Chapter 14 Rain destroys wheat fields

The sun has been scorching every day these days. Everyone says that this year is a bumper year. The wheat ears on the sloping fields are fuller than last year. If we are a little frugal, we will have more surplus food by this time next year, and we will be able to have a comfortable year at the end of the year. At least we can eat white flour buns for a few days.

But I didn't expect it to rain at this time.

It is said that harvesting wheat is like snatching food from a dragon's mouth. The summer rain comes when it comes, without any consultation. The villagers were awakened by the rain. Although they were worried, they also knew that it should be sunny tomorrow and would not affect the harvest.

Gu Xiyue was also awakened by the sound of rain. The window was blown open by the wind, and the wind was blowing wildly. She and Meixiang closed the window together, but there was still a draft in the room.

There are drafts everywhere, under the door sill and on the roof beams. It's okay now that it's summer, but if it were winter, the house wouldn't be warm enough and you wouldn't be able to withstand the wind even if you wore a quilt.

Gu Xiyue sighed… Being able to survive in the Southern Wilderness really requires skill.

She just hopes that the rain will stop tomorrow. She is not worried about the salt marshes, as they will not be affected by the heavy rain. However, she is afraid that the villagers' wheat will be in trouble if the rain lasts too long.

With something on his mind, Gu Xiyue couldn't sleep well at night. He woke up at dawn the next day. The first thing he did when he woke up was to open the door. He found that the rain had not stopped. Although it was much lighter, it was definitely impossible to harvest wheat in such weather.

"Your Highness! Something bad has happened to our kitchen!"

It was Wei Lin's voice. Gu Xiyue was startled. She stepped over the threshold and turned around to look. She was immediately stunned.

The kitchen against the outer wall of the east room collapsed into pieces, and the thatched roof of the kitchen was mixed with the adobe and wooden pillars, burying the big iron pot they usually used to cook.

Gu Xiyue swallowed frantically, feeling a dull pain in her stomach.

This is because I know that cooking will become a problem, and my stomach starts to feel uneasy.

She went out and walked along the wall to see if there was any way to remedy the situation.

Meixiang heard the sound and saw the young lady going to the east room, so she followed her with a sad face.

Gu Xiyue walked to the door of the east room, and Xiao Heng also came out. He had a calm expression and looked unperturbed. After staring at the mess in the kitchen, he turned back to look at Gu Xiyue.

"It seems there's no way to remedy the situation. We have to find another way."

We have to find a solution. This is a big issue that concerns whether we can have food to eat.

Gu Xiyue looked at the rotten yellow mud and sighed, "There's nothing I can do. I can only light the stove."

"But the kitchen has collapsed, where can we build a stove?" Meixiang asked worriedly.

Gu Xiyue and Xiao Heng looked at each other, and their eyes turned to the house in the middle at the same time.

"Go and have a look."

After Gu Xiyue finished speaking, he turned around first, and several people followed behind him.

This room has never been opened. When they were exiled and settled in this small courtyard, Xiao Heng went straight to the east room and Gu Xiyue naturally went to the west room. The room in the middle has been empty ever since, and no one has ever thought of opening it.

Pushing the door open, there is a square table on the left side, and a shabby cupboard against the inner right wall. The wall is mottled, and the wall near the beam is blackened by smoke. What is surprising is that there is a complete stove on the inner left wall, with two stove holes, one large and one small. There is no pot in the large stove hole on the inner side, and there is a small iron pot on the small stove hole on the outer side, and the iron pot wooden cover is covered with a thick layer of dust.

Four pairs of eyes stared at the stove, and Gu Xiyue finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"From the looks of it, there must have been two families living in this yard before. The big iron pot outside must have been from inside. The two families ate separately, so the big iron pot was given to the person living in the east room, and the person living in the west room used this small pot to cook."

After Wei Lin finished speaking, he glanced at Gu Xiyue and his own prince.

"Then the man must live in the east room, and the woman must live in the west room."

Meixiang was also guessing.

"Why?" Wei Lin asked with a smile.

"Because men eat big." Meixiang answered without hesitation.

"Cough cough cough..." Meixiang had just finished speaking when she heard the young lady suddenly cough rapidly. She turned around and found that the young lady's face was red.

Meixiang was about to ask when she noticed that His Royal Highness the Wise King next to her was smiling with his lips pursed, and the expression on his face was a little hard to describe.

She suddenly understood and quickly shut up.

His Royal Highness the Virtuous Prince has been cooking these days, and the little bit left in the pot is always eaten by his young lady. In this way, the young lady eats more than His Royal Highness the Virtuous Prince at every meal.

She shouldn't have said that just now. Didn't she embarrass the young lady?

Gu Xiyue looked around the room, her expression softening slightly. She turned around with her hands behind her back and said with a masterly air, "The stove issue has been resolved. Your Highness should prepare breakfast. I can't help you for now, so I'll go back to the room first."

After saying that, he turned around and walked out without any intention of staying to help.

Meixiang has been eating free meals these days. It was fine a few days ago, as she followed the young lady in and out every day. Now she is idle in the house, and she feels a little embarrassed to eat for free. However, because of the conversation with Wei Lin just now, the atmosphere in the room is a little awkward. She hesitated for a moment, and decided to go out and follow the young lady.

Wei Lin stared at the two people who disappeared at the door with wide eyes, waving his hands in vain, and complained to the smiling His Highness, "Your Highness, they don't care about anything else? Your Highness is responsible for cooking, don't they care about cleaning the house too?"

He looked at the dust-filled room and sighed, "As women, aren't they better at cleaning the house? Now they're asking us men to do this work. Your Highness, in my opinion, they're just fooling around when they go out to remove the frost from the thatch. Can they even eat it or drink it?"

"I just don't want to cook. I'm just making up an excuse to keep Your Highness busy. If it really doesn't work out, we might as well split it up..."

As he was speaking, a piece of cloth hit him in the face. "Alright, cover your head with it and sweep the dust off the roof and walls. I'll get some water and wipe the dust off the table and stove."

Xiao Heng went out, took an empty bucket and placed it under the eaves to collect water, and then brought a wooden basin with a piece of cloth in it, which he also placed under the eaves to collect water, so that he could use it to wipe the dust later.

After doing all this, he found a sack, folded it and held it above his head, went to the collapsed kitchen, moved the wooden pillars away, pulled the big iron pot out of it, and simply placed it under the eaves, letting the rain wash away the mud on it, and then put it down to collect water.

While he was doing this, Wei Lin held a broom and a scarf on his head. He first used his lightness skills to sweep the dust off the roof, and then jumped to sweep the dust off the wall.

Just as they were jumping happily, the door was pushed open and Meixiang came over with a long pole with a broom tied to it.

"The lady asked me to help you sweep the dust."

After Meixiang finished speaking, she looked at the short-handled broom in Wei Lin's hand and laughed, covering her mouth.

Wei Lin: “…”

Gu Xiyue and Xiao Heng were busy preparing the new stove, and the situation at other homes in the village was not much better.

When Granny Liu got up early in the morning, she looked at the rain outside and felt worried. She didn't know when the rain would stop. People could wait, but the wheat in the field couldn't. If the rain continued like this, the wheat in the field would become moldy and sprout. By then, it would be useless even if the wheat was harvested.

Besides, the wind was so strong last night, and the wind was so strong on the wheat slope that I don’t know how much wheat fell down.

In order to prepare for the summer harvest, Granny Liu took out all her stored grain, baked three large pancakes, rolled two loaves of noodles, dried them all and stored them, waiting to be eaten during the busy summer harvest.

Once the wheat is harvested and dried, it can be ground into flour, and then the grain crop will be ready.

If the rain continues, Grandma Liu doesn't dare to think about what will happen next.

Madam Liu and Madam Li, who live next door to her, are in a similar situation. In recent days, the villagers have basically taken out their home stored food to make dry food in preparation for the summer harvest.

Everyone was equally anxious and hoped that the rain would stop soon.

When Lady Liu's daughter Lingxiu woke up early in the morning, she clamored to go play with her brother and sister from Aunt Li's family.

"Mom, are we still having the same meal as yesterday for lunch today? Those noodles are so delicious. I'm going to ask Brother Tiezhu and Sister Huniu to come over and try them."

Tiezhu and Huniu are the children of Lady Li and Mr. Qian.

Lingxiu smacked her lips as she spoke, a look of longing on her face, recalling yesterday's lunch.

Madam Liu and Zhao Yancheng looked at each other and looked at their daughter helplessly.

Yesterday I was thinking that today would be the day to start harvesting wheat. I was thinking that the wheat ears this year were full, the new wheat seedlings were also dense, and this year's harvest would definitely be better than last year's. I was so happy that I mixed some white flour at noon and made oil-splashed noodles.

When pouring the oil on the noodles, I deliberately added a few drops of oil, and put chopped green onions, minced garlic, salt, soy sauce and vinegar on the noodles.

Madam Liu has good cooking skills. The noodles are rolled into a soft and chewy texture. After stirring, the aroma is fragrant. Lingxiu, who was chirping, took a bite and almost buried her whole face in the bowl.

The family of three each had a bowl. Lingxiu finished a bowl of noodles, and her little belly was bulging. After Liu Niangzi and Zhao Yancheng finished their noodles, they each drank a bowl of noodle soup.

The delicious food is as satisfying as the Chinese New Year.

I saved the remaining noodle soup until the evening. I ate it with a plate of cold wild vegetables, a steamed bun, and drank some noodle soup. I still felt very satisfied.

Children rarely eat white noodles on a daily basis, and they will savor them for a long time after eating them once.

Hearing their child say this, the couple looked worried. They couldn't bear to ruin her good mood. Madam Liu held her daughter in her arms and said softly, "Lingxiu, it's raining today, so we can't go up the mountain to harvest wheat. When the rain stops, we'll harvest the wheat and grind new flour. Then I'll make you some oil-splashed noodles, okay?"

"By then, bring Brother Tiezhu and Sister Huniu over, and let them each have a big bowl of oil-splashed noodles, okay?"

As Madam Liu spoke, she gestured with her hands to indicate the size of the bowl.

After listening to this, Lingxiu nodded obediently. She blinked her innocent big eyes expectantly, staring at the drizzle outside the door, her brows furrowed.

She came here with her parents when she was three years old. During the three years here, except for the two meals at home during spring planting, summer harvest and autumn harvest, the rest of the time they basically only had one meal. Her parents saved money so that she could have more meals. She also hoped that the rain would stop soon so that she could eat oil-splashed noodles again.

Brother Tiezhu and sister Huniu are suffering more than her, so she can share some food with them when the time comes.

The rain continued for three days and had not stopped. During these three days, everyone stayed at home waiting and only ate one meal a day. Some people went to the fields in the rain when the rain did not stop, and found that a large area of ​​wheat had fallen over. The wheat ears were soaked by the rain and mixed with the wheat stalks, and could no longer be picked up.

Some people burst into tears on the spot, looking at the gray sky with despair. The drizzle intertwined into an endless cage and fell from the sky.