Chapter 393 - Yu Hangs Thoughts (1/2)
When he heard that his goddaughter had seen it with her own eyes, as well as Yu Hang’s description of the Wokou pirates, Fang Zizhen was completely convinced. Xiaocao had a little dolphin friend in the sea. Every year, at the end of spring and beginning of summer, she would play with it in the sea and collect many treasures.
Fang Zizhen had been able to eat a lot of valuable seafood. The filial Xiaocao would also tell him to bring some back to the capital for her godmother. Every time he went back to the capital, his wife would always complain about him not bringing their daughter back. She grumbled for a long time as if he was a fake godfather who didn’t dote on their goddaughter.
He also wanted to bring Xiaocao back, but his daughter was seriously too capable. Not only did her family open a pharmaceutical workshop, raise hundreds of pigs, cultivate on hundreds of mu of farmland, but they also opened a shop in the prefectural city. The business was doing so well that even he was envious of them. For a period of time, Xiaocao had been very busy and barely even returned to Dongshan Village. If it wasn’t for Royal Prince Yang who sent several helpers over, he was worried that his daughter wouldn’t be able to bear the exhaustion! Where would she find the time to go to the capital with him ah?
Fang Zizhen lightly sighed and asked Yu Hang a few questions. Knowing that the villagers of Dongshan Village should probably have arrived at the cave by now, he felt slightly less worried. He had once followed his goddaughter to her secret base because he was worried.
The entrance was narrow and covered with vines, so even young hunters wouldn’t be able to find it without someone leading them. The cave inside was very big, and there were many different sized caves connected within. It was definitely capable of accommodating three to five hundred people! The valley had a pleasant climate and was filled with flowers. There were many tasty fruits and a small stream flowing through the valley. It was a very suitable place for refugees to live!
“Did you say that the Wokou pirates’ fleet is extremely large, and that many seem to be coming towards the harbor?” Fang Zizhen asked for the details, and Yu Hang nodded repeatedly in response.
Fang Zizhen swiftly took his two right-hand men, Li Li and Wu Yun, to the tallest lighthouse on the port. He used the monocular that Xiaocao gave him and looked towards the sea. Sure enough, in the place where the sea met the sky, there was an unfamiliar fleet approaching at full sail.
“Li Li, quickly go to town and notify County Magistrate Zhao. Tell him to send some backup. Wu Yun, go to the garrison and notify Commander Sun! Yu Hang, the Wokou will land soon, so it’s not safe for you to be here. Isn’t your younger brother studying in town? The news might cause chaos in town, so go there and accompany Little Shitou. It’s not safe for Little Shitou since he’s so young!”
Fang Zizhen knew that Yu Hang was deeply worried in his heart, but if he went back to Dongshan Village now, he would likely encounter those murderous Wokou pirates. Although this lad had learned some martial arts with him for a few days, he was still pretty young after all. He might be able to win in a one-to-one fight with a Wokou, but the other party obviously had the advantage of outnumbering them. So failure was inevitable… If Yu Hang got injured or killed, his daughter would definitely hate him to death.
Yu Hang had originally planned on returning to Dongshan Village and staying with his parents and sisters after informing General Fang. However, when he heard General Fang’s words, he began to worry about his younger brother in town. As General Fang had just analyzed, if the villagers of Dongshan Village had been brought into the cave in time, then it wouldn’t be that easy for the Wokou pirates to succeed. Moreover, the imperial bodyguards of the Prince Jing’s Household could put up a fight at the critical moment. His youngest brother was only nine, so he could easily become their target…
Yu Hang gritted his teeth and made a decision—he would first go to town with Li Li. Li Li was somewhat worried as he glanced at Little Gray, who was beside Yu Hang. He took the general’s order to rush to town, but would bringing Yu Hai along delay the process?
Yu Hang fed Little Gray some mystic-stone water from the water bag. After drinking mystic-stone water for several years, Yu Hang felt that the water in his family’s well was different from the water in the stream outside. Especially when he was tired, if he drank a cup of the water, his exhaustion would instantly disappear.
Other people didn’t know the reason, but he knew very clearly. He had once seen his youngest sister stretching her hands into the well, as if she was doing a sacred ritual. After his youngest sister left, he fetched a bucket of water and compared it with the water in the vat in the morning. The well water in the bucket was even more sweet, and his whole body felt very comfortable after drinking it!
He recalled how the whole family’s health started to improve after his youngest sister recovered from nearly dying. Even his weak and sickly mother was becoming healthier day by day without the help of medicine. In the past two years, even during the snowstorm, no one in the family had gotten sick. If he had guessed correctly, then this must be closely related to his youngest sister.
Also, they were all growing early-maturing vegetables, but other families couldn’t grow them as well and as fast as his family. This was probably because his family used the water in the well in their backyard.
In addition, the first year that they grew watermelons, the water that they used to irrigate the crops was either touched by Xiaocao, or she told them to use the water from their family’s well. It wasn’t until they hired someone to dig out a well near the melon fields that they stopped doing the troublesome task of transporting water from home to the fields. There was no comparison in the past, so they didn’t know. However, someone in the neighboring village also planted watermelons this year. No matter if it was the size or sweetness, their watermelons could not compete with his family’s. Moreover, his family’s watermelon ripened almost a month earlier than the other family. His family thought that it was because they were different varieties of watermelons, but in his opinion, it was definitely due to the well water!