A sudden downpour hit, and Wan Xueying, Shen Yu, and the others managed to avoid the rain by taking shelter in the carriage. The guards, wearing straw raincoats and bamboo hats, fared much better than the others, but the horses and mules, lacking shelter, grew increasingly agitated.
Some of them not only neighed impatiently but also kicked the ground repeatedly with their front hooves. The carriages swayed with their movements, and those inside would fall over if they weren't paying attention.
The guards on duty tried to control the situation several times but failed, and the coachman was no better.
"What should we do, miss? These horses are about to get out of control!" The coachman outside anxiously asked Ma Xueying to make a decision.
"Tell everyone to hold steady. I can fix this problem right away."
Wan Xueying wasn't kidding; she had truly come up with an idea. Don't forget her main job. Before setting out, fearing they might encounter a large group of bandits and that these guards wouldn't be enough, she concocted a large quantity of knockout powder. If taken in very small quantities at once, these powders would have a sedative effect.
Fearing they might use the wrong amount, she wrapped the powder in paper, divided it into small portions, and then had the guards and grooms give them to the horses to smell. Soon, the irritable horses gradually calmed down, proving her theory correct. Wan Xueying then had Qiu Shi lead his men through the rain to find the mule carts they had rented and use the same method to calm the mules.
Although it was effective, Wan Xueying knew that this method was only a temporary solution and not a permanent one. So she took out some oilcloths used to make tents and had people drape them over the horses and mules to protect them from the rain. Only then did she feel a lot more at ease.
It's not that she is unwilling to help others, but if the medicine works for the horse, that's fine. But if it doesn't work or if someone else's horse gets out of control before it takes effect, whose responsibility is that?
The accident really happened.
First, a horse in the exile team lost control and hit some exiles and several escorts. Then, several horses and mules in the exile team lost control and hit some people who had no time to avoid them.
Of course, there were those who dodged quickly. But their reckless dodging resulted in bumping into the people next to them, or falling over the muddy and slippery ground from the rain. However, this was nothing, as something far more serious was happening.
Some people who were closer to the river were pushed into the muddy water due to the chaos, while others were trapped in the river because the river bank broke and they had no time to escape.
Earlier, the river was crystal clear, barely reaching a woman's waist. After arriving, they used the water to boil water for cooking, and some even washed in the river. But with the sudden increase in rainfall, a flood of mud and sand washed in, and some people fell into the river and were drowned after a few struggles.
A few people were lucky enough. After falling into the river, they held onto the huge rocks that originally belonged to the shore, temporarily delaying their fate of being washed away. Among them was Lin Yingnan.
"Help! Help!" After choking on water several times, Lin Yingnan hugged a big rock tightly and desperately asked for help from people on the shore.
"Miss, please wait, I will rescue you right away." Chun Jiao had just been hit, but luckily she only stumbled and barely escaped. When she turned around, Lin Yingnan was kidnapped and fell into the water.
She tried to find a longer branch to pull Lin Yingnan ashore, but she couldn't reach Lin Yingnan after trying several branches.
While saving Lin Yingnan, she anxiously asked for help from people around her.
"Please help save my young lady!" But all he got in return was indifference and avoidance from the people around him.
"Have you forgotten that my young lady once helped you? You," Chun Jiao barely recognized someone through the rain, "Yes, it's you! Don't you remember that your mother almost starved to death, and it was my young lady who saved her by giving you half a cake? And you," she recognized another person, "if my young lady hadn't helped you, you would have been bitten to death by a poisonous snake! And many of you, my young lady once bought a lot of summer heat soup for you with her own money!"
But no matter how she blamed them, no one was willing to take the risk to help. Lin Yingnan, still full of desire to survive, saw that no one had rescued her for a long time, and shouted at Chunjiao: "Go find Wan Hesu, ask him to save me!" These people were so ungrateful that she could only rely on Wan Hesu and his men.
"Then please hold on a little longer, young lady. I'll go find Master Wan Er and the Wan family to rescue you." She couldn't do it alone, so Chun Jiao decided to follow Lin Yingnan's advice and ask Wan Hesu for help. Wan Hesu was indeed the only person they could count on.
"Go quickly! I'm afraid I can't hold on for much longer!"
Chun Jiao nodded her head and started to run. But the reality didn't allow her to do so. She slipped every few steps, then got up and continued on.
On the way, she saw the horse-drawn carriage and mule-drawn cart of Wan Xueying and others. She hesitated for a moment whether to ask them for help.
On second thought, Wan Xueying had always disliked them, so she definitely wouldn't help. Time waits for no one, so it's better not to waste words.
Then he slipped with every step, and even rolled and crawled to the exile team in front to look for the Wan family.
But when I got there and saw the messy scene, I was a little confused. How could I find someone?
There was no other way, so she opened her throat and yelled at the crowd: "Master Wan Er! I am Chun Jiao, my lady fell into the water!"
If one time doesn’t work, try twice. If two times don’t work, just keep shouting, wherever you go.
Fortunately, Wan Hesu heard her cry and followed the sound to finally see Chunjiao, who looked like a clay figure.
"I'm here. Tell me slowly what happened to your young lady?" He quickly stepped forward and asked.
"My daughter fell into the water. Luckily, she grabbed a big rock and didn't get washed away. But no one around is willing to help. Please go quickly! Otherwise, it will be too late!"
"Okay, I'll go with you right now." Wan Hesu went to rescue people without saying a word.
"Won't you ask the other two young masters of the Wan family to come with you? I'm afraid we can't do it alone!" Chun Jiao had just tried several times and knew how difficult it was to save someone. If she wasn't careful, the rescuer would be swept away by the river.
"Wait a minute, I'm going to ask my eldest brother and third brother for help."
But when Wan Hesu quickly found Wan Jiangyuan and Wan Huqing who were taking shelter under a tree, Wan Jiangyuan spoke first: "It's not that I don't want to help, but it's useless for me to go there with my body, and it will delay you from saving people." He really felt that he was helpless.
Wan Huqing followed up, "I haven't eaten much in days. I have no energy at all. It's useless to go."
"Okay, okay, you won't help me, right? Then don't expect me to help you in the future!" Wan Hesu didn't expect that his own brothers, who had always been helped by Lin Yingnan, would refuse him outright. He was so angry that his eyes turned red. He left after saying some harsh words.
"Dad, look at what my second brother said? He treated us like this for an outsider!" Not only did Wan Huqing not go to help, he also said such words behind the scenes.
"Please stop talking." Wan Chengji rolled his eyes at him. "Miss Lin's life or death is uncertain. How can your second brother not be anxious?"
Seeing that Wan Chengji did not speak up for him, Wan Huqing had no choice but to stop and then started complaining about the evil God again.
After a while, thinking of Lin Yingnan's past help, Wan Jiangyuan hesitated for a moment and said to Wan Chengji, "Dad, can I go over and take a look?" If anything happened to Lin Yingnan, he was afraid Wan Hesu would really blame them. They had relied heavily on Wan Hesu and Lin Yingnan along the way, and would continue to do so in the future. He would only consider the pros and cons of helping after careful consideration.
"It's useless to go with your body, so just stay here." Wan Chengji was reluctant to let Wan Jiangyuan take the risk, "I'm afraid something bad will happen to you after getting caught in the rain."
Xu also stopped him from going.
"My son's already soaking wet, so if he gets caught in the rain, that's all he needs. Let's go check on him." Wan Jiangyuan said as he took a few tentative steps outside from the tree where he'd taken shelter. His foot slipped, and he stumbled, nearly falling. Thinking he was a complete loser, he gave up on going over to help.
As for Wan Hesu, he practically ran to where Lin Yingnan had fallen into the water, guided by Chunjiao. But after a long look, there was no sign of anyone except the vast river. Even the onlookers fled after another part of the shore collapsed.
"Yingnan! Yingnan! Where are you? Come back to me." His voice trembled, and his face was covered with water, so he couldn't tell whether it was rain or tears.
"Yingnan! Come back to me!" He continued to call out anxiously, but as he received no response, his voice gradually became filled with despair. He blamed himself for coming too late and missing the best opportunity to save Lin Yingnan.
Chunjiao, who arrived at the shore later than him, saw that the place where Lin Yingnan had just been hugging the boulder was empty, and she sat down in the mud and water.
"Miss!" She choked with sobs, "Miss, where are you? It's Chunjiao's fault that she couldn't find Master Wan Er to save you earlier."
"Chun Jiao, are you sure your young lady was here just now?" Wan Hesu still didn't give up.
"Yes! The young lady was just there." Chun Jiao pointed with her finger, "It must have taken me too long to look for you, so the young lady didn't wait for us to come back."
"Yingnan! Yingnan!" Wan Hesu shouted as he ran downstream, hoping that even if Lin Yingnan was washed away by the mud and water, she could still grab something new and wait for him to rescue her.
But he ran a long way with his hands and feet shackled, but still could not find any trace of a human being except the surging river.
Just when he was in a daze and felt completely hopeless, an old man saw that he was running around in a dangerous place and shouted at him: "Hey... young man, stay away from the shore. There might be another collapse there at any time!"
Finally, someone paid attention to him. Like grabbing a life-saving straw, Wan Hesu asked the old man, "Uncle, where is the person in the river just now?"
"Are you asking about the people who fell into the water before?" the old man asked.
"Yes!" Wan Huqing nodded desperately.
"I was rescued."
"He was rescued?" A huge joy suddenly swept over his heart. "Who rescued him? Where is the rescued person now?"
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