The morning air smelled damp, probably because of the heavy rain last night. But just after dawn, the moment the sun just showed its head, the night's torrential rain suddenly stopped, and if it weren't for the dizzying dew drops on the leaves, probably no one would have believed that it was raining last night.

The sun reflected a colorful rainbow in the sky, and a town that had just passed the storm bathed in sunlight. The narrow streets are lined with buildings in the style of medieval European churches that look like soldiers. It's a small town. Of course, it can also be described as "small".

Early in the morning, Wall Street, the main street of the town, was filled with market collectors, mixed with the smell of water and the noise of the early morning, waking up the boy who lived in a corner bakery at an intersection of the street.

"Ah~ It's only a little bit now, it rained all night last night, maybe the Ward River is going to rise again, it seems that Uncle York is busy. It's been so early, it's been noisy outside, what's going on?" Du Lang muttered as he rubbed his hazy sleepy eyes while opening the window.

As soon as the window was opened, the moist and fresh air outside rushed to his face, and he couldn't help but make the little boy who was still a little sleepy shiver, and his drowsiness was reduced by half. Because his window was facing the street to the east, a ray of early morning sunlight shone on his fiery red hair, which made people feel a little glaring.

Stretching, Du Lang poked out his handsome face and looked down, because it was on the second floor, so he had a good view of everything on the street. The people on the street were talking about something, and some of them hurried by. It seemed that they were all heading towards the Ward River in the southwest, and their expressions were solemn. Du Lang knew that something was wrong, and the original three points of sleepiness were swept away. Put on the brand new robe sent by Aunt Xili the day before yesterday, and tie the knee-length hair with a rope. As soon as I went downstairs, I met Mark, who had just returned from the market, he was a middle-aged man with a melancholy look on his face, wearing a light green robe, which could be seen from the neckline for some years.

"Oh, early, Mr. Mark, why did you come back so early? Looking at the people outside, the expression is wrong, is something wrong?" Du Lang greeted Mark as he ate the oil bread he took out of the Cai Cong oven.

"What else to sell, because of the heavy rain last night, the stone bridge over the Ward River was washed away, and everyone rushed to the river, and there were still people going to the market. Mark said as he walked upstairs. Durang also thought that something had happened, the only stone bridge through the Ward River in this town was destroyed, and this was the only way from the town to Tanaris, no wonder the people in the town were so nervous. I guess the mayor has arrived, too. While thinking, he ran in the direction of the Ward River with bread in his mouth.

The more you walk, the more pedestrians on the road are heading to the Ward River. "It seems that this matter is very serious, and the bridge may have collapsed undecently. Durang thought. Running to the river, there were already hundreds of people gathered, and several famous people from the town were there. Uncle York, the mayor of the town, and a few wealthy businessmen in the town...... Facing the rushing waters of the Ward River and the few remaining bridge piers on it, his face was solemn. Dulang walked straight to Uncle York.

"Uncle, you are a famous bridge builder in the town, when the water recedes, everyone will pay for a new one, don't be too sad, although this bridge has accompanied you for 23 autumns. Du Lang comforted the uncle. "Little Dulang, a bridge is stepped on, although it is distressing, but it has also fulfilled its responsibility. It's been 23 years, it's time to rest. But there is one thing that I don't want to, but it still happened, you have to face it..."The uncle's eyes were a little red and he hesitated for a moment and said, he couldn't see it from a distance, and now Du Lang clearly saw the tears in the uncle's eyes, obviously he had shed tears. Duran's heart sank, his uncle had always been a strong man, and although he was over 60 years old, he was still a famous hunter in the town, what could make him cry? Durang understood that things were not as simple as he imagined.

"Tell me, uncle, what's wrong?" asked Durang, staring into Uncle York's eyes. Uncle York seemed to see the firmness in Dulang's eyes to face reality, so he slowly spoke: "Little Dulang, Jieli has left us forever!

Jieli is Du Lang's childhood sweetheart who grew up in this town, and has been an apprentice together since childhood, working in a blacksmith shop, learning various survival skills from old mercenaries who have come back from outside, and listening to the stories of the battle with the undead and the tree people told by magicians who travel from afar. In the middle of the night, they climbed on the roof of the bakery and counted the stars, chatting about the interesting things they saw in the town that day, from the trivial matter of whose cat ran to the tree and let its owner beat it down with a spoon and fell half to death, to the half-sized story of someone and whose house entered the thief's half of the year.

Jieli being swept away by the Ward flood was undoubtedly a great blow to Dulang.