Chapter 26 Heavy Rain Heavy Rain
As soon as we arrived at the cave, before the villagers could settle down, heavy rain began to fall.
Raindrops as big as beans fell, soaking the clothes of the last few people who entered the cave. "How can it rain so suddenly? It's almost winter, why is it still raining so hard?"
"Who knows what will happen in the future?" Village chief Su Wenzhong sighed and told everyone to pack up quickly.
But he stood at the entrance of the cave, watching the heavy rain outside, without a trace of relief in his heart: "With such heavy rain, the water level of Yuexi will probably rise immediately."
His eldest son patted the water droplets on his body and said helplessly: "If the water really rises, there is nothing we can do. We can still drink it."
Su Wenzhong glared at him and fell silent.
Su Fengzhang helped his family pack up their things. Their family situation was special. Besides women, there were only children. He deliberately put the things together with his second uncle Su's family, hoping that they could take care of each other.
Su Zhaoshi kept all her valuables close to her body, and everyone carried some on them. After all, too much silver would be obvious, and there were so many people in the cave and so many gossips, so who knew what might happen.
Although they took shelter in the cave before the rain, everyone was still a little worried. Some were worried about whether the cave would be flooded, and some were worried about the furniture left at home.
Uncle Su was worried about the cow at home. He sighed and said, "We can't raise a cow in this cave. We have to put it outside. I don't know if it can survive."
Su Fengzhang comforted him, "Uncle, the cows usually live in the cowshed. Even though the cowshed is gone now, you at least built a shed. You'll be fine."
"I hope so. I'll go out and take a look when the rain stops." Uncle Su said this. The cow is a big deal in the family.
Su Caozhang also looked at the heavy rain outside and felt worried: "I don't know what's going on in Hushan County. My brother is still in the city."
"The city is definitely better than our village." Zhang muttered to herself. Before going up the mountain, she actually suggested that the whole family move to the city to live with her eldest son, but her second uncle Su rejected it outright.
"That's not necessarily true. The terrain of Hushan County is not as high as Yuexi Village." Su Caozhang couldn't understand his mother's anger.
Su Fengzhang glanced at Second Aunt's unpleasant expression and said, "There are also high places in the county town. Besides, they don't grow vegetables or fruits in the city. Even if it is flooded, as long as it's not serious, only some furniture will be damaged."
No one got a good rest that night. After a quick dinner, the family slept together.
Su Fengzhang asked everyone else to sleep inside, and he slept on the outside, with Su Lanzhang leaning against him.
Su Lanzhang tossed and turned, unable to sleep, and whispered, "Brother, is our peach tree okay?"
Su Fengzhang smiled and said, "Don't worry, that peach tree has been there for decades and has seen all kinds of storms."
In fact, peach trees are drought-resistant but not flood-resistant. If they are really flooded, it is not known whether they can survive.
Su Lanzhang believed what he said and leaned closer to him: "That's good, we will eat peaches together again next year."
It rained heavily all night long. When I got up the next day, I went out and saw that it was still raining heavily. It made me feel uneasy. The rain showed no sign of letting up.
Su Wenzhong looked at this and felt uneasy. He sat at the entrance of the cave, smoking and not saying a word.
After a night, the smell in the cave became unpleasant. Not only people moved into the cave, but also livestock raised at home, and even the sheep of the Su family moved in. The smell was simply unbearable.
The entrance to the cave was a bit narrow, so large animals like cows and donkeys couldn't get in, but the little ones were all pulled in.
Su Fengzhang walked to the cave entrance to get some fresh air, but as soon as he sat down, the village chief frowned and asked him, "Erlang, do you think this rain will stop?"
"It will stop naturally. It's just a matter of time. There's no such thing as rain that won't stop."
"Yes, it will stop sooner or later, but I don't know how long it will take. If..." The village chief coughed and continued, "I don't know what's happening at the foot of the mountain. It's raining so hard, I don't dare send anyone back to check."
"Let's wait until the rain is lighter before going to see it." Su Fengzhang also suggested this. After all, the road is not clear in heavy rain, and it is risky to go down the mountain.
"This is the only way." Even though Su Wenzhong was extremely anxious, he had no other choice.
The rain was so heavy that the sky became gray and no one could tell the time.
As a result, after another meal, the rain did not stop, but there was a noise in the distance.
"Village chief, village chief, where are you?" These hoarse voices became unclear due to the heavy rain.
Su Wenzhong suddenly perked up and shouted outside, "We are here, who is shouting?"
"It's me, Wang Er."
"I hear a sound, just ahead."
After a burst of noise, they saw a group of people coming towards them in a mess. They were also pushing things, but they were all soaked. The one leading them was holding a child in his arms.
"What's wrong with you? What happened in the village?" Su Wenzhong was shocked when he saw their miserable appearance.
"Don't ask for now. Let them go in to warm themselves by the fire and change into clean clothes, otherwise they won't be able to bear it." Su Fengzhang frowned and reminded them. It's October and the weather is starting to get cold.
"Yes, yes, yes, you guys come in first and everyone please help us. We are all from the same village, so lend them some clean clothes first." Su Wenzhong shouted.
We were all fellow villagers, so someone immediately took out some extra clothes from our house, and we all changed clothes in the cave.
The Su family also took out several sets of clothes, especially children's clothes. Several children who came with them were also soaked, their faces were pale, and they were shivering after coming in.
Su Fengzhang was familiar with most of these children, but now they were so cold that they couldn't even speak.
This was not a good thing to continue, so Su Fengzhang asked Madam Wei to dig out some ginger and boil a big pot of ginger soup, and gave each of them a bowl first.
After they drank the ginger soup and stopped shivering, the village chief couldn't help but ask, "What happened? Why did you go up the mountain in the heavy rain?"
"Su Wentian, you speak." Su Wenzhong said by name.
When the village chief led people up the mountain before, most of the Su family members followed them. Not many people stayed at the foot of the mountain. Su Wentian was one of them. He had a grandson who was only three days old, and his daughter-in-law was still in confinement, so he didn't dare to take the risk.
Su Wentian slapped his head and cursed himself: "It's all my fault for trying to save trouble. If I had known earlier, I should have carried Goudan and his mother up the mountain even if I had to carry them on my back. Now, look what happened, and I've made them suffer so much."
He was the man who had led the charge just now. He was wearing a straw raincoat and holding a child, keeping his grandson hidden in his arms. However, he could not withstand such heavy rain. The child's swaddling clothes were soaked, and it was not known whether such a young child could make it through.
"Village chief, it started raining not long after you left. The rain is getting heavier and heavier. At first, no one took it seriously."
"The water in Yuexi rose like crazy in the middle of the night. Everyone got up in the middle of the night to scoop out water, but the water couldn't keep up with the rain."
"We didn't dare go up the mountain after dark, and it was delayed until this morning. The water was already up to our calves."
They were really at their wit's end, so they tried to go up the mountain. However, it was raining so heavily that the usual roads disappeared, and the water on the mountain was like a small stream. They suffered a lot along the way.
Among the thirty or so people, three of them broke their legs, and the most seriously injured one even had a broken head.
The village chief fell silent after hearing this. If they had not gone up the mountain early, they would have ended up in such an embarrassing situation.
"Oh, my millet is wet too." Someone suddenly shouted.
Farmers eat millet, and they don't pound too much rice each time. After all, rice is not as durable as paddy. Who knew such a disaster would happen? It would be better to pound it earlier, so at least they can eat it directly.
The village chief took a look and found that not only that family, but many families had their food soaked. He didn't know whether the food they had stored at home could be preserved.
The man's wife reached out and touched it, then burst into tears: "What should I do? God has given me no way to survive."
As soon as she started crying, several old women and wives started crying too. For a while, the cave was filled with crying and shouting.
The village chief was so annoyed by them that his head split with pain. He roared, "Why are you crying? What's the point of crying at this time?"
Su Fengzhang also shouted loudly: "Uncles and aunts, why don't you pour out the food you brought and put it next to the fire to dry. Maybe you can save some. After all, these are not for seed, so just enough to last a few more days."
What he said reminded the others to hurry up and immediately they started scrambling for the position around the fire.
The village chief scolded again: "Come one family at a time, is that a little time-consuming?"
"There's not much firewood. If I need to dry it, I'll put on my straw raincoat and go out again to pick up some. I'll also need to dry it before I can use it."
"You guys take good care of the kids. The rest of you, make a pot of ginger soup. Those who have brown sugar, take it out first. The villagers will give you money later. Everyone, drink plenty. If you get sick now, it will be a disaster."
With these instructions, he managed to get the situation under control.
Looking at those people who were like headless flies, the village chief couldn't help but scold: "You are all so old that you are already in a dog's stomach. Look at Erlang, he is so old but he is not as calm as a child."
Su Fengzhang felt helpless, but he didn't want to criticize those people. He just comforted them, "Everyone, think positively. As long as our house isn't flooded, these things hanging on the beams are still good. After two days, when the water recedes, we can still live our lives the same way."
After these words were spoken, the mood in the cave became noticeably better.
They had to be thankful that even those who went up the mountain later were worried about water entering their homes, so they listened to the village chief and hung most of their things on the beams.
But some people started to worry that the lights in their homes were not hung high enough and they wondered if they would be flooded.
The author has something to say:
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I'm serious about this.
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