Chapter 742: That is clearly poison, the poison of human heart
The rising water level at the South Ferry was already causing unrest among the people, and those standing around on the dock were looking at the submerged steps with great worry.
As Sang Zhixia gave orders one after another, the people who were at a loss and sighing in despair suddenly found something they could do at this moment.
Those who wanted to earn a few taels of silver a day worked hard with sweat and rain on their heads and faces.
People who were afraid of a real flood were also looking for sacks of sand and gravel everywhere, trying to build a long wall to resist the flood by manpower.
Sang Zhixia was escorted by Diancui into a shelter from the rain. The fat old man, who had already fallen twice on the way, didn't even bother to grin. He gasped and said, "Boss, you can't go down there anymore."
"It's too close to the river surface. If the wind blows and the waves roll in, if you throw three or five people in there, they won't be able to see a trace. You..."
"Uncle Hua."
A boy who usually followed Lin Yun to run errands quickly covered the old man Hua's mouth and said through gritted teeth, "What unlucky words are you saying in front of the master?"
"Our boss is blessed with great fortune. How could we possibly encounter something like what you're describing?"
Only then did Mr. Hua realize that he had spoken out of turn. His face stiffened and he was about to apologize when he heard Sang Zhixia say with a smile, "We're all family, so there's no need to be so reserved."
"I know you mean well, but everything over there has been arranged almost completely. I won't be going down."
Uncle Hua felt relieved after hearing this and said involuntarily, "We can't go down."
"The river surface looks relatively calm now, but if something were to happen, it would really not give people a chance to react."
"Boss, you have a lot of decisions to make. The overall situation is still waiting for you to control. Just find a place to shelter from the rain and wait. Don't take any more risks yourself."
Sang Zhixia nodded good-naturedly and said yes.
Uncle Hua breathed a sigh of relief, then thought of the errand he had to run and quickly said, "Boss, I've found the people you mentioned. Shall I call them in?"
Sang Zhixia took a sip of the hot ginger tea that Diancui had given her: "Please."
Uncle Hua had suffered a disaster in his childhood, and most of the people he found were those who had suffered the same disaster back then.
It has been several decades since the last flood, and those who know about the situation back then are all elderly, and among them are even two gray-haired old men.
The temporary place we found was not spacious and there were only a few stools to sit on.
Sang Zhixia quickly stood up and gave his stool to an old man.
The old man's face was full of nervousness and he shook his head repeatedly: "Your Excellency, there is no need to get up. I can't bear it. You..."
"This time, I have something to ask of you, and you are the distinguished guests I specially invited."
Sang Zhixia signaled Diancui to go out and find a stool. She personally poured a cup of hot ginger tea from the teapot for everyone present. She apologized and said, "I had no choice but to disturb you all."
"It's just that Manager Hua has told you that most of my subordinates, including myself, are from the north. We have never seen a major flood in the south, and even a flood of this magnitude is rare."
"I've always run a stable business here, and I've never encountered a situation like this before. I'm completely panicked and have no idea what to do. I can only ask you all to come and help me."
When Old Man Hua went to look for people, these people couldn't help but panic. They felt that it was difficult to deal with rich and powerful people, and it would be difficult to please the nobles anyway.
But after sitting down, Sang Zhixia explained the purpose of his visit in a few words, and the tension and fear that had lingered all the way disappeared, replaced by an indescribable fear.
An old woman sighed while holding a cup of ginger tea: "Boss, do you want to ask about the situation during the Great Flood?"
Sang Zhixia nodded: "Yes."
"I want to know if there were any signs before the flood, and what areas were affected after the flood? What was the situation in cities and towns like Nanyun? And what measures did the government take to prevent the flood?"
As if she felt she was asking too hastily, Sang Zhixia softened her tone and said, "I may have asked too many questions out of haste. Just tell me what you know. There's no need to make things difficult for me."
Sang Zhixia asked politely enough, and the insider had nothing to hide.
The old woman smiled bitterly and said, "I don't know what the boss wants to know about Nan Yun's situation, but Jiangnan can tell you a lot."
"Because I'm originally from Jiangnan, when I was sixteen, there was a great disaster, followed by a great epidemic. My family couldn't survive, so my husband sold half a bag of millet to a passing human trafficker. After that, we wandered around for several years before arriving in Nanyun."
When Sang Zhixia heard about the great epidemic that followed the disaster, his heart suddenly skipped a beat without any warning.
"A major epidemic?"
"right."
"A major epidemic."
The old woman's face, covered with spots and furrows, was filled with the bitterness of countless lives she had endured. After repeated breaths, she slowly said, "After a great disaster, there will be a great epidemic."
"A lot of people died, all of them drowned. Blistered bodies were everywhere. Men, women, and children were all swollen like steamed buns that had been soaked for three days, swollen and shiny. They were called "explosive ghosts" back then. Do you know why, Boss?"
Sang Zhixia pursed her lips and shook her head: "I don't know."
"Because such floating corpses cannot be retrieved or touched. If the water does not recede, if you try to retrieve them by force before they can be placed on unflooded ground, they will explode."
The old woman scoffed, "Before they were drowned, men, women, young and old were all human beings. But after being drowned, if they still couldn't rest peacefully and their bodies were mutilated, they became bombardment ghosts."
"Exploding ghosts are the most unlucky thing."
"Because once this person's body explodes, the stench that will make your head hurt will linger for a long time, and the shattered skin, bones, flesh, and blood will fly everywhere."
"There was a red sheen floating on the surface of the water, and broken limbs and flesh could be found everywhere. People at the time said that if you touched anything contaminated by the bombers, you would be chosen as the next scapegoat, either contracting a disease and dying tragically, or drowning soon after."
Meeting Sang Zhixia's trembling gaze, the old woman said bitterly, "Everyone says Jiangnan is the most beautiful place in the world, but in a place like Jiangnan, there are too few high mountains and too many places with water. So when a flood hits, there are very few people who can survive standing on the mountaintops."
"Does the boss know what the rest of their lives were like for those who managed to survive those years?"
Without waiting for the shocked Sang Zhixia to interject, the old woman continued, "People like me and others I know will never eat meat again for the rest of their lives. I can't eat any meat at all. The very smell of it makes me want to vomit."
"The white bones, the red flesh, the corpses visible just by looking down, the stench you can smell even by breathing—with so much piled up together, how could there not be a major epidemic?"
The old woman hurriedly closed her sagging eyelids and whispered with unspeakable pain, "They say the human heart is the most poisonous thing in the world. Countless hearts have been soaked in water. How could every sip of water they drink and every bite of food they eat not carry deadly poison?"
"Then where is the epidemic?"
"That's clearly poison, the poison of the human heart..."
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