Chapter 62: The Heavy Rain
Jiang Huaizhen brought Lin Shuang back to the village, and the villagers couldn’t help but point and gossip.
Ma Guihua and Old Woman Hao would tell everyone they met, “The yamen even took her in for questioning. What’s there to be true or not? Let’s see if you listen to this kind of person’s nonsense in the future.”
“But it was just for questioning. Didn’t she come back?”
“Money can make the devil turn the millstone. They have money. They just have to pay a fine.”
The villagers were half-believing and half-doubting, not knowing who to believe.
But these were not within Lin Shuang’s scope of concern. She had just done what she thought she should do, and she had a clear conscience. As for how others saw her, that was their business.
In fact, she had not panicked when she was taken away.
She was no longer the sixteen-year-old girl who was at a loss when things happened. Inside, she was a twenty-nine-year-old woman who had experienced life and death several times. If such a small matter could scare her, then she had truly lived two lives in vain.
But she was willing to see Jiang Huaizhen worry about her and take care of everything for her.
At this time, she would feel that Jiang Huaizhen cared about her.
When she came out of the yamen, she would hold her tightly and support her waist as she got on the carriage. When they got home, if it weren’t for the old woman and Ping’er coming out to greet them, she might have even carried her out of the carriage.
The old woman had specially placed a broken pot at the door and had lit a fire.
Ping’er shouted, “Auntie, step over—step over here to Ping’er—”
Lin Shuang looked at the smiling faces of the old and the young on the other side of the fire basin, let go of Jiang Huaizhen’s hand, and stepped over.
The old woman muttered, “May the fire god protect you, and may the evil spirits retreat—”
Lin Shuang smiled. “One fire, two breaks, no taboos, and everything will be smooth—”
For the next two days, the few of them did not leave the valley. Lin Shuang and Jiang Huaizhen threshed and dried the rice. They would harvest the grain in the dry land if they could, and if not, they would leave it for now.
It wasn’t until the fifth day after the prophecy.
Noon.
The sky suddenly became overcast, and the thunder rumbled.
The people who had been lying at home, sleeping, were instantly woken by the thunder. They ran out of their houses and looked up at the sky.
“Why is the thunder so loud?”
“It was fine this morning. There wasn’t a single cloud. Why are there so many dark clouds now?”
“It’s not going to rain, is it? The crops are about to be harvested. It’s really life-threatening if it rains at this time.”
The crowd was in an uproar.
The village chief also walked into his courtyard at this time, looking at the sky with a worried expression.
His family had fifteen mu of land. They had harvested eight mu in the past few days, and now there were still seven mu left.
Matron Yan also heard the thunder and ran out, trembling.
Looking up at the increasing number of dark clouds, she was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, constantly complaining, “It’s all your fault. If you had listened to Shuang’er and harvested all the grain, you wouldn’t have to worry now. We’ve been idle for two days. If it really rains, what will we do?”
“Didn’t you dislike them to no end before? Now you know to listen to them?” the village chief said grumpily.
“You can just criticize me. Anyway, if it rains for a few days in a row, and we can’t harvest the rice, we’ll see where you’ll cry.”
Zhang Mainiang had been working hard to harvest the rice for the past five days. Just as she was about to finish, the sky became overcast, and her heart was filled with anxiety.
She kept praying that the heavens would not let it rain so soon. Just give her half a day to carry the rice home and put it away.
But no matter how anxious she was, there was nothing she could do. She could only wipe her tears and carry the rice home, one load at a time.
Caitou, Dahua, and Xiaohua were only a few years old and couldn’t help much. But seeing their mother cry, they each clutched a small handful of rice and ran home with her, one trip after another.
After two or three trips, Xiaohua suddenly stopped and pointed to the carriage in the distance. “Mother, it’s Aunt Shuang—”
Zhang Mainiang straightened up and looked in the direction her daughter was pointing.
At the other end of the road, Lin Shuang and Jiang Huaizhen were leading Jing Lei, pulling a cart toward their field.
Lin Shuang called out from a distance, “Sister-in-law, we’re here to help you pull the rice!”
Zhang Mainiang’s eyes instantly grew hot, and tears streamed down her face.
The dark clouds in the sky had been rolling for an hour before it started to rain. Zhang Mainiang’s family’s rice was also neatly transported home.
Not only Lin Shuang and Jiang Huaizhen had come, but Xiuzhi, seeing the change in the weather, had also hurried to the end of the village. Her family also had about four or five mu of land, but they were a couple working together. These two days, Lin Shuang had been taken away by the yamen, and the other villagers had stopped harvesting. But the couple thought for a moment and felt that Lin Shuang would not have spread false news for no reason. In the end, they chose to believe her and harvested all the rice in one go.
By this morning, all the rice in the fields had been harvested.
Seeing that it was about to rain, and thinking that her sister-in-law’s family was working alone, she had left one person to harvest the rice on the drying yard and had come over to help.
The few women stood under the eaves of Zhang Mainiang’s house, watching the pouring rain fall from the sky, and they couldn’t help but sigh.
Xiuzhi said to Lin Shuang, “Shuang’er, you’re a god. If it weren’t for listening to you and harvesting the rice, who knows how panicked we would be right now?”
Lin Shuang smiled. “It’s not me who’s a god. It’s that traveling old Daoist who’s a god. I was just passing on his words.”
“You have to be willing to pass them on. You even went to the yamen for this and were even fined. If it were anyone else, with such a secret, they would probably have hidden it and been happy to see others not be able to harvest their rice.”
“Sigh, only you and Sister Mai’s few families listened. Others probably didn’t believe it.”
Xiuzhi said, “How would we know if the news was true or not? We just believed you. If you said to harvest, we would naturally harvest. Although not every family in the village has finished harvesting, they’ve all harvested half or more than half. Even if the rain doesn’t stop, not all of it will be lost.”
“But your aunt and uncle and Old Woman Hao’s two families haven’t harvested a single bit. If the rain doesn’t stop, the rice will rot in the fields.”
Hearing this, Lin Shuang sneered. “These two families, there’s really nothing to sympathize with.”
And the other families in the village, looking at the pouring rain, sighed, regretting that they had not listened to Lin Shuang.
Some also held onto a sliver of hope, saying, “Maybe it will only rain for two days. The rain will stop tomorrow or the day after. What’s the hurry?”
In the room, Zhang Mainiang came to the door and greeted them. “Come on, I’ve made a sweet wine and egg custard. Come in and have a bowl to get rid of the dampness.”
If it were in the past, Lin Shuang and Jiang Huaizhen would have definitely refused.
But last time, when they were making the small clothes for the mohele, Zhang Mainiang had also earned over three taels of silver. A bowl of sweet wine, she could afford it, so they did not refuse and entered the house one after another.
Caitou was with Dahua and Xiaohua in the kitchen and had not come out. Three large bowls of glutinous rice sweet wine were on the table in the main hall, exuding a sweet and fragrant aroma of wine.
“Where are the children? Call them out to eat together.”
Zhang Mainiang smiled. “They’re eating too, in the kitchen.”
Xiuzhi walked to the kitchen door and said to the three little ones, “It’s crowded in here. Come to the main hall to eat.”
Zhang Mainiang said, “Come on, bring your bowls and come out to eat together.”
Only then did the three children come out with their bowls.
After Zhang Mainiang had greeted the few of them and had them sit down, she also ladled a bowl for herself and sat down. “My mother’s family likes this. I also like it. It’s just that these years have been too difficult, and I couldn’t afford sugar. How could I have the mind to make sweet wine? I just got my wages a while back, and I was craving it, so I made some.”
Lin Shuang smiled. “If your family is really in difficulty, you can just tell me and Huaizhen. We’ll help if we can.”
“I know. Little Jiang was also in a difficult situation before, and everyone has only recently started to do better. Now that your work over there hasn’t stopped, I can still earn a few hundred copper coins a month. I feel that the burden is not so heavy anymore,” Zhang Mainiang said.
Linglong Pavilion in the prefectural city was still open. Although the sales were not as good as during Qixi, they could still sell a few hundred dolls a month, and the clothes and accessories were still being supplied.
Because the quantity was not large, Lin Shuang no longer organized a team to rush the work. She had it fixedly done by Zhang Mainiang and Xiuzhi, as well as two other aunts in the village whose families were in difficulty. This way, these few families could also have a continuous income.
Jiang Huaizhen was drinking the sweet wine with her head down and did not interrupt.
Suddenly, she felt a tug on her sleeve. She looked down and saw that it was Xiaohua, who was sniffing and looking at her. “Where’s Ping’er? Why didn’t Ping’er come?”
Jiang Huaizhen’s eyes softened, and she said softly, “Grandma is at home alone. Ping’er has to stay at home and keep her company. I’ll bring her over to play with you next time.”
Seeing this, Lin Shuang said to Jiang Huaizhen, “Sister Mai said before that Caitou still wants to touch your ghost-head saber.”
Hearing this, Caitou quickly raised his head and looked at Jiang Huaizhen with eager eyes.
Jiang Huaizhen shook her head. “Children can’t touch that saber.”
Caitou’s eyes dimmed, and he lowered his head.
Seeing him like this, Lin Shuang smiled. “When you grow up, and you’re not a child anymore, you can touch it then, okay?”
Caitou nodded.
Zhang Mainiang said, “Children are only interested for a little while. Who knows if he’ll still want to touch it when he grows up.”
Caitou stuck his neck out. “I’ll still want to when I grow up.”
“Then we’ll see when you grow up,” Jiang Huaizhen said.
Lin Shuang finished a bowl of sweet wine and egg custard, and a few fine beads of sweat appeared on her head. She wiped them with her hand. “It’s so stuffy even when it’s raining. It’s probably going to rain for a few days.”
“What did the immortal say? How long will it rain?”
“He said it will rain for seven days, and the river will rise. I’m afraid there will be a flood. If you have any relatives on the riverbank, it’s best to have them evacuate,” Lin Shuang said. “But you can’t say that I said this. Otherwise, I’ll have to go in again.”
Xiuzhi quickly said, “Don’t worry. We aunts know.”
After drinking the sweet wine, the two of them got up to take their leave.
Zhang Mainiang said, “It’s raining heavily. Why don’t you wait until it’s a little lighter before you go?”
Lin Shuang shook her head. “This rain won’t stop for a while. We can just change our clothes when we get back.”
Xiuzhi quickly said, “Then I have to go too. If I’m late, my little boy will make a fuss.”
She also had a little boy who was less than a year old and had just been weaned. He was very fussy.
“I’ll get you a rain cloak.”
Lin Shuang quickly said, “You can just give it to Sister Xiuzhi. Huaizhen and I don’t need it. But I see that the rain is so heavy, a rain cloak won’t be of any use. Let’s just go.”
With that, she bid farewell to the few little ones and drove the carriage toward the West Mountain Valley.
