Translator: Exodus Tales
Editor: Exodus Tales
Translated by Mianbao
Edited by RED
“It won’t be raining today, judging by the weather,” Zhu Minglang muttered.
The mountain forest had its own ways of storing water. The dense bushes, thick earth, and succulent plants that produced water shone in the sunlight. The ponds in the valleys, however, were so dry that fissures could be seen.
It wasn’t that the people had no water to drink, but that the fields and livestock lacked water. Winter was just right around the corner; the people needed to stock up on food!
Little Baiqi was indeed very lazy. He clearly had wings, and had just woken up from his long slumber, yet he was unwilling to fly around the beautiful mountain, only lazing about on Zhu Minglang’s shoulders…
If he could perch on a shoulder, then he was determined to not take a single step himself!
Fortunately, the little fellow was light. If little Heiya was also like this, Zhu Minglang felt like he should change occupation and become an armor forger; forget about being a Dragon Tamer!
“Further up the gorge is a cliff. It’s not suitable for walking; go look around and see if there’s any other path to take,” Zhu Minglang told Baiqi.
Baiqi looked unwilling to leave this comfortable vehicle. He pushed his head against Zhu Minglang, acting like a spoiled child.
“You’re lazy to the bones,” Zhu Minglang said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
Forget it; he’d scout around himself.
Zhu Minglang diverged from the stream, and saw the topography of the mountain forest ahead was rising. At several areas, the rise was so steep there wasn’t even a way for him to climb up…
“Strange. Why are there road marks here?”
When Zhu Minglang detoured around the steep area, he discovered there were signs of the vines and thorny undergrowth being hacked. Also, there was a clear path on the ground, like a mountain road woodcutters used when entering the mountains.
Harboring suspicions, Zhu Minglang walked along the path to the high area, then found the stream based on his memory…
However, the scenery in front of him left him stunned.
A dike!
There was a dike here, thoroughly severing the stream at its peak.
Ancestral Dragon City State’s irrigation works weren’t backwards. Theoretically speaking, the appearance of a water dike here was very normal.
It stored water when rain was ample, and let water out when it was dry. All of this was normal irrigation work.
Behind this dike, however, the water was as abundant as a mountain lake. There were no signs of a drought at all. Also, although the water didn’t flow much at the peak, it was still continuously flowing into the dike!
The amount of water stored inside was completely sufficient to irrigate the dry fields of Glory Valley City, as well as to water the livestock. All that was needed was to open the dike’s stone gate!
“What’s going on?” Zhu Minglang was confused.
That young city lord had clearly said that Glory Valley City was out of water, and irrigating the fields and raising the livestocks had become serious problems. However, the dike here was clearly filled with water. Wasn’t he purposely making the people face a crisis?!
Zhu Minglang had a rather good impression of that young city lord. He was neither subservient nor overbearing towards Dragon Tamers, and was clear in expressing their situation, even realizing that summoning rain in the night would bring harm to the fields…
However, after seeing the full bank of water, the tightly shut gate, and the pitifully tiny stream of water flowing down to the fields, Zhu Minglang only felt disgust and disappointment toward the young city lord.
The water bank was full, and yet he chose to not release it. The people were suffering, and he chose to ignore it.
What ulterior motives was he harboring!?
—–
Walking back where he came from, Zhu Minglang’s mood grew heavy.
Although he wasn’t a man filled with aspirations, he couldn’t tolerate such disgusting bureaucratic practices. He needed to inform Teacher Duan Lan about this matter as soon as possible.
Teacher Duan Lan was someone who was truly compassionate. She didn’t mind making such a long journey to the eastern Glory Valley City, all for the sake of calling for rain, an action that did not benefit her in any way. She was a role model for the students, showing them by example that those with ability should make the lives of the poor better.
—–
At noon, the strong rays of the sun were lashing at all living things. The fruit trees were in decline, the fields were drying. It was clearly providing heat in the autumn, but it only made the people feel even colder.
The difference in temperature between day and night was extremely great. By the time Zhu Minglang returned to Glory Valley City, his back was soaked in sweat. He walked toward their mansion along the street, and saw the vendors packing their things in a hurry, looking flustered.
When he arrived at the mansion, Zhu Minglang didn’t see the teachers nor his fellow students. They seemed to have gone to the roof of where the ritual was taking place. As such, he asked the servants for the way and made his way there.
Just as he left the mansion, someone came up to him. He looked like Zhu MInglang was the person he was looking for, his expression somewhat strange.
“Are you Brother Zhu?” the man asked, bowing deeply.
Zhu Minglang looked at him, not saying a word.
This person was none other than that young city lord, Zheng Yu.
Zheng Yu stood in front of Zhu Minglang, still bowing deeply. His behavior immediately reminded Zhu Minglang of something, and his expression grew wary, ready to have Baiqi take action at any moment.
“I heard Brother Zhu went upstream. May I ask if Brother Zhu has seen the dike?” Zheng Yu inquired.
“I did,” Zhu Minglang answered, fully prepared.
“Are you going to inform Teacher Duan Lan and Teacher Ke Bei about it?” Zheng Yu asked, his tone unchanging.
“Just go straight to the point.” Zhu Minglang was ready to fight.
“Don’t misunderstand me, Brother Zhu. Zheng Yu is only a weak scholar, and I don’t know the ways of dragon taming, either. Needless to say, I don’t have any malicious intent against Brother Zhu, but before Brother Zhu goes to inform the teachers, will you please listen to me for a minute? I won’t stop Brother Zhu if you’re insistent on telling the teachers and exposing my ugly deeds at that time, and I’ll be willing to accept any punishments,” Zheng Yu stood up straight, looking sincere.
Zhu Minglang took a glance at the sky.
Earlier, there weren’t any clouds in sight, but now the sky was already covered in dark clouds. He wasn’t sure if the weather had suddenly taken a turn, or if it was Teacher Duan Lan already executing her Azure Dragon Mystic Art.
It was no longer as hot, but it was starting to feel a little gloomy.
“Please speak, City Lord.” Zhu Minglang wasn’t in a hurry to leave, since he had already said that much.
“Brother Zhu, do you know about Wutu, and do you know that the troops are slaughtering the Wutu rebels just twenty-five kilometers away?” Zheng Yu asked.
“I’m aware,” Zhu Minglang nodded.
Wutu… He had nice memories of that place… beautiful memories of planting mulberry trees and raising silkworms.
“I see Brother Zhu is a wise person as well. What are your views on this war?” Zheng Yu asked.
“I’m only listening to what you have to say,” Zhu Minglang said plainly, but in his heart, he had a newfound opinion of Zheng Yu.
Although what this man had done was deplorable, his eyes were perfectly fine, unlike a certain vendor at the bridge outside the academy…