Chapter 211

When Su Weimin arrived home, Head Chen had already finished his sour plum soup and started drinking mung bean soup.

When Xiao Roubao was drinking mung bean soup, he politely asked him, “Uncle, do you want some? It’s very sweet.” Head Chen looked at the adorable child and nodded, asking for a bowl.

Su Xiaoxiao wasn’t keen on talking to Head Chen. She was afraid that if she said one more word to him, she would lose all her composure and speak her mind uncontrollably. Xiao Roubao, on the other hand, a chatterbox with social anxiety, could talk to anyone for hours. He took over, entertaining Head Chen effortlessly. As expected, Xiao Roubao’s chatter quickly put “Uncle Chen” in a good mood.

When Su Weimin returned, Head Chen’s old face was noticeably more amiable.

The same question, the same routine, Head Chen asked again, and Su Weimin, bewildered and incredulous, stumbled through his answers. Finally, he couldn’t help but say, “I admit to making the decision to harvest the rice early. Even if it was a misjudgment, I would take the blame alone. But who is the bastard who reported my daughter? Could anyone in the county really be stupid enough to believe this nonsense? It’s clearly someone who can’t stand my daughter’s success, fabricating a ridiculous accusation against her. This person is truly despicable!”

Head Chen: “…” 

(Lucia: This stupid official, your honor.)

Head Chen cleared his throat. “I have already called in meteorological experts and old farmers. If they determine that the typhoon won’t arrive early, you must stop harvesting the rice immediately.”

Su Xiaoxiao interjected, “But what if the typhoon does arrive early? Although we’re not exactly coastal, we’re not far from it. We’re affected by typhoons every year, usually after the Double Harvest. Even if there’s wind and rain and some seedlings are knocked down, we can replant them. It doesn’t seem like a big deal.”

Typhoons often strike just before the rice harvest. While a typhoon usually brings three days of rain, it often continues raining for over a week. Even if the rice doesn’t fall off, it starts sprouting after being submerged in water for that long. Harvesting the rice during a typhoon, despite the strong wind and rain, leaves no place to dry it, causing it to sprout and result in significant losses. Therefore, it raises the question of whether it’s worth taking such a big risk to increase the harvest by half.

Even though Su Xiaoxiao’s voice was not high and her tone could be described as gentle, the atmosphere still developed in a tense direction. Head Chen respected Su Weimin, but he had little patience for Su Xiaoxiao’s arrogance. “Are you trying to teach me how to do my job?”

Knowing she couldn’t reason with the old-fashioned man, Su Xiaoxiao smiled and said, “I dare not. There’s no point in discussing this further. Let’s wait for your trusted meteorological experts to arrive and see what they say.”

Su Weimin also saw that Head Chen didn’t treat his daughter very well and didn’t want to talk to him much. The clever Xiao Roubao went to the kitchen to steal a sweet potato and came back. He found that the atmosphere was a bit off, so he started making jokes again and invited “Uncle Chen” to eat sweet potatoes. Hua Sheng and Hua Se told him about the embarrassing incident of almost being “eaten” by the swamp just now.

The staff brought by Head Chen are very capable, bringing a few meteorological experts and experienced experts in just over an hour.

Su Weimin personally took them to the fields to “inspect,”  and while walking, he recounted the information he had learned.

Everyone knows it has been unusually hot and stuffy this year, but the neighboring villages are not surrounded by mountains on three sides, like Sujia Village. At night, even if the frogs and cicadas are louder than usual, the echoes are not as pronounced. Additionally, there are indeed many snakes, insects, mice, and ants crawling out to cool off at night.

At noon, they casually took a bite of sweet potato and taro, and a few people followed Su Weimin to even look at the pond. In the evening, they saw a school of fish jumping out of the water to “cool down” and watched the sun set, the unusual red glow of the clouds spreading layers upon layers to the other end of the mountain.

An old expert said, “Our village doesn’t have such large ponds. It’s my first time seeing such a large school of fish jumping out to breathe.”

Another old farmer also said, “If you don’t pull me and watch, I didn’t even notice that this day is as red as fire, but burning clouds don’t necessarily mean a typhoon is coming.”

Meteorological experts are also uncertain. The meteorological station has detected no signs of rainfall or typhoons, but the situation is still somewhat unusual. Their experience is relatively limited, and they are not as observant as the old farmers who have lived in the village year-round.

After the sun set, all the heat waves in Sujia Village, surrounded by mountains on three sides, converged in the “basin,” creating an oppressive dry heat that made people feel suffocated. Since entering the village, they had not felt any wind or seen any grass move, and the weeping willows by the river, which typically swayed with the slightest breeze, remained still.

As night fell, the mountains and valleys were filled with an even more terrifying “wailing” than the previous night. If everyone hadn’t heard it together, they wouldn’t have believed it was real. Animals of all sizes on the other side of the mountain were clamoring, and the poultry and livestock here responded, especially the dogs, barking heartily. Sujia Village felt like a closed valley, with sounds circulating, echoing, and resonating throughout.

Only villages like Sujia Village, closest to nature, could “communicate” with nature in this way, receiving warnings in advance.

In the end, the experts determined that it was highly unusual, indicating that a natural disaster was imminent and wouldn’t be minor. Whether it was a typhoon, an earthquake, or something else, it was hard to say, but the most likely scenario was an early arrival of the typhoon season.

Su Weimin said, “I have lived in Sujia Village for decades, and this is the first time I’ve encountered such an extreme situation. Today, it has worsened compared to yesterday. Yesterday’s signs were not as pronounced, and tomorrow we must hasten our preparations for recovery. Otherwise, it will be too late. I am now at least 90% confident that a typhoon will definitely come within three days.”

Seeing and hearing it for himself was different from hearing it from others. Head Chen made a prompt decision: “I’ll report the situation to the county overnight and try to notify each commune to start harvesting before dawn tomorrow, even if it’s not a typhoon.”

Head Chen left with his team overnight without a word of thanks or apology. Su Weimin didn’t mind, but he couldn’t help but comment, “Not apologizing and leaving right away, what kind of person is he?”

Su Xiaoxiao didn’t pay much attention and casually said that she wouldn’t miss a piece of meat if that man didn’t apologize. She was more interested in knowing who had the time and energy to report her. If it weren’t for Head Chen’s timely arrival, her father wouldn’t have been confident enough to report to the county yesterday. If the county didn’t approve it, he wouldn’t have been able to harvest rice without their approval. This is also why he had to act first and report later.

Even if he was confident today and planned to report tomorrow, waiting for the county leaders to come and inspect would delay it by two or three days. Who knew if the typhoon or the leaders would arrive first? Now that Head Chen had arrived and reported the situation promptly, the efficiency had improved significantly. Hopefully, they could harvest more rice and mitigate some of the losses. Strictly speaking, the person who reported her had done a bad thing with good intentions.

Han Cheng had been busy at the grain drying field all day; his face and body were already sunburned, with a layer of skin peeling off. Su Xiaoxiao felt sorry for him. There wasn’t any sunscreen available nowadays, so she had to find some aloe vera to apply to his skin.

Frowning, Su Xiaoxiao applied the aloe vera while gently blowing on Han Cheng’s sunburned areas. “This sun is too harsh. The children didn’t get sunburned as badly as you did. How did you get so badly sunburned?”

Han Cheng didn’t pay much attention: “The temperature at the grain drying field is higher. After a day of sun exposure, the grains are already dry enough to be bagged. We laborers are truly efficient. A lot of grain has already been piled up in the granary after just one day’s work. At this rate, we’ll be able to finish harvesting in a few days.”

Su Xiaoxiao shook her head and said, “My father said that the typhoon will come within three days. Unless we harvest overnight, we won’t make it in time. We can only salvage as much as we can.”

Su Xiaoxiao put down the aloe vera and gently blew on Han Cheng’s sunburn: “Han Cheng, back when we were in Qingfeng Town, every typhoon season brought strong winds and heavy rains. I was used to it and didn’t think typhoons were that terrifying. But now, when I think about those heavy rice grains in the fields possibly getting soaked and sprouting, I feel particularly heavy-hearted. Farmers rely on the weather to eat. We wait all year for this new harvest. If we can’t even have our meals… it’s really…”

Han Cheng thought for a moment and said, “I’ll make a call to the army tomorrow to report the situation and ask the leaders to dispatch some soldiers who are closest and currently not on any mission to come and help. Let’s try to finish harvesting in one or two days.”

Su Xiaoxiao never thought about this level: “Does this follow the rules?”

Han Cheng said, “Xiao Roubao actually said something right. With a big world and a big sky, the most important thing is to have food. If we can’t even have food, what else matters?”

Su Xiaoxiao nodded and said, “Okay, I’ll call early tomorrow morning.”

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The next day, in the early morning, the sky was already filled with fiery clouds. The meteorological station finally reported that a typhoon was about to make landfall and instructed all brigades to prepare for early rice harvesting.

Han Cheng immediately called his senior leader, who, upon hearing the situation, readily negotiated with the nearest troops to Su’s village.

The response was incredibly fast. The “reinforcements” arrived that afternoon. Over a hundred soldiers in military uniforms came to assist, their spirits high. They immediately joined in the harvesting work, rolling up their pant legs and diving in.

After hearing the broadcast, the commune members dared not be lazy anymore. Even the laziest among them worked diligently.

The four cubs are not as carefree as they were on the first day. After a day of training, they have become very proficient in harvesting and have all put in their efforts to tackle the task.

Fantuan stopped picking up snails when he saw them, and Zhuzi stopped catching loaches when he saw them. Everyone was united in their hope of harvesting all the rice from the granary as soon as possible.

The commune canteen reopened to provide meals. Although the village’s resources were limited, everyone needed to eat. Su Xiaoxiao and Li Yufeng, along with several other women, prepared refreshing drinks and cooked meals for everyone.

Su Zhenhua went to the reservoir and caught a dozen large Anhui fish to add to the harvesting effort.

The fields are bustling with activity, and Su Xiaoxiao’s village is also bustling with activity. The conditions in the village are limited, and no matter what, they have to manage to have enough food and vegetables to feed the workers. Each household brought over surplus fruits and vegetables. The dozen or so large Anhui fish were enough to provide everyone with a share.

The fish were simply prepared without any fancy methods. They were cleaned, cut into pieces, and stewed with ginger and spices in two large iron pots. When they were almost done, potatoes, eggplants, and green beans were added. Each person received a full spoonful, which was enough to go with the rice.

Dinner was served promptly at five o’clock. All the commune members participating in the harvesting were invited to the canteen for a meal. Without saying a word, they automatically and voluntarily took turns to eat, then returned to work without delay. Another group would come to eat after them.

The four older brothers didn’t come for dinner until six o’clock and ate hungrily. Fantuan and Zhuzi had never eaten so quickly before. 

After finishing their meal without saying a word to Su Xiaoxiao, they immediately returned to join the harvesting team.

Su Xiaoxiao felt sorry for Han Cheng and also for the child, but she didn’t say anything.

With more people, there was more strength. Coupled with the soldiers’ good physical fitness and training, each of them worked as hard as two. Originally, it would have taken at least three or four days to finish the harvesting, but everyone worked tirelessly under the moonlight until nine o’clock at night, finally completing the harvesting of all the rice.

The threshing and drying work would have to wait until the next day.

The soldiers had to return to their base overnight. Everyone felt reluctant to part with them. Those who had eggs at home gave them to the soldiers, and those who had dried sweet potatoes gave them away. Basically, everything edible or not was brought over, but the soldiers refused to take anything, saying they couldn’t take the villagers’ resources. They came and went with great momentum, like a passing cloud, without leaving a trace behind.