The four people and the dog had not run far against the wind and rain when a heavy rain came. The straw hats could only protect their hair from getting wet, but could not cover their bodies at all.
As soon as they reached the bottom of the hill, they were all soaked like drowned rats. The rain on some people's legs flowed down their trouser legs into their rain boots.
The four sisters-in-law thought that they were all soaked anyway, and there was no place to hide from the rain on the hillside. They didn't dare to go down the slope either, in case they encountered loose soil and heavy rain seeped in, causing a landslide, and they wouldn't be able to escape even if they ran away.
The four of them were too lazy to find a place to shelter from the rain and continued to move forward against the wind and rain.
It was raining heavily and things a little further away were not clearly visible. A few people walked up the hillside, one step deep and one step shallow. But in just over ten minutes, the low places on the hillside were filled with water, and there were puddles of various sizes everywhere.
Yang Chunyan wiped the rain off her face and looked up at the sky, only to see that the sky was still covered with dark clouds. It seemed that the rain would not stop in a short time.
Zhang Xiuxiang held down the brim of her hat and said, "It rained today. We can soak the seeds tomorrow and plant the rice seedlings."
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "The rain stopped this afternoon. Let's go to the bamboo forest tomorrow morning and see if the bamboo fungus will be out."
Li Qiuyue said happily: "The mushrooms are out, we will be busy tomorrow and the day after tomorrow."
"A-choo~ A-choo~" Zhao Huifang sneezed several times in succession. "What a horrible weather! It's so hot when it's not raining, and a little cold when it's raining."
Yang Chunyan glanced at her and thought she might have caught a cold. "We have a little cold too. Let's go quickly. Go back and drink some ginger soup, take a shower and have a good sleep. It will be fine after you sweat it out."
"Uh-huh!"
Halfway through the journey, they heard a few dogs barking in the rain and fog. Lai Fu also started barking wildly into the rain and fog, wagging his tail which was wet by the rain.
Zhou Huaian and Zhou Huaishan, wearing military green raincoats, came towards them and said, "Why don't you find a place to hide from the rain?" Then they reached out and took out the raincoats from the urea bag and handed them to the men, "Give me the backpack."
Yang Chunyan and her friends put down their backpacks and put on their raincoats. "It started raining after we went down the mountain. The whole way is hilly and we dare not hide from the rain at the foot of the hill."
The Zhou Huaian brothers each carried their backpacks. "It's right not to hide under the slope. We have been working for so long. Some slopes are prone to landslides when it rains heavily."
Zhou Huaishan said with a smile: "We thought you were still on the mountain! We were worried that the dog wouldn't be able to find you if it rained."
Li Qiuyue pulled her wet braids and said, "It was too hot and we were worried about getting wet so we went down the mountain early. Who knew we would get wet anyway?"
The rain started to slow down as we approached the back mountain. After two or three hours of heavy rain, the water in the ravine had already flooded into the woods.
Walking to the edge of the medicinal field and looking at the rain water flowing down the drainage ditch, everyone was glad that they had listened to the old man a few days ago and cleared the drainage ditch in the medicinal field and the water early.
After returning home from the mountain, Zhou's mother hurriedly served ginger soup to Yang Chunyan and her sisters-in-law, "Everyone drink a bowl, then take a hot bath and dry your hair."
"Okay!" After drinking a bowl of hot ginger soup, I felt a lot warmer.
Zhao Huifang sneezed several times in succession. "My head hurts a little. I'll go back and take a shower and change clothes."
After hearing this, Zhou's mother hurriedly said, "Go back and make the bath water hotter."
"I understand." Zhao Huifang put down the bowl and walked back.
Yang Chunyan took off her raincoat and got the clothes she needed to change. She returned to the kitchen. Zhou Huaian had already poured hot water into the bathtub. After she came out of a comfortable bath, she saw him skinning a wild rabbit in the backyard.
"Huaian, have you unplugged the TV antenna? Have you checked the wooden shed where the mugwort is dried? Will rainwater drift into the shed?"
"Don't worry. Mom will run over to pull out the weeds as soon as the thunder starts. The old man has checked the woodsheds a long time ago and found that none of them let rain fall into them."
Zhou Huaian put the rabbit meat in the basin and looked at her with a smile, "Yan'er, your mother-in-law made two sets of fine cotton clothes for you, and two sets for Jiu'er, as well as a few pairs of small sandals. I also have some."
Yang Chunyan nodded sympathetically, "Last time I went back, I mentioned that fine cotton cloth is comfortable to sleep in, and she remembered it."
"My mother-in-law said that now we have sewing machines, so we can just tell her what we want to wear and she will make it for us."
"Don't tell her next time. As long as she hears it, she will do it. Every time she has to wear a magnifying glass and work for a long time."
"Yes!" Zhou Huaian agreed and then said, "Yan'er, Yiding and I bought some lard, a piece of meat, and two bottles of wine on the street today. We will send them to him after the rain stops."
Yang Chunyan nodded, "Give him some more rice dumplings."
"That's great!" Zhou Huaian looked at the sky. "Also, when the rainy season comes, mushrooms will come out. My brother and the others have to help at home. Yiding has nothing to do at home, so I want him to go to Sancha Road to collect mushrooms. What do you think?"
"Okay!" Yang Chunyan suddenly remembered something, "You're always procrastinating. When we came back from Hengshan, I asked you to tell your elder brother and the others that they would be harvesting morels and big-foot mushrooms this year, but you still haven't told them."
"Hurry up and have a bowl of fermented glutinous rice and eggs. I'll tell them later." Zhou Huaian held her back. "Yan'er, how do you want to divide the mushroom business this time?"
Yang Chunyan thought for a moment, "Mushrooms are very delicate things. They will go bad if you are not careful. This time we have collected many varieties of mushrooms, and the work is much more complicated than before. How about we stick to the old rules, half for my family and half for the three of them?"
"Yan'er," Zhou Huaian squeezed her hand gratefully, "How come I am so capable to marry such a good wife like you. People in the village say I am capable, mainly because I have a virtuous wife at home. It is impossible for me, Zhou Laoyao, not to make a fortune."
"Stop it. You just try to trick me with sweet talk every day." Yang Chunyan rolled her eyes at him and turned to hang out the clothes.
"Sweet, my smile is so sweet..." Zhou Huaian watched her enter the kitchen with smiling eyes, picked up the spatula and started shoveling rabbit skin while humming happily.
Yang Chunyan hung the clothes out to dry, and Zhou's mother called out from the back door of the kitchen: "Chunyan, the fermented glutinous rice and eggs are ready, come and eat them quickly. I'll go and help you wash the herbal roots and hang them out to dry."
"Hey!" Yang Chunyan put down the porcelain basin and went into the house, "Mom, we don't plan to sell the Codonopsis and Adenophora in the basket. We'll keep them to dry and make soup. We need to take out the Ganoderma to dry it out."
"The Ganoderma lucidum is hanging up." Zhou's mother said cheerfully, "Yumei's business is very busy today, and the store is crowded with people. Haili bought an old duck, fifty salted duck eggs, and fifty preserved eggs for each of you at Li's house. I waited for Huai'an to come back in town, and then brought them back."
"Aren't they coming to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival?"
"He said we would come home together after closing the shop in the afternoon." Zhou's mother paused. "I went there today, and Fang Dongming was also there to help. He followed your sister every time she went to buy goods in the past two months."
"Your sister told me that their company will distribute housing next year, and Fang Dongming wants to get married with her, so the area allocated to the family of three should be larger."
"Did Sister Yumei agree?"
"Alas!" Zhou's mother sighed, "Yumei is still hesitant. She said she would come back and ask the youngest brother first."
"What are you hesitating about?" Zhou Huaian walked in with a basin in his hand. "I think Fang Dongming is a good person. He is a hundred times better than that loser He Jianjun."
Zhou's mother agreed and said, "Your husband and I also think he is a good person. When your sister comes back, you can persuade her."
"Got it." Zhou Huaian handed her the wild rabbit meat and said, "Cook it tonight. I'll go cut the dog's heart and lungs."
Yang Chunyan looked at the sand pot on the coal stove and asked, "Another heart and lung sent by someone else?"
"The fat butcher gave it to me." Zhou Huaian stuck a pair of chopsticks on the heart and lungs with one hand and caught it in a ceramic bowl with the other hand. "It's strange. I went to buy meat today. The price of chopped pork has increased, but the ribs, pork belly and spare ribs are still the same price."
Yang Chunyan recalled that lean meat used to be expensive and ribs were cheap. Gradually, pig intestines, pork stomachs, and pork kidneys also became expensive, and then came pork belly and spare ribs. Not only were they expensive, but they also tasted bad.
"Before, you needed tickets to buy anything. Even if you had money, you couldn't buy meat and oil. It's been two or three years since the rule was lifted, especially last year and this year. You can buy whatever you want. People are full of fat and like to cut lean meat and fry it. Naturally, the price has gone up!"
"I didn't buy any lean meat, so I cut a few pounds of pork belly and bought about ten pounds of spare ribs. I steamed the spare ribs with flour in the afternoon."
"Yeah!" Yang Chunyan put down the bowl, "Sister-in-law has a cold, I washed the dishes and went to see her."
"That's fine." Zhou Huaian cut half of the heart and lungs and mixed some leftover rice in it. He took it to the backyard, but didn't see the dog at the doghouse. He called out at the top of his voice, and Lai Fu and Wang Cai came running back from the back mountain.
He saw that the dog's fur, which had been wet and stuck to its body, had become fluffy, so he reached out and stroked it, "Eat it and take good care of the house."
After that, he went to close the backyard door. When he got to the door, he saw the old man standing by the firewood pile with an umbrella, smoking a leaf cigarette. Little Jiuer was squatting on the ground with a pout on his lips. "Grandpa, what are you doing here?"
"Jiu'er wanted to go to the forest to pick up duck eggs, but I wouldn't let him. The little rascal just stayed here and refused to leave." The old man said with a smile, "Last time, I chased the ducks all over the mountain, and scared several female ducks so much that they didn't lay eggs for several days."
Xiao Jiuer took his hand and pointed at the ducks in the woods, "Duck, Duck, Egg."
"You can't go. If you go, you'll be a troublemaker." Zhou Huaian picked him up and said, "Auntie has brought the big apple. Go back and eat the big apple."
The little guy happily hugged his neck, "Da Guoguo, ancestor, Da Guoguo."
The three of them went down the mountain and returned to the yard. Zhou Huaian went to the main room, took an apple and peeled it with a knife. The old man took a spoon and scooped it out for him to eat.
"Grandpa, they sent Wang Zhen more than a dozen boxes of apples. Wang Zhen gave us two boxes. My brother also has some. Don't be reluctant to eat these at home and think of saving them for the little ones."
"I understand." The old man smiled and fed Jiuer a bite, "Fruit is not a meal, just eat one a day."
"Dad, there are so many fish in the river, they have all jumped onto the shore. Old man Lin Laoer and Uncle Erchun have gone to the river with shrimp baskets to catch fish." Zhou Jiakang ran in shouting.
Zhou's mother, who was sorting the herbs on the steps, came forward and twisted his ear, "It just rained heavily, and the Xinhe River is flooded. You are not allowed to go to the river. Remember?" (End of this chapter)
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