On the way home, Gu Rujiu deliberately observed the surroundings and found that not only the mice and dogs were frantic and restless, but even the birds and beasts in the forest seemed to be very lively. On the way, even snakes and rabbits suddenly jumped out of the grass, which made people feel even more deeply. of unease.
Gu Changling, who has been an aristocratic family since birth, didn't notice anything wrong at first, until he saw a fish jumping to the shore like suicide from the paddy field by the road, and then he realized that something was wrong.
He is a scholar. When something strange happens, he will not think it is unknown or divine punishment like ignorant women and children, but guess that it may be caused by the sultry climate.
Today's weather is extraordinarily sultry, as if throwing a person into a steamer, otherwise he wouldn't take his children to Bie Zhuang, who knows Bie Zhuang is not cool, and he has to endure the harsh barking of birds and dogs.
Gu Zhiyu, who was half a horse behind Gu Changling, frowned more and more tightly. Since he was born, he had never encountered such a strange thing, so it was inevitable that he had some doubts in his heart.
"Father..." When he saw a few more squirrels running out, he finally couldn't help speaking.
"Let's go back," Gu Changling said with a sullen face, and patted the horse under him with his horsewhip, "Go back quickly."
Gu Rujiu noticed that the speed of the carriage was increasing, and she was a little worried in her heart, but she felt relieved. Fortunately, her father and brothers also noticed something was wrong, so she could speak after she went back.
She suspected the plague at first, but there has been no flood or drought in the capital, and since this is a place where noble families and royal families gather, various epidemic prevention measures are carried out every year, so if this is the case, it is not too worrying.
What really worried her was not the plague, but the ground dragon turning over.
Although there is no record of earthquakes in the capital in the "Geography", the time between the movement and collision of plates is sometimes thousands of years or even tens of thousands of years. Who knows whether the boundary of the capital is in an earthquake zone? superior
But should she tell her father what an "earthquake zone" is? Who dares to talk nonsense about such a thing that is easy to cause panic
Gu Changling returned home in a hurry with his children. As soon as he entered the inner courtyard, he was stopped by his daughter who followed him.
"Father," Gu Rujiu tugged at Gu Changling's sleeve, her big eyes full of confusion: "I once read in the "Anecdote" that it said that birds do not return to their nests, rats are smashed and panicked, fish leaping in turbid waters, dogs barking and birds flying, It's a sign of the sleeping dragon turning over. I saw it on the road today..."
"Anecdote..." Gu Changling looked at his lovely daughter, and his heart was shocked. There is indeed such a description in "Anecdote". Does what I have seen and heard today not exactly match the description in the book
"Anecdote Records" is one of the books in the Gu family's collection, which describes many strange and strange things, such as Dilong's turning over.
Hastily flipped through the "Anecdote" and found the content about the earth dragon turning over, Gu Changling, who had always been cheerful, had a very solemn expression. If he didn't report it, no one would know. But if the earthquake did happen, he was afraid that he would be uneasy for the rest of his life. But if they reported it, causing panic among the people in the capital, and in the end the earthquake did not happen, then their family would be in trouble.
A dilemma, a dilemma. Gu Changling held the yellowed book in his hand and stood still.
"Daddy."
He turned around and saw the young girl standing behind the door, but her head stuck out, revealing a white and tender face, "Daddy, what's the matter with you?"
Gu Changling walked up to her daughter, half-squatted and looked at her flatly, and touched the swirl of hair on the top of her head with a warm palm: "If one thing succeeds, it may save the whole city, but if it fails, it may implicate our whole family. , what do you say?"
There is no complete solution to this matter at all. There is only reporting or not reporting. Reporting will cause the whole city to be alarmed.
After saying this, he couldn't help but smile when he saw his daughter's face full of doubts. She was still a child, and although she was the first to guess that there might be an earthquake, she didn't know how terrifying it was.
"If you want to do it, just do it," Yang shi had reached the door at some point, and she looked at the man who had been with her for 20 years with a smile, "Even if you fail, it's just you and your two children. I can no longer be an official in the dynasty. Back then, when our ancestors of the Gu family could rise and fall when the Gu family had nothing, our descendants would naturally be able to do the same.”
Gu Changling looked up at his wife, who was followed by her son and daughter-in-law. Obviously, they all knew what happened.
"Father," Gu Zhiyu and Gu Cunjing walked in front of Gu Changling and bowed in unison, "Gu's son, he puts the people first."
"Good, good, good!" Gu Changling said three good words in a row, with a proud look on his face, "If you have a son like this, why worry about my family being unhappy."
"Mmmm," Gu Rujiu also nodded, "we made a profit by replacing the minority with the majority." She swayed Gu Changling's clothes and said, "And I believe Daddy won't make a mistake."
"Good girl trusts Daddy so much?" Gu Changling felt a lot more relaxed after the decision was made, and showed a big smile to Gu Rujiu, "Then stay at home and wait for Daddy to come back."
After Gu Changling entered the palace with the book, the Yang family started to get busy, while letting the servants move the valuables out of the warehouse, and then rushing to the suburbs with the servants.
Seeing such a big movement of the Gu family in the capital, it is a little inexplicable. Is this going to move or something, the whole family is rushing to the suburbs
The Chen, Hu, Yang, and Zhang families who married the Gu family also received news from the Gu family. Although they were skeptical, seeing that the Gu family was so serious, they would rather believe it. With the mentality of believing in nothing, he packaged a few important juniors and sent them to the team of Gu's family going out of the city.
The sky was getting dark, and the descendants of the Gu family and relatives were sitting in the temporary shed, staring at the moonless sky in a daze.
What's even more strange is that the suburbs where cocks and dogs barked in the morning are now silent, not even the chirping of insects, and the silence is a little permeating.
The Yang family stayed in a shed with their female family members, and there was no panic or panic in their eyes.
"Mother, regarding the news of the possible earthquake, the emperor has sent people to all parts of the capital, and the villages on the outskirts of Beijing have begun to take precautions," Gu Zhiyu rushed out of the city covered in dust, his face He was a little tired, "It's just that some noble families haven't moved yet, and there have been rumors about father's alarmist rumors in the capital." After that, he handed over a notice posted by Qin Tianjian.
"Don't worry about these rumors," Mrs. Yang took a sip of the refreshing tea. The tea was cold, but in this environment, she didn't pay attention to these. "I take care of my family, but I have a clear conscience."
Gu Rujiu sat next to the Yang family, and didn't have the heart to chat with the other little girls from relatives. When she found that there was no sound at all around her, she became more and more nervous, and she could not help but pray secretly, hoping that these earthquakes would not be too severe, and the fracture zone would not be too long, so that casualties could be minimized.
Taking advantage of the fact that others were not paying attention, she took a look at the notice brought back by her eldest brother, and felt that the notice was very mythical.
The general idea of the notice is that the emperor dreamed about his ancestors the other day, and the ancestors said, I saw that you are a very good heir, so I specially dreamed to tell you that a major event is going to happen in Beijing recently, so you must prepare in advance. After the emperor woke up, he was very uneasy. It happened that Qin Tianjian watched the sky at night recently and found that there was an omen of an earth dragon in the capital. At this time, Ning Pinghou also found that chickens flying and dogs jumping, fish jumping in muddy water, etc., and so on, so I hereby inform everyone to turn over carefully in the past two days, and take precautions.
This notice has two main points. The main point is that even if there is an earthquake, it has nothing to do with the emperor. Otherwise, why would the ancestors deliberately cast a dream on the emperor and give advance warning? It can be seen that the ancestors are blessing the emperor and the Dafeng Dynasty.
The second point is that if you are afraid of death, don't stay in the house. It is very scary for the earth dragon to turn over.
As for Qin Tianjian and her father, it is just a weight to make the people more believe in the possibility of earthquakes.
Two hours later, there was still no movement. The juniors sent by the Zhang family were very sleepy, but the simple shed made them unable to sleep at all. However, although they were a little dissatisfied in their hearts, they did not dare to show half of it on their faces.
Their family can only be regarded as the last of the third-class aristocratic family. To be able to seek to marry the eldest daughter of the Marquis Gu is already considered a high-ranking family. Which family outside does not envy their family's good sons and can seek to marry the daughter of the Gu family
Therefore, in front of the Gu family at this time, they are also polite, trying their best to show a polite and modest attitude, so as not to lose the face of the Zhang family.
In the palace, Empress Dowager Zhou, Jin Yang, Gu Changling and several other important officials of the court were all sitting or standing in the open space outside Qintian Prison. In front of them was a seismograph made of pure copper. The tail didn't move at all.
Jin Yang insisted on believing Gu Changling's words, which was under great pressure. He knew that this would be very risky and might even offend some noble families. But if the earthquake did happen and he didn't do anything, things would have turned out even worse.
He didn't want to be the emperor "condemned by God" in history.
The night has passed most of the time, the seismograph still has no movement, and the eyes of several important officials looking at Gu Changling are getting worse and worse, even Zhang Zhonghan said: "Brother Shou, I think this time is just a misunderstanding. It's almost here. At that time, the emperor had just recovered from his illness, and he stayed outside for a night, fearing that he might hurt his body, why not..." He didn't say anything, but the soles of his feet seemed to tremble.
"Dong dong dong." On the seismograph, the copper beads held by Jin Long Feifeng fell into the copper plate below one after another.
Jin Yang abruptly stood up from his chair. At this moment, the earth began to tremble violently. If it wasn't for Bai Xian and Mr. Gu who were behind him, he would have almost fallen to the ground.
The whole world rumbled, as if suddenly falling into purgatory.