Chapter 399: Bringing Honor To The Ancestors
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
It was the voice of one of the secret guards. After they came over last night to take those assassins away, they were worried and left a few guys behind to protect Su Ying.
After Su Ying dressed up properly, she walked out.
“Is there any news from Zhu Lin?”
“Your Imperial Highness, everything is progressing smoothly on Lord Zhu’s side.”
Su Ying nodded slightly, and when she raised her eyes, she saw the village chief’s wife walking in while cursing. The moment she saw Su Ying, the village chief’s wife’s expression changed at once and she quickly kept quiet.
“Your Imperial Highness is awake. Did Your Imperial Highness sleep well last night? Were you disturbed by any noise? We have a lot of livestock in the countryside, so we’re afraid they may be too noisy for you.”
Su Ying shook her head. “I’m fine. 1 slept very well last night.”
“That’s good.” The village chief’s wife glanced at the secret guards outside the door and dared not get too close to Su Ying. She only said, “Breakfast is already prepared. Your peasant will bring it to Your Imperial Highness.”
Su Ying didn’t refuse and went to the hall. Just as she walked in, the village chief came back. When he saw Su Ying sitting in the hall, he quickly went forward and bowed. “Your Imperial Highness, you’re awake.”
“No need for formalities, Village Chief. I have imposed on you last night.”
“Not at all, not at all. It’s because our ancestors have accumulated merit that Your Imperial Highness came to our countryside village.”
The village chief’s wife came in with a bowl of steaming cornmeal porridge and a bowl of eggs.
“Your Imperial Highness, please eat while it’s hot. There’s still quite a lot in the pot.”
“Thank you very much.”
Su Ying looked at the bowl that was only the size of her palm and frowned slightly, but she still picked it up and finished the porridge in two or three mouthfuls.
When the village chief’s wife saw this, she hurriedly went to scoop more porridge for Su Ying. After this round of refilling, half of the porridge in the pot was gone instantly. At this moment, the village chief’s wife thought of Su Ying’s accomplishment of finishing a table full of dishes by herself. She couldn’t help feeling astonished. Did the Empress not have enough to eat in the palace… She really had a huge appetite!
After eating her fill, Su Ying thanked the couple and left with the secret guards.
The village chief’s wife pushed open the door to the room where Su Ying had slept last night and walked in. The moment she entered, she flopped down on the blanket that Su Ying had used and rolled back and forth a few times.
When the village chief came in and saw her doing that, he was very puzzled. “What are you doing?”
The village chief’s wife said excitedly, “This is the room where the Empress once slept. This is the blanket she covered herself with. I must worship it.”
The village chief glared at her in disdain. “Are you stupid? Why are you covering yourself with it if you’re worshiping it? Besides, the Empress is alive and well. What the heck are you worshiping her for?”
The village chief’s wife hugged the blanket and rubbed against it for a while before getting up. She then said, “What do you know? This is something that can bring honor to our ancestors… Gosh! What is this?”
Just as the village chief’s wife was about to put away the blanket, something fell out from inside it.
The two of them came forward to take a look. It was a bag of copper coins and some silver, and there was a note beside it.
The village chief had studied before, so he picked up the note and started reading.
“What does it say? This was left behind by the Empress, right?”
The village chief’s eyes became slightly red-rimmed. When he spoke, he was almost choking back his tears. “This was left behind by the Empress. The Empress said that this is the salary for the villagers, and the rest of the money is for last night’s meal. There is also a prescription that she said is for you. The Empress said that you were born with a body that suffers from a cold affliction, which is why you have been infertile for many years. However, your condition is not hopeless. She wants you to take medicine according to the prescription for half a month and soak your hands and feet in ginger water for 30 minutes every day before trying again.”
When the village chief’s wife heard this, her eyes also became red-rimmed. She and the village chief were childhood sweethearts. When they grew up, they naturally got married. It was just that when she fell into the ice river once when she was young, the bone-piercing chill had always remained in her bones. After she got married to the village chief, she was infertile for many years. It was not that they had not gone to see a doctor, but all these years, it had been useless. Even when she got pregnant by chance, the pregnancy did not last till full term.
Being childless had always been a sore spot for the couple, but the village chief treated her very well and never mistreated her because of this issue. However, the more kindly he treated her, the more awful she felt.
The two of them were not young anymore this year. Was there really still hope for them?
“I’ll go to the city to get the medicine for you now.” The village chief came back to his senses. After carefully putting away the silver that is to be distributed to the villagers, he took his share and got ready to go out.
However, his wife pulled him back and said, “Don’t go. Don’t waste your money. All these years, 1 have taken so much medicine, but it’s useless. It’s useless…” The village chief’s eyes widened. “What are you saying? Don’t you trust the Empress? If the Empress says it will work, it will work. If you don’t let me go, that means you don’t trust the Empress. You are then being very disrespectful to the Empress.”
Tears kept flowing out of the eyes of the village chief’s wife. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to try. It was just that she had failed too many times and she was afraid. She was afraid that the little bit of hope that had just been ignited would disappear in an instant.
The village chief patted her hand. “Don’t be afraid. If the Empress says that it will work, it will definitely work. If it really doesn’t work, then it is a heavenly decree. If the heavens decreed so, then we just have to live the rest of our lives by ourselves.”
“Alright, alright.”
Su Ying had noticed the problem with the village chief’s wife the night before when she was chatting with her. When Su Ying unintentionally touched her hand, she realized that the wife’s hand was particularly cold. Logically speaking, she should not be showing such a symptom with the current weather right now. Su Ying immediately asked the village chief’s wife to stick out her tongue for her to take a look. The chilliness was almost overflowing from her tongue.
However, Su Ying didn’t say anything at the juncture. The wife’s condition wasn’t something that could be resolved with just one or two doses of medicine. It would take some time to nurse her back to health.
Therefore, when Su Ying left, she left behind a prescription and some money as payment for the food and accommodation.
After Su Ying left the village, she rode the horse with a few secret guards to the old dam.
The old dam was also in the mountains. As it had been used for many years, the road to the old dam was easier to travel on than the road to the new dam.
Su Ying pressed her hat down and took out her binoculars to look in the direction of the old dam. From afar, she could see the dam at the foot of the mountains.
In terms of geographical location, the old dam was better than the new dam in all aspects. Su Ying did not know what had happened to the old dam that made the Imperial Court abandon it.
It was almost noon when Su Ying and her group finally arrived at the old dam.
Zhu Lin was supervising the craftsmen and workers in the repair works on the old dam.
Su Ying was just walking toward him when Zhu Lin saw her. He put away the blueprints in his hands and turned to Su Ying.
“Your Imperial Highness.”
“How’s the work progressing here?”
“Your Imperial Highness, the dam is still being repaired, but fortunately, there are no major lethal problems. There are some obvious cracks in some places. Because it has been raining all this while, the repair materials have not dried after being applied.” This was also the difficulty encountered when doing repairs. Previously, everyone thought that the new dam would be used, so there was no plan to repair the old dam. Who knew that such an incident would happen?
Su Ying didn’t know much about this aspect, but she still hoped to have a preliminary understanding of it. Zhu Lin found a craftsman to give Su Ying a general explanation.
Su Ying understood after listening to him.
As long as it was repaired, the floodwaters would not hit the people along the banks.
The rain was exceptionally heavy on this day. Just as everyone was worried that the flood would come at any time, the weather actually cleared up the next day..