Chapter 235: Three Suns in the Sky

The sky was overcast, and the rain silk drifted.

The pleasure boat rose and fell with the water waves, Liang Qu stood at the bow, his temples and hair flying in the river wind.

Looking around, dense large fish jumped on the water surface, occasionally mixed with several large crocodiles.

Accompanied by the driving of water beasts and finless porpoises, the scale of the entire fish school continued to expand, extending to the distance visible to the naked eye.

Small fish, big fish, giant crocodiles, whether carnivorous or herbivorous, were all clustered together at this moment, stirring up boundless waves.

If there really were a water god in the world, should it be like this?

Liang Qu was in high spirits.

It's just a pity that wild beasts are wild beasts after all, and their brain capacity is limited.

The tens of thousands of large fish in front of him completely couldn't understand complex instructions that required subjective initiative.

Searching for things, probing, and transmitting messages were all impossible.

And once they left the field of vision, they were prone to "rebellious bones," letting go and disappearing, and couldn't be found back at all.

Using them as cannon fodder was appropriate.

And besides the ability to control ordinary water beasts, Liang Qu tested repeatedly underwater and also discovered the second ability of the golden eyes—night vision.

Today was an overcast day, the light wasn't good, and the bottom of the water more than a hundred meters deep was pitch black.

But he had no visual obstacles, and could still see underwater, no

Liang Qu's underwater perception has a radius of a full 130 meters. It is insightful and subtle, which he doesn't use much, but it is in high demand on land and very useful.

Schools of fish surged around the pleasure boat, kicking up large patches of white foam.

Watching the swarms of fish following the undulating water beast herd, Liang Qu waved his hand, signaling the fat catfish and the others to stop driving them.

The number of subdued creatures reached 30,000, yet he still didn't feel the slightest physical burden; his stamina and spirit were both excellent, proving that the Golden Eye truly had no consumption. Continuing the experiment would only be a waste of effort and was unnecessary.

It's just a pity; even if a single fish sold for three or four copper coins, with a massive count of over 30,000 large fish, that would be nearly 100 silver taels.

Harvesting 100 taels in a single hour is almost equivalent to the two-day output of all the fishermen in Yixing Town!

Unfortunately, there's no way to sell them.

Liang Qu was about to disperse the school of fish when his gaze suddenly froze.

Among the tens of thousands of fish facing him, two large fish with body types completely different from ordinary fish, swimming around, were exceptionally conspicuous.

A golden rainbow trout and a red blood perch had been driven into the school by several water beasts at some point.

"Fishing in troubled waters... making up the numbers?"

Liang Qu couldn't think of a suitable word to describe it for a moment. Behind him, the white ape phantom flickered, and a vast pressure rolled over. The treasure fish, being squeezed back and forth by the school and darting around like headless flies, stiffened all over.

Water tentacles emerged from the side, passed through the treasure fish's gill covers, and lifted them onto the pleasure boat.

Liang Qu tossed out the Green Wolf; the water flow followed the momentum to wrap around the hilt, and he gutted the two fish with slight clumsiness.

For the past few days, he had been practicing the manipulation of water flow within his vortex apertures, and now he could complete many relatively complex actions, such as the current act of holding a knife to gut fish.

The Golden Eye retracted, and the school of fish vanished.

Feeding the offal and bones to the beasts, Liang Qu stuffed the processed fish meat into a fish basket.

He'd boil a fish meat claypot porridge tonight and eat something light.

Eating big fish and meat all the time gets cloying.

The dense reeds were lush and green, and fishing boats traveled back and forth along the open riverbank, a scene of busyness.

Pedestrians walked along the bluestone street. When Liang Qu returned to Yixing Town and reached a certain section, he found the crowd had become dense. At first, he thought some shop was opening, but then he heard the "bang" of a gong.

Going inside, he found two minor officials surrounded by the crowd, one beating a gong and the other posting a notice. Every time the gong was struck, the one beating it would shout once.

"Starting from the 6th of the 7th month, a curfew will be implemented from the 7th quarter of the You hour to the 7th quarter of the Yin hour for a period of one month! I hope those who hear this will go back and tell your friends and relatives. You must not wander outside and miss the time, otherwise, if you are caught and thrown into prison, don't blame others!"

"The 6th of the 7th month, curfew implemented..."

The passersby were not surprised.

Every year from the end of the 6th month to the beginning of the 7th month, there is such a period of curfew, and no one feels there is anything wrong with it.

"It's going to be the Great Heat soon; I wonder how hot it will be this year."

"Time really flies; another year has passed."

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"I wonder how many there will be this year?"

"Two, I suppose; it's usually two."

"I saw three once when I was a child!"

"I remember that time too; man, salted fish could dry in a single day."

"Days with three are rare; I heard they only happen once every twenty or thirty years. Basically, it's always two."

Is the curfew starting?

Standing outside the crowd, Liang Qu's eyes flashed.

Counting the days.

It was less than half a month until the 6th of the 7th month; it was indeed almost time.

I wonder if it's really as magical as recorded in the books?

Seasonal learning is a "required course" for academy enlightenment, and Liang Qu had naturally studied it.

The entire twenty-four solar terms were almost no different from what he was familiar with, except for a section of crimson cinnabar specially marked around the Great Heat—Bing Fire.

"When the Bing Fire rushes, the three stars are flooded."

At first glance, he couldn't understand it. Later, Liang Qu flipped through the classics and discovered a shocking phenomenon inside.

Every year around the Great Heat, more than one sun appears in the sky!

Most of the time it is two, and within a cycle of every twenty-three to twenty-five years, a third one will appear!

The Great Heat, the middle of the dog days, is the hottest stage of the year.

Because there is more than one sun, of course, it is the hottest.

The cognition that everyone in the whole world takes for granted seems very incredible to Liang Qu.

Two is still understandable, forming a binary star circulation system, but how can three celestial bodies form a stable system?

Moreover, Bing Fire days are not all year round; they only appear for a few days around the Great Heat, and the number of days they appear does not exceed half a month.

With two or even three suns in the sky, all things become irritable and combative, and many creatures will break into people's homes to escape the heat and avoid disaster.

It's not just animals; people also become impulsive and irritable, and fights often occur. The curfew was born this way to prevent people from causing trouble.

Whether it's true or false, one needs to see it with one's own eyes.

Liang Qu noted the curfew time and hurried home. Just as he carried the fish basket into the kitchen, a series of dog barks came from the garden, sounding milky and young.

"Wulong? Has someone come to the house?"

If it were an acquaintance, Wulong would definitely not bark indiscriminately.

By the pond, Fan Xinglai and Mother Zhang were standing by watching the curiosity. Wulong kept running and barking along the pond, clearly having seen something.

Liang Qu was surprised: "Fan, what's going on?"

Hearing the sound, Fan Xinglai turned his head and hurriedly pointed to the opposite bank of the pond.

"Something came into the pond, it seems to have crawled out of the underground river. It brought a few pieces of wood, and then it disappeared when it turned around.

Wulong was the first to discover it. We heard it barking continuously, so we came over to see if we had attracted a thief."

Liang Qu looked in the direction Fan Xinglai pointed. At some point, a pile of wood had appeared by the pond, neatly and orderly stacked on the bank.

It definitely wasn't there before.

"Did you see clearly what it was?"

"No, I only saw a black shadow, like a big rat, with a butt as big as a pig!"

Fan Xinglai described it vividly and was quite excited, while Mother Zhang was full of worry.

"Okay, I see. You go get busy; I'll keep an eye on it here."

Liang Qu calmly let the two leave and called Wulong to stop it from barking.

When the pond was completely quiet, he looked at the old giant clam that was motionless at the bottom of the water.

"Old Shell, what's going on with the big rat?"

The old giant clam, disguised as a stone and motionless, opened its shell and spat out a series of bubbles.

"Your house has attracted beavers."

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