Chapter 276: Who Is Dumping Hazardous Materials?

Xiao Hua often brings back things, ranging from ordinary mice, insects, and frogs to unusual snakes, bats, and so on.

The whole family has long grown accustomed to it.

But this time, what she brought back was not a living creature, but a cylindrical object.

An Qinghe chuckled and held out a small dried fish to Xiao Hua's nose, "Come on, trade—let me see what you've fetched."

The dried fish indeed worked; just a little sway, and Xiao Hua released her grip.

An Qinghe caught the falling object with one hand while tossing the dried fish toward Xiao Hua's mouth.

The three‑flowered cat leapt from Shitou's hand, caught the fish dry, then nimbly landed and ran off.

Left behind, several people studied by lamplight the thing the cat had brought back.

It was a wooden tube, about as thick as a ordinary clothes‑drying pole and as long as An Qinghe's index finger.

An Qinghe shook it and said, listening to the sound, "Something is inside."

He Jinglan urged, "Quickly open it and see—could someone be using this to send a message?"

Gu Xixi suddenly recalled the sea‑east blue falcon Mu Nan Zhao had once dispatched to deliver letters.

Back then, that sea‑east blue falcon had a similar wooden tube tied to its leg, hollow inside, holding a secret letter.

Could it be him sending a message to report safety?

Gu Xixi felt an inexplicable anticipation rise in her heart and looked up.

An Qinghe had already pulled out the stopper at one end of the wooden tube, and a smell drifted out.

He Jinglan pinched her nose, "What is this? It reeks!"

An Qinghe lowered his gaze and said, "There's no letter; the tube is full of liquid."

"I've smelled this before," Shitou stepped closer, took a look, and declared decisively, "Fire oil—this is fire oil!"

Everyone was startled.

They had heard of fire oil, but seeing the actual substance was still their first time.

Ordinary folk lighting lamps usually use crude, unrefined bean oil.

What the people of the Great Ye call fire oil is actually petroleum.

Because at this time there were no means to prospect for petroleum, one could only rely on occasionally encountering underground petroleum seeping out during mining, wholly down to luck, so the yield is extremely low.

This substance is controlled by the imperial court, rarely sold privately, and is even listed as military materiel.

Previously, the Northwest Army's rockets and the trebuchets that made fireballs both required fire oil.

Moreover, some medical canons list fire oil as a medicinal herb.

Zhang Shen asked Shitou, "How do you know this is fire oil?"

Shitou replied, "My family once discarded a batch of old trees and sold them to a charcoal‑making workshop."

"I saw it when my father took me to deliver the goods."

"Their charcoal furnaces need fire oil; I even asked then, what stuff smells so awful."

He Jinglan nodded, "This smell is distinctive; once you've smelled it, you can't forget it."

Gu Xixi saw that Zhang Shen had already prepared the cat's meal, picked up the bowl, and gave it to Shitou.

"Xiao Hua is hungry—you go feed it."

"After it finishes eating, come help me bring over Grandpa the doctor, then we'll eat."

Shitou agreed cheerfully, picked up the bowl, and ran out.

In the kitchen, silence fell; the oil‑lamp flame flickered, casting shadows on the walls.

Zhang Shen's complexion had been off since earlier; given her age, she naturally had some experience.

She frowned and muttered, "Who dumped something so dangerous around?"

"Could it be that Xiao Hua picked it up because it was tossed near our home?"

Gu Xixi also sank into thought, her face grim.

He Jinglan sensed something amiss and looked at Gu Xixi, questioning what was wrong.

Gu Xixi said, "It's said that this stuff ignites at a touch; pour it on and the fire spreads in the blink of an eye; worst of all, it's hard to extinguish."

Everyone's expression turned solemn.

An Qinghe's face darkened, his eyes fixed rigidly on a certain spot.

"If it was thrown on purpose, this hyena‑like beast—does it want to commit arson and murder?!"

He is always smiling; I've never seen him truly angry before.

Zhang Shen startled, blurted out instinctively, "Who wants to harm us?"

"Could it be that Gu Daye?"

Zhang Shen thought more and more it was possible: "These days only his household hasn't bought fertilizer. Earlier they already had a grudge; his little son was sentenced to exile, we don't know when he'll return—surely it's them!"

An Qinghe seized the tube holding the fire oil, "I'll go find him right now!"

"Hold on." Gu Xixi said in a low voice, "It wasn't them who did it."

Zhang Shen and An Qinghe showed puzzled looks.

He Jinglan explained from the side, "Fire oil is scarce, expensive, and court‑controlled; Gu Daye's household has no connections, and they wouldn't spend this much money just to take revenge on Gu Xixi."

Upon reflection, that indeed makes sense.

If Gu Daye's family really had the means, after stirring up the local Gu clan to besiege Gu Xixi, they wouldn't have ended up soot‑covered and driven out of the clan register, still despised by villagers to this day.

An Qinghe's expression turned serious, "I'll go check; there might be something else."

He held the lamp and inspected the courtyard inside and out, leaving no wall base or corner unexamined.

In the end, he found no second tube of fire oil.

He Jinglan and Gu Xixi exchanged a glance; both had already formed the same conjecture in their hearts.

The fire oil Xiao Hua picked up was just a warning.

Gu Xixi said with a smile, "Not finding it would put us at ease; who would set a fire and just throw this little bit?"

It seems we overthought it; Xiao Hua sometimes wanders far, possibly picking up someone else's dropped fire oil by the official road today.

He Jinglan quickly echoed, "Exactly, who would throw away such expensive fire oil? It must have been dropped accidentally."

Zhang Shen relaxed, "There is that possibility, then let's not think about it, let's eat."

An Qinghe looked at Gu Xixi half-believing, half-doubting; is it really that simple?

After the meal, Gu Xixi gave that tube of fire oil to Lao Langzhong.

After all, it's medicinal material; don't waste it.

Early the next morning, Gu Xixi hitched the mule cart and also packed her luggage.

He Jinglan also stood at the side, holding her own bundle in her arms.

Zhang Shen exclaimed, "Didn't you say you weren't going out lately?"

Gu Xixi said with a smile, "The field manor I newly bought can't stay idle."

"I want to plant some things first, so I need to stay there for a few days."

Zhang Shen never hinders Gu Xixi from doing big things; hearing that the field manor has two small rooms, plus simple furnishings and a wooden board bed.

She then brought out two quilts to load onto the cart, saying, "These two quilts were your mother's dowry from last year; I washed them once, and every year I take them out to air-dry—perfect to put in the field manor for occasional use."

Gu Xixi did not refuse, "Thank you, Aunt."

As they were about to leave, An Qinghe ran out to see them off.

Gu Xixi said solemnly, "I'm going to my own land; what's the point of you seeing me off?"

"On the contrary, around here, if you're not in a hurry to return to Cloud Ridge, we could actually use your help."

He Jinglan also said, "Exactly, the villagers are using your fertilizer and pesticide for the first time; you ought to keep a close eye on them."

"If any problems arise, resolve them promptly; don't ruin the reputation of your own workshop, and still expect you to run it properly so you can earn money for the three of us in the future!"

An Qinghe then relented, "Then be careful on the road."

After seeing that fire oil last night, he has been feeling uneasy.