I really don't want to take shortcuts anymore

The wind blew past, and Wei Ying's figure did not appear, but his voice reached Luo Qianhuai's ears.

"Ma'am, that's a will-o'-the-wisp."

"I know." Luo Qianhuai looked down at the burning bracket with wooden wheels under the deer skeleton and felt that things were becoming more and more interesting.

Could it be that those people who were playing tricks on her really thought she was a timid little girl, and were sure that she would not dare to come closer to see, and wait until the phosphorous fire burned everything cleanly, leaving no trace?

Unfortunately, this trick, which even high school students in his previous life could see through, did not make Luo Qianhuai feel the slightest bit of fear, but instead made him full of fighting spirit.

"Everyone can come and take a look." She called over the remaining brave farmers and pointed to the deer bones to show them.

These were all young men full of vigor and vitality, much braver than ordinary people, but at such a close distance, they still couldn't help but shrink back in fear when they saw the pale green flames coming out of the empty deer eye sockets.

"This thing is not magical, but someone is deliberately making it mysterious." Luo Qianhuai pointed to the half-burned wooden wheel below and showed it to everyone: "It is specially equipped with a mechanism, just like a taut bowstring. Once you let go, it will automatically run a distance."

The farmers are afraid of unknown and unpredictable ghosts and gods, but if someone points out the problems, they will not dwell on them.

Someone immediately rushed to the back of the corridor to catch those guys who were pretending to be ghosts.

The guards were faster than them, and in a few leaps they reached the end of the corridor. After chasing for a while, they came back to report: "The man ran away a long time ago. There are too many footprints on the ground, and it is difficult to distinguish them."

This was within Luo Qianhuai's expectations. The person who did the evil must be very familiar with this place and could move around freely, so how could he be caught so easily?

"When we called the roll and distributed money just now, was there anyone who didn't show up, or left early?" Luo Qianhuai asked.

"Everyone signed their name and signed their name to receive the money." Xing Xuan shook her head and said, "No one left before the deer bones appeared."

Luo Qianhuai looked at Hou Zhong, who was no longer frightened. He said quickly, "Madam, there are no outsiders in Qinglu Garden. It's just that the fences around it have been in disrepair for a long time. If someone really wants to sneak in, it's impossible to prevent them."

Luo Qianhuai couldn't tell if there was an insider in Qinglu Garden. In order to avoid alerting the enemy, she didn't ask any more questions.

Many of the farmers who had been hiding before now bravely came out. After listening to what the few people said, they all roughly understood that someone was causing trouble.

But the green flame was still there, it was not the color of a normal flame. Someone pointed at the phosphorescent light on the deer bone and asked hesitantly, "This wooden wheel is suspicious, but the will-o'-the-wisp is real, how can it be faked?"

This was probably what many farmers were thinking. Not to mention now, even in the past when science was flourishing, there were countless people who believed in ghosts and gods, so how could it be explained in a few words?

Luo Qianhuai could only try to explain in simple terms:

"This green fire is nothing else but someone smeared white phosphorus on the skeleton. When this thing burns, it will emit this pale green cold light, which looks almost like a will-o'-the-wisp."

In fact, they are not similar at all. They are essentially the same substance, but Luo Qianhuai does not have time to popularize chemical knowledge to them.

The farmers were skeptical about what she said, but when they saw Luo Qianhuai instructing his guards to fetch water and easily put out the ghost fire, their confidence in her increased a little more.

After all, the new owner gave everyone money, so there was hope for the future. If it could also help suppress the evil spirits in the garden, whether they were man-made or ghostly, that would be even better.

So when Luo Qianhuai ordered them to go back first and close the doors at night, everyone obeyed the order obediently and no one raised any objections.

There are many rooms in the palace. Qian Duo was taken downstairs by Hou Zhong to rest. Several personal guards were on duty around the rooms, while Wei Ying reported to Luo Qianhuai the news he had just found out.

"Madam, Wei Ji left a secret signal. He met someone with unpredictable whereabouts and followed him to the east mountain. He is usually cautious and never does anything without confidence. Why don't we wait and see? If the person hasn't returned by dawn, it won't be too late to look for him later."

Luo Qianhuai knew clearly that the reason why Wei Ying did not immediately follow the mark was because he was worried about his own safety.

After all, it is now certain that there is something strange about this small Qinglu Garden. Whether it is the various strange things Hou Zhong said, or the tree blocking the road today, the blood-colored pond, and the bone deer covered with phosphorescence, all point to this point.

"I understand." Luo Qianhuai nodded: "You have worked hard all day, so go back and rest now."

Wei Ying was unwilling to leave: "This place is full of dangers. I'm sure someone is not happy to see Madam take over this place. You exposed the trick of the Bone Deer and Phosphorus Fire in public today. They will probably be angry and ashamed. They dared to kill people before. They are not easy to deal with."

"It's just that the enemy is in the open and we are in the dark. It's hard to guess the other party's identity and purpose, and the people in the manor can't be trusted. The most urgent task at this moment is to ensure your safety, madam."

Luo Qianhuai smiled slightly when he heard this: "Although I don't know the other party's identity, I have already guessed about 70% of the purpose of their actions."

Wei Ying and Xing Xuan were extremely surprised when they heard this. They looked up at her and asked, "Madam, do you really know what those people are up to?"

Luo Qianhuai didn't keep the secret: "This all starts with that pond of red water - do you know ochre?"

Wei Ying nodded: "It's the pigment used for painting."

As he spoke, he suddenly realized, "Cinnabar is expensive, but ochre is cheap. So today, Madam has figured out that the pond water is dyed red by brown stone powder?"

"That's right." Luo Qianhuai nodded: "Ochre can also be used as medicine. It tastes bitter and then sweet. It is cold in nature. It has the effects of calming the liver and suppressing yang, lowering adverse qi and stopping bleeding. So I can confirm it after just one taste. But you may not know that this thing has another name."

Wei Ying and Xing Xuan looked up in confusion, and heard Luo Qianhuai say, "Hematite."

Xing Xuan was still a little confused, and Wei Ying had already begun to think. Luo Qianhuai did not give them time to guess and directly announced the answer:

"Using large amounts of hematite powder to dye the pond water red is not only an attempt to scare off everyone in the garden and me, but also shows that it is very easy for those people to obtain hematite..."

Wei Ying murmured: "So there is hematite on Shiyu Mountain..."

"Not bad." Luo Qianhuai praised: "Shiyu Mountain is connected to a vein of hematite. I don't know when it was discovered by someone with ulterior motives, and they have been secretly mining it. They did not stop until Han Min'er was crippled."

After confirming that the pond water changed color due to hematite powder, she specifically checked the geographical map of Dayu Mountains and Rivers, and discovered that there was indeed a large mineral vein around the imperial estate she had obtained.

There are not only iron ore, but also magnetite, chalcopyrite and gold ore. With the current mining capacity, it will probably take a hundred years to mine them all.