Though the warehouse was large, its layout was simple. The tunnel connecting to the tea roasting workshop was just a few dozen meters away, not far at all.

Currently, it was a blind spot under the lamp—no one was paying attention.

Lin Yuchan didn’t hesitate and followed Su Minguan as they ran.

However, after running just a few steps, she felt the light was blinding, hot air assaulted her, and a thick cloud of smoke nearly choked her to the ground.

A large patch of burning fire was blocking the essential path leading to the tunnel.

The fire seemed to have started from nowhere, neither spreading nor extending, just burning steadily with the help of some combustible materials, marking its territory like a bandit king blocking the road for robbery.

“Which blind fool dumped ash here?” Su Minguan said angrily, “Really knows how to pick a spot.”

Lin Yuchan coughed once: “…”

It seems like I was the one who put it there.

Su Minguan pondered for a moment, tucked his pistol back into his waist, and quickly removed his outer garment: “A’Mei, don’t struggle.”

Before Lin Yuchan could ask, “What are you doing?”, he tightly embraced her from behind. The outer garment swirled around, covering both their upper bodies.

Then he rolled sideways, holding Lin Yuchan as they rolled directly into the tongues of flame.

Su Minguan had just been soaked through outside, his damp outer garment pressed against her face, his ice-cold hands clasped around her waist, water drops from his chin seeping into her hair. He held her very tightly, curling and protecting most of her small, dry body.

After several rolls, flames spun before her eyes. Lin Yuchan got up dizzy and disoriented, completely unharmed, even shivering from the cold.

Behind them, the fierce fire still blazed.

Su Minguan tied the burned outer coat around his waist, a hint of pride in his eyes, waiting for her to worship him again.

Who knew the little girl didn’t say a single word of thanks, but instead timidly pointed behind him.

“You… your braid is on fire.”

At the same time, Helmsman Su felt his bottom getting hot, quickly turned around to see a small, lively flame at the tip of his braid, steadily climbing higher.

The Qing dynasty hairstyle was just that bizarre. The entire thick braid served as a fuse. The flame happily climbed up the pole, and in a few more seconds, his head would be in grave danger.

Su Minguan was anxious and frantic, quickly untying the outer coat from his waist, swatting left and right, but unfortunately, eyes don’t grow on the back, and that braid was bouncing around wildly. After being fanned a few times, it burned even more enthusiastically, and he was literally about to have his head burned to a crisp.

He became so desperate that he grew polite with her: “Miss Lin, don’t just watch, help me!”

Lin Yuchan couldn’t help but find it amusing, saying softly, “This braid can’t be saved. Get a new one.”

Then she stood on her tiptoes, calmly reached up and yanked, pulling the entire braid off and tossing it into the fire.

Su Minguan: “…”

He stared in shock, slowly reaching up to touch the back of his head—it felt cold and drafty, covered with disheveled, messy hair.

“You… you…”

“Stop pretending,” Lin Yuchan stretched her limbs and dragged him toward the tunnel. “Real hair can’t burn that fast, right? Mixed with wool thread, I bet?”

Last time at the teahouse, when she was pretending to be a troublesome child, she had pulled on Young Master Xiao Bai’s little braid and felt something odd about the texture. She had deliberately wedged his hair tip into a chair crack, and he was completely oblivious, showing no signs of pain.

Even if his genes were unique, they couldn’t be that unique.

But later, when her biological father Lin Guangfu caused that big scene, she pushed this harmless doubt to the back of her mind.

Today, she was completely certain—if the “bandit leader” fighting to overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming was still sporting a real braid, his revolutionary will would be far too weak.

No wonder he always liked wearing hats, changing styles constantly. She had initially thought he was just vain.

She asked: “When did you cut it?”

Su Minguan was dragged several steps by her before slightly coming to his senses, saying softly: “It was glued on. Yanking it off like that hurt.”

Lin Yuchan: “Sorry, I’ll be more careful next time.”

Su Minguan: “…”

Will there be a next time?

Emerging from the tunnel covered in dust, the wooden board blocking the entrance was still in place. Inside the workshop, tea leaves were fragrant, the winnowing baskets still placed at an angle, various tools arranged in their original positions—a scene of peaceful tranquility.

Lin Yuchan’s heart finally began to settle; she curled her fingers and let out a long breath.

“Thank… thank you.”

Su Minguan pointed to the main door, indicating they should leave quickly.

She asked softly: “What about you?”

He didn’t answer, just cupped his hands toward her in salute.

Lin Yuchan had no choice but to obey, feeling as if she had just experienced a nightmare in fast-forward.

The current situation didn’t seem to allow for sentimental farewells. She hastily bowed to Su Minguan and walked quickly toward the main door.

As soon as she showed her head, she heard dense hoof beats echoing from the street outside. Su Minguan shouted: “Come back!”

He tackled her to the ground. At the same time, there was a thunderous explosion as something detonated in the nearby tea winnowing basket, filling the air with thick gunpowder smoke that made her cough.

“Catch the rebels! Catch the rebels!” Someone was banging gongs and shouting along the street, “Listen, all citizens, harboring remnants of secret societies is the same crime as being rebels…”

Su Minguan whispered in her ear: “The soldiers have come. The foreign rifle corps.”

His voice remained steady, but for the first time, Lin Yuchan heard a trace of unease in his tone.

Recently, the rumors about “Jin Lanhe’s ghost” had been too rampant, and the authorities weren’t fools—they had long since increased patrol personnel. When hundreds of coolies collectively escaped from prison, Wang Quan immediately informed the authorities, and someone immediately thought this might be another trick by the Heaven and Earth Society.

Fighting common people, fists and clubs were enough; fighting foreigners, broadswords were sufficient for show; but hunting down rebels couldn’t be taken lightly—only the most elite foreign rifle corps would do.

Judging by the sound, there were no fewer than a hundred soldiers. They had received Wang Quan’s signal and only knew something had happened at the Defeng Trading Company’s tea roasting workshop, but didn’t know that most of the society members had escaped through the broken wall of the coolie barracks.

So now only Su Minguan and Lin Yuchan were trapped in this dragnet.

Lin Yuchan’s little cleverness completely failed her, and she asked tremblingly: “Then what do we do?”

Su Minguan quickly regained his composure, touched the empty back of his head, and said quietly: “Don’t be afraid.”

With all the soldiers gathered here, it was actually convenient. If he could lead the foreign rifle corps astray and delay them for even a moment, those weak society brothers would have one more moment to escape.

Su Minguan: “After the next round of gunfire, when they’re reloading, we’ll rush out. Follow my lead.”

His tone was reassuring. Lin Yuchan took a deep breath. She had almost forgotten that current firearms couldn’t fire continuously—the loading time was extremely long.

All the cats and dogs on the street had been scared back to their dens by the soldiers, residential doors and windows were tightly shut, and the surroundings were silent.

Soon, another round of gunfire sounded. Su Minguan’s eyebrows twitched, and he called out: “Go!”

The foreign rifle corps captain was a pot-bellied Manchu officer, fully armed, with raindrops pounding on his helmet, making drumming sounds.

Hearing that rebels were about, the officer’s belly full of military strategy finally found its use. Having just used foreign rifles to “secure the position,” he was pointing and gesturing with his subordinates, planning to arrange a Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams formation to catch all the rebels in one net—

“Bang!”

Su Minguan barely aimed, raised his hand, and fired.

Qing army armor couldn’t stop lead bullets. The fat officer clutched his abdomen and fell backward off his horse.

“Get on the horse!”

Currently, their only advantage was that the soldiers thought there were many rebels and had planned for a skirmish, but they only had two people, could move swiftly, and catch them off guard.

The soldiers were indeed dumbfounded—the enemy general hadn’t even announced his name before launching a sneak attack. Even foreigners weren’t this shameless!

Immediately, they swarmed forward to help the officer who had fallen from his horse.

“The commander is wounded! Quickly protect the commander! Quickly call the military doctor!”

They hadn’t caught a single rebel yet, but were already showing their loyalty first.

The Manchu officer still had his wits about him, lying on the ground shouting: “Quickly, quickly fire, don’t let the rebels escape…”

Only then did the soldiers fumblingly reload. With the heavy rain continuing, and fearing the gunpowder would get wet, by the time someone raised their rifle barrel, a horse was already galloping away at full speed, its four hooves splashing water, creating sprays of clear water.

Lin Yuchan couldn’t ride, so Su Minguan forcibly threw her onto the horse, leaving her at a loss. Fortunately, the horse’s bridle had many accessories—tassels, protective charms, sachets, opium pipes, and everything else. She desperately grabbed a handful of odds and ends, using all her strength to maintain balance as splashing water droplets brushed past her face.

The warhorse charged wildly through the streets and alleys. If Su Minguan hadn’t been supporting her from behind, she would have been thrown off instantly.

She asked weakly: “How do you know how to ride a horse…”

He wasn’t Manchu after all. Even horse carriages were rare in Guangzhou city.

“Played around with it as a child.” He answered unimaginatively, turning to aim at the pursuing deputy, “Don’t let your waist collapse, squeeze tight with your legs…”

“Bang!!”

The gunshot suddenly rang out. Lin Yuchan’s eardrums ached from the shock.

Su Minguan’s words abruptly stopped. Lin Yuchan felt as if he had suddenly lost strength, slumping against her back, motionless.

Her whole body went cold as she reached back to grab his waist tightly.

“Minguan Young Master… Comrade Xiao Bai?”

He hung his head silently, his chin resting on her shoulder, the tip of his nose brushing against her ear—she couldn’t feel his breathing.

The horse, startled by the gunshot, instinctively shied. Lin Yuchan alone couldn’t control the reins, and in an instant, she was thrown from the horse.

She tightly hugged Su Minguan’s waist.

Fortunately, infrastructure was poor in those days, with bad road conditions. On both sides of the road were piles of sand and dirt, turned to mud by the heavy rain. She aimed for a large mud pit when she fell, landing with a splash, her entire body shaking, her back aching.

At least no bones were broken. The muddy water splashed high, cushioning her landing momentum, gently enveloping her like falling into a soft quilt.

Inside the quilt was someone who couldn’t be awakened. Su Minguan’s brows were tightly knitted, his left hand desperately covering his chest, fresh blood seeping through his fingers, dripping drop by drop into the muddy water below.

The bullet had entered from the side. When he turned to exchange fire with the soldiers, it had precisely struck his left chest.

Behind them, she could faintly hear soldiers shouting, “The thief is hit!”

Lin Yuchan’s heartbeat nearly stopped, her mind blank for a moment, only knowing to use her sleeve to wipe the sweat and mud from his face. It revealed a pale, handsome face. Rain poured down madly, washing over his cheeks, and she kept wiping for him, as if this would help him breathe more easily.

After a very long time, she finally heard her own changed voice.

“Minguan—wake up, I… I don’t know what to do…”

She wiped away a tear from her eye socket, pried open his right hand, pulled out the still-warm pistol, and found gunpowder and lead bullets from his pocket, trying to load them into the barrel like he had done—

Her hands were shaking badly, her movements clumsy. As soon as she raised the gun barrel, the gunpowder immediately spilled out.

The soldiers’ shouts were close at hand.

She gritted her teeth, lifted Su Minguan’s shoulders, supported his entire body weight, and straightened up bit by bit.

The big fellow had a heavy frame, and she was breathing hard after just a few steps. She bent down and bore the weight with effort.

She thought that even if all the Jin Lanhe throughout history couldn’t escape having their heads hung on city walls, his final stop shouldn’t be in a mud pit.

That would be too undignified.

The heavy rain had stopped at some point, and starlight spilled from the clouds, spreading across the Pearl River’s surface, dancing like fireflies.

Lin Yuchan suddenly remembered the Pearl River from two centuries later. The banks were lined with long, clean recreational walkways, colorful shared bicycles parked alongside, bridges of various shapes spanning the water, and the Canton Tower “Small Waist” flashing neon lights, inviting the surrounding high-rises to dance…

Most of the Pearl River banks now remained undeveloped, with only rough, uneven beaches that looked lifeless in the darkness, mist crawling along the ground from the water’s surface, making it impossible to see clearly beyond ten steps.

Ink-black waves rolled up, swallowing the glimmers of light on the water’s surface.

There was no urban night lighting in those days. Hidden in the pitch-black river water, there might still be a thread of hope for survival.

Lin Yuchan struggled toward the riverbank. Mud and water crisscrossed under her feet, everything ice-cold. Her shoes were worn through, and slippery pebbles pressed painfully against her toes.

When she arrived in the Qing dynasty, she was already dead. Society’s lashing had hardened her courage. She was no longer that naive high school graduate—she knew how to push herself to her limits.

Suddenly, her wrist felt cold as someone snatched the gun from her hand.

Lin Yuchan quickly turned around.

Su Minguan’s face was deathly pale, his eyelids fluttering slightly as he gave her a weak smile.

“Very lucky, it was a mud bullet.” His voice was hoarse, “A’Mei, you worried for nothing.”

Lin Yuchan: “Mud bullet?”

What kind of bizarre variety was this?

“Qing Eight Banners and Army of the Green Standard special.” Su Minguan’s eyebrows twitched, looking down at his blood-covered body, a slight cold smile playing at the corners of his mouth, “Military funds were embezzled, couldn’t afford enough lead bullets, so they used mud and sand as substitutes to pass inspections.”

Lin Yuchan’s eyes filled with tears as she gave a thumbs-up to the corrupt Qing officials.

Of course, it wasn’t soft sand and dirt—who knows what miscellaneous debris had been stuffed in there. The tremendous kinetic energy had knocked Su Minguan breathless, leaving bloody, crisscrossing wounds across his chest.

If it had been a lead bullet that exploded inside his body, he would already be dead.

Lin Yuchan’s heart was still racing as she stammered: “I, I wasn’t worried.”

While speaking, Su Minguan had already loaded the pistol with bullets. Gritting his teeth, he couldn’t lift his arm.

“A’Mei,” he suddenly said flatly, “I’m afraid I can’t walk. Can you swim? You can hide in the river.”

Lin Yuchan raised her eyelids. “What are you saying?”

He seemed impatient: “You’re not a society member, why get involved?”

She burst out laughing: “Are your rules that strict?”

She understood his good intentions. She was a proper young lady from a wealthy family who neither opposed the Qing nor supported the Ming restoration. If caught by the authorities and labeled a rebel, she wouldn’t even get a straw mat after death.

But Lin Yuchan realized that Su Minguan had stayed behind to save her, causing the delay. Otherwise, he would have escaped long ago with that group of society brothers.

Last time when “mistakenly arrested” by the authorities, there was still a foreign boss to bail him out; if he fell into official hands this time, probably even the Jardine Matheson taipan couldn’t save him—if they tried to protect him forcibly, it would likely trigger a third Opium War.

Had there been a third Opium War in history? No.

He was keeping a clear account of favors owed in his heart—it was impossible he couldn’t calculate this cause and effect.

“Probably just being polite,” she thought.

No matter how mighty the Grand Helmsman was, he was now critically wounded, and protests were useless.

She forcefully supported half his body weight and struggled toward the riverbank.

Su Minguan: “…You’re really strong.”

Lin Yuchan: “Thanks. Just two sacks of tea leaves.”

Fortunately, the soldiers also feared the water. On the pitch-black riverbank, they couldn’t see clearly and didn’t dare fire randomly. After much shouting and commotion, they finally rolled up their trouser legs, formed groups, and carefully came down to capture people.

She felt his blood gradually soaking through her clothes. Looking around, she couldn’t help but cry out in despair.

The fishing boats by the river should have all gone to shelter from the rain, but now there was still one small broken boat unusually moored there, with a small broken lantern hanging from the bow, illuminating the surrounding lifeless water surface and casting the shadows of two people stumbling along.

There was nowhere to hide. If the soldiers pursued closely, they would spot where they were hiding at a glance.

Even worse, the person in the sampan heard the commotion and charged out with an oar, shouting with hostility: “Who’s there? Go away! Go away! Don’t come over!”

While speaking, he even waved the oar, looking every bit the guard dog protecting his territory.

Su Minguan sighed softly.

If he weren’t injured, he could seize the boat, use sweet words, or threaten and coerce.

But now, like a tiger fallen to the plains, he could only whisper: “Back off. Go somewhere the lamplight can’t reach.”

But Lin Yuchan didn’t retreat. She grabbed Su Minguan’s arm tightly and instead strode forward boldly.

“Is that Aunt Hong?” she called out tremblingly, “Aunt Hong! You’ve come back?”