An ancient water town.
The sight of black-canopied boats once coming and going was gone. Boatmen no longer ferried people across the river. The water had surged too high, making travel impossible, and all they could do was stay home and pray for the endless rain to stop. Helplessly, the gods gave no answer.
Torrential white rain flew down; the old house leaked everywhere.
Scholar Guo wore a straw hat and climbed onto the roof through the rain, struggling to repair the old house. Rain soaked his cheeks, cold as ice. The tiles were old, and he had to be careful not to crush them beneath his feet. Cautiously, he replaced the broken tiles with intact ones and spread an oilcloth over them, trying his best to help the tottering old house survive these days of ceaseless rain. When he looked up at the rolling black clouds, his face was full of worry.
"Guo Lang~ Come down and shelter from the rain~"
His wife called to Scholar Guo from the courtyard, urging him to hurry inside. The rain was too cold, and she feared her husband would catch a chill.
"Almost done~!"
After fumbling about for a while and securing the tiles and oilcloth, he carefully climbed down the slippery wooden ladder and hurried indoors. Only after drinking a bowl of hot ginger soup did he stop feeling chilled to the bone. Though water still dripped inside the house, it was not as bad as before. They could make do and live in it for now. He planned to borrow money from the clan elders to repair the old house once the rain stopped.
His aged mother brought him several dry garments to change into. The family of four, young and old, sat around the Fire Pit to warm themselves.