Jiang Hexi slept until it was completely dark.
She was in a daze during the dream, and for a time she struggled to wake up.
Finally, Yu Xiangwan pulled back the covers and shook her shoulders to wake her up.
"Xi-mei, get up and have some egg porridge."
Jiang Hexi struggled to get out of bed, looked at the empty house, and asked uncomfortably, "Where am I?"
"Shangrao Village".
Yu Xiangwan took out a warm towel and placed it on her swollen eyes. "The village chief found us a temporary shelter. We can go back once the flood recedes."
As Jiang Hexi felt the warm touch on her eyelids, tears involuntarily rolled down her cheeks again.
Yu Xiangwan watched as tears streamed down her face, her heart clenching with anguish. She choked back a sob and said:
"Xi-mei, please... don't cry..."
Jiang Hexi tensed her chin, forced a smile, removed the towel from her eyes, wiped away her tears, and said:
"Don't cry, Wanwan. I want to drink porridge."
Yu Xiangwan handed her the bowl of porridge and told her with a forced smile:
"Chu Yang lit the firewood, Yan Wang cooked the porridge, and I laid the eggs. Let's taste how it is."
Jiang Hexi didn't speak. She shoved spoonful after spoonful of porridge into her mouth, silencing the sobs in her throat.
Yu Xiangwan reached out and touched her forehead. It wasn't hot to the touch, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
"I saw you getting caught in the rain before, and then you were lying in bed feeling drowsy after we got here. I thought you had caught a cold. Luckily you're alright, otherwise I would have been really scared to death."
Jiang Hexi swallowed the porridge in her mouth with difficulty and murmured softly, "I'm fine."
After the meal, Yu Xiangwan insisted that she go outside for a walk.
Jiang Hexi had no choice but to put on her coat and stand under the eaves.
The rain outside was still drizzling, and two ducks were playing in the water in the yard.
She stared intently at the two ducks, so engrossed that she didn't even notice Yan Jie walking up to her.
"These two ducks drifted with the flood and landed in the ditch, but we retrieved them."
Yan Jie looked at her pale profile and said, "I originally wanted to bring it back to you to make old duck soup, but then I found out that no one knows how to kill a duck."
He was teasing her; as long as she smiled, he felt there was no obstacle he couldn't overcome.
But Jiang Hexi couldn't smile at all.
Her voice was so light and airy that it seemed to dissipate with a gust of wind.
“I would kill the ducks, but I want to keep them here to play in the water. It’s not easy for them to survive a flood, don’t you think?”
"Then spare their lives."
Yan Jie said casually, "I originally brought them back to eat their meat, but I ended up having to throw in two cabbages. I can't believe I've made such a losing deal."
He was teasing her again, but she didn't react much and her face remained expressionless.
Jiang Hexi got tired of standing and went back to her room, where she lay down on her small bed and fell asleep again.
It wasn't until 8 p.m. that Chai Fei and Yu Xiangwan returned from their showers and called her twice, but she didn't respond.
Yu Xiangwan cautiously reached out to touch her forehead, finding it burning hot. She gasped in fright:
"Xi-mei has a fever!"
Chai Fei rummaged through her suitcase and found several boxes of cold medicine, stuffing them all into Yu Xiangwan's arms. "See if these medicines are safe to take."
Yu Xiangwan found some cephalosporin and ibuprofen, and fed them to Jiang Hexi with mineral water.
"Ask the neighbor if they have a thermometer and bring one over."
Chai Fei hurriedly went out and knocked on the door of the next room.
Shen Yingyu waited until Chu Yang put on his short-sleeved shirt before opening the door. "What's the rush? You almost smashed the door down."
Chai Fei didn't have time for jokes. "Xi Mei has a fever. Do you have a thermometer here?"
Yan Jie was sleeping on the top bunk of the bunk bed. He rolled over and jumped off the bed. Without asking any questions, he rushed through the door like a gust of wind and went straight into the three-person room next door.
Shen Yingyu reacted a beat late, "I'll go get you a thermometer."
Jiang Hexi developed a high fever at night, and her temperature was measured at 39.3 degrees Celsius.
She lay dazed on the bed, her face flushed with a sickly pallor. Yu Xiangwan wrung out a towel and applied it cold to her forehead.
Director Chen stood at the door, still making phone calls to coordinate for a boat to come over.
Yan Jie stayed by her bedside, secretly taking her hand through the blanket where she couldn't see.
What time should you take the fever reducer?
"Eight o'clock. If we eat again next time, the earliest will be twelve o'clock."
"Is Xi-mei sweating?"
"No, my whole body is still burning hot."
Yan Jie couldn't wait any longer. He got up and walked towards Director Chen. As he passed the small bed where the luggage was placed, he walked too fast and couldn't stop, knocking the contents of the suitcase to the ground.
He picked up the book from the ground, his hand pausing: "National Technical Regulations for High-Yield and High-Efficiency Wheat Cultivation".
The other book is "Wheat Planting and Pest Control".
The next book is "Chinese Wheat Science".
The remaining books are all about wheat cultivation.
When the guests and staff in the room saw the books lying on the floor, they were all too saddened to speak.
It turns out that all those funny books she sent out were a disguise; what she really wanted to take were these books related to wheat cultivation.
Just like her, she may seem silly and funny, but she is actually the most persistent and serious person inside.
Yan Jie picked up the calendar from the ground, and saw four large characters written on the title page:
MaiMai Calendar.
She marked every day related to wheat planting, writing down her thoughts next to each one:
"The tillage progress bar is 90%, but the wheat seeds got damp, sob sob. Fortunately, after drying overnight, my wheat was finally saved."
"The 13th is a memorable day. All the wheat in a thousand acres has been sown. I should treat myself to a big chicken leg, but the village chief says I need to apply fertilizer... (＿＿)ノ｜壁"
"I passed by the wheat field today and found that my dog Mai Mai is much shorter than the others. It really makes me so angry! Whatever other dogs have, my Mai Mai must have too!"
"I've got the fertilizer sorted out for MaiMai, and it's even the scientifically formulated Zhu Dali new compound fertilizer, hehe."
"..."
The last message, marked with today's date, contained only a small line of text that expressed her endless sorrow:
I feel like I can't do anything right. I really wanted to plant crops on this land, but all my wheat was flooded.
Her spirit collapsed.
Yan Jie handed the calendar to Yu Xiangwan and quickly walked up to Director Chen:
"Is there a boat coming tonight? I need to send Xi-mei away."
"The village chief can't coordinate anything, the earliest a boat can be sent is this morning," Director Chen said helplessly.
Yan Jie then asked him, "Where is the village doctor? I need to take Xi Mei there for an injection."
"The village doctor is in Qijia Lane. I'll contact him for you right away."
Director Chen said worriedly, "The village roads are flooded everywhere, and it's pouring rain outside. How are you going to cross most of the village?"
Yan Jie resolutely said, "Even if I have to carry her on my back, I will carry her across."
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