Just two days after Li Ling inspected the river bank, the biggest rain during the flood season this year fell to Huating County.

The heavy rain was like a pour, and it was like a pour, and it didn't stop for two days.

Although there are many rivers and rivers in the south of the Yangtze River and can all be drained, the situation in the county is still a little bad as the rain continues to fall. Not only is the water surface of the Huangpu River that penetrates the city rising inch, but even the streams and rivers also tend to spread and flow back into others.

This made everyone in the county town 20,000 to 30,000 people, and Li Ling, as the county magistrate, dared not relax at all. He traveled through the county town for most of the day to check the water conditions, urged civil servants and officials to guard the location where the possible breakages occurred. He was really worried.

Especially the river embankment on the Huangpu River has become a top priority. Although I found that the river embankment was reliable enough during inspections a few days ago, as long as I saw the vast river water rushing outside the embankment, Li Ling had a little more concern in his heart. If something happened to the dam here, the entire county town would probably be destroyed.

After five days of busyness, the rain gradually stopped, but the water in the rivers inside and outside the county town continued to rise. Li Ling still wanted to spread all the people in the yamen to take care of them, and he was in charge of the county government to take care of the overall situation.

As long as you last for these two days, and after the river water goes down and the flow rate stabilizes, this level will be completely over.

Li Ling was thinking about this, but he was still walking back and forth in his public housing, feeling uneasy.

Somehow, he always felt that some danger was about to come during this period, but he had already arranged all the errands, and Chang Fan and others were all doing their best. I think there should be no more dangers.

The knock on the door interrupted his strange thoughts, and then stopped and said in a deep voice: "Come in and talk."

The door opened, and Xu Sen entered the room and bowed slightly: "I have met the adults."

"It's you, why? But is the people in the city doing anything restless?" Li Ling asked with concern, "Is there something wrong with the Fang family?" Now the yamen is almost always staring at the embankments, and he and Xu Sen are in charge of the security affairs of the county town.

Xu Sen hurriedly smiled and shook his head: "Sir, I'm worried too much. Everything in the city is stable. The people are very respectful to the adults. How could they get into chaos at this time?"

Li Ling also laughed. He also knew that because of the fact that the Xu family had taken down, his reputation and reputation among the people of the county had reached a rare level. So, after he passed on his words, everyone would actively work hard to defend the river bank with the government.

"Since that's the case, what's the matter with you? It's not too late now, and you've been tired all day. You're just about to go home and have a good rest." Li Ling asked. He was tired, and Xu Sen was just as tired. He had been busy all day. At such a dusk, going home to rest is the right choice.

Xu Sen's face showed a hint of embarrassment, and then he said with a hint: "I dare not hide it from you. I want to invite you to my house today."

"Oh? Is there really something wrong? Can't you tell me here?" Li Ling asked curiously.

"No, it's not a big deal, but today is the birthday of 36 years old, but my family is... empty now. I want to find a friend to have some drinks with me, but I can't find a suitable person for a while, so I... dare to ask the adults to go there." At the end of his speech, his face turned a little red, but his eyes were full of expectations.

Li Ling smiled even more happily: "So that's it, this is a good thing. OK, I promise you!"

If it were later generations, a subordinate would treat his boss to dinner in the name of his birthday, or something special, but at this moment, he was a person in the officialdom, which seemed to be a bit unusual. This means that Xu Sen really had a close intention to Li Ling, not only regarded him as a superior, but also as a relative and friend.

Obviously, he made great determination to come to invite him at this time. If he rejected his invitation, it would be a little bit of a heart. Li Ling also relied on Xu Sen and recognized his character, so he did not refuse: "In this way, I will go back to the Hanya to change my clothes first, and then go to your home with you."

Seeing that Li Ling deserves to be happy, Xu Sen even showed joy: "Thank you, sir, I'll wait outside."

Li Ling nodded and went to Houya. After a while, he changed into casual clothes and had two more umbrellas in his hand: "Let's go, I've sent everyone in the yamen today, and no one drove. Let's hike to your house, but fortunately it's not far."

Xu Sen naturally had no objection, so he walked out of the county government office with Li Ling, and halfway through the accumulated rainwater to his residence not far from the government office. After a meal, they had already entered a slightly dilapidated yard, but the several rooms in the courtyard looked quite reliable, and were obviously renovated from time to time.

Xu Sen let Li Ling into the main hall, and then went to the kitchen on the other side to prepare the wine and food. The things were ready and he had prepared them all, so in a while, he sent a few simple but fine dishes, plus a pot of wine.

At this time, Li Ling was admiring some decorations in the main hall and calligraphy and paintings hanging on the wall.

The furniture in this hall is all old objects, but it is not good at both materials and workmanship. As for calligraphy and painting, the signatures below are almost all Xu Sen himself, and Li Ling can't tell whether it is good or bad, but I think it should be that way.

When Li Ling saw someone bringing the food and drinks, he smiled and said, "I really can't tell you. You are already thirty-six years old. You look at you in your thirty years old."

"Haha, maybe it was because I had too few jobs in the past and I was relatively leisurely..."

"Oh? So, I should let you stay idle in the future?" Li Ling joked, and then he said curiously: "Why are you not married? You are the only one in the family?"

He just wanted to ask this question. With Xu Sen's identity and age, it should not be difficult to find a suitable woman as a wife according to reason. Why did he always live alone? Moreover, he had seen the situation in the main hall here, and it was obvious that there was no trace of a woman left in the house, which was really abnormal.

Xu Sen smiled bitterly: "More than ten years ago, Bei Zhi had a wife, but she... Since then, I have lost interest in other women. In fact, living alone is good, and I have lost many worries, allowing me to focus on doing what I want to do."

Li Ling saw a deep sadness in his first half of the sentence, and knew that the woman was probably gone. With the pain of love, Xu Sen actually chose to be single all the time. It seems that this is still a love species.

But as this happened, the atmosphere between the two became a little heavy. Li Ling quickly smiled and said, "It's not wrong to make you decide like this. I once heard someone say that women will only affect my sword speed. It's the same with you. Women will only make you unable to make a case as accurate as before, so it's fine."

Xu Sen was a little amused and crying when he said this. He didn't know how to answer, so he could only respond softly, but the sadness on his face dissipated a lot. At that moment, he made a gesture of invitation: "Sir, please take a seat. My food and drinks are a little simpler, but I made them all by myself, and the taste is not worse than those in restaurants outside, especially this wine, which has been treasured for many years. Adults must drink two more glasses."

After saying that, he picked up the wine pot, held the handle in one hand and the bottom in the other, pouring a cup for Li Ling and himself.

This wine is indeed quite good. It smells like amber when you come out of the pot, and it is a very high-quality aged rice wine. Compared with the white wine in the Central Plains, it has a different flavor.

Li Ling smelled the fragrance of the wine and couldn't feel intoxicated: "Good wine!" After arriving in Jiangnan, he drank a lot of rice wine, but no wine could compare with this pot of wine.

"It's good wine, please drink two more glasses of wine." As he said that, Xu Sen picked up the wine glass and drank it all in one go, which was a toast to his superiors.

But when he put down his glass, Li Ling still had no intention of raising the glass, which made him look slightly surprised: "Sir, aren't you used to drinking rice wine?"

"No, I'm just not used to drinking this rice wine like this. Since you are from Jiangnan, you know that although rice wine is mellow, it has one flaw in the end, that is, cold wine is too sour and not as clear as white wine. So you have to warm it before drinking it."

"Adults are indeed well-informed. We do have this habit here. We like to warm up the wine before drinking it. However, that's what we do in winter, and now this season..."

"It's the same. Don't we drink tea this summer? You should drink such a fine wine in the most correct way so that you can live up to it."

Seeing Li Ling insisting, Xu Sen did not dare to disobey, so he could only nod, get up and go out, but went to the kitchen to find a wine warmer. After a while, he came back and brought a huge jar. He just put the entire wine pot in and poured hot water into it, so that the wine pot could be warmed up.

After finishing all this, Xu Sen discovered that the wine glass in front of Li Ling was empty. Seeing him looking at him, Li Ling smiled: "I can't resist the temptation I've been drinking for a long time, but it tastes really good. I almost want to pour another glass."

"Haha, sir, sir, if sir, really like this wine, I have some in my house, I'll give it to you then."

"Thank you so much." Li Ling smiled, and then after seeing the other party picking up the chopsticks and picking up the food, he also picked up the food in his mouth with the chopsticks and put it in his mouth, and slowly chewing it.

"By the way, you are already thirty-six this year, but I wonder how long it has been for you to work in the county government?" During the chat, Li Ling asked curiously.

"It's been twelve or thirteen years, but at the beginning I was just an errand-runner, no different from anyone. It was not until two years later that I found myself capable of being in the prison, so I was able to listen to the punishment room and become a clerk little by little."
Chapter completed!