A Clash of Gods - Chapter 66

Chapter 66 The Raging Fire
They left the mansion of the Marquis of Martial Arts, and Yuan Rong still had cold sweat on his back. He thought they came to invite the heir of the Marquis of Martial Arts, Su Zicheng, to have fun in a brothel, but the result was like this. He was unhappy with Yang Ning, but what was done was done, and it would be useless even if he blamed Yang Ning and complained. He had to repeatedly tell Yang Ning to keep his word and ensure Steward Wu’s safety.

However, Yang Ning was entirely free from worry. After returning to his mansion, he didn’t hurriedly tell his family about this matter.

He thought he would sleep soundly tonight, and as he expected, he had a good sleep before midnight. But after midnight, he suddenly heard that his room door was knocked with loud sounds, which awakened him from his dream.

He was unhappy and got up, about to lose his temper, but he heard Qi Feng’s voice, so he restrained his anger. He opened the door and found the anxiety on Qi Feng’s face. Seeing Yang Ning open the door, Qi Feng shouted anxiously, “Your Excellency, bad…bad news!”

Qi Feng’s expression at midnight surprised Yang Ning, who asked, “What’s wrong? Has the sky fallen?”

Qi Feng answered, “It’s almost the same. Your Excellency, the pawnshop…is on fire.”

Yang Ning didn’t understand and frowned. “What do you mean? What is on fire?”

“The pawnshop. The pawnshop is on fire.” Qi Feng stomped in anxiety. “Brother Duan has escorted Third Lady to the pawnshop and told me to inform you.”

Yang Ning finally understood and asked involuntarily, “Do you mean the pawnshop of our family?”

“Right.” Qi Feng thought, “If it is a pawnshop of another family, why would I be so anxious?”

Yang Ning knew it was far from good and hurriedly grabbed his clothes, asking while walking, “Why is the pawnshop on fire? Is it serious? Hurry up and take me there. By the way, is there anybody injured?”

Qi Feng followed Yang Ning and responded, “Somebody from there came to report, saying that the pawnshop was on fire at midnight all of a sudden, and I don’t know what is going on now.”

Qi Feng had sent somebody to prepare the horses at the gate. After they came out of the mansion, they didn’t delay. Qi Feng led the way on horseback, and Yang Ning and two guards followed him closely.

The nice horses ran rapidly. In no time, Yang Ning found the red sky in the distance and knew that was the fire. He urged the horse and rushed there. Then he reached a crossroad and saw the raging flames up to the sky in front of them. There were figures around as many people were trying to put out the fire.

Yang Ning was dumbfounded to see that. The big fire had burnt one or two buildings and spread. Five or six houses were in the fire.

Yang Ning jumped off the horseback and quickly walked over. In the light of fire, he saw Gu Qinghan’s graceful figure. As he approached, the glow of fire made her face red, and her tender body was trembling. Yang Ning called, “Aunt…”

Gu Qinghan turned to look at Yang Ning and showed a bitter smile. Suddenly her weak body was shaking, and she covered her left chest with one hand, with pain on her pretty face. Then her body softened and was about to fall. Yang Ning quickly stepped forward and supported her, asking in surprise, “Aunt, Aunt, what’s wrong with you?” He just saw that Gu Qinghan clenched her teeth and furrowed her brows. Although she was in the light of fire, her face was horribly pale.

Duan Canghai rushed over and shouted in shock, “What’s the matter with you, Lady?”

Qi Feng yelled, “Hurry to call for a doctor.”

Duan Canghai grabbed her and said, “I am sorry.” He reached out his hand to press Gu Qinghan’s pulse gently and then frowned. “Call for a doctor quickly!”

“We can’t wait.” Yang Ning shook his head. “Aunt has heart disease, and it can’t delay. I will have a try.”

Both Duan Canghai and Qi Feng were stunned. Qi Feng couldn’t help but ask, “Your Excellency, can… can you cure a patient?” But he was doubtful in his heart and afraid that Yang Ning couldn’t cure her but would delay.

Yang Ning certainly didn’t have medical skills, but he knew much about some common acute diseases. Heart attack was one of the most common acute diseases, and he knew something about it. He stretched out his hand to feel Gu Qinghan’s pulse. Duan Canghai and Qi Feng looked at each other and wondered if His Excellency could check the pulse and treat the patient while watching him.

Yang Ning knew a little about checking the pulse, but he didn’t know how to treat a patient according to the pulse.

It was not as easy to check the pulse and treat a patient as it was said. It was a challenging skill. Even in Yang Ning’s era, few doctors could check the pulse accurately.

Yang Ning felt the pulse not to cure her but to find the Ximen acupoint on Gu Qinghan’s arm. The Ximen acupoint was on the pericardium meridian, one of the twelve main and collateral channels of the human body, on the forearm beside the palm, on the wrist. Yang Ning was clear that massaging the pericardium meridian could decrease the pressure of the heart and help supply blood.

In fact, the knowledge about the meridians to meet an emergency was not complicated or profound. But few people knew well about the meridians, so it appeared to be mysterious.

Yang Ning had studied the meridians, acupoints and bones of the human body, and during the period, he inevitably learnt some ways to meet an emergency.

A coma caused by heart attack was a common acute disease and the symptom could be distinguished easily. Yang Ning could find that Gu Qinghan had a heart attack at a glance. He knew that it resulted from anxiety which injured the heart. He pressed his left thumb on her Ximen acupoint and grabbed her tender fingers with his right hand, reversing his left thumb and shaking his right hand. His actions were weird in the eyes of Duan Canghai and the others. They looked at one another speechlessly and doubted Yang Ning in secret.

After he shook only about ten times, they saw Gu Qinghan breathe out from her red lips and open her eyes slightly. Yang Ning didn’t stop and reached out his finger to press on the Neiguan acupoint on her arm, massaging several times. Gu Qinghan coughed repeatedly and then fully opened her eyes to look around.

Duan Canghai and Qi Feng looked happy and didn’t doubt Yang Ning anymore. They even admired him secretly.

“Ning…” Leaning against Yang Ning’s arm, Gu Qinghan smiled bitterly. “The pawnshop was burnt. It’s… Alas, it’s my fault…”

Yang Ning helped Gu Qinghan up and responded softly, “Aunt, the pawnshop was on fire, and it is just an accident. What does it have to do with you?” He found that there were many people helping to put out the fire. They must be the neighbors who were awakened and came to help, and even the guards from the government going on patrol joined them to put it out.

Seeing that Gu Qinghan was fine, Duan Canghai went over and continued to tell people to put out the fire. There was strength in numbers. Although the fire was fierce, with all people’s concerted efforts, it faded gradually.

Yang Ning found that the fire had burnt five or six houses and there were great losses, so he frowned. At this time, he saw a man coming over from the crowd. The man was over fifty years old and walked slowly, with messy clothes. When he saw Yang Ning, he was stunned but still stepped forward, kneeling in front of the young man all of a sudden.

The old man knelt down abruptly and Yang Ning was astonished, hearing him say in a sobbing voice, “I am good for nothing. Your Excellency, the pawnshop was burnt because of my negligence. Please…kill me.”

Before Yang Ning spoke, Gu Qinghan walked over with a frown. “Manager Xu, get up first.”

Manager Xu refused to get up, crying. “General and Third Lady trust me and let me manage the shop for more than ten years, but I caused such a great calamity. Even if I die, I can’t atone for my crime. Lady, Your Excellency, I…I don’t have the face to live on…” He knelt and knocked his head on the ground.

Yang Ning realized that this Manager Xu must be the shopkeeper of the pawnshop. He watched as the old man kowtowed to the ground. If he didn’t stop the old man, the latter would really kill himself. Yang Ning pulled him up and said coldly, “We haven’t found the cause and don’t know what is going on. Why are you anxious to commit suicide?”

With his face full of tears, Manager Xu trembled.

“How so?” Steward Qiu’s worried voice came from behind. Yang Ning looked back and saw Steward Qiu come over in a hurry, who asked, “Why was there such a big fire all of a sudden?”

Steward Qiu looked sullen and stepped forward, staring at Manager Xu whose tears fell without a stop while questioning, “Xu, what on earth happened? Was the fire from another house, or did it start from our shop?”

Yang Ning thought this man deserved to be a steward as his question was to the point.

The fire had burnt five or six shops. If it was from another house, even after the pawnshop of the Qi Family was burnt, they could find somebody to pay for it and wouldn’t suffer great losses.

But if the fire started from their pawnshop, the consequences would be unimaginable. The pawnshop had a great loss, and the other shops which had been burnt would demand compensation from the family of the Marquis of Honor, and they would be in unprecedentedly dire straits.

The family of the Marquis of Honor was in a poor pecuniary condition currently. Qi Jing’s funeral cost a lot, and they still owed much silver to the bank. If it were in the past, the family could recover because their source of finance was enough, but if they had to take responsibility for the fire this time, it would be a deadly scourge undoubtedly.

Gu Qinghan obviously paid much attention to this question and stared at Manager Xu, waiting for him to reply.

Manager Xu shed tears. “Lady, Steward Qiu, this big fire… this big fire spread from our shop…”

Yang Ning’s heart sank, and Steward Qiu looked more serious. Even Gu Qinghan paled slightly and sighed, shaking her head.

Yang Ning stated slowly, “The other shops are to the south of our pawnshop and in a row. The north wind tonight is strong, and as soon as the fire spread, it would extend to the south…” He frowned. “All the shops were mainly made of wood. It is late autumn and seldom rains now. It’s the most dangerous period…”

The fire got smaller. When they tried to put out the fire, they started from the south to cut off the fire source in order to prevent it from spreading to the shops in the south.

However, as a result, the pawnshop of the Qi Family was damaged most. The whole shop was almost burnt down and became ruins.