Fire Captain

After this incident, the three of them became good friends. Sheng Changbai even specially invited Bai Ziyang and Gu Tingye to drink and go boating on the lake. The three of them were at the age of studying. During the conversation, Sheng Changbai mentioned the matter of inviting a teacher, "My father once saved a woman named Lao An from unjust imprisonment. Her son Zhuang Xuejiu is a great scholar. Brother Zhonghuai, Brother Ziyang, why don't you study with me and take the imperial examination together in the future?"

It's a pity that Gu Tingye was busy with other things and couldn't just turn a deaf ear to the world outside and concentrate on reading the books of sages like Sheng Changbai, so he could only decline. Bai Ziyang, as he hadn't had enough fun yet and he might not be ready for the imperial examinations in the future, didn't flatly reject Sheng Changbai's kindness, but made an appointment to meet again in the capital.

Originally, chatting, drinking, and enjoying the scenery are one of the great pleasures in life, but someone happened to spoil the mood. A group of masked men in black rushed onto the boat and attacked Gu Tingye. Bai Ziyang pulled Gu Tingye and Sheng Changbai over and dodged the attack of a man in black who came in through the window. Gu Tingye raised his hand and overturned the table where they were eating, blocked the attack, and then knocked the man into the water.

After Bai Ziyang and Gu Tingye looked at each other, Bai Ziyang pulled Sheng Changbai, who didn't know martial arts, to protect him behind him, while Gu Tingye was free to deal with the group of men in black without any worries.

With Bai Ziyang's cooperation, this group of men in black were naturally no problem. They were taken care of by the two of them in just a few moves. Bai Ziyang and Gu Tingye stood at the side of the boat, watching the men in black slowly sinking to the bottom of the water. They looked at each other in silence, feeling a little heavy-hearted, and felt that a storm was about to come.

Bai Ziyang said slowly: "You are in the light and they are in the dark, it's too dangerous!"

Gu Tingye said: "I know."

Bai Ziyang suddenly asked: "How is your swimming ability?"

Gu Tingye patted his chest and said proudly: "I can fight tigers in the mountains and catch dragons in the water!"

Bai Ziyang said disdainfully: "Then what are you waiting for?"

Gu Tingye turned around, bowed to the frightened Sheng Changbai and said, "See you next time, Brother Changbai!" After that, he jumped into the water with a splash and swam away quickly like a fish.

"Hey! Brother Zhong Huai!" Sheng Changbai, who had just come to his senses and was shocked by Gu Tingye's amazing operation, rushed to the side of the boat and stretched out his hand and shouted. Seeing that it was impossible to stop Gu Tingye, he turned to look at Bai Ziyang and asked anxiously: "Brother Ziyang, this... what is going on?"

Bai Ziyang grabbed Sheng Changbai's collar, fearing that he might fall again by accident, and said, "Don't worry, Zhong Huai is fine. He did this for his own safety! When you go back, tell him that Zhong Huai had a fight with the thieves and fell off the boat, and his whereabouts are unknown!"

Sheng Changbai was not a fool. Although he did not know what Bai Ziyang and Gu Tingye were up to, he understood the truth. He would not expose anything that was good for Gu Tingye. However, he did not expect that an ordinary boy would eventually alarm the entire government. Yuan Wenchun said in horror, "The child who was not found is the second son of the Ningyuan Marquisate in Tokyo! His real name is Gu Tingye, but he changed his name to Bai Ye for the convenience of traveling... If something unexpected happens, I will be guilty of a thousand crimes!"

When Sheng Changbai found out later, he suddenly thought, if Bai Ziyang and Gu Tingye knew each other from the beginning, then could Bai Ziyang's identity also be fake? Then what is his real identity?

Because the son of the Marquis's Mansion was missing, the entire Yangzhou City was under martial law for a while. Bai Ziyang probably knew Gu Tingye's plan, but this was also Gu Tingye's personal matter. If he intervened, even if Gu Tingye didn't mind, the Bai family probably wouldn't let it go, and instead would cause trouble for Gu Tingye's plan. So he sent Su Rao, who was the most skilled and the least talkative among the three.

After a few days, Bai Ziyang found that Yangzhou City was quite lively. First, the old man of the Bai family was buried two days ago, and Bai Ziyang mixed into the crowd uninvited. The people from the second branch of the Bai family tried to seize the old man's property, so they sent killers. They thought Gu Tingye had fallen into the lake and "died", but he appeared in good health on the day of the funeral. With the handwritten certificate of bereaved family of old man Bai, he inherited the family business rightfully.

Just after watching Gu Tingye causing a commotion in Bai's residence, he went out for a walk and found another person at the back door of his house... Bai Ziyang looked at the maid who was driven out of the back door of Bai's house and asked, "From the Sheng family? Who do you serve?"

Xiaodie looked at the young man sitting on the horse. Although she didn't know his identity, she knew that he was from a wealthy family. After all, she had never seen such a majestic and imposing manner on her master. She could not help but answer carefully, "I am the maidservant of Wei Xiaoniang in the backyard!"

Bai Ziyang asked: "Then why were you kicked out?"

Thinking of this, Xiaodie said with grievance and anger: "That little girl Lin slandered me for stealing my little girl's things, and it was only because my little girl begged for mercy that I was saved from being beaten to death."

Bai Ziyang asked: "Did you really steal something?"

Xiaodie said, "My Lord, I swear to the heavens that I did not touch our young lady at all. It must be that young lady Lin who disliked our young lady and deliberately framed her."

Bai Ziyang nodded and said, "What a loyal servant! My courtyard is still short of a maid responsible for cleaning. If you have nowhere else to go, you can stay. Of course, if the young lady finds a good job, I will not force you to stay!"

Xiaodie had nowhere to go. Although she didn't know why this young master took her in, she could feel that he was not a bad person. She said gratefully, "Xiaodie thanks you for taking me in!"

Bai Ziyang ordered: "Su Rao, take her to settle down."

Su Rao said expressionlessly, "Yes, sir!... Follow me!"

Xiaodie didn't expect that she would come to the courtyard next to Sheng Mansion. Thinking of what the Sixth Miss said before, the two bags of silver bone charcoal were given by the young man from the next courtyard. Could it be that young man just now? If it was true, she thought she had met a good person.

At this time, Minglan, the sixth daughter of the Sheng family, was happy that they finally had enough food and clothing in their house. She said proudly to Wei Xiaoniang, "Mother, look at these chickens, ducks and charcoal fires. If I hadn't shown my face in front of my father, our house would still be cold. It's a pity that Sister Xiaodie can't be with us. Mother, will Sister Xiaodie come back?"

Wei Xiaoniang looked at the servants busying about, and for some reason she felt uneasy. Thinking of the letter Xiaodie had sent her before, she couldn't help but sigh, "It was us who got her into trouble. Now she has a good place to go... It's better than staying with us!"

Xiao Tao at the side said: "Sister Xiaodie asked me to tell my little sister that she doesn't regret serving me!"

Wei Xiaoniang sleeps on a high bed with soft pillows every day. She can't say that she eats abalone, shark's fin, and bird's nest every day, but she does eat chicken, duck, fish and meat. She doesn't have to do anything every day, as her maids do everything for her. She can almost be said to have everything she wants, and she enjoys the happiness she never enjoyed in the first half of her life. But even so, Wei Xiaoniang is not only unable to prepare for the birth of her child with peace of mind, but she becomes more and more uneasy as the due date approaches. What's more, Xiaodie, who used to be able to speak her mind, has been driven away, and the two new maids were sent by Lin Xiaoniang. Not only can she not say some things, but she has to be more cautious and careful than before. Her only daughter is fearless and has her own ideas.

I wanted to send her to the old lady so that I could worry about her all day long, but Minglan didn't want to hear it. As soon as Wei Xiaoniang mentioned this, Minglan said, "I won't leave my mother!"

Wei Xiaoniang said worriedly: "I always feel uneasy when Xiaodie is not here. I will feel relieved if you go to the old lady!"

But Minglan didn't understand Wei Xiaoniang's feelings. After all, she was still young and didn't know what Wei Xiaoniang was worried about. She still said naively: "Is there anything wrong with our house? What are you worried about, mother?"

Wei Xiaoniang sighed and said, "These days, there are a lot of delicacies and supplements. There is a saying that you can't receive rewards without merit, and it is also said that abnormality is a demon. Ming'er, Chu Long said: Parents who love their children will plan for them in the long run. Do you know what it means?"

Wei Xiaoniang wanted to reason with Minglan, but Minglan put down her chopsticks and said loudly, "Mother, you want to say that I shouldn't be so greedy for the comfort of this room that I don't care about my future. But no matter what you say, I won't go!"

Wei Xiaoniang tried her best, but seeing that Minglan would not listen at all, she became anxious and slammed the table and shouted, "I have never seen someone as stubborn as you. I told you not to stand out, but you didn't listen to me. I asked you to register under the old lady's name, but you still refused to listen to me!"

Seeing that Minglan was about to talk back, Wei Xiaoniang stood up in anger, but she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her stomach, as if she was about to give birth. She held the room in pain and couldn't stand up. Minglan was frightened and hurriedly supported Wei Xiaoniang, shouting in fear: "Mother!"

The maid outside the door hurried to report to Lin Xiaoniang after she knew about it. After all, now that the master of the main family was accompanying the eldest lady home to say goodbye, only Lin Xiaoniang, Lin Qinshuang, could take charge of the matter. "Miss, this is terrible, Miss Wei is about to give birth!"

Lin Qinshuang was having dinner. Upon hearing this, she put down her bowl and chopsticks and hurried to Wei Xiaoniang.

Minglan could only hear Wei Xiaoniang screaming inside the house from outside the door, and Lin Qinshuang was also pacing back and forth outside the door in a state of restlessness.

The midwife opened the door and came out, saying, "There's not enough water. I'll go check the fire!"

Lin Qinshuang said: "Okay! Go quickly!"

Minglan stepped forward to stop the midwife and asked, "How is my daughter?"

The midwife said, "The child is too big! The child is too big! I will go check the fire!"

Although Minglan was suspicious about why the midwife should go to check on the fire since fire-making was a kitchen matter, she was young after all and was fooled by the midwife's words. The midwife left and never came back. Lin Qinshuang gossiped on the side and told Minglan to go and play with the fourth girl and not to be frightened here again. Minglan shook off the servant who tried to pull her away and said firmly, "I'm right here!"

Xiao Tao, who was originally leading the midwife, suddenly ran back and said, "Miss, something bad has happened. The nanny is missing!"

Minglan said, "What?"

Xiao Tao said, "I was leading the way for Madam, but when we almost reached the kitchen, I looked back and found that Madam was gone!"

Minglan rushed into the room and saw that Wei Xiaoniang was suffering from a difficult labor and was lying on the bed struggling to her death. There were only two ignorant maids in the room. Minglan was extremely anxious, but she could not help at all. Wei Xiaoniang also vaguely knew what was going on at this time. Seeing Minglan crying in anxiety, she asked Minglan to find the nanny who knew how to deliver babies next to the eldest lady. After Minglan left, Wei Xiaoniang rolled up a handkerchief and put it in her mouth. Her originally weak face now showed a look of tenacity!

Minglan went to look for the two maids, but one was not at home, and the other was drunk by the kitchen maid. Even pouring cold water on her could not wake her up. Seeing that there was no way out, Minglan turned around and wanted to go out to find a doctor, but the door of the mansion was bolted, and she, a small person, could not lift it. She was really crying out to heaven and earth for help, but no one could help her. In desperation, Minglan suddenly remembered that there was a dog hole in the courtyard wall, and Minglan ran straight to the dog hole.