My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 113 Flood
"It's better here when it rains, but I'm worried about problems upstream on the Jinshui River. Otherwise, if the water rises, we won't be able to stop it."

Liang Hongyu also leaned against the door and sighed.

It wasn't just them who had this worry. On this day, even Wang Laishun, the village secretary, couldn't sit still anymore. The water level in the reservoir was rising too fast, almost reaching the warning line overnight. Judging from the rain, it wouldn't stop anytime soon. He panicked and shouted several times through the loudspeaker, telling people to pack their things and run to the county town as soon as possible.

There's no other way now, time is tight.

The county town has high river embankments and is surrounded by old city walls, making its terrain much higher than their small mountain basin.

Their village is not only low-lying, but also right next to a reservoir. The rain is getting heavier and heavier. If the dam breaks, there will be nowhere to run. They will just be left to sit in the water and wait to die. At that time, this place will become the most dangerous place.

"Uncle Fugui, hurry up and pack your things. The village chief said that if we don't leave now, it will be too late."

Just as Chen Ling led the cow out from the backyard, Chen Yuqiang, wearing a raincoat and kicking through the mud, came running to call him.

"Okay, have you packed your things?"

"Oh dear, there's no time to pack. I only took the money and bankbook with me, and a few clothes too. I dare not pack any more."

As Chen Yuqiang spoke, he and Wenli, carrying Xiaosen, waded through the water toward the alley entrance: "I'm going to check on my father and mother. Uncle, you guys hurry up."

"Okay, okay, we'll be leaving right away."

At this time, Wang Susu also packed her things at home, and together with Qin Rongxian and Liang Hongyu, they carried baskets, each carrying a full load of things. They also had Chen Ling wrap the money and bankbooks in oil paper. Then, they simply put on rain boots and raincoats, led the cow and the dog, and headed out of the village.

In such situations, oxcarts are no longer an option. If one is greedy and uses an oxcart to haul things, encountering deep water or muddy roads can sometimes result in greater losses and be more dangerous.

"I should have listened to Fugui. We should have left a few days ago when the rain subsided. You two wouldn't have had to rush back from the county town then. Now we're troubling you two to come along and suffer."

Liang Hongyu was extremely annoyed and remorseful.

On the eighth day of the sixth lunar month, the heavy rain had stopped for half a day. Chen Ling said he would take Wang Susu to take them back to the county town, but they were afraid of troubling Chen Ling too much, so they were too embarrassed to agree and said that they could go back by themselves when the weather cleared up. But who knew that the rain would start again that night and has been raining ever since without any sign of stopping.

"It's alright, Auntie. It's not too late to leave now. As long as we're all safe, nothing else matters."

Chen Ling smiled and shook his head. He was confident and had made preparations long ago, storing everything he could in his cave.

The remaining chickens, ducks, rabbits, and quails were also caught by Wang Susu and put into baskets, which were hung on both sides of the little white cow. At this time, the chickens and ducks were very well-behaved, not making much noise, and curled up in a ball without moving much, which saved a lot of trouble.

As for the other things at home, it doesn't matter if I can't bring them.

As the group reached the village entrance, it gradually grew dark. It was a little after five in the afternoon. Looking up at the dam, they saw figures in the rain: people praying to gods and Buddhas, cursing, and children crying. There were also women who refused to leave, reluctant to part with their belongings, wailing and lamenting.

"My God... my place... I can't live like this anymore..."

"My house...my food...is gone..."

The wheat had just been dried in the threshing ground and brought home, and before it could even be sold, it was going to be flooded. Just thinking about the loss would break anyone's heart.

"Oh dear, you should hurry up and leave. Stop crying, or you'll die."

"Haven't you heard that the water in the Dayantang Reservoir is starting to overflow? Look how dangerous this reservoir is. If it breaks, there'll be nowhere to run."

A man shouted at the top of his lungs, then grabbed his wife, carried the baby, and waded through the knee-deep mud to hurry on his way.

Every time it rains heavily, every household in the village, fearing flooding, digs ditches in front of their houses to drain water into the large pond, which is next to the primary school and is nearly 100 meters long and wide. It shouldn't have any problem storing water. But now it's full of rainwater and has even overflowed.

"Susu, move the basket forward a bit so that Uncle Qin and Aunt Hongyu can ride on the ox. The road on the dam is slippery and difficult to walk on."

Chen Ling glanced at the reservoir. The once clear water was now murky and turbulent, almost a foot above the warning line. This was due to the continuous influx of water from the Jinshui River, causing the water level to rise rapidly, a sight that made one's heart pound.

The farmland north of the dam was also a vast expanse of water, with rushing water everywhere. The trees were half-submerged, and the corn seedlings were nowhere to be found. Only in slightly higher areas could a few traces of green be discerned. Looking further southwest, the old river bend at the foot of the mountain had also spread out. It was only a matter of time before the foundation of the greenhouse left by Chen Erzhu was washed away.

"Little Bai, be good and let your uncle and aunt go upstairs."

Wang Susu gently comforted the little white calf. Her own calf had a strange temper; it wouldn't let anyone else touch it except Chen Ling and her, let alone ride it—that was simply a pipe dream.

However, the situation was too urgent. The water level in the reservoir was about to rise, and if they didn't leave now, they really wouldn't be able to leave. Seeing that Wang Susu couldn't persuade him, Chen Ling had no choice but to go over and comfort him for a while, promising that this would be the only time. Only then did the little white ox reluctantly let Qin Rong and the other person go up first.

Chen Ling tied the basket securely to the cow, carried Wang Susu on his back, and strode forward through the mud.

This made our journey much faster.

The mountain road was difficult to travel, and torrential rain was pouring down.

Wang Laishun was worried that walking along the foot of the mountain was too dangerous, so he kept banging on a washbasin and shouting to direct everyone to stop taking the mountain path.

"Everyone, don't go down the mountain road to the south. Take the small path to the east and go straight up to the old city wall of the county."

"Far away is fine, it's safer."

Given the current situation, the villagers have no objections.

However, this road was not only much longer, but also narrow and muddy due to its dirt road conditions, with puddles everywhere. The villagers trudged along, and many slipped and fell.

This road is full of potholes and twists and turns. In the 1980s, many people robbed people on this road, especially when the corn was tall and the cornfields were covered by green sorghum. No one knew where the bandits were hiding, and people had to be on tenterhooks. As a result, fewer and fewer people dared to travel on this road.

By the late 1980s, after Chen Erzhu's father and the people who contracted the reservoir in the county repaired and widened the mountain road twice, no one walked on this side anymore. The road was difficult to walk and unsafe. It was not as safe and secure as walking on the mountain road.

After a difficult trek of nearly two hours, covering a journey that usually takes just over half an hour, the villagers finally reached the old city wall of the county town. Although it was called an old city wall, the top of the wall was actually quite spacious, and it had long been paved with asphalt to form a road that could be driven on. With men, women, and children of all ages stepping on the solid ground, they felt much more at ease, and the crowd began to make a ruckus.

Not long after, signal flares were seen being launched into the sky from the county, flashing in the rainy night. Many villagers were unaware of this and did not know what it meant. They were all very flustered, asking all sorts of questions. It wasn't until Wang Laishun shouted twice that everyone realized that the county was issuing a warning, urgently notifying villagers in major villages and towns to evacuate in case of flooding.

"Pah, why wait for them to notify us? If we wait for them to notify us, we won't even know how we died."

"That's right, we can't even understand those damn signal flares. They're a bunch of pigs, we can't count on them at all." Some villagers cursed, covered in mud and water. They had obviously fallen countless times to get here, and they were holding back their anger.

"Fugui, quickly call Jusheng, let's go to Lijuan's house tonight."

At this moment, Wang Lixian squeezed through the crowd and called out to Chen Ling.

Wang Lixian's sister, Wang Lijuan, lives in the east of the city, on the edge of the northeast corner of the county town. Even if the water rises, it will not affect her much, so it is quite safe to go there.

No sooner had Wang Lixian arrived than Wang Jusheng hurriedly followed, saying he wanted to take the two of them to his aunt's house.

"If you ask me, we should all just come to our house. It's close by, and we have plenty of rooms."

Seeing that the two men had come to call Chen Ling, Liang Hongyu had a good impression of them and greeted them with a smile.

Only then did Wang Lixian and his companion realize that Chen Ling also had relatives in the county town. They quickly waved their hands, still considering the old couple as relatives of Wang Susu's family, and felt too embarrassed to go: "Fugui, it's good that you have somewhere to go. We'll be going now."

"Don't go yet. If you don't want to go, let Liu Ni'er, Dan Dan, and Da Tou go. It's raining so hard, don't let the kids at home suffer too."

Seeing that Liang Hongyu was making way for him at home, Chen Ling didn't care about anything else.

But the two still refused, turned around, waved their hands, and left in a hurry.

"They are two men of character."

Liang Hongyu nodded approvingly. She was quite pleased that Chen Ling had two true friends.

Chen Ling smiled helplessly upon hearing this. After all, it wasn't their own home, and he couldn't force them to go. He couldn't go to the small courtyard in the south because he couldn't explain it to Wang Susu, so he had no choice but to go home with the old couple.

However, they hadn't gone far when Heiwa and Xiaojin perked up their ears, ran to the city wall, and started barking wildly in the direction of the village. Soon after, the village dogs and livestock that had followed them also started barking uneasily.

Seeing this, Chen Ling knew something must have happened, so he found a large rock by the roadside, stood on it, and squinted as he looked into the distance.

His eyesight was far superior to that of ordinary people. Now, even at night, he could see roughly what was in the distance. In addition, since they were on the city wall, with a wide field of vision, and since they hadn't entered the city via the mountain path, nor were there any particularly high ridges obstructing their view, they could basically see most of the area at a glance...

Through the heavy rain, Chen Ling could see that the reservoir water had indeed overflowed. The dam was still relatively sturdy and did not collapse on the spot. However, the floodwaters were still surging after they overflowed the dam, with waves three or four meters high, like ten thousand horses galloping, pouring into the village and farmland.

Fortunately, the water volume is large, but since the reservoir has not breached its banks, the impact is not as fierce as it seems. After watching for a while, Chen Ling found that the floodwaters had calmed down after reaching less than half of the houses, and the water level in the reservoir was not rising as fast as before. This means that the upper reaches of the Jinshui River have mostly overflowed their banks, diverting some of the pressure.

Under such circumstances, the dam of the reservoir is unlikely to collapse, but the flooding upstream will definitely escalate.

"How's it going, Fugui? Can you see anything?"

Qin Rong came over first and asked a question. The other villagers also found places to look in the direction of the village, but they couldn't see anything clearly. At this time, they all looked over as well.

Chen Ling shook his head: "We can't see it, but my dog ​​is very clever and usually doesn't bark randomly. We can't hear any particularly loud noises right now, so I guess the dam won't break. It's probably just that the water has overflowed the dam. If nothing's wrong, they won't bark."

The villagers were on tenterhooks. They knew how intelligent Chen Ling's dogs were; it was only after they barked a few times that the village dogs and livestock started to stir. But now that they couldn't hear any particularly loud noises coming from the village, it certainly wasn't a breach in the dike.

Even if the dam doesn't break, the loss of the village from the rising floodwaters would be enormous. Thinking of this, everyone was so anxious that they stomped their feet and their hearts ached. The women cried out in despair, but what good did it do? There was nothing they could do.

This attracted many residents living not far from the city wall who came out with flashlights to see what was happening. They were startled to see the dark mass of people, but after asking around, they learned that they had come to escape the disaster.

"That's true. I heard that the Nansha River has risen, so the Jinshui River definitely won't be able to withstand it."

"Do you all have somewhere to go? If not, come to my house and have some hot water first."

Some kind-hearted people led the villagers into their homes, but the situation was so chaotic that no one was in the mood for anything else. They just let the little kids go and have a bowl of hot water to warm them up.

"Those who have relatives in the city, go visit them. It's dark and the roads are slippery, so be careful. Don't be stingy with your flashlights. Those who don't have relatives in the city, follow me. I'll find someone to arrange a place for you to stay."

Wang Laishun started shouting again. The old man had been shouting all afternoon and his voice was hoarse. Only Wang Jusheng was still by his side helping him shout. His second son, Wang Juxiang, had long since taken his wife and mother to his aunt's house in the city.

So a large group of people walked along the city wall and into the city. Fortunately, they met Zhao Dahai and his people from the power supply bureau halfway there. They drove an old Jiefang truck full of people into the city from the mountain road. They were currently installing high-voltage power lines in Jinmen Village and Taoshugou. The men, women and children on the truck were all villagers from those two villages.

These two villages have few people; even combined, they don't have as many people as Chenwangzhuang. Several carts were packed full of them, but they could still fit them all.

Upon seeing Wang Laishun and the others, Zhao Dahai got out to greet them, saying that their car was fast and they would arrive at the government office soon, and that someone would be notified to make arrangements for them. Then Zhao Dahai squeezed through the crowd, looked around, found Chen Ling and Wang Jusheng, and jogged over to help them into the car, but both of them had somewhere else to go and did not get in, only saying that they would meet again after everything calmed down.

After a commotion that lasted most of the night, the villagers finally calmed down.

Chen Ling and his wife followed Liang Hongyu and Qin Rong home first. It was also a small courtyard, similar to the one Chen Ling rented in the south of the city. It was a small two-story building with three rooms on each floor, and side rooms on the east and west sides. There were quite a few rooms. At this point, Chen Ling didn't have the mind to look around. After unpacking and putting their things away, the two of them took a quick shower with hot water in the upstairs room that Liang Hongyu had arranged for them, and then went to bed.

The next day, after dawn, the rain finally subsided and turned into a light drizzle. The elderly couple breathed a sigh of relief and got up to clear away the fallen leaves and branches in the yard, while Chen Ling went into the kitchen to help prepare breakfast.

"Ah Ling, the village has been flooded, what are we going to do with the fish fry at home?"

After washing up, Wang Susu came downstairs and stood beside him, looking very worried.

She still misses the red eel fry at home. The two big fish sold for more than 10,000 yuan each. Even if the price of the fry doesn't reach that high after they grow up, it will definitely be more expensive than that of ordinary fish.

"Don't worry, the fish fry will definitely be fine. I covered the water tank with the lid tightly, leaving no gaps. Even if our house is flooded, they won't be able to escape."

Chen Ling offered a word of comfort. In fact, he had already stored all these things in his cave long ago, and he also kept a bunch of equipment in the woods. He had bought them piecemeal during his two trips to the city around the Dragon Boat Festival, just in case there was a flood and he wouldn't have time to escape. But the current situation was not bad, at least he didn't have to go through the trouble.

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PS: Thanks to the pirate sites and readers from other sites who subscribed to Qidian. I saw your comments, which gave me a lot of encouragement. I originally thought that with my update speed, it would be good if I could produce a high-quality book around a million words, but now I hope to do so even sooner.

Also, thank you to Baiyasu, 08a, 00000549, Xiu Buyu and other friends for their rewards and monthly tickets. You are all not very talkative, but you have always been familiar faces on the leaderboard. Thank you all for your support.

(Let's join the book club later, I'm afraid I'll break down from everyone's pressure to update, and rushing to write will only make things worse.)
Updates aren't frequent, so I'll recommend a few books that the operations manager "淡茶潸香" is currently reading, along with some books left in the comments by other readers. They're probably in the same genre, but I haven't had time to read them all. I trust your judgment...

"A Door in My Mind," "Back to the 70s: Starting as a Herdsman," "A Spiritual Spring Within Me," "The Space Fisherman," "I Run a Gas Station in Northwest China"... I won't recommend too many. If you're interested, feel free to exchange book lists or create your own ad thread. As long as you don't use abusive language, I won't delete any book recommendations or ads.
(Book recommendations exceeding 200 words will incur a fee; please recommend books here.)
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(End of this chapter)