Chapter 39: Heavy Rain

If only time could turn back.

That day and night, he would have kept his composure, calmness, wisdom, and poise. He definitely wouldn't have taken that arrogant top scholar as his apprentice.

Looking at Zhou Qing, Zhou Huaishan's sadness flowed backward like a river.

Zhou Qing slammed the table, "I won't say anything today. Starting from tomorrow, if Shen Li tells me that you're not cooperating, just watch how I deal with you!"

Zhou Huaishan tilted his head in despair.

"I'm your father! Are you teaming up with outsiders to bully me?"

Zhou Qing really wanted to hit him with a brick.

"You better believe I mean what I say."

To prevent herself from doing anything outrageous in anger, Zhou Qing threw out these words and turned to leave.

Leaving Zhou Huaishan alone in the room to silently regret.

He thought he had picked up a servant for nothing, but unexpectedly... he got a teacher!

Regret and despair filled Zhou Huaishan's heart for a while, and he quickly fell asleep.

Early the next morning, Zhao got up early to make breakfast. Zhou Qing and Zhou Huailin ate and then set off.

They had already sold in nearby villages. With a mule cart, they planned to go a bit farther.

Shen Li came early.

When he arrived, he was carrying two pieces of pork and offal, handing them to Zhao.

He bought these from the village butcher with the copper coins Zhou Qing had given him.

"Aunt Zhao, I live alone and it's inconvenient to cook. If it's alright, may I join you for meals?"

Zhao smiled warmly, "Why not? You're too polite."

After exchanging pleasantries with Zhao for a moment, Shen Li entered the second room.

In order to help Zhou Huaishan pass the Tongsheng exam,  Shen Li conducted an assessment.

The assessment result...

Besides his imposing handwriting, Zhou Huaishan's academic level was not much better than Zhou Ping's.

With the autumn festival approaching, there wasn't much time before the exam. Facing Zhou Huaishan, Shen Li felt immense pressure.

But he had promised Zhou Qing.

Since he had promised, he must fulfill it.

There was no choice but to force Zhou Huaishan to study hard day and night.

Zhou Ping didn't expect his senior brother to be so knowledgeable. After Shen Li started the class, Zhou Ping listened attentively with admiration.

With him by his side, Zhou Huaishan didn't dare slack off too much.

Plus, Shen Li's lectures were witty and humorous, turning the Four Books and Five Classics into entertaining segments, making Zhou Huaishan find it interesting despite the long study hours.

They studied with Shen Li the whole day. In the evening, while Shen Li wrote the characters, Zhou Huaishan had to copy texts without slacking.

Zhou Qing sat beside him with a small tree branch, ready to hit his arm if he slacked off.

...

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was the day before the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Zhou Yuan sent a message back from the academy, saying he wouldn't come home for the Mid-Autumn Festival as he was going sightseeing with classmates and asked for five taels of silver.

The Mid-Autumn Festival was busy with the autumn harvest.

The second and third households had some money this year and hired several people, finishing the harvest in three days.

The main and eldest households had also hired people, though not many, and would have finished in three to five days.

But suddenly lacking five taels of silver, they had to dismiss the hired hands and work the fields themselves.

"Father, what's going on with the weather?"

Zhou Huaihai, who had never worked the fields, felt like he was dying after less than an hour on the first day.

Gasping for breath, Zhou Huaihai sat on the field ridge, pointing at the overcast sky, "Is it going to rain?"

Before Old Zhou could respond, a sudden strong wind began to blow.

The fierce wind whipped up the dry grass and yellow dust, turning the sky yellow in an instant, with visibility less than a meter.

"Father!"

Wang's voice rang out in the strong wind.

The wheat they cut hadn't been tied up yet, and it was all blown away when the strong wind came.

Sun jumped in distress, wanting to grab the wheat blown up to the sky, but how could she reach it?

The wind grew stronger, and the dark clouds in the sky grew heavier, so that by noon it was as dark as midnight.

Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled, and a heavy rain was about to pour.

"Father, the wind is so strong I can hardly stand!" Zhou Huaihai crouched on the ground and dared not get up. "Let's go back. With this weather, even if we force ourselves to harvest, we won't get much and we might be blown away."

Old Zhou looked at the fields where much of the work was unfinished, feeling heartbroken.

In previous years, when the second and third sons worked in the fields, the family's grain had long been harvested.

But now...

"Ah!"

Old Zhou hesitated, and Wang suddenly screamed, almost being blown away by the strong wind. Fortunately, Zhou Huaihai was beside her and pulled her back in time.

Seeing this, Old Zhou sighed heavily. "Let's go back first."

Zhou Huaihai breathed a sigh of relief and started walking.

At the Zhou family home.

"Second Uncle, with such a strong wind, is big sister all right?" Zhou Ping stood under the eaves with a worried look on his face.

Zhou Huaishan looked at the dark sky. "No, I have to go find Qing."

"I'll go." Shen Li's face didn't look any better than Zhou Huaishan's. With a serious expression and full of worry, he said, "Third uncle isn't here either, if something happens at home, Master can handle it. I'll go find her."

"What's more important at home than my daughter?" Zhou Huaishan gave Shen Li a cold glance and turned back to get his raincoat.

Shen Li stopped Zhou Huaishan.

"Master, if both of us go in the same direction to find Qing, there's no difference from me going alone. In this heavy rain, if something happens to you, how will I explain to Qing?"

Anxious, Zhou Huaihai didn't notice Shen Li's mention of Qing.

"Master, listen to me. I'll go and bring her back safely."

After saying that, Shen Li ran out without taking a raincoat.

He didn't immediately look for Zhou Qing but first went up the back mountain.

He gathered five skilled men and set off together.

The heavy rain poured down, making the ground muddy and hard to walk.

Zhou Huailin jumped off the cart to lead the mule. He had never seen such heavy rain in his life.

"Third Uncle, let's find a place to take shelter." Zhou Qing, sitting on the cart, wiped the rain off her face and shouted, "There seems to be an abandoned temple ahead."

"Alright, Qing, hold on tight."

Zhou Huailin led the cart through the rain. Though the temple wasn't far, the difficult road took them nearly half an hour to reach it.

"This rain is really heavy, Third Uncle."

As soon as they entered the temple, Zhou Qing wrung the water out of her pants.

Zhou Huailin stood at the temple entrance, worried, "This rain won't stop anytime soon. We can't go back, and I wonder how things are at home. I'm afraid our house won't withstand this rain."

A few days ago, Zhou Qing suggested repairing the roof, but Zhou Huailin said there wouldn't be heavy rain in this season and planned to fix it after the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Now...

Just as Zhou Huailin was burning with anxiety, he suddenly saw someone outside.

He squinted and looked carefully, "Qing, do you see someone there?"

Zhou Qing turned to look and saw Wang Qiang walking through the rain.

Zhou Qing...

What a coincidence?