sjar Chapter 257 Is she going to push the stone?
Chapter 257 Is she going to push the stone?
Before dawn, she trudged through the mud, the air thick with the smell of blood. Numbly, she walked forward and saw an open space filled with corpses, their bodies crushed and deformed.
More soldiers were still moving stones, presumably because not all the people had been found.
For the first time in her life, she felt fear; she dared not look at the corpses.
"You audacious woman, who are you to dare come forward?" A soldier drew his knife as soon as he saw someone approaching. "Get back now, or I'll take you to the authorities."
Shen Li simply waved her hand and pointed to the servant who was moving stones: "Ask him, he recognizes me."
The soldier was skeptical at first, but after looking closely, he found that Shen Li's appearance and demeanor were quite extraordinary, unlike that of an ordinary person.
The servant was called back and, upon seeing Shen Li, ran over and knelt down before her, tears streaming down his face: "Madam, we have not yet found the master."
Although Shen Li's heart was still pounding, she also felt a sense of relief, as if she had escaped a terrible ordeal.
If they haven't been found, there's still hope of survival.
"Find it!" Shen Li tried her best to keep her voice from trembling. "I'll do it."
"Madam, you are too precious to do this. Please rest, we will move the stone soon," the servant advised.
The surrounding officers and soldiers exchanged glances. It turned out to be the wife of the Minister, the legendary first talented woman in the capital. No wonder she had such an extraordinary demeanor.
But for her to dig people out of the rocks is a joke. With those thin arms and legs, it would be good if she didn't fall; she wouldn't be of any help.
It is clear that the local government has been there for some time, and several areas at the site have been leveled. However, this collapse is obviously significant, as almost half of the mountain has been destroyed.
There are probably still many places that haven't been dug out yet.
There were at least a hundred officers and soldiers present. The county magistrate, who was far away, heard that Shen Li had arrived and jogged around to her. He was covered in mud and sweat.
He was terrified. This Minister of Revenue and concurrently the Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review was the most powerful man in the court. If he died in his territory, the emperor would definitely take his head.
Therefore, the search was extremely thorough, and even two dogs were brought along to search for the person in every crevice of the rocks.
Shen Li also started looking for people. She saw that the middle of the road had been cleared, with a smashed carriage and two horses that had been smashed to pieces, but there was no one there.
Gu Chang'an must have left the carriage before the stone destroyed it, so where could he be?
“Madam, please don’t worry. Only this area has been searched. I believe we will find Lord Gu soon.” The magistrate looked at Shen Li’s pale face and lips and said, “You should go and rest for a while. This mountain may landslide again.”
If this person also gets into trouble, he'll have even less to explain himself.
"No need, let's look together." Shen Li walked among the large and small stones, her long skirt trailing behind her. Her legs below the calves were stained with mud so thick that their original color was no longer visible. Her eyes searched around.
"There's someone here." A soldier called out from a distance. By the time Shen Li arrived, the soldiers had already moved several stones, revealing a person underneath who had been smashed to pieces.
The only way to identify him was by his head, which was tied with a coarse cloth headband, clearly indicating that he was a servant.
Shen Li sighed and ordered someone to prepare the body for burial.
Several more people were later discovered, and two more soldiers survived, one with minor injuries and the other with serious injuries. One of the soldiers died protecting the other soldier.
The scene was truly horrific. As Shen Li watched familiar faces die one by one, she felt a mix of panic and sorrow.
In the face of natural disasters, human power is so insignificant.
"Wang Wang!"
"There are people here." After moving a few small stones, the soldiers made a new discovery.
A servant ran over and said, "It looks like Chunsheng. There are other people below."
Shen Li lifted her skirt with one hand and ran quickly in that direction. The county magistrate behind her was quite surprised. This lady could run so fast through the rocks. She didn't seem like someone who was weak and helpless.
Shen Li nearly fell several times, but she steadied herself and continued running forward.
"Slow down, slow down." The soldiers moved aside the surrounding stones, and the location where the person was buried became clearer and clearer.
When Shen Li arrived, a large gap had already been created. A large rock had fallen onto another large rock, leaving a gap underneath, through which two people were standing.
Chunsheng lay on top of another person, his body soaked by the rain and stained with mottled blood. Although the person below could not be clearly seen through the gap, his official boots could be seen from the other side.
Shen Li's pupils contracted; it was Gu Chang'an.
The gap between the two large rocks was not small, but many small rocks were squeezed on both sides. The best way was to move the small rocks aside and pull the person out.
"No, these small stones are blocking the big rock. If we move these small stones, the big rock will fall down, and such a big rock could kill someone," a soldier said, looking around and analyzing the situation.
“That’s right. If we don’t move these small stones, we definitely won’t be able to move the big stones, and we might even hurt the Minister.”
The officers and soldiers were all trying to come up with a solution.
Shen Li said directly, "You guys clear the way, I'll push this big rock aside."
Officers and soldiers: "..."
They thought they might be hallucinating.
This huge rock looked to weigh at least 800 pounds, if not a thousand. It was round and there was nowhere to grab it. She said she would push it away herself.
"Don't hesitate, move the small stones around here." Shen Li said, taking the lead and moving the small stones around the large stone to the side.
It was supposed to be a small stone, but it weighed over a hundred pounds. How could she just handle it so lightly?
The surrounding officers and soldiers were stunned. She didn't seem to have that much strength at all.
Despite being shocked, Shen Li did as instructed and cleared three pieces by herself, thus revealing a small open space behind the large rock.
Shen Li then directed several soldiers to pry it open with sticks on one side, while she took a deep breath on the other side to calm herself down.
The weight of a thousand pounds was not heavy to her; it was just that she had been suffering from qi and blood stagnation yesterday and had been traveling for a day and a night. She had not eaten or drunk anything, and she could only touch one end of the stone, so her point of leverage was not in the center.
This time we have to succeed. If the stone moves but isn't moved, it will definitely fall back and hit someone.
She closed her eyes and then opened them again, glanced at Gu Chang'an's boots inside, and said to the soldiers standing on the head side, "Begin, push."
Several sticks were used to pry the edge of the stone, but the large stone was so stubborn that it only moved a little and looked like it was about to be pushed back down.
Shen Li gripped the edge with both hands and pushed it out with all her might.
Suddenly, the soldiers felt their sticks become lighter, and the seemingly unshakeable boulder in front of them began to roll forward, rolling onto the newly cleared open ground.
The officers and soldiers present were dumbfounded. Everyone could see that the point of leverage was not strong enough, but even under these circumstances, the Minister's wife was able to push the big rock away.