Meng Ruliu carried the unconscious Su Wan in her arms and rushed out of the woodshed, looking around.
Thick smoke billowed from the direction of the main hall, obscuring the sky and causing screams to erupt. She rushed into the room and found Su Wan unconscious. She quickly picked Su Wan up and ran out.
In just a short while, a fire broke out outside the wall of their own bamboo grove, with flames leaping higher than the top of the wall. The fire was fueled by the wind, and the wind fanned the flames, instantly igniting half of the bamboo grove. The bamboo crackled and popped in the flames, emitting choking smoke.
Such a large fire could not have been caused by something as trivial as an oil lamp falling over; someone must have set it on fire.
She didn't have time to consider who did it; she just wanted to get Su Wan away from Tongchan Temple first.
She ran a few steps when a bamboo stalk engulfed in flames came crashing down. She dodged it, but the flaming bamboo struck the roof of the woodshed. The wood in front of the woodshed was covered with firewood, which was instantly ignited by the sparks.
Meng Ruliu turned around and exclaimed in surprise, "Master!"
Huiming's calm voice rang out from inside the woodshed: "Don't worry, benefactor. All beings have their own destiny. Go."
Several more bamboo stalks fell, and the fire in the woodshed grew larger. Huiming chanted a Buddhist prayer inside and then fell silent.
Meng Ruliu was unfamiliar with the layout of Tongchan Temple and assumed that the only exit was at the front gate. Seeing thick smoke all around, she followed the path she had come from, carrying Su Wan as she ran towards the main hall.
Halfway there, dozens of people and monks came running from the direction of the front hall. One monk pointed behind her and shouted, "Benefactor, don't go this way, hurry, run to the back!"
Meng Ruliu asked, "What about the front gate?"
The monk said, "The fire is too big; we can't get out at all. Let's go this way quickly."
Meng Ruli joined the group and followed the monk to a side gate. There were no signs of fire outside the wall on this side. An iron padlock hung on the side gate. The monk took out a bunch of keys, inserted one into the lock, and turned it a few times but couldn't open it. He quickly tried another key.
The people crowded at the door, weeping. Inside were elderly people, women, several monks, and a young, strong man.
Seeing thick smoke billowing into the sky all around, the young man jumped up in panic and shouted, "Open the door quickly!"
The monk was sweating profusely with anxiety. His hands trembled as he tried to insert another key into the lock, but he couldn't open it no matter how hard he tried. He asked, "What's wrong?"
Meng Ruliu was blocked by the crowd and couldn't get through, so she shouted, "Everyone, make way, I'll kick the door open."
Before the crowd could disperse, the young man panicked, jumped up, grabbed the top of the wall with both hands, kicked the wall a few times, and climbed up.
He stood on the wall, his gaze fixed outside, and suddenly exclaimed with delight, "It's government soldiers, they..." Before he could finish speaking, an arrow flew and struck him in the face, causing him to fall headfirst off the wall.
Meng Ruliu noticed all this and exclaimed in alarm, "We can't go out!"
“If you don’t get out, you’ll be burned to death,” the monk said, unlocking the door and pulling open the side gate. “Everyone, run out quickly!”
Terrified by the fire, the people paid no attention to the man, nor did they heed Meng Ruliu's warnings, rushing out of the door in a frenzy. Outside, bowstrings twanged repeatedly, followed by the dull thud of arrows striking wooden planks, and the people screamed in terror.
"Shoot the arrows, don't let a single one escape." A man's muffled voice rang out from outside, as if he had a walnut in his mouth.
Meng Ruliu heard it clearly; the short, fat man outside was the one she had slapped. She wanted to fight her way out, but holding Su Wan, she couldn't use her double whips. If she really rushed out, neither of them would survive. She could only move away from the side gate and hide in an open space, stamping her foot and saying, "This is troublesome."
It's the height of summer, and Tongchan Temple is entirely covered in trees, so if a fire breaks out, there's nowhere to hide. Burning trees keep falling, blocking the roads.
Just as she was panicking, she heard Su Wan weakly say from her arms, "Sister-in-law, what's wrong with me?"
Meng Ruliu said, "You just fainted. The temple caught fire. It was the soldiers who did it."
Su Wan turned to look at the surrounding fire and said, "It was Jia Tuo who set the fire, trying to kill us. He's ruthless enough to come up with such a vicious method."
Meng Ruliu said, "Let's not talk about that now. How are we going to escape?"
In just a short while, Meng Ruliu realized that fires had broken out all around them, and only the open space where the two of them were standing was relatively safe. Even so, the heat was stinging her face, not to mention the enemy archers guarding the outside of the wall. She didn't know where to escape.
Su Wan jumped down from her arms and said, "Sister-in-law, put this on first."
Meng Ruliu saw two strange masks suddenly appear in Su Wan's hands. The masks were somewhat similar to the clown masks that Bai Zhiyi had worn before, and they also had straps, but the mouth area was a short, thick cylinder, and the eye area was transparent glass.
“A simple smoke mask,” Su Wan said, putting it on her. “It’s for preventing the inhalation of thick smoke. There happen to be two in the apartment.”
After putting on their masks, Su Wan held Meng Ruliu's hand, looked at the surrounding fire, and said, "There's no way out."
Seeing that Su Wan's tone was completely calm, Meng Ruliu said, "Sister-in-law, are you really not afraid? Why are you so calm?"
“It’s alright, I won’t die. Master Huiming said so.”
"Don't mention that old monk again; he himself was burned to death."
The two stood there for a while longer, watching as the fire grew larger and thick smoke billowed towards them. Fortunately, they were wearing masks, so they could still breathe. However, their exposed skin was burned red. Su Wan emptied water from her water pouch to wet their skin, preventing blisters from forming.
Meng Ruliu felt utterly helpless and hugged Su Wan, crying, "I never imagined we'd be burned to death here."
Su Wan said, "Don't cry, sister-in-law, there's definitely hope."
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