Liu Ce hurried to the entrance of the main house and gently knocked twice. "Miss, there's news from the capital."
Creak, the door opened, and Xiao Qing stood at the entrance. She gestured for Liu Ce to enter.
Liu Ce entered the room and bowed. "Miss, according to reliable sources, the National Preceptor's personal guard, Sima Wushuang, has left the capital. His whereabouts are unknown, and it's suspected he's heading towards Qingniu County."
"What?"
Liu Rumei's expression instantly tensed. "If he's coming for True Master Taiping, then we're in trouble."
Liu Ce clasped his hands. "Miss, perhaps the Second Young Master can help us."
Liu Rumei shook her head. "No. We're still unclear about Second Brother's current stance. Therefore, the scope of those who know True Master Taiping's movements must be narrowed down." Sudan Fiction Network
"Then, what should we do?"
Liu Rumei paced around the room a few times, and finally gritted her teeth. "We can't wait any longer. We'll organize manpower and head into the mountains now."
"Right, go and inform Chen Xiaobei. After all, this is his territory."
Chen Xiaobei's new house had already taken shape, built to about a person's height.
Li Dong smiled as he introduced to Cui Hongyu, "Five main rooms, and side rooms on the east and west, everything is complete."
Chen Xiaobei specifically pointed to the westernmost room of the main house and said to Chen Qiao'er, "Qiao'er, this room is yours. Do you like it?"
Chen Qiao'er nodded repeatedly, a happy smile on her face. "I like it, I really do."
Cui Hongyu lightly tapped her forehead. "You, you little clever thing. The house isn't even built yet, and you already say you like it."
As they were talking and laughing, Liu Ce arrived in a hurry.
Seeing this, Chen Xiaobei quickly stepped forward to meet him.
"Brother Xiaobei, I've come to inform you. My young lady wants to enter the mountains now. If she doesn't return in three to five days, I'd ask you to send someone to look for her."
Chen Xiaobei nodded. "Alright, I've noted it down."
Returning home, Chen Xiaobei began to ponder. If Liu Ce and his group encountered trouble, he wouldn't know. The most important issue now was the lack of communication. He had to hurry with making explosives.
"One sulfur, two nitrates, three charcoal." Now, charcoal was easy; he could burn it himself.
Nitrate wouldn't be difficult to solve either.
Chen Xiaobei walked to his own outhouse.
At this time, the outhouse was, in simple terms, a large pit.
The prolonged exposure to urine had corroded the corners of the walls, leaving white soil with a very high nitrate content.
Of course, this still needed to be boiled and purified.
Therefore, he needed a pot next.
Without a word, Chen Xiaobei took Chen Dayong and headed to Chen Yutian's house.
This house now belonged to him anyway, so everything inside was also his.
Chen Xiaobei pointed to the pot in the kitchen and said, "I'll take this to the woods west of the village later. I need to boil something."
"Brother Xiaobei, why not boil it here? Why must you go outside the village?" Chen Dayong seemed quite confused.
Chen Xiaobei chuckled. "The thing I'm boiling has a strong smell. Help me collect some things."
After speaking, he took Chen Dayong to the outhouse and pointed to the white stains on the wall. "It's this white stuff. Collect some from every household."
"This?"
Chen Dayong looked at the stuff and was dumbfounded.
"Brother Xiaobei, are you sure you're not mistaken?"
Chen Xiaobei nodded. "No mistake. First, soak these things in a wooden bucket, then pour the water into the pot and boil it. What's left at the bottom of the pot is what I want."
Chen Dayong nodded thoughtfully. "I understand, but I also don't understand. What's this for?"
Chen Xiaobei smiled slightly. "You'll know when the time comes."
After speaking, Chen Xiaobei took down the iron pot and hurried home with it.
He needed to fetch a fire starter to light it.
Seeing him with both an iron pot and a fire starter, Cui Hongyu was quite surprised.
"Husband, what are you doing now?"
Chen Xiaobei smiled slightly. "I have to experiment with this. If it works, I'll tell you."
Seeing his secretive demeanor, Cui Hongyu smiled. Sometimes, Chen Xiaobei could be a bit childlike.
"Alright, then we'll go fishing."
Cui Hongyu picked up the umbrella net and took Chen Qiao'er out of the courtyard.
From a distance, they saw Chen Sanqiu walking over, hands behind his back.
Out of politeness, Cui Hongyu still greeted him.
Chen Sanqiu made conversation. "Sister Hongyu, are you going to catch fish?"
Cui Hongyu smiled. "Yes, going to catch fish."
Chen Sanqiu gave an awkward smile and suddenly said to Chen Qiao'er, "Qiao'er, are the fruits on the mountain delicious?"
"Delicious, delicious! We have a lot at home!" Chen Qiao'er said proudly, lacking any guile.
"That's good, that's good." Chen Sanqiu mumbled a couple of perfunctory remarks and turned to leave.
Cui Hongyu looked at his retreating back and found it a bit strange.
Why would he say something so out of the blue?
At this moment, Chen Xiaobei had arrived in the woods west of the village.
First, he found three stones to prop up the iron pot, and then he went to look for dry branches nearby.
After he had busied himself for a while, Chen Dayong arrived with two other men.
Each of them carried a wooden bucket.
As they walked, they kept looking back. It was evident that the smell of the aged brew was still quite potent.
Chen Xiaobei pointed to the iron pot.
The three men stepped forward and poured the water from the wooden buckets into it, one by one.
"Brother Dayong, take this soil back and soak it with water to boil another pot tomorrow."
"What?" Chen Dayong was dumbfounded.
"It's like this, after soaking for just a short while, a lot of the nitrate can't be extracted."
Chen Dayong nodded. "Alright, you two take this back. Go collect more."
Chen Xiaobei struck the fire starter, igniting the firewood.
As the flames flickered, Chen Dayong instinctively took a few steps back.
Chen Xiaobei knew the smell was strong, but he had to endure it to get the nitrate.
Soon, this large pot of water boiled.
As the smell permeated the air, Chen Dayong finally understood why they had to boil it in the woods.
Suddenly, Chen Xiaobei pinched his nose, rushed to the pot, reached in, pulled out two pieces of firewood, and quickly inserted new ones.
Seeing his actions, Chen Dayong looked utterly bewildered. "Brother Xiaobei, what are you doing?"
Chen Xiaobei waved his hands, extinguishing the open flames. He then put it on the ground and sprinkled some soil on it.
"This, it's called charcoal, and it's very useful."
"By the way, tomorrow, when you're boiling, leave some for me like this too."
Chen Dayong nodded helplessly.
Chen Xiaobei knew that the smell was indeed difficult for them to tolerate, but thankfully, after boiling it twice, it would lessen considerably.
Now that he had nitrate and charcoal, the next step was sulfur.
Yes, tomorrow he would go to the county town and ask Jia Wannian where to get sulfur.
Night fell, and Chen Xiaobei returned home. As soon as he entered the courtyard gate, Chen Qiao'er began to sniff. "Oh, it smells so bad."
Cui Hongyu also looked at him with surprise. "Husband, where have you been?"
Chen Xiaobei spread his hands helplessly. "I... I went to boil something."