Chapter 17: Zhao Huan Takes Office Despite His Illness

  Zhao Yan's paintings are gone, not only the sexy game beauty she painted today is gone, but also the works she painted in the past few days are gone. Those works include characters and animals, most of which are small soybeans and small meat dices, and there are also one or two rainy scenes, but now they are all gone, to be exact, they were stolen by Cao Song.

  It's unbelievable that a noble-born like Cao Xiong would steal things. This matter seems quite inconceivable, and even Zhao Yan didn't dare to believe it at first. After all, the impression Cao Xiong gave him earlier was very good. Although he only knew how to eat, drink, and have fun, this was also a noble's duty. Moreover, from what could be seen earlier, Cao Xiong had a good relationship with Zhao Yan, so no matter which way you looked at it, Cao Xiong didn't have any motive or reason to steal things.

  However, after Zhao Yan called over Xiao Douya to ask him a few questions, he finally confirmed that the person who stole his painting was indeed Cao Song. Others may not know, but Cao Song is Cao Ying's paternal uncle's son, and as a servant of the Cao household, Xiao Douya knew Cao Song, this ninth young master, all too well.

  According to Xiao Douya, Cao Xiong's habit of liking to steal things was not a secret, and even the entire Tokyo city knew about it. Moreover, Cao Xiong stealing things was not because he lacked money - that would be a joke for the eldest son of the number one general in the Song Dynasty. The reason why Cao Xiong stole things was simply because he liked to. As long as he went somewhere outside his own home, whether he knew the people or not, he always brought something back with him. This had already become common knowledge in Tokyo city.

  Because of Cao Song's habit, Cao Ying's strict elder brother didn't know how many times he was beaten with a rattan stick. Unfortunately, although Cao Song cried out in pain every time and promised not to do it again, he would eventually steal again, unable to control himself. As a result, his father no longer bothered with him and wouldn't take him out when going out, so as not to lose face.

  However, apart from liking to steal things, Cao Song is normal in all other aspects and is very loyal to his friends. In the past, whenever Zhao Yan had no money, the first person he thought of borrowing from was always Cao Song. As long as Cao Song had money on him, he would definitely lend it to him, and he never once asked for repayment. To this day, Zhao Yan still owes Cao Song several thousand guan that he has not repaid.

  "I see, so Cao Song is a pathological kleptomaniac." Zhao Yan muttered to herself after hearing about Cao Song's situation. So-called pathological kleptomania is actually just what people commonly call kleptomania. These people steal things not for the money or because they really need them, but even after stealing, they will give them away or discard them. They simply can't suppress their desire to steal, a typical psychological disorder. There are also pathological pyromania and pathological gambling, all belonging to the same kind of psychological disorder. In psychology, they are collectively referred to as impulse control disorders.

  "It seems that before Cao Song's psychological control, I should hang a 'Little Meatball and Cao Song are not allowed to enter' sign at the door." Zhao Yan thought to herself.

  Although Zhao Yan understood that Cao Xuan's thieving behavior was a psychological disorder, he couldn't treat it. Firstly, his understanding of psychology was only superficial, and secondly, there wasn't any specific medication for this kind of pathological stealing. This psychological disorder usually occurs during adolescence and may disappear as one grows older, or it may last a lifetime - no one can be sure.

  The paintings stolen by Cao Xiong weren't worth much anyway, to Zhao Yan they were just his own practice works, as long as he was willing, he could spend a few days to paint them again, so it didn't matter if they were stolen, besides Cao Xiong was also a friend worth befriending, at least he still owed him several thousand taels that hadn't been repaid yet, those paintings could be considered the interest on the debt.

  At the same time, on the banks of the Bian River in the northwest direction not far from the Wangfu of Guangyang County, a team of more than ten people was moving forward along the riverbank. The leader rode a tall horse, wearing thick rain gear and a conical hat, under which a slightly immature face was exposed, with a few shades of blush on his face, surprisingly, it was a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy.

  The people behind the young man were also wearing raincoats, but the rain in the sky was too heavy, and the thick raincoat could not stop the water, making them all wet. However, even so, they still did not forget their duties. Every time they passed over the bridges on the Bian River, someone would run to the bridge and throw down a measuring rope to measure the depth of the water.

  "Report to the king, the water level of Bian River has exceeded two zhang, and some places have overflowed from the riverbed. Some houses on both banks have been flooded. The upstream of Yellow River is surging violently, it's likely to rush into Bian River, and the embankment of Bian River may not be able to withstand such a flood. At that time, nearly half of Kaifeng city will be submerged!" A man who had just finished measuring the water depth rushed to report to the young man on horseback.

  The young man known as the Duke of Ying, after listening to this, also showed a worried expression on his somewhat abnormally flushed face. Kaifeng had been raining for a month now, and although it didn't start out heavily, it had loosened the mud on the riverbanks considerably. These past few days, however, it suddenly turned into torrential rain, causing the river to swell even more. If this keeps up, the consequences will be unthinkable.

  "Cough... cough...... Let's move forward a bit more, and measure the river water situation again. Then we'll record it in detail. Tonight, I'll show it to Father. With this, Father can persuade the officials in the imperial court to organize laborers to dredge the river!" The young man on horseback coughed violently twice before speaking intermittently.

  "Your Highness, you injured your arm while inspecting the riverbed yesterday. The wound has become inflamed and you're running a fever. You absolutely cannot get rained on again! Please return to the manor and rest as soon as possible. There are enough of us here to take care of measuring the river." Upon hearing the young man's violent cough, the person reporting immediately anxiously opened his mouth to advise, although the safety of the river was extremely important, but in comparison, the health of the current Prince Ying was even more crucial.

  "No rush, the Guangyang Duke's mansion of my third brother is not far ahead. We can measure as we walk and I'll just rest at my third brother's place when the time comes!" The young man insisted. This Prince Ying was named Zhao Xu, the elder brother of Zhao Yan, who would later become Emperor Song Taizong. Compared to his other brothers, Zhao Xu had already been enfeoffed as a prince, with a rank one level higher than that of a duke, which also represented his identity as the Crown Prince of the Great Song.

  Seeing Zhao Cong's persistence, the people below couldn't say anything else and could only speed up measuring the depth of the river course and whether the riverbanks were solid. This Bian River was the lifeline for Kaifeng City to connect with the outside world. On sunny days, cargo ships and grain boats sailed smoothly on the river, but as the water level surged and heavy rain and strong winds hit, it became impossible for boats to sail on the river, and only turbulent muddy waves could be seen on the surface, without a single boat in sight.

  Zhao Heng was the eldest son of Zhao Xian, and after Zhao Xian ascended to the throne, although he did not formally appoint him as crown prince, in reality he had already begun to cultivate him as such. His title was also one rank higher than that of his brothers, including Zhao Yan. However, this meant that the expectations placed on Zhao Heng were much higher than those for his other brothers. For example, Zhao Yan was merely a carefree and idle prince who could indulge in horse racing and dog fighting with a group of young nobles, but Zhao Heng had already begun to participate in court politics at an early age, assisting his father in handling some governmental affairs.

  During this time, Kaifeng City had been experiencing continuous rainfall, and the rivers around the city were all full. The upper reaches of the Yellow River also experienced heavy rainfall over a wide area. If this continued, Kaifeng City would likely be flooded. In this situation, Zhao Xian wanted to allocate funds and organize civilians to dredge the river channels while reinforcing the river dikes. However, this required the consent of several chancellors including Han Qi. Therefore, Zhao Xian was sent to record the water level information of several important rivers in Kaifeng City, with the most important one being the Bian River under their feet.

  Originally, the river water was relatively calm a few days ago, so Zhao Yun had been taking a boat to record the situation of the river. However, yesterday a flood peak rushed from the upper reaches of the Bian River, causing not only the entire Bian River to surge, but also the river surface to be turbulent and choppy, almost capsizing the boat that Zhao Yun was on. Even Zhao Yun himself got injured on the rocking boat, with his arm cut open by a palm-sized gash. At the time, Zhao Yun thought the wound wasn't too deep, so he just had someone bandage it roughly and continued working. But unexpectedly, after getting rained on yesterday, today the wound became red and swollen, and he even developed a fever. Despite this, he still insisted on completing the measurement of the river course, because this was already the final section of the river. Zhao Yun didn't want to give up halfway through.

  Through the rain curtain, looking at the turbulent river water in front of him, Zhao Yun became more worried about the safety of Kaifeng City. At the same time, he felt that the rainwater was seeping into his body from the gaps in his bamboo hat, making his whole body wet, especially the wound on his right arm, which was painful and itchy at first, making him want to dig out that piece of flesh, but now it had become numb. Zhao Yun felt that his right arm was no longer his own, and even moving it a little bit was extremely difficult.

  What's even worse is that Zhao Yun has been having a fever since this morning, and now his whole body is soaked in rainwater. He feels like there's no warmth left in his body at all, and even his hands and feet are starting to shake involuntarily. His brain is also getting dizzy, and his vision is going black from time to time. At first, he still felt like he could hold on, but now his body is getting colder and colder, and the blackouts are getting longer and more frequent.

  "Thud!" Zhao Yun, on horseback, finally couldn't hold on any longer and fell off the horse into the muddy water on the ground. His conical hat rolled to one side, revealing his flushed face due to high fever.

  "Your Highness, the King of Ying!" It wasn't until Zhao Yun fell off his horse that the surrounding guards and officials let out a cry of alarm. The nearest guard immediately dismounted and rushed to help Zhao Yun up, but no matter how loudly he shouted, Zhao Yun didn't respond at all, and his forehead was also scorching hot.

  "What are you still dazing about? Quickly send someone to inform the officials and the princess, and have the rest of you help me carry Prince Ying down to the Guangyang Duke's mansion. There should be imperial physicians there. If anything happens to Prince Ying, none of us will be able to live!" A burly guard with a large beard shouted, then bent down to lift up Zhao Yun and rushed towards Zhao Yan's residence.