The Gap Has Been Filled

Shunan Prefecture

An ox cart struggled forward through the dark night. Slanting rain lashed down, soaking through the carriage curtains long ago. When the wind blew, even on a summer night, only those who experienced it knew the misery.

Sitting inside without anything to shield her from wind or rain, Madam Zhou was actually colder than the people outside wearing straw raincoats.

Yet even though she was shivering from the cold, Madam Zhou paid it no mind as she protected the food basket in her arms. Her heart was filled with anxiety, and she only wanted to see her husband, Qi Hongxin, as soon as possible.

"With such heavy rain just now, that old man went out anyway. Does he not know how to take care of himself?"

"Even if the flood required him to hold the fort, couldn't he do so inside the government office? Did he have to come all the way here? Were Lord Su and the other officials not around?"

"He was unconscious for so long—does that old fool have no idea what state his body is in?"

"If anything happens to him, how are my son and I supposed to go on?"

After so many years as husband and wife, walking hand in hand through life together, Madam Zhou and Qi Hongxin naturally shared deep feelings. At a time like this, even the gentlest woman would likely kindle a blaze of anger.

But no matter how uneasy she was, Madam Zhou did not dare urge the driver to go faster.

They were already not far from the dam. Precisely because of that, although they were traveling along a sloping road and the water rushing down was no longer so fierce, reaching only halfway up the wheels, the going was still quite difficult.

As the wheels