Chapter Eighteen: Irrigation Tool—the Tube Wheel Unable to suppress the curiosity in her heart, Hua Ling slowly walked to the doorway. She heard an unfamiliar voice inside saying loudly, “No matter what, this matter absolutely cannot be handled the way you say. The great drought in the south is a natural disaster. The usual practice has always been to pray to the gods and beseech them to show mercy by sending rain. And now you want to build embankments and store water to guard against drought—how much manpower and resources would that take? It would burden the people and squander wealth, and it might not even prove effective. I am firmly opposed.”
“Pray to the gods for rain? That is foolishness. How many times has it ever worked? Most of the time, not a single drop falls. So building embankments is imperative. This can solve the farmers’ irrigation problem while also preventing floods and droughts—killing two birds with one stone. What is wrong with that? You are merely afraid that, with the Empress Dowager’s birthday approaching, I will divert the silver funds. No matter what, I will not give up.” Mu Yelei spoke angrily, and because he was so furious, his slap made the table ring with a thunderous sound.
Hua Ling could not help clicking her tongue. So this fellow had such a raging temper when he was angry. It seemed she had come at the wrong time. She had better leave first, lest she run straight into the line of fire. Thinking this, Hua Ling turned to go, only to hear the sound of the door opening behind her.
“Who are you? What are you doing sneaking around here?”
Hua Ling heard his voice and stopped awkwardly. This voice was very familiar—it was the person who had just been arguing with Mu Yelei. Hua Ling turned around with a smile on her face and said with an embarrassed laugh, “I came to look for Mu Yelei. Since you two are talking, I’ll come back later. Please continue. I’ll be going first.” After all, stumbling upon someone else’s quarrel was not exactly a glorious thing, and Hua Ling wanted to slip away.
“You need not leave. The one who should leave is me. Lord Prime Minister, this subordinate will take his leave first.” With that, he walked off with his head held high and his chest out, his steps firm and powerful. It seemed he was not the slightest bit afraid of Mu Yelei, the prime minister. Interesting.
Mu Yelei looked at Hua Ling and said, “Come in.” After speaking, he walked in first. His tall, slender figure appeared somewhat lonely beneath the lamplight.
Hua Ling stuck out her tongue and followed him inside. Originally, she had been rather justified and confident, but after unintentionally eavesdropping on someone else’s conversation and then being discovered, she inevitably felt a little awkward. Thus, after entering, Hua Ling was the first to smile and say, “What did you need me for?” As the saying went, one did not strike a smiling face; Hua Ling understood this very well, so she wore an especially broad, ostentatious smile on her face.
When Mu Yelei saw her smile, he gave a cold snort and said nothing. He merely sat behind the desk with his head lowered, reading something that seemed to be memorials to the throne. Hua Ling could not be certain, but they really did look like that. She had watched some ancient dramas, after all, and knew a tiny bit.
Hua Ling was somewhat curious. Weren’t memorials only for the emperor to read? Why could Mu Yelei read them too? Forget it, none of that mattered. This damned fellow was using this dreary atmosphere to suppress her—did he think she would be afraid? This grandaunt had plenty of tricks up her sleeve.
Casually finding a chair relatively far from him and sitting down, Hua Ling spoke softly, “Actually, solving the problem of irrigating farmland is not that difficult.”
When Mu Yelei heard her words, he dismissed them. What could a woman know? Thus, hearing Hua Ling say this, he paid it no mind and continued reading his memorials, not taking her words to heart in the slightest. There was even a trace of disdain on his face.
Seeing his attitude, Hua Ling did not grow angry; instead, she smiled. Go ahead and look down on me. In a moment, I’ll make you beg me. Thinking this, she continued, “Waiting for rain to fall from the heavens or praying to the gods is not as good as doing it yourself. Building embankments is indeed a very good method, but I have another method. As long as it is combined with yours, this difficult problem will be solved.”
Although Mu Yelei still had not spoken, the focus in his eyes proved that he was listening to Hua Ling. Hua Ling naturally noticed. The corners of her mouth lifted, and she continued, “Water can benefit all things; the wheel is formed in curves. Rising and falling, it fully serves the farmer’s needs; turning low and slow, it follows the craftsman’s design. At first it surges and scatters like lightning; in an instant it winds and turns, giving rise to the wind. Though it breaks waves along the riverbank, its skilled motion leaves no trace; once it turns the current upon the water’s surface, it sounds throughout the night.”
These were lines from Chen Tingzhang of the Tang Dynasty in his “Rhapsody on the Waterwheel,” used to describe the ancient irrigation tool known as the tube wheel. Hua Ling had once studied it in high school. Fortunately, at that time, she had been rather interested in such ancient things and had even made a special trip to the library to look up quite a lot of information. Now it had finally come in handy. This showed that Heaven was fair—anything you learned would one day prove useful.
It was just that Hua Ling would never have imagined that she would travel through time and space to several thousand years in the past, and moreover arrive in a country with no record in history. Whether this was the will of Heaven or mere coincidence, she did not know. But there was one thing she did know: every bit of knowledge she had learned would shine brilliantly in this ancient era of low productivity.
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