“Qing Qing.” Shi Ting stepped forward and took her hand, his expression grave. “The Commander’s train has had an accident. The casualties are currently unknown, and I must go over there at once.”
“What about Liu Yin?”
“Liu Yin is also on that train.” Shi Ting’s eyes were heavy with gravity. “I’ll leave things here in your hands.”
“You can count on me.” Yan Qing had not anticipated something like this would happen and couldn’t help tightening her grip on his hand. “Take every precaution.”
“I will.” Shi Ting lightly pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll come back as soon as I can.”
Shi Ting finished speaking and turned away. His tall, slender figure quickly disappeared beyond the door.
“The Commander has actually met with trouble.” Yan Xu stepped out after them, his expression grave. “No one knows whether the Commander is alive or dead.”
If the Commander had met with misfortune, the skies of Bei Di would likely change in an instant.
The Commander had boarded a train from Hai Cheng to return to Shun Cheng. When the train passed over Changsheng Bridge, the bridge suddenly exploded, and the train plunged to the riverbed below.
By the next morning early, news that the Commander’s train had been struck by an explosion was splashed across the newspapers, fluttering through the streets and alleys like snowflakes.
Yan Qing flipped through the newspaper she held. From a photograph of limited clarity, one could make out the scene of the accident.
Changsheng Bridge was not particularly high — roughly five meters or so above the ground. When the explosion occurred, the train had just moved onto the bridge.
After the detonation, the locomotive fell from the bridge. The entire train was half-suspended over the edge of the bridge structure and half fallen to the ground below.
“Miss, the Commander has divine protection.” Jing Zhi put away the newspaper Yan Qing had left on the desk and gently consoled her. “Has the Young Marshal not already gone over there? With the Young Marshal there, everything will be all right.”
Yan Qing shook her head. “Changsheng Bridge is in a remote location, with no villages nearby. Why would there be an explosion there, and of all times, precisely as the train was passing over it?”
Jing Zhi was startled. “Does Miss mean this was intentional — that someone was deliberately targeting the Commander, trying to assassinate him?”
“If the Commander had been killed in the explosion, who do you think would benefit the most?”
“Surely Second Young Master.”
“No — the one who would benefit most is Shi Ting.” Yan Qing said, her eyes grave. “Shi Ting is now the Young Marshal. If the Commander dies, he can succeed to the Commander’s position. So on the surface, the greatest beneficiary is him.”
“But the Young Marshal would never do anything to harm the Commander.”
“We naturally know that, but others may not think so. Just watch — it won’t be long before rumors spread throughout the entire city.”
“But the Young Marshal clearly didn’t do it.” Jing Zhi grew anxious.
“Indeed.” Yan Qing said. “At present, the situation works against Shi Guang in every way — whether it is his prestige among the people, the power in his hands, or the Commander’s trust. The only thing he can rely on is the support of the Xin Guo people. But the benevolent prince returned home long ago, and the village representative’s attitude toward him is ambiguous. Xin Guo’s support can only help him stabilize his position temporarily. After the Qian Lan affair, the Commander has lost all trust in Shi Guang. The reason he has not yet moved against him is only because of Xin Guo’s involvement. Conversely, the Commander has come to value Shi Ting ever more, and has long since designated him as his chosen successor. For Shi Guang to regain the Commander’s trust is nothing short of a fairy tale.”
“So Second Young Master wants to be rid of the Commander?”
“The Commander is his greatest obstacle. If the Commander meets with misfortune, he can pour the bucket of dirty water over Shi Ting, then use that as an opportunity to contest Shi Ting’s position as Young Marshal. There is a saying: an army without a just cause has no name. Now that there is a justification to move against Shi Ting, the contest for power between him and Shi Ting becomes something that can proceed openly.”
Jing Zhi listened and grew increasingly anxious. “Then what do we do? The Young Marshal has gone to Changsheng Bridge, which is so far from Shun Cheng. If Shi Guang makes any move on this side, the Young Marshal won’t be able to come back immediately.”
“When the Young Marshal went to Hong He back then, didn’t Shi Guang also try to stir up trouble?” Yan Qing’s eyes held a calm composure. “He left in a hurry and likely didn’t have time to make arrangements. But don’t we still have each other?”
“What do we do now then?”
“Hold still.” Yan Qing gazed at the long-cold tea on the desk. “We still don’t know how Shi Guang will make his move, so we can only counter stillness with stillness.”
~
Shi Ting boarded a train and rushed to the scene at Changsheng Bridge as fast as possible.
The area around Changsheng Bridge was very close to Tai Shan. A little further south was the border of Xi Nan. Xi Nan and Bei Di were separated by the Cang Shui River, each occupying their own territory.
After the train accident, rescue workers had been summoned from the nearest villages and towns, but the distance was great and the manpower limited, and the rescue operation proceeded very slowly.
By the time Shi Ting arrived, many people were still trapped inside the train carriages. Even those who had not been injured had likely frozen to death.
“Young Marshal.” The county magistrate hurried over with several subordinates. “Young Marshal, you’ve finally come.”
“Where is the Commander? Has the Commander been found?”
“Found him.” Though it was the depths of winter, cold sweat had broken out across the county magistrate’s forehead. He had been sitting cozily at home with his wife and children when this train met with disaster within his jurisdiction. Disaster was one thing, but the person who had met with disaster happened to be the Commander himself.
He had mobilized virtually every person in the county he could summon, and had gone two days and nights without closing his eyes.
“Where is he?”
“In the tent over there.”
Changsheng Bridge was in a remote location with extremely limited transportation. So the county magistrate had ordered tents erected nearby as temporary rescue stations — which was, it had to be said, the most effective and viable approach under the circumstances.
The county magistrate led the way, and Shi Ting followed him quickly to a tent.
Inside the tent a stove had been lit, making it reasonably warm. The Commander lay on a makeshift wooden cot, receiving an intravenous drip.
“What is his condition?” Seeing the Commander’s face red and swollen, his eyes tightly shut, Shi Ting’s heart instantly clenched.
“Young Marshal is asking you — what is his condition?” The county magistrate beckoned to a doctor with a wave of his hand.
A doctor in charge hurried over. “Young Marshal, our medical resources here are limited. The Commander’s injuries are too severe. I’m afraid…”
Shi Ting glanced at him and strode to the bedside.
The Commander’s face was visibly swollen, his head wrapped in bandages.
Shi Ting gently lifted the blanket, then covered him again.
“Beyond the external injuries, the internal organ damage and internal bleeding are especially severe.”
“Has he received a blood transfusion?”
“Our hospital has no blood reserves. We are working on a solution…”
Shi Ting’s expression sharpened. “Then draw it now.”
The doctor flinched. “Yes — yes, Young Marshal is right.”
Shi Ting sat down to one side and rolled his sleeve upward. “The Commander and I are the same blood type. Draw mine first.”
“That won’t do, Young Marshal — you still need to oversee the larger situation.” The county magistrate said hastily. “What blood type is the Commander? I’ll find someone.”
“Draw mine.” Shi Ting looked at that figure with tightly closed eyes, his expression resolute. “I am his son. My blood should be most compatible with his.”
Seeing the doctor still standing there in a daze, Shi Ting’s voice rang out again. “Draw it.”
The doctor urgently sought the county magistrate’s approval with his eyes, and the magistrate had no choice but to nod.
“How great is the likelihood he can be kept alive?” The deep red blood flowed slowly through the blood-drawing tube. Shi Ting’s gaze fell on his own arm.
The doctor answered carefully: “These two days are the critical period. It depends on whether he can get through them safely.”
“What about Liu Yin?”
The county magistrate quickly replied: “Captain Liu is also seriously injured, in another tent.”
“How many tents are there here?”
“More than twenty.”
“How many wounded?”
“Over a hundred.”
Shi Ting looked at the tent before him. “Move Captain Liu and his people all here. Try to get everyone settled into tents. With this freezing cold, anyone without shelter will freeze to death.”
“But…”
“No buts.” Shi Ting said. “The injured are not only passengers — they are also the people of Bei Di. The Commander does not need a private suite. Go make the arrangements.”
“Yes, Young Marshal.”
After the county magistrate left, the doctor said with concern: “Young Marshal, you’ve drawn too much.”
“It’s fine. Continue.”
The doctor did not dare say anything more and could only draw another tube.
“Young Marshal, you should rest for a moment…” The doctor finished drawing the blood and turned to hang up the blood bag, and when he turned back, the man was no longer in the tent.
Shi Ting stepped out of the tent and walked through the biting wind to the site of the accident.
Changsheng Bridge was not high, but under the force of the explosion, combined with the speed of the moving train, this fall had been no small matter.
Deputy Adjutant Zhang followed close beside him, watching his ashen complexion with some concern.
“Young Marshal, the doctor was right — you drew so much blood. Please rest first.”
“Let me look at the materials.” Shi Ting appeared not to have heard.
Deputy Adjutant Zhang immediately handed a handwritten report to Shi Ting.
“According to incomplete statistics, thirty-two bodies have been discovered at the crash site, seventy-two are seriously injured, and many passengers are still trapped inside the carriages — whether alive or dead is still unknown.”
Below Changsheng Bridge, the county magistrate’s people and those Shi Ting had brought were all competing to rescue the wounded.
Changsheng Bridge had been blown apart; bridge debris was scattered everywhere. That locomotive had struck the ground nose-first and was severely deformed.
Shi Ting came down to below the bridge along a slope at the side. Two men were just walking by carrying a stretcher, the person on it bloodied and mangled, and already frozen stiff.
Shi Ting watched as that person was carried away and quietly let out a long sigh.
The sudden explosion at Changsheng Bridge — beyond human involvement, there was no other possibility. And the targeting of this blast was also very clear: it was aimed at the Commander.
“The Commander had originally been sitting in the third carriage, but because the third carriage’s heating apparatus was broken, he moved to the fifth carriage. Fortunately the Commander changed carriages — otherwise…”
The first four carriages of the train had fallen entirely to the ground, the fifth was suspended in mid-air, and the sixth and above remained on the ruined bridge. Passengers in those remaining carriages were mostly lightly wounded and had already been escorted on foot toward the nearest village and town.
Shi Ting came below the broken bridge, first looked up, then stamped his foot on the ground.
“This should be the blast point. The explosives were placed at the time at the corner between the bottom of the bridge and the bridge pier.”
As he spoke, he crouched down and picked something up.
~