Chapter Seventy-two: Escaping

  PS: I won't be at home all day today. I made up for a chapter in the morning and sent it out first. There should be another small chapter at 5 pm this afternoon.

  All the way, Yang Yunqiu's spiritual power has been in a state of operation, and now it has been almost exhausted. He stumbled and nearly fell into the water, scaring Zhou Dali's face pale.

  Fortunately, at this moment, the spiritual power was reborn, and the pores all over the body opened comfortably. Yang Yunqiu let out a sigh of relief, and with a bit of effort, he pulled Chen Lao over, took off the small bags loaded on his body, and threw him onto the raft.

  Old Chen was left with only half a breath and stared at his pocket with dead eyes.

  Yang Yunqiu couldn't help but cry and laugh, shaking her head. She controlled the water in the bag, took out a life jacket to wrap around it, and then threw it onto the life ring. Using Old Man Chen's belt to secure it, she let him hold it in his hand, and only then did he calm down.

  But it's still refreshing.

  Yang Yunqiu stretched his waist and brought people back, only to feel refreshed and refreshed, the vast spiritual energy washing over his body, the usual stagnation that had always been there had completely disappeared.

  The doll laughed so hard that her eyes were not visible: "You take a look at yourself in the mirror and see how thick your merits are? Let's just say, even if there is someone with deeper powers than you who can't get past you, when the two of you fight, as long as it's not an insurmountable difference, Heaven will definitely give him trouble. Who knows, he might not even be able to get close to you and would be toyed with by Heaven."

  Yang Yunqiu was speechless, the doll's words were too exaggerated, even if the merits were deep and thick, at most it would be easier to advance during the promotion period. If it were true as the doll said, then there wouldn't be so many good people dying in vain and evil people gloating. People say that good and evil will eventually be rewarded, but before getting the reward for good or evil, who knows how many things will happen that make people feel that heaven is blind.

  Coaxing the baby to take a serious photo of this flood-filled scene, Yang Yunqiu continued to rescue people. Fortunately, Tian Shui Town was not big and there were not many people. Later, some young people with good swimming skills came to help. Before dawn, almost everyone had gathered on the top floor of Tianxiang Building and nearby wine buildings.

  The town originally had less than three hundred residents, excluding those who were sold as maidservants and those without household registration. Now, even if you add them all together, there are only less than two hundred left.

  Water and fire are ruthless; it's already a blessing from heaven that so many people can survive.

  Zhou Dali was so exhausted that he stuck out his tongue and panted heavily.

  Yang Yunqiu was also drenched in sweat, but being blown by the wind and rain, the rainwater and sweat mixed together and couldn't be told apart. In short, he no longer looked like a young master.

  Tianxiang Building and the top floor of the nearby wine building were wailing like ghosts, even the most tempered residents of Tianshui Town couldn't help but set fires everywhere, they didn't fight because Yang Yunqiu wanted everyone to conserve their energy.

  Everyone is looking forward to the storm passing and the skies clearing up.

  As long as the rain stops, the flood will recede, and their homes and belongings may still be left with a little.

  Unexpectedly, the water continued to rise without stopping.

  Yang Yunqiu also had misgivings in her heart, mainly because Tianshui Town is located in a valley surrounded by large mountains and rivers, which is very low-lying. If the water from the surrounding rivers all gathered here, I'm afraid even the rooftop wouldn't be a safe place.

  Many people watched in trepidation as the water level rose higher and higher, with massive waves crashing all around, and countless houses were washed away, furniture floating everywhere.

  Yang Yunqiu used a fishing net to scoop up over ten fish and took them to the kitchen to make fish soup.

  The steaming fish soup was swallowed into the belly, and these refugees were slightly calmed down. Yang Yunqiu took the young people to tie up their own rafts, as well as two large wooden rafts they had made.

  Many people saw him jumping lightly from the stairs and water surface, all with a puzzled face.

  "I don't know when the rain will stop, not to mention it's been raining for over a dozen days and still has three more days to go. We don't want to leave, but we have to, or else we'll be waiting until our food runs out and then become fish food."

  Have to say, Yang Gongzi has a bit of prophetic talent.

  It's another whole day, the heavy rain shows no signs of stopping, the water level continues to rise, and now even the places where these residents live are starting to flood. Many people are getting anxious and irritable, and even a few lazy ones who didn't want to move are starting to work hard to block the gaps where the water is seeping in.

  Yang Yunqiu stood by the window, looked at the sky and sighed: "I think after a while, the rain might get a little smaller, we can take advantage of it to go out and have a look."

  Everyone fell silent.

  It's raining so heavily that the entire river is overflowing, and I have no idea what the surrounding counties are like. But we can't just stay here waiting for death.

  "First, eat something and prepare more dry rations, try to nourish your spirit. Yang Yunqiu asked Er Ya and the others to help give some elderly, weak women and children an extra quilt, letting them rest after finishing their meal."

  In the kitchen, most of what was made was fish soup. Each person only got a small portion of staple food. Zhou Dali had collected quite a bit of grain, but dividing it among so many people to eat and use wasn't enough, and no one knew how long they would be stranded on the water. No one dared to waste anything carelessly. Anyway, now the fish in the river didn't need to be scooped up, they just swam into people's bodies by themselves. Drinking some fish soup to nourish their bodies was the best thing to do.

  These ordinary people are still reeling from the loss of their homes, and no one is in the mood to be picky; just being alive is good enough. Besides, even in Tianshui Town, not everyone eats fish and meat every day.

  After eating and resting for a short while, the rain indeed subsided a lot.

  "Great joy and great benefit, Guanyin Bodhisattva, the old heaven is opening its mercy, please let the heavy rain stop, in order to survive, I will definitely burn three incense sticks a day, and never sneak a peek at the young widow next door taking a bath..."

  Yang Yunqiu directed people to get on the boat.

  The elderly and weak were placed in the middle, one by one to check if they had put on their life jackets, and then people used silk fabric to tie long ropes around their waists.

  The old man at the coffin shop still wanted to move his copper coins, Yang Yuqiu tried to dissuade him with a mixture of tears and laughter: "I know everyone's family is not wealthy, there are many things you want to take away, so let's do this: everyone pack their belongings in boxes or bags, then come to me to get a pair of numbered cards, stick one on the box, keep one for yourself. I'll tie your luggage boxes separately to the life ring and have the boat pull them along. When we escape danger, everyone can retrieve their luggage according to the number card."

  "Old Chen snorted: 'How can that be? What if it gets lost, are you going to compensate me?'"

  Zhou's face turned pale with anger: "You're now eating our young master's food, drinking our young master's wine, wearing and using things that belong to our young master. Is there anything that doesn't belong to our young master? Are you going to wait until the crisis is over before returning the money to my young master?"

  Old Chen suddenly shut up.

  Yang Yunqiu shook her head: "Moving the luggage up is indeed too space-occupying and too dangerous. Our 'boat' isn't that big or sturdy, and we also need to store dry rations. If we encounter other stranded refugees on the road, we should leave some space for them. As a person, you can't be too selfish. Putting the luggage separately may lead to loss, but we have no choice. We can only prioritize survival first. Besides, everyone is supervising each other and holding onto their number plates, so it's not like things will definitely get lost."

  They finally agreed, but they had no choice but to agree. In fact, only a few people were carrying valuable items, and the majority of residents had been reduced to poverty, having nothing left. Many people didn't even have a few sets of clothes to wear, and now everything they ate and used relied on what Yang Yunquei had prepared in advance. These people would say whatever harsh words they wanted, and those 'rich households' were also afraid to speak up.

  The people of Tianshui Town have all suffered from the disaster. The more it is at such times, the more chaotic the world becomes. Those who still have some property are also worried that they will become penniless and white-haired, and wonder if the villagers who have nothing will harbor evil intentions.

  Everything was ready, Yang Yunqiu arranged for someone to be in charge of 'rowing', and they drifted downstream.

  Fortunately, there were many people in Tianshui Town who were good at swimming and rowing boats. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for Yang Yinqu to transport so many people and things on her own. They sailed smoothly along the way, although they occasionally encountered some dangers. With Yang Yinqu in charge, no major accidents occurred, and they left the small town safely.

  It wasn't until they went out that they realized it wasn't just one place that was affected, many surrounding counties were also flooded. Their small town had made preparations and the area was not large with fewer people, so the losses were relatively smaller compared to other counties.

  All the way, it was a mountain of corpses and a sea of bones. The boat's progress was extremely difficult, and people often had to use bamboo poles to clear away obstacles that had drifted into their path, greatly slowing down their speed. Those residents of Tian Shui Town who were complaining about their misfortunes fell silent; weren't they much luckier than these people?

  Yang Yunqiu rescued many other survivors who had fallen into the water but were still alive, but only a few people had such good fortune.

  The surface of the water was freezing, and everyone was huddled together for warmth. Yang Yunqiu was still sitting with the group from Tianquan Building, thinking for a moment before saying straightforwardly: "We haven't finished discussing the case at Sutu Jun's house yet. Since nobody knows what will happen now, why don't we find out who the real murderer is?"

  Situ Jun seemed to not care on the surface, but actually still wanted to know the truth. His identity was very sensitive, and he had a good martial arts skills, Yang Yunqiu let him board the ship, but also assigned five people to stare at him, and used special techniques to tie his hands and feet, now, he no longer had the ability to think about revenge.

  Xiao Wang and Xiao Li frowned upon hearing this: "At a time like this, when we don't even know if we can survive, who still has the energy to care about those things?!"

  Jin Xiuciai also sighed: "It's been a year since everything happened, why bring up old things again?"

  Yang Yunqiu shrugged indifferently: "Actually, I'm just curious myself. If you don't want to say anything, it doesn't matter. Anyway, I already know the answer."

  "Answer?"

  Situ Jun's gaze suddenly fell on him.

  Yang Yunqiu smiled and said, "At the time of the re-enactment of the case, I had already seen it very clearly. There was only one person who had the opportunity to take action. You can think about it yourself and understand who was standing behind the deceased."

  Xiao Wang was taken aback and secretly glanced at Boss Sai Xi Shi.

  Xixi remained silent.

  "The landlady is a clever person, and it's already very difficult to find conclusive evidence to investigate the matter after a year. However, I'm not the county magistrate, so there's no need to investigate that thoroughly. I'll just say my speculation. I think the landlady's testimony that she saw a man and woman with their faces covered renting a room is absolutely false. At that time, there weren't many outsiders coming and going in Tianshui Town. If such a couple really existed, it shouldn't have been only the landlady who saw them; people from other shops should also have seen them. But in the case files, this couple only exists at Tianquan Building."

  "This testimony, although vague, makes one feel that Mrs. Sze-to may indeed have a paramour; but I always think that whether one's wife is faithful or not can only be understood by the husband himself. If Mrs. Sze-to were really promiscuous, Mr. Sze-to would not have acted in this way."

  Yang Yunqiu sighed: "No matter how you look at it, the leader doesn't seem like a muddle-headed person."

  "I'm guessing that the landlady must have had some unknown relationship with that deceased outsider, and that room where the murder took place was also left for him on purpose. Does everyone remember or not? Little Wang said that he got up in the middle of the night and saw Mrs. Sutu hastily coming out, but by then the outsider was already standing at the door of that guest room. Since the outsider wasn't staying there, why would he appear at the door? Is there some unknown story behind this?"

  Yang Yunqiu said everything was speculation, and it was very casual speculation, but the people present couldn't help but think in the direction he pointed to. Cici didn't refute him, just as he said, at this point, even living on is uncertain, what's good about hiding secrets? Sometimes secrets can be torturous too.

  Xishi tidied her hair: "...it was I who was foolish and brought calamity to Ah Xiu and the Situ family."

  As soon as she said that, everyone took a cold breath, apparently, Cecilia admitted that this matter was related to her, and even, it was her who killed the person.

  "The deceased outsider was named Su Xiang, he was my man. In the early years, I and he did all kinds of unscrupulous business, doing everything, but mostly human trafficking. Later, I got tired and quit, returning to my hometown Tianshui Town to open a wine house. Su Xiang wandered alone outside, that day, he sneaked in to find me, saying he had gotten into trouble outside and didn't want to do those evil things anymore... asking me to take him in for a while."

  "I softened for a moment and agreed, but unexpectedly... he actually took Mrs. Sutou away and did beastly things, and coincidentally Mrs. Sutou escaped and happened to be seen by Little King, I was afraid in my heart, worried that the officer would investigate Su Xiang again and ask out my secrets, my mind became dizzy, and when I came back to myself, Su Xiang had already died at my hands, at the time the situation was very chaotic, it was also midnight, the lamp was broken, no one saw clearly what happened, everyone thought Mrs. Sutou was the murderer, so I took a shortcut and threw that pair of scissors into the Sutou house."

  For a moment, the only sound on the entire ship was Cecilia's voice.

  Yang Yunqiu also didn't speak.

  Situ Jun burst out laughing, his gaze swept across the crowd, and everyone avoided eye contact with him: "My parents, wife, and children all died in such a muddled way? My wife was clearly a victim, but you people slandered her, causing my family, the Situ family, to lose face completely. I've fallen to this state, it's all because of your evil deeds. If heaven has eyes, let you die without a burial place, don't stay in this world to harm others."

  The whole ship was silent as a tomb.

  "Isn't it because we have committed too many sins that we've invited this retribution?"

  Yang Yunqiu sat at the bow of the boat, gazing far into the distance, and finally saw the mountains and land on the horizon.

  A boat of people, yet they didn't even have the energy to cheer, their future was dark and uncertain. Even after landing on shore, seeing those miserable refugees on the shore couldn't warm their hearts.

  Even with a heart full of mixed emotions, the boat still reached the shore. Yang Yunqiu took the remaining food on the boat and divided it equally among the residents who had lost all their belongings. He even gave away the life raft, life jacket, and other miscellaneous items without wanting anything in return. After distributing everything, he felt carefree and light, ready to continue his journey.

  The residents of Tianshui Town were reluctant to part with him, and countless people cried out for a long-life plaque to be erected in his honor.

  Yang Yunqiu lost his smile, and in his heart, he understood that among these people, maybe a small part would be forever grateful to him, but the majority would forget this matter after a while. Fortunately, he had already gotten what he needed, so he didn't care about their thoughts.

  As for Szeto Wah's fate, it was not something he could control.

  Yang Yunqiu's carriage was still there, but that old horse had already run off somewhere.

  Zhou Dali had no choice but to pretend to pull the cart in front, and before he could buy a horse, he could only pretend to be a great power, pulling a long and wide horse cart over the mountain.

  Everyone was exhausted, and Li Shanshan herself was almost fainting.

  However, they are sitting comfortably and complaining seems a bit unreasonable. Zhou Dali has to walk outside now, even if he doesn't use much strength to pull the cart, just walking is enough to suffer.

  "Master, there's someone following us from behind."

  Yang Yunqiu opened the window and looked out, and indeed saw several Tian Shui Town disaster victims following behind, with Li Da, who had hardly said a few words, being the closest.

  He ran at almost the same speed as Zhou Dali and was very close to the car.

  When they finally stopped to rest, Li Da caught up with them, carrying his mother on his back. With a thud, he knelt down in front of Yang Yuqiu and knocked his head against the ground seven or eight times: "Young Master, please take me in, I don't want any money for selling myself, just give my mother and me a place to settle down."

  Yang Yunqiu frowned.

  The doll looked at her own record on one side and couldn't help but laugh: "This Li Da is not bad, at the time of the case of Sutu Jun, this guy not only didn't say anything idle or gossiping, but also said a few good words for Mrs. Sutu, it's said that because of this matter, he didn't suffer less ridicule."

  Yang Yunqiu thought for a moment, he had planned to gather some people as his trusted followers and guards for the base. This person came voluntarily, with good conduct, so he accepted him. However, for now, he couldn't take them to the capital, so he gave him some silver money and dry rations, letting him bring his mother to temporarily settle in Quanzhou at the Sun family's place.

  Li Da was unwilling in his heart, but still walked away honestly.

  The rest of the journey was uneventful, and they continued on to the capital. However, it turned out that Yang Yunqiu's heroic actions in saving countless people in Tian Shui Town had spread far and wide, even reaching the ears of the Emperor of Yin Chao, who specially mentioned it at a grand court assembly. As a result, before Yang Yunqiu even arrived in the capital, he found himself having become a minor celebrity.