Departure
Bai Erlang's face turned red as he exclaimed, "That's impossible; I have never heard the gentleman talk about it."
Bai Shanbao replied, "That must be because you were sleeping."
Manbao hesitated, "Or were you whispering?"
Bai Erlang also hesitated, "Did the gentleman really mention it?"
Bai Shanbao and Manbao both nodded vigorously.
Bai Erlang slumped his shoulders and fell silent.
Not entirely at ease with the three children, as usual, they looked for their mother, Mrs. Bai:…
She hesitated for a moment, did not go in, turned around, and walked away.
Mr. Zhuang used to come to Qili Village to teach. Although he had abandoned his previous ambitions, this time the breach was too significant. Even if he wanted to stay on the sidelines, he couldn't help but worry.
Furthermore, Qili Village is located just below Yizhou, and the community and its residents here cannot remain unaffected.
But what can a mere civilian like him do?
Mr. Bai was speaking to him, "I closed the shops in the county town and in Basalt, and sent the people to the Zhuang's house." "I don't know what the current situation is in Yizhou."
He said, "When the refugees come here, the county magistrate should invite us to the city."
Then, they will definitely have to donate money and grain; this is what Mr. Bai can do.
The rain in Qili Village is still falling, but it is slowly decreasing. The small river in the village rose rapidly, causing water to flood into the school and some houses in the village located near the river or in low-lying areas.
Fortunately, the water is not very deep. Although life has been greatly affected, there is no danger of being inundated.
As a result, the school was indefinitely closed for vacation, and no one knows when classes can resume.
Manbao's family is in a good location with all brick and tile houses that were recently built, so they were not affected this time.
Numerous families in the village could not stay in their homes. Most of them relocated to the homes of relatives whose houses were still intact. However, some of these relatives' houses were leaking and could not accommodate them, so they eventually moved to Manbao's house.
Therefore, Manbao's family also cleared two rooms for them to stay in. Once the rain stopped, the village head would organize the villagers to help these families repair their houses.
Those that had collapsed had to be rebuilt, and the rest had to be repaired.
Of course, these tasks were completed by Zhou Dalang and the others and had no connection to Manbao. She was still escorted by Zhou Silang to the Bai family for classes every morning and brought back home by Zhou Silang in the evening.
Although Mr. Zhuang was worried, he could only assist the three children and occasionally discuss with them about Yizhou, the Jianwei Dam, and various drought and flood disasters.
By late May, the rain gradually stopped, and the receding river water slowly subsided. Lao Zhou led his sons to the fields with hoes to inspect the crops.
Many fields were submerged, and in some areas near the river, the tops of the crops were no longer visible. At first glance, it looked like a wide river.
Many families in the village were in tears, and Lao Zhou was also distressed. He went out early and returned late every day, carefully inspecting the land before coming back to assess the losses.
After calculating, almost half of Zhou's fields could experience a complete loss. When the water recedes, if the crops were not washed away, they would be damaged or destroyed. Even if some were still okay, they probably wouldn't yield a harvest.
After all, they had missed the crucial time for pollination.
Fortunately, the Zhou family owned additional scattered fields. Therefore, if one area were submerged, there would always be a fortunate part that escaped.
Other families might not be so lucky. Although Manbao rarely accompanied her father to social gatherings, she frequently interacted with villagers who all seemed concerned when discussing this year's harvest. Everyone was pessimistic.
As the water slowly receded, it left behind numerous insect eggs. Even when the sun came out, no one was happy. The villagers began to be busy again, going out early and returning late to catch insects, weed, and fertilize their crops.
The school had to be cleaned and renovated, so it remained closed.
Mr. Zhuang stopped teaching and had to make a trip to the county town. With the three children out of classes, they could finally explore the outside world.
Since the adults didn't want them near the river, they called their friends to play in the mountains. Manbao reminisced about her two years in the flower basket business, so she gathered numerous flowers to weave baskets.
Of course, the small bamboo baskets had to be woven by adults.
After a moment of thought, Lao Zhou said to Zhou Erlang, "From now on, you don't need to go to the fields in the afternoon." Stay at home and weave bamboo baskets. This year's harvest is definitely going to suffer. The village chief reported a significant flood outside, and I anticipate that the cost of food will increase. Therefore, we must find ways to earn more money at home.
Zhou Erlang nodded. The family had already abandoned many fields, and now it was just a salvage operation. No one knew how much they could harvest in the end.
Lao Zhou told them, "Since the second son is going to the county town, make some tofu and have him take it with him." We need to save every penny now.
He sighed, "With the land in such a mess, I don't even know how we'll pay the autumn taxes."
Everyone looked downcast.
Manbao raised her little hand and said, "Dad, I'll help you!"
Lao Zhou squeezed out a smile and said, "Haha, I knew Manbao is filial."
The Zhou brothers seemed as if they were not helping at all.
The Zhou family was now in debt, and the deficit was quite large. Although Manbao no longer had the opportunity to eavesdrop on her parents' conversations at night, she still meticulously memorized the details in her heart. She knew that the family owed her elder sister 50 taels of silver. This debt was not urgent, but if they couldn't provide enough grain for the autumn taxes, they might have to pay in cash.
Manbao calculated taxes for her father every year, so she was familiar with the process. When she said she would help, she meant it. The next day, she took her younger brother and the servants to the city with her elder brother.
Zhou Dalang loaded everything onto the cart and glanced at the flowers in their baskets, silently nodding in agreement.
No one in the family said anything. In the past year or two, they had indeed earned a lot of money selling flower baskets. Even though many people were selling baskets in the market, theirs seemed to be more popular than others.
Of course, at the same price point.
Zhou Erlang and Zhou Wulang thought their trip to the county town would be like any other, but upon reaching the city gate, they realized something was amiss.
The line to enter the city was long, with numerous people wearing ragged clothes and sporting blank expressions on their faces. Zhou Erlang was stunned by the sight and stood still for a long time.
Zhou Wulang also looked curiously at those people, then turned to his brother and asked, "What's wrong, Second Brother?"
Zhou Erlang wanted to turn back, but upon seeing the tofu in the basket, he decided to enter the city after some contemplation.
The bamboo weaving could wait, but the tofu could not. He tightened his grip and instructed them, "When we enter the city later, don't go around selling baskets everywhere." Stay in one place and sell. "Don't go anywhere else, understand?"
Manbao immediately said, "But I wanted to go talk to Miss Fu Er and play with her." The last time we communicated, I promised to visit her if I came to the city.
She also wanted to sell her candy to her.