Chapter 64 declares our commitment to letting the goddess know our loyalty! ...

The next day.

The people of Anling County were still curious about the strange encounter they had experienced the previous night.

The sudden floodwaters swallowed everyone, but no one was injured.

The flood only submerged people; it did not flood any belongings.

This is really strange.

They asked around among acquaintances to find out what had happened the night before.

They went to the administrative office to probe the administrators whether the flood was related to the goddess.

"It must be related to the goddess. The goddess can bring rain, so it's not surprising that she would release some water."

"But why did the goddess flood us?"

"Could it be a goddess battling with another deity?"

"A battle of wits?"

"Yes, just like in novels, gods fighting. Two gods with different beliefs, so they fight each other."

"Wait, you said the goddess will bring rain?"

"Of course, otherwise why do you think our Anling County has had such favorable weather this year?"

"...Isn't this divine protection?"

"Pah! It's our goddess who protects everyone, bringing rain from time to time, otherwise this year would be just as dry as last year!"

"The goddess actually possesses such great power?"

"...You didn't know?"

“Last year, when my family was still in Qingyang County, we worshipped the Goddess, and she sent rain to us.”

"Yes, the goddess thought we were too dirty and told us to wash ourselves clean before we went to see her."

"There wasn't even any water to drink back then."

The people chattered for a long time, but no mystery was solved.

Fortunately, the members of the city guard who went to the Goddess's Palace last night had families.

They knew part of the truth and couldn't wait to tell someone first thing in the morning.

“Last night, my husband/my brother/my uncle/my brother-in-law/my neighbor’s son… came back and said that someone had taken bribes from the governor of Maozhou and was going to betray the Goddess!”

The people of Anling County: "..."

They couldn't believe their ears: "What did you say???"

The speaker was both anxious and angry, "It's true!"

"When their city guard arrived at the Goddess's Palace, the traitors had already been dealt with by the Goddess, so they took the traitors back to the city guard for safekeeping!"

"It's said there are several hundred people, all of whom have received benefits from Maozhou and are trying to force the Goddess to agree to Maozhou's cooperation. It's the cooperation that the group from Maozhou mentioned before."

The people: "!!!"

They were instantly outraged: "How dare they betray the Goddess?"

"No, why are they forcing the goddess?"

"Our good life today is all thanks to the goddess, but she has never asked us for anything in return, and she won't even let us build a temple!"

"Are they crazy? Is Maozhou any better than our Anling?"

"That's too much! The goddess must be very sad..."

The insider continued, "They received bribes from Maozhou, and they were promised official positions if things went smoothly!"

The others were even angrier when they heard this.

"How despicable! How despicable! They betrayed the goddess just for official positions and money!"

"Have they forgotten that if it weren't for the goddess, the people of Anling County would have starved to death long ago?"

"A little kindness is appreciated, but too much kindness breeds resentment."

"A bunch of heartless bastards!"

Some people couldn't help but worry, "Won't the goddess misunderstand us because of these ungrateful wretches?"

"Last night's flood must have made the goddess... angry with us."

"Huh? We didn't betray the goddess, nor did we coerce her."

"We treat the goddess with the utmost respect!"

"but……"

"If you kindly offer buns and steamed bread to refugees, they might rush at you and try to snatch them, or even attack you..."

The people looked at each other in bewilderment.

Someone loudly suggested, "Let's go and ask the goddess for an audience!"

Someone chimed in, "We need to let the goddess know that ungrateful people are a minority, so we won't betray her!"

Someone clenched their fist: "You're right, we must let the goddess know our loyalty!"

A large group of people walked towards the Goddess's Palace.

Neither the administrative office nor the city guards intervened when they learned of the matter.

The people can't give the goddess anything good in return, but they should at least offer her emotional support.

The betrayal has already occurred. Regardless of whether the goddess harbors any resentment, it is essential for the people who have received her blessings to express their stance before her.

I only hope that the goddess will not take her anger out on others.

"What should we do with those traitors?" Gu Lanying asked.

Zhu Youchuan smiled slightly, "Let's talk about it when Hu Dazhu and Ning Huai'an come back. This incident involves people from multiple departments, so we'll have to hold a meeting then."

Logically speaking, military personnel should be dealt with according to military law, while personnel from other departments should be handled by their respective judicial departments.

But now that there's a cross-departmental defection, a meeting needs to be held and a special team needs to be set up to handle the matter.

"Waiting for the soldiers to return?" A young woman from the secretariat sighed. "They haven't reached Sifang County yet, have they?"

The Ministry of Civil Affairs official laughed and said, "Of course they haven't arrived yet." Their army is on a campaign, and they can't fly.

"It's alright, everyone's locked up, there's no rush," the city guard said.

The Treasury official shrugged. "Besides, they've lost arms and legs now, they're in pain."

"The goddess is truly kind; she didn't kill the traitors," a judicial officer couldn't help but exclaim.

Others chimed in, "Yeah, just breaking their arms and legs is too lenient on them."

"They are traitors!"

"Then the administrative office and the military will handle it together, won't they risk their lives?"

"The goddess said, 'Let them live.'"

"Huh? Why?"

Why?

Cheng Hui stroked his beard and smiled, because living is more painful than dying.

From now on, these ungrateful wretches will serve as examples for all the people, warning them not to go astray, because the goddess can punish them at any time.

And these ungrateful wretches will be left behind.

In this era, it is extremely difficult for people with physical disabilities to achieve anything.

Moreover, they were originally physically healthy, and they had already achieved certain results through their own abilities.

If they hadn't been blinded by greed, their future would have been just as bright and promising as everyone else's.

They will watch as the people of Anling County live better and better lives.

They will regret their actions and be filled with unbearable pain.

"Aunt Ying, your propaganda department," Zhu Youchuan suddenly thought of something, unfolding his folding fan and fanning himself in a pretentious manner, "Now would be the best time to seize the opportunity to conduct ideological education for the people, but the sports meet finals are just around the corner..."

Gu Lanying had already considered this issue. She said confidently, "Let's focus on finishing the sports meet first, and then, while everyone is in high spirits, we can carry out ideological and educational activities."

"Ideological □□?" A propaganda department staff member blinked.

Gu Lanying smiled and said, "I heard it from Minister Zhu. Don't you think this word is very vivid?"

Minister Zhu shrugged, indicating that he had also learned it from history books in another world.

After hearing about the traitor's coup attempt last night, most of the people in the county town, led by others, rushed to the Goddess's Palace.

They were genuinely afraid that the goddess would be saddened by this, or that she would take her anger out on innocent people.

People kept joining, and the line grew longer and longer.

As they walked, they joined those they knew and didn't know in cursing those ungrateful wretches.

They discussed what they should say when they met the goddess.

They pondered what they could do to please the goddess and make her happy.

Tens of thousands of people marched in a grand procession toward the Goddess's Palace.

The man in the middle shouted, "I beg to see the Goddess!"

The person in the latter half followed closely behind, shouting, "This humble subject pays homage to the goddess!" He knelt down as he shouted.

People kept kneeling down.

Soon, a large crowd of people knelt down around the Goddess's Palace.

The little white tiger jumped onto the wall and looked down at the kneeling two-legged beast below.

It let out a "woof".

He then jumped off the wall and ran towards He Qinglan's bedroom.

He Qinglan was lying on the bed, her face pale and cold.

She blocked the cafeteria system, while the White Moonlight Survival System 555 lingered in her mind.

555: [Host, are you alright?]

He Qinglan: [Not bad.]

555: [You knew perfectly well that you could only use 10% of your magic power in this world, so why did you forcefully increase it to 30%? If it weren't for the fact that the Heavenly Dao of this world had high hopes for you and lessened its suppression of you, you wouldn't have just been coughing up blood.]

After all, this world is just an ordinary world without magic, spells, or special abilities.

To prevent transmigrators from doing whatever they want, He Qinglan had 90% of her magical power suppressed the moment she entered.

He Qinglan forcibly used her magic to unleash a powerful attack, which her human body couldn't withstand. She collapsed as soon as she returned to her bedroom last night.

Fortunately, the natural order of this world knows that she wants to promote scientific development and is exceptionally tolerant of her.

Her body will recover after a day or two of rest.

He Qinglan said calmly, "Because I have to get angry once."

555: [...]

555: [This is entrapment!]

He Qinglan: [I can't always be a kind goddess; I also need to let them know that a goddess can be terrifying when she's angry.]

555 sighed softly: [Fine, you've always had your own ideas.]

555: [Take good care of yourself, I'm logging off now.]

He Qinglan opened her eyes.

The little white tiger jumped into the room through the wide-open window, onto the bed, and squatted on He Qinglan's stomach, howling at her.

He Qinglan reached out and patted the little white tiger's head, smiled faintly, and comforted it, "I'm fine, don't worry."

He Qinglan understood. "Okay, thank you. I'll go see them."

The little white tiger leaned forward, its fluffy head rubbing against He Qinglan's snow-white cheek.

He Qinglan sat up and instinctively hugged the little white tiger.

"Don't worry, I'm really fine."

“We can’t keep letting the people kneel outside. Let them go back to work.”

He Qinglan, holding the little white tiger, lightly leaped onto the roof.

She saw that the open space around the Goddess's Palace was filled with kneeling people, densely packed like ants moving house.

He Qinglan: "..."

Upon seeing the goddess appear, someone immediately raised their voice and shouted, "Greetings, Goddess!"

Men, women, young and old, different voices came together.

The deafening shouts instantly resounded throughout half of Anling County.

He Qinglan's eyes trembled slightly.

Looking down at the people at her feet, she felt their genuine support for her.

Such fervent sincerity is just like that of her people.

She smiled at them.

It was as if ice and snow were melting away.

"Get up, everyone."

"Whoever makes the mistake should take responsibility for it."

“You did nothing wrong, so I won’t hold a grudge against you.”

"Go back and do what you're supposed to do."

Lingnan.

Lujiang County.

Led by several minor officials and villagers, Xu Dongyang walked forward through the weeds.

He raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his face and couldn't help but ask, "How much further?"

One hunter replied, "Almost there, almost there. We'll see the lychee grove in half an hour."

Half an hour? Xu Dongyang expressed his doubts again, "You're not lying to me, are you? If you dare to lie to me..."

The villagers quickly shook their heads, "No, no, how could we dare to lie to you!"

The hunter swore with absolute certainty, "I really saw that the entire lychee grove on Xiangli Mountain was laden with fruit! And the fruit had already turned from green to red!"

Other villagers chimed in, "Yes, when Lao Sha came back and told us, we couldn't believe it. We went with him to see for ourselves and found out it was true."

"But...but we can't get close to that lychee grove!"

"That's right, that's right. We also wanted to go and pick some lychees to see if they were real, but there was an invisible barrier blocking us about ten feet away from the lychee grove! It prevented us from going over!"

The villagers' faces were filled with curiosity and fear. "We don't know if it's a demon or a ghost that has set up a protective barrier around the lychee grove!"

This really sounds like a lie. Xu Dongyang became increasingly convinced that the villagers were deceiving him.

But the villagers were adamant, and one by one they pointed to the sky and swore: "If I'm lying, may I be struck by lightning!"

Xu Dongyang: "..." Fine.

It's only half an hour. If they dare to make him come all this way for nothing, he will make them pay the price.

The group walked laboriously under the sun for another half an hour.

Xu Dongyang took the water jug ​​handed to him by the clerk, tilted his head back and gulped down half of it, then rubbed his sore knees and continued walking uphill.

He increasingly felt that he had been tricked. Although winter in Lingnan was not as cold as in the north, it was still winter, so how could there be lychee trees bearing fruit!

But we've already walked this far, we must reach our destination and see how these villagers try to deny it then...

"There it is!" the hunter exclaimed in delight.

Xu Dongyang was shocked. He looked in the direction the hunter was pointing, and his eyes widened like copper bells.

It's lychee!

Every branch was covered with lychees!

Red berries dot the green branches and leaves, swaying in the wind.

The mountains and fields are laden with fruit.

It actually came back as a result!!!

Xu Dongyang and the accompanying clerk could hardly believe it; one of the clerks kept rubbing his eyes.

The hunter's voice carried a hint of pride, "See? I wasn't lying, this whole mountain of lychees really has borne fruit!"

Another villager added, "And they look like they're about to ripen."

I wonder what lychees that ripen in winter taste like.

Unfortunately, I couldn't pick them...

Unaware of his surroundings, Xu Dongyang quickly ran towards the nearest lychee tree, intending to reach out and pick one.

"Prefect!" a villager behind him called out urgently.

But it was too late. Xu Dongyang crashed into the "wall" with a "thud" and reflexively took several steps back before being helped up by a minor official.

Xu Dongyang: "!"

He pressed his right hand to his forehead and looked ahead.

There was nothing there.

But he did bump into something.

The hunter trotted over, stretching his hands out in front of him and carefully feeling around as he walked.

He touched the transparent "wall" just a few steps away.

He placed his hands on the "wall".

The hunter turned to look at Xu Dongyang and said, "Prefect, that barrier is right here."

Xu Dongyang frowned.

He straightened up, walked over, and slowly reached out his hand.

He touched it too.

An invisible barrier stood between them and the lychee grove.

The lychees were so close, yet they couldn't pick a single one.

A minor official looked terrified. "This...this...is this the work of a deity, or the work of a demon?"

A villager patted the screen, pondered for a moment, and said, "Whether he's a god or a demon, it seems he really likes our Lingnan lychees." So much so that he makes the lychee trees bloom and bear fruit in winter.

"Does he mean no harm to the people of Lujiang County?" The hunter's eyes twitched. He has such powerful magic, and he just wants to eat lychees?

Xu Dongyang withdrew his hand and said, "If he really has such powerful magic and wants to harm my Lujiang County, there's nothing we can do."

He looked up at the sky and said to the crowd, "Send someone to keep an eye on things. If anything seems amiss, report back to me immediately."

"I went to Ningzhou to request an audience with the governor and his wife."