Chapter 21 : You sleep with me

In the following days, the entire village was incredibly busy, barely able to rest except during mealtimes. Complaints were constant, and people were so exhausted they had visibly lost weight.

Liang Qingqing, on the other hand, was usually called to the country for meetings and only returned late at night, leaving early the next morning, so she hardly saw anyone.

However, it seemed that the team leader took her advice seriously. On her way back from work, Liang Qingqing often saw two men working on the drainage ditches with hoes. Yet, their attitude towards the job seemed rather perfunctory; after a bit of work, they would stop to smoke and chat, clearly not taking the task seriously.

Liang Qingqing couldn’t tolerate this and immediately reported them to the scorekeeper. As expected, under the pressure of having their work points deducted, the men were soon working vigorously.

Seeing the improved situation, Liang Qingqing nodded in satisfaction. As she noticed a few aunties passing by, she quickly approached them. “Aunties, have you heard…”

“Is it true?”

“I don’t know, but whether it’s true or not, you should hurry back and check your own waterproofing measures. Don’t wait until it’s too late and then regret it. We bought several sheets of waterproof cloth and made sandbags to block the kitchen and firewood room entrances.”

“I heard that the waterproof cloth at the supply and marketing cooperative is almost sold out. If we don’t buy it now, we might not get any!”

Upon hearing this, the aunties couldn’t stay put. They exchanged doubtful glances, quickly found an excuse, and hurried back home to discuss it with their families.

Watching them leave, Liang Qingqing couldn’t help but smile. The old saying “better safe than sorry” seemed to hold true.

Unable to find the team leader, she had to change her strategy. She started casually mentioning the “news” she had shared with the team leader whenever she met someone. Whether they took her advice seriously was up to them.

Fortunately, most people did take it to heart and made some waterproofing preparations.

Having done everything she could, Liang Qingqing had to leave the rest to fate.

On the fourth day of the urgent harvest, the heavy rain arrived as expected. It started as a light drizzle but quickly intensified after lunch, pounding so hard on the umbrella that it hurt her hands.

“It’s really raining heavily,” Huang Shumin said, holding onto Songzi at the kitchen door, her heart pounding as she looked at the torrential rain. “Can it really keep raining for a week?”

If it continued like this, it would be disastrous.

Liang Qingqing knew that not only would the rain continue, but it would also last for over a week. But what she said at this moment was probably quite accurate.

“Ugh, thankfully we prepared a lot of things,” Huang Shumin said. Otherwise, with continuous rain, water would definitely seep into the house.

At this thought, Huang Shumin looked at Liang Qingqing, who was staring at the sky. Her intuition had been quite accurate. If she hadn’t suggested preparing those items, who would have thought of it?

“Auntie, where’s my dad?” Songzi asked, letting go of Huang Shumin’s hand. He mustered up the courage to take the other hand Liang Qingqing had been waiting for, his big eyes blinking with a hint of shyness and anxiety.

Startled by the sudden gesture, Liang Qingqing looked down at Songzi. She had been so busy these past few days that she hadn’t played with him for a while. Seeing him now, she noticed he had changed quite a bit.

In the countryside, children ran around and swam in the river, often neglecting hygiene. Songzi was no exception, playing outside until mealtime and disappearing again after eating.

His face was covered in dirt and grime, even his fingernails had black mud in them. Every night, his mother, Wang Xiaomei, would scold him, but he never listened. Yet today, besides his skin being a bit darker, he was clean and tidy, with his clothes neatly worn as if he were going to town.

It was quite a surprise.

“Your grandpa, dad, and uncle are all still busy in the fields. They probably won’t be back until evening.”

There was still a large area of rice in the eastern part of the village that hadn’t been harvested. The villagers were reluctant to see the rice washed away by the rain, so the team leader instructed the male workers to wear raincoats and ponchos and work quickly to salvage as much as they could.

After explaining this to Songzi, Liang Qingqing asked her own question: “Why do you look so clean today? Haven’t you been playing with Huto and the others?”

Songzi’s eyes showed a hint of disappointment at this. His little aunt had only just noticed his change, but that wasn’t important. What mattered was that she was finally talking to him!

“I…”

Songzi tightened his small, chubby hand around hers, and his expression visibly grew awkward.

Oh, what’s there to be embarrassed about?

Liang Qingqing was about to ask more, but Wang Xiaomei came out of the room, smiling as she answered, “He’s been like this for several days, specifically to show you.”

“Huh?” Liang Qingqing blinked in confusion, glancing between Wang Xiaomei and the blushing Songzi, not understanding.

Songzi quietly spoke up, “Auntie, don’t ignore me. I promise to keep clean and not be naughty anymore.”

Hearing this, Liang Qingqing was stunned for a moment, realizing she had spoken too soon and tried to cover it up.

Children can’t distinguish between true and false statements and really believe she dislikes him!

Liang Qingqing understood the situation, but being clean and not being naughty was a good thing. Look at him now, so neat and obedient.

As she spoke, Liang Qingqing pinched Songzi’s chubby little face and thought to herself that children truly have short memories. The original owner used to bully him like a master mistreating a little servant. Since she had come into this life, she had treated him kindly, and he now only remembered her kindness and was eager to please.

Reflecting on this, Liang Qingqing couldn’t help but smile. In this family, isn’t everyone the same? No one truly holds a grudge. But because they are family and they love each other, they show extra tolerance.

“It’s raining, so you can’t play outside. Come on, let’s go inside and play together. I’ll draw a big truck for you.” Liang Qingqing had learned to draw in elementary school. Although she had set it aside in high school, using the skill to amuse a child was still a piece of cake.

It’s truly unpredictable how things turn out. Who would have thought that after arriving in this world, she would take up drawing again, and even use it to entertain children?

Hearing this, Songzi immediately recalled the big green frog and large bird Liang Qingqing had drawn for him before. His eyes lit up, and he hurriedly followed Liang Qingqing into the house with a bounce in his step.

“Little sister can draw too?” Huang Shumin’s eyes widened in disbelief. Wasn’t it said that Liang Qingqing was a bottom-of-the-class student?

Wang Xiaomei nodded, also surprised, “The last time I glanced at her drawing, it was really well done, just like the real thing.”

“Really?” Huang Shumin thought Wang Xiaomei was probably exaggerating and didn’t take it seriously. She turned and went into the kitchen to do the laundry.

The heavy rain continued for three days without showing any sign of stopping. With nothing else to do, the villagers sat under the eaves, eating melon seeds and chatting, marveling at the rushing muddy water in the drainage ditch in front of their homes.

“The team leader really is amazing, he thought ahead to have the drainage ditches cleared in advance. Otherwise, half the houses in the village would have been flooded by now.”

“Hey, it was actually me and Old Zhang who did it. With so many ditches in the village, it took us four days to clear them all.” Someone boasted proudly, conveniently forgetting their previous laziness before the work points were deducted.

“Not bad, well done!”

“And someone suggested buying waterproof cloth and checking the houses for leaks. I didn’t go, damn it, last night I was sleeping comfortably, and when I turned over, the bed was soaked with water. The firewood got wet too, and now the kitchen is full of smoke.”

“If you don’t listen to advice, it’s your own fault. Our family used sandbags and waterproof cloth, and not a drop of water got in. By the way, I remember my wife saying it was that girl from the Liang family who gave the warning.”

“My mother said the same thing!”

“Liang Qingqing? Could she really have done that?”

Most people were skeptical. In their memory, Liang Qingqing was still the lazy, arrogant girl who chased after the young male intellectuals. They couldn’t reconcile that image with the helpful person who had timely reminded everyone to take precautions.

Three more days passed, and the drainage ditches were no longer effective. With the river water rising, most of the farmland was flooded, and the village also suffered. The rushing water carried mud and debris, making it difficult for younger children to stand. Everyone was afraid to leave their homes.

For families in low-lying areas, no matter how well they had prepared for waterproofing, they couldn’t escape being flooded. Standing inside their homes, the water reached waist-deep, and just looking at it was frightening.

In this situation, people could only move valuable items to higher ground. However, elderly people, reluctant to leave the homes they had lived in for most of their lives, cried and refused to leave. Their families had no choice but to ask the village’s respected leaders to persuade them.

Fortunately, the number of households affected by the flooding was not very large, and the situation could be managed.

But just at this time, a landslide occurred. Several routes leading to the county town were buried, so there was an urgent need to send people to clear the roads; otherwise, the connection with the outside world would be cut off. Moreover, if something happened to the villagers, they would not be able to get to the hospital in time.

Meanwhile, the roof of the grain storage facility began to leak. Fortunately, the person in charge of guarding it noticed early, and there was enough waterproof cloth available to seal the damaged areas in time, so the damage was not too severe.

Disasters never come alone. The youth station also had issues. The old, dilapidated buildings could barely withstand the harsh weather. That they had held up for so many days in the heavy rain was already a miracle.

Fortunately, when the incident occurred, everyone was gathered in the kitchen for a meal, so there were no casualties.

However, finding new accommodations for the dozens of young intellectuals became a new problem. It was unrealistic to build a new dormitory at this time, and the village’s funds were critically low; there was simply no money for repairs!

With so many issues piling up, the team leader, the village secretary, and the village head were all extremely busy, and their hair had turned gray with worry.

In the end, the team leader decided that each household should take in one young intellectual to live with them. They would deal with this crisis together first. However, after working so hard during this period, everyone was exhausted, and with the additional unknown costs of the flood, they were even more distressed.

Moreover, in this era, housing was already tight, and having an extra person to squeeze in was hardly agreeable!

But there was indeed someone willing to take on the extra burden with enthusiasm!

That person was Liang Qingqing.

“Comrade Fan, you’re mistaken. It should be me and my second sister-in-law sleeping together, and you with my second brother. Sorry for the slip of the tongue, haha. Comrade Fan, just agree with us, okay?”

“……”