Daming Yinghua

Chapter 100 The Punishment of the Silkworm God
When Zheng Haizhu woke up, she found herself lying on a bamboo couch in the medical hall.

What woke her up was not only the burning pain on her forehead and the back of her hands, but also the discomfort of being wrapped in wet clothes, as well as the sound of conversations that gradually became close at hand from far away.

"Wake up! Auntie is awake!"

Zheng Shoukuan, who was huddled in front of the couch, was the first to see Zheng Haizhu slowly opening his eyes, heaved a sigh of relief, and turned around to report happily.

Immediately afterwards, the faces of Han Ximeng and Lu Xiangsheng also appeared above Zheng Haizhu.

Zheng Haizhu, who regained his sanity, remembered the previous frames of audio and video.

There was no warning, the sudden flames, the screaming and fleeing people, and the violently shaking bullock cart.

She fell into the flames and instinctively retracted into the cocoon-like robe.

Before the mind could be completely occupied by the fear of dying, suddenly there was a loud crash, and the overwhelming river water, like an army of rebels and thieves, rushed straight at the burning white horse with great momentum.

The gleaming fire ball was swallowed by the muddy river in an instant, but the woman on the white horse, who was good enough to save people, hit her head hard on the frame of the car...

At this moment, Zheng Haizhu's eyes were on Lu Xiangsheng who was dripping wet.

I was probably picked up by Brother Lu Xian?

Han Ximeng gave the final word on the story of the hero saving the beauty: "Azhu, while we were waiting in the Town God's Temple, we suddenly heard that the bullock cart caught fire and fell into the river again. We were scared to death. Fortunately, Mr. Lu was there at the time."

Zheng Haizhu became more sober, stared at Lu Xiangsheng and said, "Thank you Mr. Lu, someone called Liu Daqiang's name at that time, was it you too? Daqiang and his sister, are you okay?"

As soon as she opened her mouth, she immediately felt that her throat was fine, and there was no sign of uncontrollable coughing when she spoke. It could be seen that the airway was not scalded by inhaling thick smoke, and she was relieved immediately.

Lu Xiangsheng replied calmly: "Daqiang is very brave, and he helped me drive the cattle down the river. He and his sister just heard from the doctor that you are fine, and have already gone home, so as not to worry about your parents."

Zheng Haizhu gathered himself together, and immediately said to his nephew: "Go back to the house quickly, pawn the two hairpins in my money box, collect 30 taels of silver, and send them to Liu's family. His family needs money urgently, so they have to sell it. Little sister."

Zheng Haizhu was originally not the kind of person who wanted to shout about the privacy of beneficiaries when he did charity, but now that he was in trouble and couldn't do it himself, he was afraid that if he didn't explain it truthfully, his nephew would not understand the urgency.

Hearing this, Han Ximeng said anxiously, "It's Liu Tutou's? What kind of hairpin are you selling? The pawnshop guard looks like he's in a hurry. He must lower the price. Don't bother, I'll give you 30 taels."

The eldest lady took a breath, and then blocked Zheng Haizhu's refusal with words: "Azhu, I know that you are proud and self-reliant, and you are determined not to get involved in the good deeds you have committed yourself. I didn't give it to you for nothing, and I will look back when you are here. Our Han family's monthly salary is deducted from the silver, it's over, right?"

Zheng Shoukuan looked at the hostess, and then at his aunt, until he heard his aunt say weakly, "Okay, I'll listen to Miss", before stopping his steps to go out.

In his heart, what he was concerned about out of doubts at the moment was of course the cause of the fire on the white horse, and he was really not in the mood to go to the pawnshop.

Fortunately, Mr. Lu seems to be very concerned about today's strangeness, he has just briefly described what he saw at that time, and he refused to change into dry clothes, and he just waited for his aunt to wake up and ask what happened.

At this moment, Lu Xiangsheng went straight to the topic and said: "Miss Zheng, my brothers and sisters from the Liu family and I were very close to your ox cart. At that time, the ox cart was surrounded by female family members of the Canhu family. Was it seen? If it was the sparks from the firecrackers in the front, how could it suddenly be so hot? So, Miss Zheng is in the car, looking down from above, did she see any suspicious people or things?"

Zheng Haizhu frowned, thought for a while, and said with certainty: "I'm not a part of the troupe, and I'm really not used to watching crowds, so I just looked down at the square inch around me, and the flames really sprang up suddenly. And all four horse feet caught fire at the same time."

She paused, and looked at Lu Xiangsheng inquisitively: "Master Lu, does Mr. Lu know about the flint used as an ever-burning lamp in the ancient tomb?"

Flint is a phosphorus-containing ore. The gravekeeper soaked them in water. When the wooden door was opened, air entered, and the flint with a very low ignition point would light up when it encountered oxygen.The stone door is closed, the oxygen is cut off, and the flint is automatically extinguished.

The name "phosphorus", as well as its qualities as a fire of spontaneous combustion, are recorded in the "Natural History" by Zhang Hua, a native of the Jin Dynasty.

Therefore, Lu Xiangsheng, who is from the Ming Dynasty and has always loved to study kerosene and artillery, answered without hesitation: "The phosphorous fire that Miss Zheng said ignites, and I was just thinking about the reason. But, in the current season, It is very hot at noon, and once the phosphorous powder is exposed, it will burn instantly. If you put phosphorous powder under the horse's feet in advance, the horse will burn if the ox cart can't move a few steps. How can it be so long before it suddenly catches fire?"

Zheng Haizhu fell silent, sighing secretly that he was poor in chemistry. He only knew that white phosphorus would ignite spontaneously in the air, but he didn't know how to compound it to control the timing of spontaneous combustion of phosphorus-containing substances.

Han Ximeng on the side was obviously also a liberal arts woman, so she was confused, but she had a clear mind on a more critical issue.

"Azhu, Mr. Lu, no matter what method is used to start the fire, what is the purpose of the person who started the fire? Burn Azhu to death?"

Lu Xiangsheng looked at Zheng Haizhu: "Miss has offended someone recently?"

Zheng Haizhu smiled lightly: "In the past year, I have offended too many people. I have stabbed the water bandits in Qiandun Town, uncovered the Hui merchants who murdered and set the blame, and even offended the big merchants on the coast of Fujian. Li Dan's eldest son."

She looked at Han Ximeng, and was about to say, "Could it be that Grandma Sanfang hated me for exposing my uncle?" But when the curtain was raised, the doctor of the medical hall respectfully invited in two women in fine clothes.

"Little aunt, big aunt."

Han Ximeng hurriedly stepped forward to salute as a junior.

The people who came were Mrs. Miao of Gu's mansion, and Mrs. Shen, the daughter-in-law of the family.

Zheng Haizhu was also struggling to get up, but Miao Atai stopped her in a gentle voice: "Girl, you lie down, you are too tired, you have been robbed."

Shen Shi also came up to support Zheng Haizhu herself, and said softly: "Auntie watched you get on the float today, and then went to Sheshan Temple to offer incense and worship Buddha. I heard that something happened to you, so I didn't sit in the sedan chair, so I changed it. The carriage turned over all the way, and just now I finally found out that you were rescued here for medical treatment, the color on Atai's face eased."

When Shen came in, she saw Lu Xiangsheng whose clothes were completely wet.

On that day, she intentionally took Han Xiying to meet Mrs. Miao in the backyard of the Gu mansion under the pretext of asking for advice.Mrs. Miao wanted to ask Miss Han San how the school on the other side of Zheng Haizhu was doing.

Following Shen's advice, Han San praised Zheng's school for its success.After the third lady left, Shen looked for an opportunity and mentioned in a seemingly understatement that Zheng Haizhu invited a young Mr. Lu from Yixing to settle in the library, saying that he admired his talent and was grateful for him. To teach the boy some insights into studying things and gaining knowledge, in fact, both myself and Miss Han San can see that the two of them are quite a good match.

At that time, Mrs. Miao heard it, and she really followed Shen's judgment. Although she didn't judge Zheng Ya's actions, she felt deeply that the third Miss of the Han family was young and her mouth was very tight.As soon as Shen turned her head, she naturally took this praise as a sweet fruit and fed it to Han Xiying, so that she could continue to drive her to do things.

At this moment, when Shen Shi saw that the person who rescued Zheng Haizhu was actually Lu Xiangsheng, the disappointment in her heart for today at least dissipated.

The old lady should believe it even more. This girl surnamed Zheng is a woman who is not good at making a living or in love with her. No wonder she will be punished by heaven.

Just when she opened the curtain and came in, she heard Lu Xiangsheng and Zheng Haizhu discussing the cause of the fire. After introducing Mr. Lu to Mrs. Miao Atai, Shen sighed softly, made a half hesitant and worried expression, and half sincere confession, and said: " This fire, if some rascal set it off, my family wouldn't be so worried about Miss Zheng."

(End of this chapter)