After the large sand table was nearly finished, another problem arose — the inn’s rooms were not large enough to accommodate it.

Shao Yao wanted to simply commandeer the Seven Lodges Bureau’s premises, but Hua Zhi held her back and asked first, “Is that place discreet on a normal day?”

“Naturally. No one knows that’s where the Seven Lodges Bureau conducts its business.”

“Then let’s not go there. Bo Fan and the others are familiar with this area — have them help rent a residence. The price is negotiable.”

Shao Yao felt this was far too much trouble. “We won’t be staying here long. What’s the point of renting a residence?”

Hua Zhi shook her head. It wasn’t that she was planning for the long term. Money was no difficulty for her, so she spent it freely. When she was away from home and the conditions allowed, she was not inclined to make herself uncomfortable — and besides, the sand table genuinely had nowhere to go.

Before dark, Hua Zhi got her wish and moved into a proper residence. The house was in the southern part of the city, in a neighborhood of wealthy households, and was pleasantly quiet.

Shao Yao wasted not a single moment and immediately began assembling the sand table. Her hands were capable and swift; she didn’t need anyone’s help and worked with tremendous energy alone. Hua Zhi asked Yu Tao to find a way to bring some sand — in this weather, only wet sand could be had — but she didn’t mind. Wet sand was actually better for building models.

The large main hall was brightly lit. Hua Zhi used the map as her guide and first shaped the Weihe River in the sand table, then one by one the tributary rivers, and then roughly formed the terrain around all the waterways.

Her every movement was unhurried — she would think and think again before laying a hand on the work. She worked with great care, and the others watched with rapt attention. Even Bao Xia, who wanted to urge her mistress to go rest, could not bring herself to open her mouth.

What finally appeared before everyone was a vivid, lifelike landscape of mountains and rivers. Though it was only built from sand — without the poetic quality of a black-and-white painting, without the vibrancy of a colored one — it fully displayed the depth of skill Hua Zhi had built through years of studying painting.

Hua Zhi was quite satisfied with it herself. Her back and neck, however, ached a little.

Bao Xia stepped forward to help her mistress to a seat nearby and applied some gentle pressure to her shoulders. This had been a long-standing complaint even in ordinary times — after working this long without rest, it would be strange if it didn’t hurt.

The Sixth Prince obediently brought over a cup of water; he had poured it too full, and as he walked, it spilled over his hand and the hem of his robe.

Hua Zhi drank it to the last drop, accepting this small gesture of thoughtfulness along with the water.

“Hua Hua, you’re incredible! If this were an enemy country’s map, I’d dare to lead troops charging through three times without needing anyone to scout the way first.”

What a comparison. Hua Zhi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Can’t you think of something else?”

“Heh heh.” Shao Yao gripped the edge of the sand table and refused to let go, her eyes filled with infatuation. Though she was responding to the conversation, she hadn’t turned to look even once.

“Little Six, go see if you can make anything of it.”

“Yes.”

The Sixth Prince stood beside the sand table for a long while, then circled around it once. No one rushed him; the room was perfectly still.

Hua Zhi rubbed the center of her brow. It was already long past her usual bedtime. Her body was exhausted but she felt no drowsiness — a most unpleasant sensation.

The Sixth Prince walked back and sat down below Hua Zhi. He gathered his thoughts, then spoke: “Jingzhou lies in a plains region with many waterways. Once flooding occurs, the affected area will be very extensive and the common people will have nowhere to flee. However, the Weihe River has a large capacity. As long as the water is drained in time, it need not cause grave damage to the bones — just as the county records we read earlier show, fourteen years ago was precisely one of those catastrophic floods that did reach that severity.”

Hua Zhi nodded. “This time, do you think it will be a minor disaster or a major one?”

Outside, the rain continued to pour. Another day had passed. The rain had only lightened somewhat in the afternoon and had grown heavier again by night. Yu Tao had mentioned earlier that the Weihe River had risen considerably more, and if it continued like this for another day, it was feared that…

The Sixth Prince bit his lip with a childlike gesture and said quietly, “It’s feared it will become a major disaster.”

“Do you want to stay, or leave? If you want to leave, we can travel through the rain.” Hua Zhi deliberately left the subject unspecified. If Little Six truly said he wanted to leave, she would have the Chen Zhen brothers escort him safely back to the capital. As for herself… she actually wanted to leave too.

She sighed quietly inward. Looking toward Little Six, she was not surprised to see him shake his head.

“I want to see it through.” Then, as though remembering something, the Sixth Prince quickly added: “I’ll listen to Elder Sister Hua. Whatever Elder Sister Hua says — leave or stay — I’ll do.”

Hua Zhi said nothing more. She walked to the edge of the sand table, took the pointer from Shao Yao’s hands, and indicated several locations upstream of Xiangyang: “If Zhiyang, Xiaoshui, Longhua, and these upstream areas have also been receiving rain these past days, the flooding this time will not be small.”

She then pointed toward several tributaries downstream. “If this area has also been receiving rain, and the upstream and midstream waters cannot be drained quickly enough, then it will be a major disaster.”

The Sixth Prince looked at her with burning eyes. “Elder Sister Hua, do you have a plan?”

Hua Zhi smiled bitterly inwardly. When had she ever given them the impression that she knew how to do everything? Yu the Great had tamed the floods through genuine ability. She hadn’t been a hydraulics engineer in her past life — how could she possibly know so much about this?

But these words, even setting aside whether anyone would believe them, she couldn’t bring herself to say in the face of Little Six’s wholehearted trust and admiration.

Her gaze settled on the sand table. Hua Zhi dug hard through her memory for anything relevant.

This place was nothing like her past life, where the state invested enormous sums to build reservoirs capable of storing water against drought as well as holding maximum capacity against floods. Here, reservoirs were few and of small capacity, unable to serve much purpose — which was why flooding disasters kept recurring year after year, differing only in scale.

To reduce losses when floods struck, two things were needed: first, to block; second, to divert.

But how to block? And how to divert?

What little she knew about this was, for the present situation, information that came too late to be of use. What could actually be applied was really only the choice to sacrifice a part in order to protect the major cities — what was known as abandoning the small towns to preserve the large ones. People throughout history had done this. As for how harsh the fate of those small towns would be, that was for the people of those small towns to bear.

Was this wrong? Not necessarily. If she were in that position, she might make the same choice. The great cities were too valuable and could not afford to be lost, while small towns, however much they suffered, could slowly recover their vitality — the resilience of the common people had always expressed itself precisely in such circumstances.

Her eyes drifted between several locations. Hua Zhi looked up at Yu Tao. “Has the hydrological station shown any movement?”

Yu Tao stepped out briefly, then returned to report: “Bo Fan says that this afternoon the hydrological station has already visited the county magistrate’s office four times.”

“Has the yamen issued any early warning?”

“It has not.”

Hua Zhi frowned. “Little Six, does the county record say at what point the people are to be warned?”

The Sixth Prince remembered clearly and replied immediately: “A warning is to be issued when the water passes the fifth mark.”

Out of ten marks total, a warning at the fifth was not too late. Hua Zhi thought for a moment and looked at Yu Tao. “Has any upstream water report been received?”

“This subordinate just asked about that — none has been received.”

Was it truly not raining upstream, or had the water report simply not been sent in time? Hua Zhi harbored some doubt inwardly, but she hoped it was the former. If there was no rain upstream, that would be genuinely fortunate.

Author’s Note: I’ve sent the child to stay with relatives and gone home myself. Doing what I can to help. If I let out too much negativity earlier, I’m sorry. The truth is the grassroots officials have been performing remarkably well — many have gone several days straight without returning home. White dress shirts turned yellow with dirt. Even the local riffraff who don’t do an honest day’s work normally have been rolling up their sleeves and putting in the work. Everyone is trying very hard to solve the problems. Thank you all for your understanding.