Chapter 93 : Disaster

“Mom, I have a bad feeling that a disaster is coming. Why don’t we move our food and supplies to an open area? Otherwise, I’ll stay uneasy. Everything lately has been acting so strangely. For the sake of the whole family, we should be cautious.”

Jiang Sui’s decision came so suddenly that even Mother Xiao became nervous.

Almost everything Jiang Sui had warned about in the past had actually come true. She had predicted a severe drought this year and asked them to stock up on food just in case. And sure enough, it happened no crops were harvested this year, and food prices skyrocketed.

Now Jiang Sui was saying there might be a disaster and was urging them to move their food and valuables to an open space. Mother Xiao believed her, but the problem was where could they go?

Their old house had long been sold to someone else.

“Suisui, I believe you’re genuinely worried. I’ve been feeling like something’s off too. And now with what just happened at the back mountain, I can’t help but feel uneasy even if you hadn’t said anything. But the real issue is, where can our family move to?”

If it were just a small family, it wouldn’t be a big deal, they could set up a makeshift shelter. But with a family of ten, how were they going to arrange living space?

It was a tough situation. But compared to everyone’s safety, what’s a little hardship?

Just as the mother and daughter-in-law were hesitating, Father Xiao returned with his sons and the village chief.

They had also come back to talk about relocating. After explaining the situation at the back mountain, Jiang Sui became even more anxious. She was convinced a disaster was looming and that they couldn’t afford to delay any longer. If something really happened, none of them might make it out in time.

Father Xiao had already told the village chief earlier that day that they currently had nowhere to go.

The village chief quickly thought of a temporary solution.

“There’s a large empty field east of the village. There’s a small temple there. The place isn’t very big, and the temple has been abandoned for a long time. It’s pretty rundown and needs cleaning before anyone can live there. But for now, it’s better than staying put. If the mountain collapses again and your house gets hit, what then?”

The village chief was right, it was a viable option. Father and Mother Xiao briefly discussed it and agreed.

He also told them not to hesitate to ask for help. If they needed a hand, the villagers would surely pitch in.

But Mother Xiao declined. There was too much food in their home, and if others saw it, it could stir up trouble. Everyone was living tight these days, many were skipping meals just to make food last. If word got out, it might create problems.

It was already late afternoon, and Father Xiao wanted to move early the next morning.

But Jiang Sui firmly disagreed, she insisted they start moving right away.

So the women packed up belongings and clothes and went ahead to clean up the earth temple, while the men prepared to move everything with the ox cart.

As for the food, they would wait until nightfall to move it discreetly, avoiding attention.

Mother Xiao had originally sided with Father Xiao about moving the next morning, but after listening to Jiang Sui’s reasoning, she changed her mind.

Everyone agreed that Jiang Sui made sense, so they quickly went back to their rooms to gather clothes, bedding, and essentials.

People in the countryside don’t have many clothes, usually just two sets per season. Luckily, they had an ox cart, which made transporting things easier.

Once everything was packed, Mother Xiao led them to the land temple to start cleaning, and at night, they would simply lay some wooden planks to sleep on.

When they arrived at the land temple, they saw it standing alone in the middle of a barren field, not even a single tree around it. The area was wide open, Jiang Sui was very satisfied.

The land temple was indeed small, and the whole family would have to squeeze in. In the center was the statue of the Earth God, but the altar had collapsed, covered in spider webs. The corners and beams were also coated in webs, and a thick layer of dust blanketed the floor. Clearly, the place had been abandoned for a long time.

But there was one good thing, when the land temple was originally built, the floor had been paved with bluestone slabs. After cleaning, they could sleep directly on the ground without needing bed boards, which was very convenient.

This land temple was quite decent, but the reason it was abandoned was because a Feng Shui master had once declared that the site had bad Feng Shui. He said the temple didn’t favor the location, so the temple was left to deteriorate, and a new one was built elsewhere with better Feng Shui.

The women worked efficiently some swept the floor, others cleared out the spider webs. Once they were done, they just mopped the floor twice, and that was enough.

Father Xiao and the men first secured the poultry in the chicken coop at home, then packed up the pots and pans and transported them to the land temple. There were over twenty chickens, including several older hens that still laid eggs.

Thanks to the ox cart, the work wasn’t too difficult.

Afterward, they loaded the grain onto carts, covering it tightly with tarpaulins for protection.

There was around 700 to 800 kilograms of grain a heavy load for the old ox, but fortunately, the distance wasn’t far.

The remaining items like bacon, bedding, and other miscellaneous supplies were moved last. Xiao Yi had made two carts, which they used in rotation one for the grain and the other for everything else.

By the time the family had moved everything, it was already dark. The rest of the village had finished dinner and was preparing for bed.

The Xiao family hadn’t even had a meal yet, so Mother Xiao began cooking. The clay stove they had brought from their stall came in handy and made things much easier.

The rest of the family started preparing their sleeping areas, working together smoothly with a clear division of tasks.

It felt like camping. Out in the open grassland, it was cooler than inside their house.

They kept the grain on the cart, covered with a tarpaulin, and weighed down with stones at all four corners.

With so much food, they were worried it might get stolen. Father Xiao suggested that he and his three sons take turns keeping watch through the night, each covering a shift.

By the time everyone had eaten, it was already close to midnight, and the surroundings were quiet.

Inside the land temple, they slept directly on the bluestone floor. It was cooler than sleeping on a traditional kang bed, but also harder, and it could cause back pain if they slept like that for too long.

Jiang Sui and Xiao Hechuan lay together. Xiao Hechuan had a long-standing habit, he could only fall asleep if he was holding Jiang Sui’s arm. She was used to sleeping with him this way by now.

Father Xiao took the first night watch shift. Each person was to keep watch for one hour. Everyone was exhausted from the long day’s labor and fell asleep quickly.

But no one expected the disaster to strike that very night.

Father Xiao, seeing his shift was almost over, called his eldest son to take over and then went to lie down, holding his youngest grandson in his arms. He had just started to doze off when he suddenly felt the ground begin to tremble.

Outside, Xiao Qin, who was on watch, was the first to sense it. The old ox tied nearby began to act restless, and the chickens in the cage started clucking and flapping wildly.

Xiao Qin reacted quickly and shouted to wake the sleeping family.

Amid the shaking, Father Xiao had already sprung up. Together, the two began calling everyone to get out.

“Wake up, wake up!”

The family awoke in confusion. Jiang Sui jumped up instantly. Sand and dust began to fall from above, and the earth was trembling violently. She immediately knew, it was an earthquake.

“It’s an earthquake! Everyone, get out!”