good season

Tongzhou is more than 2,000 li away from the capital. Several months ago, Xiao Zhen sent Li Xi and Xu Le to Tongzhou and asked Deng Zheng, the heir of the Duke of Dingguo, for help. Every three days, the two would send letters back to the capital by express courier. Therefore, although the journey was long, Xiao Zhen was able to keep track of news from Tongzhou.

The last letter I received before leaving Beijing described the sunny and breezy weather in Tongzhou.

Xiao Zhen remembered that in his previous life, Tongzhou's weather changed from sunny to cloudy in the middle of the next month, and a few days later, it started to rain heavily, which lasted for many days.

There is still plenty of time, but the local government must cooperate to relocate the people in the disaster area ahead of schedule.

In fact, news of the flood in Tongzhou had been circulating in the capital for a long time. If the river dam had been repaired at that time, it could have been prevented from happening in the first place. However, rumors are just rumors, and everyone from top to bottom is half-believing and half-doubting. Even when the fourth prince was sent to Tongzhou, it was more about appeasement than governance. Compared to the flood, Emperor Yongjia was more worried about the people's panic and that someone might take the opportunity to cause trouble.

Moreover, Xiao Zhen is already on his way to Tongzhou, while the Fourth Prince and the Ministry of Works have not yet left the capital.

Relying on them might just lead to repeating the mistakes of the past.

Xiao Zhen had informed Li Xi and Xu Le of their intended stops early on, so along the way, he received letters from Tong Zhou at each stop.

On the third day after leaving the capital, they arrived at Yancheng Prefecture, which was only five or six hundred li away from Tongzhou.

The group first went to the post station to change horses and retrieve their letters, then went into the city to find an inn to stay at.

It was already evening, but the weather was still hot, with not a breath of cool air.

Zhao Shiqing said, "It's much hotter here than in the capital, and hotter than all the cities we've passed through along the way."

She had never been to Yancheng before and didn't know if it was this hot here before.

However, Xiuxiu had been there before. Years ago, when she was returning home from her maternal grandparents' home, she passed through Yancheng, and her father even took her to buy a lot of things in the city.

"That was summer, and although it was hot, it wasn't this hot. We walked around all day. If it were today, we'd probably be dried out by the sun after a day of walking around."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a shout came from ahead: "Something's wrong! Someone has fainted!"

An old woman was lying on the ground, while two middle-aged women were shouting loudly, but they kept their distance.

Zhao Shiqing said, "Could it be heatstroke?"

Shen Wangxing was about to help the person up when Zhao Shiqing stopped her and said to Ling Bo, "Let's go take a look."

The two walked over and saw the old woman lying on the ground, her body twitching. Lingbo was about to reach out to help her up when Zhao Shiqing grabbed her, turned around, and ran away. Lingbo was confused. Zhao Shiqing said, "Her eyes are moving. This person is faking fainting!"

As soon as the two ran back, they heard someone in the crowd laughing, "Old Ma, you failed this time. You didn't manage to extort anyone. Get up quickly, it's so hot, don't get heatstroke."

Lingbo angrily said, "These people clearly know that this old woman is faking it, but they pretend not to know and are waiting to watch the show. None of them are good people."

Shen Wangxing's mouth gaped open. What a close call! Luckily, the second young lady was quick-witted. If it were her, she would probably have already been extorted by this old woman.

Granny Ma got up from the ground and spat at Zhao Shiqing and the others, saying, "You ill-mannered little hussies, you don't know how to respect the elderly and care for the young. Fairy Cao, summon the Thunder God and Lightning Goddess and strike them dead first!"

Zhao Shiqing became interested and said to Mudfish, "Ignore this old woman and go ask the singer if it hasn't rained here in a long time. Also, who is this Fairy Cao that Granny Ma mentioned?"

Granny Ma left cursing and swearing. The feng shui of this place was bad for her; she wanted to find a place with lots of fools and rich people to continue her business.

The onlookers dispersed in a panic, and Mudfish quickly returned, saying, "This scorching weather has lasted for half a month. People in the city have already died from the heat. Not only that, but it hasn't rained for the past month. This place is far from the river, and people in the villages outside the city have been fighting each other for water, resulting in deaths. Yesterday, they even brought a corpse to the yamen to file a complaint."

As for Fairy Cao, she is a highly skilled person who recently arrived in Yancheng. She claims to have cultivated in Jiuhua Mountain for many years and recently observed the celestial phenomena at night, knowing that Yancheng would suffer a severe drought. Therefore, she came to Yancheng to help the people.

The magistrate of Yancheng treated her as an honored guest and introduced her to the prefect. The prefect, who was a believer in Taoism, had a long talk with Fairy Cao and built a high platform in the city. He arranged for Fairy Cao to perform a ritual the next day to pray for rain for Yancheng.

By the way, it's said that Fairy Cao looks only in her early thirties, but she's actually over eighty.

Zhao Shiqing's lips twitched. In his early thirties, or over eighty?

A Taoist priest who has cultivated for many years on Jiuhua Mountain?

A fairy?
When you're out and about, you give yourself your own identity. Next time she wants to lie, she'll say she looks like she's in her teens, but she's actually over a hundred years old.

"Was there such a master in your dream?" Zhao Shiqing looked at Xiao Zhen, only to see Xiao Zhen's brows furrowed slightly, as if he was recalling something.

She didn't press the matter further, but instead called on everyone to find a place to eat.

It was so hot in Yancheng that they searched several restaurants before finally finding one that had ice.

Only after asking did I learn that ice is no longer available in the city, and this restaurant, the only one that still has ice, is using ice stored up during the winter because it has its own ice cellar.

Shen Wangxing sighed, "I once read a storybook where the woman came from the Land of Nothingness. She could not only recite poems and songs with ease, but she could also make ice. It's a pity that the book didn't explain how the ice was made. Otherwise, we could open an ice shop in Yancheng and make a fortune."

Since changing his name, Shen Wangxing has thrown the imperial examination to the winds. He no longer studies the Four Books and Five Classics, but instead reads storybooks. It is said that he even plans to write storybooks himself, and he talks about them all the time.

No one paid any attention to him except Shen Guanyue.

Shen Guanyue: "Can it really make ice? Let's study it carefully after this is over."

Shen Wangxing was deeply moved. "Looking at the moon and stars, we are the best of friends in the world."

After much persuasion, the group booked five private rooms at the restaurant: four for men and one for women.

What kind of inn is this? There's no ice in the inn. In this hot weather, they'd rather sleep on the floor in the private room than sleep in the inn's bed.

Icebergs were placed on the tables in each private room, and the waiter brought fans. They were indeed very cool, but also very expensive.

However, compared to being unable to sleep due to the heat and suffering from heatstroke, spending more money is worthwhile.

However, the iceberg melted in the middle of the night, and everyone woke up from the heat. They asked the waiter to bring them ice again, and then they slept soundly until dawn.

In the morning, after everyone had breakfast, having not seen each other all night, Zhao Shiqing sensed that Xiao Zhen seemed to have something to say to her, so she said to everyone, "Everyone go and prepare food for the journey. We'll meet here in half an hour." This was also an unwritten rule along the way: everyone would prepare their own food for the journey. Everyone had different tastes; for example, Niqiu liked steamed buns with meat filling, while Zhao Shiqing, Xiuxiu, and Lingbo preferred sweets.

Traveling is hard enough, but if the food isn't to your liking, it's even harder.

Lingbo, observing the situation, pulled Xiuxiu along to buy some snacks. Xiaozhen and Zhao Shiqing walked out of the shop together, with Dazhuang and several guards following far behind.

After leaving the shop, Zhao Shiqing asked, "Did you remember something?"

When she asked about Fairy Cao yesterday, Xiao Zhen seemed thoughtful, and Zhao Shiqing suspected that he must have thought of something.

Xiao Zhen nodded: "I didn't remember it yesterday because I didn't see this person in person in my dream, let alone have any dealings with her, and I didn't even hear the name 'Fairy Cao'."

More importantly, although I had passed through Yancheng Prefecture on my way to Tongzhou, the city was already in chaos at that time. The area outside Yancheng was full of disaster victims. The prefect was worried about unrest, so he kept the city gates closed and did not allow the disaster victims to enter the city. Therefore, I did not know what was happening in Yancheng Prefecture.

However, a female Taoist priest did appear during this disaster.

It is said that the prefect of Yancheng sent people to escort her to Tongzhou. After arriving in Tongzhou, she led her disciples to the riverbank. That night, the river dam collapsed again, and she and her disciples were all swept into the flood and disappeared. At the same time, Yang Shengqiu was also swept away by the flood, along with the civilians who had not had time to evacuate.

Later, when the flood receded, some people said that she and her disciples had moved Heaven with their righteous conduct, which caused the flood to recede and Tongzhou to be at peace.

The rumor spread far and wide, and eventually a shrine was built in her honor.

In reality, the floodwaters receded several days after they had been swept away. Such rumors were likely fabricated by the local government to appease the people, instilling a sense of awe and preventing them from gathering and provoking conflict.

In his previous life, Yang Shengqiu was not called Yang Shengqiu. He was just a minor official in the Ministry of Works. When he died, he died without arousing suspicion.

However, in this life, he became Yang Shengqiu, and with the added advantage of being a descendant of Emperor Ai, both Xiao Zhen and Zhao Shiqing believed that his death in the previous life was unusual. Most likely, he did not die, but used death as a pretext to escape.

Zhao Shiqing suddenly had a strange idea: "Although the mountain gate is no longer the same as before, and there are no more people in the eldest branch, the eldest son is still the eldest son. Do you think there might still be people in the mountain gate secretly searching for the descendants of the eldest son? The reason that so-called fairy and her disciple came to Tongzhou was not to hold an altar and perform a ritual, but for Yang Shengqiu. They came to pick up Yang Shengqiu."

Unfortunately, we don't know where they took Yang Shengqiu.

In your dream, Yang Shengqiu never appeared again? Could it be that you've forgotten him?

Xiao Zhen shook his head. He died long ago in his previous life and didn't know what happened after his death. Perhaps many years later, Yang Shengqiu would return.

Zhao Shiqing said, "By the way, that Fairy Cao is performing a ritual today. Why don't we go and take a look? Even just remembering her appearance would be good."

Xiao Zhen agreed, and the two returned to the restaurant. Everyone bought things and came back. When they heard that they were going to watch the opening of the altar and the ritual, they all agreed immediately.

Mudfish asked the waiter and found out the time and place for the ritual to be performed. Fortunately, it was this morning.

In this way, after watching the opening ceremony and the ritual, we can continue our journey in the afternoon.

Fortunately, we are already very close to Tongzhou, so we will arrive at most half a day later than originally planned.

When the group found the place, it was already packed with people.

It was very hot, and there weren't many people on the streets. I didn't expect everyone to come here.

Unfortunately, they arrived too late and couldn't get to the front. Luckily, the platform was built very high, so they could see the scene on it from afar.

As soon as everyone stood still, yamen runners came to maintain order. A moment later, a gong sounded, and a female Taoist priest slowly walked up to the high platform.

Unfortunately, due to the distance, Zhao Shiqing could only make out the outline of Kun Dao's face, but not his facial features. However, she could still tell that he was definitely not an elderly person.

Even if an elderly person takes excellent care of themselves and has the face of a young person, they are still an elderly person, and their age can be revealed in every move they make.

The person on the platform, even if not young, is certainly not an old man.

"Oh my, he looks only in his thirties, you really can't tell he's already eighty years old."

"This is a fairy! Oh my god, I've seen a fairy!"

The people around them knelt down in unison, and Zhao Shiqing and the others quickly followed suit. At this time, it was best to blend into the crowd and not stand out from the crowd.

When they looked up, they saw the female Taoist on the high platform twirling her whisk and chanting incantations. Zhao Shiqing opened her eyes wide and memorized every movement. When she returned to the capital, she wanted to perform this dance for her grandfather.

"Look, clouds are rising!"

Someone in the crowd shouted loudly, and everyone looked up to see a dark cloud slowly approaching from the clear blue sky.

Lingbo exclaimed excitedly, "This fairy is truly skilled in magic; she can actually summon the Thunder God and the Lightning Goddess!"

Suddenly remembering the curse from Granny Ma yesterday, Lingbo subconsciously moved closer to Zhao Shiqing. If lightning really struck, she would push the second young lady away and let it strike her instead.

Zhao Shiqing laughed and lowered her voice: "I don't know if she can summon the Thunder God and Lightning Goddess, but she, or someone behind her, must have observed the celestial phenomena at night and calculated that it would rain today."

Just then, Xiao Zhen's deep voice rang in my ears: "Let's go, let's find a place to take shelter from the rain."

On the high platform, Fairy Cao was still waving her whisk. The group squeezed through the crowd, leaving the devout people behind. They had just returned to the restaurant when lightning flashed and thunder roared outside, and the heavy rain really came.

It seemed like today's schedule was about to be completely disrupted, but thankfully, although the rain was heavy, it didn't last long.

The rain stopped around noon, and the sky cleared. The group left the city, went to the post station to choose new horses, and set off again towards Tongzhou.

When we left Yancheng, the official road was still muddy from the rain. After walking for more than ten miles, there was no trace of rain anymore. It seemed that the rain had only fallen in Yancheng.

Zhao Shiqing asked Xiao Zhen, "Did Yancheng suffer any disaster in your dream?"

Xiao Zhen said, "The flood didn't affect Yancheng, but a year later, the youngest son and eldest grandson of the Yancheng prefect were both kidnapped. Later, the kidnapper was caught, but he refused to reveal where the two children had been sold and even bit off his own tongue. Rumors later circulated that the kidnapper was a famine victim from Tongzhou, who had fled to Yancheng with his family. His wife was pregnant with twins and suffered a difficult childbirth. She wanted to enter the city to find a midwife, but the Yancheng prefect ordered the city gates closed. In the end, all three died, and the family was destroyed." (End of Chapter)