Chapter 76: Many Hands Make the Flames Rise High
Chapter 76: Chapter 76: Many Hands Make the Flames Rise High
Xie Yuan stood up from the bed. After a moment of thought, he walked over to Zhang Yufeng’s body and rummaged through the front of his robes for a while. Just as he’d expected, he pulled a thin booklet from a hidden compartment in the lining.
’This Fist Skill is so powerful, its origins must be extraordinary. And Zhang Yufeng seemed to have been hiding it, practicing in secret, probably to give Yu Chunsheng a "surprise" one day. It makes sense he would carry it on his person.’
Xie Yuan gave it a quick look. Because Zhang Yufeng had sewn the Cultivation Technique into a hidden layer of his innermost clothing, it was well-protected and hadn’t been directly damaged in the fight. The booklet was mostly intact, with only a few drops of blood on the cover. The paper was high quality, so the blood hadn’t soaked through.
He didn’t have time for a closer look and tucked the Cultivation Technique away. He searched the body a little more but found nothing valuable aside from some loose silver and land deeds.
Xie Yuan turned back, picked up all the remaining wine jugs, and sprinkled their contents around the house. Just as he was about to light the fire, his ears twitched. In a flash, he was out the main door and in the courtyard.
The eastern sky was just turning a pale white, and the light was still dim. A figure was standing openly in the middle of the courtyard.
Xie Yuan recognized the person and raised an eyebrow.
"Brother Zhu?"
Zhu Dongming, carrying a large jug in his hand, nodded.
"You’re making quite a commotion. I heard it from all the way over there. I didn’t call Chen Yun or Wu the Fourth. I just had Zhou Feng patrol the area to keep people from wandering over and getting nosy."
Xie Yuan cocked his ear and could faintly hear Zhou Feng’s voice carried on the night wind.
"It’s nothing, nothing... I was walking my dog and took a tumble... Go on back to bed, Uncle... Happy New Year..."
Xie Yuan nodded. He had saved Zhou Feng’s life, so compared to others, he was one of the more reliable people in the village.
"Brother Zhu, thank you for your thoughtfulness."
Zhu Dongming shook his head and grinned.
"You’re doing a good thing for the village. Even if I can’t help with the main task, I have to do my part."
His nose twitched slightly. He then handed the large jug in his hand to Xie Yuan and said,
"This kind of rice wine won’t burn hot enough. You need animal oil."
Xie Yuan took the jug instinctively, looking Zhu Dongming up and down, somewhat surprised.
"Brother Zhu, you even came prepared with this?"
"With you and Zhang Da both back in the village for the New Year, I had a feeling there might be trouble. Sure enough, I was half-asleep in the middle of the night when I actually heard a commotion from over here. Who else in the village would dare to cause trouble for the Zhangs on New Year’s Eve?"
The Hunter displayed his sharp insight and chuckled.
"Besides, when a kid like you makes a move, I know you must be confident you can handle it. So I came to help you clean up.
"I won’t go inside. I haven’t seen a thing. Just sprinkle the oil on the things you want to burn, then pour some at the base of the four corner walls. I guarantee the fire will be roaring, and it’ll burn the place to the ground. Hmm, you sold me that Iron Poplar firewood for cheap. My family’s fire has been nice and strong this winter, and my boy hasn’t been cold. So, think of this as me giving you a roaring fire in return."
Seeing Zhu Dongming wave his hand and turn to leave to act as a lookout,
Xie Yuan clasped his hands in a respectful salute toward his retreating back, then carried the jug of animal oil into the house.
’There’s no way to hide all the traces. Zhang Yufeng had some kind of official status, so burning everything to the ground is the cleanest solution.’
Xie Yuan poured the oil just as Zhu Dongming had instructed. He picked up a candle, stood at the doorway, and glanced one last time at the two corpses lying in the middle of the room before giving the candle a gentle toss.
The candle landed on one of the bodies. With a WHOOSH, a ball of fire erupted and spread in all directions, climbing the walls within a few breaths.
Zhu Dongming wasn’t lying. This fire was incredibly strong.
With the dancing flames reflected in his eyes, Xie Yuan turned and left.
He hadn’t gone far when he ran into Zhou Feng leading his hunting dog at a turn in the dirt path.
Zhou Feng’s dog was usually full of energy, pulling its leash taut as it strained forward. But the moment it bounded around the corner and saw Xie Yuan, it instantly hid its fangs and retreated behind its master’s legs, whimpering.
When Zhou Feng saw Xie Yuan, he acted as if he were simply out for a morning dog walk, turning a blind eye to the bloodstains on his clothes. He smiled and greeted him.
"Brother Yuan, Happy New Year!"
"Happy New Year, Brother Zhou. Thanks for all your trouble."
"Don’t mention it, it’s what I should do. You should hurry back and get some rest. Leave the rest to us."
Xie Yuan waved to him and headed towards his own home on the hillside.
Once he reached higher ground, Xie Yuan looked back and saw that the mansion in the center of the village—nearly the same size as the village chief’s house—had already become a massive bonfire.
The village was in an uproar. Many people poured out of their homes, shouting as they drew water from cisterns, wells, and the small river at the edge of the village to fight the fire.
Zhou Feng ran the fastest, carrying his bucket. He scrambled to the front of the crowd, securing the most convenient spot to draw water.
Seeing how proactive he was, the others couldn’t really complain even though he was blocking the way.
From the best position, he drew water at the slowest pace. When a group of people started heading back, Zhou Feng would hurriedly rush back too, only to cry out, "Oof!" as he "accidentally" tripped on a rock. The water spilled all over the ground, making the path extremely slippery, and Zhou Feng remained sprawled in the middle, unable to get up for a long while.
Meanwhile, Zhu Dongming emerged from his house with a bucket. The large bucket of water looked like it would be a big help, except for the oily sheen floating on its surface.
He went to a spot where no one could see him and dumped the water. The fire didn’t weaken at all; instead, it FWOOSHED and leaped even higher.
Zhu Dongming sneered.
"It’s the New Year. Have some oil, on me."
He picked up his empty bucket and ambled back home.
’It wasn’t that he didn’t want to bring another bucket; he was simply out of oil.’
No one else in the village was as blatant as Zhu Dongming about adding oil, but many were slacking off.
No matter how much the village chief yelled, some people moved at a leisurely pace as if they were on a stroll. When they got close, they didn’t throw the water on the house, but poured it at their own feet instead.
Many others simply ignored the calls to help, gathering near the house to watch the spectacle, unable to hide the delight on their faces.
"I heard... those two are both inside?"
someone gestured with their eyes.
"Really?"
"Really!"
"Both of the Zhang family brothers are in there!"
"They say they got drunk and were fighting in the middle of the night, accidentally knocked over an oil lamp, and didn’t make it out!"
"That’s right, I heard them making a racket nearby!"
"They really burned to death?!"
Once it was confirmed that both Zhang brothers were inside, the onlooking villagers could no longer suppress their smiles. Some even began to clap.
"Good riddance! Good riddance! HAHAHA... WAH... My land deed..."
A villager whose land had been seized was crying and laughing at the same time.
With the deeds burned, the land would be completely absorbed by the authorities, and they would never have a chance to get it back.
Then, a sharp-eyed villager spotted a chest next to the fence by the courtyard gate. They curiously pulled it out, opened it, and gasped in shock.
"Land deeds! So many land deeds! The land deeds are all here!"
The onlookers were stunned and immediately swarmed forward. Sure enough, they each found their own family’s land deed.
At this, the villagers were ecstatic. Many felt that Heaven had finally shown its favor and didn’t think about it any further.
But a few of the more thoughtful ones were puzzled.
"Why was this chest outside?"
The old village chief heard them muttering. He took a few puffs from his long-stemmed pipe and said slowly,
"They were fighting, you know. It’s not that strange for them to have thrown the chest outside."
The men exchanged a look and nodded silently.
"The village chief is right."
With several hundred people from more than half the village "helping," they still somehow failed to put out the fire. They stood around the Zhang family’s ancestral home, which had been expanded year after year, and watched with wide eyes as it collapsed with a tremendous CRASH.