By the time Wang Dao realized something was wrong and hurried out of his room to look up at the sky, the firework had already disappeared.
Feeling uneasy, he immediately asked the servants waiting outside. Learning that there had been light shooting into the sky just now, exploding in the air like firecrackers, he immediately realized this was Yuan Li in trouble.
“Quickly summon the retainers in the household. Have them go to Liu Alley to find Young Master Yuan. Quickly!”
A firecracker appearing in the sky—such a rare spectacle was the first time the common people of Jiangnan had seen it. They all raised their heads to look curiously.
In the crowd, someone’s eyes flickered. Amid the astonished discussions of the crowd, they quietly left, returned to their room, threw all confidential materials into the fire, then erased their traces and departed.
One person was stopped by the shopkeeper while heading out. “Erzhu, where are you going again? Stop gawking at the spectacle and go help in the kitchen.”
Erzhu responded and said, “The kitchen sent me to buy some dogwood—we have a guest from Ba and Shu.”
The shopkeeper, hearing this, immediately waved his hand. “Then go quickly, don’t delay.”
Erzhu acknowledged, quickened his pace, and disappeared around the corner of the alley.
A small peddler living on the other side of the city burned all the written items in his house, then put on his hat, shouldered his carrying pole, and went out.
The neighbors saw him but paid no mind. This was a peddler who walked the streets and alleys with very irregular hours. Sometimes he stayed home for a day doing work; other times he was gone for several days, supposedly going to the countryside to sell goods—quite a hard life.
Some servants from wealthy households also found excuses to quietly leave their residences and soon disappeared into the streets.
Their movements were practiced, as if rehearsed a thousand times. On the surface they appeared normal, but only they knew how panicked they were inside.
That was a red signal flare, the most dangerous signal flare. In all of Jiangnan, only their General Yuan had it.
So what had happened to General Yuan?
Had he escaped?
The Celestial Envoy Group was in Jiankang City. Should they go find Censor Lu and the others to rescue General Yuan?
Just thinking this, they rejected the idea in their hearts. No, General Yuan had said that if there was danger, they should scatter into the wilderness and absolutely not let anyone find them. Don’t rescue anyone, don’t expose themselves.
If caught, die rather than speak. If afraid of torture, the best method was to commit suicide decisively upon capture.
The three people left in the safe house did exactly that. When they noticed someone invading the safe house, while closing the door to block them, they tried to burn the documents inside.
But they had accumulated too many documents and couldn’t burn them all at once. Han Fu gritted his teeth and thought, then immediately lit the paper in his hand and threw it into the filing cabinet. He poured the lamp oil from the desk onto the table and cabinet, about to set it alight.
Zhao Bingzhong, who was hiding the radio under the bricks, was alarmed when he saw this. He rushed over to stop him. “What are you doing? This entire street is mostly wooden houses. Once it catches fire, the whole street could burn. The wind is strong now—many people will die.”
Han Fu pushed him away. “It’s none of your concern. Each person bears their own responsibility. I’ll take the blame for this crime. Anyway, everything in this room must be burned!”
Zhao Bingzhong disagreed. “The Lady said the most important thing is the people’s welfare.”
“Bah! The Lady also said the most important thing is our lives. Let me ask you—do you dare live in disgrace?”
Zhao Bingzhong said with a solemn face, “That’s different. I willingly die for the Lady, and willingly die for the common people. But the common people on this street are ignorant and innocent!”
Through the door, Shi Yan, struggling to hold out outside, couldn’t help but shout, “Stop arguing! I can’t hold on anymore!”
As soon as he spoke, unable to block a move, he was kicked in the chest by someone. He crashed into the door and fell, curled up in pain.
The pain made his vision blur. Vaguely seeing they were about to break through the door, he endured the pain and lunged forward, wrapping his arms around someone’s leg and refusing to let go even unto death.
The man kicked him several times. Seeing his stubbornness, he raised his knife and stabbed down hard, piercing right through before pulling the blade out.
Shi Yan’s body went limp, his hands loosening slightly. Only then did the man kick Shi Yan aside and together with the soldiers, kicked open the door and entered.
Han Fu and Zhao Bingzhong stopped arguing. Instead, they worked in unison to pile the most important documents together, poured all the remaining candles and lamp oil over them, and threw a fire onto them. Hearing the sounds outside, they had no time to deal with the remaining items and could only hide the radio first.
The door was kicked open. Han Fu raised his sword and charged forward to block them. Zhao Bingzhong placed the last brick over the radio, then also raised his sword to meet them head-on.
After just one exchange, someone flashed behind him and slashed his back, then kicked him flying.
Han Fu’s martial skills were on par with Shi Yan’s. Fighting five opponents, he could still look after Zhao Bingzhong and even mock him. “Scholar! I told you to practice martial arts but you wouldn’t. Now you’re done for, aren’t you? The window is there—why aren’t you running?”
Han Fu blocked the sword aimed at him. While dodging, he grabbed Zhao Bingzhong and gripped his collar, throwing him toward the back window while shouting, “Go!”
Zhao Bingzhong knew he was a burden. He was a student from the academy. Although he also practiced martial arts and studied archery and horsemanship, compared to these elite soldiers specifically sent to capture them, he was far inferior.
If he stayed, he would only be a burden. He still needed to find General Yuan and tell him the safe house had been compromised, that their people all needed to go into hiding…
Though this was his reasoning and he could weigh the pros and cons, when climbing through the window, he still couldn’t help but look up at Han Fu. He saw Han Fu had been slashed again, with two men trying to get past him to pursue—but Han Fu blocked them despite his pain…
Zhao Bingzhong wiped away his tears, climbed through the window, and stumbled toward the back door.
Once Zhao Bingzhong left, Han Fu deliberately lured them toward the burning pile. In his movements, he kicked over the fire basin and kicked the burning papers toward the cabinet and table that had been doused with lamp oil.
Whoosh! Fire erupted, and the entire room instantly burst into flames.
But because of these two extra movements, he momentarily revealed an opening. A sword thrust from behind, piercing straight through his chest. He looked down at the blade tip protruding from his chest, grinned showing a mouth full of bloody foam, and crashed to the ground…
Little Zhong was good in every way, just too much of a student. They were spies—why consider so much?
But… he hoped the fire wouldn’t spread to other houses.
Han Fu closed his eyes.
Meanwhile, Zhao Bingzhong, who had just opened the back door and was about to rush out, was blocked by two swords waiting outside.
Seeing the people guarding outside the door, his face paled.
His gaze swept around, catching sight from the corner of his eye of the alley on both sides filled with people, all wearing Judicial Authority military uniforms.
Was it the Prince of Langya?
No, that wasn’t right. Although he was just someone who sent and received telegraph messages, from the information exchanged between General Yuan and the Lady, he knew the Prince of Langya was not someone who would do such a thing.
Then was it Wang Dao or Wang Dun?
In just an instant, Zhao Bingzhong thought of many things. He slowly backed away, and the people outside the door also advanced slowly with raised swords.