Chapter 604 - Chapter 604: Chapter 591: Praying for Rain (1/2)

Chapter 604: Chapter 591: Praying for Rain

However, this situation where the old, weak, women and children had to join the fight also led to an increase in sudden accidents.

Today, a child from a family slipped and accidentally fell into the river. Luckily, many people around were fetching water and some were skilled swimmers, and they were able to rescue the child in time.

Tomorrow, a man from another household may faint from dizziness due to carrying water all day without any breaks for meals. He might hit his head on the stones by the river. If no one carrying water nearby saw him and rushed to save him, he might not be saved.

…

The chiefs of several villages were anxious and utterly stressed over these incidents.

However, no matter how worried or downtrodden they were, it didn’t help with the drought situation. What everybody could do was rise early and go to bed late, fetching and pulling water from the river, helping to irrigate the fields together, to ensure the autumn crops could be planted smoothly.

Even with these efforts, facing the scorching sun day by day, relying solely on carrying water manually was not enough to resist the drought.

In a short time, sighs and lamentations are heard among people in every farmer’s household.

Somehow, someone mentioned the drought situation in Lu, sparking off fervent discussions on how terrible the drought in Lu was, the number of fatalities, and how many people have had to abandon their homes and seek refuge in other places.

Anxiety began to spread gradually from one household to another, from one village to another, from town to town, like a wild gust of wind blowing across more than half of the county town.

Most people were worried and fearful, while others took advantage of the situation to hoard supplies, hiking up the price of grains to make profits.

Xu Zhengping, in his fury, apprehended a few examples and paraded them on the streets of the county town in order to serve as a lesson to others.

Those with ulterior motives, seeing Xu Zhengping’s approach, dared not stir any more trouble for the time being. This brought relative peace into the county town.

However, despite the peace, fear remained high amongst the common people and even showed signs of intensifying.

Right at the time when the weather was gradually becoming harsher and the common people more fearful, a gigantic structure was erected beside Enji Village.

This tall, round object was one that they had never seen before. Moreover, it was erected beside the river, and crucially, personnel from the County Government Office came forth to set it up. The villagers of Enji came to marvel, surrounded it and point here and there, all wondering what this thing actually was.

“What in heaven’s name is this thing I’ve never seen anything like it…”

“I don’t know, it looks quite bizarre. It’s shaped like a cartwheel, but I’m not sure if it can move.”

“I reckon it can move. When they were setting it up just now, I saw it shake a little.”

“If it can move, would it be like a genuine cartwheel?”

“If it were a cartwheel, why would they put it in the water? You hardly expect someone to ride a carriage in the water, right? Only boats can be driven in water, not carriages!”

“Hey, do you think… this contraption… could it be used for praying for rain?”

“It’s hard to say, didn’t Zhuang Qingning used to kill demons? She might have some tricks up her sleeve. I wouldn’t rule out rain prayers.”