Chapter 7: Staying in a Temple
"Why are we all stopped here? Is the road ahead blocked?"
Jiang Qian was puzzled and followed their gaze, vaguely seeing the village in the distance. Half of the once beautiful village was now submerged in water.
Jiang Qian searched for a long time but couldn't find the roof of her house. Only a row of tall poplar trees on the roadside at the entrance of the village had their tips poking out of the water.
The other people in the family also saw the scene in the distance and felt very sad.
No one would be happy if the place where they have lived all their lives was washed away by water.
Jiang Weimin also had a very unhappy look on his face when he got into the car.
Others saw him coming up and asked what he had said just now.
Jiang Weimin wiped the rain from his face and sighed, "I didn't say anything, I just looked at the water level. Half of the village is flooded. I don't know what the situation is like in the lower reaches where the land is lower than ours!"
Everyone fell silent when they heard this. Although they had successfully evacuated, they were almost washed into the river. It was a life-or-death experience.
"Don't worry, the village was notified in advance, and everyone evacuated in advance. It's a blessing that there were no casualties."
At this point, I can only comfort myself in this way.
Jiang Weimin wiped his face and talked about the news he had just received after getting off the car.
"Just now, your uncle Hongbing said he called the temple. We can go stay there first. It's not safe to sleep outside after all."
"That's great!"
Although the hill is high, no village has built houses there. There is only one temple. Usually, believers from several nearby villages go there to burn incense and worship Buddha.
Although it is just a country temple, it has many believers and a lot of money from incense donations, so the temple was expanded a few years ago and its current area is not small.
There are three main halls with Buddha statues, not to mention the side halls. At the back of the temple there is a row of houses, about ten in total, for monks and pilgrims to live in.
One year during the Chinese New Year, Jiang Qian went to the temple to join in the fun and found out that there were only four people still living in the temple.
There are two monk masters, a childless and five-guarantee household who works as a cook there, and the remaining one is an expatriate from the Buddhist Association.
Although there weren't many rooms in the temple that could accommodate people, everyone's requirements were simple, as long as they had a place to shelter from the wind and rain. Having a place to stay in the corner of the main hall was better than having to huddle in the limited space of the car.
When you are at your wit's end, no one would be unhappy to have such a good place to go.
So the cars parked on the roadside started up again and lined up to drive towards the temple on the hill.
Jiang Qian was sitting in the passenger seat. Not long after, she saw from a distance a figure wearing a black raincoat in the square in front of the temple. It was the monk from the temple.
Then, Jiang Qian saw Jiang Hongbing, who was leading the way in the front car, get out of the car, say a few words to the monk, and then start directing the vehicles following behind.
The cars in the front row drove in one by one, and soon it was the Jiang family's bus' turn.
When Jiang Weimin saw someone coming, he quickly opened the car door.
Jiang Hongbing did not come in, but stood at the car door wearing a raincoat.
"People from other villages have arrived at the temple early, so there's not much room left in the back wing. We can only stay in the main hall and the side halls in the front. Your car is big, so you can park in front of the first main hall after entering the gate. Park next to it, don't park randomly. The temple master said that more villages will probably come soon, and the empty space will be used for them to park."
Jiang Weimin listened and agreed repeatedly, "Okay, don't worry."
"Okay, then you guys go ahead and drive in. I'll talk to the people behind us."
Jiang Hongbing got out of the car in a hurry and headed to the back in the rain.
Jiang Weimin also drove the bus forward.
The temple has no main gate and only half of the wall is enclosed, so the squares in front of each hall are very wide, and each square can accommodate nearly 30 cars. If you squeeze in, you can park even more.
The people who had parked their cars in front had already gone into the main hall and side halls to avoid the rain. Everyone looked at the still gloomy sky with a grim expression, except for the children who were still chasing and playing in front of the Buddha statue without knowing what was going on.
After the Jiang family parked the car, Jiang Weimin and his family got out of the car and entered the main hall.
The several cushions in front of the Buddha statue had already been used as stools by people, and the footprints of people coming in had wet the floor of the hall. Others who had no seats could only stand aside.
The wind blew in from the temple door, and the candles in front of the Buddha statue swayed, flickering, a bit like their vague and unknown future.
The cold wind blew in gusts, but the rain didn't stop at all.
In the heavy rain, it seemed as if another car was coming. A curious person put on his raincoat and went over to inquire about the situation. Only then did he realize that it was from Xiaogang Village next to his village.
Xiaogang Village had not been flooded yet. Their village was located on a higher ground than Xiaohewa. However, the village chief was frightened by the situation in Xiaohewa, so he brought all the villagers out in advance.
People from several nearby villages came, and the temple's main hall and side halls were all packed.
The sky was getting darker and the wind was getting colder, just like people's mood.
The sound of sneezing continued to be heard in the main hall. Jiang Qian heard it, said something to her mother, got in the car, took a piece of old ginger, put on a raincoat and went to the room behind the temple.
The monks in the temple were very easy to talk to. When they heard that she wanted to make ginger soup, they took out some ginger from the temple.
The temple is located on high ground, and it's the only one of its kind within a few miles, so there's no natural gas. The temple's monks still cook their meals on a clay stove, burning wood and coal. Jiang Qian wasn't very skilled at using a clay stove, so a villager who saw them busy and heard they were making ginger soup came over to help light the fire.
With everyone working together, they quickly cooked two large pots of ginger soup.
After dividing the ginger soup into several portions, those who had not helped before took the initiative to carry the big pot and the bowls and chopsticks to the various halls.
The villagers who were hiding from the rain did not expect to have ginger soup to drink, and their praise for the masters in the temple reached a new level. Some of them were so grateful that they added incense money to the merit box on the spot.
Although the temple provided bowls, it was a drop in the bucket compared to the number of people. Many families brought their own bowls and chopsticks when they evacuated, and they had to go back to their cars to get them.
Jiang Qian also took her own bowl from the car and lined up behind the crowd to scoop up the ginger soup. Those who had already been served ginger soup, like a conscious act, arrested all the little devils running around in the store and force-fed them a bowl and a half each.
Because not a lot of ginger slices are used, the taste of the dish is not that spicy, so children don’t really mind it.
After Jiang Qian had served the food, Huang Liping also gave a bowl to her grandson first.
After drinking a bowl of hot ginger soup, the drinker began to sweat and felt less cold.
Jiang Qian looked at her lively nephew and suddenly remembered her biggest mistake in the past two days: she forgot to prepare medicine.
But now the village has been flooded, and the bridge leading back to the village has been submerged by the water. The situation in the nearby villages is probably similar. We don’t know the situation of the village health centers yet, so we can only give up the idea of stockpiling medicines for now.
A lonely temple stands on the hill, and through the heavy rain, it looks like an isolated island drifting on the sea.
The temple is very remote, and the communication signal is not good. It is difficult to make a phone call, let alone access the Internet with a mobile phone. Only occasionally can you refresh the web page with good luck. The loss of contact with the outside world has made the villagers hiding in the temple even more anxious and uneasy.
"My son and daughter are still in the city. I don't know how they are doing."
"My kids are still in school. When will this rain stop?"
"My mom went to my brother's house to look after their kids last time. I wonder how things are going now?"
"My family just built a new house and renovated it. I was thinking of using it for my child's wedding. With such a big flood just now, I guess it's all gone to waste..."
…
Villagers, both acquaintances and strangers, gathered in groups of three or four to complain about the unkindness of nature. Some, feeling uneasy, put on their raincoats and went out to observe the river outside.
Jiang Qian and her family sat in a corner in the rain, quietly listening to conversations everywhere and collecting information.
And in this dim rain curtain, the monks of the temple hurried into the hall in the rain.
The older monk put his hands together and bowed to everyone before explaining his purpose.
It turned out that the temple was running out of food.
There are usually only four people in the temple. Except during temple fairs, the temple will prepare more food to entertain pilgrims. Normally, the temple does not store much rice and flour. As for vegetables and meat, they are mostly self-sufficient, just like the villages at the foot of the mountain.
Now that this rainstorm has come, the temple, like the villagers, can no longer go out to buy vegetables and food.
The remaining food was definitely not enough to feed the six or seven hundred people in the three villages combined, so dinner became a big problem.
"I know everyone didn't bring much with them when they evacuated, but in this situation, the temple really can't provide food for so many people, so I'm asking you to raise some food."
"If you have any, just put a handful of rice and vegetables in this bag. We'll make the porridge and vegetables and send them to everyone in a while. If you brought your own dry food and don't want to eat in the temple, that's fine too. There's hot water in the kitchen at the back, and anyone who needs it can go get some. If you want to cook your own food, there's a stove and firewood at the back, so feel free to do as you please."
The young monk was thin-skinned and stood aside with his head lowered, holding two bags in his hands.
Most of the incense in the temple comes from the surrounding villagers. The people in front of him are the breadwinners of the temple. He is very familiar with many of them, and he always calls them "little master" when he meets them in the past.
Normally they should prepare good meals for everyone who comes to stay here, but given the current situation, the temple really does not have the capacity to entertain everyone.
The people who hurriedly evacuated after hearing the alarm did not bring much food. After the meeting in the village, they went home and packed mostly valuable items at home. They only prepared food for three to five days, and most of them were convenience foods such as instant noodles and biscuits. There was not much rice or flour.
What's more, the capacity of an average car is not large, so even if you want to, you can't carry much.
But faced with such a situation, no one was stingy, and many people took out what they had prepared at home.
【Author’s words】
It’s complete! I saw several cuties collecting and commenting on my posts, and the clicks are increasing. I’m so happy.
This week, I applied for the list, but I'm not sure if I'll be on it next week. I'm so nervous. The list seems to be based on 10,000 words and 10,000 collections. It seems the fewer words and the more collections, the greater the chance of making the list. So, please, everyone who's read this far, please move your fingers and click on the collection button. I give you all a thumbs up!
For the next week, I'll probably be keeping the word count down to get on the charts, so I'll probably be updating every other day for the next six days. If I'm lucky enough to make the list, I'll probably update it based on the word count. Thank you all for your support, bow!
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