Siheyuan: Starting from the driver

Chapter 700 Playing with fire and burning yourself
The workshop was busy, and June arrived in just a few days.

Children's Day.

Elementary school is on holiday!

The sounds of children excitedly screaming and chasing each other could be faintly heard from the alley.

For children, this is one of the few holidays where they can legitimately let loose and have fun.

In the middle courtyard, at the entrance of the Jia family's house, Banggeng leaned against the door frame, idly propping his head up.

His mood was far worse than the bright weather.

It's a holiday, that's right, but how is this "holiday" any different from a regular day? This holiday is a workday, so Qin Huairu doesn't have time to take him out to play.

The room was cold and deserted.

Qin Huairu went to work at the steel rolling mill. Before she left, she told him, "Take good care of your younger sisters at home and don't cause any trouble."

Xiao Dang and Xiao Huaihua were still fast asleep on the kang (heated brick bed).

Jia Zhangshi is still in the police station.

The huge courtyard house seemed to suddenly be left with only him and two useless maids.

"Hahaha, come and get me, brother!"

A burst of silvery laughter rang out; the familiar laughter was instantly recognizable as Bai Chi's.

Judging from the sound, she was probably playing with others. There were quite a few people in the yard who were close to Bai Chi, and they had people to play with her during the holidays, but she had no one to play with.

"Sigh~" Banggeng couldn't help but sigh.

suddenly.

Rustling——

Hearing the noise, Banggeng turned his head and saw that Xiaodang had also woken up, rubbing the corner of his eye as he walked over, looking at Banggeng's tense profile.

"What are you doing?" Bang Geng looked at Zhongyuan again, his tone stiff.

"Nothing, nothing, are you hungry, brother?" Xiao Dang's voice was barely audible.

"Not hungry," Banggeng said coldly.

"Oh~" Xiao Dang responded softly, turned around and looked at the stove. There were still some steamed cornbreads that Qin Huairu had made early in the morning in the pot, still warm.

Xiao Dang's stomach was growling with hunger, and she took a bite without even brushing her teeth.

Bang Geng was feeling irritable when he saw the three siblings, Yan Jiefang, Yan Jiekuang, and Yan Jiedi, walking towards him.

Yan Jiekuang was still clutching a brand-new, colorful paper windmill in his hand, and the three of them were chewing on something, which was obviously candy that Li Kailang had given them.

Surrounded by the two brothers, Yan Jiedi skipped and hopped like a little princess towards the back room.

"Hmph!" Bang Geng snorted coldly, disapproving of the three's cheerful demeanor.

Yan Jiefang, who was in front, immediately stopped and stared directly at Banggeng: "Banggeng! What are you humming about? Looking for trouble?"

Yan Jiekuang stared at him with an unfriendly expression.

Bang Geng felt a chill run down his spine. In terms of fighting, it would be humiliating for him to take on Yan Jiefang and Jie Kuang, two half-grown boys, all by himself.

"N-nothing..." Bang Geng stubbornly replied, but his voice was noticeably lower, and he turned his head to the other side, not daring to meet Yan Jiefang's gaze.

"Hmph, it better be nothing!" Yan Jiefang exhaled two blasts of cold air from his nose.

"Don't fucking annoy me during this holiday! If you keep whining and acting like a spoilsport, I'll slap you!"

He uttered harsh words, stretched out his hand, and pulled his younger sister Yan Jiedi behind him like a protective chick, glared fiercely at Banggeng, and then dragged Jiedi away.

"Let's go find Bai Chi to play with! Don't bother with this gloomy guy!"

The three siblings walked straight past the Jia family's gate, strutted arrogantly toward the backyard, leaving behind an even more jarring string of laughter and the incessant whirring of the windmill.

Only after their figures disappeared into the corridor did Banggeng suddenly turn around and snort fiercely at their backs again: "Hmph!"

After finishing her cornbread, Xiao Dang and Xiao Huaihua whispered to each other on the kang (heated brick bed). The two girls had nothing to do, so they took two dried corncobs and pretended to be dolls, playing house.

Such a boring and dull atmosphere made Bang Geng feel a nameless fire rise in his heart.

"Why do they get to play and eat candy, while I get none of that and have to stay home and look after my little sister? Why?!"

Banggeng grew angrier the more he thought about it, and felt restless, as if he had thorns growing all over his body.

His gaze wandered aimlessly through the cramped room: a faded, broken cabinet, a peeling paint table, and a spider web hanging in the corner.
It seems like there's nothing good to play with.

Looking around, Banggeng saw matches by the stove.

"Matches?" Banggeng tilted his head, feeling a sense of familiarity, as if he had done something bad in the past, but he just couldn't remember.

Picking up a match and looking at the stove, I instantly lost all interest in playing with fire.

A flash of inspiration.

"If you can't play at home, go play outside."

Thinking of something, he did it. Banggeng took a match and left the Jia family home, looking around to see where he could play with fire.

The front yard is out of the question; there are adults there.

The backyard won't work either, because there's the old lady there, and Liu Guangtian and Liu Guangfu too.

He refused to go to the back room either, because there were a bunch of people he hated there.

Too many people in the back room is also not good.

After considering all the options, it seems that only the Intermediate People's Court is suitable.

Looking around the courtyard again, all that could be seen was the base of the gable wall of the house next to the Jia family's house.

This is a blind spot, hidden by a tall wall and a few old beams and broken bamboo baskets piled up next to it, forming a small shadowy area that is not easily seen by people in the yard.

More importantly, there were some miscellaneous items piled up against the wall: some dried wheat straw used for kindling, and a few discarded wooden planks.

"That's it!"

"Hey!"

A pungent smell of sulfur suddenly filled my nostrils!
Immediately afterwards, a small, bright, leaping orange-red flame suddenly burst into flames at the tip of the matchstick!
Looking at the flame at his fingertips, an even stronger desire seized the stem: make it bigger! Bigger!

As if guided by some strange force, he slowly moved the lit matchstick toward the pile of dried, brittle, and withered wheat straw tips next to him.
"Brother?!" Xiao Dang, who had come out to find Bang Geng, was so frightened by what he saw that he cried out.

Startled by Xiao Dang's words, Bang Geng jumped! The flame trembled as his hand shook.

It landed perfectly in that small pile of dry wheat straw.

The stick instinctively reached out to stomp on the flames.

But it was too late.

puff!"

The pile of straw, which was already very dry and light, emitted a wisp of smoke almost the instant a spark touched it.

Soon, the wisps of smoke, like a lit fuse, suddenly turned into bright flames!
At an extremely fast speed, with a "whoosh," the fire spread wildly along the fine wheat straw fibers to the waste wooden planks.

"Ah—!!! Fire! Fire! It's on fire!!!" Xiao Dang burst into a heart-wrenching scream.

Banggeng was completely terrified! He stood frozen in place like a wooden statue, his mind blank, with only the raging flames in front of him.

Xiao Dang's sharp words instantly shattered the tranquility of the courtyard.

"Where's the fire? Where's the fire?!" Yan Bugui was on holiday at home today, and he immediately ran out when he heard the noise.

The other residents who were at home immediately rushed out.

Almost at the same time as Xiao Dang's first scream, flames began to frantically lick at the weathered outer walls of the Jia family's house.

"My God!!! It's really on fire!" Yan Bugui exclaimed in fright as he watched the flames billowing.

"Fire! Fire! Fire! The Intermediate Court! The corner of the Jia family's house! Quickly!!"

"Bang! Little Dang, come here quickly!"

Both of them were stunned. Yan Bugui immediately rushed forward and carried them away from the fire.

At this time, everyone in the courtyard arrived, and without anyone saying a word, they immediately and consciously went to get basins and buckets to put out the fire.

Fortunately, it was in the Intermediate People's Court, and the Jia family's house was closest to the water tap.

The taps were turned on full blast, the rushing water filling the vessels, which were then picked up by anxious hands and poured onto the raging flames in a relay.

Clang! Crash—

"Pfft-"

"Quick! Over here! Splash water! Splash water!"

Basin after basin of water was poured onto the flames, but the rate of watering was far slower than the rate at which the flames burned. The central courtyard only had one shared water tap, so it couldn't be used quickly.

The faucets are still shared by everyone, and no one bothers to store water pipes.

Yan Bugui immediately shouted to stop them, "Jiefang, Jiekuang, take the buckets to the Cui family to fetch water!"

"Guangtian Guangfu, go to the Bai family to fetch water."

"Let's keep watering! Hurry, hurry, let's get started!"

After giving the instructions, Yan Bugui looked at the still-burning flames. There were many things piled up in the corner of the Jia family's house, and if these were not taken away, they would continue to burn.

"puff!"

Yan Bugui grabbed a bucket of water and poured it over himself. Then, he grabbed a broom and rushed into the fire, knocking over all the flammable debris and scattering it all over the ground.

"Sizzle—"

The burning dry straw, hemp rope, and rotten wood were extinguished in large numbers as soon as they came into contact with the water on the ground.

The flames at the base of the Jia family's wall immediately diminished considerably.

Thick, white steam hissed upwards, carrying a burnt smell, mingling with the acrid black smoke, making it impossible to open one's eyes and causing violent coughing.

"Cough cough!"

"Keep pushing, almost there!"

Not long after, Yan Jiefang and Liu Guangtian came back carrying a full pile of water.

"Dad/Uncle, the water's here!"

Yan Bugui struggled to pick up the bucket and splashed water forcefully against the base of the Jia family's wall.

"boom!"

The powerful flow of water instantly pounded against the base of the wall, slamming hard onto the raging fire debris.

It instantly shattered into pieces, the impact scattered, and black ash flew everywhere with the water vapor!

“Puff, fufu—!”

The flames were extinguished by more than half in an instant.

"boom!"

As the last bucket of water slammed down, the debris at the base of the wall was knocked away and disappeared.

The hissing sound left only the reluctant extinguishing of the flames.

"Phew~ The fire is out, the fire is out!" Yan Bugui and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Looking at the dark corner of the Jia family's house, only a few scattered sparks remained.

"Thank goodness, there are no windows on this side. Auntie, could you check if anything's wrong inside the Jia family's house?" Yan Bugui said.

"Don't worry, everything's fine inside. The fire didn't spread inside," the woman said, hugging Kuihua.

"I'll go take another look," the third aunt said, and went inside to check. The burning section of the wall hadn't affected the interior.

After checking several times to make sure there was no impact, he came out and said to everyone, "Fortunately, the fire was put out in time, and the fire did not spread into the house."

"I'll get some water and water the plants inside later, so there won't be any spots I can't see."

"It's great that everything's alright." Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Yan Bugui then said, "Jiefang and Jiekuang, you two go water the plants now."

Upon hearing the order, the two brothers immediately picked up buckets and went inside to water the plants.

"It's almost done. Let's put it out with a little more effort. Everyone should also check it out to make sure no sparks get scattered and reignite."

"What the Third Uncle says is true, it's time to get it checked."

After inspecting the central courtyard, the group stomped on the sparks that had been blown away to make sure they were extinguished before checking other areas.

After a while, everyone gathered together.

"Uncle, I don't see Mars."

"Mine is the same."

"Me too."

Everyone spoke up, and Yan Bugui nodded: "Okay, thank you all for your help."

Then he turned to look at the still-stunned Bang Geng.

"Bang Geng, Bang Geng, are you alright?"

It took Bang Geng a while to recover.

"It's okay."

Yan Bugui looked at Bang Geng, whose face was pale, and said, "It's good that you're alright. Bang Geng, do you know how this fire started?"

Upon hearing this, Banggeng looked around and, not seeing Xiaodangxin, felt a great sense of relief. As long as Xiaodangxin didn't say anything, no one would know that he was the one who burned it.

Banggeng shook his head: "I don't know. I was fine at home, and I saw the fire as soon as I went out."

Yan Bugui: "You don't know either? Then it must have been an accident. But it shouldn't have happened so early in the morning."

"Honey, do you think someone might have thrown away a cigarette butt and that's how the fire started?" the third aunt speculated.

"It's not impossible. Although it was an unintentional fire, it still started, which is a criminal offense. We need to call the police!"

"Let the police arrest them. If we hadn't all been in the yard, if no one had been there, the fire would have burned down more than just the Jia family's house!"

"That's right, we should call the police!"

Yan Bugui instructed, "Guangtian, go to the police station to report this. This matter must be thoroughly investigated!"

Everyone chimed in, "Yes! We absolutely have to catch them!"

"Luckily we were all in the yard. If it had caught fire, what would have happened to all my family's belongings?"

"Exactly! They don't even smoke properly and just throw their cigarette butts around carelessly. What if someone gets killed?"

The crowd was filled with righteous indignation.

"Alright, this incident should also serve as a reminder to us. We should quickly tidy up all the clutter outside the house to avoid trouble if something happens later."

"Now that it's summer, the dry weather makes it easier for fires to start, so everyone should be careful."

"indeed."

Immediately, everyone went back and began a thorough inspection and cleanup.

Remove all the flammable debris piled up outside.

While everyone was leaving, Bang Geng found Xiao Dang.

Xiao Dang was still shaken and hadn't recovered from the fire.

The good thing is that it didn't give Xiaodang time to switch back.

Banggeng lifted Xiaodang's face, their eyes met, and he threatened fiercely:

"Xiao Dang! Look at me! If Mom asks how this fire started, you just say you don't know. You absolutely can't say I started it, understand?!"

"what?"

"Did you hear me?! If you dare say I ordered it, believe me, I'll beat you up! I won't give you any good food anymore! I won't give you any meat! Do you hear me?!"

"I heard you. I... I don't know anything!" Xiao Dang said timidly.

The threat posed by the stick pheasant was quite effective.

"Hmph!" Banggeng clapped his hands smugly and said, "Remember, you can't tell anyone!"

"Ok!"

Soon after, the police arrived and inquired about the specifics.

They suspected the fire was caused by a cigarette butt, so they immediately checked the ground with everyone, but found no cigarette butt.

"I think it might have been washed away by the water somewhere, maybe in some nook or cranny, and it'll be hard to find," Yan Bugui said.

The policeman nodded: "Okay, you can continue searching, and we'll investigate to see if anyone has passed through here."

"Okay, thank you for your help," Yan Bugui said.

After giving them some final instructions, the police went to investigate the cause of the incident.

(End of this chapter)