Chapter 96 [VIP]
In the afternoon, Uncle Chen brought tools and repaired the mule cart.
Originally, Li was planning to leave today, but Wang Ying was worried that the muddy roads would cause the wheels to get stuck, so she reassured her not to rush and to wait a little longer, saying that the sun was so strong that the ground would dry quickly.
That night, everyone slept in the open-air house, and Wang Ying, finding joy in the hardship, taught her son to count stars.
The little guy has a pretty good memory; he can count from one to ten in no time.
As she counted the children, they became sleepy. Wang Ying placed them next to her mother-in-law, then got up, left the house, and went into the experimental field.
Chen Qingyan happened to be inside today; the two hadn't seen each other for six or seven days.
Upon seeing him for the first time, Chen Qingyan was startled. He grabbed Wang Ying's hand and looked him up and down, noticing his disheveled hair and mud-covered clothes. "Did something happen at home? Why are you in such a sorry state..."
Wang Ying then explained about the flood, saying, "Didn't it rain heavily for several days? Our area was flooded."
"Is the water high? How is the family? Are you injured? Why didn't you tell me about something this serious beforehand!"
"Telling you won't help, it will only cause you unnecessary worry. Everyone in the family is fine, the water has receded, but it has damaged the houses in the other courtyard, so they are probably uninhabitable now."
Chen Qingyan paced back and forth anxiously, “The house was destroyed, how come you’re all alright with such a huge flood? Aying, don’t lie to me…”
"Why would I lie to you? I saw that the rain was too heavy, so I led the villagers to the mountain to take shelter two days in advance. There is a big cave on the back mountain, and everyone stayed inside for four or five days. We only came back today when the water receded."
Chen Qingyan's heart finally settled. Seeing Wang Ying's pale face, he couldn't help but hug her tightly. "You've had a hard time these past few days."
"It wasn't hard work, but it was a bit scary. When we were on the mountain, we didn't know when the rain would stop. People from other villages even came and tried to take over the cave. Luckily, there were many people in our village, and we scared them away."
Chen Qingyan was also terrified. He had read many books and knew that such times were the most prone to turmoil. It was really not easy for Aying to take care of her child and mother.
"Thankfully, it's all over now."
Chen Qingyan kissed his brow. "How about I go back for a visit? I can't rest easy without seeing you all."
"Laizhou is so far away from here. By the time you come back, everything at home will have been tidied up, and there won't be much help. You should just stay at the prefectural school and study."
"But……"
"Don't think too much about it, I'm here for you."
Chen Qingyan hugged Wang Ying tightly. Sometimes he felt that Ying was really more capable than men. Apart from being able to read a few books and write a few sentimental poems, he was inferior to her in everything. Without Ying, he would be unable to move an inch.
“Take good care of yourself and your brothers while you’re away. Remember to write home. Mother and Auntie were just talking about it the other day. They were very worried because you haven’t written back in so long.”
Chen Qingyan had also forgotten about it. "Okay, I'll write a letter and send it back when I get back. I'll leave the family to you."
Don't worry.
After a while, the two went their separate ways. When Wang Ying came out, she bumped into Li Shi. The two stood there staring at each other for a long time.
"mother……"
Li was still in shock when she asked, "Ah Ying, where did you go? Why did you suddenly appear? You scared me to death..."
Wang Ying hadn't expected Li Shi to suddenly appear. It seemed she couldn't keep this a secret any longer, so she had no choice but to pull her down to sit and tell her about the experimental field.
Upon learning that her son could also enter that experimental field, Li was extremely surprised. "You two just met?"
Wang Ying nodded. "I told him about the situation at home. With such a big flood, the news will reach Laizhou soon. Rather than letting him worry from other people, it's better to tell him directly."
"Then the vegetables you sell in winter, are they..." Wang Ying had previously said that the vegetables were grown on the estate, but the amount of vegetables grown by the warm spring was simply not enough to sell. At that time, Li Shi did not think too much about it, but now she finally understood.
"Yes, they were all grown in the experimental fields, as well as fruits and grains. I didn't dare tell you before, afraid you would think I was a monster."
Li patted his hand and said, "Silly child, you've been here for so long. How could your mother treat you like a monster when you're her own son?"
"But you must not tell any outsiders about this, not even your younger brother and sister, understand? Qingyun and Qingsong are not married yet, but once they get married, they may not be of one mind with you."
Wang Ying was moved, knowing that her mother-in-law genuinely cared for him. "I know," she said.
Li suddenly remembered the incident of Yuanbao's sudden disappearance, "Could it be that Yuanbao could also get in?"
Wang Ying chuckled and said, "Yes, he ran in by himself the other day and gave everyone a fright."
"That's good, then the father and son can see each other more often, so Yuanbao won't forget his father. But... I wonder if I can go in and see Qingyan for a moment?"
Wang Ying shook her head. "No one else can go in. You can only bring inanimate objects into the experimental field, not live ones. I brought a cricket in before, but it was crushed by some unknown force. I never dared to try again after that."
Li quickly dismissed the idea, saying, "It's getting late, go back to sleep."
*
The next morning, the group drove their mule cart toward the town.
Because the roads had been destroyed by the flood, Uncle Chen could only walk back by relying on his memory.
Along the way, they encountered some survivors who stared at them blankly. Some even tried to steal the car, which scared them away when Uncle Chen grabbed his whip and shouted at them.
After a series of close calls, we arrived in town. As soon as we entered the town, we saw several people lying on the roadside, blocking the way for the carriage.
Fearing a trap, Uncle Chen dared not get out of the car. After shouting a few times but seeing that the people had not left, he mustered up his courage and tapped them with a stick. To his surprise, the flesh on the man's body caved in, revealing that he was dead!
The people in the car screamed in fright. Wang Ying quickly covered Yuanbao's eyes. It took Uncle Chen a while to recover before he moved the two corpses away and drove the car home.
Along the way, you can see people who have drowned everywhere. Some are already rotten, some are giants, and some have been infested with maggots because of the hot weather. Just looking at them can give you nightmares for several nights.
Wang Ying's heart sank to the bottom; it seemed that the town wasn't much better than the village...
When I got home, I found the gate wide open, the gatekeeper Lin was nowhere to be seen, the yard was full of mud and debris, and there were several dead chickens and dogs that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, all of them already stinking.
Upon entering the courtyard, we found that half of the main building had collapsed! The furniture inside was scattered and broken; not a single piece was intact.
Li almost fainted after just one glance.
Qingyun quickly helped her up, "Mother!"
Although I had expected it, I still couldn't accept seeing the house where I had lived for half my life destroyed.
She still remembers when she first entered the family, when Xian Ge played with her in the yard; she remembers when Qingyan was born, when the two of them taught him to take his first steps in the yard; she remembers the sky filled with paper money when her husband passed away...
Whether good or bad, this place holds so many memories for her, and now it's turned into ruins, which is truly heartbreaking.
Chen Rong's eyes were also red from crying. She grew up here and although she got married, there was always a room here that belonged to her, left to her by her parents. Now, she had lost even the last bit of her memory.
They cried for a long time before they could stop their grief. They quickly searched for the missing people. Several servants had been left behind when they left, and they didn't know if any of them were still alive.
After searching the front and back yards for a long time, Wang Ying couldn't find a single person. She reassured herself that it was good that she hadn't found a body; if she hadn't found a body, there was still a possibility that the person was alive and might have gone somewhere to seek refuge.
Seeing that the main house was uninhabitable and could not be cleaned up in a short time, they could only choose a few relatively intact houses in the back to live in temporarily.
Wang Ying looked around and said, "No need to rush to clean the house. Let's fix the gate first. We don't know how many people are left in this city. I'm afraid they might take advantage of the situation to steal our food. Let's take precautions in advance."
Upon hearing this, Uncle Chen immediately went with Dunzi to repair the gate.
The others cleaned out the mud from the house and worked together to move the bed outside to dry.
Chen Rong and Li Shi took off their elaborate outer skirts, tied up their hair, and casually put on short clothes before joining in the chores.
Although the two were used to a life of luxury, they were not pretentious people. Instead of feeling sorry for themselves, they quickly got the children together and started packing.
Mu Tou and Chun Sheng stayed by Yuan Bao's side, playing with him and the kittens and puppies.
I brought Daju and Wangwang back with me, otherwise they might have been eaten if left in the village.
After the gate was repaired, it was inserted from the inside. The manhole block was tried to bend open from the outside a few times but failed, so Uncle Chen was relieved.
While everyone was busy, Wang Ying went to the innermost warehouse by herself for a walk.
The contents inside were completely soaked and ruined, but there was a dry partition on top, which was just enough to put the millet from the experimental field on top, pretending that it hadn't been flooded.
Tomorrow, send Dunzi back to the village and have someone come and collect the seeds. We need to plant this crop as soon as possible so as not to miss the season.
As dusk fell, the children grew hungry, so Aunt Chen quickly started a fire to cook.
A big pot of rice porridge with some pickled vegetables was a delicious meal for everyone. They felt at ease once they got home, as it was much better than being in the cave.
That night, Mu Tou and Chun Sheng slept in the front row of rooms with Uncle Chen and the others.
Wang Ying and her family squeezed into two rooms in the backyard. Wang Ying slept in one bed with Yuanbao, Li Shi slept with her daughter, and Chen Rong slept with Lin Sui.
Wang Ying was suddenly awakened in the middle of the night by a shout. She quickly put on her clothes, got up, and went back halfway to pick up the kitchen knife that was placed outside.
Uncle Chen and Dunzi were angrily cursing the person knocking on the door, "Get out of here! Don't you know whose house this is? How dare you come here and cause trouble!"
"Sir, please have mercy! My child is starving, please give him something to eat!"
"Go away, we haven't even eaten yet! If you don't leave, I'm going to hit you!"
The men outside continued their relentless banging on the door. This group was a notorious thug in town, survivors of the flood. Seven or eight of them had formed a small gang, looting grain, gold, silver, and money from house to house.
They had already searched the Chen family's house thoroughly, and they had emptied the warehouse of everything that could be moved.
Today, they suddenly saw that their front gate was repaired, which meant that the people had returned. This group of people couldn't help but feel restless and wanted to come over and plunder again.
Seeing the gate teetering on the brink of collapse after being rammed, Uncle Chen and Dunzi were extremely anxious, both determined to risk their lives to stop the group.
Seeing this, Wang Ying gripped the kitchen knife tightly, peered through the crack in the door, and swung the knife as the man rammed forward, striking him squarely on the shoulder.
"Ouch!" the man cried out and stepped back, clutching his shoulder and cursing in pain.
Wang Ying angrily cursed, "Such a huge flood didn't drown you, but I'll chop you to death!"
The people outside were frightened by his ruthlessness, and several of them left cursing.
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