Chapter 11: Back to the Rain

Jiang Tang poured out all the wild mushrooms in the backpack, leaned against the water tank, sat on a small stool and began to wash his spoils.

Qin Chuyang squatted beside her and helped her wash with his little hands.

Jiang Tang looked at the boy's cautious look and felt relieved and let him help.

Each wild mushroom is delicious and fresh. She has already thought of many ways to eat wild mushrooms, such as mushroom soup, stir-frying mushroom mycelium, refining mycelium oil, and eating with noodles...

Just thinking about it makes me excited.

After picking wild mushrooms, you need to use a kitchen knife to scrape off the mud on the roots, and some roots that are rotten also need to be cut off.

After washing them together, Jiang Tang soaked the wild mushrooms in salt water.

Don’t have these wild mushrooms for lunch, just have a simple lunch.

After going into the mountains for the whole morning, she felt a little tired. She coaxed Qin Chuyang to take a nap and went back to the yard. She took a broom and a long wooden stick, closed the wobbly door, and used the broom and the stick to prop up both sides of the door, holding the door of the yard tightly.

He yawned softly, turned back to his room, changed into his pajamas, turned his back to the transparent plastic window, and slowly closed his eyes.

The sun outside was not as strong anymore. The gentle sunlight came through the window and reflected on Jiang Tang's porcelain-white cheeks. The girl's eyelashes trembled slightly, and she struggled not to open her eyes.

The sunlight was dazzling, and after several struggles, her curled eyelashes slowly opened. She didn't know when she turned over. She stared at the transparent window for a long time, then Jiang Tang yawned and slowly stood up.

Change clothes and go out.

Slowly pushing open the door of the next room, the little wolf cub curled up into a ball, his hands clenched into fists, and beads of sweat appeared on his face.

Sleeping soundly.

Jiang Tang yawned, walked to the bed, stretched out his hand and gently pushed the little guy's body, which swayed.

"Chuyang, get up first, okay? You can sleep in the evening."

Qin Chuyang sat up with a dazed mind, his eyes tightly closed, not listening to his brain. The scene was somewhat humorous.

Seeing his slow-witted head, Jiang Tang laughed. While the kid was still in a daze, he changed his clothes and pinched his cheek.

Give him some time to calm down and go out first.

He laboriously carried the wild mushrooms soaked in salt water from the workroom to the outside, poured out the water, and used a red plastic ladle to scoop up several large scoops of clean water, then repeatedly washed them with salt water.

Just as I moved the cleaned wild mushrooms to the kitchen, the little guy came in on his short legs.

"Chuyang, help me light a fire so I can fry mushrooms later."

Jiang Tang was slicing the meat with a kitchen knife in his hand, while distractedly instructing Qin Chuyang.

Watching the little figure obediently helping her to light the fire, she concentrated on sorting the mushrooms.

Some of the mushrooms that are to be taken outside to dry are cut into slices, and the others are cut into shreds. After a while, the oil residue is ready and canned for storage. It also smells great when cooked with noodles.

Save some to make mushroom soup in the evening, it will definitely be delicious.

After cutting the mushrooms into slices, Jiang Tang found a dustpan from the main room, took a long bench, set it up in the yard, and carefully spread the sliced ​​wild mushrooms in the dustpan to dry them evenly.

After finishing, he clapped his hands with satisfaction and returned to the kitchen. Qin Chuyang had already lit the fire.

It would be unsafe to eat the oil-dregs mushrooms later, so Jiang Tang asked the boy to retreat to the door.

Put a tripod on the stove, set up the iron pot, scoop some lard from a small oil can, put it into the pot, and start frying the mushroom threads.

When the oil pan is heated, put the mycelium into the pan. The unique aroma of mushrooms will explode instantly. When the mycelium is fried until golden brown, add appropriate amount of salt and a handful of green peppercorns. The mycelium with attractive color is almost ready to be taken out of the pan.

She took another small clay pot, scooped the mycelium into the pot, sealed it, and then used it to eat noodles or make soup to enhance the flavor.

In the evening, Jiang Tang stir-fried a chayote and made mushroom soup.

The uncle and his wife had a delicious mushroom soup.

…

The wild mushrooms in the yard have been exposed to the scorching sun for two days and are almost dried up.

It can be harvested after one more day of sun exposure.

However, the weather in July is different every day. In the morning, the sky was clear.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, crackling hail and heavy rain swept in, and the clear blue sky was covered by dark clouds, and the sky was covered with dark clouds.

The shouts of people could be heard throughout the village.

"Those of you who are drying your clothes at home, hurry up and stop drying your crops! Take your raincoats and go to the fields to check if the ditches are blocked!"

Everyone in the village is busy.

The wind was howling fiercely. Jiang Tang bent over and collected the mushrooms drying in the yard under the hail.

He picked up the quilt that was drying on the clothesline and ran back to the house.

"Chuyang, don't stay outside, come in with me." Jiang Tang bent over and called Qin Chuyang anxiously.

Qin Chuyang followed Jiang Tang into the house.

The rainstorm roared with strong winds and heavy rain, and the transparent plastic windows were banging.

The black tiles on the roof were hit hard by the hail, and the violent impact on the roof made people's hearts tremble.

The sky was clear just now, but suddenly it became completely dark.

Jiang Tang closed the doors and windows tightly, held Qin Chuyang in his arms, and stared at the hail outside.

She sat on the bed, holding Qin Chuyang tightly in her hands. The sound from above struck her heart directly. She heard the crackling sound of tiles and the sound of tiles being hit and sliding to the ground.

The roof is leaking.

The hail outside gradually turned into heavy rain, and rain began to drip into the room from the roof.

The dry and dull sky crackled, thunder and lightning followed, and the rain became heavier and heavier.

The gas lamp in the house was struck by lightning. Jiang Tang held the little boy in his arms and watched the lightning strike the light bulb. The thunder was deafening and made people's brains tremble.

She looked at the boy with concern, "Chuyang, don't be afraid."

The boy buried himself in her arms, his voice was muffled, "I'm not afraid."

Jiang Tang breathed a sigh of relief; she was a little scared.

However, the rain was too heavy and the roof was leaking more and more seriously. Water started dripping into the room. If it was not dealt with, I would not be able to sleep tonight.

Jiang Tang closed her eyes and patted the boy's back gently. There was thunder outside the house, so she could only lean close to the boy's ear and talk loudly, "Chuyang, I'm going to find something to fix the leak in the house. You just stay in bed, okay?"

After saying that, I felt a small hand pulling at the corner of my clothes, and I heard a child's buzzing voice, "I... I want to be with you."

Jiang Tang paused and wanted to refuse, but he felt the little hand holding the corner of his clothes trembling a little, so he pursed his lips.

"Okay, you come with me, but we might get caught in the rain."

The little guy in his arms nudged him and assured him softly, "I'm not afraid."

Jiang Tang rubbed the kid's head, pulled his pants down to his thighs, and asked the kid to stand up. Feeling his body shaking, he gently helped him pull up his sleeves and trouser legs.

There's no other way. There's no umbrella or raincoat at home, so we're bound to get wet in the rain.

Her eyes were full of smiles, "We are really brave at the beginning of the day."

Taking the boy's hand, they got out of bed together, bent over and walked to the door. Feeling the wooden door outside the house shaking, Jiang Tang's heart was lifted up.

But he couldn't just leave it alone, so he took a deep breath, unfastened the latch and made a gap. The strong wind from outside instantly blew in, knocking the wooden door open.

There was no other choice, Jiang Tang dragged Qin Chuyang out, slammed the door shut, and quickly checked other rooms for leaks.

Finally, it was discovered that Qin Chuyang and Qin Xiao's rooms were completely leaking, and the main room was almost corroded by rain, but the other rooms were fine.

The kid followed her obediently. Jiang Tang picked up the kid barefoot and ran into the kitchen in the rain.

The already broken gate of the courtyard was blown wide open by the strong wind and creaked loudly.

Jiang Tang searched around the kitchen, picked up a wooden basin, and placed it in the room where it was leaking to collect the rainwater.

The leak in Qin Chuyang's room was right next to the bed. Jiang Tang struggled to roll up the blanket and put it next to the bed.

When they returned to the team's place again, she and Qin Chuyang were all wet.

The sky was already bright with lightning, and a voice came from the loudspeaker in the village outside the house, "The power pole on the mountain has fallen down, and the power is out. Everyone, please be careful. After checking the channel, don't go out unless necessary. Watch the children and be careful of electric shock."

I have repeated this several times.

Jiang Tang tentatively pulled the switch box, and sure enough, the power went out.

Fortunately, there was some dry firewood in the kitchen, so Jiang Tang lit the fire and brought an iron pot to boil water.

It was dripping and her body was soaked. She looked at the open gate and sighed. She had no way to fix it, so she could only leave it alone.

Staring at the fire, she took off the boy's clothes and pants to avoid catching a cold.

He placed the boy's pony in front of him and held his hand tightly.

There was a violent storm outside, and the branches of the trees were broken.

Jiang Tang gently opened her lips and sang softly.

"It's raining, the little snail is crawling in the rain..."

The firelight shone on Qin Chuyang's dark little face. His body gradually became dry and warm. There was a light and soothing song in his ears. His tense little body gradually relaxed.

I was no longer scared by the deafening thunder and lightning outside, and the gloom in my heart gradually dissipated.

The rain keeps falling.

It was already completely dark. After the water was boiled, Jiang Tang made a cup of sugar water for the boy and gave it to him to drink.

I wiped my body while the water was still hot.

The rain continued for a long time without stopping.

Jiang Tang stared at the butterfly flowers that fell to the ground and scattered outside the house. It was no use waiting for the rain to stop, so she took a deep breath, hugged Qin Chuyang in her arms, and ran back to the room with her body hunched.

Qin Chuyang stood on the bed, his little hands tightly grasping Jiang Tang's neck, his little paws clasped behind his back and not letting go.

Jiang Tang said softly, "I'll help you change into clean clothes, let go first."

She changed Qin Chuyang into clean clothes and covered the little guy with a quilt.

Then I dried myself, changed into pajamas, and went to bed with them.

Qin Chuyang rubbed into the warm embrace, holding Jiang Tang with his hands, and said in a buzzing voice, "Sing."

There was thunder and lightning outside the house. Jiang Tang didn't hear clearly, "What?"

Qin Chuyang leaned his little face next to her ear and said, "Sing."

Now Jiang Tang heard it clearly, and her hands gently patted the boy's back rhythmically.

The light singing voice flows out, "The dark sky is hanging low, the bright stars are following, the insects are flying, the insects are flying, who are you missing..."

Jiang Tang sang the song to comfort Qin Chuyang and herself.

A three-way intersection one kilometer outside Wuli Village.

The mountain bike stopped at a three-way intersection. Qin Xiao got off the bike wearing a raincoat, said hello to the driver, and walked home in the heavy rain with a mining lamp on.

The brick factory had completed this batch of projects and no longer needed temporary workers like them, so everyone was planning to return. Because it was raining, Wang Qilei and Zhang Hetian thought of waiting until tomorrow morning to return.

Qin Xiao was worried about his younger brother, and Qin Chuyang was afraid of thunder and lightning, so he was worried.

I hitchhiked with someone who was going home on a car in town, and it was already late at night when I got back to the fork in the road.

The tall and broad figure disappeared in the rain. The thunder drowned out the squeaking sound of rain boots on the muddy road. The man walked home in big strides.