Qingshan

Chapter 77 : Chapter 77

Chapter 77: The Second Explosion

On the dim streets, the Heir and Baili fled Red Cloth Lane with their heads down, running north first, then cutting west.

Gone was any trace of their usual composure. Their clothes were torn in several places, their hair fallen loose.

They were gasping for breath as they ran when a deafening blast erupted behind them, and the whole of Luocheng seemed to jolt awake -- guard dogs in every household howling into the night.

Baili stopped and turned, worry written across her face. "What happened? What was that sound?"

The Heir thought for a moment. "Sounds like someone used firearms... When I watched Father observe the Divine Engine Battalion's musket-cannon drills, it sounded just like that."

"Musket-cannons?!" Baili's heart seized. She spun around and headed back toward Anxi Street.

The Heir's face went white. He grabbed her arm. "Where do you think you're going, you little terror? We barely made it out alive!"

Baili turned, her voice urgent. "What if they're using the musket-cannons on the man who saved us? Even Grand Enforcers have to take cover from those things -- how could he possibly withstand them?"

The Heir wavered. "The Divine Engine Battalion is stationed over a hundred li away. They wouldn't come into Luocheng without a crisis of the highest order. And even if they did, they'd never dare fire musket-cannons inside the city walls. I don't think it's that -- it must be something else... Should we go back and help him? He saved our lives. We can't just abandon him."

"But what can we do?" Baili asked.

The Heir thought it over, then set his jaw. "The two of us running back won't save him. Come with me to the Thousand-Year Army camp. We'll ask Uncle Wang to deploy troops and surround Red Cloth Lane. If we can talk Uncle Wang into sending the Thousand-Year Army, it doesn't matter how elite the Trouble-Solver Guards are -- there are only five hundred of them."

"Can we even convince Uncle Wang? He won't move without Father's tiger tally," Baili said with worry.

"I'll kowtow to him. That'll do the trick!"

Baili stared at him. "..."

Just then, hoofbeats echoed in the distance. The Heir pulled Baili into a dark alley and found an abandoned wicker basket to hide under.

Moments later, the five hundred Trouble-Solver Guard cavalry passed the mouth of the alley. Their uniform bamboo hats, straw cloaks, and waist-sabers gleamed coldly in the moonlight on the flagstone road.

Riding beside Lin Chaoqing, a young officer held his reins and asked, "Commander, will Jinzhu take a fall for this?"

"No," Lin Chaoqing said flatly.

"He commandeered our Mengjin Camp Trouble-Solver Guards on his own authority and came back empty-handed -- didn't catch a single Jing Dynasty agent. Why not seize this chance to haul him back to the capital?" The young man was puzzled. "Even if it went before the Inner Minister, we'd be in the right. These Twelve Zodiacs act like they own the world. Arresting one would be a public service."

Lin Chaoqing stared straight ahead, his back as rigid as a spear shaft even on horseback. "Jiaotu and Yunyang had no roots inside the Secret Spy Division. Taking them down was simple. Jinzhu is different. For years he's been utterly loyal to the Inner Minister, and Heavenly Horse shields him from behind. A single misstep like tonight isn't enough to bring him down."

As he spoke, the Trouble-Solver Guards gradually receded into the distance.

After what felt like an eternity, the Heir confirmed the alley was clear and pulled the wicker basket off. "It doesn't sound like they caught anyone. Looks like we don't need to mount a rescue. That man is incredible -- he actually escaped from the Secret Spy Division and the Trouble-Solver Guards?"

Baili hesitated, then asked, "Do you recognize the person who saved us? Didn't he seem... familiar?"

The Heir looked sheepish. "I was too busy thinking about how to escape. I didn't get a good look... Maybe it's one of those jianghu types I used to hang around with? Saw us in danger and risked his life to help?"

At the mention of those jianghu types, Baili flared. "What kind of people did you befriend? The second there's danger they run! It's definitely not one of them -- they're all fair-weather friends."

"Some of them are decent..."

"I'm never paying for their drinks again," Baili said hotly. "These people spend money like water when they're drinking -- the best food, the finest wine -- and they'll talk your ear off about fine cuisine, fine liquor, and fine women. But when it actually matters, not a single one can be counted on. It's not about the money. I just can't stand their endless talk of honor and brotherhood."

The Heir scratched his head. "Alright, alright, no more paying for their drinks... But you said the person who saved us looked familiar. Did you figure out who it was?"

Baili was quiet for a moment. "No. I didn't recognize him either."

She did have a guess. But in the end, she kept it to herself, burying it deep in her heart, resolved to verify it on her own.

Baili pulled out her hairpin, raised both arms, and gathered her hair back into place. Then they set off again.

The two of them slunk back toward Anxi Street, ducking from shadow to shadow. When they finally caught sight of the Prince Jing manor's guards and its hanging plaque in the distance, they let out a breath of relief.

Baili didn't go around to the back garden. She turned to the Heir and said, "Let's go through the Taiping Clinic. There's a ladder there."

The Heir bent over, hands on his knees, panting in surprise. "When we left tonight you said you'd never take the Taiping Clinic route again -- and that you'd never let that little thief Chen Ji charge you another toll. What made you change your mind?"

Baili rolled her eyes. "Can't I just not want to climb walls? The ladder's more convenient."

The Heir rolled his eyes right back. "Women."

They crept to the Taiping Clinic's front door and tried to open it, only to find it barred from inside.

Baili thought for a moment, then called out softly. "Chen Ji. Chen Ji, we're here to pay the toll!"

Silence.

Nothing.

No one answered from within.

Baili's suspicion deepened. She bent down and tried again through the crack in the door. "Chen Ji -- ten taels of silver this time!"

Still silence.

Still no answer.

Baili muttered, "He really isn't in there."

The words had barely left her lips when the door creaked open.

Baili blinked and slowly looked up. Old Man Yao stood in the doorway, his face blank.

She cringed. "Physician Yao, did we disturb you? Where's Chen Ji? Why didn't he come to the door?"

Old Man Yao's expression didn't change. "The Princess and the Heir are running around in the middle of the night instead of sleeping. What are you doing at my Taiping Clinic? I'm ninety-two years old. I can't handle this kind of excitement."

Baili thought fast. "Physician Yao, my brother and I aren't feeling well. Could you let us in and take our pulses?"

Old Man Yao looked at her. Then, without letting her past the threshold, he reached across and clamped two fingers onto her wrist.

A moment later, he spoke. "Sick in the head. Incurable. Please leave."

"Are you sure you didn't make a mistake? Let me in, let me sit down, and you can check again more carefully." Baili tried to squeeze past Old Man Yao, but he seemed to anticipate the move and shut the door in her face.

The wooden door slammed shut with a bang.

Old Man Yao's voice drifted through the crack. "The Heir and the Princess would do well to find another way back to the manor. If you cause any more trouble, I will be reporting this to the Prince when he returns."

Baili was about to knock again, but the Heir dragged her away. "Come on, come on. Chen Ji probably already got in trouble with Physician Yao for letting us use the clinic as a shortcut. Let's not make things worse for him. We'll go through the back garden. If Physician Yao really tells Father about this, your allowance is done for..."

Baili let herself be pulled along, but she kept looking back, her eyes returning to that closed wooden door again and again. In the end, she had to abandon her search for the truth.

Could it be that Chen Ji hadn't returned yet, and Physician Yao was covering for him? That had to be it...

But if the Trouble-Solver Guards were right and the Secret Spy Division hadn't caught anyone, then where was Chen Ji now?

...

...

Under the night sky, Chen Ji was limping through a maze of narrow alleys.

He stopped, bent over, gasping for breath, and unwound the cloth strip from his right leg. He retied it tighter.

The wounds on his chest and leg were screaming with pain, but tonight's work was not done. He had no time to rest.

Chen Ji glanced at his surroundings, then kept moving toward the rendezvous point he and Dark Cloud had agreed on.

Two more alleys, and he saw Dark Cloud crouching on a wall ledge. "Are you alright?" it asked with concern.

Chen Ji leaned over, catching his breath. "Jinzhu must be at the Path-Seeking Realm. An explosion that powerful still couldn't kill him. The depth of a Grand Enforcer's cultivation is truly terrifying -- this world is even more frightening than I imagined. If I hadn't had the gunpowder, I'd be on my way to the Inner Prison right now."

Dark Cloud meowed again. "I was asking about your injuries. Maybe you should go back and have your master treat you first."

Chen Ji shook his head. "I can't. Shopkeeper Yuan has to die first. The Secret Spy Division raided Jin Fang tonight. If he thinks I'm the one who leaked the information, he's probably already figuring out how to kill me... Can you track his movements right now?"

Dark Cloud answered, "After he finished his deliveries to the other clinics in the afternoon, he went straight to his residence on Tongji Street. He hasn't come out since."

That morning, when Shopkeeper Yuan had driven his ox-cart away from the Taiping Clinic, two tabby cats had quietly tailed him.

When Chen Ji and Dark Cloud had split up earlier, the purpose was for Dark Cloud to find those two tabbies.

Chen Ji frowned. "So Shopkeeper Yuan already knew about Jinzhu's raid by noon... Who tipped him off? It was those other clinics. Dark Cloud, which clinics did he visit?"

Dark Cloud shook its head. "The tabbies' brains can't hold that much information. They can only recall some of it."

Chen Ji thought it over. "Fine. Once Shopkeeper Yuan is dead, it won't matter who was passing him information."

He braced himself against the wall and pushed to his feet, ready to keep moving.

But tonight he had killed six agents, severely wounded Jinzhu, and then sprinted across a dozen rooftops to escape. He was running on fumes. After two steps, his legs buckled.

Dark Cloud looked worried. "Back to the clinic?"

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

...

...

Tongji Street had always been where the merchant class congregated. Unlike the refined gates of scholarly families, here the stone lions flanking each entrance were grander than the last, the carriages parked outside more ornate, the plaques above each door mounted higher -- as though everyone were terrified of being outdone by their neighbors.

Under Ning Dynasty law, merchants and theater performers were forbidden from riding in horse-drawn carriages. Only those with at least a xiucai degree or higher literary rank were permitted.

But in recent years, private workshops had multiplied across the Ning Dynasty, and merchants had grown in number. They leaned on their patrons and converted freight wagons into carriages, greasing the right palms whenever they were caught, until the law had become little more than dead ink on paper.

At this hour, one particular residence on Tongji Street was silent as a tomb. Not a single servant or attendant in sight.

Shopkeeper Yuan sat in the main hall behind locked doors and shuttered windows. Though it was deep into the night, he was still fully dressed, as though patiently waiting for the long night to burn itself out.

Hissss.

He heard a strange sound from outside the door -- a sputtering, fizzing noise that was jarringly out of place in the midnight quiet.

Shopkeeper Yuan rose, his face grim, and crept toward the door. He pressed his ear to the crack, trying to identify the sound...

Creak.

He saw someone pull open his window from outside, toss a bamboo tube in, and then carefully shut the window again.

No!

Shopkeeper Yuan saw the fuse burning down to its last flicker. He threw himself at the door -- but something outside had been wedged against it, a heavy beam, and the doors wouldn't budge.

"You want to die? Open!"

Shopkeeper Yuan struck both door panels with his palms in a fury. The double doors couldn't withstand that tremendous force and exploded into splinters.

A cultivator of his level was not going to be stopped by a wooden door.

But when the doors shattered, he didn't see anyone outside. Instead, sitting upright on the ground a short distance away, he saw a second bamboo tube -- its fuse already burned to nothing.

It's over.

Shopkeeper Yuan didn't know whether to charge forward or fall back.

A thunderous blast.

Both bamboo tubes -- inside and outside the house -- detonated simultaneously. Saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal ignited in a violent inferno. Sugar superheated by the blast merged with the gunpowder and released a torrent of gas.

In an instant, the shockwave tore through the room, hurling iron shrapnel from the tubes that shredded Shopkeeper Yuan's robes to ribbons.

Another deafening boom. The brick walls buckled under the force, no longer able to bear the weight of the roof. Grey tiles cascaded down like a landslide, raising a massive cloud of dust and burying Shopkeeper Yuan alive beneath the rubble.

Chen Ji stepped out from the corner of the courtyard, ears ringing, a huge metallic roar screaming inside his skull.

He couldn't hear the outside world. He stared at the heap of wreckage, vigilant.

Was Shopkeeper Yuan dead?

Earlier, the tube that had detonated in midair hadn't released its full destructive potential.

This time, the tubes had exploded inside an enclosed space. Even though Shopkeeper Yuan had broken the door open, the force was magnified many times over.

Chen Ji prayed with everything he had. Dead. Shopkeeper Yuan had to be dead.

But... there was no ice flow.

Chen Ji staggered toward the rubble, meaning to dig through the tiles and finish the job with a blade.

He had barely taken a few stumbling steps when he heard a sharp crack.

The pile of wreckage heaved upward.

Chen Ji's face went dark as he backed away. Shopkeeper Yuan could still move?