Chapter 76: Another Explosion

In the dim light of the street, Shizi and Bai Carp were hurrying to escape Red Clothes Lane, first running north, then turning west...

The two were no longer composed and calm; their clothes were torn in several places, and their hair was disheveled.

They were running and panting when they suddenly heard a massive explosion behind them. Immediately after, the entire Luo City seemed to awaken, and the watchdogs of every household began barking madly.

Bai Carp stopped in her tracks, her face filled with worry, and turned to look at Red Clothes Lane. "What happened? How could there be such a sound?"

Shizi thought for a moment. "It sounds like someone used a firearm. When I observed the Shenji Camp drilling with cannons with my father, it was this kind of sound."

"Cannons?"

Bai Carp was startled. She turned around, wanting to head back towards Anxi Street.

Shizi's face changed dramatically, and he quickly pulled her arm. "My little ancestor, where are you going? We just managed to escape with great difficulty!"

Bai Carp turned back and said urgently, "That cannon, it couldn't be aimed at the person who just saved us, could it? Even a high-ranking official has to temporarily avoid the sharpness of a cannon's power. How could he withstand it?"

Shizi was also conflicted. "According to reason, the main Shenji Camp is a hundred li away. Unless there is a major crisis, they would absolutely not enter Luo City."

Moreover, even if the Shenji Camp came, they wouldn't dare use cannons arbitrarily inside the city.

"I guess it shouldn't be a cannon. Maybe it's something else... We should go back and save him. That knight-errant saved us, and we can't be heartless."

"How can we save him?" Bai Carp asked.

Shizi thought for a moment, then clenched his teeth and said, "If we just run back like this, we definitely won't be able to save him. Follow me to the Qian Sui Army barracks and find Uncle Wang to mobilize soldiers to surround Red Clothes Lane."

"As long as you and I can persuade Uncle Wang to bring the Qian Sui Army, no matter how elite the Jie Fan Guard is, there are only five hundred of them!"

"Can we persuade Uncle Wang? He won't move without seeing Father's tiger tally," Bai Carp said worriedly.

"I'll kowtow to Uncle Wang. I guarantee it will be effective!"

Bai Carp: ...

At this moment, the sound of horse hooves came from afar. Shizi quickly pulled Bai Carp into a dark alley and found an abandoned bamboo mat basket inside the alley to cover the two of them.

A moment later, five hundred riders of the Jie Fan Guard passed by outside the alley. Their neat hats, rain capes, and waist knives gleamed under the moonlight on the stone-paved road, looking particularly cold and solemn.

Beside Lin Chaoqing, a young man pulled the reins and rode alongside him. "Adult, will the Gold Pig fail this time?"

"No," Lin Chaoqing said flatly.

"He arbitrarily mobilized the Jie Fan Guard from my Mengjin Grand Camp yet returned without merit, failing to catch a single Jingchao thief. Why don't we take this opportunity to capture him and bring him back to the capital?" The young man said with doubt. "Even if this matter is taken to the Inner Minister Adult, we would be in the right."

"These twelve zodiacs of the Secret Agent Office act arrogantly and overbearingly. Catching them is removing a harm for the people."

Lin Chaoqing looked forward, his waist straight even while riding a horse, like a long spear. "Jiao Rabbit and Cloud Sheep have no foundation in the Secret Scheme Office. They can be dealt with."

"The Gold Pig is different. These years, he has been loyal to the Inner Minister Adult heart and soul, and he has Tian Ma protecting him. Such a small matter alone cannot move him."

As they spoke, the Jie Fan Guard gradually rode away.

Not knowing how long had passed, Shizi determined that there was no one outside the alley. Only then did he remove the broken basket from himself and Bai Carp. "They don't seem to have caught anyone. We don't need to go back and save that person."

"This person is truly formidable, actually able to escape from the hands of the Secret Scheme Office and the Jie Fan Guard."

Bai Carp hesitated for a moment and asked, "Brother, do you recognize the person who saved us? Does he feel a bit familiar?"

Shizi said awkwardly, "At that time, I only thought about how to escape, I really didn't observe carefully... Could it be one of the Jianghu people I befriended before? Seeing us in danger, they came out and risked their lives to help?"

Mentioning those Jianghu people, Bai Carp suddenly said with annoyance, "What kind of people are the ones you befriend? When there's danger, they just run away by themselves! It's definitely not those Jianghu people, they are fake friends!"

"There are some good ones too..."

"Anyway, I won't pay for their wine money again in the future," Bai Carp said angrily. "These people spend money like water when they drink, they want to eat the best, and drink the best wine. When it comes to food, wine, and beauty, they are full of principles, but at the crucial moment, not a single one is reliable."

"I don't feel bad about the money, I despise their mouths full of chivalry."

Shizi scratched his head. "Okay, okay, in the future I won't pay for their wine money... Right, you just said that the knight-errant who saved us looked a bit familiar. Do you recognize who it was?"

Bai Carp was silent for a moment. "No, I don't recognize anyone either."

She actually had a guess in her heart, but she ultimately did not say it out loud. Instead, she chose to bury it silently in her heart and prepare to verify it carefully herself.

Bai Carp pulled down her hair pin, lifted both arms, and tied up her hair again. Only then did they set off again.

The two of them hid and dodged all the way east and west, returning to Anxi Street. When they saw the guards and the plaque of the Jing Wang Fu from afar, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Bai Carp did not flip back into the Wang Fu from the back garden. She suddenly said to Shizi, "Brother, let's go back through Taiping Medical Hall. There's a ladder there."

Shizi supported his knees with both hands, panting and saying in surprise, "You said when you came out tonight that you would never go through Taiping Medical Hall again, and you would definitely not let that little thief Chen Ji earn your travel fee. Why did you change your mind?"

Bai Carp rolled her eyes. "Isn't it okay if I don't want to flip the wall? How convenient is it to have a ladder?"

Shizi also rolled his eyes. "Women are all so fickle."

The two of them quietly slipped to the entrance of Taiping Medical Hall, just wanting to pull the door open, but discovered that the door was bolted from the inside.

Bai Carp thought for a moment and called out, "Chen Ji, Chen Ji, we've come to give you the travel fee!"

Silence.

No one responded from inside the door.

Bai Carp's guess was further confirmed in her heart. She bent down and leaned down to the door crack to shout, "Chen Ji, this time I'll give you ten taels of silver!"

Still quiet.

Still no one responded.

Bai Carp muttered, "He's really not inside."

As soon as her words fell, there was a creaking sound, and the door opened.

Bai Carp was startled and slowly lifted her head, only to see Old Man Yao standing calmly at the door.

She said awkwardly, "Taiyi Yao, did we disturb you? Where's Chen Ji? Why didn't he come to open the door?"

Old Man Yao said expressionlessly, "The County Lord and the Shizi are not sleeping in the middle of the night, running to my Taiping Medical Hall. What are you doing? I am ninety-two years old and cannot stand this kind of commotion from you."

Bai Carp quickly thought, "Taiyi Yao, my brother and I are feeling a bit unwell. Can you let us in and take our pulse?"

Old Man Yao looked at her, actually reaching across the door threshold and directly pinching her wrist to take her pulse.

A moment later, Old Man Yao said, "Your brain has a disease, it cannot be cured. Please go back."

"Did you diagnose the pulse incorrectly? Let me go in and sit down, and diagnose again carefully," Bai Carp tried to squeeze past Old Man Yao into the door, but Old Man Yao seemed to anticipate it and quickly closed the door.

With a bang, the wooden door closed tightly.

Old Man Yao's voice floated out from the door crack. "Shizi and County Lord, go back to the Wang Fu from somewhere else. If you cause any more trouble, when the Wang Ye comes back, I will definitely report this matter to him."

Bai Carp still wanted to knock on the door, but Shizi pulled her to leave quickly. "Let's go, let's go. It's estimated that Chen Ji letting us borrow the road has already made Taiyi Yao angry. Let's not make things difficult for Chen Ji, and go through the back garden."

"If Taiyi Yao really reports this matter to Father, maybe your monthly allowance will also be cut off..."

Bai Carp was pulled away, taking three steps back and looking back at the tightly closed wooden door, but she had to give up the idea of investigating the truth.

She doubted in her heart, "Could it be that Chen Ji hasn't come back yet, so Taiyi Yao is helping to cover for him? It must be like this."

"But if it's true, as the Jie Fan Guard said, the Secret Agent Office didn't catch Chen Ji, then where would Chen Ji be at this time?"

Under the night sky, Chen Ji was limping through the complex small alleys.

He slowly stopped, bent over panting, and untied the cloth strip wrapped around the wound on his right leg, then retightened it.

The wounds on his chest and leg were excruciatingly painful, but the matter tonight was not over yet. He had no time to stop and rest.

Chen Ji lifted his head and looked around at his surroundings, then continued running towards the meeting point he had agreed upon with Wu Yun.

After turning two more small alleys, he saw Wu Yun squatting on the eaves of the small alley wall, saying with concern, "Are you okay?"

Chen Ji bent over and sighed, panting. "The Gold Pig is probably a master of the Seek Dao realm. Even such a powerful firecracker couldn't blow him to death. The foundation of a high-ranking official is immeasurable. This world is even more terrifying than I imagined."

"If it weren't for the gunpowder nearby, I would probably be on my way to being pressed back into the inner prison by now."

Wu Yun meowed again. "I'm asking about your wound. Why don't you go back and find your master? Let him treat your wound first."

Chen Ji shook his head. "No, I must kill Shopkeeper Yuan first."

The Secret Agent Office surrounded and captured the Gold Workshop tonight. If he thinks I leaked the secret, he's probably already considering how to kill me... Can you grasp his whereabouts now?

Wu Yun replied, "He finished delivering goods to other medical halls at noon, then went straight back to his residence on Tongji Street in the afternoon, and hasn't come out since."

During the daytime, Shopkeeper Yuan drove an ox cart to deliver goods to Taiping Medical Hall. When he left, two tabby cats secretly followed him, always tracking the opponent.

Just now, Chen Ji and Wu Yun acted separately, specifically to let the tabby cats find that two tabby cats.

"It seems Shopkeeper Yuan knew about the Gold Pig's surrounding and capturing plan at noon," Chen Ji frowned. "Who told him? Was it those more than ten medical halls? Wu Yun, which medical halls did he go to?"

Wu Yun shook her head. "The tabby cats' brains can't remember that much information. At most, they can recall a part of it."

Chen Ji thought, "Okay, as long as Shopkeeper Yuan is dead, who gave him the information also doesn't matter to me."

Saying that, he supported himself against the wall and stood up, wanting to continue hurrying.

However, tonight he first killed six secret agents, and after severely injuring the Gold Pig, he ran across roofs one by one, almost completely exhausted.

After walking just two steps, he felt his legs go weak, and he could barely walk.

Wu Yun said worriedly, "Go back to the medical hall."

Chen Ji shook his head. "Take me to his residence. Shopkeeper Yuan must die tonight."

Tongji Street has always been a place where merchants gather. Unlike the courtyards of scholarly families, inside here, the stone lions in front of the doors are grander than the last, the horse carts stopped in front of the doors are more exquisite than the last, and the plaques and door frames are higher than the last, as if they are afraid of being compared down by their neighbors.

According to Ning Dynasty law, merchants and pear garden actors were not allowed to ride horse carts; they had to have the identity of a scholar or above to do so.

However, in recent years, the folk workshops of the Ning Dynasty have become more and more famous, and there are also more and more merchants. Relying on their backers, they have changed their carts to horse carts, and if they are checked, they just stuff some silver to muddle through. This law has also gradually become a mere formality.

At this time, Yuan Fu was quiet like a graveyard; there were no servants or attendants at all.

Shopkeeper Yuan sat in the main hall, with the doors and windows tightly closed. Although it was clearly late at night, he was still dressed neatly, as if patiently waiting for the long night to end.

Sizzle.

He suddenly heard a strange sound coming from outside the door. This sizzling sound was abnormally abrupt in the middle of the night.

Shopkeeper Yuan's face was solemn as he stood up and slowly approached the door, leaning against the door crack to listen to exactly what this sound was.

Creak.

Shopkeeper Yuan saw someone from outside pull open his window, throw in a bamboo tube, and then carefully help him close the window again.

Not good!

Shopkeeper Yuan looked at the fuse that was almost burned out and immediately wanted to break out of the door, but someone seemed to be blocking the door from the outside, so he couldn't push it open for a moment!

Chen Ji's strength was ultimately not as great as Shopkeeper Yuan's. Shopkeeper Yuan only needed to exert more force, and Chen Ji tilted his body and pushed against the ground with both feet, but he was still able to force open a door gap wide enough for two arms.

Shopkeeper Yuan looked outside through the door gap, only to see Chen Ji pushing against the door with both hands, his gaze cold and deep as he looked at him.

"Seeking death, open up!"

He saw Shopkeeper Yuan strike out with anger, slapping heavily on the two doors with both palms. The two open wooden doors could not bear this immense power and immediately shattered, even sending Chen Ji flying out. In mid-air, he coughed up a mouthful of blood!

An expert of this realm was someone Chen Ji could not possibly block.

But for Chen Ji, delaying for this moment was enough!

Die for me!

Boom.

Before Shopkeeper Yuan could even leave the house, the bamboo tube on the ground exploded open. The mixture of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal burned violently. The white sugar mixed with the gunpowder at high temperature released a massive amount of gas.

In an instant, a huge shockwave swept through the house, carrying the iron pieces inside the bamboo tube, tearing the clothes on Shopkeeper Yuan's body to shreds.

Another boom. The brick wall of the house could not bear the heavy load and actually failed to support the weight of the roof. Countless gray tiles collapsed like a mountain, raising a huge cloud of dust, burying Shopkeeper Yuan alive inside the house!

Chen Ji fell to the ground, his ears ringing, as if a huge metallic noise was raging beside his ears.

He couldn't hear the sound outside, but he still managed to support himself and climb up, vigilantly looking at that pile of house ruins.

Is Shopkeeper Yuan dead?

He should be dead.

The previous bamboo tube exploded in the air, and the power of the gunpowder was not fully utilized.

This time, the bamboo tube exploded inside the house. Even if Shopkeeper Yuan had already broken out, the power increased geometrically.

Chen Ji kept hoping in his heart, dead, Shopkeeper Yuan must be dead!

He slowly straightened his body and staggered towards the ruins, wanting to dig open the tiles to confirm the news of his opponent's death.

But he had only staggered a few steps when he heard a clicking sound.

That pile of ruins suddenly arched up!

Chen Ji retreated in shock!

He's not dead!