Chapter Twenty-Six: Rice Stubble

It did rain upstream!

The storm that lasted for more than four hours swept through the entire Shiqiao and several neighboring towns, and the Yang Zegui brothers had never seen it, not even the old wizard.

The devastated crops, forests, houses and power facilities are in disarray. Almost all the rice that has just been pulled out has been scraped down, and many large paddy fields have collapsed, and it is very likely that there will be no harvest; The trees that show off in the forest have been destroyed by the strong wind, and there is no bamboo forest left; The landslide was strict, and many houses were buried; Many cement and reinforced telephone poles fell directly on the tiled roofs of the villagers, smashing the fragile tiles to pieces, and even breaking many house beams; The flood of the Shiqiao River rose and almost flooded the century-old theater.

The sound of last night's thunderstorm replaced the sound of last night's thunderstorm with the incessant cries of Yangjiawan, and many injured villagers were taken to the township's makeshift hospital, while others searched for livestock along the river ditch. This time, Gui Yingniang didn't cry - but laughed - this blind woman is completely crazy!

Shufen, who had the last strength left, knelt beside the half-buried house of the madwoman's house, hoping for a miracle from her uncles. The mudslide had solidified, and a stream of muddy water with the mouth of a bowl was flowing down the dirt slope, and the eldest mother and the second mother supported Shufenniang - when this poor woman arrived, his man had become a sculpture of clay figures, and the uncles did their best to dig through the mud, just as they had pulled this brother out of the cracks in the stone of the Bay of Human Lives eight years ago, and they longed for this ill-fated brother to be alive - alive was better than anything else!

Shufen looked at the mad woman with the one-eyed dragon—the old woman they pulled up but let her father fall—digging through the mud like crazy, muttering "Yong'er...... Yong'er ......, "Hey, why aren't you crazy, this broken family, what should she do?" But if you can't do it, you can't be crazy, your sister is married, your brother runs away from home, you are the pillar, you must hold it up.

Shufen stood up, watched the uncles carry her father out and put him on the stretcher, and hurriedly went up to grab her father's mud hands. The father opened his eyes and smiled when he saw that his daughter was fine, and his mouth was full of mud that it was impossible to see his exposed teeth. Shufenniang, who collapsed to the ground, stood up suddenly and followed the footsteps of everyone back to the home that was no longer what it was! Shufei was led by her cousin Shuhua, and when she saw her father being carried back, she also hurried up to meet her.

The sun still rises in the east on time, shining on this completely changed land, and there is no more smoke from the past, no more morning songs from the past.

This once-in-a-century disaster brought them back to the era of "big pot rice" - because there was no family with a decent kitchen, let alone so many buried houses. The flash floods that have just receded have not completely disappeared, and there are dangerous landslides and landslides everywhere.

Yang Decai, the leader of the village group, had just returned from the village committee and arranged for young and strong laborers to carry relief grain to the township. He first came to visit Yang Zegui, as the highest chief of the fifth group of Yangjiawan Village, he was full of respect for this heroic villager with a broken leg, and more importantly, Yang Zejin, as the leader of the supervision team of the disaster relief team, will soon go from the county to Shiqiao Township to guide the disaster relief work.

Shufenniang scooped up the turbid cold water in the water tank to take care of Yang Zegui "clean", she muttered and complained, why is this selfless man so stupid? That crazy woman's own son doesn't care about her, and you still care about this idle business, not to mention that several of your own broken houses are about to collapse? Yang Zegui lay on the soaked wooden bed, looked at the woman, and smiled weakly. is indeed a little wronged Shufenniang, if there is a next time, she must no longer be so reckless, not to mention that she has lost a leg for the sake of public affairs? You can't leave a few orphans and widows behind, and you don't even want your life, right?

Shufen found the wooden crutch that his father had thrown on the sill, how proud he was of his father! This great man held up a piece of the sky with one leg, and what could he do about the storm? She looked back at Gui Yingniang, still digging in the mud frantically, that damn Yang Guiyong, I'm afraid that he was also swept away by the terrible torrent - this is all three poles a day?

Shufen's family at the foot of Yantai Mountain is cooking "big pot rice", and Yang Zegui's other brothers who live at the foot of Mao'er Mountain opposite have gone to the township to pick up food when they see that the fourth child is fine, and the sisters and sisters-in-law are also crowded in this small dam in order to take care of this poor family. The women were busy stir-frying green beans from the field, the older ones beckoned the children to come home and tidy up the house, and the others stayed behind to help shovel the thin mud outside the room. Xie Guoqiang, whose family was relatively lightly affected, was busy cutting down the bamboo that had fallen on the eaves of his father-in-law's house.

Shufen took a few bites of rice, scooped a bowl from the pot, sandwiched some pickles and green beans, and served it to Gui Yingniang - this female doll, her father's kindness infects her every day. Shufei watched the second sister go, and went to complain to her mother with some anger, her mother looked at Yang Zegui who was lying down, shook her head and did not speak.

After the secretary and section chief of the "fourth brother ......" who came from the county seat finished deploying work in the township, he picked up food with his brothers in Yangjiawan and rushed back to his hometown, "Isn't there any big problem?" ”

"There's nothing wrong with it!" The fourth child put aside the bowl that had just been shaved off, "Mother, cook some rice for the old man!" ”

"No!" The old man walked around the dilapidated house, and went to open a few cabinets, which basically had no food, and had been blistered; He went again to the silkworm trellis in the hall and saw the silkworms that had just shed their shells, all of which had been killed by the water; The pigsty made of wood had been flooded with dung, and the old ox and a few piglets were all rushed to the hut where Fu Shun lived, and the whole house was arched to pieces. Where is this still a home!

When the sisters-in-law saw that this promising uncle had returned from the city, and heard that the leader was engaged in disaster relief, they hurriedly surrounded him to tell about the disaster situation of each family. The old man didn't pay attention to it - who would be worse than the poor fourth brother's family? He poured the grain he picked into a slightly drier cabinet, and the other grains picked up by the prime of life were all in the team leader's house! This extra bit of favor was his own decision.

"Fourth brother, I have to rush back to the township. Now that the villagers know about your deeds of saving people in the middle of the night, I arranged for them to write materials, and a model like you should publicize it! Yang Zejin is also proud of the fourth brother. He really had to rush back to the village, and this severe disaster relief was a great test for him. There have been deaths in several villages!

Xie Guoqiang was quick with his hands and feet, and quickly cleaned up the front and back of the house, and used plastic paper to temporarily fill those holes, at least to block the sun and light rain, right? Yang Zegui held the baby crutch that Shufen had found - it was good that the other leg was still there, otherwise the old wizard's eyes would no longer be able to see how to hit the crutches. "Guoqiang, thank you! Go back and see Shufang, don't you have any problems in your family? ”

"Dad, I don't have anything, I'll go back first, my old house tiles have also been broken, go back first and cover the roof to the ......" The furious Guoqiang ran away without finishing his words, and there was a pregnant daughter-in-law at home.

Those few inches of tiles and a few acres of cropland are the lifeblood of farmers. Today, the houses of those who are a little lucky or have a sturdy house are less damaged, but the seedlings in the fields are all the same. The fields on the mountainside and on the top of the mountain collapsed, and the water in the fields could not be shut down at all, and the fields at the foot of the mountain were directly buried by the torrent. Those who have a little more labor at home have already gone to the fields to clean up the mess.

When Yang Guiyong came home, it was already evening, and he had already expected that the house at home had collapsed, but his mother would come out, and he didn't know why he was crazy. Yang Decai, the leader of the group, is also his elder, and when he saw him come back, he served him with a head and a face, gave some pots and pans and dozens of catties of grain, and sent him to the stone cliff where the bandits lived at the foot of Mao'er Mountain. Anyway, the place was warm in winter and cool in summer, and the rainstorm didn't wet it - this ruined house is blessed!

Shufen takes care of the house in an orderly manner, and with the help of her aunts and brother-in-law, the house already has a look. He took advantage of the darkness to go to several large fields, and the rice seedlings had all fallen down, and it seemed that the harvest was worrying.

The next day, people held a meeting at the leader's house, and after distributing the relief grain, they all discussed how to recover the losses, some said that they could replant dry crops, and there was no rice to grow soybeans, sorghum and corn, but everyone knew in their hearts that the climate of Yangjiawan was estimated to not yield much when planting those things, not to mention that they had also tried to "learn Dazhai"; Some people also say that rice will be replanted, but it will soon be autumn, and I am afraid that the sky will be cold before the seedlings are raised, and the rice will not be able to extract ears at all.

Shufen said, do nothing, just cut the fallen rice seedlings into the rotten fields, and build the collapsed fields. Her thoughts caused everyone to laugh, this little girl, what about making trouble?

Shufen is not a troublemaker, she has checked carefully, most of the homes are poured seedlings, there is still some water in the field, as long as the field is built to keep the water, the cut rice stubble will grow new seedlings, these seedlings that grow twice may not be as good as the first time, but as long as the fertilizer is reasonable, it is better than re-raising seedlings, and it will definitely be harvested in the autumn.

Shufen's reasoning came out, and a few capable croppers nodded, this woman is not simple, careful observation will know that sometimes after the autumn harvest, it takes a long time to catch up with the hot weather, and if there is still water in the paddy field, the new seedlings in the rice stubble can really be tasseled!

The team leader said, if you want it, do what Shufen said! Except for a few stubborn households, the paddy fields of other families have entered the "harvest season" in advance, and the optimistic Yangjiawan people sang mountain songs again, praying for a harvest in a few months! Guoqiang took care of his own fields according to Shufen's method and came to help, this family who loves each other, hurry up and get through this hurdle!