The Flood Controller's Wife

Chapter 16: The river gives and takes away

When Weiying woke up, it was daybreak. The rain had persisted since the night before, showing no hints of stopping. From where he lay, clapping sound made by raindrops hitting against the roof tiles could be heard, its hummering beats evoking a brooding sense of forbearance in his mind. As if speaking to him in quiet countenance about a near future that he should be wary of. Occasional thunders could be heard echoing in the distance. His heart tightened with a slight sense of unknown urgency. A drop of water fell on his face, sending cold chill where it landed. Weiying looked up and saw a faint trace of a crack on the roof above the wooden bed.

He got up and opened the windows from his room and watched the rain below. He was at the second floor of the inn and from the window, he could see the view of the street. The view was blurred by the curtain of rain. He thought he saw some people scurrying in the shop below seeking refuge from the rain like himself. There was a commotion downstairs and soon, someone knocked at his door. It was the innkeeper.

"Daozhang, we have to leave this place now. Its flooding and the flood will reach this place."

What? How could there be flood? Weiying had calculated, planned meticulously and worked tirelessly all summer just to prepare for this season. The dyke that had been raised should at least withstand a week of continuous rain no matter how heavy. He had even found another water channel to distribute the water load and that was being prepared before he left. Assuming that worked out as well, How could the water rise so quickly? It made no sense.

When he was at the street level, he saw crowds of people bracing the rain and some took their horses to flee the village. The water soon covered the sole of his shoe. Weiying reached the stables at the back of the inn and untied his horse. Clattering sounds of people moving and grabbing things in all direction created chaos and disorder. Everyone else were frantic trying to safeguard and carry their oversized belongings.

This was the village closest to their father's camp. If the flooding had reached his knee here, it would be slightly deeper in the flood control camp that was geographically in closer proximity to the river. Weiying's eyebrows arched to form a worried frown. He wondered if his father was on his way to the village or the next village to safeguard himself from the flood. Judging from the speed of the rising water, their camp would have been flooded.

The innkeeper and a few able bodied male were voluntarily ushering people out of their homes to leave together toward a safer place-probably another village close by. Seeing that the crowd could manage by themselves, he went in the opposite direction. The innkeeper gave Weiying a bamboo hat to cover his head. The bamboo hat had a wide cover so he could keep his face dry and he need not worry about raindrops falling to his eyes that could block his vision.

As he approached the hilltop, Weiying was anxious. He could see the his father's camp at a distance. The rain fell heavy from the sky, creating loud clapping sounds as it hit the ground below. In the distance, the woods were a mass of blur, the heavy layers of rain had shrouded the surrounding like a thick blanket of fog. Only blurry greyish green and white were captured in view.

However, the road leading to the camp was blocked by the surging water. The whole place was flooded. He took a pair of binoculars from his sack. It was a device that he had made himself from crystal blocks that was shaped resembling lenses.

He squinted one eye to peer inside the cone end. The area appeared to be deserted. It seemed that the workers had left the area. Yet he had an uneasy feeling which could not be reasoned with. There was only one way toward the village that Weiying had passed and he saw no sign of his father or uncle or Yubin. He dragged his horse to the camp to check.

"Daozhang, you're going the wrong way. Its flooded on that end!" A middle aged woman carrying a child had told him as she passed him while carrying her child to move to a higher ground.