Chapter 39 Chapter 39 (Minor Repair)
At night, the rain began to fall. At first, the raindrops were just hitting the roof sparsely, but soon the rain suddenly became heavier, "crackling" on the roof, and thunder could be heard from outside the window from time to time.
Cheng Xin turned over in her sleep and reached under the pillow as usual. She touched Geng Yunye's handkerchief. She felt more at ease and fell asleep in a daze.
At daybreak, Cheng Xin was shaken awake by her mother.
The mother's face was filled with anxiety, and she shouted loudly: "The water in the yard is rising, quickly find sandbags to block the door of the main room!"
Cheng Xin woke up instantly, sat up from the bed, tidied up her messy hair, and complained while wearing her shoes, "Why is the rain heavier than the past few days?"
She and her mother hurried to the eaves, and the scene before them made them gasp.
The accumulated water in the yard was already above the ankles. Branches and mud washed down by the rain were floating on the turbid water, emitting a fishy smell.
My younger brother was dragging a heavy sandbag in the rain, grunting and panting. His clothes were soaked through by the rain, and big splashes of water were caused by his feet with every step he took.
Cheng Xin didn't even bother to put on his hat, he rolled up his trouser legs and rushed into the rain, ran to his brother, and together they lifted the sandbag, moving it with difficulty towards the door of the main room.
The three men worked in the rain for a long time and finally blocked the doors of the main room, kitchen and woodshed with sandbags.
The water in the drainage ditch outside the yard was so turbulent that if you didn't know, you would think it was a raging river.
Cheng Xin was no longer sleepy. She looked at her watch, and the hands on the dial pointed to 4:50. It had been raining all night, and her yard, which was on high ground, was flooded. She couldn't imagine what other people's houses were like.
Cheng Xin stood under the eaves and looked at the yard next door. The rain poured into the house like a flood. The neighbor returned to the city after harvesting the grain yesterday. No one was at home, and the furniture in the house was soaked in water.
Cheng Lei came out of the kitchen after wiping himself and stood beside her, at a loss as to what to do.
"Xiao Lei, go get some sleep. You don't have to mow the lawn today."
Cheng Xin asked her brother to catch up on his sleep, but she herself couldn't sleep. She returned to the room, sat at the head of the bed, took out Geng Yunye's handkerchief and began to alter the embroidery on it.
When daybreak came, the situation was even worse.
The water in the yard was almost up to my calves.
Wang Xiuping knocked on the door early in the morning and said, "It's almost like a river outside. If you don't have anything to do today, don't go out. I came here to tell you something."
Cheng Xin hurriedly asked: "What's the situation in the field now?"
Wang Xiuping sighed heavily, her face full of worry: "It's all flooded. The water in the cornfield is up to the waist. It never rained this hard in previous years. It's really a disaster for everyone."
Cheng Xin didn't expect it to be so serious. Her heart sank: "Isn't the team going to hold a meeting?"
Wang Xiuping smiled bitterly and said, "No one had time to attend the meeting. The brigade was in chaos, and everyone was crying and shouting for the harvest. I said it was time to harvest yesterday, and even if the millet couldn't be dried, it would be better than being flooded. Who would have thought that God would not give face and change his mind so suddenly."
Yesterday was a good time to harvest the grain, as the rain stopped and the sun came out. But Wang Jiangang came up with a bad idea and insisted on setting traps to catch wild boars, which wasted a day. Who could have expected that the good weather yesterday would cause such a heavy rain today?
I heard that the captain announced happily last night that each hunting team member would receive a dividend of 10 yuan. 10 yuan sounds like a lot, but it is only enough to buy more than 50 kilograms of rice, and a family of four drinking rice soup every day can only last for two months at most.
Wang Xiuping sighed and continued, "Now I don't know how many people are secretly blaming Wang Jiangang. If he hadn't wasted time, so many corn fields wouldn't have been destroyed. Now even the rice fields can't be saved. From this year until the harvest next year, our entire brigade will have to tighten their belts to make ends meet."
No matter how fussy she usually was, she couldn't be happy at this moment. Although the people she hated also suffered misfortune, the whole team would have a hard time next year.
Cheng Xin felt no sympathy and said coldly: "When the brigade held a meeting to discuss the harvest, only our family agreed to harvest early. I heard that other communes have already harvested, and our commune is wasting time to set up a reclamation team." Her family was not even selected for the reclamation team.
Wang Xiuping slapped her thigh and remembered: "If you hadn't told me, I would have forgotten about the noisy land reclamation team. We worked hard in the mountains for two days, but the mushrooms were almost unsaleable and rotted in our hands. If I hadn't listened to your advice, our family would have suffered this year."
Wang Xiuping spat on the ground and said with disgust, "Old man Fugui just wanted his son to be in the limelight so that he could take over his job. Now the whole team has been screwed by his family. Let's see how he ends up."
After the rainstorm, the brigade experienced a brutal baptism, and the atmosphere was filled with desolation. The road was flooded with muddy water, and debris was floating on the water. The deepest part of the water was above the calf of an adult, and everyone was struggling to move forward in the water.
The farmland was in a terrible state. The rice fields had become a vast ocean. The rice ears that were about to be harvested were all soaked in water, with only a few rice tips sticking out of the water. The corn stalks were leaning here and there, having lost their former vitality.
Although the fields were flooded, the members did not want to give up the crops. The young and middle-aged men, wearing shorts and straw sandals, waded through knee-deep water and walked with difficulty towards the flooded rice and corn fields.
Everyone had a clear division of labor. Those who were responsible for harvesting rice had their hands soaked white by the cold rain, and they were exhausted and out of breath after harvesting each bundle of rice.
The person in charge of delivering the rice bundles stood in the mud, his feet stuck in the silt, and it was very difficult for him to move a step.
Most of the people waiting by the fields were older aunts. They were not as strong as men, and their shoulders sank when they carried the rice bundles. Their steps were a little unsteady, but they still gritted their teeth and carried the rice bundles to higher ground.
The situation in the cornfield was even more difficult. People bent over in waist-deep water and struggled to find corn stalks. The buoyancy of the water made it difficult for them to exert any strength, so they could only carefully stabilize their bodies and then forcefully break off the corn cobs.
Xu Fengxia was extremely worried and said to Cheng Xin and Cheng Lei, "Our corn fields are also flooded. We need to hurry up and harvest them. The more we can save, the better."
Cheng Xin put on a straw raincoat and a worn-out bamboo hat, and her uncle came over in a hurry.
The uncle panted, "If our two families work together, we can always harvest more."
They struggled forward towards the cornfield, the accumulated water constantly hitting their legs, and every step was like a tug-of-war with the water.
Cheng Xin took a deep breath and stepped into the cornfield first. The freezing water instantly covered her waist. She bent down and groped for the corn stalks in the water. She finally grabbed one and broke it off with force, but due to the resistance of the water, this simple action became extremely difficult.
Cheng Lei followed his sister, trying hard to find corn.
Xu Fengxia collected the corn they had picked and put it into the backpack she brought with her.
My uncle passed the corn he had picked to the edge of the field, and my aunt took over and stacked the corn neatly.
Chen Ying appeared out of nowhere, using the excuse that she was having her period to escape from helping with the farm work. Looking at Cheng Xin busy in the water, she showed a hint of false concern on her face.
Chen Ying raised her voice and said, "Sister, you guys are working too hard. I just passed by the captain's house, and they were discussing how to help everyone. Wang Jiangang has always been very enthusiastic. How about I talk to him for you? He will definitely be able to bring people to help, so you don't have to work so hard."
Cheng Xin straightened up and looked at Chen Ying calmly: "Yingying, thank you for thinking of me, but I plan to rely on myself first. If we work together, we can always save all the crops that can be saved."
Chen Ying looked at Cheng Xin's busy back, a hint of mockery flashed in her eyes, she turned around and pretended to walk in another direction as if nothing had happened, she whispered, "You're so stubborn, you'll regret it later."
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