Chapter 90: Your Heart Isn't Sincere
By the end of August in the seventh year of Tianqi (1627 AD), Chengcheng County finally found peace.
The prolonged peasant uprising, thanks to the tireless efforts of Ninth-rank military inspector Cheng Xu, at last began to subside.
Wang Er from Baishui had fled north, traversing mountains and forests, leaving Chengcheng County. No one knew where he had gone.
Then, the new magistrate, Liang Shixian, assumed his post.
The first order brought by this new magistrate upon taking office was: "The Emperor has died, and the empire shall observe mourning."
Apparently, on August 22nd, the famous carpenter emperor Zhu Youxiao died of illness. On August 24th, the Chongzhen Emperor, Zhu Youjian, ascended the throne. The political landscape in the capital had shifted, but here in Chengcheng County, with the sky high and the emperor far away, news had yet to arrive. Only when the new magistrate assumed his post did he bring this "bad news" to Chengcheng County.
When the common folk heard this, they thought, "Oh, a new emperor? So what?" Will the new emperor bring rain? If not, they figured they might as well get back to their lives, wash up, and go to bed.
The side hall of the City God Temple in Chengcheng County was now quite bustling.
Mrs. San, dressed in a Daoist robe, sat upright. Before her, more than ten devout men and women prostrated themselves. This group offered countless thanks and gratitude to Dao Xuan Tian Zun, then recited a scripture with Mrs. San, before finally emerging from the side hall.
No sooner had they left the side hall than a middle-aged man slipped inside. His face was etched with worry and sorrow. He wore coarse hemp clothes, and his body was emaciated. Upon entering, he immediately knelt before Mrs. San: "Venerable Lady, please save me."
Mrs. San: "Oh? What illness has afflicted your family?"
The middle-aged man shook his head: "No one in my family is ill."
Mrs. San: "Oh?"
The middle-aged man whispered: "I am a government-registered artisan."
Mrs. San didn't quite understand what a "government-registered artisan" was. She simply maintained her dignified composure, remaining silent, letting the man explain himself.
The middle-aged man continued: "I have to work twenty days a month in the government workshop, receiving only a meager stipend, not even enough to buy food. So, I have to spend the remaining ten days desperately doing other odd jobs just to support myself."
"A few days ago, two sculptors came to the workshop. They made a fortune, immediately paying off thirty years of artisan tax, and no longer had to work in the government workshop."
Mrs. San, hearing this, was a little confused. "What does this have to do with me?" she thought.
The middle-aged man continued: "The two sculptors wouldn't say how they'd made their fortune. They only mentioned that they had received the blessings of Dao Xuan Tian Zun. So I went everywhere, inquiring about which immortal being Dao Xuan Tian Zun was. After much asking around, I heard people speak of you, Venerable Lady."
Mrs. San finally realized the truth. "So that's how it is," she thought, a light dawning on her.
The middle-aged man pleaded pitifully: "Please, Venerable Lady, guide me a little. How can I earn the favor of Dao Xuan Tian Zun and escape this sea of suffering?"
Mrs. San's mind raced, like abacus beads clattering rapidly. She only had the divine medicine gifted by the Heavenly Lord, which could cure illnesses, but she couldn't help people escape poverty. This government-registered artisan, she definitely couldn't help him.
However, what she couldn't do, the Heavenly Lord surely could.
Given this, there was only one path forward.
Mrs. San adopted a profound and inscrutable expression, shaking her head: "Your heart is not sincere," she declared. "The Heavenly Lord cannot help you either."
The middle-aged man grew desperate: "My heart is sincere," he insisted. "Truly, truly sincere!"
Mrs. San: "If your heart is truly sincere, then leave Chengcheng County town and walk more than thirty li to the northeast. There, you will find a small village called Gao Family Village."
The middle-aged man jumped in surprise: "Outside... it's a war-torn chaos..."
Mrs. San said coolly: "Indeed, your heart is not sincere. If you are so afraid to go outside, then the Heavenly Lord cannot help you."
The middle-aged man panicked: "My heart is sincere! Truly sincere! I... I'll go to Gao Family Village right now, I'll go right now... Once I arrive at Gao Family Village, what should I do?"
Mrs. San smiled mysteriously: "Once you reach the village, all will be revealed."
The middle-aged man grit his teeth, prostrated himself in thanks to Mrs. San, left the City God Temple, and rushed home with utmost speed. He had just finished his twenty days of mandatory government work for the month, leaving him ten days of rest that he could arrange as he pleased.
He resolved to spend these ten days venturing out and trying his luck.
He gathered the few copper coins they had at home, their only two dried biscuits, their only two garments, and a single iron pot. His entire worldly possessions fit into one bundle.
With his head bowed, he timidly walked to the city gate.
The old soldier guarding the gate watched the passing crowds with an expressionless face, showing no intention of questioning him. Blending in with the flow of people entering and exiting, he stepped outside the city walls. Then, asking for directions along the way, he headed towards Gao Family Village.
He remained terribly timid throughout his journey. However, the outside world wasn't as chaotic and war-torn as he had imagined. Cheng Xu was not one to sit idly by; he had long since suppressed the bandits and rogues in the surrounding areas.
As evening fell and the sun dipped below the horizon, the middle-aged man finally saw a tall, fortified village rising several li ahead. "Hey, Gao Family Village," he murmured, "I've arrived."
-----
Evening, with fiery clouds painting the sky.
Li Daoxuan was currently unboxing a package.
September was fast approaching. The time for sowing winter wheat was imminent.
The villagers of Gao Family Village were already rolling up their sleeves, preparing for a major undertaking. Many villagers had dug irrigation channels, ready to divert water from the "Great Pond" to their fields.
Relying solely on irrigation channels, the watering capacity was limited. Fields that had long suffered from drought would ideally benefit from a preliminary rainfall to moisten them.
It was also about time for Li Daoxuan to "bring rain" to the villagers.
For the past month or so, he hadn't caused any rain. This was, of course, because the temperature was too high, unsuitable for sowing. His provision of a large pond had been sufficient.
But as the end of August arrived, the temperature inside the box had noticeably begun to drop. The time for sowing winter wheat was drawing ever closer, making rainfall a necessary consideration.
Household humidifiers and sprayers simply wouldn't do. The water droplets they emitted were too large; even the smallest had a diameter of 0.3 millimeters and were very dense. Once sprayed into the box, with the water droplets appearing two hundred times larger in diameter, it would be like dropping dense clusters of 6-centimeter-diameter water balloons onto the ground from a height of 200 meters. That wouldn't be rain; it would be a disaster.
So, he searched for information online, and finally found a great device that could produce extremely fine mist.
A medical nebulizer.
Such devices were often used to treat asthma, pneumonia, and respiratory infections. They could transform liquid medicine into ultra-fine mist, just 2.2 micrometers in size, which was then inhaled into the patient's respiratory tract to achieve a therapeutic effect.
A 2.2-micrometer droplet, even when its diameter was scaled up 200 times, would only be 440 micrometers, or 0.44 millimeters.
Medical equipment truly was precise!
Rainfall of that diameter would certainly not cause a disaster.
He had ordered one that morning with expedited SF Express delivery, and it had now arrived.
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