as I did what he said, he would return the household registration certificate to me, and then give me another 100 taels of silver so that I could go to Beijing to take the imperial examination."
"What place and what time?" Jiang Tangtang asked indifferently.
"It's at the entrance of the alley ahead, three quarters past midnight."
Jiang Tangtang was immediately anxious and angry when she heard this, "Why didn't you say so earlier!"
There might have been someone hiding at the entrance of the alley just now. The noise they made just now might have scared the other person away.
She immediately called someone to check at the entrance of the alley in front, but of course they found nothing.
"Forget it, come back and rest. Let's send the people to the yamen tomorrow!" Jiang Tangtang called everyone to go back and rest.
But Guo Yu insisted on staying on the tree to prevent anyone from setting fire in the middle of the night.
Jiang Tangtang thought it was better to be safe than sorry, so she didn't try to persuade him anymore. She just said, "Okay, you've worked hard. I'll give you a big red envelope during the Chinese New Year."
"I don't want a big red envelope. I want to eat the delicious food made by Sister Jiang." Guo Yu said with a smile.
"Okay, I'll make you a delicious meal as a reward tomorrow!" Jiang Tangtang said with a smile.
Several other servants also expressed their willingness to stand guard outside like Guo Yu, but Jiang Tangtang said, "You all have work to do tomorrow. Don't even think about slacking off. Go to sleep."
Although the shop has been renovated, the necessary food needs to be prepared in advance.
For example, winter melon candy, a food with a relatively long production cycle, and pickled salted eggs.
Jiang Tangtang also washed up and went back to her room to rest. She slept until midnight when someone suddenly knocked on the door.
"There's a fire! Sister Jiang is on fire!"
Jiang Tangtang sat up suddenly, not even bothering to put on her shoes, and ran out, "Quick, quick, put out the fire!"
"Sister Jiang, don't worry, it's not our house that's on fire!" Guo Yu said.
Jiang Tangtang breathed a sigh of relief. "Then where did the fire start? Why don't you tell me clearly?"
"There's a fire over there!" Guo Yu pointed at the billowing smoke in the distance and said, "That seems to be the Jiuxia Silver Shop."
Jiang Tangtang's heart, which had just calmed down, began to rise again. She quickly went to retrieve the man she had captured last night and asked, "Did you have anything to do with the fire over there?"
The man cried, "No! I really don't know. I was tied up by you and didn't move at all all night. It really has nothing to do with me."
Jiang Tangtang was too lazy to watch a grown man cry, so she called Li Xiangchen and others over, asked them to look after the shop and the tied-up man, and then took Guo Yu to Jiuxia Silver Shop.
After the two went over, they found that it was not Jiuxia Silver House that was on fire, but Jingfulou, which was diagonally opposite Jiuxia Silver House, that was on fire.
However, although it was not Jiuxia Silver Shop that caught fire, the houses in ancient times were all connected in a row and were built with a lot of wood. If the fire was not put out, not only would Jiuxia Silver Shop not be spared, but the entire street would eventually be reduced to ashes.
Everyone came out with water to put out the fire. Jiang Tangtang and Guo Yu also found buckets and joined in the firefighting.
The fire was not put out until daybreak. Not only was Jingfu Building burned to ashes, but several shops adjacent to it also suffered heavy losses.
"What's going on with you guys at Jingfu Building? Why aren't you paying attention? Are you trying to kill everyone on the street?"
Before the fire was put out, everyone was focused on putting it out. Now that the fire was out, everyone gathered around the owner of Jingfulou to hold him accountable.
Yan Yongshou was sitting on the ground, covered in dust, staring at the burned Jingfu Building for a long time.
"Boss Yan, the fire started in your house and burned my shop down like that. Tell me what we should do!"
"That's right, my shop was almost burned down, and my mother was almost scared to death. You have to give us an explanation for such a huge loss!"
The owner of a nearby shop whose shop had been burned down two years ago surrounded Yan Yongshou and demanded compensation.
Yan Yongshou's eyes were dull as he listened to people's criticism in a daze. Suddenly, he saw Chu Mingyu in the crowd. As if a switch was touched, he stood up and rushed towards Chu Mingyu.
"It's you, isn't it?" His eyes bulged, and his cheeks flushed red with anger. "It was you who set fire to my shop, wasn't it?"
Chu Mingyu got up in the middle of the night to put out a fire. Not only did he save the neighbor's shop, but he was also slandered. He immediately lost his temper and scolded coldly, "Boss Yan, this is not the way to throw dirty water on me! If you dare to throw dirty water on me again, I will go to the government to sue you."
"If not you, then who else?" Yan Yongshou gasped, "You're just jealous of us, so you set fire to my shop!"
Chu Mingyu shouted, "Why am I jealous of you? Am I jealous that your shop doesn't do as well as mine? Or am I still remembering your mean face, repaying kindness with enmity?"
"You, you, you--" Yan Yongshou breathed heavily in his chest, and pointed at Chu Mingyu with a trembling index finger.
At this time, someone came running over with a sobbing voice and said, "Boss, Zhou Fu is missing. Could he be buried in there?"
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