Chapter Sixty-Two: After the Flood
Shen Zhiyi and Old Man Tang braved the wind and rain to reach the main road in front of her house. The water was up to their ankles, and it seemed that the flood had not stopped. Could it be that they were planning to flood the whole village?
The thought of this terrible idea made them hurry even more to the back of the mountain.
She followed the direction of the figure she had seen earlier, but she was a few steps too late; there was no one there anymore!
"The water hasn't stopped flowing yet. Let's follow the direction of the reservoir and see if it's over there..." Shen Zhiyi suggested.
"If that's true, then it's a big problem. We need to find the village chief first, and then go," Old Tang reminded them. With the water and rain coming at the same time, and it being the middle of the night, it was impossible to get to the reservoir as quickly as possible.
At this moment, Shen Zhiyi longed for the convenience of modern times, and knew that even if she did everything she could to get to the reservoir and delay the flow of water, she still wouldn't be able to stop the flood.
At this moment, I felt the same way as when I was lying in bed with cold symptoms. I could only watch helplessly as things happened, and there was nothing I could do no matter how anxious I was.
She silently watched her chili pepper field being flooded. There was no way she could bail the water out while the floodwaters continued to rise. She could only hope that the chili peppers, which had been growing for nearly half a year, could withstand the flood.
They then rushed to the village chief's house. The village chief, who didn't sleep much, and Grandma Qin were awakened by the noise at the door. After learning what had happened, Grandma Qin took the gong and handed it to Old Man Tang, saying, "Go and wake up the others."
Grandma Qin walked to Shen Zhiyi's side, gently took her hand, and said, "Girl, when your parents chose that location to build the house, they probably didn't expect to be gone so soon. You lived there alone, without any neighbors. Fortunately, you were alert and nothing happened, otherwise, how would I explain it to them when I went down?"
"If what happened today was truly a man-made disaster, Grandma will absolutely not let you suffer in silence! Even if we have to take it to the county government and go to Lord Lu, we will make sure everything is clear!" Grandma Qin unusually spoke up before the village chief.
“Yes! We don’t cause trouble, but we’re not afraid of trouble either!” the village chief added.
As soon as the gong sounded, the villagers of Xiaba Village woke up with yawns. No one complained; instead, they were eager to know what had happened and hurriedly put on their raincoats and rushed out.
When there are more people, they chat from time to time, and the back-and-forth conversation makes the night lively.
"Is everyone here? If everyone's here, let's get down to business. Shen's chili field is flooded. The floodwaters are so high that only a reservoir opening its sluice gates could produce such a situation! And judging by the current, the water hasn't stopped flowing yet!" the village chief said in a deep voice. "Now, everyone split into two groups. One group will come with me to the reservoir to ask the guards to close the sluice gates, and the other group will go with Shen to the chili field to bail out water, so we can't let the floodwaters spread too quickly!"
Having experienced this kind of team division several times before, those who considered themselves strong and healthy followed the village chief, while the rest went home to get their own things, and used whatever they could to fetch water.
Even if there are many people, it's simply not enough time without turning off the sluice gate.
Thinking of his successful experience, Shen Zhiyi said to his aunt who lived nearby, "Go home first, get the sacks, fill them with soil, and go directly to block the ditch."
As she spoke, she returned home and dragged a burlap sack. Every household had woven burlap sacks to hold chili peppers; these were very common in Xiaba Village.
Although no one asked Shen Zhiyi why, she still subconsciously did as she was told.
Seeing the sacks piling up higher and higher, Shen Zhiyi's confidence grew even stronger. She said, "Uncle, Aunt, let's each take a few sacks and go to the back hill to fill them with soil first, then..."
She spoke in detail, making sure everyone understood, before letting them disperse and move on.
It's not pleasant to have your feet soaked in water on a rainy night, but in order to stop this untimely flow of water, this is the only way to try to block it, and then change the direction of the ditch.
This night was destined to be a sleepless one.
As the rain stopped and the sun rose in the morning, it seemed as if a brush had painted a magnificent golden edge on the clouds. Shen Zhiyi, covered in mud, sat at the foot of the back mountain and could hear the babbling of the stream not far away.
According to other villagers, they found the abandoned riverbed in the middle of the night, dug a new ditch to divert the water, and made the river flow again.
Shen Zhiyi was so tired that she didn't want to move. Zhao Daya came over looking disheveled and, upon seeing her condition, immediately picked her up and carried her outside.
"Hey, where are you taking me?" Shen Zhiyi asked in surprise. It was the first time she had been carried in a princess carry like this by a woman, and she was a little unaccustomed to it.
“Your house is flooded, of course you should come to my house!” Zhao Daya said matter-of-factly. “Take a bath and eat! My dad went to the reservoir with the village chief, and we don’t know if he’s back yet. What will we do if he gets hungry or thirsty?”
"Put me down, I can walk," Shen Zhiyi said hurriedly.
"Stop struggling, I can carry you," Zhao Daya said calmly. "If it really doesn't work, just cover your face, then no one will recognize you."
Shen Zhiyi thought this made a lot of sense, since everyone seemed to have come out of the mud and their body shapes were not much different, so she covered her face.
Before long, they heard those concerned voices—
"Zhiyi, what happened? Did you hurt your leg?"
"Girl, did you sprain your ankle?"
"I understand!"
Isn't it said that if you cover your face, no one will recognize you?
Shen Zhiyi questioned in her heart.
Under the spotlight, Shen Zhiyi was carried back to Zhao Daya's house. The courtyard looked tidy when she last visited, but now several wooden boxes were stacked and carefully wrapped in tarpaulins.
Before Shen Zhiyi could even ask, Zhao Daya said, "This is the New Year's gift that Brother Xuan sent the other day. There wasn't enough room inside, so it had to be placed outside. Even though the New Year has long passed, my father still accepted it."
“He said he bought these things on the way. Some of the snacks were delicious, but unfortunately they didn’t last long, so I ate them all,” Zhao Daya recalled. “The remaining fabric looked expensive, but I didn’t need it, so I went with my father to the cloth shop in the county town to sell it. That way, we could pay off our debts.”
"Wouldn't it be a bad idea for you to sell them?" Shen Zhiyi couldn't help but ask.
"Why is it not good? Since it was given to our family, it belongs to our family. Shouldn't we decide what to do with it?" Zhao Daya asked, puzzled, as she walked towards the stove and began to break firewood and put it into the stove.
"What if Xuan Yan wanted to see you wearing clothes made from the fabric he bought?" Shen Zhiyi asked again.
“But when I went to the fabric shop to sell it, I ran into Brother Xuan,” Zhao Daya said calmly. “The shopkeeper tried to take advantage of my ignorance about fabrics and tried to lower the price. It was Brother Xuan who stepped in and I was able to get a good price.”
In this short exchange, Shen Zhiyi couldn't figure out the thought processes of Xuan Yan and Zhao Daya at all. Could they really calmly help raise the price after seeing the gift she gave them being resold?
She had given up thinking about it and asked, "And then?"
“Brother Xuan asked me if I didn’t like the gifts he gave me. I answered honestly that I liked the delicious food, but the fabric wasn’t suitable.” Zhao Daya then seemed to think of something, and her smile became even more obvious. “He said he would bring me food next time.”
This answer once made Shen Zhiyi suspect that Zhao Daya would be tricked by someone with ill intentions.
After a while, Zhao Daya asked, "Zhiyi, is the water temperature warm enough? I can take a cold shower, but I'm afraid you can't."
Fortunately, Shen Zhiyi had washed her hands and face briefly beforehand and tested the water temperature. She said, "It's okay! Even though it's hot today, you still shouldn't wash with cold water. You go wash first; you've been rolling around in the mud, you're very dirty."
Shen Zhiyi actually felt sorry for Zhao Daya, who was busy with all sorts of things. Even the most energetic person needs to rest.
It was past noon when the group of men who had gone to the reservoir returned to the village and received the news. Zhao Daya, with two cabbage buns in her arms, ran out quickly.
Shen Zhiyi's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled down, and she quickly followed.
A large crowd gathered around. Seeing that most people had arrived, the village chief said directly from the spot, "We have already gone to the reservoir to confirm. It was the person in charge there who accidentally bumped into the sluice gate, and the sluice gate happened to be broken. It took a long time to repair it."
"How could it just happen to break? It must have been done on purpose."
"Luckily, we dug the ditch into the old riverbed, otherwise the water volume would have flooded our entire village!"
"This matter cannot be left unresolved!"
"right!"
The villagers' views on the issue gradually became more unified, which made the village chief nod with satisfaction. This is the kind of unity that Xiaba Village should have!
"He was trying to settle things with ten taels of silver, but if our village is flooded, ten taels of silver won't be enough to compensate us!" the village chief declared loudly. "So I refused, and I plan to go to the yamen to file a complaint!"
"With that person in charge and so many of us as witnesses, we can definitely sue him! We'll make sure those who deserve compensation get what they're owed!" the village chief said sternly.
"Only Shen's house in our village got flooded. We don't know what happened to Chili Peppers," someone whispered, glancing furtively at Shen Zhiyi.
Under such scrutiny, Shen Zhiyi's expression immediately turned serious. She really didn't think it was a good idea to file a complaint now without sufficient evidence, as it would be easy for the other party to turn the tables on her.
“I think I saw someone last night. Perhaps we can look for evidence on the mountain?” Shen Zhiyi suggested tactfully.
The village chief's slightly agitated thoughts immediately calmed down. He pondered the implied meaning of the words. Seeing Shen Zhiyi nod at him, he slowly considered what would happen if the person changed his mind. He then said, "Those who still have the strength should come with me up the mountain to see if there are any clues."
"What kind of clues count?" someone asked quickly.
The village chief then looked at Shen Zhiyi, who replied, "It's obviously not something we have in our village, such as the fallen jade pendant, the scraps of cloth, and the silk thread hanging in the bushes."
Shen Zhiyi could only guess based on "experience".
"Now that we know, let's go up the mountain and take a look!" the village chief said.
After understanding the arrangements, the villagers dispersed to go home for their meals. Zhao Sanxing, for example, was fed cabbage buns by his daughter, and after filling his stomach, he went to check on the situation on the back mountain.
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