Qin Yihuai seemed to understand and nodded.
"So you're saying that the coal transfers heat to the ground surface, and then the ground surface transfers it to the wood, and that's how it can be ignited?"
Ye Zhinan snapped her fingers. Truly, smart people were always smart.
He had already learned to extend his knowledge on his own.
"Congratulations, you've graduated."
She smiled with her eyes curved. Then she turned to look at the blockhead and heaved a long sigh.
"You just need to watch and see if that's what he ends up doing."
Based on the current level of development, it was estimated that Wu Yangping's mind couldn't come up with the problem of oxidation generating heat.
So the only way was to use an open flame to ignite it.
She asked Li Feilong to pour water into it. One reason was to lower the temperature, and the other was to wet the coal so that it wouldn't be easy to ignite.
"It's just a pity for those good things. They're being wasted for nothing."
The county magistrate had already done things that harmed lives. Unexpectedly, his son wanted to use the same method to let the tragedy repeat itself.
She suddenly remembered what Qin Yihuai had said.
Sometimes inheritance was divided into good and evil.
"I've observed Big Brother Li's cellar and calculated the numbers he reported. On average, the quantity should be about right."
Wu Yangping lived at the end of the village, while Li Feilong lived at the beginning of the village.
The coal in Li Feilong's house was almost filling up. Not to mention the others'.
The sky gradually darkened, and the lights in the village gradually went out. It was uncommonly quiet all around.
Ye Zhinan tossed and turned in bed and couldn't fall asleep. Finally, she decided to advance her schedule.
She entered her space and took out the jade pendant from it.
There was a carving of a bright moon on it, and there was also a prominent character "Ping" in the middle. However, it was carved shallowly and sloppily.
It seemed that it had been carved in a great hurry.
"How could the mother - child bond be easily severed?"
She tucked the jade pendant safely into her bosom and fell into a peaceful sleep.
The next morning, when Qin Yihuai got up, the Ye siblings were nowhere to be seen.
There was a note on the table with beautiful running - hand calligraphy on it.
"Big Brother and I are going back first. We're afraid we'll run out of time. Don't worry about us."
Qin Yihuai frowned. There was a faint sense of unease in his heart, as if something was about to happen.
He turned to look at Chen Zhenhai and said coldly,
"Go and follow them. Don't go to their house. Just wait on the official road."
Ye Zhinan wasn't a person who missed home. She hadn't clamored to go back during all these days out. But she made this decision only after she found out that Wu Yangping was the county magistrate's son.
So Qin Yihuai knew in his heart that Ye Zhinan wasn't really going home.
She had other plans.
Chen Zhenhai hid in the grass by the roadside. He was quite fast on his feet. When he got there, he happened to run into Ye Zhinan coming over.
"Wait for me outside when I go in later. If there's any commotion inside, come and rescue me quickly."
Ye Zhinan felt a bit impulsive when she reached the door. After all, the people inside were quite influential.
If she really offended them, she might be in big trouble.
She summoned up her courage and stepped forward, then raised her hand to knock on the door.
A butler came out. He was probably in his fifties or sixties, with slightly gray temples, but he spoke with full vigor.
"Who are you?"
Ye Zhinan bent down and bowed, then replied politely,
"I'm here to see your young mistress. I have something I'd like to give to her."
The butler saw that Ye Zhinan was well - behaved and didn't seem like a bad person, so his attitude remained polite.
"In that case, I'll go and announce your arrival. Please wait a moment."
Ye Zhinan lowered her eyes, neither overbearing nor humble, and continued to wait outside the door.
Watching the door close, she wasn't flustered.
Anyway, she already had a countermeasure. Even if the worst - case scenario happened, she could still save the lives of the whole village.
It was just that she thought Wu Yangping still had a chance to be redeemed, and she couldn't bear to see him degenerate.
The butler was gone for a long time. When he came back, he was obviously out of breath.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting. Our young mistress has asked you to come in."
At first, Ye Zhinan thought it was because the butler was in poor health. But when she walked in, she found that the yard was really big.
Not to mention the old butler, even she was a bit out of breath.
There was a woman sitting in the pavilion. From afar, she looked elegant and every move of hers showed her dignity.
"Greetings to the young mistress."
The woman was obviously stunned for a moment, then composed herself and nodded.
"You're different from others. Everyone else calls me the county magistrate's wife. Only you call me the young mistress."
It had been a long time since she got married that she heard this address.
She was already used to being someone's appendage outside. Only at home could she return to her true self.
"The past is over. The appendage is gone. Why bother to tie yourself down with a title?"
Ye Zhinan buried her head very low. She felt sorry for the woman in front of her, but she also had to be on guard.
The county magistrate had committed such a big mistake, and she could keep herself out of it completely. It was hard to believe that she didn't have some tricks up her sleeve.
"I heard you have something for me. What is it?"
She raised her eyebrows slightly and changed the topic, which caught Ye Zhinan a bit off - guard.
It seemed that she didn't want to mention her relationship with the county magistrate.
Ye Zhinan suddenly wasn't sure anymore, but she gritted her teeth and took out the jade pendant.
The woman in front of her gasped and her eyes became sharp. She stared directly at Ye Zhinan.
"What are you doing?"
"I've heard that the young mistress once had a child who died prematurely. To cover it up, you took a child from another family to take its place. When the child was buried, this jade pendant was in its bosom."
Ye Zhinan was neither overbearing nor humble and told the woman all the things she knew.
She came here just to return the item to its rightful owner. As for the remaining grudges, they were out of her jurisdiction.
"Do you think I, Ji Yuqing, am a fool? Do you think you can deceive me with just a jade pendant?"
If it were an ordinary person, they would probably be scared out of their wits.
But Ye Zhinan still stood there without even changing her complexion.
"If you don't believe me, you can take it and have a look for yourself. The writing on the jade pendant is sloppy. It was obviously carved before it was put there. If I'm not wrong, there should be a character 'Ping' in your son's name."
Seeing Ji Yuqing's complexion change a bit, she knew that she had guessed right.
Actually, she hadn't expected that Wu Yangping would leave a character even after changing his identity.
It seemed that the relationship between him and his mother was more complicated than she had thought.
"Tell me. What story do you want to tell me?"
Ye Zhinan sighed in her heart. She could tell that Ji Yuqing still didn't believe her.
She watched as the butler beside her left and then came back with a bag in his hand. Presumably, it was silver.
It seemed that she regarded her as someone who came to ask for money.
"I'm not a fraud. I found this jade pendant in the county magistrate's box, and I heard the story from others. I'm just telling it to the young mistress as it is."
Seeing that Ji Yuqing didn't respond, Ye Zhinan continued to talk on her own.