Chapter 30 Chapter 30 (Minor Revision) Wang Jiangang...
Wang Jiangang got his father's permission. They had already planned to go back to the place where they caught the wild boar and repeat the same trick to catch more wild boars.
Cheng Xin always felt uneasy, but couldn't tell what was wrong.
The accumulated water in the yard reached her ankles, so she and her brother and Chen Ying used foot basins to scoop water out of the door.
Chen Ying was sweating profusely after just splashing water a few times. "How long will this rain stop?" She has lived two lifetimes in total, and she has almost forgotten all her memories of living in the countryside in her previous life.
Cheng Lei stepped into the water, causing a splash. "It looks like the sky is leaking. It will probably rain until tomorrow."
Chen Ying couldn't sit still at home. It was raining and she couldn't find an excuse to go out. Working at home made her particularly irritable.
That night, someone knocked urgently on the captain's door.
Wang Fugui put on a coat and came out to open the door. The brigade cadre who knocked on the door was wearing a raincoat and a bamboo hat, and standing next to him was an old man wearing a straw raincoat and a bamboo hat. One of them was holding a flashlight, and the other was holding a kerosene lamp.
The brigade cadres were so anxious that they stamped their feet and said, "Fugui, this is terrible. The corn fields of the brigade have been eaten by pigs."
Wang Fugui staggered and held onto the door frame to steady himself: "How much harm has been done?"
The old man sighed, "It rained so hard during the day that no one went out. The rain kept coming from the foot of the mountain to the back of my house. I hurried to find someone after I heard the noise."
Wang Fugui slammed the door and cursed: "These damn beasts."
Cheng Xin slept in the same bed with her mother tonight. In the middle of the night, the brigade suddenly rang the gong, and there was a commotion outside, no one knew what was going on.
Hearing the noise, the mother and daughter sat up from the bed and put on their clothes. Cheng Cunzhi walked to the gate of the yard holding a kerosene lamp in his hand.
There were people hurrying by the doorstep late at night. He finally saw the man carrying a shovel passing by the door. "Yongqiang, what are you doing?"
"The corn fields of the brigade have been destroyed by wild boars. Let's go and see if there are any more wild boars in the fields."
Cheng Cunzhi didn't care that it was drizzling, and hurried to catch up and ask, "When did it happen?"
Cheng Xin and her mother came out of the house one after another, and her father hurried back to the main room.
"Dad, what's going on outside?"
Cheng Cunzhi dug out his water shoes from the woodshed and said, "Quick, pack up and go check on our cornfield!"
While changing his shoes, he explained the reason for the noise outside.
The wild boars dug their way all the way from the foot of the mountain to the brigade, which meant that the corn fields of more than half of the families in the brigade were affected.
Cheng Xin and her mother quickly put on waders. She woke up her brother and Chen Ying and asked them to stay at home and not run around.
Cheng Xin held a flashlight in her hand, and her mother and father carried kerosene lamps, and the three of them went to their own fields together.
My uncle and aunt's fields were right next door. Even without the moon, I could tell from the faint light that most of the corn in the fields had been damaged.
My aunt came over with messy hair, and when she saw her cornfield was ruined, she started wailing.
"You damned beast! The corn is only a month away from being harvested, how could you have ruined it like this!"
The uncle jumped into the cornfield with a depressed look on his face and started to help the corn plants up one by one. It wasn't very helpful but he could save every corn plant he could.
Cheng Xin and her mother rolled up their trousers and joined the rescue team. Half of the corn in her field had been flattened by wild boars.
Cheng Xin was worried that her father's old illness would relapse, so she stood in the field and shouted, "Dad, you tend to cough when you move. Why don't you pick up the fallen corn and pile it on the ridge of the field?"
There was no point getting angry in the current situation. All the people in the team got up from their beds and rushed to the fields to rescue corn. Some people were short of manpower and even heard the voices of children.
Wang Jiangang organized a group of young people with shotguns and firecrackers to drive away wild boars that might be stranded in the fields.
The Cheng family was lucky, as only the corn was damaged. The families whose rice fields were allocated at the foot of the mountain and who had not yet harvested their rice were in trouble. This group of wild boars did not care about their crops. They sneaked into the brigade and ran rampant all the way. In some families' rice fields, more than half of the rice was trampled down, and there were even traces of rolling.
If the weather was good, the trampled rice could be collected, threshed, dried and eaten at home. But yesterday it rained heavily all day. Wild boars don't eat rice, but where they go there is no grass. The rice ears were trampled down and mixed with the mud. The wild boars rolled in the ground, and half of the rice field was destroyed.
The bad weather and the wild boar disaster collided with each other, and my grandparents rushed over and squatted on the edge of the field, sighing.
Old Mrs. Cheng patted her chest and said, "Fortunately, you harvested the grain in advance."
Cheng Xin and her mother looked at each other and smiled without saying anything. Yesterday, her grandmother was still scolding her family for being separated from the mass organization and not joining the team in harvesting grain. Now, all the way here, the team is full of crying, shouting and cursing, and everyone is saying that the Cheng family is lucky.
The damaged corn on the ridges of the fields piled up into small hills. Some were eaten by wild boars, and some had broken stalks that could not be saved and had to be picked.
The two families were busy until the roosters crowed in the morning. Grandpa and grandma watched over the field for a while and then went home to sleep.
The aunt started out cursing and swearing, and ended up being completely numb from exhaustion. Cheng Xin comforted her and told her not to think of the worst, since at least the rice had been harvested.
Wang Xiuping forced a smile and said, "Your grandmother blamed us for harvesting the millet too early. If it rains for a few days in a row, the millet will definitely get moldy when piled up at home. Now she finally won't nag at home. It's better to get moldy than to be harmed by wild boars."
My uncle helped carry the corn that my father had picked up back home. Half of the field's corn had been damaged, filling three large backpacks.
Fortunately, Cheng Xin made some money from selling mushrooms. She just felt sorry because she could harvest them in another month.
Before the uncle left, Cheng Xin stood at the door and told him, "Uncle, you and aunt should have a good rest at home for a day. When the rain stops, we will try to see if we can sell this pile of tender corn in a different way."
Uncle Cheng was too tongue-tied to say thank you. He moved his lips for a long time and finally nodded: "I'll go back and tell your aunt."
There is no fully mature corn to eat, and even very tender corn, cooked in the pot is fragrant and sweet. But corn is the staple food second only to rice, it is impossible to use all of this corn to satisfy the cravings of the family.
Xu Fengxia did not make up for her sleep when she returned home. She let her daughter go to sleep first. She had to discuss the next things with her husband. She must patrol the fields every night.
Cheng Xin lay on the bed with her hands behind her head, thinking about how to cash in on the damaged young corn.
There are six people in my uncle's family. They not only have to eat for themselves but also pay agricultural taxes. If the corn production decreases this year, they can pay money to replace the grain. According to the grain price in previous years, it is probably no more than eight yuan. My uncle's family is short of both food and money, so they can only find a way to deal with the corn together.
Cheng Xin's mind was full of thoughts about how to sell the corn at a high price, preferably so that after deducting the agricultural tax, she could still leave some for her uncle's family to buy food.
Chen Ying overheard Xu Fengxia and Cheng Cunzhi discussing wild boars through the wall. After everyone in the family fell asleep, she wanted to sneak out, but it rained heavily again. No one cooked for her, so she went to the kitchen to light a fire and cook.
The brigade did not dare to be careless today and sent a militia team to patrol the fields.
Wang Jiangang didn't care about being sleepy. He thought this was a chance to make a fortune. God was helping him. As for the destroyed crops, he didn't care. As long as he got rid of the wild boars, he could make a lot of money, and he could buy food with money.
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