8 – She Still Didn’t Want to Be Struck by Lightning
Yu had his epiphany!
The tall, handsome, heroic man’s eyes lit up. “I know! I have an idea!”
Shun smiled too, his furrowed brow relaxing. “If it works, you’ll be the next chieftain!”
Li Ziyin: I heard nothing at all.
But they had no reaction to the gleaming white rice!
Li Ziyin reminded them, ”This rice is food.”
“What?!”
Shun and Yu were both stunned.
Years of floods had left the tribe with less and less food—almost everyone went hungry year-round.
The divine lady had not only brought a method to control the floods, but food as well?
If what overflowed from the bowl was really food, then it was a treasure!
Yu was the closest. He picked up a grain and put it in his mouth.
Fragrant.
Crisp.
Slightly sweet.
It was the immortals’ rice!
Seeing his reaction, Shun knew Li Ziyin wasn’t lying.
He was about to kneel and bow to her.
How could Li Ziyin dare accept a bow from one of the legendary sage kings?
She didn’t want to be struck down by heaven’s lightning.
She hurriedly steadied him, forcing an awkward smile. “Chieftain, I deeply admire your care for your people. So besides food, I can also teach you the art of cultivation.”
Now Shun and Yu were even more determined to bow.
“This is a great kindness from the immortal. The Dongyi tribe will worship you for generations.”
No, no, no!
“No!”
Li Ziyin nearly knelt to them first.
“I descended to the mortal world in secret. It must not be known to outsiders.”
So let’s drop this whole matter!
“If the chieftain wishes to thank me, then give me that stone.”
Li Ziyin pointed at the stone with the waterway map drawn on it.
A map drawn by Yu the Great himself!
What precious historical material!
If she collected some more writings from this era and learned how to decipher them, what worry would there be about proving the existence of the Xia Dynasty?
What was a little rice compared to that?
Flower Nation could afford it!
She’d be making a huge profit!
Yu had long since memorized the waterway map, and Li Ziyin had just seen it too—there was no fear of her stealing any secrets.
Giving her the stone was no problem.
But Shun was inherently virtuous and unwilling to take advantage. “This…”
“I’m very interested in the tribe’s records. The chieftain could also take me to see them.”
Shun agreed without hesitation.
The tribe’s records were meant to be left for future generations anyway—there was no need to hide them from an immortal.
Besides, the immortal had brought them a method to control the floods, and food!
By the era of Yao, Shun, and Yu, rice already existed.
But husking techniques were poor, so everyone ate brown rice.
In times of disaster, they even ate rice bran.
Shun and Yu brought Li Ziyin to the tribe’s settlement.
Li Ziyin personally demonstrated cooking a pot of porridge. As the aroma of polished rice began to drift through the air, everyone’s eyes lit up.
They gazed at Li Ziyin with utmost reverence, unconsciously kneeling down one after another.
Li Ziyin pressed a hand to her forehead.
She ladled out a bowl of porridge and handed it to Shun. “The flood control is imminent—let everyone have a full meal first.”
Shun’s eyes brimmed with tears as he accepted the bowl with both hands. “Thank you, immortal!”
Li Ziyin still had her self-heating hot pot and luncheon meat, but since there wasn’t nearly enough to share with everyone, she didn’t take them out.
At noon, she simply had a bowl of plain porridge with everyone else.
In the afternoon, Yu went with his men to discuss the flood control strategy.
Shun personally took Li Ziyin to the place where the “historical records” were kept.
It was a tall, wide cave. At the very back, two neat rows of stones and animal bones were laid out, covered in ancient pictographic script.
On the cave walls, drawings had been made with burnt firewood, one after another.
Sacrifices. Hunts. Weddings. Punishments.
What caught Li Ziyin’s attention most was the most recent drawing—the Abdication.
The people in the pictures were, without a doubt, Yao and Shun.
Legend had it that Yu’s father, Gun, had died not only because of his failure to control the floods.
It was also because he had gotten mixed up in the power struggle over leadership.
When Yao wanted to abdicate the throne to Shun, he met with fierce opposition from the tribes, and only after considerable turmoil did the abdication succeed.
If these pictures were brought back, the historians at the base would probably be beside themselves with excitement.
Li Ziyin pondered for a moment, then looked at Shun.
“I would like to bring these pictures and records back to the ‘Celestial Realm.’ May I have your permission to make copies, Chieftain?”
Ideally, she could have just photographed them with a camera.
Unfortunately, she had just tried, and the camera was completely unusable in this time and space.
The Quick-Transmigration System notified her that it conflicted with the system’s data.
Li Ziyin had no choice but to give up.
But setting aside the devil training Xie Rongyu had put her through after she handed over the system—
Just the drawing skills she had learned during her previous Quick Transmigration Missions gave her confidence that she could replicate the images flawlessly.
Shun did not hesitate long before nodding. “The Celestial Maiden has shown great kindness to the Dongyi tribe. You may do as you wish.”
Li Ziyin clapped her hands. “How generous of you, Chieftain.”
So Li Ziyin gave Shun a ton of rice, as well as the sweet potatoes and potatoes.
She taught the farming methods to Houji, who was in charge of agriculture.
Houji regarded them as sacred guidance.
Then Li Ziyin spent every day in the cave, transcribing the historical records and learning to read the ancient script.
Shun even specially sent Qi, who was in charge of the Five Teachings, to help her.
Qi looked at the paper and pen she produced, and at the pictures she drew with flowing strokes.
He was extremely curious.
Li Ziyin took out a stack of notebooks and several dozen pencils and pens, and gave them to him.
At first Qi refused to accept them, but Li Ziyin said, “It’s tuition.”
Only then did he smile. “Very well. I will teach you everything I know!”
Trading some paper and pens for the ancestor of the Shang dynasty as her teacher—Li Ziyin had no regrets. She had promised Elder Xie she would return within a week, so naturally she dared not delay.
If she were even a day late, Elder Xie might think she had run off.
Working day and night without rest, she spent three days copying all the historical records in the cave.
And under Qi’s guidance, she learned to recognize the ancient pictographic script.
To keep herself from forgetting, whenever she transcribed something, she wrote it out again in modern Chinese characters below.
Three days later, Li Ziyin finally emerged from the cave.
The flood that had spread three days earlier had receded now that the weather had cleared.
The ground at the foot of the mountain was still muddy, though.
But Yu was about to set out with his men.
From up on the mountain, Li Ziyin watched Yu’s wife see him off.
She was a gentle, dignified woman—thin, perhaps, but when she looked at Yu, tenderness filled her eyes.
For some reason, Xie Rongyu’s face suddenly flashed through Li Ziyin’s mind.
Li Ziyin shuddered.
Her brain must be broken!
That devil of a man.
Sure, he was handsome, but she still wanted to keep her little life!
How could she possibly be thinking of him?
Li Ziyin shook her head repeatedly, forcing herself to calm down.
She took out the topographical map of the Yellow River basin she had sketched over the past three days, walked up to Yu, and handed it to him.
“This is a detailed map of the flooded region. But since it was drawn so long ago, it may differ from the current situation—treat it as a reference only.”
Li Ziyin had used waterproof paper, thin and snow-white.
Yu held it in his hands with the utmost care.
“Thank you, Immortal.”
In the legend, Yu spent thirteen long years taming the floods, passing by his own home three times without once entering.
Now it was only the beginning—the task was heavy and the road long.
Li Ziyin looked at this tall man and the gentle woman beside him, feeling somewhat moved.
Then she took out the explosives.
“This item, when it meets fire, becomes like Heavenly Thunder—it can help you split mountains and carve through rock. But do not use it too often.”