Chapter 6 Dam
Qiandeng changed into men's clothes and rushed to the Wei River with Yu Guangling. They saw that the flood was surging and the low-lying areas had become a swamp.
Fortunately, the tomb of King Changhua was high on the mountainside and was not affected by the heavy rain. Qiandeng carefully checked it before going down the mountain with peace of mind.
The prince and people from the Ministry of Works were on the embankment, but the raging waves made it impossible to rescue people no matter how many sandbags were thrown down.
"You useless piece of shit! You can't even plug this small gap!" The officials of the Ministry of Works saw the prince's ugly face and scolded the people below them angrily.
Sun Lu Shi naturally would not let the superiors take action, so he swung his whip and started beating the laborers.
Zhang Gu Jian Taiping hurried forward to plead, "Sir, the floods are too severe and too fast due to the heavy rains these days. The levees are simply unable to hold. We brothers have done our best."
Seeing that a petty official who was in charge of mobilizing laborers dared to show up in front of him, Sun Lushi whipped him in the face: "Useless thing, the court assigns you a salary, but you can't even hold up a dam, and you dare to defend yourself in front of the prince..."
Just as the whip was about to hit Jian Taiping, someone grabbed it and took it away.
The young man who snatched the whip was Jian Anting. He stood in front of his father who was hunched over and stared at Sun Lu Shi coldly. The look in his eyes made him feel uneasy and he couldn't help but take a step back.
The Ministry of Works official signaled to arrest Jian Anting: "How dare you! Who are you to stop the Ministry of Works from building the dam?"
Qian Deng quickly stepped forward to stop them and saluted the Crown Prince: "Greetings, Your Highness!"
The prince was very familiar with her. Seeing her wearing men's clothes and glancing at the two men behind her, he had no idea what was going on.
He raised his hand helplessly to signal her to stand up and said, "Take them back quickly. It's not safe here."
"Yes!" Qiandeng responded and motioned Jian Anting to leave with him.
Unexpectedly, Jian Anting not only did not stand up, but he knelt in the mud and kowtowed heavily, shouting, "Your Highness, please don't punish Jian Zhanggu. In order to guard the dike, he hasn't left the dike for ten days and ten nights. He has been living on the dike for food and shelter, and has never left! It is truly a natural disaster, and human intervention is beyond our control, but my father and the other laborers have never failed in their duties!"
The prince looked up at the rolling waves of the Wei River, then glanced at the exhausted and muddy laborers on the embankment. His expression darkened. "Okay, I will consider the situation and will not let you suffer innocent punishment."
"Thank you, Your Highness, for your generosity and mercy!" People knelt on the embankment in the rain, their voices filled with wailing.
After order was restored on the embankment, the prince asked about Jian Zhanggu's situation.
Jian Taiping hunched his back and pointed at the gap, saying, "It's already opened, and the torrential rain continues. The river is surging, so I'm afraid it won't be filled soon. Now we can only continue to guard it, hoping the gap doesn't expand or collapse. We can plug and repair it after the rain stops and the water dies down."
Seeing that his father was leading people to divert the surging water, which would probably be another difficult task, Jian Anting had no choice but to follow Qian Deng and Yu Guangling down the embankment.
Seeing that he looked dazed, Yu Guangling was a little worried, so he discussed with Qian Deng and decided to send him home first.
Both of them came from poor backgrounds and lived in Yongyangfang in the southwest corner of Chang'an, with their homes not far from each other.
Because he kowtowed and begged for mercy for his father, Jian Anting's forehead and hair were covered with mud, so he went home to wash the mud and change his clothes.
Qiandeng followed Yu Guangling on horseback, and saw burnt-out walls and ruins everywhere, as well as people struggling for shelter in the heavy rain.
When he arrived at the Yu family, although he was mentally prepared, Qiandeng couldn't help feeling sad when he saw the four members of the Yu family picking up the remaining broken bricks and charred wood, and temporarily building a shack on the ruins. A bamboo mat was pressed on the roof with stones to barely keep out the wind and rain, and he couldn't help feeling sad.
Qiandeng asked Yu Guangling, "How do you and your family survive here?"
Yu Guangling hurriedly said, "We have already asked the clan members for help. The elders said that my parents and younger brother can temporarily stay at the ancestral hall."
Qian Deng was a little surprised and asked, "What about you?"
Before Yu Guangling could answer, two men and women in their fifties came out of the shack. They looked like Yu's parents.
They were using poles to prop up the hollows in the bamboo mat, fearing the accumulated water would crush the roof. Looking up, they saw their son approaching with a young man they didn't recognize. They immediately shouted at him, "Come and help! Your brother's still sleeping in there, and his pillows and bedding are all soaked!"
Yu Guangling was scolded by his parents in front of the county lady. He looked at Qiandeng helplessly, and quickly agreed with a red face, and took the pole to push the accumulated water down.
Amid the sound of rushing water, Qiandeng saw a young man lying in the shed. He covered his ears in annoyance, curled up in the wet bedding and refused to come out.
The two elders of the Yu family outside said to Guangling, "This rain has been falling non-stop. Your brother has developed a rash. We will stay at the clan leader's house for the next two days. You can stay at the Changhua Palace."
Yu Guangling opened his mouth and looked at Qiandeng, his face reddening in embarrassment: "This... is inconvenient, right? Anting said we can go to the Imperial College to apply for a dormitory..."
"What's the inconvenience? I heard that others have already gone there. Why are you so naive?" Mother Yu poked his forehead, annoyed. "For so many years, the clan has never taken care of us. Why are they arranging a place for us this time? It's because you are going to marry the county lady now!"
Yu's father also echoed, "I heard that the husbands of county ladies are all granted official positions, and the lowest is the sixth rank. For someone like the Lingling County Lady who is highly regarded by the court, the fifth rank is not impossible! How incredible is that? Our Yu family has never had a fifth-rank official in eight generations. If you succeed, you will rise to the top and bring honor to our family. From now on, you will be the one to be worshipped in our ancestral hall!"
Yu Guangling was so embarrassed that he just wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into. He turned his head with difficulty to look at Qian Deng, but saw that she had already turned around and walked to the ditch next to her to wash her muddy boots.
He secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but heard his mother still nagging: "When you two are successful, you should humble yourself and flatter the county lady more. In the future, you should also help your brother. If you can help him marry a county lady or a princess lady, then our ancestral graves will be filled with smoke..."
Yu Guangling said helplessly: "Mother, the fate is not yet decided. There are so many candidates for the county lady's husband, and they may not choose me."
"Why not? Master Luo of the Imperial Astronomical Office has revealed everything to us. The palace has set its sights on you. With your horoscope, being a good match for a county lady is… what is that?"
"Master Luo said that you and the County Lady are perfectly matched, a match rarely seen in the world!" Father Yu complained to Mother Yu, "It's all your fault. Guangling was about to give birth, but you went back to her parents' home. You ended up having a miscarriage on the way and gave birth prematurely! Otherwise, Master Luo said that a delay of three or five days would have been a perfect match for everyone, and you'd be a perfect match for the County Lady!"
Mother Yu rolled her eyes at him in dissatisfaction. "So what? My son's fortune is already extremely good. Otherwise, why would Master Luo come to us with such good news?"
Qiandeng silently raised his hand and stroked his right eyebrow, ignoring the family's whispers.
After washing my hands and looking up, I saw Jian Anting had come over. He had changed into a set of half-worn but clean clothes, and his wet hair had been tied up again.
However, he seemed to have not yet recovered from the previous incident. His face was dark and gray. He nodded to her reluctantly, but his expression was gloomy.
Qian Deng asked, "Are you still worried about your father's safety?"
"No, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has already agreed. My father...should be fine." Jian Anting said woodenly, staring at Yu Guangling with a vacant gaze for a long time before slowly coming to his senses. His dazed voice gradually calmed down. "Thank you, County Master, for your help. Otherwise, my father...my whole family would be finished."
"It was just a casual act." Qian Deng shook off the water droplets on his boots and said, "Besides, your father has put in a lot of effort and has done nothing wrong. It would be unreasonable to punish him."
The sky was gloomy, the city walls were deserted, and in the gray and yellow world, her unmade-up face was radiant and bright, and her bright eyes seemed to replace the sun that was blocked by the shadows, illuminating the gloomy world before her.
Jian Anting lowered his head and didn't dare to look at her. He just leaned over and bowed deeply to her for a long time without standing up.
Members of the Yu clan came to help Yu's parents move. They put their few belongings on a wheelbarrow. Yu's father pushed it, Yu's mother supported it, and Yu's younger brother followed yawning. Yu Guangling was left holding a small bundle, standing silently in front of the ruins of the house, not knowing what to do.
After a long moment, he turned his head and looked at Qian Deng. Before he could speak, his ears were already red. He lowered his head and mumbled, "County Master, I..."
Seeing that his family had already abandoned him, Qian Deng said, "If you don't mind, you can stay at my house for a few days. Jin Tang is currently renovating the house, so it wouldn't be a big deal if they could just clear out an extra room."
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