Chapter 040 Chapter 40 Post-disaster arrangements

As expected, Aunt Su left some food for them.

After dinner, a few people talked about today's harvest. Judging from the weather tonight, it should be sunny tomorrow. We just hope that the weather will be good in the next few days so that everyone can harvest all the grain.

Although the corn was not yet ripe and would become very dry if left to dry, it was still enough to fill the stomach. However, the sorghum that had already sprouted was a big problem. When Lin Yue heard that they meant to harvest it and eat it, he couldn't help but ask, "Uncle, can we still eat sorghum after it sprouts?"

Zhang Zhiqiang took out his old pipe and knocked it on the table. "Whose grain didn't sprout in the end? Didn't we eat it all? If it doesn't kill us, we have to eat it. What else can we do?"

Lin Yue fell silent after hearing this. Sprouted sorghum and unripe corn were used to feed pigs in the future when she lived, but now people can only eat these.

Aunt Su felt that the room was too depressing and wanted to change the subject, so she said, "I saw Zhang Zhixiang's eldest grandson today. Why do you think he went to the West Aqueduct?"

Everyone was very curious and waited for Aunt Su to say more.

Aunt Su didn't keep the secret and said bluntly, "The kid heard his father say that a big flood would be a good time to go fishing, so he took it seriously and went there! How could this father be such a jerk!"

Zhang Zhiqiang was so angry that he slammed the table: "How come none of the adults in this family do anything serious! Not only are they not making progress themselves, but they are also talking nonsense to the child all day long. A good child is almost gone!"

Aunt Su said that she originally wanted to change the topic to make the atmosphere less depressing, but she didn't expect it to backfire and make her old man even angrier.

When Zhang Shoucang heard about the reservoir, he remembered something else: "Speaking of this, Dad, after a couple of days of drying, we have to quickly organize people to rebuild the dam."

Zhang Zhiqiang nodded and said, "Yes, I think the sun should be good these two days. After the crops are harvested, we will organize people to repair it."

Then he said to Lin Yue and Zhang Yuandong, "Yuandong, you and your family should stay at my house for the time being. Wait until the dam is repaired before returning. Otherwise, I'm afraid there will be danger."

Zhang Yuandong lowered his head and thought for a while, then spoke after careful consideration: "Uncle, I went to Xishan today, and when I passed by my house, I saw that the courtyard wall had been washed down by the water. That house still belongs to the brigade, and the courtyard wall is easy to repair, but we can't live there forever. There are still many empty houses in the village, I think it's better to buy one, what do you think?"

In 1960, many people fled to the Northeast to escape famine, leaving many houses in the village vacant.

On the way back from the old house, Zhang Yuandong discussed this matter with Lin Yue. Although she agreed, she didn't expect Zhang Yuandong to be so anxious, so she mentioned it to Zhang Zhiqiang tonight.

Zhang Zhiqiang disagreed: "If you have money, have you ever thought about building your own house? Why do you have to buy one from someone else?"

Zhang Yuandong said, "I want to build a new house with red bricks and red tiles, but I don't have enough money. Besides, bricks are in short supply now, and it's not easy to buy them. It's not cost-effective to build an adobe house now, so I might as well buy an old one to live in first."

Zhang Zhiqiang thought about it and nodded: "That's good. I remember that several families didn't have houses arranged before they left, so they mortgaged them to the brigade. It's not bad to have a few houses. If you have enough money, it's a good deal to buy one. You can also have your own home."

He tapped the pipe slowly in his hand, thinking about the uninhabited houses, and then he said slowly: "If you want to say which one is better, it's Liu Daye's house. It has four square main rooms and a big yard. But it's too close to your parents, with front and back houses. And your uncle's house is not bad either. It's next to your aunt Zhang's house and not far from here."

Zhang Yuandong thought for a while and said, "After this busy period is over, Lin Yue and I will go and take a look together."

Zhang Zhiqiang said, "Of course you should go and have a look together. You have to make your wife satisfied before you can settle down."

We were all really tired today, so after talking for a while, we went back to our rooms to rest.

The little guys were still not sleepy and were fighting with the quilts on the kang, making so much noise that the two adults couldn't sleep.

Wang Xiuxiang simply sat up and started chatting with Lin Yue.

She had long been dissatisfied with Lin Yue's family's residence, but it was difficult to bring it up. Now that his family was finally going to move, she felt more excited than Lin Yue: "Your current house is too remote. Going to your house is like going to the West to seek Buddhist scriptures. If your husband wasn't at home, I would have wanted to give you some suggestions. I think it's best to choose the one at your uncle's house. It's a little small, but it has three rooms, which is enough for your family. And it's close to my house, so it will be convenient for visiting in the future."

Lin Yue smiled and said, "I'll go take a look tomorrow. You don't know, I was a little scared living in that house, it's too close to the saplings. Every summer, I was afraid that snakes would get into my house. I had to hold my breath when I lifted the oil can while cooking, for fear that there was a snake coiled inside."

Wang Xiuxiang laughed: "When will you ever get rid of your fear of snakes? Everyone in the village respects you and wants to keep a snake at home, but you are the only one who is afraid of it!"

Lin Yue smiled bitterly and said, "I don't care what other people are like. I'm just scared. There's nothing I can do about it."

The two chatted for a while and were so sleepy that they could hardly open their eyes. After subduing a few naughty monkeys by force, they were finally able to have a good sleep.

It took everyone three and a half days to harvest the grain from the fields before they could transport it all to the threshing ground.

The sorghum and corn had to be dried before they could be threshed. During this period, there were a few light rains, but fortunately they were not heavy, so they were almost dried in three or four days.

Zhang Zhiqiang roughly divided the people into two groups. The young and strong ones went to repair the dam, and most of those who stayed behind to work in the threshing ground were women and children.

Lin Yue and Zhang Yuandong took some time to see the two houses. Both were adobe houses. Because no one had lived in them for many years, they had been damaged to varying degrees, and the yards were full of vegetables planted.

Of the two houses, Liu Daye's is indeed bigger and more tidy. Uncle Zhang Yuandong's is not bad either. Although it only has a front door and two main rooms, and there are many places that need to be repaired, the location is indeed good, and the neighbors and Lin Yue get along well.

Zhang Yuandong has a deeper affection for his uncle's house. When he was young, his father and mother didn't love him, but fortunately his uncle was still good to him. Sometimes his uncle would scold Zhang Zhiwei and his wife when he saw that he was wronged. Zhang Yuandong was often bullied when he was young, and it was also thanks to the brothers of his uncle's family who took care of him.

It can be said that thanks to his uncle's family, Zhang Yuandong did not become a complete wild child when he was young.

After discussing, they both decided to take the house from their uncle's house, so they went to Zhang Zhiqiang and Secretary Liu to make the reservation. The house was priced at 120 yuan, and Zhang Yuandong paid the money without hesitation.

Lin Yue looked sideways. She didn't think Zhang Yuandong should give her all the money. She was just curious about how much he was earning now. He was already sending her 50 yuan in allowance every month, and he had bought so many things and sent them back recently. She even wondered if he didn't need to spend money in the army.

A few people decided to arrange people to help them repair the house after the autumn harvest. These jobs were free of charge, just like the last time they repaired the courtyard wall. However, since it was their own house, they had to provide the materials themselves and also provide two meals for the workers.

In the following days, Lin Yue worked in the threshing ground, threshing sorghum and corn. Fearing further rain, he often returned home in the evening to eat a quick meal and then went back to the threshing ground under the moonlight to work.

The adults were busy in the sun drying field, while the children were catching grasshoppers in the nearby meadow. When they caught a lot, the brave ones built a simple stove with stones and cooked them on the spot.

The stomachs of grasshoppers in autumn are full of seeds. When roasted over fire, they are so fragrant that they can be smelled everywhere. Some adults can't resist the temptation and will ask their children for two. If you meet a naughty child who likes to contradict you, you will definitely not get one. Needless to say, parents will lose face and will definitely take off their shoes and beat them.

To thresh sorghum, you have to beat it hard on the ground. The dust in the drying field is flying. People stay in the drying field all day, and everyone is gray and gray. When they get home, they wash themselves off, get on the kang and fall asleep. Lin Yue didn't have time to move back, so he still stayed at Aunt Su's house these days.

It seemed that the grains were almost threshed and could be stored after two more days of drying, but something went wrong again.

The early morning sunlight was not glaring. After the gong was struck for the third time in the village, people came out of their homes in twos and threes and walked towards the threshing ground.

Zhang Yuandong commuted to the county every day. The county seat was far away and it took more than an hour to get there by bike. He applied for a sidecar tricycle from the police station where he worked and had just come out of Aunt Su's house pushing the sidecar tricycle.

In the whole Xiaotian Village, there are very few families who own bicycles, let alone this kind of sidecar that is only available to the public.

Along the way, Zhang Yuandong received countless curious looks. Some naughty children deliberately ran around in front of and behind the sidecar, and then gave their companions a boastful look, as if they were as awesome as riding this car.

Zhang Yuandong was also helpless. Cars were rarely seen in the village. At first, adults and children were very cautious, afraid of being hit, so they only dared to watch from the side. Only a few people who were familiar with him would ask a few questions. After a long time, when they became familiar with him, no one was afraid of him anymore. Honking the horn was useless, but it made everyone more curious.

He had already changed into a police uniform, with navy blue police pants with red dental floss, a white police uniform on the upper body, a brown belt around the waist, and a white wide-brimmed hat with a navy blue cap band on the head. This outfit made him look broad-shouldered and slim-waisted, and his temperament was outstanding. Especially since he was riding a police tricycle, all the young girls and wives on the road secretly saluted him.

Older women also like to watch, and they dare to joke. Aunt Liu Wu said loudly: "Look at Xiao Huizi's figure, not only the young wives can't take their eyes off him, I can't take my eyes off him either! Oh, this horn is really loud, it's much more useful than the broken gong held by the captain, just blow the horn and all the wives in the village will come out!"

This made the ladies burst into laughter, and Zhang Yuandong never dared to honk the horn again.