Chapter Thirty-Six: Beast Coal

  The two men walked out of the house, both involuntarily shrinking their bodies. Li Qing was a bit better off, after all, he had been training his physical strength for a long time and had stronger resistance to cold than Lu Yimeng, who was just a scholar. As soon as they stepped out the door, the wind blew, and Lu Yimeng's slender figure shivered instantly.

  The snow was getting heavier and bigger, the wind mixed with snowflakes, dancing in the sky, ten steps away was already invisible to people, the two of them were surrounded by Yang Yidao Tang Hu's personal guards, advancing against the wind, almost unable to open their eyes, the wind blowing on their clothes like a sail, flying backwards.

  "General, today's wind and snow are too heavy, let's go back first, wait for the wind and snow to subside a bit, it's not late to come out again!" Yang Yidao shouted to Li Qing.

  Li Qing shook his head, "No matter, the greater the wind and snow, the more we need to go take a look. If there's a problem, we can deal with it immediately. If something happens and I go later, what's the point?"

  Yang Yidao saw that he could not stop her, so he and Tang Hu stood in front of Li Qing, using their bodies to block the wind and snow as much as possible. Seeing their appearance, Li Qing laughed and scolded: "What are you doing? Do you think I'm a weak woman who can't withstand the wind and rain? Move aside!" She stretched out her hand to push them away and strode forward.

  Behind him, Li Qing saw a resolute expression, but in his heart, he thought that the general's move to win people's hearts was very good. Thinking about it, on such a snowy day, the highest official appeared in front of those ordinary people, what would they feel? Perhaps even officials who usually didn't have much kindness towards the people would gain praise, let alone the general who was the savior of tens of thousands of people in Chong County? Li Qing was indeed different from other young masters. If it were another young master, on such a snowy day, he might be wrapped in a warm quilt, or sitting by a small stove, drinking fine wine, holding a beauty, reciting poetry... It's likely related to the general's background, having left home at a young age, and must have experienced all sorts of hardships, which is why he cared so much about the people's sufferings.

  Lu Yi Ming suddenly felt a jump in his heart, and involuntarily thought of some great figures in history. As soon as this idea arose, he was startled and automatically extinguished it, only gazing at Li Qing's broad back, with more fervor in his eyes.

  Although the wind and snow were extremely heavy, there were still many people in the old camp, mostly elderly villagers, who were organizing people to use long bamboo fences to clear away the floating snow. However, the snow that had fallen a few days ago was already frozen very hard, so although they worked hard to remove the snow, they could only scrape off the freshly fallen floating snow.

  "Old man, is there any danger? Will the house have problems?" Li Qing walked up to an old man with white hair and beard, who was shouting and directing some people to shovel snow, and asked loudly in his ear.

  "It's all right, it's all right! The house built by the general's subordinates is quite sturdy. As long as the snow doesn't keep falling, there won't be a problem!" The old man also shouted loudly. Those who were sweeping the snow suddenly saw Li Qing and couldn't help but stare blankly, their hands involuntarily stopping in mid-air.

  The old man was furious at the sight, and couldn't help but shout: "What's going on, what's going on? You're already tired after just a short while? It's really a waste of General's two meals a day to feed you all!" In the midst of his scolding, he suddenly felt that everyone's eyes were different, and involuntarily turned his head, only to see Li Qing standing beside him with a smile, which made him extremely shocked.

  "General, with such heavy snow, how did you come?" He immediately knelt down, "I've seen the general!" Seeing the old man kneel down, these villagers finally reacted, put down what they were holding in their hands, and knelt down one after another, "We've seen the general!"

  "Hurry up, hurry up!" Li Qing pulled the old man up and shouted to the crowd, "Everyone get up and work, if the snow piles up too much, it's a trouble!"

  "Is this house still habitable for an old man like you?" Li Qing asked with a hint of a smile.

  The old man was somewhat excited, Li Qing was a high-ranking figure to them, a great official, and also the benefactor of their lives. In recent days, many ordinary people had made long-life plaques for Li Qing and enshrined them in their homes. Today's close encounter with Li Qing made him feel as if he were dreaming.

  "Thank you, General! This house is great, really great!" The old man spoke incoherently. "This winter is colder than previous years. If the General hadn't come, we wouldn't have starved to death or frozen to death."

  Li Qing walked closer to the crudely built wooden houses, looked around and furrowed his brow. It was clear that they had been built in a hurry. Although the wooden houses were sturdy enough, there were many gaps between some of the planks, through which the wind and snowflakes poured in. One could imagine how cold it must be inside. He strode into the house, where it was slightly warmer than outside, but still so cold that it made one shiver. Although a fire was burning in the middle of the room, it was clear that it was not enough to warm the place up.

  Seeing Li Qing's furrowed brow, Lu Yiming explained: "When building the house, we were too hasty. At that time, we thought it was just a temporary structure, so we didn't pay much attention and didn't consider how cold this winter would be. This is our mistake. We will organize people to repair it later, and we won't let anyone freeze to death or get frostbite."

  "Hmm!" Li Qing nodded, "You pay attention to the rear arrangements. If there are not enough people, you can let Shang Haibo transfer some from the military camp. The snow is so heavy that the soldiers cannot train, it's a good opportunity to find something for them to do."

  The old man, who was deeply moved, burst into tears. "It's been many years since we've seen such a good official! I don't know what to say, I can only keep bowing and thanking you, 'Thank you, General! I'm thanking you on behalf of everyone, thank you, General!'"

  Li Qing smiled and said: "Old man, there's no need to be so polite. As officials, it is our duty to ensure the people live in peace and prosperity; otherwise, what would we be doing?"

  The old man wiped away his tears, nodding as he thought to himself. Although that's what they say, but in all these years, has there ever been an official who actually did this? Even though Chong County had Magistrate Xu, at the time Magistrate Xu wasn't even the county magistrate yet!

  Just then, a sudden commotion came from outside, Yang Yidao's face changed, and he strode over to the door, his massive body blocking the entrance. However, he saw a group of people rushing over in the wind and snow, shouting and screaming as they ran.

  "What's going on?" Yang's heart tightened and his hand was already on the hilt of his waist knife.

  "Sir, this sir, the one who shouted is from our village, I know him!" The old man saw that Yang Yidao had already drawn out half of his waist knife and was somewhat frightened, so he hurriedly rushed over.

  "Yu Lao San, what are you howling about? What big thing has happened? Has your house caught fire or collapsed? Why are you so flustered? General Li is here, and you're startling the master. Can you afford to take the blame?"

  Yu Lao San was shocked by the old man's words, and when he looked up, he saw that the guard standing behind the door panel was none other than General Li Qing. His knees softened, and he knelt on the ground, exclaiming: "Village elder, something bad has happened at Wu Si Niang's house!"

  "What's going on?" The old man asked after seeing Li Qing didn't seem to be blaming him.

  "Village elder, you know that Wu Si Niang works in our village's communal kitchen, but today when it was time to cook, she didn't show up. Someone went to look for her, but no matter how they called out to her, there was no response. Instead, they smelled the scent of burning fur outside her house."

  "What?" The old man's face changed greatly. "Beast charcoal, Wu Si Niang, she... how could she burn beast charcoal? That's poisonous!" The old man exclaimed.

  "Wu Si Niang was a woman who lived alone and couldn't chop that much firewood, so she must have been extremely cold. She went to gather some animal dung to burn."

  "What's beast charcoal?" Li Qing turned to ask Lu Yi Ming. "It's a kind of black stone that can burn, but the smoke it emits is toxic, no one dares to use it for heating." Lu Yi Ming said.

  Li Qing's heart skipped a beat, "Black stone, beast charcoal? Could it be coal?" He immediately took off running, "Quickly, quickly, lead the way, let's go take a look."

  Under Yu Lao San's leadership, the group hastily arrived at Wu Si Niang's home, a small wooden house with tightly closed doors. A large crowd had already gathered outside, but they all kept their distance. When they saw General Shen arrive, they parted to make way for him.

  Li Qing walked briskly to the front of the small hut, saw that the gaps on the wall were blocked tightly, leaned forward and took a sniff at the door, a familiar smell wafted over, and his heart was filled with wild joy, it was indeed the scent of coal.

  "Break down the door!" Li Qing ordered.

  "Sir, the beast charcoal is toxic!" Yang Yidao's face was tense.

  "Are you unclear whether it's poisonous or not?" Li Qing said sternly, "Open it, saving lives is urgent!"

  Yang Yidao saw Li Qing's severe expression and didn't dare to hesitate, his body slightly bent, he charged forward with a loud crash, the door was already open. As soon as the door opened, a strong smell rushed towards him, Yang Yidao covered his mouth and nose and retreated back, but what happened next made his soul fly away, Li Qing actually strode in big steps.

  "Don't go in!" He stretched out his hand to pull, but pulled nothing, Li Qing had already taken big strides into the house.

  "Good heavens!" The onlookers outside were all shouting in shock, their eyes wide with wonder as they stared into the house.

  The room was not large, and there was a strong smell of coal that had not been fully burned. On the simple stove made of several stones, there was a pile of white powder mixed with some half-white and half-black stones. At the foot of the wall, there was a large pile of unburned black stones, which were indeed coal. My heart leapt with joy, but immediately tightened as I saw that on the bed, a child about ten years old was lying there, and at the foot of the bed, a middle-aged woman had fallen to the ground. Upon closer inspection, her face was purple, and it was clear that she had died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

  At the moment, he couldn't care about anything else, so he quickly picked up the child and rushed out of the house. Amidst the crowd's cries of surprise, he put the child on the ground and then rushed back into the house to carry the woman out as well.

  "Quickly go find Doctor Huan! The person is not dead yet!" Li Qing shouted at Yang Yidao and the others, who were standing there like wooden chickens.