Chapter 19

Chapter 19

A massive deluge converged in one spot, lashing down toward the roof of Qin Ying’s house.

Hearing the roar above, Qin Ying panicked for a split second before forcing herself to calm down.

Don’t panic when things happen!

She grabbed the glass jar of canned yellow peaches-with the Fuzhu still inside-and tossed the whole thing into the shoebox containing the Dragon Bone.

Then, she rushed frantically to close the windows.

By the time she reached the first floor, water was already pouring in through the gaps under the door.

If she hadn’t raised the foundation and rebuilt the drainage system when she renovated the house, the first floor would have already been flooded, with slippers floating all over the rooms.

Qin Ying ran to the utility room and hauled out self-inflating flood bags, using them to block every door gap.

She knew all too well how this old part of town flooded every time it rained. Fearing something might happen while her grandmother lived alone, she had made sure the house was stocked with everything necessary.

The flood bags expanded upon contact with water, perfectly sealing the gaps in the doors.

Qin Ying didn’t have time to worry about her furniture; her thoughts immediately jumped to her neighbor, Granny Shi.

Granny Shi’s children had all settled in big cities and only returned for holidays, leaving the elderly woman living alone with her cat.

Qin Ying’s heart skipped a beat. She hurriedly called Granny Shi.

When the call went unanswered, Qin Ying feared the worst. Braving the wind pressure, she stepped outside.

In the blink of an eye, Qin Ying was soaked to the bone, the heavy rain battering her face painfully.

“Granny Shi!”

As she shouted, a thunderclap suddenly exploded across the sky.

Qin Ying had never heard such a loud crack of thunder in her life; her ears rang so intensely that she was momentarily deafened.

The water in the street was already thigh-deep.

Qin Ying shook her head and began wading through the water toward Granny Shi’s house.

***

Inside the shoebox under the bed on the second floor of Qin Ying’s house.

The Fuzhu pressed its back tightly against the glass wall of the jar, sweat soaking through its fur.

As a Monstrous Beast and a Disaster Beast, the Fuzhu would trigger torrential rain whenever its emotions became volatile.

But now, staring at the Dragon Bone not far away, it had completely lost the ability to think.

Monstrous Beasts could sense one another.

The Fuzhu’s instincts were screaming a warning; it was facing true terror.

That skeletal remnant of a Dragon Bone, covered in lightning-strike scars, simply lay there, yet it turned the Fuzhu’s mind into a total blank.

Finally, its eyes rolled back, and it fainted with its four legs in the air.

The moment the Fuzhu lost consciousness, the torrential rain in the sky stopped abruptly.

Qin Ying, who was struggling to wade to Granny Shi’s front door, froze.

Looking up, she saw the dark clouds dispersing at a visible speed, revealing a clear, azure sky.

A beam of light broke through the heavens, shining directly down onto the top of Qin Ying’s head.

Standing in the floodwaters like a drowned rat, she was momentarily speechless.

Looking back at the street, it was a total mess.

…

“Hello? Qin Ying?” Granny Shi’s voice finally came through the phone. “I’m out playing mahjong. I didn’t notice the phone just now. Oh, Pung!”

The mahjong parlor at the end of the street was also flooded, but for these players, they would finish the round even if the sky fell.

The group sat with their feet soaking in the water, having no intention of stopping.

Granny Shi replied calmly over the phone, “So it’s flooded, what’s the big deal? Don’t you worry about me.”

Hearing the clacking of mahjong tiles on the other end, Qin Ying sighed helplessly.

With the streets flooded like this, there was no way she could get to the hospital.

Qin Ying went home, took a shower, and changed her clothes.

Inside the box, within Yunwu County City, Han Lie had naturally become the temporary decision-maker and coordinator following the death of the County Governor, thanks to a tacit understanding among the people.

Qin Ying had originally worried he might mess things up, but after observing for a while, she found that Han Lie wasn’t doing a bad job at all.

The previous County Governor of Yunwu County had basically bought his position. He was arrogant, greedy, and did absolutely nothing productive, relying entirely on his staff to keep things running.

A dog could have done a better job than that governor, let alone Han Lie, who was actually quite sharp.

Furthermore, the staff of the Commandery Governor’s Mansion, led by Chief Clerk Li, had all defected to his side.

Currently, the only thing separating Han Lie from being the official County Governor was a formal appointment from the Imperial Court.

Inside Yunwu County City, the little people were busy clearing the broken walls, rescuing others, and saving themselves.
Outside the window, the pitter-patter of the rain intensified once more.

Since she couldn’t make it to the hospital and would eventually grow bored of watching the little people in the box, Qin Ying decided to continue yesterday’s spring cleaning.

During her chores, she checked on the Four-Horned White Deer in the shoebox twice.

Seeing the little thing lying there like a stiff corpse, she felt at ease. It was precisely because of Fuzhu’s pathetic state that Qin Ying didn’t associate the rain outside with it at all.

By the afternoon, Qin Ying was aching all over from cleaning the entire house. She took a shower and shuffled over to the box in her slippers.

Opening it, she found that the yellowish little county city inside was quite lively.

A sign for the Commandery Governor’s Mansion hung above a matchbox-sized door. The gates were wide open, and many little people had gathered there.

In the center of the Front Courtyard, an altar had been set up with a wordless spirit tablet. A grass mat was placed before the tablet, laden with various sacrificial offerings of pigs and sheep that looked like miniature food toys.

A faint scent of smoke drifted past Qin Ying’s nose. Recalling the scent, she was certain it was the smell of burning Cogongrass.

In ancient shamanic rituals, Cogongrass had two primary uses: one was to be woven into mats for sacrificial offerings, and the other was to be bundled together to filter dregs from sacrificial wine. This filtering process was known as “suojiu,” or wine-straining.

Every action here was related to the worship of a deity.

Qin Ying lived in an old part of the city filled with ancient architecture, the most famous of which was a wooden pagoda that had stood for a thousand years. All the city’s fortune-tellers and mystics gathered near there to perform divinations, ward off calamities, and perform “villain hitting” rituals. When Qin Ying was a child, her grandmother had even taken her there for a soul-calling ritual.

Because of this, she recognized the Cogongrass and could roughly guess what kind of ceremony the little people in the box were performing.

Seeing this, she couldn’t help but chuckle. “They really think I’m a… god…”

Her voice trailed off as she realized something was wrong.

The scent of burning Cogongrass grew stronger, and the carvings on the box seemed to come to life, coated in a faint layer of gold. The already intricate and exquisite carvings appeared even more beautiful under the shimmering golden light.

Qin Ying heard faint, fragmented sounds in her ears. It was as if countless people were pouring out their prayers and gratitude. Just as she began to feel a sense of irritation, the voices vanished.

All she could hear was the little person named Han Lie, his voice filled with profound piety as he thanked the Supreme Deity for saving Yunwu County City once again.

Under his lead, the people gathered in the Commandery Governor’s Mansion inside the box knelt one by one. Wisps of smoke from the incense and the burning Cogongrass drifted out of the box, coalescing into a cloud of white mist.

A moment later, the mist dissipated, and a Cogongrass mat the size of a thumbnail appeared abruptly in front of the box.

On the mat were the sacrificial offerings of the three animals and wine, set in lacquer trays-a super-miniature version. Seeing the miniature food offerings actually appear before her eyes, Qin Ying almost let out a curse.

Fortunately, she remembered her image as the Supreme Deity and shut her mouth just in time. A solemn ceremony was being held inside the box; if a god’s profanity were to echo through the heavens and earth, how unrefined and disheartening would that be?

Though she swallowed her words, her movement caught the attention of Han Lie inside the box. “Supreme Deity?”

Qin Ying didn’t answer him; her attention was entirely captured by the offerings before her. Lying quietly on the grass mat in front of the box were golden-roasted pigs, sheep, and oxen. Small bronze incense burners sat at the corners of the mat, along with black jars of mash liquor and some small white cakes.

They were all adorably tiny.

Especially the white cakes-they were smaller than sesame seeds and seemed to be made of rice flour. When Qin Ying exhaled, her breath knocked them over, scattering them across the Cogongrass mat and leaving behind a single, exquisitely cute high-footed ceramic plate.

Qin Ying felt she needed some time to process this.

She closed the box and, holding her breath, moved the little grass mat to her desk.

She wondered… could these be eaten?

After examining the details closely, Qin Ying rested her chin on her hand and made a rather wicked decision.

She decided to use the little creature she had just caught to test for poison!