After a day of heavy rain, the cracked ground became muddy after being moistened by the rain. By the third day, ditches had appeared on the ground, and low-lying areas were covered by water. The tribespeople began to worry.
On the fourth day, the water began to rise little by little, and although the dilapidated temple they had found was not very high, it would not be flooded in the short term.
On the fifth day, the water level reached thigh height. Village Chief Lin looked at the torrential rain outside and recalled that his sister-in-law had told him to find a high place, but he was too happy at the time to understand.
He walked toward the two women sitting at the entrance of the dilapidated temple, who were looking out. "Sisters, shall we go up a little further?"
An Shuyi nodded, "Pass the word down: don't bring anything that's not useful. Tomorrow morning, we'll go a little further uphill. Use livestock to pull things, and if you can pull them by cart, do so. If you can't pull them, don't take them."
“Carry the younger children on your back, and carry the older ones if you can, otherwise help them walk.” If the rain hasn’t stopped by tonight, this dilapidated temple will be flooded sooner or later. It’s better to find a new place sooner. Fortunately, the older people in the clan are only sixty years old. Because they often work in the fields, they are still able to walk easily and don’t need to be carried.
We can only hope they can find shelter from the rain, otherwise the young children and the elderly may suffer. During the more than six months of fleeing famine, none of their people died. We can only hope that this flood will be the same.
But only she knew in her heart that this was simply impossible.
"I understand, sister-in-law, I'll go and inform them right away." Village Chief Lin told the villagers about it. Although they were not speaking loudly, the dilapidated temple was very quiet, and everyone heard what they said.
Seeing that no one was paying attention to them, Xia Hua whispered in An Shuyi's ear, "Shushu, I have some transparent bags here, do you want to buy some?"
These bags are the same as burlap sacks, but they are transparent, thicker than plastic bags, not easy to tear, and can also keep out the rain. She had thought about buying a raincoat before, but that would be too conspicuous and too expensive. This is good. It's a bag. You just need to cut a hole in the bottom and you can put it on.
There were 245 of them. She just took out a stack, which was enough. But if she used raincoats, although they were better than this bag, taking out so many would make people think there was something wrong with them!
There were so many raincoats that they couldn't all fit in the basket. Although the bag was also quite conspicuous, it wasn't thick, so if they just left it anywhere, no one would know when they got it.
An Shuyi didn't know which one she meant. "Let's go to the carriage. If we can get it out, we'll talk about it then."
Xia Hua nodded, and after exchanging a few words, the two took the raincoat, put it on, and headed towards the carriage. Fortunately, the carriage was right next to the dilapidated temple, not far away, but the inside of the carriage was wet from being rained on for so long.
Knowing she couldn't stay any longer, Xia Hua didn't dawdle and immediately bought a bag. "Shu Shu, look, this is the bag I was talking about. Although we have raincoats, they're too conspicuous. This one will do."
An Shuyi took them and looked at them. "Okay, are these expensive?"
“It’s not expensive,” Xia Hua shook her head. “It’s not even as expensive as a raincoat. Let’s agree on this: each of us will prepare one first, and keep a few as spares. Also, do you want to buy some of the same kind of oil paper as these bags?”
"If we can cover the grain, it will at least provide some protection. Although there isn't much grain, we still have a long way to go and we can't go without food."
An Shuyi nodded, "Buy some of those, and prepare one for each family. We'll take them out from your luggage pile when we go into the temple. The boss and the others carried all my things, so they know what I have."
Xia Hua nodded. Anyway, all her things were in the carriage, and when she got off, she carried them in a basket. She didn't know what her sons and daughters-in-law had.
She tapped her fingers a few times in the air, then took out the bags, each as thick as her palm. They were all stacked together and tied with rope, making them look big, but at least they weren't noticeable when placed in the basket.
Then she took out some extra-large sheets of oil paper. There were twenty-five households, so each household received one sheet, which made twenty-five sheets in total. She stacked thirteen sheets together into two bundles, which together were as thick as those bags.
After everything was done, I put it in the warehouse. "Shushu, I've finished everything. Let's go inside!"
The two returned to the dilapidated temple, took off their raincoats and hung them up for the eldest brother. Then they went to where Xia Hua had piled up things, took the things off the baskets, and put some of the items into the warehouse under An Shuyi's cover. Then they took out the bags and oil paper.
Carrying the things, Xia Hua walked to the middle of the dilapidated temple and said, "Everyone, please stop for a moment. I have a few words to say."
When everyone heard Xia had something to say, they all stopped in unison, even the children listened quietly without saying a word.
Xia Hua took out a bag, unfolded it, and continued, "I have some transparent bags here. I bought them from a merchant before, and I originally planned to sell them later, but I had to use them because of this flood."
"These bags are transparent, so they are more rainproof than raincoats, but they are also very fragile. So be careful when you use them and don't get scratched by the branches. Each of you will get one. Cut a hole in the bag here according to your head size and put it on."
"And this transparent oil paper is the same as this bag. You can put it on the grain so it won't get wet. Now come up and get it, one person per family."
After Xia Hua finished speaking, she untied the rope binding the bag and let them come and collect it.
An Shuyi also opened the oil paper. "Take the bag back with you. Don't think that just because this bag is big, you can put the child in it and wrap him up. That won't do. If there's no oxygen for a long time, the child will suffocate. There must be a place for the child to breathe, understand?"
"Also, tonight, you should hurry up and make more straw hats so that everyone can wear them on their heads and get less wet."
Even with the bags, they still get wet because the bags aren't very long. The children are okay because they can be covered up, but for adults and older children, they can't cover up to their legs. But they can still cover some of the water, so we'll just have to make do!
Upon hearing this, the clansmen nodded in agreement, "Auntie, don't worry, we'll be careful when using it."
Village Chief Lin stood to the side, watching everyone come to collect their bags. He was surprised that Sister Xia had such a good thing. With this bag, even though they would still get wet in the rain, it would be much better than before.
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