Chapter 257 Fairy Cao (Two chapters in one)
Tongzhou is more than 2,000 miles away from the capital. As early as a few months ago, Xiao Zhen sent Li Xi and Xu Le to Tongzhou. With the help of Deng Zheng, the prince of Dingguo, the two would send letters back to the capital 600 miles away every three days. Therefore, although the journey was long, Xiao Zhen could always keep an eye on the news of Tongzhou.
When I received the last letter before leaving Beijing, the weather in Tongzhou was still sunny and bright.
Xiao Zhen remembered that in his previous life, the weather in Tongzhou would turn from sunny to cloudy starting from the middle of next month. A few days later, it started to rain heavily and it lasted for several days.
There is still plenty of time, but the local authorities must cooperate and relocate the people in the disaster-stricken areas in advance.
In fact, the news of the Tongzhou flood had been circulating in the capital for a long time. If the river dam had been repaired at that time, it could have been prevented. However, rumors were just rumors, and everyone from top to bottom was skeptical. Even if the Fourth Prince was sent to Tongzhou, it would be more about appeasement than governance. Compared with the flood, Emperor Yongjia was more worried that people would be confused and someone would take the opportunity to cause chaos.
What's more, Xiao Zhen is now on his way to Tongzhou, and the Fourth Prince and the people from the Ministry of Works have not left the capital yet.
If we rely on them, I'm afraid we will repeat the same mistakes as in the past.
Xiao Zhen informed Li Xi and Xu Le of the place where he would stay early in the morning. Therefore, every time he arrived at a place along the way, he would receive letters from Tong Zhou.
On the third day after leaving the capital, they arrived at Yancheng Prefecture, which was only five or six hundred miles away from Tongzhou.
They first went to the post station to change horses and pick up letters, then went into the city to find an inn to stay in.
It was already evening, but the weather was still hot and there was not a trace of breeze.
Zhao Shiqing said, "It's much hotter here than in the capital, and hotter than any of the cities we've passed along the way."
She had never been to Yancheng and wondered if it had been this hot here before.
But Xiuxiu had been here before. When she was returning home from her maternal home, she passed through Yancheng, and her father took her to the city to buy a lot of things.
"It was summer, too. Although it was hot, it wasn't this hot. We spent the entire day strolling around. If it were today, we'd probably be dried up like fish."
Just as he finished speaking, a shout came from the front: "Oh no, someone fainted!"
I saw an old lady lying on the ground and two aunts shouting loudly, but they were far away.
Zhao Shiqing said, "Could it be heatstroke?"
Chen Wangxing wanted to help the man, but was stopped by Zhao Shiqing. She said to Ling Bo, "Let's go over and take a look."
The two walked over and saw the old lady lying on the ground, her body twitching. Ling Bo was about to reach out to help her, but Zhao Shiqing grabbed her and turned and ran away. Ling Bo was confused, so Zhao Shiqing said, "Her eyeballs are moving. She's pretending to be unconscious!"
As the two of them ran back, they heard someone in the crowd laughing and saying, "Mrs. Ma, you failed this time and didn't blackmail anyone. Hurry up and get up. It's so hot, don't get a heat stroke."
Ling Bo said angrily, "These people clearly knew that this old woman was pretending, but they pretended not to know and waited to watch the fun. They are all not good people."
Chen Wangxing opened his mouth wide. It was a close call. Thanks to the Second Young Lady's cleverness. If it were him, he would have been blackmailed by the old woman by now.
The old woman got up from the ground and spat at Zhao Shiqing and the others' methods: "You undisciplined little rascals, you don't know how to respect the elderly and love the young. Fairy Cao will summon the God of Thunder and the Goddess of Lightning to strike them to death first!"
Zhao Shiqing became interested and said to Niu Qiu, "Don't worry about this old woman. Go ask the singer. Has it been raining in this place for a long time? And who is the Fairy Cao that Ma Po mentioned?"
Mrs. Ma left cursing. The feng shui of this land was not good for her, so she wanted to find a place where people were rich and stupid to continue her career.
The onlookers dispersed, and Loach quickly returned, saying, "This hot weather has lasted for half a month. Some people in the city have died of the heat. Not only that, it hasn't rained in the past month. This place is far from the river, and the villagers in the villages outside the city fought over water, resulting in deaths. Yesterday, they even brought corpses to the government office to file a complaint.
As for Fairy Cao, she is a master who has recently come to Yancheng. She claims that she has been practicing in Jiuhua Mountain for many years. Recently, she observed the sky at night and knew that there would be a severe drought in Yancheng, so she came to Yancheng to rescue the people.
The magistrate of Yancheng treated her as a distinguished guest and introduced her to the prefect. The prefect was a believer in Taoism. After a long talk with Fairy Cao, he built a high platform in the city and scheduled the next day to invite Fairy Cao to perform a ritual to pray for rain for Yancheng.
By the way, it is said that Fairy Cao looks only in her early thirties, but is actually over eighty years old."
The corners of Zhao Shiqing's mouth twitched. Early thirties, over eighty?
A Taoist priest who has practiced for many years in Jiuhua Mountain?
Return the fairy?
When she goes out, she gives herself an identity, and next time she wants to deceive someone, she can say that she looks like she is in her teens but is actually over a hundred years old.
"Is there such a master in your dream?" Zhao Shiqing looked at Xiao Zhen, but saw that Xiao Zhen frowned slightly, as if he was recalling something.
She didn't ask any further questions and asked everyone to find a place to eat together.
Yancheng was so hot that they looked for several restaurants before they found one that had ice cream.
Upon asking, I found out that ice is no longer available in the city, and this is the only restaurant that has ice because it has its own ice cellar and is using the ice stored in the winter.
Chen Wangxing sighed, "I've read a storybook. The woman in the book came from the Land of Nothingness. Not only was she able to compose poetry and songs effortlessly, but she could also make ice. It's a pity the book didn't describe how the ice was made. Otherwise, we could open an ice shop in Yancheng and make a fortune."
Ever since he changed his name, Shen Wangxing has thrown the word "imperial examination" out of his mind. He no longer reads the Four Books and Five Classics, but reads storybooks instead. It is said that he is even planning to write storybooks, and he talks about storybooks every other sentence in his daily conversations.
No one paid any attention to him except Chen Guanyue.
Chen Guanyue: "Can ice really be made? Once this matter is done, let's study it carefully."
Chen Wangxing was deeply moved. Looking at the moon and stars, we are the best in the world.
After much persuasion, the group booked five private rooms in the restaurant, four for men and one for women.
What kind of inn is this? There’s no ice in the inn. In such hot weather, they would rather sleep on the floor in the private room than on the beds in the inn.
There were icebergs on the tables in every private room, and the waiter also brought fans. It was really cool, but also really expensive.
However, compared to being unable to sleep due to the heat and suffering from heatstroke, spending the extra money is worth it.
However, the iceberg melted in the second half of the night, and everyone woke up from the heat. They asked the waiter to bring them some ice again, and only then did they sleep until dawn.
In the morning, everyone had breakfast. After not seeing each other all night, Zhao Shiqing noticed that Xiao Zhen seemed to have something to say to her, so she said to everyone, "Everyone, go prepare food for the journey. We'll meet here in half an hour."
This is also an unwritten rule along the way. Everyone prepares their own food for the trip. Everyone has different tastes. For example, Loach likes big steamed buns with meat, while Zhao Shiqing and Xiuxiu Lingbo like sweets.
Traveling is hard enough, and it would be even harder if the food is not to your taste.
Ling Bo observed their expressions and pulled Xiuxiu to buy snacks. Xiao Zhen and Zhao Shiqing walked out of the shop together, and Dazhuang followed behind with a few guards.
After leaving the shop, Zhao Shiqing asked, "Did you remember anything?"
When she asked about Fairy Cao yesterday, Xiao Zhen seemed to be thinking about something. Zhao Shiqing suspected that he must have thought of something.
Xiao Zhen nodded: "I didn't think of it yesterday because in my dream, I didn't see this person in person, let alone deal with him, and I didn't even hear the three words "Fairy Cao".
More importantly, although I passed by Yancheng Prefecture when I went to Tongzhou, there was chaos at that time. The outside of Yancheng City was full of disaster victims. The prefect was worried about civil unrest, so he closed the city gates and did not let the victims enter the city. Therefore, I didn’t know what happened in Yancheng Prefecture.
But during this disaster, there did appear a Kun Daoist.
It is said that the prefect of Yancheng sent people to escort her to Tongzhou. After arriving in Tongzhou, she rushed to the river bank with her disciples. That night, the river dam collapsed again, and she and her disciples were all swept into the flood and disappeared. In addition to the people who did not have time to evacuate, Yang Shengqiu was also swept away by the flood.
Later, when the flood receded, some people said that it was because she and her disciples lived a righteous life that moved God, which led to the receding flood and the restoration of peace to Tongzhou.
The rumor spread more and more, and later a fairy temple was built for her.
In fact, the flood receded many days after they were swept away by the flood. The local rumors were probably spread by the government to appease the people and make them fearful and afraid to gather together to provoke.
In his previous life, Yang Shengqiu was not called Yang Shengqiu. He was just a small official in the Ministry of Works. His death was his death, and it would not arouse any suspicion.
However, in this life, he became Yang Shengqiu, and was blessed with the identity of a descendant of Emperor Ai. Both Xiao Zhen and Zhao Shiqing believed that his death in the previous life was unusual. In all likelihood, he did not die, but used death as an excuse to escape.
Zhao Shiqing suddenly had a strange thought: "Although the mountain gate is no longer the same as before, and there is no one left in the eldest branch, the eldest son is still the eldest son. Do you think there are still people in the mountain gate who are quietly searching for the eldest branch's descendants? The reason why that fairy and her apprentice came to Tongzhou was not to perform a ritual, but for Yang Shengqiu. They came to pick him up.
It’s a pity that no one knows where they took Yang Shengqiu.
Didn't Yang Shengqiu appear in your dream later? Maybe you forgot about him?"
Xiao Zhen shook his head. He died early in his previous life and didn't know what happened after his death. Maybe many years later, Yang Shengqiu would come back.
Zhao Shiqing said, "Oh right, Fairy Cao is performing a ritual today. Why don't we go over and take a look? It would be helpful to at least remember her appearance."
Xiao Zhen agreed, and the two returned to the restaurant. Everyone bought some things and when they heard that they were going to watch the opening ceremony, they all hit it off.
Loach asked the waiter and found out the time and place of the ritual. Fortunately, it was this morning.
In this way, after watching the opening ceremony, you can continue your journey in the afternoon.
Fortunately, this place is very close to Tongzhou, and the arrival time will be at most half a day later than originally planned.
When everyone found the place, it was already crowded with people.
The weather was very hot and there were not many people on the streets. I didn't expect that everyone would come here.
Unfortunately, they arrived too late and couldn't get to the front. Fortunately, the platform was built very high, so they could see the scene on the platform from a distance.
As soon as everyone stood still, yamen runners came to maintain order. A moment later, a gong sounded, and a female Taoist priest slowly walked onto the platform.
Unfortunately, because they were far away, Zhao Shiqing could only see the outline of Kundao's face but not his facial features. However, he could tell that he was definitely not an elderly person.
Even if an elderly person takes good care of himself or herself, even if he or she has a young face, he or she is still an elderly person, and his or her every move can reveal his or her age.
Even if the person on the platform is no longer young, he is definitely not an old man.
"Oh, he looks only in his thirties. You really can't tell he's eighty."
"This is the fairy, oh my god, I saw a fairy."
The people around knelt down on the ground at the same time, and Zhao Shiqing and others quickly followed suit. At this time, it was best to blend in with the world and not stand out from the crowd.
When they looked up, they saw Kun Dao on the high platform dancing with the whisk in her hand and muttering something. Zhao Shiqing opened her eyes wide, remembering every move. When she returned to the capital, she would dance for her grandfather.
"Look, the clouds are rising!"
Someone in the crowd shouted loudly. Everyone looked up and saw a dark cloud slowly approaching the clear sky.
Ling Bo was excited: "This fairy's Taoism is indeed profound. She can really summon the God of Thunder and the Goddess of Lightning."
Suddenly remembering the curse from Ma Po yesterday, Ling Bo subconsciously leaned towards Zhao Shiqing. If thunder really struck, she would push the second lady away and let it strike her instead.
Zhao Shiqing smiled and lowered her voice, "I don't know if I can summon the God of Thunder and the Goddess of Lightning, but she, or someone behind her, must have observed the celestial phenomena at night and calculated that it would rain today."
At this moment, Xiao Zhen's low voice sounded in my ears: "Let's go and find a place to shelter from the rain."
Fairy Cao on the high platform was still waving her whisk. A few people squeezed out of the crowd, leaving behind the people who were still kowtowing devoutly. They had just returned to the restaurant when lightning and thunder appeared outside and heavy rain really came.
It seemed that today's itinerary was about to be completely disrupted, but fortunately, although the rain was heavy, it did not last long.
The rain stopped at noon, and the sky cleared up. Everyone left the city, went to the post station to choose new horses, and set off again, heading towards Tongzhou.
When we just left Yancheng, the official road was still muddy from the rain. After walking more than ten miles, there was no trace of rain. It seemed that the rain only fell in Yancheng.
Zhao Shiqing asked Xiao Zhen: "Did Yancheng suffer from disaster in my dream?"
Xiao Zhen said, "The flood didn't affect Yancheng, but a year later, the youngest son and eldest grandson of the Yancheng prefect were abducted by kidnappers. The kidnapper was caught and refused to reveal where the children were sold to. He even bit off his tongue. Rumors spread that the kidnapper was a Tongzhou disaster victim. His family had fled to Yancheng. His wife was pregnant with twins and had difficulty giving birth. They wanted to enter the city to hire a midwife, but the Yancheng prefect ordered the city gates closed. In the end, three bodies were lost, and the family was destroyed."
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