There was a loud knock on the door of Lin's house, and the call of the visitor was almost inaudible in the heavy rain. Fortunately, Lin Sanlang was alert and had sensitive ears, so he woke up immediately.
Xiangyun rubbed his eyes and got up. He saw his father and mother putting on their clothes and going out. The eldest uncle and the second uncle ran out of the house and went to open the door in a hurry.
Mrs. Zheng was afraid that her daughter would be cold, so she turned back to the bed, tucked her in the corner of the quilt, and comforted her: "It's okay, it's not yet dawn, let's sleep a little longer."
She picked up the umbrella on the corner of the bed and followed her husband.
Xiangyun huffed and remembered in a daze that the last time the gongs and drums were played in the village, it was Paihuazi who abducted the child.
I heard from villagers that only when something serious happens, the gong will be sounded in the middle of the night to warn.
She couldn't sleep at all. The weather was weird. First there was heavy snow for more than ten days, and then there were continuous heavy rains. Everything was ominous, and a big disaster might happen.
The door was opened, and Lin Laosan saw Cao Ayao, followed by Shun Xiniang who looked panicked, and asked hurriedly: "What happened?"
Ayao put a straw hat on his head and wiped the raindrops from his face: "Dad Shunxi went to the fields to discharge the flood, fell into the river, and was swept away by the river."
Lin Laosan was shocked: "When did it happen?"
Shunxi's mother burst into tears: "I don't know either. Before going to bed at night, my husband was always worried about the beans in the field. He was afraid that the roots would be soaked and rotten, which would affect the business of the tofu stall. I persuaded him to go to the fields to clear the water during the day. He said it in front of me. Promise well, sneak out while I'm asleep at night."
"When I got up at night, I realized that no one was there. I ran to the fields and took a look. There was no one there. I only saw a cloth shoe that had fallen on the shore. Wuwuwu..."
What happened now, I don’t even know how long I was swept away by the river. It was raining heavily outside, and the river was low-lying. All the melted snow water in the past few days was poured into it. It was already full and was about to overflow. It will rain again tonight. Mixed in, the river flow was unbelievable.
Almost all the young adults in the village came out to look for someone.
Every household woke up. They heard that the river had swept away people, and the children were too frightened to sleep.
People who lived close to the river brought bricks and soil to raise the thresholds, and they wanted to weld the doors tightly.
Lin Laosan and others walked all the way down the rushing river, but they couldn't find Shun Xi's father.
It rained heavily at night, and you could still clearly hear the sound of the river water hitting the rocks, with such force that it could shatter the rocks.
Everyone's face was heavy, fearful of the heavy wind and rain. Unfortunately, Shunxi's father's head hit a rock. It was really difficult for even the gods to save him.
The shouts got louder and louder, but there was still no response from Shunxi's father.
Shun Xi Niang's tears had dried up, her eyes were empty, and she was stumbling like a puppet.
When they reached the lowest point of the river, the young people were focused on one place. The lower reaches of the river are connected to the lake. The water there is hundreds of feet deep. If someone who can't swim is involved, there is only a dead end.
The sky became slightly brighter and the field of vision became wider. Someone shouted: "Found it, found the person!"
Everyone's hearts were in their throats all night, and they were all afraid of hearing bad news.
Most of Shunxi's body was soaked in the water, and the exposed skin was white and swollen, with large and small wounds on it. He had passed out and only had a pair of arms holding a big stone tightly. His fingers refused to let go even when they were deformed.
The three sons of the Lin family and the village chief Cao Tongguang hurriedly jumped into the water and joined forces with a few middle-aged men. They crossed their arms and used their bodies to resist the rapid river.
Finally the person was dragged ashore.
Shun Xi Niang knelt forward and looked at the marks scratched by countless sharp stones on her husband's torn cotton-padded jacket. She tremblingly stretched out her hand to sniff, then collapsed on the ground as if she had given up her strength.
Still breathing, still alive.
Lin Laosan immediately put Father Shunxi on his back and rushed home, with Cao Tongguang dragging him behind. Some of the remaining villagers held umbrellas and some ran to report the news to the village.
Chun Sheng, who participated in the rescue, still felt extremely flustered when he thought of the scene he had just seen.
Shunxi's father was lucky. He hugged a big rock near the bifurcation of the river and the lake. Less than ten meters away, there was a lake rolling like an abyss. He was really sucked in and couldn't even find the bones.
When the villagers learned that the man had been rescued, they clasped their hands and prayed to the sky.
"God bless you, if you survive a catastrophe, you will be blessed later."
At dawn, the villagers in Lianhua Village went to the ground to clear the stagnant water. Taking advantage of Shunxi's father's experience, everyone moved carefully for fear that the soles of their feet would slip and the family would lose an important labor force.
The fields here are full of farmers, but Pingling Town, a hundred miles away from Lianhua Village, has a different scene.
The lake water poured in, and hundreds of acres of rice fields were soaked in water and uprooted overnight.
The muddy cement was mixed with gravel, pouring down like a giant dragon making trouble on the shore.
Everywhere we went, houses collapsed, trees were broken, fertile fields were washed away, and families in low-lying areas ran up the mountains to seek refuge. Everywhere you could see crying children placed in barrels for survival, and from time to time, one or two bodies floating on the water. Livestock carcasses.
Li Zheng of Pingling Town, seeing the farmland and buildings he had worked so hard for many years destroyed, the people displaced and their lives in fear, felt as if they were being fried in a frying pan.
Looking at the dark sky above his head, he shouted: "How could this happen! How could this happen!"
The village chiefs of several surrounding villages, together with Mr. Li Zheng, reported the disaster situation to a higher level, hoping that someone from the yamen would take charge of the overall situation and properly arrange for the affected people.
After waiting throughout the day and night, news finally came.
But it was bad news that shocked everyone.
The Wei River bursts its banks.
The heavy rains in recent days have broken down the dikes and flooded Caozhou City and Xiao County from top to bottom.
Seven or eight towns, including Pingling Town, and more than a dozen villages were affected by floods, and there were rumors of missing people in many places.
Lianhua Village is a bit far from Pingling Town. It takes two or three days to walk from dawn to dusk.
In addition, the snow on the road has just melted, which is the most difficult time to walk. Almost no one is on the official road.
So everyone didn't know that the town just a hundred miles away from them was already in dire straits.
Cao Tongguang was leading the villagers to harvest in the fields, but some villagers were unwilling to harvest immature crops.
With a sense of luck, we speculated whether the weather would clear up in a few days and the water level in the river would drop. Then all our efforts would be in vain.
"My soybeans grew so well the first year, with thick roots and lots of seeds. Now they can't be eaten even if they are pulled up. What a waste!"
"Yes, yes, I see that the rain has eased a lot today. Maybe it will clear up tomorrow. Besides, the lotus plants we grow at home love water. They can't survive without water!"
The reason why Lotus Village is called Lotus Village is because of its special climate environment, which is particularly suitable for the survival of lotus flowers.
Half of the ten households in the village have planted lotus flowers. They can be used as ornamental flowers in summer and edible lotus roots in autumn. They are a good source of income for the village.
Cao Tongguang disagreed. He saw that the water level of the small river in the village was rising rapidly. Last night, there was a gap half an arm deep. This morning, it had spread to the river bank.
This is nothing like the way the water level drops after the rain and the sky clears up.
"If you're not afraid of 10,000, you're just afraid of the worst. If the river overflows, all your words will be in vain."
Those families still refused to move, preferring to sit by the fields.
Among them was Hu Er, who played tricks on cats and dogs in the village, and an uncle from the Hu family.
At the age of 50 or 60, they only had a daughter who was married away. The couple was afraid that no one would take care of them when they were old. Some time ago, under the witness of Uncle Yu, Cao Tongguang and other villagers, Hu Er was recorded in the name of this uncle.
In his later years, he was given a pension and in return could inherit the fields, real estate and bank deposits in his uncle's name.
Two lazy guys get together, plus a woman who loves to eat and is lazy to cook, and the house is full of chaos every day.
In response, the three monks had no water to drink, and the work in the fields was passed on to each other, and no one wanted to do it.
Fortunately, most villagers still listened to the advice.
Seeing that the water in the river is about to spread to the door of the house, he quickly harvests the food in the fields, regardless of whether it is green, yellow or purple. As long as it is edible and will not kill anyone, he puts it all into the basket on his back.
That night, the news came belatedly that the Wei River had burst its banks.
Younger women and children are not aware of the impact of the Weihe River bursting its banks, but the older generation understands the seriousness of the matter.
That night, walls were built from house to house, and the door rails were set higher if they were low. All the food stored in the house was piled on the highest place, and important things were not dared to be placed on the ground.
Lin.
Mrs. Lin has already placed all the medicinal materials on the rafters.
Mrs. Zheng hurriedly directed the men to take out the grain from the cellar.
After months of treating illnesses and rescuing people, only collecting food but no coins, the amount of food accumulated by the Lin family was truly astonishing.
The whole family came together and moved for an hour.
More than two hundred kilograms of corn, a hundred kilograms of sweet potatoes and potatoes, and more than a dozen bags of fine flour and rice were spread all over the yard.
The whole family was shocked, and the mouth was so long that it could swallow eggs.
After Mrs. Zheng went to the town to work as a cook, Mrs. Zhang was in charge of the food at home.
Everyone only knew that there was plenty of food at home, but they didn't expect there to be so much.
This time it was difficult.
Corn and sweet potatoes are big and take up a lot of space. They will rot if placed on the ground when soaked in water. They cannot be set up on a bench and placed in a high place like rice and flour. The whole family thought about it but couldn't find a suitable place.
Simply put it in the yard and wait until tomorrow morning to think of a solution.
Who would have thought that that night, the water in the Wei River suddenly broke down two dams along the bank and headed toward Lianhua Village with great force.
When the gongs and drums rang again, Xiangyun was frightened awake.
Because the Lin family's house is at the foot of a mountain, the terrain is higher, and the direction of the flood is just opposite to that of his house, so it escaped the first wave of violent attacks.
The water only reaches the yard and will not have much impact on life.
But if the corn is placed in the yard, the sweet potatoes will suffer as well.
Mrs. Zhang got dressed and went straight to the yard, only to find that the small yard that was full of decorations last night was empty.
Mrs. Lin came later and was shocked. That was three hundred kilograms of grain. Was it robbed last night?
Which thief is so capable, yet there is no movement at all.
Just when the Lin family was getting angry, Mrs. Lin saw her little granddaughter winking at her and making faces.
In an instant, everything became clear.
He said hurriedly: "I collected the food last night and it was not flooded. Don't worry."
Lin Laoer was shocked: "Mom, when did you become so strong?"
Zhang and Zheng were the only ones in the family who could detect Xiangyun's strangeness in daily life, and immediately agreed.
"I helped my mother move."
"And I am strong."
Mrs. Zhang slapped her chest, and now no one doubted her.
The two sisters looked at each other, the hidden meaning in their eyes only understood by each other.
Mrs. Lin held her granddaughter's hand and asked where the food had gone.
Xiangyun's little fat hand clenched and loosened, and a corn with full grains appeared in his hand.
Old Mrs. Lin was relieved, didn't ask any more questions, picked up the medicine box and went to the village.
The Lin family's house escaped damage, but the villagers were not so lucky.
Many people's houses were flooded by floods, with the water level reaching calf level. In some cases, the houses collapsed to the point where they were uninhabitable. They had to either be repaired or rebuilt.
The farmland that was only the water line of the index finger yesterday was the most severely damaged now.
At a glance, not even Tian can be seen.
Hu Er and his uncle and aunt climbed on the big rocks and stretched their necks to figure out which piece of land belonged to them. After looking at it for a long time, they couldn't tell.
From time to time, two broken lotus leaf stalks floated in front of them, causing the three of them to cry out.
"Oh, my lotus pods, my silver."
"It's all your fault, it tastes so lazy! If I had listened to the Cao boy yesterday, I wouldn't have left even a hair on it!"
Hu Er was used to being a bastard. He was the best at quarreling in his life. He retorted on the spot: "Fuck you, yesterday you were the one who said the lotus loved water the most, otherwise the crops in the field would have been harvested long ago! Just forget it if you are unlucky. It’s also damaging my family’s land, so you pay me for the seeds!”
"What is your family and my family? You are my son now! I am your father!"
Hu Er spat in his face: "I'm already dead, who do you think you are..."
His aunt was not a light-hearted person either. She joined the fight and started scolding each other one on one.
No one in the village cared about the dirty things in his house, and every household was so busy that they hit their feet on the back of their heads.
No one can guarantee that a flood will only come once.
