Chapter 74 Not a flood, but an earth dragon turning over

The seventh prince held the child tightly, shielding her head with his hands, almost embedding her in his arms.

The two children rolled down the grassy slope like rolling melons all the way to the bottom.

Finally, with a soft thud, they landed steadily beside a field ridge.

Xie Mianmian struggled to sit up, shook her dizzy head, and looked around in confusion.

This is a field, with narrow, winding paths dividing it into countless fragments.

The child gazed at the paddy field before him, where lush green wheat seedlings grew in neat rows and columns. The water's surface was calm and still, smooth as a bronze mirror, reflecting the azure sky.

Xie Mianmian stared dreamily at the blue sky reflected in the water mirror, feeling as if she were upside down, and for a moment even felt as if she were floating on white clouds.

A hand waved up and down in front of her eyes, "Xie Mianmian, wake up, are you dazed from the fall?"

The seventh prince had already stood up and reached out his hand to the child.

Xie Mianmian was pulled up. "Mianmian is alright. Seventh Prince, where are we?"

The Seventh Prince looked around. The wheat seedlings rippled in the breeze. "There are people farming here. There should be villages nearby. As long as we find the village head, he can find someone to pick us up."

Xie Mianmian looked at him with admiration, her eyes shining, and said in a soft voice, "Seventh Prince, you are so smart."

The Seventh Prince turned his head slightly. "Ahem, let's go quickly."

So Xie Mianmian followed behind the Seventh Prince, walking along the country path, following the trails trodden out by people.

As Xie Mianmian passed by a small, high hill, she noticed a small hole at the bottom.

She tugged at the Seventh Prince's sleeve and asked, "How strange, why is there a hole here? What's it for?"

The seventh prince was forced to stop and deliberately tried to scare the child, saying, "Hurry up, a snake might crawl out of there in a moment, are you scared?"

"Mianmian isn't afraid at all." She has a giant python at home, a well-behaved and docile little snake.

Just then, a mouse crawled out of the hole. Noticing the commotion outside, it stepped out to check the situation.

It was a tall, thin mouse that Xie Mianmian had never seen before. Curious, she asked, "Hello, mouse, what kind of mouse are you?"

"Chirp chirp chirp, I am a groundhog."

It stood up, held its two tiny paws to its chest, and suddenly let out a "ah".

The two children were caught off guard and were yelled at.

"Groundhog, what's wrong with you?"

"I understand, chirp." The groundhog took two steps forward and came to Xie Mianmian. "Mianmian, it's not just a flood, it's an earthquake!"

Xie Mianmian was taken aback. "What is an earth dragon?"

The groundhog didn't answer the child. It ran back to its burrow, making "ah ah ah" noises, and packed its things to move.

Xie Mianmian timidly said to the Seventh Prince, "Groundhog said there's a dragon turning over near the Grand Canal." What a terrifying dragon!

A hint of surprise flashed in the Seventh Prince's eyes. "So that's how it is. Don't be afraid. We'll tell Father and the others when we get back."

Xie Mianmian, the little chick, nodded.

The two children continued on their way, but after walking for an unknown amount of time, they did not encounter a single villager in the fields.

This is unusual; even after the planting is complete, people still come to the fields from time to time to inspect, pull weeds, or replant any wheat seedlings that couldn't be planted.

They walked one after the other on the ridge of the field, their figures clearly reflected in the water. Before they knew it, the bright sky had turned into a gradual smoky blue.

There was not a sound of human voices around, only the chirping of unknown insects.

In the distance came the faint sound of drums, "thump, thump, thump."

The morning bell and evening drum sounded one after another, as if reminding the children playing wildly outside to hurry home and have dinner.

"Gurgle." It was Xie Mianmian's stomach growling; the child had been gone for a long time and was hungry.

The Seventh Prince was also exhausted, but he still pulled Xie Mianmian along, because they would be in danger if it got completely dark.

Finally, a person hurriedly walked by not far away.

The seventh prince shouted, "Old man, wait a minute!" as he jogged forward.

Xie Mianmian also saw the person and immediately became excited, her legs and feet becoming much more nimble.

This was an old woman with a slightly hunched back, dressed in linen clothes with patches of different colors in many places. Her hair was half black and half white, and her age was unknown.

She carried a bamboo basket on her arm, filled with wild vegetables she had picked, almost overflowing.

"Oh my, whose children are you? What are you doing in this desolate place?"

The seventh prince, holding the child's hand, said, "I... I came out for a trip with my family, but we encountered bandits on the way and got lost."

Xie Mianmian raised her head and said pitifully, "Grandma, can you take us to find the village head?"

"Oh, alright." The old woman looked at the two children with affection, wondering what suffering they had endured; it must have been very difficult for them. "Come on, I'll take you back to the village first."

The two children followed the old woman to a place with some inhabited people. The houses on both sides of the road were very low, mostly made of yellowish-brown mud bricks, with thatched roofs.

Xie Mianmian had never seen such a building before and stared at it in astonishment.

The village was quiet, with no sounds of children laughing and playing, only the occasional low voices and suppressed sobs coming from inside the houses.

Soon, they arrived at a tall, blue-brick house, but did not go inside. The old woman had the two children sit on the stone opposite and wait.

The old woman bent down and rummaged through her bamboo basket. With her withered, twig-like fingers, she took out two plump wild fruits and handed them to the two children. "Eat them. I'm going to find the village head. It's a mess inside, so children shouldn't go in."

Xie Mianmian sat obediently on the stone, from where she could see the courtyard inside the blue brick house, where many things were scattered about.

There was an object on the ground covered with a dark red cloth, so its exact appearance was not visible, but its protruding shape was quite strange.

Xie Mianmian felt a little uneasy, holding the wild fruit in her hand but not eating it.

The child saw two unfamiliar women in the yard, pulling an old woman aside and talking to her.

A moment later, the old woman frantically pounded her chest, painfully raised her head, and two streams of tears streamed down her cheeks, as if she were crying.

The two women turned to look at the two children, pointing and whispering, as if they were saying something to the old woman.