For no apparent reason, just as the auspicious hour approached and the Old Shopkeeper was about to send men to carry earth and get the work underway, a gust of wind suddenly swept in from the Yellow River.
It blew across the site.
It carried a foul, fishy stench.
As it washed over them, everyone felt a chill run through their bodies.
The Old Shopkeeper sniffed, and his expression changed. He pushed through the crowd, stepped aside, and raised a hand to shade his eyes.
With his hand against his forehead, he looked into the distance.
One glance was enough.
He saw a patch of dark cloud over the Yellow River, spreading toward them.
In the trade, that was called a Demon Cloud: a cloud appearing where and when it had no business being.
The Old Shopkeeper looked up again.
Overhead, the sky was clear blue for miles.
The sun had yet to reach its zenith. It was neither hot nor cold, perfect weather for tamping earth.
The Old Shopkeeper knew then that the cloud meant trouble.
Especially since the fishy smell carried moisture with it.
If the cloud reached them and rain fell onto the ground,
anywhere else, it might have been called a "sunshower."
But here,
it would be an ill omen!
Word would spread, harming not only the shrine but his own reputation. The Old Shopkeeper grew uneasy and puffed rapidly on his pipe, plainly searching for a solution.
Xu Feng noticed it too.
He kept it off his face,
though he was surprised.
Had worship of the Longflow River God declined so far that something dared interfere even with the building of his shrine?
It came down to the waning of state-sanctioned worship.
Xu Feng glanced around and saw that the mules and horses tethered nearby