After Three Years of Drought, I Built a Divine Kingdom with a Good-for-Nothing Rain God

On the first day after Jiang Chi transmigrated, the scorching sun nearly killed him on the spot. In his previous life, he was a water and sewage worker who died from overwork after one too many back-to-back shifts. In this life, he became a lazy gambler hated by everyone in Qingniu Village, and found himself facing a three-year drought. The ground was cracked wide enough to trap a fist, every last grass root and tree bark had been chewed up, and people were even scraping incense ash from the Dragon King Temple to fill their stomachs. The whole village was just waiting for him to starve to death in the street. Jiang Chi wiped his sweat. “A hellish start? Then I’ll turn things around and show you how it’s done.” He sneaked to the Dragon King Temple hoping to scrounge some offerings, but instead caught Song Huanyin under the altar table, sneaking bites of a wild-vegetable cake. The girl wiped her mouth and claimed she was a rainmaking immortal official demoted from Heaven. Her powers were out of commission, so she couldn’t bring down a heavy rain, but she could trace underground water and spur seedlings to grow. Once the drought was over, she could return to Heaven and feast on immortal peaches. Jiang Chi handed her half a bitter greens leaf and said expressionlessly, “What a coincidence. I’m so hungry I’m hallucinating too.” It wasn’t until they hit a snag digging a well that Song Huanyin pointed casually and sent the water gushing out, splashing mud all over the clerk who had been grabbing their grain. At the county office’s rain-prayer ceremony, she strained until her face turned red and squeezed out three raindrops, all of them landing squarely on the county magistrate’s forehead. Jiang Chi finally understood: this wasn’t some little beggar, but a drought-fighting cheat bestowed by Heaven! One built canals and set up drip irrigation, taking on corrupt gentry who hoarded grain. The other brought forth springs and protected seedlings, directing her light rain at greedy officials. The two oddballs joined forces, blazing a path to survival across the parched earth and turning a barren village into a land of plenty. Later, when someone asked Jiang Chi how it felt to have created a golden age, he screamed inwardly: “What golden age? I couldn’t finish all my 996 overtime in my last life, and now I’m working overtime with a partner in another dynasty!” Song Huanyin munched on a peach and twisted the knife. “You should be grateful. Other people have to build me a shrine before I’ll make it rain.” Jiang Chi shot her a sidelong glance. “Fine. I’ll have your memorial tablet made, and put it right beside the Dragon King’s.”