Chapter 26 Chapter Twenty Six

Master Xiaolian believed that it was Tianhuo. Looking at the lingering smoke and the ruined wall filled with mist, Master Xiaolian's solemn face was distorted by grief and pain.He didn't speak at first, but walked around among the ruins full of water, looking at some bricks and tiles blackened by smoke and fire, and listening to the cries of some men and women.Later, Master Xiaolian stopped in front of a burnt-down gatehouse, and said to the people gathered around him with absolute certainty: "This is heavenly fire! , Is the foreign-maozi making a fuss like this? It must be because the heavens couldn’t stand it anymore, so they sent a fire dragon down to earth!"

Master Xiaolian believed that it was Tianhuo, and everyone agreed that it was Tianhuo.Master Xiaolian is highly educated and has been a county magistrate for many years, so of course what Master Xiaolian said cannot be wrong! "However--" Master Xiaolian said again in a hoarse voice: "However, the sky is merciless and righteous, the young and old in our town can't just watch these people's life and death. Today, I will take the lead and set up a donation book for these people who have suffered. The people who were affected by the disaster donated some money, and I hope that all the fathers and villagers will spread the word and donate as much as two. We in Qingpu have always been the most benevolent, and we must not let the foreigners of Fanguo look down on us!"

When Mr. Xiaolian mentioned the matter of donating money, he naturally thought of the vicious foreign Maozi. He expected that Jie Maozi and Li Maozi of Tianfu Company would use this natural disaster to win people's hearts—just like the locust plague in May like that.This time, Master Xiaolian wants to be the head of the two foreigners. Master Xiaolian's bold act of righteousness won the praise of everyone.However, admiration was admiration, and there were not many people who reported themselves to donate money on the spot. Even Yang Sanye and Zhong Erye, who opened a business on Nansipo who made a fortune, kept their faces sullen and silent.

Master Xiaolian was not happy, his face changed somewhat... Just at this time, there was a loud noise of gongs and shouts, and the blue woolen sedan chair of Chen's parents in Jinkou County floated from the far end of the street.Master Xiaolian was startled, and immediately wiped away the unhappiness on his face, and hurriedly greeted him... Chen's parents were also deeply touched by the loss of Shifeng. When the people in Qingpu were in a hurry in front of the fire, Chen's parents were doing real things to save the declining Shifeng——Chen's parents were in the lobby that morning The upper trial handles a theft case.The thief was Sanmaozi, a villager from Hehuaqiao. The Sanmaozi had been punished by Chen's parents for 30 years for being a thief. Arrived in front of Chen's parents hall.Old Chen's parents were very angry, first they asked the prison guard to beat Sanmaozi for forty sticks, and then let the two servants carry him to walk a thousand steps around the flower garden in the back garden; When he was angry, he poured a bowl of boiled hot vinegar for him to eat.Halfway through the filling, Chen's parents went down in person, picked up a wooden plank and hit him hard on the back, making the three cats cough and pant and howl like a lost dog.

After the sentence was over, old Chen's parents were very satisfied, and they let the three cats go. Chen's parents knew that after this treatment, the cough of the three cats had taken root, and it would never get better for the rest of his life. It's really hard to be a thief! Just as he was about to leave the hall, Baozheng from Qingpu Street came to report in a hurry, saying that it was the carelessness of the people outside the east gate of Qingpu, which caused a big fire and killed 14 people, men and women. Old Chen's parents were shocked, they jumped into the big blue sedan chair and hurried over.Along with Chen's parents, besides the four bearers, more than a dozen yamen servants, and the old body examiner.

Master Xiaolian waited for old Chen's parents' sedan chair to stop, greeted him and went forward, exchanging pleasantries, old Chen's parents also bowed their hands naturally, saluting like a ritual.After the ceremony, old Chen's parents turned their dark eyes away from a ruined wall. The lingering smoke on the ruins has long since cleared away, and the mist has also disappeared, only the corpses covered with grass curtains are placed in the open air, and many people are watching around the corpses.Old Chen's parents asked the old ones to do autopsies, and the old and dazzled pieces were opened and looked at one by one in a hurry, and they reported to Chen's old parents that many of the corpses had turned into charcoal, and they must have died of fire, so there is no need for further inspections. .Old Chen's parents insisted on testing, so the old master took out the silver needle and probed the deceased's throat, chest, and abdomen one by one. Seeing that the silver needle had not changed color, he called Baozheng and asked the deceased's name and age. , Filled out the corpse list one by one.

Master Xiaolian thinks that old Chen's parents are wasting their efforts in vain, and master Xiaolian is obliged to sell his "Heavenly Fire" doctrine to Chen's old parents. Old Chen's parents do not believe in the "Sky Fire" doctrine.With his hands behind his back and his head bowed, he paced up and down among the ruins resentfully, looking around with his two gloomy eyes, as if he was stubbornly trying to see through something. In the end, Old Chen's parents stopped in front of Gao Laosan's body. He felt that this corpse was a bit strange, it was black and scorched, and there was a wound on his forehead.

The old piece was inspected again and again, but the result of the inspection did not meet the expectations of Chen's parents.Old writers believe that the wound on the forehead may have been caused by a burnt beam or tile, and the deceased may have died when the object hit the deceased. Old Chen's parents called a group of people on the street and asked them carefully, but they didn't find anything. Old Chen's parents were full of suspicion as usual when handling cases, and were forced to accept Master Xiaolian's "Heavenly Fire" doctrine, and then they went to Nansipo Lu Mansion for a drink and a chat with Master Xiaolian.

That day, old Chen's parents were drunk and cried for no reason--old Chen's parents always cried twice when they were drunk.After weeping, old Chen's parents said anxiously to Master Xiaolian: He had a very strange dream a few days ago. He dreamed that a group of headless ghosts emerged from the barren cemetery outside the east gate of Jinkou County.Those headless ghosts were pulling his braids and the skirt of his clothes, trying to put him in the cemetery.Master Xiaolian was startled when he heard this, and accidentally smashed a Jingdezhen gold-painted fine porcelain wine cup that came from a Beiyang flat-bottomed sand ship...

Those three poor scholars became arrogant because of the fire. They didn't believe any nonsense such as "heavenly fire" and "earth fire". Harmful.A few days after the incident, they thanked Jin with gifts and went to Escort Street to meet Ruan Dacheng, and when they met, they all knelt down and kowtowed to Ruan Dacheng. Ruan Dacheng accepted the gift, thanked Jin, and helped the three scholars up one by one.He never talked about what he did in that restless night, but kept talking about karma, saying that good will be rewarded with good, and evil will be rewarded with evil.

Ruan Dacheng promotes Master Xiaolian's "Heavenly Fire" doctrine to the three scholars, but there is a secret that can only be understood but not expressed in his secretive and shining eyes. The three scholars naturally understood, so they didn't say any more, and immediately expressed in tears that they would follow Mr. Ruan Daen's side in the future, willing to lead the horse and stirrup for him. The three scholars agreed that: Mr. Ruan Daen is a great and great person, and he will surely achieve a great cause!Their 100 anti-poems are nothing like Ruan Daen's rebellion! Ruan Dacheng is very proud of this!He himself did not expect such a good result from this fire!He even didn't expect that the respected Master Xiaolian would provide him with an excellent "Heavenly Fire" doctrine in time!If it is said that the fire he created only destroyed Gao Laosan's personal power, then Master Xiaolian's "Heavenly Fire" doctrine destroyed all the things that could not be destroyed by the fire but got in the way! Ruan Dacheng knew that Master Xiaolian's "Heavenly Fire" doctrine had a strong anti-cult color, and as long as Master Xiaolian's doctrine was exported, it could be spread widely and become the sacred belief of everyone.Therefore, Ruan Dacheng and his brothers not only sold it wildly, but also tried their best to develop and perfect it, saying that the sky fire was originally aimed at cults and foreigners, and it was only because of the strong wind that day that the fire dragon strayed into the east gate. caused this catastrophe.He also said: "The sky net is restored, and it is sparse but not leaky. If anyone is not taught by the gods and believes in that cult again, the gods in the sky will surely bring disasters to Qingpu again!" The reverence for God surpasses the reverence for Jackson and John Lee. Many men and women in Qingpu who believed in foreign religions for the sake of benefits quit the religion one after another. The cross was thrown into the stove and the latrine.Through this living celestial fire, they saw the greatness of the gods in the Chinese celestial world, and also saw the insignificance of the Holy Father and the Holy Mother of Fanguo... In fact, the insignificant ones are not only the Holy Father and the Holy Mother of Fanguo, but John Lee and Jackson are also insignificant. Leaving aside other things, let’s just talk about the lawsuit not long ago, which was clearly ripped off by others. It's because of others' loss that the case was brought to court, but these two foreigners were punished!Li John, Jackson, and their holy father, holy son, and holy spirit can't compete with the respected and respected Lord Xiaolian and the heroic Ruan Dacheng! The people in Qingpu are practical and smart. They believe in God and hope that God can bring them benefits. If God can't bring them benefits, what kind of bird God do they want! One evening after the wind subsided, Ruan Dacheng invited Du Tianxing and Qi Mingda to his house for a drink.During the dinner, Du Tianxing and Qi Mingda praised Ruan Dacheng's courage in unison.After eating, he talked more and more, and Qi Mingda finally slipped his mouth, and broke half of the secrets bestowed on him by "Suan Po Tian" in the past—the other half was "died under the knife", Qi Mingda Master Qi naturally wouldn't say it. Ruan Dacheng was startled when he heard that Master Qi would "give him as high as the emperor" in the future. At this moment, Du Tianxing stomped on his foot under the table. He immediately understood and acted like he was drunk. He stood up staggeringly, plunged his head into Master Qi's arms, knocked Master Qi back, and spewed out the mouthful of good wine that had just been delivered to his mouth...