Fire Captain

After the conversation, Bai Ziyang learned that this young man with the nickname Zecheng was Sheng Changbai, the eldest son of the Tongpan of Yangzhou City, and that the Sheng family happened to live next door to him, with only a wall separating the two courtyards.

Sheng Changbai can indeed be called a gentleman, and he happened to be someone Bai Ziyang admired. He was very compatible with Bai Ziyang's temper, and the two of them stood on the empty street and talked more and more. In the end, Sheng Changbai's family hadn't seen him for a long time, and they were worried that he had something wrong, so they hurriedly sent servants out to look for him, only to find that a long time had passed.

Sheng Changbai felt that his new acquaintance, Brother Bai Ziyang, was humorous and meaningful, and it was obvious that he was a man of profound learning and erudition. He immediately invited Bai Ziyang to visit his home in the future, and only left after Bai Ziyang agreed.

Bai Ziyang looked at his serious expression with amusement and helplessly shook his head, then rode his horse for a few laps before returning home. In addition to Shang Cheng, his three guards also had two named Su Rao and Yun Jin. Bai Ziyang felt most at ease leaving everything to them, and said, "Prepare a gift, and we will visit the Sheng family in two days."

"Yes, son!"

But before Bai Ziyang sent his visiting card to visit, he received an invitation from Sheng Changbai. The daughter of the Sheng family was engaged to the second son of the Earl of Zhongqin in Dongjing City, and Sheng Changbai invited Bai Ziyang to "join in the fun". Of course, he definitely didn't mean that. He invited Bai Ziyang to come and watch the ceremony. Anyway, it was the same meaning, and Bai Ziyang understood it that way.

After breakfast, it was still early, and seeing that there was plenty of sunshine outside, Bai Ziyang took a book and walked into the courtyard to read it casually. This was a two-entry courtyard, where only Bai Ziyang lived, and it was already very large. In addition to the guards who came with him, there were only a few maids who were responsible for cooking and cleaning. Seeing Bai Ziyang reading in the courtyard, their hands unconsciously became lighter, and for a while, the only sound in the courtyard was the occasional sound of Bai Ziyang turning the pages of the book.

Suddenly Bai Ziyang put down the book and asked, "Did you hear any crying?"

The maid who was cleaning the railing stopped what she was doing, listened for a moment, shook her head and replied, "I didn't hear anything!"

Because the voice was faint, it was not surprising that they did not have internal strength to hear Bai Ziyang, so they turned around to look.

Standing behind Bai Ziyang were Yun Jin and Shang Cheng. They stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Sir, I seem to have heard something. It vaguely came from the next yard."

Bai Ziyang thought about the Sheng family in the next courtyard. Today was a big day for the Sheng family. How could anyone cry when it was a happy occasion? Bai Ziyang put down the book and said, "Let's go and take a look!"

Following the sound of crying, Bai Ziyang walked along the wall of his own courtyard. When he heard the sound getting closer, he put a little force on his feet and climbed to the top of the wall with Qinggong. He looked down and saw a little child crying with a red face and out of breath. He couldn't help but ask, "Why are you crying?"

The child was crying sadly, and suddenly he heard a sound and was startled. He forgot to cry for a moment and looked around but saw no one.

Bai Ziyang shouted, "Look up, I'm here!"

The child raised his head and was stunned for a moment when he saw Bai Ziyang.

Bai Ziyang had no choice but to ask again: "Why are you crying?"

The child suddenly remembered the sad things and started crying again unconsciously. While crying, he said aggrievedly: "The kitchen didn't give me charcoal and kicked me out. My wife and I have no charcoal to use... What can I do!"

If an adult woman was crying here, Bai Ziyang might have watched coldly and remained indifferent, but it was a child who was crying. If it was just a naughty child, it would be fine, but it was such a pitiful girl. This was a weakness in his heart that he couldn't stand to see, so he hurriedly said: "Don't cry, it's just charcoal fire, wait a minute!"

After saying that, he was about to turn over and climb down the wall, but after thinking about it, he felt worried and couldn't help but remind him a few more times: "Don't leave yet, don't move, wait for me here!" Seeing the child crying sadly and nodding randomly, he didn't know if he heard it or not, he sighed and fell to the ground.

Yun Jin supported Bai Ziyang and asked, "Sir, what's going on?"

Bai Ziyang walked back and said, "Don't worry about what's going on. Go get all the charcoal from our house."

The people in Shangcheng never ask too many questions and always follow orders.

On the other side of the wall, Xiaodie, the maid of Sheng family, went out and saw Xiaotao crying when she went to get charcoal. After learning that Xiaotao didn't get the charcoal and was embarrassed by the kitchen staff, she went to them to argue angrily and told Xiaotao to go back to the house and cool off outside. Xiaotao thought about the person who told her not to move just now. She was a little dazed, and with a little curiosity, she really didn't move. Her mistress Minglan had been waiting for her for a long time, so she couldn't help but go out to look for her.

As soon as Minglan walked out of the courtyard wall, she saw Xiaotao standing blankly at the foot of the wall. She hurried over and pulled Xiaotao to ask, "Xiaotao, why don't you come into the house? It's so cold outside!"

Xiao Tao came back to her senses, raised her hand and pointed at the wall and said, "Miss, there was a person there just now, and he told me not to move!"

Minglan looked up and saw no one. She couldn't help but say, "Where is the person, silly Xiaotao, hurry into the house!"

Xiao Tao was dragged back by Minglan. She looked back as she walked, muttering, "Miss, there was really someone there just now..."

As they were talking, they saw Bai Ziyang pop up. Xiao Tao quickly grabbed Minglan and said, "Miss, look!"

When Minglan turned around, she saw Bai Ziyang waving at her. She couldn't help but ask curiously, "Who are you? Why are you on the wall?"

When Bai Ziyang came back from fetching charcoal, he found a little kid there. He was pretty cute, and smiled when he heard Minglan's words: "I'm Bai Ziyang, who are you?"

Minglan looked around carefully, afraid that someone might pass by. In fact, she had no idea. The courtyard where they lived was very remote. Unless someone came on purpose, no one would come and go.

Minglan's curiosity outweighed her fear, and she said, "My name is Minglan!"

Bai Ziyang nodded when he heard this and whispered, "It turned out to be you!"

Bai Ziyang exerted force and threw a big cloth bag at the feet of Minglan and Xiaotao, which scared them both. Bai Ziyang turned around and took another cloth bag handed to him by Shang Cheng and threw it over again. The two bags stacked together were almost as tall as the two little people.

Bai Ziyang said, "Take it back and use it. By the way... use it at night, away from people!" After saying that, he turned over and landed back in his own yard.

Minglan and Xiaotao, who were left, looked at each other in bewilderment, not knowing what was in the two bags. They could not lift them either, so they had to drag one each back to the yard little by little, and then drag it into the house. They were so tired that when they were catching their breath, they saw the maid Xiaodie coming back with a basket of charcoal like a victorious general.

Xiaodie held up a basket of charcoal and said to Wei Xiaoniang, "Miss, I got our share back. When I said I was going to tell the master and the mistress, the women in the kitchen didn't dare to say anything... I'll light it up right away so that our room can be warmer!"

Wei Xiaoniang and Xiaodie were planning to light the charcoal together, so they didn't notice Minglan and Xiaotao's actions. Seeing this, Minglan and Xiaotao quietly untied the bag and looked inside, exclaiming in a low voice: "Silver bone charcoal?"

Xiao Tao untied another bag and said, "Miss, here too!"

"So much charcoal? Enough for us to use for the whole winter!" Minglan was both worried and happy. She was worried because she didn't know who the person who sent them the charcoal was. Moreover, the silver bone charcoal was very valuable. How could she repay the person who gave her so much kindness in the future? But what made her happy was that with so much charcoal, her mother would no longer have to suffer from the cold.

Before Minglan could be happy for a while, a thick smoke swept in, choking the four people in the room and hurriedly opened the curtain and ran out. Xiaodie also took the pot of charcoal fire and threw it out of the house. Afterwards, the few people looked at each other and saw that they were all covered in dust and dirt like little cats.

Xiaodie asked in confusion: "The charcoal isn't even wet, so why is there so much smoke?"

Wei Xiaoniang said: "It's the charcoal burning on the stove!"

Xiaodie said angrily, "How dare they lie to me? How can this stove charcoal be used as house charcoal when it produces so much smoke? I'm going to go find them and ask for more ash flower charcoal now."

"Hey, Xiaodie, don't go!" The always patient Wei Xiaoniang hurriedly pulled Xiaodie and said, "Wear more clothes when it's cold. If necessary, seal the windows tightly!"

Xiaodie wanted to say more: "My dear..."

Suddenly Minglan said, "Mother, there is charcoal here!" and pointed inside the house.

Wei Xiaoniang and Xiaodie went into the house and opened the bag. They were shocked. This silver bone charcoal is very valuable. Only the old lady in the Sheng family can provide it regularly. Where did Minglan get it from? And it was two full bags. Wei Xiaoniang asked anxiously, "Where did Minger get all this charcoal?"

Minglan said: "A little brother gave it to me!"

Wei Xiaoniang said angrily: "Nonsense, you are in the yard all day, where did this little brother come from! Tell me where the charcoal came from tomorrow!"

Minglan said, "This was really given by a little brother. Just now, he threw it over the wall and told us to use it at night away from people!"

Xiao Tao also nodded and said, "Little girl, it was indeed given to me by a little brother from the next yard!"

Wei Xiaoniang and Xiaodie looked at each other, their hearts were in turmoil. They knew that Minglan and Xiaotao were children who would not lie. If they said they bought them or even took them from other people's homes, they had neither money nor much strength. They could not have produced these two bags of charcoal out of thin air. Since they said that it was given by a boy next door, it must be true... But how could a stranger give them two bags of charcoal for no reason? Would this bring them trouble?

Wei Xiaoniang immediately said: "Xiaodie, let's return it!"

Xiaodie said: "How can I return this?"

Yes, I wanted to knock on the door and give it back to the owner, but if I took these two bags of charcoal out, the concierge would definitely find me, and then I wouldn't be able to explain myself even if I was covered in tears...

Minglan said, "Mother, why don't we use a little bit first to get through this period, and when Daddy comes, we'll have charcoal to use, and then we can slowly find a chance to return it later!"

Wei Xiaoniang hesitated for a long time, but in the end, she loved her daughter so much that she didn't mind if she suffered from the cold, but she really couldn't bear to see Minglan shivering in the cold at night, so she had to agree to do as Minglan said.