good season

Zhao Shiqing had been traveling between the mountain and the city gate for several days. It was a difficult and dangerous task, and she refused all offers to help.

Those who fled at this time were terrified yet determined to fight back; they were filled with fear.

What terrified them was not only the floods, but also Gaoping, and the road to Gaoping, a road fraught with torrential rain, thunder and lightning, bandits, kidnappers, and dangers that could strike at any moment.

At this point, someone told them that they could find shelter not only in Gaoping, which was 500 li away, but also in the city, which would take two or three hours.

They will hesitate between believing and not believing. If they believe, all the better. But if they don't believe, then the person who told them this must have bad intentions and be a scoundrel.

At this time, women are more likely to lower their guard than men, especially those women with children. Charming young girls are much more reassuring to them than loud and boisterous men.

Zhao Shiqing's efforts paid off. In the past few days, more and more people have come to the mountain under her guidance, and 70% of them are the elderly, weak, women and children.

At this moment, Zhao Shiqing was standing in front of a stranded carriage, talking to the people inside through the curtain.

It was a middle-aged woman surnamed Hao. At that moment, she had a girl in each arm and was nervously listening to the sounds outside the car.

These two children are her two granddaughters. After her daughter passed away, her son-in-law was transferred to the capital. He originally wanted to take the two granddaughters with him, but Madam Hao did not agree. Her son-in-law had no children and would definitely remarry. With a stepmother, there would be a stepfather, and the two granddaughters would surely suffer.

Mrs. Hao kept her two granddaughters with her for five years.

Not long ago, Madam Hao heard rumors of flooding in Tongzhou, so she wrote to her son-in-law, asking him to send someone to bring her two daughters to the capital. However, the person her son-in-law sent was late in arriving. She waited and waited until now, and she knew she couldn't wait any longer. She regretted not sending her two granddaughters to the capital directly.

Hearing a young woman's voice outside the carriage, Madam Hao mustered up her courage and lifted the tarpaulin on the window to look out. She saw three people dressed in raincoats riding on horseback. Although the rain blurred her vision, Madam Hao could still tell that two of them were women.

"Who are you?" Madam Hao asked.

Zhao Shiqing smiled: "My surname is Zhao, and my given name is Shiqing. I came from the teahouse on the mountain. There are already many people like you who want to go to Gaoping but find it difficult to get there. The teahouse on the mountain is an old establishment, and the owner is kind and generous. Although the road up the mountain is difficult, it is much easier than going to Gaoping. There are houses, hot water, hot meals, and medicinal herbs that we prepared in advance on the mountain. Most importantly, the mountain is high up, so even if the flood inundates Tongzhou City, the mountain will still be the safest place."

If you don't believe me, Madam, you can send someone up the mountain to check first. If you do believe me, you can go now.

Mrs. Hao was skeptical. She had been widowed for many years, and her only daughter had passed away. She rarely left her house and her knowledge of the mountain was limited to passing by it once.

She looked at her two granddaughters: "What do you think? Should we keep going forward, or go back to the city and up the mountain?"

Asking is pointless; their car is already out of service, and getting to Gaoping is virtually impossible.

Although the two granddaughters were young, they were very sensible. They looked curiously at the girl outside the window. This older sister can ride a horse. This older sister is so impressive.

They had never ridden a horse before, and had never even seen a woman who could ride a horse.

The older sister mustered her courage and asked, "Where will we stay when we get to the mountain?"

They are women, and the grandmother is widowed. What if they are disturbed?
Zhao Shiqing smiled and softened her tone, afraid of startling the young girl: "Besides teahouses, there are also inns on the mountain. Women stay in inns, and men stay in teahouses, separated by a row of rocks and trees. However, because the rooms are limited, you can't stay in a single room. Everyone has to stay together in a large dormitory. It's warm and clean, but you can't have peace and quiet."

The older sister nodded, then looked at her grandmother and younger sister: "It's the same room as the servants' room, where many people sleep on one big bed."

The younger sister looked completely bewildered; she listened to her grandmother and older sister completely.

Mrs. Hao listened attentively. She could imagine the scene there. She had never lived in such a house before. However, living in a dormitory was better than being swept away by a flood at any time.

"Alright, Miss Zhao, thank you for letting me know. We'll head back up the mountain now!"

Watching Madam Hao and her entourage leave, Zhao Shiqing breathed a sigh of relief. She looked up at the sky and couldn't help but chuckle. What was she thinking? With such a strong wind and heavy rain, why was she looking at the sky?

"Second Miss, it's almost evening now, no one will be leaving the city. Let's go back up the mountain," Lingbo said.

"Okay, let's go back!" Zhao Shiqing is always one to listen to advice and eat her fill.

In fact, not only is the road out of the city difficult now, but the road back is just as difficult.

Lingbo sighed, "The rain is getting heavier."

She suddenly remembered something: "Second Miss, is the Fourth Prince stuck on the road? Otherwise, he should have arrived by now."

Zhao Shiqing chuckled. Ten days had passed since Xiao Zhen's estimated date, which meant that it would take enough time to travel two round trips from the capital to Tongzhou.

Even if the fourth prince had to crawl, he should have reached the top by now.

"The Fourth Prince is probably enjoying the rain at the official post station right now."

Zhao Shiqing guessed correctly; at this very moment, the Fourth Prince was sighing at the rain.

It's not that he doesn't want to leave, it's that he can't leave.

Who would have thought that trouble would arise so soon after arriving in Yancheng Prefecture?

The weather in Yancheng Prefecture was scorching hot. The fairy prayed for rain, and finally, a sweet rain fell.

He originally did not enter the city along the way, and local officials lined both sides of the official road to welcome him.

Before they even reached Yancheng, they heard that a heavy rain had started in Tongzhou, a piece of news that shocked everyone.

Originally, the flood in Tongzhou was just speculation, since even the Imperial Observatory hadn't predicted it.

Even the people from the Ministry of Works felt that this trip was just a casual stroll with the Fourth Prince, and they were already planning to slack off.

Unexpectedly, it really rained heavily in Tongzhou. The people of the Ministry of Works knew best what heavy rain meant for a riverside town.

Just then, news of a fairy named Cao who could grant rain in Yancheng Prefecture reached the ears of the Fourth Prince.

The fourth prince was overjoyed. This Fairy Cao was so effective; if she could pray for rain, she could certainly make the rain stop.

Upon meeting the officials of Yancheng, the Fourth Prince inquired about this Fairy Cao, expressing his desire to meet her in person.

However, the local officials could not find Fairy Cao, and even her disciples had disappeared without a trace.
The fourth prince was furious and immediately sent people to search for him, which caused a two-day delay in Yancheng.

The people sent out to look for her returned and reported that they had found out where Cao Xianzi was. It turned out that the fairy had taken her disciples to Tongzhou to save the people.

The Fourth Prince was deeply moved. This was the epitome of a sage. A true fairy should save people from suffering and save all people. Now that he knew Fairy Cao had gone to Tongzhou, the Fourth Prince prepared to continue his journey the next day. However, that very night, everyone, including himself, suffered from severe vomiting and diarrhea and couldn't even get out of bed.

It's one thing for others, but he's a prince, and it shouldn't happen to him to get an upset stomach.

The problem was eventually discovered to be with the drinking water.

When the Fourth Prince traveled, an entire carriage was filled with the spring water he had been drinking since childhood; the water he drank was different from what others drank.

But for some reason, the water was fine all the way, but after stopping in Yanzhou for two days, when they woke up in the morning, there was a layer of insects floating on the surface of the water. The water was definitely not drinkable, so the Fourth Prince had no choice but to drink the water drawn from the official well, just like everyone else.

The accompanying guards retrieved a dead bird from the well. The bird had stones tied to its body and sank to the bottom of the well, so it did not float to the surface.

Although the imperial physicians had brought the fourth prince's condition under control and he had stopped vomiting and having diarrhea, he had suffered serious injuries and was already weaker than normal. This illness was like adding insult to injury, and the fourth prince had to stay in bed for five whole days before he could get up.

The others were slightly better than him, but not by much.

Yang Shengqiu also fell ill, but since he had practiced martial arts since childhood, he was fine once his diarrhea stopped. However, the Fourth Prince was still ill, so he and the others had to stay in the official post station.

People were whispering about it. It was obviously done by someone, otherwise how could there be stones on that dead bird?
The people at the official post station had arrested most of the people and interrogated them in turn, but they couldn't get anything out of them. Everyone was in a state of panic, hoping that the fourth prince would recover soon and leave this horrible place.

Yang Shengqiu had only been at the Ministry of Works for a short time and was not yet familiar with the others. However, since the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works were on the same street, and especially since lower-ranking officials often interacted, his deeds in the Ministry of Revenue had already spread throughout the Ministry of Works before he had even gotten to know all the people in the Ministry of Works.

Yang Shengqiu's situation is not much better than when he was in the Ministry of Revenue, due to his incompetence in handling affairs, even losing local documents; his false claim of a fire at home to request leave; and his arrogance because he almost became the son-in-law of the Feng family.

Back in the capital, everyone was busy with their own things, so it didn't matter. But now that everyone is idle and can't leave the official post station, they have to share a room, and he can clearly feel those unfriendly gazes.

He could only sit in the corner and start reading a copy of the Tongzhou County Gazetteer.

Suddenly, a man ran in from outside. He was a minor official from the Ministry of Works who had come out with him and was mainly in charge of some miscellaneous tasks.

"My lords, I just went to the front and overheard everyone talking about how a lady wanted to stay the night. She knew the Fourth Prince was staying here, but she still insisted on staying. In the end, the postmaster had to say some harsh words before she left. Can you guess who this lady is?"

As everyone knows, the official post station where the prince resides will not allow anyone else to stay. Since that lady came to stay at the post station, she must be an official's wife, and there is no reason why she would not know the rules.

The group, who were bored at the time, suddenly became interested and asked, "Whose wife is so ill-mannered?"

The clerk chuckled, looked around seriously, and said with a smile, "This woman claims to be the sister of Wu Shaoqing of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices."

Everyone was taken aback at first, and then their faces showed surprise.

They had done their homework before coming to Tongzhou.

The younger sister of Wu Shaoqing of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, isn't that the wife of the Prefect of Tongzhou?

It was raining heavily in Tongzhou and flooding was imminent. Surprisingly, the prefect's wife was not in Tongzhou but had gone to Yancheng.
"We received news that the people of Tongzhou are fleeing to Gaoping. Gaoping is a poor and remote place, so the prefect's wife naturally doesn't want to go there. Although Yanzhou is farther away, it is richer and more prosperous than Gaoping, so her choice to come to Yanzhou is correct."

"What do you mean, 'right'? Tongzhou is about to be flooded, and the Fourth Prince is still on his way there, yet the prefect of Tongzhou has sent his family out. Does he think his family is more valuable than the Fourth Prince?"

"Shh, keep your voices down. I've heard something. Wu Shaoqing's sister has cheated on Qian Zhizhou quite a few times. Qian Zhizhou can't control her. Her coming here is most likely not Qian Zhizhou's idea."

"Really? Is this true?"

Yang Shengqiu listened for a while and found it utterly boring. These people were all scholars who had entered officialdom through the imperial examinations, and when they talked about such things, their lewd tone was exactly the same as that of a burly man picking his feet on the street.

He got up and went outside. In Tongzhou, it was pouring rain, but here the sky was clear and blue.

Seeing Yang Shengqiu leave, someone spat and said, "He was listening intently just now, and now he's putting on this aloof act. Who is he trying to impress?"

"Alright, he's the top scholar in the imperial examination, of course he's aloof."

"So what if he's the top scholar? It's like nobody's ever seen a top scholar before."

Yang Shengqiu felt a tightness in his chest as he listened to the gossip behind him. He stood under the corridor for a while, then remembered seeing a pavilion not far away when he first moved in, so he went over to it.

The pavilion is surrounded by bamboo, which has not been specially tidied up and is a bit messy, but at least it is quiet.

Yang Shengqiu sat down in the pavilion and continued reading the Tongzhou County Annals.

Suddenly, something landed on my shoulder and then fell down my shoulder.

He instinctively reached out and caught it; it turned out to be a small purse.

Yang Shengqiu was startled. He stood up and looked behind him. A gentle breeze rustled the bamboo leaves, but he could not see anyone.

Yang Shengqiu looked down at the purse in his hand, thought for a moment, and then emptied the contents of the purse.

Inside was a ring!
The ring was quite old and wasn't made of gold, silver, or jade, but rather of copper, so it wasn't worth much.

But when Yang Shengqiu's gaze fell on the ring, he was stunned.

He picked up the ring, walked out of the pavilion, and held it up to the sunlight, where the four characters on the inside of the ring were clearly visible.

"Shanmen Huisheng"

Huisheng, that is his mother's name.

Hui Sheng, Hui Sheng!
He no longer remembers what his mother looks like. He was very young when she died, and all his knowledge of her comes from his grandfather.

My grandfather would grit his teeth every time he mentioned my mother.

"That bitch Huisheng, she ruined your father, ruined you, ruined me, and ruined our Yang family!"

As a child, he never understood why his grandfather thought his mother had ruined him.
He's perfectly fine.

As he grew older, he finally understood his grandfather.

Because of his mother, his father died; because of his mother, he became an orphan; because of his mother, he had to wander with his grandfather, homeless and without a fixed abode! (End of Chapter)