“Sister! Sister…”
Before the ringing in her head had faded, Yuan Fuyu abruptly opened her eyes and sat up in shock.
There was no strong smell of blood in her nose and mouth, the severe chest pain and wounds had disappeared, leaving only a heart pounding like a drum.
Was she not dead?
The ten-year-old girl who had shaken Yuan Fuyu awake from the bedside moved closer to her: “Sister, you’re finally awake!”
The fierce drum-like rain outside and the girl’s voice seemed muffled, not very clear.
“Sister, Father has sent someone to take Mother and us back to Wu City. You need to get dressed quickly!”
Yuan Fuyu’s breathing hadn’t yet steadied, but her hearing became clearer as the buzzing in her head subsided.
She looked at this exquisitely beautiful unfamiliar young girl before her, then at the maidservants hurriedly packing gold-carved and jade-inlaid utensils in the room, and at this cramped bedchamber hung entirely with deep red silk curtains, her face full of confusion.
A sudden gust of wind and rain slammed open the carved window, the cool breeze hitting Yuan Fuyu’s face and finally bringing her back to her senses.
“Where is this?” Yuan Fuyu asked.
Hearing the voice that came out, she raised her hand to touch her throat, then stared in shock at these delicate, boneless hands that didn’t belong to her, instinctively touching her face.
Seeing Yuan Fuyu touch her face, Cui Wuniang considerately handed her the gold-plated hand mirror with carved plum blossoms from under the pillow: “Sister, did you have a nightmare? This is our Cui Family’s old residence in Taiqing County!”
The bronze mirror reflected an unfamiliar and youthful face, looking only thirteen or fourteen years old, beautiful but not her own Yuan Fuyu.
Was this a dream? Or… had she taken over this girl’s body?
A maid in pea-green short jacket closed the window and hurried over, efficiently helping Yuan Fuyu dress while saying: “Fourth Miss, we can’t delay any longer. With continuous heavy rains during flood season, several weirs in Wu City are about to collapse. To reduce damage to more areas, the authorities are going to divert floodwaters to Taiqing County. The officials will breach the dikes at Chen hour, and it’s almost the end of Yin hour now. We must hurry.”
Still unclear about the situation, Yuan Fuyu let herself be dressed like a puppet by the maid, who fastened her cloak and helped her walk toward the exit of the old residence.
Cui Wuniang stayed close to Yuan Fuyu, chattering incessantly along the way.
This actually allowed Yuan Fuyu to understand her current circumstances before leaving the Cui Family’s old residence.
The body she had taken over belonged to Cui Siniang of the merchant Cui Family from Wu City.
Six years ago, Cui Siniang’s father sent his bedridden lawful wife Cheng Shi back to their old residence in Taiqing County. Dissatisfied with her father’s favoritism toward his concubine, Cui Siniang followed her mother back to Taiqing County, where they had lived for six years.
In merchant families, where hierarchy was overturned and concubines were favored over wives, Yuan Fuyu wasn’t surprised.
The closer they got to the main gate of the old residence, the louder the noise became…
Soldiers evacuating civilians, people crying and dogs barking, chaos resembling an army in rout, curses everywhere.
Cloaked soldiers wearing swords held high torches wrapped in oiled felt, shouting hoarsely in the heavy rain, occasionally pushing along civilians driving pigs, leading cattle, and carrying valuables, ordering pedestrians to make way for the Cui Family’s carriage.
Yuan Fuyu was led by Cui Wuniang as they stepped through the main gate of the Cui Family’s old residence.
The flickering torches that even the rain couldn’t extinguish flashed before Yuan Fuyu’s eyes, reminding her of the neatly arrayed, well-trained armored soldiers in the courtyard before her death.
She didn’t know how long she had been dead, nor who was currently governing the court after her death, or who was managing the Ministry of Works.
Flood control during Wu City’s flood season had always been of utmost importance. Why hadn’t they taken preventive measures earlier?
“What year and month is it now?” Yuan Fuyu asked Cui Wuniang.
“Sister, have you truly slept yourself silly? It’s the twenty-third day of the sixth month in the fourth year of Yuanping!”
Having said this, Cui Wuniang shook the rainwater off her cloak and, escorted by several sturdy maids holding umbrellas, stepped onto the carriage first.
The fourth year of Yuanping, sixth month, twenty-third day, Yin hour…
Yuan Fuyu watched the officials guarding the entrance of the Cui Family residence, then turned her gaze to the commoners being jostled by the soldiers as they fled with their families in the rain.
So, she had just died at the estate in the outskirts of the capital and immediately possessed the body of Cui Siniang, who was far away in Wu City, Taiqing County?
If that were the case, why did the flood diversion and field flooding incident occur despite her repeated emphasis on flood prevention and field protection during the Six Ministries’ deliberations at the beginning of the year?
“Officer, you must not divert the flood to Taiqing County!” An elderly farmer, accompanied by a group of fellow peasants, hurriedly sought out the bailiff. Kneeling anxiously in the heavy rain, he tugged at the bailiff’s hem, pleading tearfully, “Flooding our houses is one thing, but if our fields are submerged and we lose our grain, none of us will survive the winter!”
“This is a natural disaster—no one can help it! Diverting the flood to protect other counties is an order from above. The embankment will be breached as soon as Chen hour arrives. If you value your lives, pack up and leave quickly!” The bailiff yanked his hem free and raised his voice, shouting, “Hurry up! All of you, move faster! Don’t dawdle!”
“Mother, forget it! Let’s go quickly!” A young woman carrying a child helped her mother-in-law, who was kneeling at the rear. “Our lives are what matter! The court will send relief supplies!”
The old woman refused to rise, weeping even more bitterly. “These officials only know how to bully us commoners. Eight counties… why must they divert the flood to our Taiqing County? It’s only because they don’t dare offend the wealthy merchants and powerful families!”
“Foolish old woman, hold your tongue! Prefect Liu Chengzhang is personally directing the disaster relief. Diverting the flood to Taiqing County is a last resort!” The bailiff drew his sword menacingly and threatened, “If you don’t clear the road quickly, don’t blame me for showing no mercy!”
A brilliant flash of lightning illuminated the bailiff’s ferocious face, making it appear even more sinister, followed closely by a thunderclap roaring overhead.
The farmers who had been kneeling and refusing to leave grew fearful. Wailing, they helped each other to their feet.
“Sister, what are you standing there for? Get on the carriage!” Cui Wuniang, seeing Cui Siniang motionless at the doorway, assumed she was worried about Cheng Shi. “Mother’s carriage is up ahead!”
Yuan Fuyu glanced coldly at the bailiff brandishing his sword to intimidate the commoners, her eyes icy.
The bailiff, unsure why this young lady from a wealthy family was staring at him, sheathed his sword and strode over through the puddles. “Miss Cui, you should board the carriage and depart quickly. The crowd will only grow, and it’ll become harder for the carriage to move!”
“We’re leaving right now! Right now!” The maids beside Yuan Fuyu responded repeatedly, attempting to help her onto the carriage.
But Yuan Fuyu, standing under the eaves of the Cui residence’s main gate, remained still. Her voice was steady and authoritative: “The Inspector Commandant of the Xiaoshi Bureau has a message for Prefect Liu Chengzhang. I trouble you to deliver it.”
The Xiaoshi Bureau of Da Zhao, granted special authority by the imperial power, monitored all officials and answered only to the Princess. It served as the Princess’s eyes and ears in Da Zhao, and it was said there was no information the Princess wished to know that the Xiaoshi Bureau could not uncover.
The bailiff was startled by her words. Before he could ponder how a young woman from an inner chamber had encountered the Xiaoshi Bureau’s Commandant, Yuan Fuyu continued…
“At the beginning of the year during the Six Ministries’ deliberation, the Ministry of Works prioritized flood prevention across regions, with Wu City being the utmost priority. The Xiaoshi Bureau, under the Princess’s orders, inspected the weirs and recorded details, which will be truthfully reported upon return. The Princess knows exactly where in Wu City lies farmland and where the estates of nobles and wealthy merchants are. After flood diversion submerges the fields, when requesting court relief, if the Princess learns that Liu Chengzhang favored the wealthy at the expense of the people, his head will not remain. If the disaster is concealed, repeating the Han Yang flood incident where merchants bought flooded farmland cheaply from peasants… then Liu Chengzhang’s entire household, along with your heads, will all be lost.”
Yuan Fuyu had reviewed every report from the Xiaoshi Bureau’s inspections of weirs and farmland ownership across regions, including Wu City.
Nothing she read ever escaped her memory.
Taiqing County consisted entirely of commoners’ fertile fields, while the private lands of nobles and wealthy merchants were mostly in Yang County, Yingbao, Xiantai, and Yingshang.
Divert floods to Taiqing County?
What a fine official Liu Chengzhang is, acting as a parent to the people!
“Though the night is dark and the storm fierce, if Liu Chengzhang deliberately troubles the Princess and implicates the Xiaoshi Bureau, the officers must brave the rain nonetheless.” Yuan Fuyu asked the squad leader, “Have you memorized everything?”
Yuan Fuyu’s words were hardly polite.
Whether from profound fear of the Xiaoshi Bureau or not, the squad leader met Yuan Fuyu’s unnervingly calm dark eyes and grew flustered by the question. He nodded, turned to call for horses, and galloped away.
“Sister?” Cui Wuniang stared blankly at Yuan Fuyu as if not recognizing Cui Siniang before her.
She understood every word Cui Siniang had said, yet their meaning eluded her.
Moreover, having been with Cui Siniang all day, when had she met the Xiaoshi Bureau officers?
Lightning split the sky, thunder roared.
Standing under a violently swaying lantern, Yuan Fuyu said softly, “The mud is deep, horses struggle, travel is hard on a rainy night. Let’s disembark. Today’s flood diversion won’t reach Taiqing.”
The storm raged, torrents surged.
On the river embankment directing relief efforts, Prefect Liu Chengzhang, after receiving the squad leader’s urgent message, broke into a cold sweat despite the drenching rain.
He didn’t doubt Cui Siniang’s words—a gentlewoman raised in Taiqing County couldn’t possibly know court affairs so well.
Liu Chengzhang promptly changed the flood diversion weir.
As his subordinate went to relay the order, Liu Chengzhang urgently grabbed his wrist, whispering gravely, “When evacuating Yang County, remember… it was the Cui Family’s fourth young lady who persuaded me to change the flood diversion weir.”
The Xiaoshi Bureau operated mysteriously; he needed them to know quickly that Cui Siniang’s message had been delivered, he hadn’t troubled them, and had altered the weir.
Besides, with nobles’ and merchants’ lands mostly in Yang County, Liu Chengzhang, newly arrived, couldn’t afford to offend them.