Qing Shan County is nestled in the Yun Ling Mountain Range, with its back against Immortal Mountain and facing a great river.
It used to be a land of favorable weather, but it hasn’t seen a drop of rain in three years.
Now, the river has dried up, the ground is cracked, and there’s no harvest at all.
Even the grass has withered, and the bark of trees has been stripped and eaten.
At the corner of East City Alley in Qing Shan County, there is an inconspicuous shop with a sign above the door that reads “Bao Family Grain Shop.”
A young girl with an abacus around her neck sits behind the counter.
She looks about twelve or thirteen years old, thin, with a sharp chin and wrists so slender they seem to be just skin and bones.
Only her pair of bright, dark eyes shine like stars.
She stares at the words “Benevolence and Virtue” on the wall, her eyes flickering like the stars in the sky, and her lips move slightly as she murmurs, “White Flour, buns, steamed buns, fried dough sticks, soy milk, rice dumplings, glutinous rice cakes, noodles with sauce…”
The girl’s surname is Bao, and she is the only daughter of the owner of this small grain shop.
The father and daughter relied on each other and made a living by running this small shop.
Qing Shan County, with its beautiful mountains and rivers and abundant rainfall, was known as a land of fish and rice.
Although the father and daughter were not wealthy, they had no worries about food and clothing.
She was once chubby, with a round face, dimples, and crescent-shaped eyes that made her look like the big white buns from the neighboring bun shop.
Because of her plump appearance, the neighbors didn’t call her by her auspicious name, which meant “abundant harvest,” but by her nickname—Baozi (Bun).
Now, she no longer resembles a bun at all, but rather her real name—Bao Gu (Grain).
She is as thin as a dried grain of Bao Gu, so the neighbors have reverted to calling her by her real name.
“Bao Gu, does your well still have water?”
“Bao Gu, do you still have Bao Gu to sell?”
“Bao Gu, do you really have no White Flour left?”
“Bao Gu, can you check if there’s any grain left in the cracks of your granary?”
Three-Year Drought, the fields haven’t sprouted even a blade of grass, and there hasn’t been a single harvest in three years.
Even the granaries of Qing Shan County are empty.
She’s not an immortal from Yun Ling Mountain who can conjure food out of thin air.
If she had any grain left, she wouldn’t have gone from being a chubby bun to a thin grain of Bao Gu.
At the beginning of the year, her father passed away after a severe illness.
When he died, there was only a bowl of rice left in the house, which she used to bury him.
After that, she pried up the brick platform used for weighing and selling grain at home with an iron shovel, digging out moldy and insect-infested grain from the cracks and beneath the bricks.
She secretly cooked porridge in the back kitchen late at night.
She reduced her meals from two bowls of rice to one bowl of porridge a day, and that moldy old grain sustained her for the first three months of the year.
She thought that if there was grain in the cracks of the weighing platform, there might be some in the granary too.
Unable to move the stone slabs on the ground by herself, she asked Aunt Zhou, a neighbor who had often helped her, to pry open the stone slabs with cracks and mouse holes in the granary.
They found seven or eight pounds of grain.
She gave half to Aunt Zhou and kept the other half for herself.
The four pounds of mixed grain allowed her to survive until now.
It’s strange, Qing Shan County, backed by Immortal Mountain and facing Cloud and Water River, is a legendary land of good fortune.
From the time of the Great Xia Dynasty to now, over three thousand years, there has never been a record of a three-year drought.
Last year, a Taoist from Qing Yun Temple outside the city observed the celestial phenomena and said, “In the south, there is a person, two or three feet tall, with a bare body and eyes on the top of their head, moving like the wind. This is called a Drought Demon. Wherever it appears, there will be a great drought, and the land will be scorched for a thousand miles.”
They believed it was the Drought Demon causing trouble and organized people to burn the Drought Demon.
Many graves were dug up, and many corpses were burned, but it still didn’t rain.
The County Magistrate invited many masters to perform rain rituals, but no rain fell.
Bao Gu also heard that the County Magistrate sent people to Yun Ling Mountain to find the immortals who practiced there, but the mountain was shrouded in mist and full of wild beasts, and the immortals were elusive.
How could they be found?
Bao Gu now had only one feeling—hunger!
Her mind was filled with images of White Flour buns, steamed buns, dumplings, wontons, and noodles with sauce!
She had already finished the last half bowl of mixed grain porridge at home.
Now, with an empty stomach and no more grain to be found in the cracks of the bricks or the floor, Bao Gu’s face, as thin as a grain of Bao Gu, was wrinkled like a bun!
Having grown up guarding the granary and being plump, nicknamed “Baozi,” Bao Gu couldn’t bear to sit and wait to starve to death at home.
She waited until after noon when the sun was less scorching, then prepared to go out in search of food.
This was the first time Bao Gu had stepped out of her house since the drought began and after her father’s funeral.
Because her family still had some grain before, and there were too many beggars outside, she was afraid of being asked for food if she went out.
Now that she had become a beggar herself, she no longer worried about others asking her for food.
Before leaving, Bao Gu made some preparations.
She found a stick used for stoking the fire to use as a cane, brought along the small pot she used to cook porridge, and carried some firewood on her back.
She planned to find a secluded place to cook any food she found.
Bringing the food back home to cook was unrealistic, as there were too many neighbors, and they were all too familiar with each other.
If she found food and the starving neighbors came to ask for some, she wouldn’t have the heart to refuse.
Bao Gu carried a small bamboo basket filled with firewood on her back, a fire poker in her left hand, and a clay pot for cooking porridge in her right hand as she stepped out of her house.
Begging was always a disgraceful thing, and Bao Gu felt deeply ashamed as she kept her head down and hunched her shoulders while walking through her own street.
She turned onto the main road and saw a man in black cloth shoes and a sky-blue robe approaching.
Bao Gu didn’t dare to look up to see who it was.
She lowered her head and held the clay pot out in front of her, murmuring, “Please, have mercy. I haven’t eaten in three days. I’m starving…”
A weak voice sounded from above her head, “Bao Gu, do I look like I have food?”
Bao Gu recognized the voice immediately.
She looked up and saw the emaciated figure of Sun Aiqing, the scholar, standing in front of her, looking at her pitifully.
His cracked, pale lips trembled as if to ask, “Bao Gu, do you have any food?”
Bao Gu silently walked around him and continued on her way.
At first, Bao Gu would ask everyone she met, “Please, have mercy. Do you have any food? I haven’t eaten in three days. I’m starving.”
Later, she shortened it to just, “Do you have any food?”
The weather was dry, and she was thirsty.
She encountered many familiar faces, and everyone would look at each other with hopeful eyes, asking, “Do you have any food?”
Bao Gu felt a bit embarrassed; others begged with bowls, but she begged with a pot.
As Bao Gu walked along, she saw people who were all skin and bones, some so weak they could only crawl on the ground like monkeys.
Compared to them, Bao Gu, carrying firewood, a fire poker, and a clay pot, looked the healthiest and most well-fed.
She arrived at the Government Office and saw many people, reduced to mere skeletons, lying under the eaves outside.
Some officers were pulling carts, loading the bodies of those who had starved to death and taking them out of the city.
A familiar voice called out, “Bao Gu!”
Bao Gu quickly turned her head towards the voice and saw the hungry people around her looking around with shining eyes.
Many had already followed the voice and were staring at Bao Gu, who was carrying a pot, firewood, and a fire poker.
The sound of people swallowing their saliva was constant, and a few even started crawling towards her.
Aunt Zhou, who was in her forties and had been very plump before the drought, was now as thin as a chick, her legs trembling as she walked.
She hurried over to Bao Gu, shooing away the hungry people like chickens, shouting, “Go away, go away!”
She then asked Bao Gu, “Bao Gu, what are you doing here?”
Seeing others trying to grab at Bao Gu, she shouted, “Stay back! There’s no Bao Gu here, this girl’s name is Bao Gu!”
She pulled Bao Gu towards the Stone Monkey at the Government Office entrance, making her son move aside to make room, and said, “Sit here. Are you…”
She looked around and lowered her voice, “Are you out of food too?”
Bao Gu replied, “Not just out of food, I finished the last handful of mixed grains in the porridge this morning.”
Aunt Zhou sighed deeply, tears in her eyes as she looked up at the cloudless sky, choking out, “Oh heavens, is there no way for us to survive? Such suffering!”
She asked Bao Gu again, “Are you sure there’s not a single grain left at home?”
Bao Gu looked at Aunt Zhou pitifully.
Aunt Zhou said, “I heard that many wealthy families have run out of food. Even the County Magistrate is almost out of food. His wife sold her jewelry and brought back five carts of food from a thousand miles away, but three carts were robbed on the way. Only two carts made it back, protected by the County Magistrate’s son. I heard from San Yatou that the County Magistrate’s wife will distribute porridge every evening starting today, so I rushed over. I thought you still had some food left, but I didn’t expect you to be out too. Oh heavens, is there no way for us to survive? But don’t worry, my San Yatou was sold into the County Magistrate’s household as a maid and follows the lady. When she comes out to distribute porridge, she’ll give it to us first. Sit next to me, and you’ll definitely get some porridge.”
She patted Aunt Zhou’s hand and said, “Thanks to your four pounds of mixed grains.”
Bao Gu listened to Aunt Zhou’s chatter and sighed inwardly, looking up at the sky, hoping for a rain cloud.
As she looked up, she saw a shadow moving in the sky.
Thinking she was seeing things, she rubbed her eyes and saw that there really was a shadow moving.
Bao Gu quickly called out, “Aunt Zhou, Aunt Zhou, look, there’s a bird. Quickly, call Brother Zhou to bring a bow and shoot it down!”
She looked around but didn’t see Aunt Zhou’s eldest son.
Even if she called him, the bird might be gone by then, so she sighed heavily.
Bao Gu watched the bird fly away, but to her surprise, it turned around and swooped down towards the Government Office.
Yes, it was diving, very fast.
What looked like a small shadow the size of a fist quickly grew larger, and she could see colorful lights swirling around it.
Bao Gu was stunned and thought, “Could this be an Immortal Mountain’s divine bird? Oh, if only this divine bird could understand human speech and report to the immortals on Immortal Mountain.”
As she pondered, the divine bird flew closer and closer, clearly heading towards her.
Bao Gu became excited and stood up, shouting, “Look, a divine bird! A divine bird from Immortal Mountain, a divine—” She was cut off mid-sentence.
The “divine bird” was now very close, and she could see clearly that it was not a bird but a person in a beautiful long dress, with flowing sleeves, standing on a glowing sword.
Bao Gu shivered and thought, “Oh no, I was wrong. This isn’t a divine bird, it’s an immortal! And a Female Immortal at that.”
The surrounding hungry people all knelt down and bowed.
“Female Immortal——”
“Immortal——”
“Please, Female Immortal, bring rain to save us…”
Bao Gu saw the Female Immortal, standing on a Flowing Mist Sword, descend from the sky and hover just above the Government Office’s entrance, looking down at her.
The Female Immortal was shrouded in light and shadow, making it impossible for Bao Gu to see her face clearly.
She could only see a pair of bright, beautiful eyes staring at her.
Then she heard a voice say, “Hmph! You’re the bird, your whole family are birds!”
With that, the Female Immortal on the Flowing Mist Sword flew into the Government Office.
