Recruiting common people for service, sending people to promote everywhere, hiring at high prices, Pan Xifan and Lv Xiucheng have been busy with Shuangshuang during this time.

To facilitate timely plan adjustments and face any sudden situations, during this period, Shuangshuang has been living at the construction site of the large lake excavation. She has ordered to set up a tent there, where she resides on a daily basis.

Because Shuangshuang is offering high wages, many people have come, but the government office of Qingyang Prefecture cannot compare to Qinglin County in terms of wealth. Completely funded by the government office, such a large project cannot be accomplished.

Therefore, Shuangshuang adopted a recruitment method, gathering local wealthy merchants from Qingyang Prefecture and holding an auction for several pieces of land beside the pier, where the highest bidder wins.

Qingyang Prefecture has sugar industries in Qinglin County and Lin County, and the sugar from these two counties is sold nationwide and even exported to neighboring countries. It can be said that Qingyang Prefecture has now been propelled by sugar to become a trade center.

In such a place, a river that can shorten transportation time will definitely be favored by those sugar merchants, and a pier built in such a place will inevitably attract merchants to consume.

With this large sum of money from the auction of land, Shuangshuang now has abundant Silver Coin at hand, all of which have been invested into the spending for lake excavation and river opening.

The entire construction site is bustling with activity, with over ten thousand people working together. The common people who come to work are also very active, and they do not have a mournful expression while working, mainly because of the good treatment.

Excavating the lake and opening the river is heavy manual labor, Shuangshuang offers extremely high wages, calculated based on the amount of work done, where one can earn over ten times the usual wages with enough effort daily.

Just this substantial wage is sufficient to attract countless common people to voluntarily come and work, even those performing labor service are prepared to stay and continue working after their service ends.

Shuangshuang worries that these common people might harm their bodies through such heavy manual labor, and she is very generous with food, offering three meals a day, each with rice, plus one meat, one vegetable, and one soup.

Such good meals are simply comparable to those during the New Year, making the common people, who come to work, express sincere gratitude to Shuangshuang every time they eat for her benevolence.

Usually, when the government works, the scene is always gloomy, but this time due to wages and meals, there is no gloomy spectacle; only a vibrant and joyful working scene remains.

Even though the work is tiring, the number of people is large, known and unknown, gathering together, talking, chatting, and thinking about the generous wages they will receive, they work joyfully without feeling tired.

Shuangshuang is also inspecting the speed of the large lake’s formation daily; the power of many people should be said to be the charm of money, making the lake formation astonishingly fast.

The vast amount of soil excavated from the large lake is piled up into a hill by Shuangshuang, where flowers, grass, and trees will be planted on the mountain, making lakeside viewing a beautiful affair.

Everything is going very smoothly, and Shuangshuang also plans to return to Qingyang Prefecture. The entire Qingyang Prefecture’s affairs are extremely numerous, not only this lake excavation.

Shuangshuang has been delayed here for too long, and it is time to return to handle other accumulated government duties. Shuangshuang also plans to promote aquaculture throughout Qingyang Prefecture, which certainly keeps her busy.

Meanwhile, planting cannot be relaxed either; relying solely on aquaculture without sufficient food is not viable. Speaking of planting, Shuangshuang is now preparing to experiment with fertilizers. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

The fertilizing methods of people at this time are a bit crude, not distinguishing much between raw and cooked fertilizers, wasting much of the fertilizer’s effect.

However, Shuangshuang returned to the government office, and after just three days, it started to rain outside. Initially, Shuangshuang did not mind, as summer is rainy, and rain is not unusual.

But the rain is incessant, lasting for four or five days without stopping; initially gentle rain, but even this continuous rain over several days accumulates significant water.

The most troublesome part is, this light rain on the fifth day has transitioned from light to moderate rain, with no signs of stopping.

Shuangshuang stood by the window, watching the yard outside where the water has reached ankle depth, feeling quite troubled. She is worried whether the light rain will turn into heavy rain.

Luo Linlang hurriedly walked under the corridor with an umbrella, put down the umbrella in her hand, stomped to shake off the mud from her shoes, and then entered the room, coming to Shuangshuang’s side.

"Master, according to your instructions, I have sent people to check all around and inquired those farmers who have special expertise in weather prediction.

Those farmers say such weather has a high likelihood of increased rain, and continuous rainfall is very likely.

Also, people who inspected the water situation mentioned that the Qingyang River’s water level has risen quite a bit. Based on past experiences, if the rain continues for another four or five days without stopping, the river water will overflow the dike."

Shuangshuang frowned; she is not proficient in meteorology, but many local farmers have gained many experiences in weather prediction due to living here for a long time, usually predicting weather quite accurately.

If Qingyang River’s water surpasses the dike, it will be dangerous. Taking a deep breath, Shuangshuang instructed Luo Linlang: "Go inform Yan Yi and let him tell Lv Xiucheng and Pan Xifan, who are still supervising the large lake excavation.

The rain is falling now, don’t let the common people continue working to avoid danger. Even if the common people can’t bear to miss the wages and request to work, make sure to watch them and prohibit construction."

Luo Linlang agreed with a word and hurried out; Shuangshuang folded her arms and looked at the rain outside, feeling disturbed.

She hopes the rain will only last a few days and won’t turn heavy; she doesn’t know why, but Shuangshuang always has a bad feeling in her heart.

Things did develop in the direction Shuangshuang hoped against, the initially small rain after another day not only did not stop, but actually grew heavier, and there is a trend of becoming even heavier.

Shuangshuang simply cannot sit still, ignoring Ying Chang’an and Heng Yue’s opposition, insists on going out to inspect the dike.

Heng Yue’s brows are furrowed tightly, watching Shuangshuang insist on changing into a raincoat to go out: "Your health is already poor, the wind and rain outside are heavy; a raincoat can’t shield you from much.

If you go out like this, you will definitely fall seriously ill before returning. I think you are suicidal! Even if you don’t care about your life, as a healer, I can’t just watch you go out to seek death."

Ying Chang’an even directly stands blocking the door, coldly laughing at Shuangshuang: "Today, you won’t dream of getting out of this room. I don’t want to watch you half-dead lying on the bed, then nervously afraid that one moment of carelessness didn’t cure you, ruining my reputation as a famous doctor."

Shuangshuang sighed helplessly; she knows Ying Chang’an and Heng Yue are kind, but as she has chosen to become an official, some things must be done with due diligence, especially when it’s a matter of life and death.