Chapter 58 Nothing Goes Well

Time flies by much faster than I imagined, day after day, the moon sets and the sun rises again. I count down the days on my fingers until I'm sick of it, but when I look back, I realize that a long time has passed.

This morning, Lin Chengye walked out of the courtyard wearing only a thin layer of clothing. She was still sleepy when a sudden gust of cold wind blew into the back of her neck, rudely waking her up.

Lin Chengye helplessly pulled his coat tighter, rubbed his hands together, and breathed lightly into his palms. He could already see the shape of white mist enveloping his reddened fingertips.

Before we knew it, summer had passed, and autumn had arrived in a daze. Now autumn is almost over, and it will probably be time to put on our thick winter clothes in just a few days.

Lin Chengye dragged over a chair from the doorway and sat down, resting her chin on her hand as she gazed at the distant, layered mountains. Summer had passed, and the lingering mountain mists had dissipated considerably; the entire city was no longer as gloomy and otherworldly as before, but had become real and tangible. She couldn't help but gaze at them, somewhat lost in thought.

After the Mengjiang River breached its banks that night, she, Bian Yi, and Chu He settled down in Zhao Family Village. Only when the residual poison in her body flared up would Bian Yi accompany her back to Chunshan Mountain to use the jade veins to nourish her for a few days, before rushing back down the mountain without stopping.

Mengshan City has changed beyond recognition. The once lush green hills are now half yellow and half red. Some areas have been completely stripped bare, revealing bare land and rocks.

Zhao Family Village is not far from Mengjiang. From her courtyard, one can see the mountain that Bian Yi and Chu Wuding jointly leveled. Greenery has not yet sprouted on the cut surface, but it will surely be lush and green again next spring.

The torrential rain that once poured down had long since stopped.

"Why are you up so early?"

Suddenly, a familiar voice came from somewhere. The person must have been awake long ago, as there was no nasal tone in the voice. Slower than the sound, a faint aroma of food wafted over, sweet and warm, making Lin Chengye's stomach rumble.

Lin Chengye slowly stood up, supporting himself on his knees, and turned to reply with a faint smile in his voice.

"Yes, I plan to visit Grandma today. It seems to be getting cold, so I'm going to bring her some thick blankets and clothes. I've already prepared them."

"Then take the food with you."

Bian Yi understood and nodded. She went inside to get a food box and put the still-warm rice inside. After thinking for a moment, she took out a small bottle from her pocket and gave it to Lin Chengye. It contained a homemade ointment that would be quite useful for elderly people with leg or neck pain.

Seeing that Bian Yi had almost put all the food on the table into the bowl, and just as she was about to stuff the last bowl of porridge in, Lin Chengye couldn't stand it anymore. He quickly grabbed Bian Yi's wrist to stop her, shook his head, and said...

"Keep some for yourself, like last time..."

What are we eating today?

Suddenly, the door to another room in the courtyard was kicked open, and a guy with his eyes closed crept out of the door, still wearing his undershirt, and went straight to the dining table.

Another one lured in by the aroma of food. Lin Chengye clicked his tongue, and regardless of whether Chu He could see him or not, he beckoned to her.

"Go to Granny Zhao's house and deliver some things to her. Are you going?"

"Yes, I'll go too."

Upon hearing this, Chu He's eyes flashed with an inscrutable expression, but he quickly nodded.

While Lin Chengye went inside to get blankets and clothes, Chu He quickly changed his clothes and came out. He opened the food box, secretly took a cornbread, and put it in his mouth. The whole process was smooth and effortless.

Bian Yi found it amusing. She had always thought Chu He was a serious and unsmiling martial arts fanatic, but after living together for these past few days, she found him to be far from boring and even a bit cute.

Chu He leaned to the side and whispered in Bian Yi's ear.

"Sister Bian, I also want to eat pumpkin pancakes and hawthorn cakes..."

"Eat, eat, all you do is eat. Why aren't you coming over to help?"

The door was flung open with a bang, and the thing in Lin Chengye's arms almost overwhelmed her. Bian Yi quickly stepped forward to take half of it. Lin Chengye glared at Chu He and said...

"Give it to her, let her take it."

The two strolled leisurely toward Zhao Chunyun's house. Coincidentally, neither of them used any light-footed skills; they simply walked slowly, step by step, on the land of Mengshan City.

Many villagers greeted the two of them. However, Chu He kept her eyes closed for most of the time and her face remained expressionless, so the villagers didn't dare to disturb her and only dared to call out to Lin Chengye.

"Spring God, have you eaten yet?"

"Not yet, I'm just about to go to Grandma's house for dinner," Lin Chengye replied with a smile.

"Oh dear, I ran into the Goddess of Spring and Master Chu today... Would you like to come over to my house for a visit? We were just about to have dinner."

We passed another house, and a man came out with a spatula. When he saw the two of them, he quickly greeted them. There was also a chubby little girl at his feet, looking around curiously.

"No, no, there's food, there's food." Lin Chengye quickly waved the lunchbox hanging on his arm and looked at the child.

"Little Chun'an is already so big?"

Upon hearing the familiar words, the little girl looked up at Lin Chengye and grinned foolishly.

He received numerous invitations and greetings along the way, and some people even stuffed some still-warm flatbread into Lin Chengye's hands without saying a word.

"Spring Goddess! My child has a word..."

"Oh, it's pronounced 'rain,' the water that fell from the sky a few days ago..."

"Spring God..."

"Believe it or not, by the time you get there it will be noon, and the bread will be hard."

Chu He watched as Lin Chengye kept talking the whole way, but stopped walking again and again, and couldn't help but say something.

"Sigh, that's not... hurry up, hurry up..." Lin Chengye paused, then took larger steps.

It took some effort to get to Zhao Chunyun's house. The two of them had to take a shortcut to escape the enthusiastic villagers.

"Little Spring God, oh and Master Chu, what brings you here again today?"

Zhao Chunyun was sitting on a rattan chair outside the room, rocking back and forth, when she suddenly squinted and saw two blurry figures carrying a huge object walking over. When the two people stood in front of her and got very close, she could see who they were.

These two people often come to see her.

Zhao Chunyun watched as Lin Chengye busied himself putting new bedding and clothes into the room, and then arranging for food boxes to be placed on the table, and gently shook her head.

But they shouldn't come so often.

She knew they were very busy. Now that the rain had stopped and the riverbanks were receding, and winter hadn't yet arrived, it was the perfect time to speed up the repairs. Lin Chengye sometimes didn't even go home, keeping a close eye on the construction.

With Lin Chengye's help, Zhao Chunyun slowly sat down at the dining table. She heard the young man's soft voice again as he arranged the dishes, placing the delicious food into her bowl.

"It's gotten colder today, so I've brought you some winter bedding. We can also have breakfast together."

Lin Chengye looked around and found the house to be very quiet, so he asked.

"Where are Xiaoman and Zhao Yu?"

“Ah…they, they went to the riverbank and said they wanted to sit there for a while,” Zhao Chunyun said slowly.

Lin Chengye paused, his fingertips trembling almost imperceptibly. Chu He, who had been quietly eating, also stopped, raising her head abruptly. She slowly opened her eyes, but instead of looking at Zhao Chunyun, her gaze was turned away, somewhat evasive.

“Goddess of Spring, you don’t need to be so careful. I didn’t think anything of it.”

She got up early this morning and first took out the statue of the Spring Goddess that was secretly enshrined in the house to sunbathe. She had known about the legend for a long time, but she didn't know what the Spring Goddess looked like; she had just made a clay figure of her.

She knew her days were numbered, but Mengshan City seemed to be reborn.

Zhao Chunyun looked natural, his brows relaxed, and continued.

"So don't overthink it. It's not your fault, and you shouldn't be so hard on yourself every day."

A bowl of clear porridge reflected her face, and behind her, the sky was cloudless. Lin Chengye looked down, but a drop of water fell in, shattering the calm reflection and blurring her vision.

...

The flood issue wasn't resolved satisfactorily. At least, in Lin Chengye's view, it wasn't.

That day, she and Chu He were each taken back to Zhao Family Village by Bian Yi and Chu Wuding. She kept her eyes wide open on Bian Yi's back until she saw the crowd standing at the village entrance in the distance, and then she breathed a sigh of relief.

Xiaoman, Zhao Yu… even Zhao Chunyun were there, Lin Chengye glanced at them. At least most of the people who had helped her build the river embankment were there; no matter how much farmland and houses were damaged, as long as people were alive, that was enough.

As Lin Chengye approached, he keenly sensed something was amiss. Most people were overjoyed, some even raising their arms and shouting the words "God of Spring," embracing their families and weeping. But a few others did not show any signs of having survived a great calamity; instead, their expressions were sorrowful, and they wept with fear.

Especially Zhao Yu.

The man saw her as if he had grasped at a last straw and tried to run forward, but Zhao Chunyun held him tightly. The eyes of the two men looking at her were bloodshot.

Lin Chengye suddenly felt a pang of anxiety. He jumped off Bian Yi's back, dragging his injured leg, and limped over. He grabbed Wang Qing, who was standing trembling to the side. The man, who had been so nonchalant when they were repairing the river embankment, was now pale.

She scanned everyone one by one once more, speaking incredulously, her throat like it was churning through coarse river sand.

"Where...where is Zhao Min? Why isn't she here?"

Lin Chengye could barely stand. He staggered and half-knelt on the ground, grabbing Wang Qingyi's clothes with both hands, propping himself up and staring intently into Wang Qingyi's eyes.

“Zhao Min… Zhao Min was the closest to there at the time… She told us to go first, and she followed last, but, but…”

Wang Qing suddenly screamed and fell to the ground, pulling Lin Chengye down with her in a disheveled state. The two ended up huddled together. Lin Chengye felt her mind was in complete chaos, as if thunder was crashing inside her head. She heard Wang Qing's trembling voice beside her ear.

"Water, water... It's so dark, so dark, I can't see, I can't see her..."

Lin Chengye couldn't hear anything after that; she felt as if all her strength had been drained away. She clutched her stomach, suddenly feeling nauseous. She weakly released Wang Qing, knelt on the ground, and gagged a few times while pinching her stomach.

Suddenly, someone's footsteps slowly approached, and a short figure cast a shadow on Lin Chengye's profile. She looked up and saw the person she least wanted to see at that moment, the person she had no face to see.

She seemed to already know about it. Zhao Chunyun's tears were initially silent, but they flowed like a thin stream, filling all the lines on her face and disappearing down her thin neck into her collar.

"My daughter, my daughter..."

She hesitated, then took a step toward Lin Chengye, her gaze fixed intently on him.

“Floods have no eyes; this has nothing to do with her.”

Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of Lin Chengye, Chu He holding a long staff, looking at Zhao Chunyun with a gloomy expression.

Lin Chengye's actions and words were so powerful that she almost thought everyone in the world was like him. She had almost forgotten how ignorant and unreasonable the people at the foot of Spring Mountain were. Chu He snorted coldly.

"No, no... I only want to ask Xiaochun God one question, just one question."

Zhao Chunyun's voice trembled.

"Did my daughter do well? Did Xiaomin... help you?"

Chu He was taken aback, and slowly lowered the long staff she had been holding. She looked back at Lin Chengye with some confusion, and then at her master Chu Wuding standing to the side with a blank expression.

She felt as if she had been struck on the head by something, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. No one could give her an answer.

"Very good, she did... exceptionally well, exceptionally well..."

The person behind him also had a trembling voice, choked with sobs of pain.

Then came loud sobs, which fell into the mud at their feet along with the relentless downpour.

...

When they left Zhao Chunyun's house, Lin Chengye was still not in a good mood, and Chu He didn't say much either, just followed her slowly.

They walked onto the riverbank, where the dikes designed by Lin Chengye and the Director of Water Conservancy sent by the imperial court, as well as another diversion canal to be dug, were being constructed in an orderly manner.

The once fierce and aggressive Meng Jiang was now as quiet as a child, being manipulated and restrained. Chu He opened his eyes, watched silently for a while, then suddenly looked up and said.

"It's a sunny day, a beautiful day."