Priceless: A widow with a baby asks the prince to marry again

In the early morning after the wolf attack, Liu Rusi slept late, which was rare. But the key point was that everyone else was awake, including Caiyun and Xiao Qinhao, but no one called her!

"Why didn't you call me?" Liu Rusi asked Caiyun in a low voice while quickly washing up.

Fortunately, she hadn't slept for too long, and some of the cyclists had just gotten up. But they didn't wash up, they just rubbed their eyes and set off. If she didn't brush her teeth and wash her face in the morning, she would be uncomfortable on horseback all day...

Caiyun didn't say anything. She faced Liu Rusi and had her back to Chu Shiyu and the others. At this moment, her eyes were desperately glancing back from the side.

Liu Rusi quickened her washing up with an expressionless face. She was also sleepy, so who else could it be but him?

Two guards were left behind to accompany the injured man to find an inn or a private house to stay, while the rest of the large group continued on their journey with the same itinerary.

It is impossible for such a team to stop for a guard. Not to mention if one of them is injured, even if more than half of them are killed, Chu Shiyu will leave as soon as possible.

Liu Rusi was riding on a galloping horse. She approved of Chu Shiyu's current approach. This was what a person in power needed. When facing major events of the country and family, some matters or even life and death could be put aside.

However, because of this, she began to feel resentful towards Chu Shiyu for slowing down because of her at the beginning... Why?

Are his feelings for her so strong that he can ignore the greater good just because of her trivial matters?

From the beginning to the end, she never fully understood where Chu Shiyu's feelings for her came from, and they were so strong and deep from the beginning that she felt they were fake.

Although Qin Lie was extremely nice to her from the beginning and told her everything within 24 hours of knowing her, she was also full of doubts at that time, but she soon understood.

Qin Lie was too lonely. He desperately longed for family affection and companionship. Her appearance was like the fire he encountered after falling into eternal night.

Because he knew that she might not stay, he tried his best from the beginning to get a relative called his wife. That's why he was determined not to touch her for three years. If she hadn't taken the initiative, she believed that Qin Lie could have waited for the promised five years.

It’s not that Qin Lie didn’t have desire for her. She had seen Qin Lie running into the bathroom in a panic many times. It’s just that his desire for family affection was greater than anything else, and everything else would give way to it.

Even when they were together every day, they still felt it was not enough. Qin Lie's family affection seemed to always prevail, or it could be said that it was difficult to distinguish it from love, as if they were one and the same...

From family affection to love, Liu Rusi didn't know if she and Qin Lie were in the best form of love, but she thought it was the best form...

Who said that Qin Lie was the only one who longed for family affection? She was just not as brave as Qin Lie...

The concerned gaze interrupted Liu Rusi's thoughts. She turned her head to meet the gaze and saw Chu Shiyu's inquiring eyes.

Liu Rusi turned back as if nothing had happened.

It seems that I accidentally shifted my focus from thinking about this guy's problem to reminiscing about Qin Lie...

By the way, what was the reason why Chu Shiyu's emotions were so turbulent at the beginning? Was it also family affection?

But he is not as pure and brave as Qin Lie, but more like her kind of person... Because he thinks too much, it is difficult for him to have the courage to move forward. Even if he longs for family affection, he will deceive himself and tell himself that he doesn't need it at all.

If it weren't for Qin Lie...

Liu Rusi shook her head and decided to concentrate on riding for now. She would still have plenty of time to miss him in her life.

The horses galloped and another day passed.

The bonfire flickered, burning through another dark night.

Liu Rusi and Caiyun had both gotten used to the bumpy days on horseback, and nothing unexpected happened during the ride, so there was nothing special about it.

On the fifth day after the cavalry set out, they finally entered the territory of Xingzhou.

In fact, the scale of the river breach this time was relatively small, and the area covered by the flood was not large. This river has breached its banks countless times in history, and there have been as many as twenty times in the more than 50 years of history of the Xia Dynasty alone.

Generally, a dike breach of this scale would not require the descendants of the emperor to come to provide disaster relief. Moreover, Xingzhou City is only about a hundred miles away from the provincial capital of Henan Province. The second-rank governor who manages the province is fully capable of mobilizing resources across the province to carry out disaster relief on his own.

The reason why the prince was sent this time, apart from the selfish desire of all parties to compete for credit, was mainly because the location of the breach happened to be right opposite Xingzhou City!

On that day, the water level inside the city walls rose five feet high! Many city walls and buildings collapsed. Not only was it so bad inside the city, but it was even worse for the villages and farmlands to the north of the city that were facing the flood...

The land near the river is fertile, so the villages in the north are the most densely populated, so that this small-scale breach caused heavy losses, countless houses were destroyed, and thousands of people were displaced.

Chu Shiyu's main task here was to coordinate resources from all parties, to provide post-disaster resettlement to prevent the victims from becoming refugees, and to manage this section of the river. The initial emergency rescue work must have been the responsibility of local officials.

As soon as she entered the territory of Xingzhou, Liu Rusi understood what it meant that disasters were merciless...

Many ragged disaster victims can be seen gathering on the higher hillsides. The grief of losing their homes or loved ones makes everyone look fearful and confused about the future.

It has only been ten days since the disaster, but many people have become pale and thin, looking weak and dying. This is because the disaster happened too suddenly, and many people did not even have time to escape, let alone carry any food with them.

"Didn't the local warehouses open to provide relief to the victims?" Liu Rusi asked in a low voice.

"There should be some, but not too much grain is used for relief. There are various reasons for this. The official reason is basically to keep some surplus food for emergencies." Chu Shiyu had experience in disaster relief before, and the situation at that time was more complicated than it is now.

Although this time we are facing the densely populated area of ​​Xingzhou, there are a total of 4,000 households in Xingzhou city, with a population of only about 30,000. Together with the surrounding counties and villages, the total population is more than 200,000. However, at this time of year, the main crop in the area, wheat, should have been harvested, and a lot of local grain should have been collected and stored in warehouses.

The emperor did not arrange for relief grain to be transported from the capital, but instead granted Chu Shiyu special permission to directly use the tax grain from Henan Province that was waiting to be transported, thus avoiding the need to transport grain from the capital and wasting manpower and resources.

Of course, this part of the grain could only be moved because someone of high status came with an imperial decree. Otherwise, even the local governor would not have the power to move the grain. There was a fear that once this loophole was opened, local officials would be able to get their hands on the tax grain.

In addition, each prefecture, state, and county has its own local granary. The highest official of the city has the right to allocate grain in times of disaster. According to the amount of grain stored required by the court, even if all 200,000 people lose their stored grain, it should be enough for emergency response for one month... and the disasters will definitely vary in severity, so it is impossible for all the people to lose their stored grain and homes.

"Your Highness, the funding for this disaster relief is 10,000 taels of silver... It will be delivered to the location in about five or six days." Sun Zhizhao felt a little embarrassed. The Ministry of Revenue was still as stingy as ever.

He had just taken people to the city to inform the officials in Xingzhou City, and of course he also learned about the emperor's public decree. Before, they had received secret decrees and many matters were not explained clearly.

Chu Shiyu nodded slightly to indicate that he understood and was not surprised by the situation. It was indeed a little less, but at least it was clear how much money had been allocated, and no one dared to exploit him when it came to him.

When they arrived in Xingzhou, they were no longer in such a hurry. Both Chu Shiyu and Liu Rusi were paying attention to the victims they met along the way.

The closer you get to Xingzhou City, the more victims there are. This is the south side of Xingzhou, and many of the people affected by the disaster in the north have fled here.

Many people were camping outside with their families, and most of them gathered in groups. Some people set up iron pots that they had picked up to cook food, and the whole family gathered around the pots, constantly guarding the surroundings to prevent others from snatching it. This was understandable, as they had already seen several fights over food during this period.

At this time, there was another noise. Chu Shiyu and others turned around and saw a group of people gathered in one place and seemed to be snatching something.

There were too many such incidents to handle one by one, so what they had to do was to solve these problems at the source. The horses of the cavalry kept moving, but they only looked over there for a moment before passing by.

"Moo!" Some high-pitched cow roars sounded among the group of people.

Chu Shiyu and Liu Rusi looked carefully and found that they could vaguely see a strong cow in the crowd, stamping its hooves restlessly.

Then he saw a man in a green robe on the cow's back, holding the cow's neck tightly and refusing to get off the cow.

"Old Taoist priest?!" Liu Rusi stared at Chu Shiyu.

Chu Shiyu was also very surprised and immediately said, "Let's go and take a look first!"

Hundreds of majestic horses immediately turned around. When the crowd noticed them, they scattered like birds and beasts without being driven away, fearing that they would be caught and punished if they ran away too late. Everyone knew that robbery was a serious crime.

The crowd dispersed, leaving only the cow and the man on its back. The green Taoist robe was almost stripped off, and the hair tied up with a wooden hairpin revealed gray hair... The man turned his head to look at the newcomer. The clear eyes on his wrinkled face were very abrupt. Who else could it be but the old Taoist priest? !

"Is it the abbot of Baitian Temple?" Liu Rusi asked first. He was not completely sure because he had seen it on the boat before. After all, riding a cow was a common way for Taoists to travel.

The old Taoist loosened the cow's neck, slowly climbed up and sat down, grinning and said, "Have you seen Tianqing?"

How dare you ask? Before Liu Rusi could continue to question, Chu Shiyu asked in a deep voice, "Where were you ten days ago?"

The old Taoist priest still grinned at him but said nothing, looking as if he didn't understand.

Liu Rusi also realized that this place was more than 2,500 miles away from Jiangyang! They took the official ship of the Yangtze River to Wuyang and then rode fast horses to Xingzhou! Did this Taoist priest arrive in Xingzhou before them? Did this Taoist priest riding a cow come by plane? !

"Have you always been riding a cow?" Chu Shiyu asked in a different way. He wanted to know how this old Taoist got to Xingzhou.

If you take a boat and then a horse like them, it is not surprising to arrive in ten days. If you take the 800-li express route, you may arrive in three or four days. However, these fastest ways of traveling are controlled by the court, and ordinary people cannot use these methods to travel.

"Yes, this cow is named Qingyang and is very considerate. He has been traveling with me for more than a year. Thank you very much for what I just did. Otherwise, my good friend would have been taken away~"

The old Taoist shook his head and fumbled around his waist. Suddenly, he slapped his thigh and shouted, "Oh! My poor Taoist's purse and gourd have been robbed! They took my purse, but they took my gourd. It's just some water in it!"

Chu Shiyu and Liu Rusi looked at each other and understood. The old Taoist's words admitted that it was him who was at Jiangyang Wharf. He was holding the gourd towards them at that time.

This roundabout way of speaking is in line with his style of leaving notes. Chu Shiyu then asked: "Your cow walks very fast?"

"No other cow has ever carried me on its back. I don't know whether Qingyang walks fast or slow." The old Taoist patted the cow's head, and several people noticed that the bull had a pair of large horns that curved upwards, but the tips of the two horns were cut off an inch, probably because they were afraid that the bull would hurt people.

"How far did Qingyang walk in a day at the fastest?" Little Qin Hao also asked. Looking at the cow that his father gave to the master of the temple, he couldn't help but feel curious and fond of it.

"I have never measured the land, so I don't know how far Qingyang can walk in a day. Sometimes I feel sleepy and sleep on him, but when I wake up I don't know where I am."

The old Taoist priest looked at little Qin Hao with his eyes filled with more wrinkles from smiling. He rummaged in his arms and took out a pendant. He stretched out his hand as far as he could to hand it to little Qin Hao.

Little Qin Hao was still sitting on his horse, leaning in Chu Shiyu's arms. He looked at the pendant, then looked at Liu Rusi to ask for his mother's opinion.

Liu Rusi saw the sharp object about an inch long in the old Taoist's hand, and then looked at the horn with the tip missing. She asked hesitantly, "Is this... the tip of the horn?"

"Yes, this is the tip of Qingyang's horn. You and Qingyang were born together. If you hold the tip of the horn, it means we will be together." The old Taoist laughed and stretched out his hand for a long time. He didn't take it either, because little Qin Hao didn't take it.

Liu Rusi looked at the rope passing through the middle of the horn. Isn't this the physical meaning of drilling into a horn? It seems that the meaning is not very good... However, this is the ox that Qin Lie gave to the master of the temple, and she also remembered that this ox was born on the same day as little Qin Hao.

After signaling to Xiao Qinhao that he could accept it, Liu Rusi asked seriously, "What is the purpose or meaning of this horn?"

The implication is that if he really wants to be stubborn, she will take this thing back and put it in the bottom of the box. Even if it is related to Qin Lie, she can't let little Qin Hao be stubborn in the future!

With the help of Chu Shiyu, little Qin Hao leaned forward to take the pendant. The old Taoist priest smiled and took back his hand, pointed upwards and said, "Ox horn, toward the sky!"

Although she didn't quite understand, it should be a good idea. Liu Rusi looked at the horn of the cow without a sharp edge and asked, "Only one... The cow has two horns."

The old Taoist priest was still smiling, but he looked at her with his clear eyes, shook his head and said with a sigh: "You, don't dwell on this."

Liu Rusi's face turned dark. He was really being too picky!

Chu Shiyu, who was standing by, was suddenly stunned. Then, a look of expectation and disbelief appeared on his face. He looked back and forth between the old Taoist priest and Liu Rusi. Was what the master of the temple said what he understood?