A Clash of Gods - Chapter 67

Chapter 67 Ruins
The fire was finally extinguished at nearly 3 o’clock in the morning. After the fire broke out, the streets in the neighborhood were blocked by the workers on patrol from the Capital Bureau. And because the capital city was heavily guarded recently, there were no onlookers except the people who came to put out the fire from the neighborhood.

More than ten guards from the Capital Bureau came to put out the fire. After the fire was put out, the guards checked immediately if there was anybody who died in the fire.

Compared with the guards in the local governments, the ones from the Capital Bureau had been well trained. And during the curfew period, such a big fire should be dealt with cautiously.

There was smog or fire in the broken walls and tiles, although the big fire was extinguished.

After the fire was extinct, Steward Qiu quickly checked the workers in the shop with Manager Xu. The pawnshop was not small, and there were eleven workers at the front desk and in the warehouse, including Manager Xu. But only five workers were on the night shift. Except for Manager Xu who was in the antechamber in person, the other four were guarding the warehouse.

The pawnshop accepted goods which would be redeemed, so many things came and went. There were a lot of things and some cash stored in the pawnshop.

A few days ago, the pawnshop stopped accepting goods temporarily because of lack of money, but in order to let the old customers pawn their property, they still put some taels of silver here just in case. No matter how poor the family of the Marquis of Honor was, they didn’t dare to use this money. After all, credit was everything to a pawnshop. If an old customer wanted to pawn something, they couldn’t find any excuse to refuse.

They found several iron boxes with silver sealed up for safekeeping in the broken tiles. All the silver was found, so they found the location of the warehouse.

But most of the other things stored in the warehouse were destroyed by fire, except very few fireproof things and the silver.

Yang Ning followed Steward Qiu and walked through the ruins of the pawnshop, looking solemn.

“Your Excellency, almost all things in the pawnshop were burnt.” Steward Qiu led two servants to search in the ruins and smiled bitterly. “We can’t figure out how much loss as the account book was burnt, but it must be great. Fortunately, the workers in the shop are safe and sound. It is the very best of luck.”

Yang Ning didn’t say more. He knew that the fire was a big blow to his family even if Steward Qiu didn’t say.

“Your Excellency, Manager Xu said the fire source must be in the warehouse.” Qi Feng came over from behind and told Yang Ning. “He said that he heard a cry from the backyard at midnight and then got up to have a look. He found that the fire started in the warehouse and ran over in a hurry. At that time, the warehouse was on fire, and it spread soon. He hurriedly tried to put out the fire with the workers on the night shift, but only a few people couldn’t put it out. So they could only send somebody to ask for help while fighting.”

“Where was the account book?” Yang Ning asked.

Qi Feng answered, “The account book of the shop is always put on the counter. Manager Xu tried to extinguish the fire in a hurry and was in a panic, so he couldn’t take it out in time. When he realized that, the counter was on fire, too. He struggled to take the account book, but the fire was too fierce, and the workers stopped him.” Then he continued, “Chen San proved that the fire started in the warehouse. They didn’t have the key. Soon after they found the fire, Manager Xu rushed over.”

“So the fire started in the warehouse?”

Qi Feng answered, “All of them said so. The dormitory where the workers were on the night shift was next to the warehouse, and they got up in turns to watch and patrol at midnight.”

Yang Ning frowned. “If the fire started in the warehouse, how was it on fire?” He asked Steward Qiu, “Who has the key to the warehouse?”

Steward Qiu replied, “The warehouse was the most important place of the pawnshop. Even Manager Xu can’t open it alone. The warehouse is airtight around and there is no window. The only way to enter it is the door with two locks. Each of Manager Xu and Assistant Lu has one key to one lock. Only after they unlock the two locks can they enter the warehouse.”

“Where is Assistant Lu?”

Steward Qiu explained, “Assistant Lu and Manager Xu work on the night shift in turns. Assistant Lu was on holiday tonight and Manager Xu was on the night shift. Logically, after the shop closed at night, nobody could enter the warehouse.”

Yang Ning stated, “It is weird. Nobody can enter the warehouse, but the big fire started in it. Was there a ghost?”

Steward Qiu also furrowed his brows. “The warehouse door wouldn’t be opened at night, and it was forbidden to bring fire into the warehouse. It is impossible to cause a fire in it.”

“Who was the first one to find the fire?” Yang Ning pondered for a minute and then asked finally.

Qi Feng responded in a hurry, “It’s Chen San. He told us that when it was his turn to work, he patrolled around and then went to the toilet. When he came back, he found the fire in the warehouse, and it spread quickly. The fire was everywhere in the blink of an eye. He woke up the other workers and then Manager Xu was awakened. When Manager Xu came over, the warehouse was burning.”

Steward Qiu roared, “How did Chen San work? Didn’t he know that the warehouse should be guarded all the time?”

Qi Feng didn’t say a word, and Yang Ning thought it was useless to bother about that.

“So the fire started when Chen San went to the toilet.” Yang Ning was lost in thought. “It won’t take long to go to the toilet. When he came back, the others were still sleeping. It means that the workers in the shop wouldn’t bring fire into the warehouse.”

Steward Qiu shook his head. “Without the keys, they can’t enter the warehouse even if they want to. And these workers have been working in the pawnshop for at least three or four years. They are old hands and know the rules in the shop, so they won’t make such a careless mistake. Right, before the door was locked today, I walked around in the warehouse personally and didn’t see any fire source. Then I watched as it was locked.”

“Steward Qiu, did you come this afternoon?” Yang Ning asked.

“Tomorrow is the deadline of the loan from the bank.” Steward Qiu frowned with worry. “Third Lady told me to have a look in the pawnshop and check if somebody would redeem his property so that we could take some money away. In the afternoon I came here and checked the warehouse to see if I could take some silver to the mansion.”

Steward Qiu was the general manager in the mansion of the Marquis of Honor. Yang Ning knew that Steward Qiu’s father followed the old marquis and helped him handle the domestic affairs in the mansion, keeping everything in order. At that time, Steward Qiu followed his father as a handy man. After his father grew old, he took over the position and helped the mansion deal with domestic affairs. He was always conscientious.

The family of the Marquis of Honor had two shops, one pharmacy and one pawnshop, and the business was always thriving. Although the person behind the scenes in the mansion was Gu Qinghan, after all she was a married woman, so she was not fit for going outside frequently. Thus Steward Qiu handled many issues out of the mansion.

Yang Ning nodded slightly. “Steward Qiu, is there anything easy to burn in the warehouse, such as sulphur?”

Steward Qiu shook his head. “Definitely no. There is sulphur in the pharmacy, but we would never keep that kind of stuff in the warehouse of the pawnshop.” He asked, “Your Excellency, do you think it was spontaneous combustion in the warehouse?”

“Except for the spontaneous combustion, I can hardly imagine that somebody could enter the warehouse to set fire.” Yang Ning sighed. “Can somebody break in through the wall?”

Steward Qiu looked solemn, as if lost in thought.

Qi Feng finally stated, “Your Excellency, the workers in the pawnshop would never set fire, and they are all old hands loyal to the mansion. I am just worried…”

“What?”

Qi Feng finally expressed after a hesitation, “I am worried that somebody seized a chance and set fire. Maybe somebody is an enemy of Marquis of Honor and wanted to do something in the pawnshop.”

Steward Qiu nodded slightly. “What Qi Feng said makes sense. Your Excellency, General was upright and might have offended some people. Now General has just passed away, and the pawnshop was on fire for no reason. Perhaps an enemy did something at the back.”

“Oh?” Yang Ning wrinkled his brows. “An enemy?” He glanced at the two. “Do you both think that somebody set fire on purpose?”

Qi Feng nodded. “There are great chances. Otherwise, we can’t explain this big fire.”

Yang Ning didn’t say anything. With his hands on the back, he walked around in the broken tiles. All of a sudden, he stopped and squatted, stretching out his hand to touch the ground. Then he put his fingers before his nose to smell it. When Qi Feng walked to Yang Ning, the latter got up and went to another place before squatting again.

“Your Excellency, did you find anything?” Qi Feng asked in a low voice.

Yang Ning got up and shook his head. “No, nothing.” At this time, he suddenly heard noises from behind. He looked back and saw a group of people gathering not far away. Manager Xu and Gu Qinghan were surrounded, and Duan Canghai stood next to Gu Qinghan with a cold face, getting alert.

Yang Ning found the group were aggressive and his face fell. When he quickly walked over, he heard a voice, “My Lady, we know that you are the mistress in the mansion of Marquis of Honor now. We always respect Marquis of Honor and don’t want to give offense. But such a big accident happened, and we can do nothing but offend you. The fire started from your pawnshop. I don’t know anybody else, but all my family depend on this shop. Now it was burnt, and we have nothing to rely on. Please give us an explanation.”

“Right.” Another person sighed with emotion. “Your family is powerful and wealthy, and your finger is fatter than my waist. After losing a shop, your family won’t be affected, but we lost everything. We respect your family and Marquis of Honor has just passed away, so we don’t want to embarrass you. If we can deal with it in private, we don’t need to disturb the government.”

Several more people complained miserably. Yang Ning immediately realized that the people of the implicated shops came in a short time.