novelaction Chapter 1034 Dream Calamity
Chapter 1034 Dream Calamity
After figuring out the whole story, Xiaoyuer went over to his father and asked, "What should we do with these people?"
Zhang Ping'an pondered for a moment after hearing this before stroking his beard and saying, "Well, although these people are just a rabble, and we only had a false alarm this time and didn't suffer any losses, their behavior is truly despicable. If they were just ordinary wealthy merchants, they would probably have fallen into their trap. We must not tolerate this! Tie them up and have them follow the carriage to the county government ahead!"
Judging from their appearance, they haven't gained much influence yet. It won't matter much if the case is decided by the county government; with our connections, I'm confident the local magistrate will handle it impartially.
"Yes, Father!" Little Fish nodded and left to carry out the order.
Xiaoyuer felt no sympathy for these criminals who bullied the weak; he despised them from the bottom of his heart. He was particularly rough with his hands, kicking and shoving them to the back of the carriage.
These people had their hands tied behind their backs, their mouths gagged, and could only walk on their feet. After being fed, they were strung together like grasshoppers with a rope, so there was no need to worry about them escaping.
After dealing with these people, everyone remounted and continued on their way.
When passing through the next county town, they threw all these people into the county government office.
The local magistrate was quite surprised to learn that Zhang Ping'an was passing through the area on his way to take office. He was then flattered and worried that he might not be able to entertain him properly.
Despite repeated invitations to host a banquet for everyone, Zhang Ping'an politely declined, citing official business.
With this reason given, the magistrate could no longer force them to stay. He was a smart man and did not openly offer gifts to curry favor. Instead, when everyone was leaving, he gave them two gifts of moderate value under the guise of filial piety to Zhang Lao Er and Xu Shi.
Zhang Ping'an glanced at it and, finding it acceptable, accepted it. He reasoned that in officialdom, one cannot survive without cultivating relationships with colleagues.
And so, the group traveled at breakneck speed for seven or eight days. Apart from the extreme heat causing discomfort, the journey was relatively smooth, and none of the things Zhang Ping'an had been worried about happened.
Although they occasionally encountered small groups of bandits, they were all easily dealt with, just like the first time, it was a false alarm. Before they knew it, they had already traveled more than halfway and arrived near Xuzhou.
At this moment, the weather changed drastically, turning from a bright sunny day to a sky full of dark clouds, and it looked like a downpour was imminent, so it was not advisable to continue traveling.
In addition, the journey had been too fast over the previous seven or eight days, and the bodies of Zhang Lao Er, Xu Shi, Li Shi, and the two children were all struggling to keep up.
They were all sickly and had drunk several doses of health-preserving soup, but their condition did not improve.
Although Zhang Ping'an was still eager to get to his post, he knew from the situation that he couldn't force himself to travel any further. Besides, seven or eight days had passed, and they were already quite far from the capital. Perhaps his worries were just overthinking things.
So he instructed everyone to rest temporarily at an inn near Xuzhou.
"I don't think this rain will stop anytime soon, so let's rest at the inn for a few days. Have the cook make some nourishing soup for your grandparents, your wife, and the children. Also, make a big pot of brown sugar ginger tea to share with everyone to ward off the chill. Summer rains come suddenly, so we can't be careless!"
"Okay, I understand, Dad," Xiaoyuer replied, then looked out the window with his hands behind his back and frowned: "It was clear and sunny this morning, but now it's dark. Even if we wanted to leave, we couldn't!"
“We’ve been rushing along the way, so a few days’ delay won’t hurt. Let’s rest here at this post station for a few days and not wear ourselves out!” Zhang Ping’an said.
Then he thought of farming and felt somewhat relieved. "Judging by the days, most people should have finished the autumn harvest by now. If this rain had come a few days earlier, the farmers would probably have suffered from disaster and a poor harvest again!"
"That's true," Xiaoyuer nodded, then closed the window slightly before going out to visit the rest of the family and instructing the servants to make soup.
Zhang Ping'an had been on edge for days, not daring to sleep too soundly. But perhaps because he was now far enough away from the capital to be safe enough, or perhaps because the journey had been relatively smooth with only a few farcical incidents, coupled with the current overcast weather, he was finally able to let his guard down and relax.
At this moment, he was finally able to take a short rest in peace.
He soon drifted off to sleep, and for once, he recalled the events of the battlefield near Kaifeng, when it was raining incessantly.
The icy rain streamed down his armor, down his wrists, and onto the back of his hand that held the reins, making his skin look as pale as a zombie, chilling him to the bone.
The rain obscured my vision, making it impossible to see what was happening ahead. All I could know was that I was very nervous, my heart was pounding, as if something very important was about to happen, something I wanted to grasp but couldn't.
But that shouldn't be the case. There should be other people around him, but looking around, he was all alone. That feeling of isolation and helplessness was all too real.
By the time Zhang Ping'an came to his senses, he had already woken up, breathing rapidly. His right hand was still pressed tightly against his left hand over his heart, which was pounding like a drum, as if it were about to burst out of his chest. His whole body was trembling with his heartbeat.
Looking out the window again, I saw torrential rain, with large raindrops falling continuously, forming a white curtain of rain, and the sky was dark and gloomy.
With a loud "boom," a clap of thunder rang out from the sky, accompanied by lightning that illuminated the surroundings with a fierce and imposing sound. It turned out that the wind had blown the window frame open at some point, and it was now creaking loudly.
"Dad, you're awake?" Little Fish gently pushed the door open and came in at that moment.
Seeing that Zhang Ping'an was awake, he was stunned for a moment, then came over to close the window and said gently, "I didn't want to disturb you because I saw that you were sleeping soundly, but the rain was pouring down, so I was going to give you an extra layer of clothing. But you woke up. The servants are really careless; they didn't even close the window. I'll have to have the steward talk to them about it later."
"What time is it?" Zhang Ping'an asked after a moment of stunned silence.
"It's just past Chenshi (7-9 AM), it's still early. Why don't you sleep a little longer? I haven't seen you sleep so soundly lately while we've been traveling," Xiaoyuer said as she walked over to help her father put on his clothes. Her expression was much more relaxed than a few days ago.
Knowing what his father was worried about, Xiaoyu thought for a moment and comforted him, "We're almost in Xuzhou. It's so far, we should be fine now. We'll be at our posts soon. Didn't you say you have a few old friends in Huainan? Once you've settled them in, you can send them invitations and ask them to come over for a get-together!"
"Yes, it's good," Zhang Ping'an replied, but his expression was not at ease.
Xiaoyuer frowned upon seeing this. "Dad, what's wrong?"
"It's nothing," Zhang Ping'an shook his head gently, got up from his bed, walked to the table and poured himself a cup of tea. He only realized it was cold when he took a sip, but he didn't care and gulped it down.
Only then did I feel the restlessness in my heart subside a little.
A moment later, he suddenly whispered to his son, "I just had a dream, a very vivid nightmare. I know a little about the I Ching and the Eight Trigrams, and after calculating it, it's a bad omen!"