Chapter 27: The Flood in the Wang Family Manor

  Outside the storm continued, Zhao Yan held a small wooden drill in her hand, carefully drilling some holes at the bottom of a flat wooden box, then put a layer of gauze inside the box, and finally poured some wet river sand into the box. After doing all this, Zhao Yan carefully transplanted a young seedling from the flower pot beside her.

  Yesterday, Zhao Yan took advantage of the immortal's words and finally explained the changes in his body to Zhao Shu and others. Although he eventually made them believe his words, he also paid a certain price - that is, most of the corn and pumpkin were taken away by Zhao Shu, leaving only a few dozen grains of corn and a pumpkin seedling in Zhao Yan's hands. Yesterday, he temporarily planted the pumpkin seedling in a flower pot, and today he finally had time to transplant it into a larger wooden box, so as not to restrict the growth of the pumpkin.

  "Fourth sister is ill, she hasn't eaten anything since last night, are you really not going to see her?" Little Douya asked with her hands under her chin and big round eyes looking pitifully at Zhao Yan.

  "Don't go, let her die of illness, so as not to see her and get annoyed!" Zhao Yan said angrily as soon as Xiaodouya mentioned Cao Ying. The day before yesterday and yesterday, due to the arrival of Zhao Yun and others, Cao Ying, as the princess, had to arrange many things, plus the weather was bad during this period, resulting in Cao Ying getting sick after being tired for two days. However, it wasn't a serious illness, just a not-so-serious cold, possibly with some lung infection and inflammation, and she would be fine after resting for a few days.

  Since Zhao Yan shared his encounter with the immortal, he felt that Cao Ying's attitude towards him had softened a lot. She no longer spoke to him in a cold and detached manner as before. Moreover, since Zhao Yan was now being monitored by Cao Ying, it was said that "a good man doesn't take advantage of someone in front of him", so Zhao Yan thought it necessary to repair his relationship with Cao Ying. Therefore, he went to find her last night and suggested giving her an injection, after all, the injections were originally used to treat tracheitis.

  However, what Zhao Yan did not expect was that Cao Ying also didn't know how to react and coldly rejected his kindness, saying that her affairs were none of Zhao Yan's concern. This made Zhao Yan so angry that he slammed the door and left, vowing that even if Cao Ying died from illness, he would never ask about her again.

  "But... Fourth Sister has been coughing all morning, it's really heartbreaking to hear. Your Highness, you can cure Xiao Rou and the Duke of Ying, so you must be able to cure Fourth Sister too, right?" Little Douya asked with a pleading face, innocently unaware that she had just committed an offense by mentioning the Duke of Ying in the same breath as a dog.

  "Yesterday, I went to give Cao Ying an injection with good intentions, and Xiaodouya also heard it, but she was kind-hearted and misunderstood me as a donkey's liver and lungs. She didn't want to accept my kindness, can you let me beg Cao Ying to treat her illness?" Zhao Yan complained again with a belly full of anger, in the entire Wang Fu, only Xiaodouya would listen to his complaints.

  Xiao Douya wasn't surprised to hear Zhao Yan complain like this for the first time, so she didn't budge and instead leaned in to hug Zhao Yan's arm, trying to please him: "Duke, I understand Fourth Sister's temper best. Although she usually speaks coldly to you, these days she has actually discovered that you are not as rumored, so Fourth Sister is no longer resistant to the Duke in her heart. If the Duke takes the initiative to cure Fourth Sister's illness this time, it will definitely make Fourth Sister change her attitude towards the Duke!"

  "Come on! Little girl is still playing tricks in my heart, what kind of person Cao Ying is I don't know? This stubborn woman once recognizes something, nine-headed cows can't pull her back. To make her completely change her opinion of me, it's absolutely not something that can be done with a little favor or cleverness!" Zhao Yan's mental age was almost thirty, and she had some experience in judging people. Cao Ying looked soft and weak, but actually had a stubborn and strong personality. It was absolutely not easy to make this kind of person change her opinion.

  Xiao Douya's words were just her own speculation, and there was some exaggeration in her tone. Unexpectedly, Zhao Yan saw through it at a glance, which made Xiao Douya not know what to say for a while, so she could only pout and look at Zhao Yan with dissatisfaction. Unfortunately, Zhao Yan had made up his mind and no longer cared about Cao Ying, directly ignoring Xiao Douya's discontent.

  Just as Zhao Yan and Xiao Dou were speechless, a hurried footsteps came from outside the room, followed by Cao Ying's personal maid, Miao Xue, who rushed in, panting: "Your Highness... Your Highness, please hurry to persuade the princess! She is so ill, but still insists on getting out of bed to direct the servants in the mansion. If she gets caught in the rain again, it will be fatal!"

  "What's going on? It's raining so heavily now, nothing can be done. Cao Ying is not lying in bed resting properly, what is she doing getting out of bed and directing others?" Zhao Yan heard Miao Xue's words and asked somewhat impatiently. Now whenever he hears someone mention Cao Ying, he feels a bit annoyed.

  "It's because the rain is too heavy, the water in the front yard of the Wang Fu can't be drained, and it's said that the Bian River not far from the Wang Fu has overflowed and started to flood into the houses in the city. The water level inside the Wang Fu is still rising, if this continues, by tomorrow at the latest, the entire Wang Fu will be flooded, so the princess wants people to move things." Xunxue explained with a hand on her flat chest, panting heavily.

  "What?" Zhao Yan heard this and was shocked, he immediately stood up, no longer caring about anything else, turned around and left the room. During this time, what he was most worried about had finally happened, but he didn't know how the situation was now, hopefully it wouldn't be a flood like Kaifeng, or else he would have nowhere to escape.

  Before Zhao Yan arrived at the front yard, he saw Cao Ying's wet nurse hurrying over from the front, not only was her body drenched in rain, but her shoes were also covered in yellow mud. When she saw Zhao Yan, the wet nurse immediately paid her respects to him, but was stopped by Zhao Yan who asked: "Wet nurse, how is the water situation in the front yard now? Will there be a flood rushing into the mansion?"

  Upon hearing Zhao Yan ask about the water situation in the mansion, the wet nurse also let out a sigh and said: "Reporting to the Duke, these past few days of rain have been too heavy. The Bian River and Jinshui River are already full, and the water in the city can't be drained. In the end, it can only flow backwards into the people's homes. Although the Wangfu is situated a bit higher, it's too close to the Bian River. This morning, the river water has already overflowed from the riverbank and flowed along the streets into the front courtyard. The water in the front courtyard has now reached knee-deep levels. The princess, despite her illness, is directing us to move things around. I also need to go to the back courtyard to relocate the items in the warehouse to a room with higher elevation, and vacate several empty rooms to store the items from the front courtyard."

  "Will the river embankment be a problem? If the embankment collapses, who knows how many people will die?" Zhao Yan asked again with some concern. What he was most worried about was the breach of the Bian River embankment not far from here. At that time, it would no longer be just a loss of property.

  "The county king can rest assured, the dike of Bian River is very solid, and the government has already recruited civilians to start reinforcing the dike, so there shouldn't be a big flood. However, too much water has overflowed, I'm afraid our entire county king's mansion will be flooded, and it's unknown how many properties will be lost!" The wet nurse said with tears in her eyes.

  Upon hearing the nanny's words, Zhao Yan slightly let out a breath of relief. He quickly rushed to the front yard and found that it was indeed flooded. The yard was filled with water everywhere, and the servants were wading through knee-deep water, moving furniture and other items. These things looked sturdy but were most afraid of getting soaked, such as furniture that had been soaked in water would easily crack and become unusable later on.

  Zhao Yan rolled up his sleeves and waded through the water, with Xiao Douya and Miu Xue hurrying over to help him hold an umbrella. The three of them finally arrived at the front hall, only to see Cao Ying surrounded by a group of maidservants and attendants, standing in the water that had risen to their calves in the great hall, coughing as he assigned tasks.

  "Xu Pozi, have someone put away the decorations and paintings in the main hall and side halls. Also, Liu Guan Shi and Wang Guan Shi, hurry up and move all the wooden furniture that can be moved to a room that hasn't been flooded yet. I've already had the wet nurse prepare a place to store them... Cough, cough..." Cao Ying's voice was very weak, and towards the end, she started coughing violently, sounding extremely unpleasant.

  "Wait a minute!" Zhao Yan strode over, scanning the servants in the hall and asked, "Is there anyone in charge among you?"

  "See the Duke, I am Lao Fu, the steward of the Wang's mansion. The Duke calls me Old Fu." At this time, an old man with white hair and a face full of wrinkles stood out and said that among the servants here, he was the oldest in age and the highest in position. Before, he was the overall manager of the entire Wang's mansion, but after Cao Ying married over, he could only manage the affairs of the front yard.

  Zhao Yan felt that this Lü Old Fu was still quite loyal, and immediately ordered: "Very well, Old Fu, since you are the housekeeper, I'll leave things here to you. Gather up whatever can be gathered, and throw away what can't be moved. The Wang estate won't miss those few things!"

  As soon as Zhao Yan's words fell, Cao Ying, who had already been supported by Xun Xue, hurriedly said: "No way, the Wang Fu is now under my management, all the valuable items in the front yard must be moved... Cough cough ~~"

  Cao Ying had not spoken yet, when another violent coughing fit struck, and her thin body bent over, unable to withstand it. Although Zhao Yan had just said that he would let Cao Ying die on her own and wouldn't care, those were just angry words at the time. After all, in later generations, he was a model for others to follow. Seeing a young girl, only a few years older than his students in later generations, so severely ill, he couldn't bring himself to really not care.

  Thinking of this, Zhao Yan walked over and grabbed Cao Ying's hand, only to find that her palm was icy cold, her body slightly trembling, and her coughing was getting heavier. If she continued like this, she would turn a minor illness into a major one.

  Cao Ying didn't expect Zhao Yan to suddenly grab her hand, which shocked her. She tried to use force to break free, but unexpectedly, Zhao Yan lifted her up with a swift motion. Not only was Cao Ying stunned, the surrounding servants were also dumbfounded. Feeling the strange gazes around them, Zhao Yan glared at the people and shouted: "What are you looking at? Can't you see I'm busy?"

  Zhao Yan finished speaking and ignored the reactions of the people around him, carrying Cao Ying with big strides towards the inner courtyard.