Chapter 27: The Streets Are All Flooded

“My subordinates are not tired, it only rained last night, I’ve already slept enough,” Jing Yi said, before heading to the kitchen to heat some water.

Jing Er sat across from Xie Zhizhi, her serious eyes fixed on her. With a firm tone, she asked, “Miss, the house is leaking. Should we buy a better four-compartment house, or just make do until we leave the imperial city?”

Jing Er had already calculated how much silver she had brought with her and whether it was enough to buy gold.

“Buy a house? No need. This one is fine. The leak can be fixed,” Xie Zhizhi thought to herself that after the next hailstorm, all the houses in the imperial city would suffer, so buying one wasn’t worth it. Plus, she owned quite a few plots of land, but there was no need to move.

With the hailstorm coming, the more luxurious and taller buildings in the imperial city would be at greater risk. There weren’t many houses around here—only two or three thatched huts—making it easier for them to enter and leave without worrying about being hit by falling bricks or stones.

Jing Er responded, “Then I’ll go out later and buy some materials to patch it up.”

“No need. I’ll handle it later,” Xie Zhizhi said, stepping outside. She looked up at the gloomy sky, exactly the same as the previous afternoon.

The water at the entrance was already over her ankles, and the rain was mixing with yellow mud, rushing down from the mountain. The rain had probably stopped for two hours by now.

It seemed like the prelude to the hailstorm, though the temperature wasn’t very cold.

While reading, Xie Zhizhi didn’t know the exact weather in the palace, only that it would hail in two days.

She turned to ask the cold-faced beauty standing behind her, “Has it rained this heavily in the imperial city before?”

“It’s been dark since half a month ago, with constant heavy rain every one or two days, each time heavier than the last. Yesterday was the heaviest, with rain pouring down like a giant bucket of water. It wasn’t the gentle kind of rain. Miss, do you find this strange?” Jing Er replied.

Xie Zhizhi realized that natural disasters didn’t form overnight, and everything had been planned long ago. No one knew whether it would rain again tonight or how heavy it would be.

Fortunately, the small house was on a slope. If the rainwater had come down from the mountain, it would have flooded the place. The imperial city below probably wouldn’t be spared.

Xie Zhizhi, contemplating not entering her space tonight to experience it firsthand, suggested, “We should buy more blankets and thick cotton coats if it cools down.”

“It should be fine, Miss. The sky outside is calm now. But you’re right, we should buy more daily necessities and food, just in case the heavy rain makes the streets impassable,” Jing Yi said, carrying a pot of tea and a plate of osmanthus cake, thoughtfully responding.

She walked into the room, sitting down to drink the tea. The high-quality Longjing tea had a sweet fragrance, and the tea was clear and green. They had taken all the supplies from the general’s house, and she quietly smiled to herself.

“If you’re hungry, eat something,” Jing Yi said, looking at her with concern. “What would you like for breakfast? I can go buy it for you.”

Jing Er added, “Yes, we can buy it from the west or north of the city. I can get there quickly with my light skills.”

“I’m not hungry for now, thank you both for your concern. Please eat. I want to discuss something. The General’s Mansion is no longer here, so to prevent others from discovering our identities, don’t call me Miss anymore. Numbers aren’t appropriate either. Do you have names?” Xie Zhizhi asked, not used to the formalities.

Jing Yi hesitated a little before saying, “I don’t have a name.”

Jing Er smiled shyly, “Neither do I. Since we can remember, we’ve been with the General’s Mansion.”

Respecting their wishes, Xie Zhizhi smiled and asked, “Do you want to choose names? Maybe one you particularly like?”

Jing Yi thought seriously about it, while Jing Er was quicker and decisively said, “I like the character ‘Lan.’ It has both mountains and wind, and it feels free and unrestrained. I like it.”

Jing Yi quickly came up with her own idea, “I like the character ‘Zhe.’ It sounds wise.”

Jing Er gave her a quick glance, and Jing Yi felt a strange thought—what one lacks, one cares for.

Xie Zhizhi found it fitting that they preferred neutral names, aligning with their decisive personalities.

“Alright! From now on, you’ll be Jing Lan and Jing Zhe. I’ll be the eldest sister!” Xie Zhizhi declared with a smile.

From that day forward, Jing Yi became Jing Zhe, and Jing Er became Jing Lan. The two exchanged smiles, happy to finally have names, and together they said, “Okay, Eldest Sister!”

Xie Zhizhi then took her disguise tools and suggested, “Let’s go to the street and see what’s going on.”

She wanted to find out the aftermath of the events she had set in motion the previous day, and if any signs of awakened powers had appeared after the heavy rain.

The three of them quickly gathered their things and disguised themselves as women. Like three sisters, they walked to the busiest street in the imperial city.

The small house was an hour’s walk from the city. By the time they arrived, it was almost nine o’clock, and as expected, the streets were completely flooded.

The once-bustling streets, with their grand teahouses, pawnshops, jewelry stores, and clothing shops, were now desolate, with only some waiters moving tables and the owners cleaning up water-damaged rooms.

The large oil-paper umbrellas in front of teahouses were torn apart, and chairs and tables meant for customers had been blown onto rooftops. The street was nearly empty, with only a few people starting to clean up and open their stores.

The rain had stopped for a while, so the water on the streets wasn’t deep, having flowed into the river outside the city.

Otherwise, no one would be able to get through.

Xie Zhizhi carefully observed the street, although she had visited many times in the past, she had never really walked through it.

Now, it looked desolate.

The once-prosperous scene? It didn’t exist anymore, as the wood had turned yellow from soaking in water.

It seemed the yellow mud from the mountain had mixed with the water.

“Did last night’s storm flood everyone’s shops?” Jing Zhe said regretfully, as she had planned to buy more things but now it seemed impossible.

Jing Lan, who had fallen a few steps behind, asked a shopkeeper about the situation, then hurried back and said with regret, “Miss… Eldest Sister… the water level was very high in the western part of the city last night. The shopkeeper said it had reached their necks, and more than ten people were swept away and haven’t been found. It’s close to the river outside the city, so we shouldn’t go there.”

Xie Zhizhi was stunned. In the face of disaster, humans were like dust—powerless to resist. After a long silence, she asked, “Then what do you want to buy? The eastern part of the city is at a higher elevation, so the shops there should be open. Let’s go buy something.”