Chapter 80 Flood
He carefully comforted Aunt Wang and then fell into a deep sleep on the kang (a heated brick bed).
I slept very soundly, as if I wanted to make up for all the energy I had exhausted the night before.
It wasn't until midday, when the sky outside the window was still overcast and the rain was pattering, that she finally woke up.
When I opened my eyes, I found that Aunt Wang was still curled up on the kang (a heated brick bed) next to me, sleeping on her side. Her breathing was even, but her brows were still slightly furrowed. She was obviously tired from crying last night and didn't sleep well.
Carefully and quietly get up, walk to the door and look outside.
Inside the house, the two little ones, Xiao Nan'er and Xiao Bao, were full of energy, playing happily with pebbles.
The adults were still asleep, and the faint sound of snoring could be heard.
The rain was still falling, showing no sign of clearing up.
The air was incredibly humid and stuffy. I rubbed my aching arms and felt like all my bones were about to fall apart.
But looking at the two carefree little ones in the house, and thinking about the piles of wet corn in the room, she knew she couldn't rest.
We need to prepare some hot food to warm everyone up and give them some energy.
She tiptoed to the kitchen, where the fire had long since died down and the stove was cold.
She added firewood and started a fire.
The flames leaped up, bringing a touch of warmth.
She thought for a moment, then found an earthenware pot in the corner. Inside was some leftover broth from yesterday's pork bone soup. Although there wasn't much, it was very flavorful.
She poured the soup into the pot, added some water, and brought it to a boil.
The soup began to boil, and that familiar aroma of meat filled the air.
Next, she scooped up several large spoonfuls of flour and began kneading the dough.
I added a little salt to the flour, slowly stirred it with warm water, kneaded it into a smooth and soft dough, covered it with a damp cloth, and let it rest.
While the dough was resting, she went to the yard and picked a few scallions, washed off the mud and water, and chopped them up.
The bone broth in the soup pot was boiling hot and had a rich aroma.
Once the dough had risen, she pinched off a piece, kneaded it into a long strip on the cutting board, and then stretched it by hand into noodles of uniform thickness.
The noodles were dropped into the boiling bone broth and quickly became translucent, floating and sinking in the milky white soup.
She sprinkled on some chopped green onions and added two drops of sesame oil.
The hot and fragrant pork bone noodle soup was ready, and then Xiaozhu went from house to house to wake everyone up.
The adults were woken up one by one, rubbing their eyes and yawning as they came out.
Still feeling the fatigue from yesterday's rain and exertion, the aroma of hot noodle soup lifted my spirits.
Aunt Wang also got up and saw that Xiao Yan had already prepared the meal, and she looked a little embarrassed.
"Sigh, I... I was so busy looking after the kids yesterday that I didn't really help much, and I even overslept, leaving you all to do all this..."
While serving the noodles, he smiled nonchalantly.
“Auntie, what’s the big deal? Whoever gets up first can do it. There’s no rule that someone has to do it. You were a great help watching the kids yesterday. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to work if the kids had been crying.”
She handed a steaming bowl of noodles to Aunt Wang, saying, "Eat it while it's hot to warm yourself up."
Xiong Zixiang, who had just picked up his bowl and slurped up some noodle soup, nodded repeatedly upon hearing this.
"That's right, Auntie, don't overthink it! I've caught up with the training and mastered it now."
"Before, I would just make a simple noodle soup and a haphazard stew. Now, even when I'm too tired to get up early, I can still make noodles. I can stretch them into chewy noodles and stir-fry some cucumber to go with them. I know exactly how to use the right amount of oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar!"
As he spoke, he gestured with his hands, which finally made Aunt Wang smile. Li Xiulan and Xiong Zijuan also laughed, and the atmosphere was lightened considerably.
The family sat around in the main room, holding steaming bowls of soup and slurping up the chewy noodles.
The warmth of the pork bone soup slid down my throat, dispelling the dampness in my body, and my stiff body slowly relaxed.
The rain continued to fall outside, but inside, a brief peace was filled with the warmth of food.
However, this peace did not last long.
The bowl had just been put down, and the chopsticks hadn't even settled properly when a series of urgent knocks came from outside the courtyard gate, accompanied by the shouts of a young man, his voice piercing through the rain and filled with anxiety.
"Brother Xiang! Is Brother Xiang here? Uncle Dahe, is Brother Zixiang here?"
Xiong Zixiang frowned, put down his chopsticks and walked out.
Zhang Yili followed him out and opened the courtyard gate. There stood a boy, about half a teenager, who was Sun Xiaoman, the grandson of Elder Sun from the village.
He was soaked to the bone, his raincoat dripping with water, and his face was covered in a mixture of rain and sweat, panting heavily.
"Brother Xiang! I've finally found you! I went to your yard first but it wasn't there. Aunt Feng said you were here!"
"What's wrong? What happened?" Xiong Zixiang's heart sank when he saw him running so fast.
Sun Xiaoman wiped his face and said urgently, "Brother Xiang! People from the county government have arrived on horseback. They said something terrible has happened in Liujiawa Village, which is located at the foot of the mountain on the north side of the county! The rain was so heavy last night that half of the mountain collapsed and a dragon swam by! It buried most of the Liu family's house at the foot of the mountain, and there are still people inside who haven't been dug out yet!"
"The yamen is short-handed, and the county magistrate has urgently ordered you to quickly lead men to help rescue people!"
Xiong Zixiang's expression instantly turned serious: "Burying someone? Fine! I'll go right now!"
He turned and walked into the house to get his raincoat and straw hat.
Sun Xiaoman took a breath and looked at Zhang Liuyi and Zhang Dashan: "Sister Liuyi, there's something else... This rain is too heavy. Several families in the village, like Old Zhao's family at the end of the village and Wang's family at the east end, have low-lying yards where the water can't drain out. Their houses are completely flooded, even the kang (heated brick bed) is submerged. People can squeeze together, but the grain... the grain will spoil if it gets soaked!"
"My grandfather asked me to come and ask if your newly built house is more spacious, and if we could... could we make room for these families to temporarily store their grain? It's their life-saving food!"
It's truly a case of misfortunes never coming singly. Just when they were worried about how to dry their mountain of wet corn, a life-threatening incident occurred over there, and their neighbors in the village were also flooded.
Xiong Zixiang had already put on his raincoat. Upon hearing this, he did not hesitate at all and said to Sun Xiaoman.
"Xiaoman, go back and tell your grandfather that we can move the place, and ask the villagers to quickly transport the grain over. Saving lives is the priority, I have to go now!"
He then looked at Zhang Yili, their eyes met, and everything was understood without words.
Zhang Liuyi nodded immediately: "Go quickly, be careful on the road, leave the house to me!"
She turned to Sun Xiaoman: "Xiaoman, come in quickly to take shelter from the rain. Tell your grandfather that there's plenty of room! Tell everyone to hurry up and bring the grain over, before it gets soaked!"
Xiong Zixiang said no more, put on his straw hat, and strode into the vast rain, his figure quickly disappearing into the gray rain curtain.
Zhang Liuyi took a deep breath, turned around and shouted into the house, "Dad! Uncle! Let's go to the new house and bring out the ladder. We need to make room for the villagers to store their grain."
No one cared about the dishes or chopsticks anymore, and they immediately set off for the new house.
"How do I do it?"
Zhang Dashan frowned as he looked at the corn cobs piled up in the two rooms.
Although the corn had been husked, it was still damp and piled up heavily.
"There's no room on the ground, let's hang it up here!"
As she spoke, she walked a few steps to the corner of the wall, and together with Zhang Dahe, they picked up the wooden ladder leaning against the wall and neatly placed it under the thickest beam in the main room.
"Dad, please hold the ladder steady for me!" Zhang Yili called out to Zhang Dashan.
Zhang Dashan quickly stepped forward and firmly held onto the ladder with both hands.
Zhang Liuyi lifted his shirt and tucked it in, then nimbly climbed up.
The roof beams were very high, more than ten feet off the ground. Climbing up, one could see that the two small beasts guarding the house were still shining with golden light.
After she steadied herself, she called down, "Sister! Pass me those small, peeled corn cobs, and tie them tight!"
"Okay!"
Xiong Zijuan agreed and she and Li Xiulan quickly picked out the medium-sized, hulled corn cobs and bundled them into bunches of three or five.
Zhang Dashan took it from below and carefully handed it to Zhang Yiyu on the ladder.
Zhang Liu stood on the ladder, leaning slightly forward, stretching out his arms, and steadily hung the bundle of corn on the sturdy roof beam.
She moved swiftly, hanging up one bundle and then reaching out to take the next.
"Watch out, sister! Be careful!" Sun Xiaoman, watching from below, was terrified and couldn't help but shout.
"It's alright! It's safe!" Zhang replied, his hands still moving.
Soon, the roof beams were covered with bundles of corn, weighing them down heavily.
After clearing out a space against the wall in the main room, Zhang Yili then directed everyone to move the corn from the inner side room.
The side rooms are not as tall as the main hall, but the beams are sturdy.
She did the same thing and hung up another portion of the corn.
For the remaining items that can't be hung up, try to pile them up high, prop them up with benches, and keep them away from the ground.
A small but large space, enough to store several bags of grain, was finally cleared out against the wall in the main room and side rooms.
Although the humidity is still very high, it's still better than soaking in water.
Seeing this, Sun Xiaoman didn't hesitate and risked her life to climb up and down the hills to help clear the space.
"Sister Xiaoli... thank you so much! I... I'll go back and tell my grandfather to have the villagers send grain over as soon as possible!"
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