webnovelfull Chapter 602: Illegally Making Gunpowder Is a Crime
Chapter 602: Illegally Making Gunpowder Is a Crime
The people in the old house, like the villagers, couldn’t figure out why their own house caught on fire.
In the evening, everyone was sitting inside eating yuanxiao when there was a loud bang. The table shook violently, and the bowl of yuanxiao fell to the ground.
Soon after, the roof caught on fire.
Having survived the disaster, Mr. Gu and Mrs. Gu thought it was the Yao Family that threw firecrackers and ignited the house.
Mr. Gu looked at the Yao Family with hostility.
Mrs. Wei, holding Yaozu, knew clearly that her son was setting off fireworks in the courtyard, and those fireworks were a gift from Man Er and Yaozu.
However, Mrs. Wei didn’t believe such a loud noise could come from fireworks.
Mrs. Wei hugged Yaozu tightly, and as he trembled, Mrs. Wei felt a bit uncertain.
If it truly was her son’s fault, Mrs. Wei would definitely reprimand him.
The incident with Chun Wang serves as a prior warning.
Mrs. Jia glared at Mrs. Wei, eager to take the opportunity to thoroughly humiliate her daughter-in-law.
Gu Ruinian, with his face covered in soot, was lurking in the crowd.
"Fengnian, Fengnian’s wife, Yaozu is still young and doesn’t understand. How do you two adults manage the kid? How could you let him set the house on fire?" Mr. Gu was furious.
If it weren’t for the great-grandson, he would have slapped him in the morning.
Now the house is burned, and the bedding was soaked during the fire-fighting. In this cold weather, where do they go from here?
Yaozu cried and said, "It wasn’t me."
At this moment, Gu Ruinian wiped the soot from his face and angrily scolded Yaozu, "Such a young age, yet constantly lying. You were playing with fireworks in the courtyard at night. I told you to be careful, but you wouldn’t listen and ended up setting the house on fire."
"I saw it clearly. Hurry up and apologize to your great-grandpa and great-grandma."
Was it really Yaozu?
No one found it surprising.
After all, every year there are kids in the village who accidentally set their clothes or straw stacks on fire with fireworks.
But it’s rare to see someone like Yaozu who burned down the entire house.
Upon hearing that Yaozu was to blame, Mrs. Gu started scolding with her eyes wide open.
Tong Huaqiong frowned. What kind of firecracker could make such a loud noise that it felt like an earthquake even at a distance from the old house?
She knew that the fireworks for Yaozu came from their kids, but if this continued, wouldn’t it implicate their own children?
As soon as Gu Ruinian spoke, Tong Huaqiong suspected him.
Wasn’t he making gunpowder?
Looking at the terrified Yaozu and the helpless Mrs. Wei, Tong Huaqiong steadied her breath and said, "I just heard a loud explosion at home, even shook my window. Anyone who didn’t know might think it was a landslide. What kind of firework can make such a loud noise?"
With Tong Huaqiong’s reminder, everyone frowned.
She wasn’t the only one who heard the explosion or felt the ground shake, but earlier everyone was busy putting out the fire and forgot about it.
Mrs. Wei, reminded by Tong Huaqiong, responded, "Auntie is right. The fireworks Yaozu was playing with were small ones. Not only could they not ignite the house, but they might not even burn a straw stack."
"Could it be that someone threw explosives into our yard?"
Mrs. Gu rolled her eyes at Mrs. Wei. The eldest daughter-in-law always stirs up trouble, dragging even the granddaughter-in-law into it.
Mrs. Wei hugged Yaozu tightly and asked, "Yaozu, tell me clearly what happened?"
"It’s okay, just say it, Mom will stand by you."
When the explosion happened, Yaozu desperately ran into the house.
Earlier, when Gu Ruinian tried hard to accuse her son, she and Tong Huaqiong had the same thought, that Gu Ruinian might be the culprit.
Otherwise, why was he so eager to jump out?
Yaozu, comforted by Mrs. Wei, looked towards Gu Ruinian and said, "It was Uncle who told me to light it."
The crowd erupted.
Gu Ruinian rebuked, "What nonsense are you saying?"
Yaozu trembled in fear at Gu Ruinian’s outburst.
Gu Fengnian stood up, pointed at Gu Ruinian and said, "What’s with the yelling?"
Then he turned to ask Yaozu, "What did your uncle tell you to light?"
Mrs. Wei felt a darkness before her eyes.
Could it be Gu Ruinian incited Yaozu to set the house on fire?
But where did that loud explosion come from?
Yaozu said, "Uncle told me to light a big firecracker... He said it would bloom into beautiful flowers in the sky... so I lit it..."
Mrs. Wei was so angry she was grinding her teeth, pointing at Gu Ruinian wishing to tear him apart.
Gu Ruinian wanted to argue, but Mr. Gu interrupted, "What exactly did you ask Yaozu to light?"
For some time, Mr. Gu had noticed something in Gu Ruinian’s activities in the courtyard.
He thought it was good for his grandson to have something to do since his leg was crippled, never imagining he would incite Yaozu to set the house on fire.
"Grandpa, look, this is gunpowder."
While the people of the old house were quarreling, Jingzhe, unnoticed, had already led some people to find the tools that Gu Ruinian had hidden in the backyard.
Mr. Gu’s face went pale when he saw it by the oil lamp’s light.
The village chief furiously paced, cursing, "Gu Ruinian, is this your doing? Do you know that illegal manufacturing of gunpowder is punishable by death?"
Gu Ruinian had dug his own grave, but he should not drag the whole village down with him.
The village chief understood, Gu Ruinian had made potent gunpowder. To escape blame, he tempted Yaozu to light the fuse while Yaozu was setting off fireworks.
No wonder Yaozu was so frightened initially, thinking he caused the disaster.
The villagers realized what was happening.
It turned out that Gu Ruinian was secretly making gunpowder.
No wonder it made such a loud noise.
He was really bold, daring to undertake something that could either get you exiled or executed if caught.
But why was he making gunpowder?
Could it be just to blow up his own house?
Gu Ruinian’s lips tightened, his face pale, eyes filled with unwillingness.
He barely understood this era, and this was the first time he heard from the village chief that making gunpowder illegally was against the law.
The Young Master Zheng never told him that.
Earlier in the year, the Young Master Zheng had come to the village to scold him for selling intelligence to two parties. Not only had the Zheng Family stockpiled coal, but Tong Dajiao had also done the same. When the Zheng family’s coal price hike caused public resentment, Tong Dajiao suddenly appeared with twenty thousand jin of coal, as a savior.
The Zheng family suffered heavily, even merging into half of the Shen Family.
It was again Tong Dajiao, making Gu Ruinian bitterly hate his aunt’s family.
The Young Master Zheng suspected him of conspiring with Tong Dajiao to scheme against the Zheng family. It took Gu Ruinian much effort to explain before the Young Master Zheng spared his other leg, but he demanded that he must develop a gunpowder potent enough to destroy city walls by spring.
Gu Ruinian pondered day and night for days, and finally created the gunpowder.
In order to test its power, he chose the night of the Lantern Festival on purpose.
Because on the night of the Lantern Festival, the whole village was setting off firecrackers, the crackling sound would mask the noise from his gunpowder.
He didn’t understand the power of his gunpowder and feared he might get himself killed, so he lured Yaozu to light the fuse.
Unexpectedly, one loud explosion burned his house down.
"Ruinian, why on earth were you messing around with gunpowder?"
"You’re lucky you only blew up your own yard. If it wasn’t discovered by everyone, the whole village could have been blown up."
"Chief, this matter cannot be tolerated, otherwise we won’t be able to sleep peacefully at night."
When the villagers thought about having a ticking time bomb in their midst, they were terrified.
If the government finds out, the whole village could be wiped out.