Chapter 19 Don't Pursue Them
Li Daoxuan fumed for a fleeting moment at his restricted view, then a thought struck him: five days ago, he'd installed a surveillance camera beside the diorama box, continuously monitoring everything inside. The device had a loop recording function, so the video from last night must still be retrievable.
He swiftly pulled out his phone, opened the surveillance camera app, and scrolled through the recording list.
He had only gone to bed past two last night, so he just needed to check the footage from that time onwards.
It didn't take long for him to uncover the truth behind the "water theft."
Under the cloak of night, a large group of ragged, impoverished figures, dressed much like the residents of Gao Family Village, used the moonlight to cautiously approach the village's large pond. They quietly lowered their buckets, drew two full ones, hoisted them onto their shoulders, and then bolted towards the village outskirts.
Roughly an hour later, the group returned, once again snatching two buckets of water before fleeing.
This went on for three rounds, consuming three hours, until daybreak, when the group finally stopped. The pond's water level had dropped by a good two feet.
Watching this unfold, Li Daoxuan found himself speechless.
He put his phone away, only to hear the villagers still agitatedly discussing the incident. "Who knows where those scoundrels came from, daring to steal our village's water?" one grumbled. "It's an outrage! This precious water source was a gift from the Heavenly Lord. How can we stand by and let others pilfer it?"
"We absolutely must beat them and get our water back," another declared. "Otherwise, the Heavenly Lord will surely blame us for failing to protect the divine water He so graciously bestowed."
Li Daoxuan's voice resonated. "Gao Yiye, tell everyone: there's no need to pursue the matter of the stolen water."
Gao Yiye, who had been joining the villagers in their indignant outcry against the theft of the Heavenly Lord's blessed water, suddenly heard His voice from above. She gasped, looking up, and saw the Heavenly Lord's youthful, handsome face faintly visible amidst the clouds.
She quickly responded, "Heavenly Lord, someone has stolen Your blessing! Are You not angry?"
At her cry, the villagers all turned their gaze. Seeing her looking up and speaking to the heavens, they surmised she was conversing with the Heavenly Lord. Every single one covered their mouths, not daring to utter a single sound.
Li Daoxuan instructed, "Tell everyone that these are villagers from another settlement. They have no water to drink and are on the brink of collapse, which is why they resorted to stealing from Gao Family Village. The small amount of water they took is negligible; I will replenish your pond. There's no need to chase after people dying of thirst, shouting threats."
Gao Yiye promptly relayed the message to the entire village.
The villagers instantly shed their fierce, belligerent resolve to hunt down the thieves. They collectively prostrated themselves, kowtowing to the sky, and exclaimed, "The Heavenly Lord is merciful!"
"Divine grace extends to all!"
"Great compassion and mercy!"
"Savior of suffering people!"
A chaotic medley of compliments, indistinguishable as Buddhist or Daoist, soared up to the heavens.
Li Daoxuan sighed deeply, a thought crystallizing in his mind: *Clearly, saving just forty-two of these tiny people isn't nearly enough. My next task is to rescue many more. I'll begin with these desperate water thieves. I just hope my budget can handle it.*
That very night, as darkness descended, the forty-two small figures of Gao Family Village retreated indoors to sleep, and the diorama box once again resumed its "non-static scene."
But Li Daoxuan wasn't quite ready for bed. He remained seated at his computer, poring over historical accounts from the late Ming Dynasty, his eyes occasionally flicking towards the diorama box, specifically to the direction from which the water thieves had appeared the previous night.
Deep into the night.
Three o'clock in the morning.
Outside his window, Shuangqing City remained wide awake. Modern nightlife, after all, was vibrant. Cars still whizzed along the highway, and on the streets beyond the residential complex, people savoring barbecue and late-night beer were still excitedly chanting, "Five-card hand, six-six-six, Seven Fairies..."
Li Daoxuan picked up his phone and ordered late-night barbecue for delivery.
Just then, he noticed movement within the diorama box.
From the northern edge of the box, a small figure clad in tattered clothes emerged. He peered towards Gao Family Village for a moment, then waved a hand behind him. A large group of small figures materialized, each shouldering water buckets, stooped at the waist, and moving with furtive steps towards Gao Family Village...
Li Daoxuan closed the window, muffling the city's clamor, and allowing the room to settle into absolute silence. Then, he pressed his ear against the diorama box.
Inside the box, a profound silence reigned; the tiny figures moved without a whisper of a footstep.
Before long, they reached the edge of the large container.
The one leading them glanced into the container and let out an involuntary sound of surprise.
A small figure trailing behind whispered, "Brother Wang, what is it?"
The leader, whose surname was Wang, pointed to the large container before him, his face etched with astonishment. "Last night, we clearly siphoned off two feet of water," he whispered. "And with Gao Family Village drawing water all day, the level should have dropped even more. But look, it's somehow full again!"
Li Daoxuan stifled a chuckle. *I just poured another cup of water in there,* he thought.
The small water thieves huddled around the large container, their faces utterly bewildered. They stared at the brimming water level, then looked up at the sky. "It hasn't rained all day," one mumbled. "How did the water get refilled?"
"Unbelievable!"
"Where did this pond's water even come from?"
Brother Wang, though equally baffled, couldn't afford to dither as their leader. He waved his hand, muttering a low curse. "What's the use of wondering?" he hissed. "Quickly, fill your buckets! Stop your incessant chattering. If we alert the people of Gao Family Village and they catch us red-handed, we'll all die of shame right here."
That made perfect sense!
The group hastily converged on the pond's edge, dipped their buckets, and drew water. Some even plunged their entire heads into the cool liquid, gulping it down greedily...
Li Daoxuan watched the scene, a pang of sorrow in his chest. *Poor, desperate refugees,* he thought.
His gaze drifted to his bag of rice. He considered dropping a handful in, but then, a second thought: *Once my rice is in there, it'll transform into giant grains, forty to sixty centimeters long. Their wooden buckets wouldn't hold them. I can't expect them to roll the rice along the ground for a dozen *li* back to their village, the way the people of Gao Family Village did during the distribution, can I?*
*No, best not to torment them with such enormous rice grains. It would terrifying them in the dead of night, and might even lead to fatalities.*
*I should give them something they can easily carry in their buckets.*
He shifted his gaze from the rice bag to the flour bag beside it.
Modern flour, he reasoned, was ground finer than sand. Even if the powder expanded two hundredfold inside the box, it would still retain a granular, coarse texture, not something overly alarming. *If I give them this,* he thought, *they won't be scared senseless or get all superstitious.*
Li Daoxuan reached out and scooped a small pinch of flour. While the tiny figures were intently drawing water, he quietly, imperceptibly, placed the flour behind them, where it settled into a small, pale mound.
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