“Rats…” Wang Ergou scratched his head and looked at Su Hua with some surprise. “How did you know, Miss? We’ve never had rats in the restaurant before because of the rat-repelling grass, but this morning we found four or five dead rats under the front yard wall.”
"Dead rats?" Su Hua was slightly taken aback. "Do you know how these rats died?"
"It looks like it hit its head against the wall and died. Its forehead was covered in blood beads. It was just lying stiffly in the corner of the courtyard. I thought it was bad luck, so I quickly told the servants to pick it up and throw it away." Wang Ergou felt like his head was about to explode.
The owner entrusted him with the management of this restaurant in Qingshui County, and in less than a month, strange things have been happening one after another. If this continues, how will he face the owner?
The more Su Hua listened, the more uneasy she felt, and a bad feeling crept into her heart. She pondered and asked, "How are the chickens and ducks in the pen? Are they restless, flying around wildly, or even trying to climb onto the table or trees?"
Wang Ergou was no fool, and upon hearing this, he could immediately sense something unusual. He quickly replied, "The restaurant's business has been booming these past few days. We've run out of chickens and ducks in the back coop, so now we're buying and slaughtering them fresh every day. Because the horses went mad and we can't use the carriages, I sent my waiter to the West Market before dawn to buy fresh chickens and ducks. They should be back soon."
Sure enough, in just a few breaths, three men carrying large cages walked into the backyard.
Upon seeing Su Hua and the others, they quickly bowed and greeted, "Master, Young Master Sun, Second Young Master Sun, Brother Er Gou!"
"No need for formalities." Su Hua raised her hand, gesturing for the three to stand up. She looked down at the cages in their hands and saw that all the chickens and ducks inside looked limp and lifeless, with blood even smeared on the foreheads of more than half of them.
Wang Ergou frowned. "What's going on? Didn't I tell you to buy fresh and lively ones? Why did you bring back all these listless ones today?"
The leader, Dazhu, quickly explained, "Brother Ergou, it's not that we want to buy these wilted chickens and ducks, but the market today is full of half-dead chickens and ducks, they all look like they've been possessed. These three cages are already considered good, but we don't dare to buy more, we only bought enough for today."
Upon hearing the noise, Wang Ergou brought out a few chickens and ducks to examine them closely. He found that although these chickens and ducks lacked energy, their mouths and noses were still dry, and their droppings were no different from those of normal chickens and ducks.
The man frowned, wanting to ask Su Hua for advice, but seeing her pale face and sweat on her forehead, he quickly waved to the waiter, "Dazhu, you guys take the chickens and ducks in first. The chefs in the kitchen are still waiting to make bone broth and slice the meat!"
"Yes," Da Zhu and the other two quickly replied.
"Is something wrong, Master? Should I go to Huichuntang and ask a doctor to take a look at you?" Wang Ergou looked at the girl with concern. Usually, when he saw his master, she always had a very good complexion. But now that the weather had improved, she was pale and sweating, which made him worry.
"Auntie, why are you sweating so much?" Su Erlang's chubby face scrunched up as he tiptoed to touch her forehead.
Su Dalang then grabbed her wrist and began to take her pulse in a very professional manner.
"It's nothing serious, I probably just didn't sleep well last night." Su Hua waved her hand, took a deep breath to calm her chest tightness a little. "Er Gou, you should quickly take some people to check the condition of the wells in the city. See if they are like the well in the backyard, suddenly bubbling, or turning murky, churning, or changing color."
Along the way, keep an eye out for any other unusual phenomena.
Unlike the countryside, the county town was different. Unless it was a wealthy family in the county town who had a deep well, most of the other people drew water from public wells. The public wells were dug at equal intervals according to the number of households in each alley. There were about seventy public wells in Qingshui County.
Upon hearing this, Wang Ergou dared not delay any longer and quickly led his men out of the restaurant.
Su Bai and Zhao rushed over upon hearing the commotion. "Hua'er, what happened? Has something occurred?"
"It's still uncertain." Su Hua shook her head, her almond-shaped eyes fixed on the small cloud hanging in mid-air, worry slowly creeping in. "Mother, do you remember when the last great flood was?"
"A great flood?" Su Bai was taken aback, wondering why she suddenly brought up the flood.
"Actually, our Qingshui County has many rivers and rarely experiences droughts. On the contrary, floods are common, occurring at least once every three to five years. However, the last major flood was a hundred years ago."
This is what my grandfather told me; that year, he was just a six-year-old child.
A village located downstream of the Qingshui River was hit by torrential rains that lasted for a whole month. The entire village was flooded, with mud and water up to waist-deep for an adult man. Houses were washed away, burying many people. Even my grandfather's own brother was swept away by the flood, and his remains were never found.
Zhao's heart pounded with anxiety. "Does Hua'er mean there's going to be a flood?"
Her voice was very low, but it was just enough for the people next to her to hear clearly. The two Su brothers were young and didn't care much about the flood, but Su Bai's heart jumped up immediately. "Hua'er, is our Qingshui County really... is it really going to be flooded again?"
"It's hard to say for now," Su Hua shook her head. "However, nature is often the first to sense and react before a major disaster strikes."
The hot and dry weather remains unchanged, and the small cloud cluster in the sky has not yet dissipated; the well in the restaurant's backyard, which is groundwater and has been calm for months, suddenly began to gurgle last night; in the stable, Mo Bao, who is usually the most obedient, and the two chestnut horses, which are also newly purchased young horses, have suddenly gone mad; there are also rats leaving their nests, ants moving house, chickens and ducks bumping into their cages, and floating insects in the air.
Each and every one of these signs was a harbinger of the coming great flood.
Furthermore, her palpitations and chest tightness also began with that thunderclap yesterday.
Ever since the bracelet space devoured the Five Blessings, her perception of plants and animals has become much deeper than before. It cannot be ruled out that she has also inherited some of the perception of animals and the perception of great disasters.
Su Bai's heart pounded. "Oh my goodness! The rice in the fields isn't ready for harvest yet. If there's a flood, all the hard work this year will be for nothing. And my piglets and sheep on the farm won't be any better off either."
Halfway through her sentence, the woman with the slanted eyes suddenly stopped. "Hua'er, let's hurry back to Shanghe Village. The city is low-lying, and if the flood comes, we'll probably have nowhere to hide. At least we can take refuge in Fuhu Mountain, which is high up and shouldn't be flooded!"
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