After Ye Hexiang and Zhang Jinbao left, Zhang Xing was left at home, and Wei Yunhai was on the embankment every day. Fortunately during the day, she could find something to do without thinking about the imminent danger. At night, it was dark all around, and there was no one else in the house except her, and the sound of wind and rain outside was beating on the plantains, dripping and whirring. She often wakes up from her dreams, and the moment she wakes up, she seems to hear the sound of gongs and drums. However, when I listened carefully, I didn't.

When I fall asleep again, I toss and turn, and it is difficult to sleep.

On this day and night, she blew the lamp and fell asleep, tossing and turning in the sound of wind and rain for a long time, before she closed her eyes vaguely, as if she was asleep, and she didn't know when, she suddenly woke up, and heard the sound of wind and rain outside, like a hob, it turned out to be a nightmare. She wiped a cold sweat and was about to continue sleeping, when she suddenly heard the sound of banging on the door.

"Apricots, Apricots, Open the door!"

She heard Wei Yunhai's voice and hurriedly got up to light the lamp. opened the door, the wind and rain poured in, Wei Yunhai stood at the door in a robe, it was dark, and he spoke with moisture: "Xing'er, hurry, clean up, the Huai River has burst." ”

Zhang Xing nodded hurriedly, immediately returned to the house, carried the burden on the bedside, and went out. Wei Yunhai had already picked up the burden and waited under the eaves. The two closed the courtyard door and went out. The men guarding the embankment on the river embankment all came back, and many homes lit up their lights, and the whole Weijiazhuang suddenly became noisy, crying and shouting and calling the door.

They met many acquaintances on the road, some carrying burdens and some driving carts, which were full of household goods. The windproof lanterns hanging on the board car flickered, and in the light and shadow, acquaintances greeted each other.

"A sea of clouds. You came down from the embankment, right? Where did you execute the embankment? I don't have time to say yet. went to take care of his father and mother. ”

"It's Yuan. I heard that the mouth was big, but it was not blocked at the time, and many people died. ”

Zhang Xing followed behind Wei Yunhai and listened to them. She thought of some villagers in Lizhuang Village. Yu'an is not far from Lizhuang Village, you can go back and forth in half a day, and last time Yu'an broke the embankment, and as a result, the entire Quantang Town was soaked in water. This time the news has spread here, and Li Zhuang Village is afraid that it will be even more difficult to be spared. I don't know if a few members of Li Dahe's family will have time to run out?

"Why is it Yu'an again? It's being repaired every year, and it's still going on every year, how can you live these days?" said someone with feelings.

Someone sneered and said, "How else can you live?" If you have a good year, you will have a stutter, and if the year is not good, you will have to go out to beg for food. The big men of this court only care about their own pockets, where will they care about our life and death?"

This was a taboo, and no one opened his mouth for a while. Wei Yunhai turned his head to look for Zhang Xing, and saw that she was silently following behind him. So he whispered, "Xing'er, put your burden in your uncle's basket." ”

Zhang Xing shook her head. "It's not heavy, I'm not tired. Then he asked, "Uncle, where are we going?"

"Let's go to town first. It's a little higher up there, and your big brother and they're there. Wei Yunhai said.

They hurried and hurried to the gate of Zhanghe Town, the sky was bright, the sky was full of people, and people from nearby villages and towns had come. They finally squeezed into the city, and saw a patrol of soldiers running over, and there was a great commotion behind them. Zhang Xing turned around and saw that the city gate they had just squeezed through was slowly closing, and some soldiers stood on the battlements and shouted: "Fellow villagers, don't be impatient, in order to prevent traitors from mixing into the city and making trouble, those who enter the city need to take out the documents to enter the city, and the documents are issued by the villages and villages. If there is any untruth, once it is verified, it will be punished. ”

Zhang Xing couldn't help but be stunned when she heard this. They had just entered the city, and there were countless people outside, and if these people could not find the village as a guarantor, and they were not going to be isolated outside?

Wei Yunhai experienced this in his early years, and he didn't find it strange at all. Zhanghe Town is on high ground, but it is only a small town, if too many people are allowed at once, I am afraid that there will be chaos. This is the case in the town for many years.

"Let's go, Apricot. Wei Yunhai said to Zhang Xing.

They didn't go long before they met Wei Minwen who came to pick them up, and now Wei Minwen wanted to take over the burden on his father. Wei Yunhai said: "I don't have to take it, you go and bring your sister's burden." ”

Wei Minwen took the burden on Zhang Xing's shoulders, and the three of them came to the Fu family rice shop together, Uncle Fu was looking at the door, and when he saw them coming, he turned his head and shouted to the house: "Xianglian, her mother, come and get water." ”

The three of them entered the Fu family's rice shop, Zhang Xing wiped a handful of water from his face, and suddenly heard a ticking sound coming from under his feet. She looked down and saw a puddle of water at her feet. It turned out that she was completely soaked. Looking at Wei Yunhai again, although he was wearing a robe, he was soaked when he took it off.

"Girl, come in and change your clothes. Uncle Fu lifted the curtain and beckoned to Zhang Xing.

Zhang Xing wiped her body dry and came out with clean clothes. I saw two bowls of hot ginger water on the table.

"Girl, drink it while it's hot, go get rid of the cold. Aunt Fu greeted.

After drinking ginger water, Zhang Xing felt some warmth on her body. Fu Xianglian came out with her little brother in her arms and beckoned Zhang Xing to see where she was going to live. Like most of the shops in the town, Fujia rice shop is divided into two parts, three rooms in front of the street are for trading, and there is a small courtyard in the back, in which there are five houses. Originally, Uncle Fu and Aunt Fu lived in one room, Wei Minwen and Fu Xianglian lived in one room, one kitchen, one with sundries, and the last one lived with Hu Chunlai. Wei Yunhai and Zhang Xing want to move in. Fu Xianglian took out the utility room and gave it to Wei Yunhai and Wei Minwen to live with, while she lived with Zhang Xing.

Zhang Xing packed up her things and wanted to go around. She thought that if she was lucky, she would be able to meet someone from Lizhuang Village, and if she could, she would help, and by the way, she would inquire if Li Dahe and his wife had escaped.

When Uncle Fu heard that she was going out, he hurriedly called Wei Minwen and said, "There are many people in the town, your sister is a girl's house, be careful not to be bumped into." ”

Zhang Xing felt that Uncle Fu was too worried this time, how could she be so squeamish? Only she knew that Uncle Fu was a tough temper, and the decisions made by the elders were not easy to refute, so Wei Minwen followed.

When she went out, she realized that Uncle Fu's words really made sense. Where is there a lot of people in this Zhanghe town. It's just a sea of people. It's just a straight street. She walked halfway with Wei Minwen, and she couldn't go on—the road ahead was blocked.

I'm afraid that not only people from Xiatou Village in Zhanghe Town have come over, but people from other towns and villages have also come.

"Xing'er, there is no way here, are you going to the city gate? Wei Minwen said with sweat on his head.

They entered a grocery store, spoke to the shopkeeper, and walked through the back door of the house, turning around for a while. Out of the back door, Zhang Xing saw the city gate. But I saw that there were crowds of people not far away, densely packed, I don't know how many.

Where can I find someone here? I'm afraid that if I get in, it will be difficult to get out.

Wei Minwen looked back at Zhang Xing. Zhang Xing watched silently for a while, and had to say, "Let's go back." ”

When they turned back, they found a long queue at the door of Fujia's rice shop. Several members of the Fu family were busy, and even Fu Xianglian dragged her little brother's little baby out to help collect money and settle accounts. Wei Minwen said a word to Zhang Xing and went to Fu Xianglian. Let Zhang Xing and Fu Xianglian go back to the backyard.

Zhang Xing saw that Uncle Fu was busy and sweating profusely. Busy going to her side to help. There were too many people buying rice, and most of them came with rice bags on their backs. The several rice jars in the Fu family's rice shop quickly bottomed out. There have been people waiting in line outside for a long time, and they are noisy and noisy. Uncle Fu has been with him at the door for a long time. The unwilling people outside dispersed.

Zhang Xing felt strange, she knew that Wei Minwen had brought back a full boatload of grain from Heyuan at the beginning of the year, and she was expecting to receive a bumper harvest of early rice this year. But it's only the beginning of June, so why is there no rice?

When it was time to eat in the evening, there was a knock on the door of the Fu family. Fu Xianglian said: "They are all begging, and they can't open the door." ”

In Zhang Xing's impression, the Fu family is not a harsh person. She felt strange in her heart, and after eating, she went back to the room with Fu Xianglian, thought about it, and still asked.

Fu Xianglian shouted softly, and Zhang Xing immediately stopped talking.

Fu Xianglian opened the door and looked out a few times, closed the door, and whispered: "There is still rice, it is all piled up in my father's room, at this time it is the easiest to mess up, if we take out so much rice at once, let alone sell, I am afraid that even our home will be robbed." ”

Zhang Xingwan understands that at this time, there is not enough food, the more there is, the more people will be seen, and when people can't live, they can't take care of so much. She hadn't experienced it before.

"I know that you have a good heart, alas, my father and mother are not crazy people, but at this time, if there is rice, you have to pretend that there is no rice, everything has to follow the other rice shops in the town, they have to sell, we have rice, they are closed, we had better not open the door." If they raise the price, we have to follow suit. Even if you want to do some good deeds, you have to weigh it, and you must not go too low. Otherwise, you will be hated by others, and you will not be able to prevent it. ”

Zhang Xing is not the age on the surface, she didn't go through this before, but now after Fu Xianglian said it, she understood.

Fu Xianglian put the little brother in the bed, and the little brother kicked his feet happily. Fu Xianglian looked at her son and said: "It's just the beginning, there are not many people begging for rice and food outside, but if you open the door, there will be a bunch of people coming around, if you give one and don't give the other, people will be jealous, maybe there will be some moths." ”

Zhang Xing remembered the begging she had experienced, and it was rare for one of the ten families to open the door, she was still a little shallow at the beginning, but later, she was like a stone, and she became a ruffian, as long as she smelled the smell of food, she must knock on someone's door and ask for food.

"But you don't have to worry. Since these people are all from the neighborhood, they have some food on them, and they are not hungry for a while. In just four or five days, the big families in the city took the lead in opening a porridge shed to give porridge, and our family had to take out some rice. (To be continued......)

PS: A lot of the floods are from my mother. After the people in the village received the news, every family had to run up the embankment, because the embankment was higher. My mom was young. My grandmother was the only girl, so she and one of my uncles put her in a basket made of bamboo in the countryside, one on each side, and ran up the embankment. The flood came as soon as it was said, and many people who couldn't run were drowned. She also saw a bathtub floating in the water on the embankment, and in the bathtub was a child of eight or nine months old, who was fat. There were many people on the embankment, but none of them dared to go down to save people. The water is too urgent. The child didn't know if he had been rescued. She was very impressed. Every time I listen to it, I am terrified. It's true. Sometimes I think that human nature is actually very cruel.

It's gossip.