Chapter 197: Gratitude for Saving People and Building a Thatched Hut
The man watched his wife and children walk away, and he felt greatly relieved.
But about thirty feet behind the man, Lin Duocang and the Wu couple, who were supporting each other, watched the bamboo raft go farther and farther away, and they sighed together.
Wu also wanted to take the bamboo raft.
But there were already two people on the bamboo raft.
Wu's body was heavy, and the bamboo raft was probably not big enough to accommodate her. Moreover, when she recognized that it was Lin Shu, she felt so embarrassed that she couldn't even ask her to give her a ride.
The relationship between her in-laws and her second uncle's family was extremely strained, and as the eldest daughter-in-law, even if she felt her family was doing something wrong, she couldn't say anything. Therefore, she had never had any dealings with her second uncle's family since she married in. How could she have the nerve to ask for help at this time?
But--
The water wasn't deep, barely reaching her knees, but walking in it was much more tiring than walking on land. The rain was also icy cold. Ping'er could reach the end of the village in a quarter of an hour, but it took her ages to reach the end. Her legs had already begun to tremble unconsciously.
Wu held her heavy belly and made a secret decision. For the sake of her unborn child, if Lin Shu came back, she would shamelessly beg for mercy.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, Lin Datian and his companions, who were far behind, caught up with them.
Wu opened her mouth and was about to say something to her father-in-law, but her father-in-law simply ignored her and Lin Duocang and walked past them.
She was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly.
In this family, her mother-in-law was always aggressive. She subconsciously believed her father-in-law was a fairly fair person, just a quiet one. Even when he did speak, his mother-in-law would always refute him, making him appear somewhat cowardly and weak. But now, it seemed that her father-in-law also had some complaints about her, and his dissatisfaction with her, his daughter-in-law, was almost no less than that of her mother-in-law.
Zhang Lamei, who had followed in silence all the way, saw Wu's distraught look. When they passed each other, she suddenly taunted: "You hurried away, and you were so embarrassed that you almost broke up with me. But how could you walk fast with such a big belly? If you hadn't been so stubborn just now, the head of the family and I would have helped you. After all, you are pregnant with the eldest grandson of the old Lin family, but you couldn't hold back and showed your true colors so quickly! I don't care about you anymore. I have many sons, and I will have grandchildren in the future! You two will be separated from the family today, and as for the food at home, you can't even think of eating a single bite!"
"Mom, my wife and I didn't mean that. Please don't chase us away! Wife, please apologize to our mother!" Lin Duocang was shocked and quickly pulled his wife to apologize.
Mrs. Wu pursed her lips tightly, unwilling to give in.
If her mother-in-law really didn't give her and Lin Duocang a single grain of food, she would be watching them die. Then they would be criticized by the villagers, and the village head would not let it go. Her mother-in-law was just angry that she had contradicted the elders before, so she deliberately frightened her.
Although it was meant to scare people, it was ultimately chilling. She thought about how she had been respectful and filial to her parents-in-law in the year since she married into the Lin family, and how she had been polite to her two younger brothers-in-law, especially the youngest, Lin Duoliang. She had never expected to be met with such cold words in return.
Why was she in such a hurry to leave just now? It was because her mother-in-law was stubborn and refused to leave.
She was already having difficulty moving because of her big belly, and delaying it would only make things more dangerous. It was true that she was a little selfish, but at this point, was it wrong for her to want to survive?
At this moment, her parents-in-law and her two brothers-in-law all treated her like nothing, passing her by one after another. Wu was so stubborn that she didn't say a single soft word. She just gritted her teeth, supported Lin Duocang's arm, and continued to move forward step by step.
As we were walking, the bamboo raft we had seen earlier appeared again.
The bamboo raft was washed downstream by the rain. The owner of the raft pushed the bamboo pole in his hand from time to time. The raft was as flexible as a fish in the storm.
Seeing the bamboo raft coming straight towards them, Zhang Lamei and the others were overjoyed. They had been too far away to see Lin Shu rescue people before, so this was the first time they had seen a bamboo raft.
"Whose family is this guy? How can he have such ability?" Lin Datian wiped the rain off his face and said in surprise.
Lin Duoliang suddenly had an idea and said hurriedly, "Father, we have too much stuff to carry. Why don't we ask this old man who paddles the bamboo raft to help us bring some food?"
Lin Duogu frowned and retorted, "If we can't just take our food, who can we go to if this guy secretly hides our food and then claims it accidentally fell into the water? We can ask him to take other miscellaneous items with us."
Zhang Lamei forgot her previous unpleasantness, and her mind was filled with the words "profitable". "What a bunch of ruffians! The third brother and I can just take the things we have and take the bamboo raft together! The third brother is young, and I am a woman, so we can definitely get on the bamboo raft. If it really doesn't work, we can just cry and pretend to be miserable..."
As she was talking, Zhang Lamei fell silent.
The man on the raft wasn't tall and strong, but because he was wearing a straw raincoat and a bamboo hat, and the rain was blocking his view, his face couldn't be seen at all. Furthermore, he was incredibly strong, and with a single push of his bamboo pole, he could propel the raft a great distance. He looked stronger than most men. Lin Datian and Zhang Lamei's family thought he was someone else's, most likely a thin, elderly man, as there were many short elderly people in Tianshui Village. As he drew closer, Lin Datian and his family were practically stunned.
This, this is not a man, this is clearly a young lady!
The person who came was not unfamiliar. It was Lin Shu, the fake daughter of Lin Dashan's family who had returned from the Marquis' Mansion in the capital in disgrace!
When Zhang Lamei thought about what she had said, she suddenly felt as disgusted as if she had eaten feces.
It's obvious that Lin Shu would never let their family take this bamboo raft!
As soon as they thought of this, they saw Lin Shu push the bamboo pole with her hand, and the bamboo raft under her feet turned and stopped steadily beside them.
Zhang Lamei was stunned for a moment and then became ecstatic, thinking that her niece Lin Shu had put aside their past grudges and wanted to please her as her aunt. For a moment, she was even proud of it.
But the next moment, her expression froze. Lin Shu's gaze passed over the others and looked at Wu behind them.
"Sister-in-law, come up. I'll take you to the back mountain first." Lin Shu said to Wu.
After thinking for a moment, she added, "Don't worry, I can row steadily and won't let you fall."
"Okay, thank you, cousin Ashu!" Lin Duocang reacted quickly and replied on behalf of his dazed wife, carrying her to the bamboo raft.
Lin Shu reached out and helped, "Stand steady. If you're afraid of the bumps, you can sit down and hold onto the edge of the raft."
When the bamboo raft was rowed far away, Wu was still staring at the bubbles formed by the heavy rain on the accumulated water. Her eyelashes trembled slightly and she whispered a thank you.
The sound of wind and rain drowned out the thank you. Wu thought the other party hadn't heard, but she heard the raft man reply, "I'll thank you once everyone is safe and sound. You're heavy, so you'd better be careful after getting caught in the rain."
Just now, Wu didn't cry despite feeling so wronged, but when she heard these words, her eyes became hot and tears mixed with rain flowed down her face.
She nodded quickly, remembering Lin Shu holding the bamboo pole with her back to her, and she replied softly with red eyes: "A Shu, little sister, I understand."
Lin Shu was not being modest. She paddled the small bamboo raft and reached the foot of the mountain in just a few strokes, which would have taken a long time if she had used her two feet.
Zhou Ye was waiting for her at the foot of the mountain. He was surprised to see her bringing Lin Datian's daughter-in-law with her. However, he was not surprised that Lin Shu brought back Wu, but that Zhang Lamei, with her extremely noisy and suspicious personality, would let Lin Shu take her daughter-in-law away like this?
"Aye, help your sister-in-law up the mountain, I'll go to the village to take a look." Lin Shu said and left again.
Zhou Ye watched her nimbly paddling the small bamboo raft away, his brows slightly furrowed, and many doubts arose in his mind, but those doubts soon became irrelevant.
By this time, no matter whether the villagers believed it before or not, they had to believe it now. Tianshui Village was really hit by a flood!
There were plenty of stubborn souls in the village who were terrified and fled for their lives at this moment. If they left at this moment, it would be fine if they lived near the end of the village, but if they lived at the beginning, they would definitely not be able to reach the back mountain. Lin Datian's family was lucky; they left at the perfect time. If they had been careful and cautious along the way, they would have made it to the back mountain without any problems. So, it wasn't them that Lin Shu wanted to pick up, but the villagers who had just fled.
Sure enough, when Lin Shu returned, she found several trapped villagers.
Two of them could not escape any longer, so they climbed up a nearby high slope. Another family did not even leave the yard, but climbed onto the roof of their thatched house. As a result, half of the roof collapsed, and the family was so scared that they cried for their parents.
Lin Shu made three trips back and forth before she finally transported all the villagers safely to the back mountain.
The back mountain was thick with trees and grass, so the villagers went into the leeward woods to avoid the rain. The children who often went to the back mountain found small tree holes that could accommodate one or two people to hide in. But this was not a solution, so Zhou Ye suggested building a few simple thatched huts against the trees.
The village head was still in shock over the flood. If it weren't for Zhou Ye and Lin Shu, the village wouldn't know what would have happened. So, no matter what Zhou Ye said, he naturally agreed with her. Upon hearing that, he immediately selected a few reliable and capable men to follow Zhou Ye's instructions.
The head of the village had such an attitude, so the other villagers were even more worried. They had previously thought Zhou Ye was suspicious and had been gossiping about him behind his back, but...
Alas! This time it’s all thanks to Zhou Ye from Lin Lao Er’s family!
"Zhou Ye, boy, how do we build this shed? Just tell us, we'll all listen to you!" A strong man spoke, and the others responded one after another.
"This matter is urgent, so I won't be modest. I do have some experience in building thatched huts in the mountains. There are many women and children in the village, so let's build two to shelter them from the rain. My parents came to the back mountain to observe before. This area has many trees that are sheltered from the wind, with low branches and dense leaves, making it the easiest to build a thatched hut. Let's do this..."
When Zhou Ye called out "Dad and Mom", everyone was stunned.
Oh, this is Lin Dashan and He Shi. Zhou Ye called them so smoothly that they almost thought they remembered it wrongly. It was Zhou Ye's biological parents who came to find him alive.
There are many bamboos on the mountain, and they are easy to cut. Zhou Ye took a group of strong men with tools to cut some bamboos.
Using bamboo as a support and the branches of a big tree, a thatched hut can be built quickly.
There is no shortage of palm leaves, taro leaves and lotus leaves in the mountains. Pick some more and put them on the roof of the shed, and then cut some tree bark to cover it, which can barely shelter from the wind and rain.
By the time a dozen or so simple straw huts were built and all the villagers on the mountain crowded into them, night had quietly arrived and the heavy rain outside finally turned into light rain.
Looking towards Tianshui Village from the mountainside, most of the village is in sight. The roads in the village were flooded, most of the thatched houses collapsed, and the vast fields became a muddy ocean.
The villagers looked at this scene, some had dull eyes, some sighed, and some sobbed in the straw hut.
“There’s actually a flood…”
"It's gone. My home is gone, everything is gone. We left late, and we didn't take many things with us..."
"We can harvest the rice in just one month. My family also planted two acres of taro. With this flood, how much of the harvest will be left? All the hard work of several months has been destroyed by the flood. How are we going to live from now on? Wow..."
My life and the food in my hands were saved, but what should I do next?
Without the new harvest, we can only rely on the little food we have. Even if we save some food, I'm afraid we won't be able to survive for more than a few months!
One person was crying in panic and confusion, and many people's eyes were red and tears were falling. Some even cried loudly and couldn't make a sound.
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