Chapter 23

Twenty-Three: No One Understands Water Control Better Than I Do

"Why is Sister Chenjun Xie asking such a worldly question?"

A girl spoke with crisp severity.

Chenjun Xie Chenjun Xie Lingjiang was not surprised, as if accustomed to the girl's tone; she removed her shoes and stepped into the courtyard, drew back the curtain, and suddenly smelled fragrance filling the room.

She looked beneath the eaves of the Water Courtyard.

There sat a girl reading, aged about fifteen or sixteen, her beauty unmatched in generations, exquisitely plain and pure, wearing a blue silk lotus crown, a red robe adorned with white pearls along the seams, and five-colored patterned shoes.

This girl's appearance was exquisite; a faint plum-blossom mark lingered on her forehead, strangely striking.

When reading on her couch, she wore a Daoist robe with a crown—currently a fashionable "women dressing as men" style among the upper-class women of Great Zhou—yet unlike the spirited elegance of the Chenjun Xie family's noblewomen, this plum-marked maiden embodied a tranquil, desireless Wei-Jin aesthetic.

Chenjun Xie Chenjun Xie Lingjiang knelt beside her, her sword resting on her knees. "For the coming days, sharing the same roof, I may be a burden—forgive me, Sister Su."

Su Su Guoer closed her book with slender fingers, her interest stirred: "Sister Chenjun Xie, have you studied the Chenjun Xie family's metaphysics?"

Chenjun Xie Chenjun Xie Lingjiang shook her head, gazing straight ahead as a plum petal fell into the pond. "These years, I've only studied Confucianism with my father."

Su Su Guoer's expression darkened slightly with disappointment; she shook her head, lost interest, propped her chin on her hand, and flipped pages lazily.

Silence settled.

Each lost in her own thoughts.

Chenjun Xie Chenjun Xie Lingjiang worried for Yingniang, fearing the Liu family's retaliation, but Magistrate Ouyang Rong had told her not to seek the girl out—to send her back, claiming the safer she was left alone, the safer she'd be…

Beneath the eaves, one reclined, one sat—the two girls' temperaments couldn't have been more different.

Outside the courtyard, a round-faced little maid entered carrying a tray of fruit, humming a tune; seeing the two young ladies' silhouettes, she paused, admiring the scene as something profoundly beautiful, unwilling to disturb it. Her mistress and Miss Chenjun Xie were both peerless beauties—she wondered which young master would be so lucky to win one.

…

Magistrate Ouyang Rong, taking a midday nap, closed his eyes and drifted into the Clouds of Merit Pagoda.

Just after concluding court in the street, his ears had been filled with a ceaseless, crisp "de-de-de" sound of wooden fish, as if hearing celestial music and suddenly seeing clearly.

It felt like a long drought broken by sudden rain.

Finally, some income had come in.

As soon as he entered the ancient pagoda, Magistrate Ouyang Rong immediately looked at the phantom characters above the small wooden fish, and his mood grew deeply gratified:

【Merit: 421】

He hadn't expected solving one case would directly boost his merit by 271 points.

Was it because Liu Liu Zilin had accumulated so much evil that the oppressed commoners rejoiced, or because the silver paid to the injured masses gleamed so warmly in their hearts?

And the "aftereffects" of this incident seemed far from over: besides the cascade of merit awarded right after the verdict, Magistrate Ouyang Rong now occasionally heard a wooden fish tap in his ears every few moments.

Beyond the joy of drawing closer to his goal of ten thousand merit, Magistrate Ouyang Rong felt the greatest value of merit was its unambiguous confirmation that his current actions followed a relatively correct path—the Pagoda's judgment wasn't absolutely infallible, but based on his observations these past days, it leaned toward benevolence…

That was enough. Such positive feedback was sometimes more important than the merit itself.

Now, press forward without hesitation.

Magistrate Ouyang Rong thought.

The midday nap ended.

Before the afternoon hour of Wei, Magistrate Ouyang Rong rushed to the county government office; as Assistant Magistrate Official Diao arrived, he lifted his head from the documents and asked directly:

"How many refugees do we have in the county now?"

"About two or three thousand."

"About?" Magistrate Ouyang Rong frowned.

"Ahem, I didn't send anyone to count them personally—I estimated based on daily relief grain distributions, and some displaced people received porridge directly."

"Is it distributed per person?"

"Per household—two catties of grain, or equivalent porridge."

"Two catties? How is that enough?" Magistrate Ouyang Rong frowned tightly. An adult like him ate six taels of rice daily at the temple; these refugees had no protein, meat, or vegetables—only rice porridge. "Each household, with elders and children, averages five or six people—just two catties of rice?"

"My lord, two catties is already generous! In special cases, it fills half the belly. Our Longcheng Charity Granary has no surplus grain."

"How much grain remains in Longcheng's Charity Granary?"

Assistant Magistrate Official Diao thought. "About ten thousand shi."

"Exactly ten thousand, or just 'about'? No precise number?" Magistrate Ouyang Rong took a deep breath. "Forget it. I'll handle it."

Assistant Magistrate Official Diao smiled awkwardly:

"My lord, you needn't trouble yourself so much or be so meticulous. Imperial regulations state that grain distributed to the poor each year must not exceed ten thousand shi; in disaster years, relief must last no longer than three months. We must follow protocol. The central government's disaster relief grain hasn't arrived yet—our government office only needs to distribute ten thousand shi. I calculated a few days ago: the granary holds exactly ten thousand shi, enough to feed two or three Battalion Commander for three months if we ration carefully."

Magistrate Ouyang Rong looked at him and nodded. "Assistant Magistrate Official Diao, you've calculated this precisely—no vagueness at all."

Assistant Magistrate Official Diao clearly heard the sarcasm; he lowered his head and pretended to sip tea.

Magistrate Ouyang Rong stared silently at the documents on the desk. The hall fell quiet. Then the young county magistrate spoke calmly:

"I've studied Longcheng County's topographical maps and historical flood records in the county annals.

"Longcheng lies between the Yangtze River and the ancient Xie Xiao Niangzi Yunmeng Marsh; Butterfly Creek is the main channel draining Xie Xiao Niangzi Yunmeng's waters into the Yangtze.

"The middle Yangtze has always been prone to violent floods, especially during May and June's flood season, when the main river's current is especially fierce, making it hard for Xie Xiao Niangzi Yunmeng's waters to drain. That's why Xie Xiao Niangzi Yunmeng's recent surge and breach caused Butterfly Creek to overflow, flooding Longcheng for days—because the nearby Yangtze couldn't handle the flood discharge.

"In past years, Xie Xiao Niangzi Yunmeng's surges usually occurred during the plum rains starting in June. But this year is abnormal!

"Even before the peak of the plum rains, Xie Xiao Niangzi Yunmeng's strange floodwaters already breached the Di Gong Dam—the primary flood barrier!"

Magistrate Ouyang Rong rose from his desk, his gaze stern:

"This year, there's an eighty percent chance this won't be the only flood. When the heaviest plum rains arrive, there'll be an even fiercer one!"

Assistant Magistrate Official Diao froze, his teacup halted, staring at Magistrate Ouyang Rong. "Did you deduce all this from maps and county annals?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

Assistant Magistrate Official Diao was stunned. "I… this humble official is foolish and can't fully grasp it, but it does sound plausible. I never expected a young man like you to be so skilled in water control—such experts are rare in Great Zhou."

Now it was Magistrate Ouyang Rong's turn to be stunned. He frowned. "Then how did you previously prevent floods? Longcheng has suffered so many floods—surely you know the causes?"

Assistant Magistrate Official Diao was speechless:

"Floods come when they come—who can control them but the Dragon King? Before the Di Gong Dam was built, Longcheng had minor floods yearly and major ones every three years. After the dam, it became major floods every four years.

"So every four years during the plum rains, we're extra vigilant. But we never expected Xie Xiao Niangzi Yunmeng's flood to come so early this year—so everyone was unprepared, leading to this disaster.

"According to the 'every four years' pattern, we've already had one major flood this year—the next should be in four years… or has the pattern broken?"

Magistrate Ouyang Rong: "..."

Wow, I give you science, and you give me a folk rhyme?

But he quickly understood. He calmed down. No one could transcend their own era unless they didn't belong to it.

Magistrate Ouyang Rong waved his hand:

"Enough of this. Listen to me: from today, I take full charge of disaster relief and water control.

"If we don't want the entire city drowned again in the next flood, we must urgently repair flood defenses—and to repair them, we must first relieve the disaster and calm the tens of thousands of refugees inside and outside the county."

He spoke decisively: "These two goals aren't conflicting. I'll organize the people into labor crews for relief through work—but the granary's ten thousand shi of grain must not be touched. That's the bare survival line for the elderly, sick, and weak. I need more grain. Send messengers to Jiangzhou immediately—demand the central government's disaster relief grain be dispatched without delay!"

Assistant Magistrate Official Diao silently studied the energetic young magistrate before him, then said: "The memorial has already been sent by express courier. I expect the central government will draw from Jiangzhou's Jimin Granary."

"Jimin Granary?"

"It's the imperial granary system for disaster preparedness, established in every circuit. The nearest one to us is Jiangzhou's Jimin Granary, which, by regulation, holds hundreds of thousands of shi of grain."

"That should be enough."

Magistrate Ouyang Rong exhaled in relief. Great Zhou still had reliable systems—he'd underestimated them.

At that moment, Assistant Magistrate Official Diao glanced toward the door and whispered:

"But my lord, if you're truly anxious for the people and eager to control the floods, there's another way… perhaps even without using imperial relief grain, you could solve the flood—and earn imperial praise and promotion."

Magistrate Ouyang Rong was curious. "What way?"

Assistant Magistrate Official Diao smiled. "The Liu family."

…