After this flood... perhaps things will turn around...
The sound of students reading aloud could be heard from the makeshift school in the main room.
The kitchen was steaming and full of the warmth of home cooking.
Butcher Hu was chopping lamb bones, Hu Wenhua was cutting lamb meat, and Ling Ran was picking vegetables.
Hu's mother and Shuiqing are preparing the meal.
The pigs are too big, weighing several hundred pounds each. We can't finish eating one in a short time, and we're afraid it will go bad and be a waste.
Chickens lay eggs, so raising them is a worthwhile investment.
Sheep and rabbits are the first to eat once they reach the required weight, which saves on fodder.
Today we slaughtered a sheep, weighing about 80 or 90 pounds. The bones weighed about 20 pounds, the internal organs about 10 pounds, and after deducting the skin and fur, the meat weighed about 40 pounds.
Father was in charge of killing the sheep, Wen Hua had washed the offal early in the morning, and the vegetables were brought back from the vegetable patch by Fan Jin after feeding the sheep fodder and collecting eggs in the morning. She and her mother were in charge of cooking.
First, braise the lamb bones and then stew them with radishes.
Lamb offal stew, with chopped green onions and cilantro, is incredibly fragrant for lamb lovers.
The mutton is to be eaten over two days. Today we have mutton bones and offal, and we only used a small portion of it. The rest is to be soaked in spring water so it won't spoil when we eat it tomorrow.
Even the remaining half still weighed over ten kilograms of mutton!
I stewed it all in a big iron pot at noon, simmering it slowly over low heat until it was flavorful, and saved it for dinner.
With so many people, there are naturally some who don't like lamb. Shuiqing also cooked a few other dishes. Those who like lamb can eat more lamb, and those who don't like lamb can also have some side dishes to go with their rice.
The rain outside kept falling, and everyone inside was busy with their own things, so the time passed easily.
As evening fell, Li Wen dragged himself home covered in mud.
He didn't go inside, but instead took off his already soaked raincoat under the eaves.
I took the warm handkerchief that was handed to me and wiped my face. Finally, I felt that my face was no longer numb.
"Come on, husband, drink the ginger soup while it's hot!" Wang Guifen urged as she strode over, carrying a large, rough earthenware bowl.
Li Wen served the ginger soup, took a sip to test the temperature, and found it to be warm but not scalding, so he drank it all in one gulp.
She let out a breath and, seeing her father come out, said, "Dad, the rain shows no sign of letting up. I checked before I came back, and the river is almost flooding the village entrance!"
The floodwaters had reached the village entrance before, but that was after five or six days of rain; this is only the first day.
What happens next?
Li Wu turned to ask, "Dad, how about we pile up sandbags to block it?"
Li Qiang shook his head in denial: "There's plenty of mud, but where would we find so many burlap sacks?"
Hemp is not easy to obtain, and hemp sacks are important household items. Even if families in the village were willing to use them to block floods, they would still need that many.
He continued, "If the floodwaters rise further, wouldn't that be even more dangerous?"
Li Wen and Li Wu looked solemn.
There is a big difference between a flood that rises gradually and one that rushes in.
“I’m afraid the only safe place behind here is Fan Er’s place, but there are more than 400 people in our village, young and old, and we can’t all stay there,” Li Wen said in a deep voice.
Li Wu then said, "People can walk, but what about houses, belongings, livestock, and food?"
"We've thrown everything away; we won't survive even after the floodwaters recede!"
The old village chief's hand gripped his cane tightly.
He instructed his second son: "Go and ask the youngest son if he has any burlap sacks."
We explained to them that it was a loan from our village, and we would repay them after the floodwaters receded, once we had planted plenty of hemp and made hemp sacks. However, I estimate the earliest we could repay would be next year.
It's probably too late this year; I need to make things clear with them.
Remembering the conversation they had while digging the ditch, Li Wen quickly grabbed Li Wu and said to his father, "Dad, I'm already soaked, I'll go ask him."
Also, I was thinking that Fan Jin was, after all, a scholar, so I asked him if he wanted to use sandbags to block it; maybe the book mentions it?
The old village chief nodded heavily.
Who knows, maybe the kid really does know.
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