The rumor spread as though it had grown wings from that day onward. Not only were people discussing it throughout the streets, but even in the various teahouses and taverns of Huzhou, storytellers had already turned it into legendary tales about Shu Changyu, placing the scripts on their desks for their performances.
The people of Huzhou had long suffered from the Yellow River flooding year after year. But their ancestral homes were here, and they had no other choice. In the past, who knew how many magistrates had resolved to control the river, only to accomplish nothing? And who knew how many officials had been sent from the capital to manage the flooding, yet still failed to produce any results?
Especially over these past few years, the Yellow River’s flooding had become increasingly severe. Every year, countless disaster victims appeared, draining the emperor’s treasury dry, while the silver was stripped away layer by layer and ended up in the pockets of officials at every level.
But Shu Changyu’s methods could be described as swift and ruthless.
He was young to begin with, but behind him stood a family that the vast majority of officials could not afford to provoke. After he came to Huzhou, he eradicated corruption within half a year, recovered all the silver that had been siphoned away from the hands of officials at every level, and then ruthlessly squeezed the local wealthy gentry.
In just over two years, he had brought the Yellow River floods under control.
Even more astonishing was that those wealthy gentry who had been squeezed by him back then did not complain in the slightest. Once the Yellow River was brought under control, the waterways of Huzhou became unobstructed, and the cost of transporting goods between the north and south immediately fell by more than half, allowing these wealthy merchants and gentry to profit considerably as well.
Therefore, from top to bottom, there was no one in Huzhou who did not respect and feel grateful toward Shu Changyu.
Once the rumor appeared, the common people spread it with even greater enthusiasm. For a time, it became more and more exaggerated, portraying Shu Changyu as something almost divine.
Kong Qing investigated for two days and could only say that it had spread down from the north. But with so many people repeating the rumor, it was truly impossible to find its source.
After hearing those increasingly fantastical stories over the past two days, Shu Changyu became more and more restless. He felt that he could no longer remain in this place.
But when he thought about returning to the capital, there was another faint hesitation in his heart.
That day, Shu Changyu accepted an invitation from the Prefect of Huzhou and went to a teahouse for tea.
The Prefect of Huzhou had passed the imperial examination two sessions before Shu Changyu. He came from a poor family, and compared with other successful candidates from similar backgrounds, his official career could also be considered smooth, rising steadily through the ranks.
Yet now, compared with Shu Changyu, he was still half a rank below him.
This prefect was very sensible. He had always been an incorruptible official, and after Shu Changyu arrived, he obeyed his every command and cooperated with him extremely enthusiastically. As a result, he had also eliminated many obstacles for Shu Changyu.
The two had barely sat down when, from outside the private room, they heard the storyteller strike his wooden clapper and begin speaking in an exaggerated, rhythmic voice:
“Now, the Great Qi Dynasty’s destiny was in decline, buffeted by wind and rain, having already reached the point where its fortune was about to run out. The Jade Emperor sent the various Dragon Kings to occupy the regions north and south of the Yellow River, yet deliberately left Shandong empty, causing the land of Great Qi to suffer both droughts and floods, inevitably bringing about a change of dynasty.
“But the founding emperor of Great Qi could not bear to watch a century-old foundation be destroyed in an instant. Thus, he secretly stole a celestial star from Heaven and entrusted it to his close friend, Old Master Shu.
“Old Master Shu threw that celestial star down below, and it descended into the mortal world—
“And thus was born the third son of the Shu family, Shu Sanlang, who would save the world and the nation!”
Cheers immediately erupted throughout the teahouse.
Inside the private room, the Prefect of Huzhou listened with great enjoyment, propping up his head.
An official ought to have something he sought. Either wealth, authority, or reputation.
For people like them, who came from poor families and neither coveted wealth nor engaged in corruption, what they sought throughout their lives was nothing more than a good name that would last for generations.
The way Shu Changyu was regarded now was something the Prefect of Huzhou envied tremendously.
When ordinary people revered someone to the extreme, they would inevitably treat that person as a deity and fabricate extraordinary stories about him.
Looking through history, there had been very few scholars who were eventually enshrined among the immortals. As for someone like Shu Changyu, who was still alive yet was already being praised as though he were a deity, he was probably the only one throughout all of history.
The Prefect of Huzhou was not jealous.
He had worked alongside Shu Changyu for three years and knew how Shu Changyu had worked day and night, painstakingly dealing with the Yellow River.
And he was not merely diligent. His methods for managing the accumulated problems of the river were also extraordinarily ingenious. He had actually brought the Yellow River under control so completely.
It was truly a strange wonder unprecedented in history.
Hearing this, even the corners of the Prefect of Huzhou’s mouth lifted. He clapped his hands and smiled, about to speak to Shu Changyu.
But when he turned his head, he unexpectedly saw that Shu Changyu’s expression was displeased, without the slightest trace of a smile on his face.
In the next moment, he saw Shu Changyu stand up and walk straight out of the private room.
The Prefect of Huzhou hurriedly followed.
He saw Shu Changyu walk directly to the storyteller and raise his hand, pressing down on the wooden clapper on the storyteller’s desk.
The storyteller had never encountered such a situation before. When he looked up, he found that the Shu Sanlang from his storybook was standing right before him, looking down at him expressionlessly.
“Your performance today inevitably carries the suspicion of discussing the imperial court recklessly. This storybook is not to be performed again in the future. Since the audience is so enthusiastic today, why not change the story to Wu Song Fighting the Tiger?”
The storyteller froze.
He had never seen the protagonist of a story personally come forward to make such a request.
Yet Shu Changyu simply stood there, pressing down on his wooden clapper, his expressionless face giving him no room for argument.
The storyteller could only nod repeatedly in agreement.
Shu Changyu reached out, took the storybook from his desk, placed a silver ingot there, and turned to leave.
Everyone listening to the story in the teahouse looked at one another.
They watched as Lord Shu walked straight out with a cold expression, his gaze fixed ahead without even looking sideways.
Shu Changyu stopped at the entrance of the teahouse, his expression unreadable as he held the storybook.
Who exactly is trying to harm me?
His grip on the storybook tightened and tightened.
His other hand unconsciously dropped down, pressing against his waist, where it touched that piece of warm jade.
The warm jade’s unique, gentle heat traveled through his skin, little by little, passing into him.
Just then, the utterly alarmed Prefect of Huzhou hurried out after him.
“…Lord Shu?” he asked tentatively.
In an instant, Shu Changyu’s expression returned to normal. He also released the Lantian jade and turned toward the Prefect of Huzhou.
“Lord Zheng, I will have to trouble you further regarding this storybook. I am merely serving as an official under imperial orders. I cannot be called a celestial star descended to earth, much less someone who has saved the world and the nation. In the future, I hope that no such storybooks will appear within Huzhou, lest they invite unnecessary criticism.”
The Prefect of Huzhou froze before hurriedly agreeing.
“I shall take my leave first. You and I can meet again another day. Please make yourself comfortable, Lord Zheng.”
With that, Shu Changyu gave him a bow and turned to board his carriage.
Shu Changyu went nowhere else and returned directly to his residence.
The moment he entered the estate, a small, tender-yellow figure threw herself into his arms.
“Papa!”
It was a little girl dressed in a tender-yellow spring outfit, her hair tied into two little buns. Her cheeks were pink and soft, and she looked about three or four years old. She was not even as tall as Shu Changyu’s waist.
The moment she rushed over, she wrapped her chubby little arms around Shu Changyu’s legs.
“You came home so early today!”
The little girl’s almond-shaped eyes were large and bright, with distinct black and white pupils. When she looked at people, her long, thick eyelashes fluttered, making her especially adorable.
“Papa, can you fly a kite with Xunzhi today?”
This little girl was an abandoned baby Shu Changyu had found beside his carriage while traveling south.
At that time, the girl’s swaddling clothes had been abandoned beneath a gardenia tree. She had been on the verge of death, and her cries were so faint that they sounded like those of a tiny kitten.
Shu Changyu’s party had happened to stop to rest when he discovered the child.
Seeing the girl’s pale face from crying so miserably, Shu Changyu’s heart softened for a moment, and he decided to raise her.
But adopting a person was not like adopting a kitten or puppy. A momentary act of kindness could bring plenty of trouble later.
Raising a young child required careful attention. She also needed a name and a proper status.
Shu Changyu was twenty years older than her. Calling him “older brother” would simply seem inappropriate, so Shu Changyu simply recognized the girl as his daughter, named her Shu Xunzhi, and raised her at his side.
He had been so busy these three years that he was often unable to care for the child, and she had been raised almost entirely by the servants.
Yet Shu Xunzhi was extremely attached to him and had a gentle, obedient personality, so everyone liked her very much.
Shu Changyu lowered his head and saw the little girl tightly clutching a bundle of kite string. Behind her, a kite dragged along like a long tail.
That kite was unmistakably one that the Li family had sent him.
For these three years, the Li family had sent him kites every year, and Shu Changyu had flown every one of them.
He had not expected this year that this little girl would intercept it first.
Shu Changyu laughed.
Seeing her soft, sweet appearance, more than half of the irritation in his heart disappeared.
He bent down and picked the little girl up.
“Why are you dragging the kite around?”
Shu Xunzhi pouted unhappily and whispered, “…I can’t get it to fly.”
Shu Changyu smiled as he held her with one arm and took the kite string from her hand.
While winding it up, he said with a smile, “Then Papa will help you fly it.”
In his previous life, he had also had a son.
Although that son was not actually his own, he and Danyao both knew this perfectly well. But in front of outsiders, the child still had to call him father.
Therefore, Shu Changyu had no trouble entering the role of a father.
He himself had been a strict and proper child since childhood, and he had always respectfully addressed his parents as Father and Mother.
But Shu Xunzhi’s little tongue had never been very nimble. Since she was young, she had always mumbled and struggled to pronounce words clearly, so she could only call him “Papa.”
Shu Changyu bent down and placed Shu Xunzhi on the ground. He easily worked the kite string, and after only a few movements, the kite was gently lifted into the sky by the wind.
Seeing this, Shu Xunzhi happily clapped her hands and jumped up and down.
Shu Changyu bent down, handed the kite string to Shu Xunzhi, and instructed her, “Hold it carefully. Walk slowly, and don’t fall.”
Shu Xunzhi answered brightly.
Then she pinched the kite string in her little hands and ran around the courtyard with a smile.
There were quite a few willow trees planted in Shu Changyu’s courtyard. Later, he had personally planted several peach trees for Shu Xunzhi as well.
It was spring now.
Green willows and peach blossoms reflected one another beautifully, while a tender little girl ran among them, her silver-bell-like laughter spreading everywhere.
Shu Changyu looked up and saw the kite beneath the crystal-clear blue sky.
For a moment, he became somewhat dazed.
The kites made by the Li family had always been of the same design.
Three years ago, he had likewise sent an identical kite to someone confined deep within the imperial palace.
He looked up at the sky.
For a moment, it was as though time had reversed.
His eyes became slightly sore as he stared intently at the drifting kite.
After a moment, Shu Changyu made a decision.
He walked forward until he reached Shu Xunzhi’s side, then crouched down and asked,
“Xunzhi, would you like to return to the capital with Papa?”
“Return to the capital?”
Shu Xunzhi stopped and tilted her little head.
“Wherever Papa goes, Xunzhi will go with Papa!”
The sunlight fell upon the little girl’s fair, tender cheeks.
Shu Changyu smiled and nodded, reaching out to stroke the little girl’s head.
For a moment, the years seemed peaceful and beautiful.
No one knew that beneath the same crystal-clear blue sky, a thousand li away in Shandong, raging flames were burning through dry haystacks and houses.
“The Emperor has no virtue! Heaven will destroy Great Qi! We brothers have no choice but to overthrow those ministers, generals, princes, and nobles. Only then will we have a way to live!”
The moment those words fell, an overwhelming chorus of agreement and furious roars erupted.
“The Shu family of Huzhou—Shu is a celestial star descended to earth! We must now march upon Huzhou, raise Shu Lang to the throne, change the dynasty, and create a world of peace!”
Author’s Note: Jing Mu has unlocked a new achievement—accidentally becoming a dad!