novelSusiti Chapter 111 Shocks Qin Hui to the core
Chapter 111 Shocks Qin Hui to the core
Chapter 111 Shocks Qin Hui to the core
Si Hou sat at the door and heard Lin Zhou's nonsense inside, but he did not stop him.
Cheng'er stepped forward and picked up the pistol from the table. After Lin Zhou gave him some instructions, he went to the courtyard and found an open space. He looked at the hidden weapon in his hand, then looked up at a wooden stake used as a target about two thousand paces away.
Zhang Caihu stood under the eaves, arms crossed, a hint of amusement on his face. Having served in the military and seen all sorts of crossbows, he was skeptical of the power of such a small "palm-sized thunderbolt," probably thinking Lin Zhou was just bluffing.
Cheng'er fiddled with it as Lin Zhou had instructed, and figured out the general way to use it. Then he raised the gun with one hand and aimed at the wooden stake.
The courtyard was quiet at the moment, and everyone's eyes were focused on the small iron thing in his hand.
"Bang!"
A crisp, loud bang, far less muffled than a rifle shot, was still quite startling in the quiet courtyard.
Almost at the same moment the gunshot rang out, the wooden stake, about the thickness of a bowl, twenty paces away suddenly trembled, sending splinters flying. Everyone looked closely and saw a clear black hole appear in the stake.
Zhang Caihu's mocking expression froze instantly. His eyes widened, and he involuntarily took two steps forward, staring intently at the bullet holes in the wooden stake. He knew his stuff; the power, the speed, the noise—it was far beyond what ordinary crossbows could match, even surpassing the performance of most standard-issue hand crossbows in the army at twenty paces. Crucially, this thing fired almost without warning; no string had to be drawn, no effort required, just a light pull.
Cheng'er's wrist went numb from the recoil, but he didn't care. He immediately loaded the bullet using the method Lin Zhou had just taught him and aimed again.
Although the movements were clumsy, the second shot came even faster.
"Bang!" Another shot rang out, this time hitting a spot slightly below the wooden stake, creating another hole.
The courtyard was now filled with only a faint smell of gunpowder, and no one spoke, including Si Hou.
The color drained from Zhang Caihu's face. He looked at the wooden stake, then at the still-smoking pistol in Cheng'er's hand, and finally turned sharply to look at Lin Zhou, who was sitting with his legs crossed inside the house.
"Let me try."
Zhang Caihu took the hidden weapon. He had been watching Lin Zhou teach Cheng'er earlier, and he knew that without a brain, he wouldn't be Qin Hui's right-hand man.
He followed Cheng'er's example and fired two shots. Then he went up to check the target and found that the error was huge beyond 2,000 paces. The place where it hit was a full seven or eight inches away from where he aimed. And this was only 20 paces. If it were any further, it would have flown to who knows where. Although the power of this thing was enough, its accuracy was indeed not enough to hit the target accurately without the Palace Guard's notice.
Only then did Lin Zhou speak slowly, his voice tinged with impatience: "Finished testing? Can you even hit accurately? With this thing, who can I kill? Even if I could, how close would I have to be? That Yu Hou was just unlucky; if he got struck by lightning, is that my fault?"
Zhang Caihu opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a word immediately. All his previous questions and suspicions seemed pale and powerless in the face of these two simple and brutal shots. He had originally thought he had caught Lin Zhou red-handed, or at least found something suspicious about him, but now, the characteristics displayed by this "palm grenade" and the situation at the assassination scene seemed—not entirely consistent. At least, the possibility of using this thing to accurately kill someone from more than a hundred steps away in a noisy morning market seemed extremely slim to him.
Cheng'er placed the still-hot pistol back on the table and stepped aside. His face was expressionless, but he was not calm inside. He was both shocked by the test firing of the weapon and pleased to see Zhang Caihu suffer a setback.
Si Hou slowly stood up, breaking the silence: "Cai Hu, do you have any further questions?"
Zhang Caihu's expression shifted, and he finally let out a heavy snort, no longer able to maintain his previous aggressive demeanor. He gave Lin Zhou a deep look, then waved his hand, leading his men: "Let's go!"
However, Zhang Caihu was naturally unwilling to give up. He quickly returned to Qin Hui's side and told the already overwhelmed Prime Minister Qin everything that had happened.
Upon hearing his report, Qin Hui stretched his neck out as long as the turtle prime minister.
"You mean, he always carried that thing that could kill with a single blow within twenty paces?"
"Yes, my husband. He always carries it with him."
At that moment, cold sweat visibly began to seep from Qin Hui's forehead. He had seen Lin Zhou twice, and both times he was caught off guard, yet the "palm thunder" appeared in front of him both times.
If what Zhang Caihu described is true, then if Lin Zhou wanted to kill him, he would have already died twice at that kid's hands.
Qin Hui had been on guard day and night for years, but he never expected to be so close to death. The cowardly man could only slump in his chair and listen to the pounding of his heart.
"Bring that kid here! Now!"
"But what about the Imperial City Guard?"
"Never mind that, call him here. Don't bring that palm-sized thunderbolt!"
Zhang Caihu didn't understand Prime Minister Qin's plan, but as a former soldier, he was highly obedient. He quickly walked out the door and then went to the Imperial City Guard to take Lin Zhou out.
On the way, Lin Zhou muttered and rambled on and on, but Zhang Caihu ignored him and led Lin Zhou to Qin Hui's residence without paying any attention to anything else.
Upon seeing Lin Zhou again, Qin Hui sized him up and down, then dismissed everyone around him, leaving Lin Zhou alone.
"I've heard that your palm lightning is quite powerful?"
"It's alright," Lin Zhou answered truthfully. "The accuracy is so-so, but it's okay at close range."
"Where did you get these? Can our Great Song Dynasty manufacture them?"
"I don't know." Lin Zhou's eyes were like those of an innocent puppy: "I bought it from a blond-haired Japanese man when I was at sea. He said it was from Kichiri Island."
Qin Hui's mind immediately started working at high speed. He quickly found some places with similar place names, which were recorded in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty.
"Do you know of anyone else who possesses this item?"
"I don't know."
Faced with Lin Zhou's complete ignorance, Qin Hui's brows slowly furrowed. He stared intently into Lin Zhou's eyes, trying to discern whether he was lying.
Unfortunately, Lin Zhou wasn't very bright; his mind was as empty as the Hulunbuir Grassland, so looking through the windows of his soul, it was crystal clear.
This is how the so-called "idiot expert" came to be. Let alone Qin Hui, even if the Cthulhu gods came and talked in Lin Zhou's ear all night, he wouldn't experience any information conflict causing his underlying code to become disordered.
"How much did you pay for it?"
"I traded two bottles of mineral water for it," Lin Zhou said, tilting his head as he looked at Qin Hui.
Qin Hui clicked his tongue and tilted his head back: "Sigh—you—ouch—"
"Oh! Prime Minister, you want it, don't you? Here you go." Lin Zhou finally realized what was going on and slapped his thigh, saying, "You should have said so earlier!"
"don't want!"
Qin Hui practically roared, "I don't want to!"
"If you don't want it, then don't want it. Why are you so angry?"
At this moment, Prime Minister Qin, the man with immense power who could nail a pillar of the state to the ground, could only look up at the sky in silence.
When most people hear the words "Palm Thunder" in the first question, they should understand. But now that he has asked this question, how can Qin Hui possibly answer?
He's the boss, the boss of a group—the boss can't take things from his subordinates, that's the rule.
Even the emperor had to pay money for the goods from the tribute-paying areas, and the price was far higher than the market price!
He asked Lin Zhou how much he bought it for, and Lin Zhou said it was two bottles of mineral water. What did Qin Hui say then? Did he say, "I'll give you three bottles of mineral water in exchange for your palm-sized thunderbolt"?
How could that be? Like I said, he's the boss of a corporation. A boss can accept things, but he can't steal or forcibly take them. His subordinates are there to live comfortably, not to selflessly contribute to him.
"Hey, you—" Qin Hui hesitated, then continued, "No—tsk—"
"Prime Minister, what's wrong?"
"Oh, me—"
Qin Hui struggled to find the right words: "Give me a price estimate? Give me a price estimate, and I'll pay five times that amount for you, okay?"
"I'll take you there."
"Oh dear! We can't deliver it!"
Qin Hui was so anxious that he kept slapping his thigh. He had never seen anyone so clueless. He even started to try to persuade him.
"Pingzhi, you're about to become an official yourself. There are rules in officialdom. Only mediocre and low-ranking people ask for things, and asking for things gives them a pretext. You gave me a gift, so I expect a return gift. You gave me a steel mill, and I not only didn't ask you for a single penny, but I also returned tens of thousands of strings of cash to you to cover your losses. You gave me a New Year's gift, and I returned a three-year tax exemption. Every little thing counts, so everyone will know that following me, Qin, will lead to great success."
Qin Hui looked up and sighed, "You gave me something of unknown value, how am I supposed to reciprocate?"
Why can't you get it?!
It must be said that over the years, there have been very few people who could push Qin Hui to this point.
"Ah, Prime Minister, I don't quite understand. I'm giving you something—what's wrong with that?"
"I want it, not that I want it, but that I seek it for the sake of the Great Song Dynasty."
"Oh—you want to make counterfeits yourself and sell them to the Ministry of War, right?"
Qin Hui closed his eyes and raised his head, remaining silent for a long while.
Yes, Lin Zhou was right this time. This kind of simpleton, somewhere between smart and stupid, really gave Qin the feeling of throwing a stick at him and not even hitting cotton, but instead the stick bounced back and hit him on the back of the head.
Is it really possible to say something like that?
"Then you can give me two strings of cash as a token."
"I can't believe it!" Qin Hui slammed his hand on the table and stood up, shouting. The usually composed Qin Hui was now flushed, his blood pressure soaring, and he felt dizzy and almost unsteady on his feet. "Did you hear what I just said?!"
"But it was only two bottles of mineral water that we traded for it. You're giving us ten bottles?"
Qin Hui stared at him for a long time, then suddenly blurted out, "Boy, are you serious? You—how about you show some consideration for me? I've treated you well."
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