The Farm Girl’s Charismatic Fortune

Chapter 52: Chapter 50 They Are All Panicked Chapter 52: Chapter 50 They Are All Panicked The river is rising?

The Ruo Family was in a panic!

Ruo Chuan ran out and opened the door.

The village chief said urgently, “Quick, go help reinforce the levee.”

Madam Jiang’s hands were trembling, “Is the village chief planning to breach the levee? Should we flee to the mountains?”

Fortunately, food, some clothes, and quilts had been moved to the mountain yesterday.

Granny Lei, “The water level is rising so fast? How is it so quick!”

The village chief said urgently, “No, it’s almost here, the rain is too heavy. I estimate if it continues like this, no one will even realize if the levee is breached tonight! I haven’t seen such heavy rain in my decades of life! Hurry up! People from the other villages have already mobilized! I’m going to notify others.”

After dropping these words, the village chief ran off.

Ruo Chuan turned to Granny Lei, “Mother, I’m going to help reinforce the levee.”

Ruo He, “Mother, I’m going too.”

Ruo Jiang, “I’m going too!”

Ruo Zhou, “I’m going too!”

Madam Jiang held Ruo Jiang back, “Husband, your leg is not well, don’t go!”

Ruo Jiang, “I’m not afraid, my leg is much better.”

Granny Lei also said, “Second son, you shouldn’t go! There needs to be a man left at home.”

Xuanbao also wanted to go and see for herself; she could tell at a glance whether the levee was secure, “I’m going too.”

“No!!!!” came the unanimous response from the family.

Why would Xuanbao, so young, go?

Besides, even with a straw coat, she would definitely get soaked in such heavy rain; with the weather cold now, wet clothes could easily lead to catching a cold.

Ruo Xuan then looked at Granny Lei.

Granny Lei firmly disagreed, “Xuanbao, be good, the rain is too heavy.”

Ruo Xuan turned her head to look at Madam Liu.

As soon as Madam Liu sensed Xuanbao might insist, she looked up at the sky, ah, there’s so much rain, one drop, two drops….

This damned rain is practically like pouring!

Madam Liu couldn’t help but worry as well.

Ruo Xuan: …

In the end, Ruo He, Ruo Chuan, and Ruo Zhou quickly donned their straw coats and ran out.

The water flowed swiftly down the village road toward the lower areas, as the three of them, wearing straw sandals, splashed their way towards the official road.

Stepping out of the village, the wetlands once lush with Geng grass had become a vast expanse of water, a chaotic yellow.

The rice in the paddy fields had been submerged halfway.

The former County Magistrate of Shaxi County was negligent, the water conservancy was poorly managed, and the ditches by the fields were dug by the villagers themselves, merely for convenient irrigation without considering the diversion of rain floods.

At this moment, the water in the channels had risen, merging with the fields.

In the fields, figures of villagers were rushing to harvest their crops in the pouring rain.

Some even cried loudly as they harvested:
“This is a disaster, why such heavy rain! My rice isn’t even ripe!”

“Wuuuh, Lord Heaven, stop the rain! The rice is about to be submerged!”

…

But their cries and tears were drowned out by the torrential downpour, unheard by anyone.

Ruo Chuan couldn’t help but say, “They had it coming, the Lord County Magistrate already offered a ten-catty tax reduction per mu to encourage everyone to hurry and harvest the rice. They didn’t harvest, and now crying, what’s the use of tears!”

Ruo Zhou, “They’re to blame, they don’t deserve sympathy!”

Ruo He looked at a slender figure working hard in the rain and felt a bit of pity.

Just then the village chief shouted in the fields, “Men, hurry to reinforce the embankment, stop harvesting the rice! If the levee breaks, not only will the rice be gone, but also the houses will be destroyed, people washed away, lives lost!”

Ruo Chuan pulled on Ruo He, “Third brother, let’s hurry to the levee to help!”

Ruo He also knew to prioritize, nodding his head quickly, and the three of them ran toward the embankment.

The village chief continued to shout in the fields:
“Stop harvesting the rice and hurry home! Have you lost your minds? In such heavy rain, so cold, soaking in water could make you sick, and dying is even worse!”

“Women, rush back home; men, move your asses and carry sandbags! Still harvesting rice at a time like this, what the fuck are you harvesting for!”

“Where the hell were you earlier! All dead? We’ve been warning about the flood, but you didn’t believe it, now hurry up and move sandbags, or not only will the rice be gone, people will be too!”

…

The village chief was so angry that he couldn’t care less about his language, cursing and swearing with every sentence.

When the villagers heard this, they panicked even more. A dike breach was no trivial matter, and they scrambled toward it.

Daniu’s mother was scared to tears: “Wuu… Chief, it’s not going to breach, right? What about our rice?”

She regretted not doing as the Ruo Family had done and harvested everything ahead of time!

Now she had nothing!

Her family owned five acres of land!

The village chief retorted angrily, “What to do? Just wait for death!”

Having lived for decades, the village chief had never seen such high waters and was himself extremely anxious.

After calling several villagers, the village chief hurriedly headed toward the embankment.

On top of the dike, there were already many people busy at work: some were filling sandbags, others were carrying them to their place.

In the cold rain, everyone was working on the emergency without even wearing raincoats, braving the downpour.

The Ruo Chuan trio lifted sandbags and ran to the embankment, stacking them atop others’ to elevate the dike.

Looking at the water level in the river, their hearts sank.

The water was too high!

The raging floodwater, cluttered with branches, wood, and other debris, was tumultuous and urgent, rushing forwards impatiently.

Ruo Zhou, now in his teens, saw the Xishui River at such a high level for the first time and anxiously asked, “Uncle Wu, will the water rise up here?”

Ruo Chuan frowned, “I estimate it will continue to rise, just don’t know how high it will eventually get.”

Ruo He, who understood more, looked gravely at the distance: “The crest hasn’t arrived yet. I heard that the county upstream started heavy rainfall the day before yesterday; it won’t be long before the water from upstream comes down, and then we will have a flood peak passing through. We better hurry up and raise the height of the dike!”

Hearing this, those around redoubled their effort in moving the sandbags!

The dike was made of earthen soil and wasn’t very high.

Most of the villagers’ houses were made of adobe, prone to collapsing once soaked in water.

A breach would be catastrophic; the flood could sweep away an entire house, so everyone was terrified.

~
The rain kept falling, showing no sign of stopping by evening.

Although the Ruo Family didn’t need to worry about the crops in the fields, their sons and eldest grandson had all gone out, leaving only the elderly, women, and children anxious at home. Granny Lei was restless.

Madam Liu and Madam Jiang were also uneasy.

In their hands, they were sewing new clothes for the children, but they were so distracted that one sleeve took a whole day to complete.

Seeing this, the children also became apprehensive. Usually, the brothers would be noisy and boisterous, but now they quietly sat and practiced writing.

Xuanbao sat there, cultivating and watching her brothers write, unfazed by the panic.

However, sensing everyone’s fear, Xuanbao thought they should be given something to do and suggested, “Granny, why don’t we make some ginger soup for Third Uncle and the others?”

Madam Jiang and Madam Liu sprang to their feet: “I’ll go make it right away!”

Granny Lei said, “Make plenty, and when the rain eases a little, take it to the dike to ward off the cold for everyone.”

Fortunately, knowing about the potential flood, she had asked her fifth son to buy extra ginger to store at home.

“Alright!” Madam Liu and Madam Jiang both responded and rushed out, leaving the sewing of new clothes behind.

No sooner had the two women left the main hall than they heard the clanging of a gong from outside: “The dike is about to breach! Everyone hurry to the hills for shelter! The dike is about to breach! Run…”

A breach?

The people of the Ruo Family were immediately thrown into panic!

The whole village was thrown into panic!