Shen Qingwan asked Li Chaoyang's people to settle the child in Li's house first, and asked someone to inquire about the child's parents. She watched the child in the wooden barrel being gently picked up, with a thin blanket covering her body. Perhaps because the flood lasted so long, the child was frightened and numb. When she was picked up and surrounded by people, she just stared blankly ahead, not even crying.
She sighed softly, natural disasters and man-made disasters made people's lives miserable. She was even more determined to solve this disaster quickly and save the people. She quickened her pace to inspect the terrain in the flood-stricken areas, walking and stopping along the way, but the pen in her hand never stopped.
As the sky gradually darkened, Li Chaoyang silently waited for Shen Qingwan to memorize the last rough route before he stepped forward and said, "My queen, the places we have passed today are the places where the floods in Jiangnan are the most serious. Once the problems in these places are solved, it will be easy to dredge the waterways in other places."
"Well, I have roughly noted down the important terrain, but the detailed waterway dredging map will have to wait for me to go back and study it carefully to ensure that the waterway can be dredged as quickly and effectively as possible." Shen Qingwan nodded and rubbed her temples. After she entered the palace, she hadn't thought about problems so intensively for a long time.
"Your Majesty, you have worked hard." Looking at Shen Qingwan's tired expression, Li Chaoyang felt a little guilty, "I am not very proficient in this area and cannot help Your Majesty."
"You don't have to say that, Governor. Everyone has his own expertise. You have governed this area well. Man-made disasters can be contained, but natural disasters are hard to avoid." Shen Qingwan raised her hand to signal him not to say anything more. "It's getting late. Thank you for your company all day, Governor. Now I know almost everything I need. You can go home today."
Li Chaoyang nodded and asked his servants to lead the horses tied not far away to a relatively intact road. Everyone hurried back to the Li Mansion.
Madam Li had received the news long ago, and when everyone returned home, the hot meal was already on the table. Shen Qingwan was concerned about the waterway dredging and flood control, and she didn't want to be polite to others at the dinner table. She just finished her dinner hastily, thanked Li Chaoyang and Madam Li, and returned to her room to start talking about the waterway dredging map.
"Lianyun, can you please ask the governor for me if there are any books about floods and water control in the mansion? Books related to waterway construction are also fine. As long as they are relevant, please borrow them all." Shen Qingwan scribbled on the paper, but always felt that something was missing. She decided to look at some more books to find some ideas.
"yes."
After waiting for a long time, Lianyun and Chen Er came over with a pile of books.
"Put it in front of the desk. I'll read it one by one." Shen Qingwan just raised her head and took a quick look, then continued to sketch on the paper.
"Your Majesty, it's late at night. It will be difficult to finish reading so many books in a short time. Take a rest and read them tomorrow." Lianyun looked at Shen Qingwan's tired face and suggested worriedly.
"I can wait, but the people of Jiangnan cannot. The sooner the waterway map is completed, the sooner the flood can be cleared. The sooner the flood can be cleared, the more people can be saved. Since I have asked for the mission to serve the people, I should only consider the people and cannot delay." Shen Qingwan shook her head and rejected Lianyun's kind reminder.
Lianyun sighed. Knowing her own queen's temper, she simply stopped trying to dissuade her and just stayed aside to accompany her silently.
"You haven't been feeling well lately, and you've been running around with me these past few days. You should go and take a rest." Shen Qingwan said.
"No, I am not talented enough and I feel very guilty for not being able to help Your Majesty with drawing the waterway map. Just let me accompany Your Majesty." Lianyun insisted.
Shen Qingwan responded lightly and said no more.
During this period, Madam Li also came to persuade her to rest, but seeing that she insisted, she had to ask the servants to make more snacks to help Shen Qingwan sustain her strength.
After a whole night of hard writing, Shen Qingwan hurriedly took the finished product to meet Li Chaoyang early the next morning.
"Governor, this is the waterway dredging map I drew with detailed annotations next to it. How about you take a look at it?" Shen Qingwan handed over the waterway map.
Li Chaoyang pondered over it carefully and couldn't help but exclaimed, "These roads lead to important places, it's really perfect! If so many waterways can be repaired, Jiangnan will be able to fundamentally improve the situation of perennial floods."
Shen Qingwan finally felt relieved, and said anxiously: "Then please quickly arrange for someone to do it, the people can't afford to delay."
Li Chaoyang then noticed the dark circles around her eyes. He looked a little worried, "Did your Majesty not sleep all night? Your health is very important."
"These are not a big deal," Shen Qingwan shook her head, "We can't afford to delay the repair of the waterway."
He was impressed by her words when he met her before, and now he was moved by her heart for the people. He immediately arranged for people to deal with the waterway issue.
Shen Qingwan was just about to go to rest when she heard a servant come to report that there was news about the parents of the child from yesterday.
"Reporting to the Lord, Madam Concubine Xian, after investigation, it was found that the child we rescued yesterday was from a family in the east end of the village. The father was unfortunately washed away by the flood while trying to save the mother and child a few days ago, and his whereabouts are unknown. The mother heard the news about the child and followed me all the way back to the Li Mansion, and is waiting outside the door."
"Let her in quickly. Shu'er, bring the child from yesterday here." Li Chaoyang asked the guard who came to report to bring the child's mother in, and asked the maid to bring the child over.
When the mother saw the child, she immediately hugged him and burst into tears, without even bothering to say thank you. Fortunately, Li Chaoyang and Shen Qingwan were not the kind of people who cared about these things. Shen Qingwan looked at the mother and son and was touched.
She walked up to the mother and handed her purse to her. "It's good that the child is back. We will solve the flood problem as soon as possible. Take this and live a good life with your child in the future."
The woman then realized that she wanted to thank her benefactor and refused to accept Shen Qingwan's money. She knelt down in front of Shen Qingwan and said, "You are a living Bodhisattva! This child is all I have left. You saved him, which means you saved my life! How can I still accept your money!"
Shen Qingwan quickly supported the person and did not let her kneel down. She did not care that the woman's sleeves were soaked with mud and water and wet her clothes as well: "This is what the court should do. If you want to thank him, teach the child well in the future and let him serve the court when he grows up."
The woman kept nodding her head, and incoherently expressed that she would make her child useful to the court in the future. Shen Qingwan comforted her a few more times, and then asked someone to take the mother and child to the temporary shelter.
Li Jieyu, who had just gotten up and came to find Shen Qingwan, saw all of this, but did not take it seriously. Instead, she thought that she was really nosy.