CMWKSD -Chapter 195 Torrential Rain

Listening to the increasingly loud clamor from the camp, mixed with the sound of rain and thunder, it felt all the more terrifying.

Jiu Yue turned over, finally let out a sigh, and sat up.

The tent was being battered by the gale, making a whistling roar.

She got up, put on her clothes, and opened the tent flap—nearly blown straight back inside by the fierce wind.

This wasn’t even the rainy season.

Yet the rain was far too heavy.

Almost everyone had gotten up.

They had originally been carrying box after box of silver out, but then the rain suddenly intensified, pouring down as if someone were dumping water straight into the ancestral tomb site.

The officials and soldiers in charge of transport rushed into the tomb one after another, as if their lives didn’t matter.

By the time Ji Yiqing and the others arrived, they had managed to haul out several dozen chests.

But how could people possibly be faster than water flooding in?

Many felt their hearts sink into despair.

There was still so much silver…

Ji Yiqing and Ji Chaomian were following the Ministry of Revenue officials, checking the account books, and didn’t notice that several of the soldiers responsible for transport were still trying to rush back into the tomb.

The water level was rising at an alarming speed.

In just a short while, the water inside had already reached calf height.

Jiu Yue frowned when she saw those soldiers recklessly trying to go in.

She moved swiftly, darted straight to the entrance of the burial site, and raised her hand to slap the leading soldier hard.

“Have you lost your mind?”

The soldier was stunned by the slap.

His eyes were filled with resentment, but remembering that Jiu Yue was a county princess, he angrily lowered his gaze, clenching his jaw, not daring to utter a single word in rebuttal.

The slap itself wasn’t loud.

Yet many people still saw it.

The coldness and ruthlessness in Jiu Yue’s eyes made quite a few hearts tremble.

Ji Yiqing and Ji Chaomian hurried over. “What happened?”

Jiu Yue jerked her chin toward the tomb. “The water’s rising too fast, and they still want to rush inside.”

Both men frowned. Ji Yiqing said, “What’s more important—silver, or lives?”

Several soldiers snorted softly, feeling that Ji Yiqing was speaking without feeling the pain himself.

Seeing their defiant expressions, Jiu Yue let out a cold laugh. “Judging by how you look, do you think this silver is going to grow legs and run away?”

The moment she said that, many of the resentful soldiers froze.

That’s right—this was silver, not paper or silk that would be ruined by a little water.

At worst, once the rain stopped and the water receded, they could dig it out again.

Dirty? Just wipe it, wash it—wouldn’t that be enough?

Ji Chaomian made a decisive call. “Seal off all the entrances, and have people inspect the areas most prone to collapse.”

As he spoke, several officials stared worriedly at the mountain forest backing the ancestral tomb.

That Assistant Minister Jiang was truly insane.

He had hollowed out nearly half a mountain to build his secret base.

Just imagining how much he intended to line his pockets as Salt Inspector was enough to make one shudder.

If the rain kept falling…

That hollowed-out mountain…

Whether it collapsed or something else happened, for Peach Blossom Village and the nearby villages, it would be a catastrophic disaster.

Everyone believed the rain wouldn’t last long.

After all, it wasn’t the rainy season.

But who would have thought—the rain fell for three straight days, with no sign of stopping at all.

The ancestral tomb was completely flooded. If not for the sheer weight of the silver, it might have floated.

Loosened earth kept sliding down in clumps.

It was enough to make one’s heart pound in fear.

Late autumn was already edging toward early winter.

The cold cut to the bone.

The leading official had already ordered people to buy ginger, as well as the herbs needed for the cold-dispelling soup Jiu Yue had come up with.

But if the rain continued like this, and they kept living in tents beside the ancestral tomb, the situation was truly not good.

Ji Yiqing stared at the unceasing rain, his brow never once relaxing.

Before natural disasters, people were no more than ants.

Someone knocked on the tent from outside.

Ji Yiqing hurried to open it.

“Second Brother.”

Ji Yiqing’s brows were tightly knit. “We can’t wait any longer. Below Peach Blossom Village there are several more villages. If something really happens, and the rain keeps falling like this…”

Ji Chaomian had come for this very discussion.

Among the officials handling this mission, quite a few had served in local posts before and had some experience dealing with natural disasters.

They had already sent people to find the county magistrate of Lingsu County.

After the Jiang Assistant Minister incident, the previous magistrate had been executed.

The current one, though newly appointed, was someone who genuinely did real work.

Many officials gathered together. A small meeting ended up lasting more than half a day.

Some opposed leaving—after all, people were attached to their homeland, and the rain had only been falling for two days.

Two days alone wouldn’t necessarily cause flooding.

Others, however, argued for preparedness. Even if flooding wasn’t certain, the necessary flood-prevention measures should still be put in place.

Back then, when Jiu Yue had nothing better to do, she had mentioned some modern flood-control ideas to Ji Yiqing and Ji Chaomian.

But in truth, their effectiveness was limited—Jiu Yue wasn’t a professional.

Most of what she knew came from various videos she had seen.

It wasn’t detailed at all—bits and pieces, scattered and incomplete.

Ji Yiqing and Ji Chaomian found it hard to understand at the time.

Fortunately, Jiu Yue’s ideas were relatively advanced and served as inspiration.

The two brothers pored over books and reference materials for who knew how many days, finally expanding the mere dozen or so sentences Jiu Yue had mentioned into nearly half a book of flood-control measures.

Now, hearing officials discuss flood prevention, they immediately wrote down from memory the material they had compiled back then.

In their drive to climb higher, the brothers had practically turned themselves into jacks-of-all-trades.

When the county magistrate saw the flood-control measures Ji Yiqing and Ji Chaomian presented, he didn’t hesitate and immediately prepared to organize the people for self-rescue.

After all, compared to leaving their homeland, being able to resolve matters where they already lived was far preferable.

The common people weren’t ungrateful fools.

Once matters on this side were settled, before anyone could even breathe a sigh of relief, someone from the garrison came running over.

“The mud on the mountain… mixed with rainwater, it’s flowing straight down… it really looks a bit…”

Jiu Yue had just arrived and heard this sentence.

That Assistant Minister Jiang had dug out the middle of the mountain, destroying the original land structure.

The soil had loosened, and once the rain washed over it, it naturally began to flow downward.

This looked like it was going to turn into a mudslide.

Even Jiu Yue’s brow rarely furrowed this tightly.

Truly—misfortune never comes alone.