Chapter 33

“Where did these two young women come from? How dare they watch a man undress!”

Upon seeing this, the village chief immediately said to Sun Xiaolan and Taohua, “You two stay here and don’t move, and don’t look around. I’ll go find the scribe to discuss this.”

After saying this, the village chief turned and was about to leave.

Taohua hurriedly called out to him, “Grandfather Village Chief, if my dream really comes true, two birds will fly down from the sky. They will land on a big tree by the river, and they will fight.

When they fight, a whirlpool will appear in the river! You must tell the scribe about this before the birds start fighting!

Also, Grandfather Village Chief, can you please call Brother Qin over here? I have something to say to him.”

“Alright, you wait here.”

Soon, the village chief returned.

With him were Qin Feng and two other men.

One man had a goatee and a frail build, while the other was large and muscular.

As the village chief was about to introduce them, the man with the goatee stopped him.

He walked straight up to Taohua and asked with a smile, “Are you the woman who had the nightmare?”

“Yes!” Taohua glanced at the man in front of her and quickly lowered her eyes again.

She felt that this man was different from the people in the village. He had a strong aura, which made her feel a bit uneasy.

At that moment, a warm, large hand gently rested on her waist.

Then, Qin Feng’s deep, pleasant voice sounded in her ear: “Don’t be afraid, just answer truthfully.”

Qin Feng’s appearance immediately gave Taohua the courage she needed.

She raised her eyes again, her gaze steady, and nodded toward the man with the goatee:

“Yes, it’s me. I’m a villager of Baiyun Village, and this is my husband. You must be the scribe sent by the county magistrate, right? I dreamed that something bad would happen to you in the river, so I wanted to ask you to pause for a moment and not go into the water this afternoon.”

“Oh? I’ve never seen you before, yet you recognized me. So, you saw me in your dream?”

“No!” Taohua shook her head. “In my dream, I couldn’t see your face clearly, but I saw that the village chief treats you with great respect, so you must be the scribe.

Sir, I know you might think my words are a bit absurd, but all you need to do is give the order to pause. When you see the whirlpool, you will believe it.”

“Superstition and nonsense!” Scribe Feng was a scholar, and he didn’t believe in such things. “Just because of your dream, we’re supposed to stop work for half the day? Do you realize it’s going to snow soon? Once the river freezes, this job will be impossible!

If today you have a nightmare, and tomorrow someone else has one, and everyone comes here causing a ruckus like you, how can the work continue? You’d better go home and prepare some good wine and food, and wait for your husband to come back for dinner tonight.”

“Sir, please believe me!” Taohua, seeing the scribe about to leave, immediately raised her voice, “Two birds will fly over and fight, I’m really not making this up.”

As soon as Taohua finished speaking, two birds indeed flew by in the direction she pointed.

But Scribe Feng didn’t find anything strange, and casually said, “So what? Two birds fighting in the mountains, what’s so odd about that?

Everyone stop gawking and get back to work. The clothes are off already, don’t let this cold go to waste.”

Seeing that the scribe wouldn’t believe her, Taohua turned and grabbed Qin Feng’s arm:

“Brother Qin, please don’t go, okay? Maybe my dream was just a dream, but it felt so real, I don’t want you to go into the water. I don’t want you to be in any danger!!”

Qin Feng wasn’t fully convinced either. He raised his hand and patted Taohua on the head:

“I know you’re worried about me, but don’t worry, I’ll be fine, there are so many people here. It’s cold by the river, you should go back.”

“Brother Qin!!” Taohua clung tightly to his arm, not letting go, “You don’t have to believe me, I even find it unbelievable myself, but I’m begging you, please wait just a little longer, okay?”

Just as Taohua finished speaking, Sun Xiaolan pointed to the tree and said, “They’re fighting, they’re fighting, the two birds are fighting!”

However, at this moment, Scribe Feng had already taken the lead and was walking into the river with the villagers.

In order to prove that this ignorant woman’s words were false, Scribe Feng stepped boldly ahead.

Suddenly, the water in the river began to speed up, and a huge whirlpool formed around Scribe Feng.

The villagers who were following him saw this and quickly turned around, no longer daring to approach.

Even the large, burly constable Scribe Feng had brought along didn’t dare to step forward to help.

The villagers were in a panic, some shouted to get a bamboo pole, others called for rope. It was total chaos.

Then, someone suddenly remembered Taohua and turned back to shout, “Taohua, what you said has come true, what should we do now? The scribe is already disappearing from sight!”

“Yes, this is bad!” The village chief was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, “Scribe Feng must not be harmed, Taohua, do you have any idea what we should do?”

“I don’t!” Taohua was also helpless. “I told him not to go down there!”