After the clothes were dry, the three members of the Li family put on their robes again, brought a hat, carried the basket out of the kitchen to the lobby, and followed the shopkeeper Chen to Xie, and hurriedly walked out of the Cantonese restaurant to the north lane, ready to find Lin Zhutou to inquire about the news.

"Dad, Lin Zhutou said last time that his family lives at No. 25 North Lane, and he will go there to find him if he has something."

"Okay, then let's go faster, and we'll have to buy some things later."

After all, the road in the town is a stone road, much easier to walk than the muddy mountain road, and after a while, I arrived at the door of Lin Zhutou's house, and saw a low brick house, and the words "No. 25 North Lane" were written on the wooden door at the door, so I was sure that this was Lin Zhutou's home.

Old man Li raised his hand and grabbed the bronze knocker on the door and knocked on the door, the people inside should have heard the knocking sound of "Bang Bang", there was a faint sound of footsteps walking behind the door, "Squeak" The door opened, and a young woman wearing a white collar and a deep linen dress with a bun came out, and the woman saw the strange Li family and wondered: "May I ask who are you?" Who are you looking for? ”

Li Yangqing stepped forward and saluted: "Auntie, hello, I am Li Yangqing from Lijia Village, we know Lin Zhutou, it was he who told us that his family lives here, and we came here to find him if we have something." ”

"Oops! It turned out to be the benefactor who saved my mother-in-law! Come in. The young woman turned her body sideways and beckoned the three of them into the courtyard, Li Yangqing raised her foot and stepped over the threshold, and saw that the courtyard was not large, with four rooms, a well in the middle, and a few ginkgo trees.

"Husband, come out quickly, the benefactor of the Li family is here." The young woman led the three of them to the guest room and sat down, Lin Zheng heard the voice and walked in quickly, and greeted the Li family at the door, "Old man Li, Brother Yangde, Sister Yangqing, you are really rare guests!" Today you must have dinner at our house before leaving. ”

"Ruxin, go and bring some tea and buy some good food and wine for dinner." Lin Zheng turned his head to the young woman on the side and ordered, seeing that the Li family had finally come to visit, he wanted to warmly entertain the Li family.

Li Yangqing hurriedly got up and grabbed the woman who was about to go out, "Auntie, don't bother, we have something to ask Brother Lin about today, and we will buy some things and hurry home later, so as not to worry the family." ”

"This, this, that, you can't go." Ruxin saw that the Li family had not been entertained properly, and the people were about to leave, so he persuaded Li Yangqing.

Old Man Li also stepped forward and shirked Lin Zheng and said: "Lin Zhutou, I really don't need it, we have to rush home, so we don't have to eat, next time!" We're looking for you to ask you something. ”

"Hey! Since Mr. Li said so, I won't stop you, and I must know everything I want to ask, and I will say everything. ”

Seeing that the three members of the Li family persuaded the two couples, they sat back on the stool, and the old man Li spoke: "Lin Zhutou, you have also noticed that it has been raining for ten consecutive days now, and there is no intention of stopping, you are on an errand in the official mansion, and I want to ask you about the situation in Xia Wei County, such a heavy rain, whether the river embankment is likely to burst, the river water in our Li family village has risen by two feet, if it continues, it may flood our village." ”

After listening to Old Man Li's words, Lin Zheng couldn't help but pay attention to the things that Lin Zheng didn't care about at first, and thought of the danger of bursting the embankment, "Old Man Li, as far as I know, Wei County has been raining heavily for half a month, longer than our side, but yesterday, our county magistrate ordered to send dozens of officials to Wei County to support, saying that the adults who managed the water conservancy above are here, I don't know if it's about the river embankment, it may be that the government is hiding from the people, and the news that there is a problem with the river embankment has not spread. It seems that this is not a simple matter. ”

"Brother Lin, I think this thing must be greasy, if you don't come early or late, but in this rainstorm that has been raining for more than half a month, an adult who manages water conservancy has come over, it must be something coming out of the river embankment, even if it's okay, the situation must be bad, everyone must be prepared for the river embankment to burst, Dad, let's go back to the village and quietly inform the villagers, it depends on whether they believe it or not, anyway, our family must prepare early, Dad, let's go back quickly." Li Yangqing heard the news of Lin Zhutou, and his heart became even more anxious, now time is life! It's a good idea to plan for the worst.

"Lin Zhutou, thank you for the information, we are not alarmist, but if we want to go home, we still have to prepare early, and we will leave today."

Lin Zheng saw that the three members of the Li family were in a hurry to leave, and the two husbands and wives sent the three to the door, Li Yangqing turned around and saw that the two husbands and wives were still standing at the door, and turned forward, "Brother Lin, auntie, I think you should also make some preparations, if the embankment in Wei County bursts and there is a large-scale flood, the next thing that will be endangered is Hongxia Town." ”

"Yangqing, thank you for the reminder, we will pay attention, you have to be careful on rainy days."

"Okay, thank you Brother Lin for your concern, I'm leaving." Li Yangqing quickly caught up with the Li family father and son who were waiting for him in front, and the three of them braved the rain to walk towards the grocery store in the town.

The shopkeeper of the grocery store sat in front of the counter, looking out intently, there had been no guests coming to the door for ten days, and when he saw the third brother wearing a coat and a hat into the shop, he was a little surprised, and quickly got up to greet the guests who finally came.

"Guest officer, look at it, I have everything in this shop, what do you need?" The shopkeeper looked at the three members of the Li family with a smiling face.

"Shopkeeper, come 30 catties of salt, carefully pack it in a jar, be sure to prevent moisture, and then come 100 feet of oilcloth, 15 pieces of oilcoats, 10 hats, 40 feet of hemp rope, and 50 feet of coarse kudzu cloth, how much is it?"

"Oops! Guest officer, you have a little decision, and I will calculate it for you. "The shopkeeper thought that he finally came to a big customer, but the things he bought were a little strange, and he sold so many waterproof ones, not that he was leaking at home!

The shopkeeper went to the counter and dialed the abacus, "Guest officer, I'll quote you the price!" Twenty wen a pound of salt, the jar will be given to you, fifty wen a foot of oilcloth, one hundred and fifty wen for oil clothes, twenty wen for a hat, ten wen for a zhang of hemp rope, and thirty wen a foot of coarse kudzu cloth, adding up to a total of 920950 wen for the guest officer. ”

After the old man Li took out the silver and handed it to the shopkeeper, the shopkeeper immediately selected the things he wanted in the shop, packed them as required, and helped put them in the back basket, and the three of them sped up their pace and rushed to Lijia Village.

The wind was raging, unstoppable, the road back to the village became more difficult, the mountain road became more slippery, and one step had to slip out of a long distance, the rain fell on the hat on the head, and only the sound of "ticking and ticking" could be heard, and the rain drifted to the face along the wind, and instantly covered the face, and finally tried to open the eyes, and was forced to close.

"Yangqing, come here, I'll pull you, the road is too slippery." Old man Li was worried that his daughter was falling at a young age, so he stretched out his hand and grabbed Li Yangqing, and the two walked side by side, although the way home was very difficult, but Li Yangqing was moved by his father's care.

In this way, it was dark until it was dark, and it was almost time to reach the village, when suddenly a black shadow with an umbrella and a torch appeared in front of him, "Dad, eldest brother, fourth sister, is it you?" I'm here to pick you up, you haven't been home, your family is worried about you, it's rain and wind, it's too dangerous. ”

Listening to the voice of Li Yangming, Li Yangqing hurriedly replied, "Third brother, it's us, you're here to pick us up, great, we're worried that it's too dark to see the road clearly, and we don't dare to go too fast, hehe!" ”

"That's good, you guys follow me, I'll lead the way in front." After Li Yangming finished speaking, he turned around and took the lead, and this little fire in the dark night dispelled the fear in everyone's hearts.

Pushing open the courtyard door of the house, seeing a faint oil lamp burning in the hall, everyone did not sleep, sitting around the table, looking at the courtyard door, hearing the sound of pushing the door, they all stood up, and saw that the people who went to the town were back, Li Qiu hurriedly ran to the door in the rain to greet them.

"Hey, you left the door, our hearts have not fallen all day today, seeing that it is dark, you have not come back, and you are even more anxious, now you are back safely." Li Qiu's mouth kept talking, and he took Li Yangqing's cold little hand and entered the hall.

"You four go and change your clothes, lest you get sick and look wet." Li Qiu urged the four of them to enter the house to change their clothes.

"Yes! Come into the house, and I'll serve you some food, and drink some hot soup and you'll be warm. Li Wenshi said with concern, got up and walked to the kitchen.

"Sister-in-law, I'm going to help too." Li Sun followed Li Wenshi and got up and went into the kitchen to serve food.

After the four of them finished changing their clothes, packed themselves, came out and sat down on the table in the hall, and drank the hot soup first, Li Yangqing sighed for a while, "Hey, it's delicious!" It's still comfortable to eat at home. ”

"Really? I see that you are hungry and so hungry that you think it is delicious. Li Sun giggled.

"Sister-in-law, tell us about the things in the town, I've been waiting for you without sleeping, tell me about it." Li Chengqiang ran to Li Yangqing's side, pulled Li Yangqing's sleeve, raised his little face and asked curiously.

When the others heard this, they also pricked up their ears and looked at the three people who were eating.

Old man Li put down his chopsticks, "We went to the town today to go to the right place, first went to the Guangshi restaurant to sell Houttuynia cordata and got two taels of silver and four hundred Wen, and then went to Lin Zhutou's house to inquire about the situation in Wei County, I heard Lin Zhutou say that Wei County has been raining longer than ours here, it has been half a month, and there has been an official in charge of water conservancy in the last few days, and Luo Zhi County wants to send dozens of officials to Wei County to support, this thing is unusual, but during the heavy rain for half a month, an official in charge of water conservancy came, and the river embankment in Wei County must be a problem, The government secretly does things without telling the people, and I don't know what the specific danger is, we have to plan for the worst, if the Weixian River embankment bursts, first Xianxian County suffers, and then Hongxia Town, slowly affecting the surrounding villages, our village is near the river, and now it has risen two feet high, if something happens, we will definitely be submerged here, hey! ”

Listening to Old Man Li's words, everyone's hearts rose and they were very worried, "Then, what can I do about this?" What do we do if it's flooded? Where to go? Old man, you guys should think of a way, how can such a big family do it? Li Qiu tugged at his cuffs and asked anxiously.

"We are also speculating now, we can't be sure, don't mess around with yourself, after we went to the town to inquire about the news, we thought that these situations might occur, so we sold some waterproof things, spent nine taels and nine hundred and fifty wen, you gave me twenty taels, this is the rest of the silver, you take it, tomorrow I will go to the village chief Li to tell the news and speculation we inquire, as for whether the people in the village believe it or not, they can only do their best to obey the fate of heaven." Old Man Li took out the silver in his arms and handed it to Li Qiu, looking like he was resigned to fate.

"Dad, I think since we have to prepare for the worst, our family's food should be dealt with quickly, try to husk the rice and scoop more rice out to make dry food, and the rest are all packed into sacks, wrapped in the oilcloth sold today, and the kudzu is made into kudzu powder, which is easy to carry and can be stored for a long time, and now it is possible to make the grain into easy-to-carry and non-perishable dry food, as the first thing, if there is a big flood, we will flee to the mountains, food, clothing, housing and transportation These aspects must be considered, how about staying up late tonight and starting to act?" Li Yangqing said with a solemn face.