However, this ritual was not successfully held. I don’t know if God was joking with them or what, but just the night before the prescription was successfully researched and the ritual was to be held, everyone thought everything was going to be fine, but God mercilessly poured cold water on them. .
In the middle of the night, almost everyone in Hemen City heard the roar of thunder, and lightning pierced the night sky, lighting up the night like day.
Along with the lightning and thunder came unprecedented heavy rain, which was heavier than the previous half month. The heavy rain can no longer be described as pouring. Xu Huaigu saw the scene with his own eyes, and he preferred to use a waterfall as a metaphor.
The raindrops were so dense that they formed flowing lines, falling from an unknown height in the sky. If he stretched out his hand, his palm would be sore from the impact.
Xu Huaigu and his party all woke up and stared at the heavy rain outside the window in shock. Chen Congming and Shen Hanguang also woke up and were also shocked.
If the rain falls unchecked like this, Hemen City will be paralyzed because no one can even leave their homes.
And what is more worrying than this is the Xiejiang Weir built not far upstream of the Luhua River. If the Xiejiang Weir fails and water from the Luhua River pours in, Hemen will be completely ruined.
Chen Congming did not expect that things would suddenly take such a big turn. Logically speaking, the officials of the Ministry of Rites and the Luhua River Water God have negotiated and it should not rain again. How could this happen?
He was a little panicked and at a loss. Not long after, around dawn, someone from the government came to report that the bodies of the previous officials from the Ministry of Rites were found near Xiejiangyan. Chen Congming was so shocked that he fell down on his chair and couldn't figure out what happened. How come several officials died?
Could it be that the negotiation failed? That doesn't mean killing people. Daylight gradually came, but under the cover of thick dark clouds, the sunlight was like a drowning person in the water, unable to breathe at all.
There is not much difference between day and night. The raindrops hit the doors and windows, making a
The sound of "dong dong" was like the neighing of war drums on the battlefield, and the atmosphere was extremely depressing. Thanks to the solidity of the house in the Chen Mansion, if it had been a house in disrepair, it would have been destroyed by the rain.
Thinking of this, Xu Huaigu immediately thought of Su Mulan and the others living in the dilapidated house. Worried, he picked up his sword and got into the rain to find them.
Huicheng saw Xu Huaigu suddenly running into the rain and shouted immediately. But the rain was so loud that her voice was instantly drowned by the raindrops, and Xu Huaigu also disappeared in the rain curtain in an instant.
Huicheng was anxious and wanted to chase her, but Neng Wu quickly stopped her and advised: "It's too dangerous outside, so you should stay in the house, otherwise I won't be able to explain to the master if something happens." Xu Huaigu got into the heavy rain. In the meantime, almost instantly, all his clothes were soaked.
The heavy rain obscured his vision, and he could only see a few feet ahead, and beyond that was darkness. He followed his memory and rushed to that house.
He walked out into the street and looked around. As expected, several houses that were not strong enough were washed away by the heavy rain, and wood was scattered on the ground. The people living in those houses could only stand helplessly in the heavy rain, homeless. Return.
Xu Huaigu glanced at him with pity and continued to move forward. Since midnight, the lightning and thunder have not stopped at all.
The rumbling thunder struck the ground from the clouds one after another, like the roar of wild beasts, declaring war on the city.
Xu Huaigu quickened his pace and crossed another street. When he reached the outskirts of the city, he saw the house from yesterday.
Fortunately, the house is still standing in place and has not collapsed. It's just that there seemed to be a few black spots at the door fighting for something, and crying and cursing could be heard, and there seemed to be a bit of a commotion.
When he got closer, he could hear the cries clearly.
"Give me my child back! Give it back to me quickly!" Xu Huaigu immediately recognized that the familiar voice belonged to Su Mulan's mother, and he hurried over.
"What is your child? This is a dead person! A dead person who died of the epidemic!" An officer and soldier yelled at her angrily,
"Thanks to you hiding for so many days, the corpses are smelly! Do you know that the epidemic is so severe now, it is all infected by these sick people! We take such a big risk every day to come here to deal with the dead, you Well, you dare to hide it and not tell us! Then our efforts will be in vain!" The woman was pushed by the officer and soldier. She was already weak. At this time, she was pushed to the ground. She knelt down and cried heartbrokenly. : "You are talking nonsense! My child just has a cold. The doctor said that he only needs to take two doses of medicine and he will be fine! You evil person, please return my child to me!" The officer and soldier was furious and continued to scold. Another The officers and soldiers hurriedly persuaded him and whispered in his ear: "I heard other people in the house say that this woman is crazy. Don't argue with her. Take the body away and bury it quickly. The rain is weird. , let’s finish our errands and go back as soon as possible.” After persuasion, the officer and soldier gave up with a face full of resentment.
He grabbed the small quilt with one hand and threw it into the pile of dead people on the carriage.
"You beast! Give me my child back!" I don't know where the strength came from, the woman looked crazy and jumped up from the ground.
Even the two officers and soldiers had no idea that a thin woman could run so fast. She ran to the carriage desperately, rummaging through the pile of dead people for the bedding, desperately trying to find her child.
The officer and soldier were shocked for a moment, then rushed over and roughly pulled her away. The woman fell to the ground.
The torrential rain hit her face like gravel, and she was angry and anxious. Her mind suddenly went blank, and she lost consciousness without taking a breath.
"Mother! Mother!" Seeing that her mother had made no sound, Su Mulan was so frightened that there was no color on her thin face.
She rushed to the woman's side, helped her up, and shouted in panic: "Mother! Mother! Say something!" But the woman just didn't respond to her.
She shouted several more times, but there was still no response. Now the two officers and soldiers started to panic a little. They got together and muttered something in a low voice.
She looked at the two officers and soldiers with resentment and cried: "You beat my mother to death! Murder must be paid with life!"
"Boy, she asked for it." The officer and soldier felt a little panicked, but did not let go.
"She interfered with official duties. I just pulled her gently. How could I have known that she was so weak that she died like this?" Another officer and soldier echoed: "My child, this is really an accident. Logically speaking, just a fall would be enough." Instead of dying, I think it's more likely that your mother was too angry and couldn't hold a breath in her heart. The energy and blood rushed to her heart, and she was just gone. You are so sorry." Su Mulan cried like crazy in the rain: "Then Why do you want to make my mother angry! Why do you want to take away my brother! My mother was killed by you! Oh, oh, oh... Mother, mother, please wake up quickly!"
"Hey, no, you are being unreasonable. Your mother is crazy, but you are not crazy. You clearly knew that your brother was dead a long time ago, and not only did you not tell it, you also helped your mother hide it. If you had told her earlier , let us take him away, and things like this won't happen now. You can't just blame us for this, you are also responsible." Yes, she is also responsible.
But what can she do? Tell the officers and soldiers to take away your brother, and then let your mother die of grief?
She can't do it. Now, she was finally the only one left in the world. What a heavy rain, the world was washed away, and people's conscience was also washed away by the rain.
She stood up crying, looked at the two officers and soldiers, and said: "If you kill my mother, I have no hope of living. You might as well kill me too! Come on, kill me, come on!" "
"It's over, another one is crazy." One officer shook his head helplessly and said to another person,
"Let's go, I've had a lot of bad luck today. First it rained like it was going to kill people, and then one of them actually died. I guess it won't be easy for the two of us to do business when we go back. Can we keep this job?" It’s all a problem.”
"Oh, the dirtiest and most tiring work is done by two brothers, and it's a thankless effort. They are all in bad luck! My family still has a large family waiting to be fed. If we don't have any errands, why do we go to the streets to beg for food?" The puller The officers and soldiers walked up to Su Mulan and comforted her with a few words: "It is true that we are both responsible for this matter, but it has already happened and there is no way to undo it. In this way, as long as you don't report this matter to the government , how about we pool some money together to pay for your mother’s coffin and leave some for you to use later?”
"Who wants your money!" Su Mulan burst into tears and cursed,
"Get out, all of you! Stay away from my mother!" The two officers and soldiers looked at each other and drove away in a carriage angrily. Su Mulan was left kneeling beside her mother's body in the heavy rain, crying. The sky is dark and the earth is dark.
Xu Huaigu saw all of this. But he never took action. He quietly hid behind the rain curtain and watched the whole process silently.
In fact, the woman's death was unexpected by Xu Huaigu, otherwise he would have saved her.
The officer and soldier's pull was not the reason for the woman's death. It was because she was too angry and anxious. Coupled with her physical weakness, she died without taking a breath.
The two officers and soldiers did their duty fairly well, and they were doing well when facing Su Mulan, whose mother was dead, so Xu Huaigu did not stop them.
Xu Huaigu looked at the extremely distressed Su Mulan quietly. The drama ended, it was a complete tragedy, and no one was to blame, no one was guilty.
But someone still needed to be responsible for the woman's death. Xu Huaigu looked at the sky. He opened an umbrella, walked to Su Mulan, then squatted down to cover her from the rain.
Su Mulan, who was still burying her head in tears, felt someone coming. She suddenly looked up and saw that it was Xu Huaigu. As if she finally found someone reliable, she threw herself on his shoulder and started crying even harder.
With the last glimmer of hope, she begged weakly: "Brother Xu, please help me check on my mother. Is she still alive? Maybe my mother just passed out, right?" Xu Huaigu put his hand on her lips. , felt her breath, it was empty, and sighed: "It's gone." Su Mulan didn't speak, just kept crying, and kept crying.
Xu Huaigu comforted her and said: "It's not your fault, you did the right thing. Live well, you know, your mother must have hoped that you could live well before she was alive." Su Mulan cried: "You said I was right, so what happened? Who was at fault? My mother's fault, or those officers and soldiers' fault?" Xu Huaigu shook his head and said softly: "Both are correct."
"Then why did things come to this point? How could my mother die!"
"It's the day's fault."
"Oh God? Wuwu..." Su Mulan cried helplessly. What Xu Huaigu said makes sense. Everything should be said to be the fault of the rain. But when it rains, it rains. Who can be blamed?
Is it possible to really blame the sky? Does that make sense? Xu Huaigu held an umbrella for her, stretched out one hand to hug her, gently ran his fingers through her rain-drenched hair, smoothed her wet hair one by one, and placed it behind her shoulders.
He whispered: "I will make God pay the price."
