The Daily Life of a Down-on-Hard-Life Medicine Girl Supporting Her Family

Chapter 44 An Accident Occurred
A strong wind is blowing, and a downpour is coming. Chunnuan hurriedly went to a corner of Shatian to pick vegetables.

The millet in the fields has turned yellow, and seeing it being blown about by the strong wind, Chunnuan is a little worried that it might affect the harvest.

“Your rice stalks aren’t fertile and strong enough to withstand the wind.” Grandpa Zhu from next door sighed as he looked at his field. “At the beginning of the year, I carried ten loads of manure and scattered a huge pile of ashes from the burning plants into the field, hoping for a good harvest this year. But before the start of autumn, this strong wind came. Look, the rice in my field has been blown down by the wind.”

Following the direction Grandpa Zhu pointed, Chunnuan looked around and saw that the large field to the left of Shatian had been transformed into a flat area, a patch of apricot yellow... It couldn't be described as beautiful, it was simply a terrible sight, a truly unbearable sight.

"Uncle Zhu, won't this lead to a reduction in production?"

"The yield will definitely be reduced." Grandpa Zhu's heart was bleeding: "The millet is only half yellow, and we can't harvest it. The millet that hasn't grown properly will rot in the water, and the ripe, yellow millet will sprout in the water, making harvesting even more troublesome..."

The old farmer encountered a new problem, and Grandpa Zhu was extremely anxious.

Looking at the rice in his own Shatian field, because the tenants had rented the land late, they hadn't been able to cultivate their own seedlings. They relied entirely on the leftover seedlings that Uncle Ma had found from the other tenants. The varieties were uneven, with some being rice rice and others being wine rice. Also, due to the lack of fertilizer, the rice stalks were short and thin, at least half the height of those in Uncle Zhu's field.

The villagers all laughed and said that the Xiao family's millet harvest was poor, that it was obviously the work of a novice farmer, and that they should learn more from Grandpa Zhu.

Who would have thought that the millet, which was neither thick nor tall, would stand stubbornly in the field after the strong wind, without being affected in the slightest?

"Oh, if I had known it would turn out like this, I would have carried fewer loads of manure in." Grandpa Zhu was filled with regret. "It's really exhausting and thankless. With such a large plot of land, I estimate that after paying the rent, I won't even have a hundred catties left of the harvest. It's another year where the cat has toppled the pot to help the dog."

Spring is here... It sounds like Grandpa Zhu is cursing!
I don't think he scolded himself, right?
"Spring is here, and you're just learning to farm. Remember this: you can't use too much fertilizer in the fields." Grandpa Zhu used himself as a negative example: "Look, I'm a perfect example."

"Okay, I understand. Thank you for your guidance, Uncle Zhu."

As spring warmed up, she realized she couldn't afford to add heavy fertilizer to her own farm. Many families in the village raised poultry, and their chicken coops and rabbit cages were lined with ash. The poultry droppings mixed with the ash became fertilizer. Besides, they also raised pigs, which were incredibly productive manure producers.

It's enough to support twelve people in my family.

Raising livestock? Not qualified!

Grandpa Zhu took a hoe and opened up a gap in his field. In the spring, he picked a large bunch of water spinach and took it home.

As soon as I stepped inside the house, the rain, as big as beans, started to fall.

"It's raining heavily! It's raining heavily!"

Chunqiang and Chunxin quickly moved the two wooden stools that were placed in the yard back.

"What time is it? It looked like it was still early just now, how come it's suddenly dark?" The old lady looked up at the outside: "Nuan Nuan still has to go back to town. I'll have Chun Ning take a torch and escort her back later."

"Grandmother, it's only Shenshi now. It's getting dark because of the heavy rain. It will be light again when the rain stops."

"When will this heavy rain stop?" Looking at the dripping water from the eaves, Mrs. Xu said, "This rain is unbearable..."

"Oh dear, the rain has come down here." Chun'an climbed onto the stool and was writing with water on the table when she suddenly saw raindrops falling on the table. She looked up and said, "Sister, the rain has come down into our house."

Chun'an looked up at the roof, puzzled, and shouted, "Why is it raining inside?"
The roof was leaking, but this kid still found it fascinating.

Indeed, I've never seen such a scene when I was in the capital!
At that time, the roof tiles of the Xiao family mansion were thick and layered, so naturally they were not exposed to rain.

"Move the table aside and get a wooden bucket to collect the water." The thatched roof is so old; it's especially bad on rainy days like this.

"Chuning, check again to see if there are any leaks in other places, especially the areas on the bed."

"Grandma's bed is leaking, and it's soaked a large area!" Chunyan exclaimed. "What should we do?"

What can I do?
The room was too cramped to move the bed, so we had to use a wooden tub instead.

Then, one after another, they found thirteen more leaks, and they used all the wooden buckets, basins, pottery bowls, and even large bowls in the house.

"Ding-dong..." Watching the raindrops fall from the roof into the wooden bucket, the sound was pleasant, but Chunnuan felt no joy at all.

What she worried about still happened.

"Grandma, let's move to town," Chunnuan urged again. "No matter what others say, we still have to live our lives. How can we guard against thieves every single day?"

“I’m afraid that if things change too much, it will catch their eye, and they will be on guard against us at every turn, making it impossible for us to move an inch.”

The old lady's concerns are valid; the most important thing to guard against now is the Xiao family.

We were family over a hundred years ago, but now we're not even strangers.

Most importantly, everything the Xiao family has is thanks to the old master and the master. They turn their backs on them faster than turning the pages of a book. It's incomprehensible that all their efforts have been wasted.

“It’s alright, just tell everyone that my elder sister in the capital sent over some silver.” Chunnuan said, “My granddaughter’s cooperation with Master Zhang has stabilized, so there won’t be any problem moving to town.”

"Then let's move them after this rain." The old lady looked at the wooden buckets, basins, pottery bowls and bowls everywhere and hesitated for the first time.

As we were talking, we suddenly saw a small figure rush in through the rain.

"Sister Chunnuan, Sister Chunnuan, please save my mother!" Luo Xiaogang was soaked to the bone, his lips trembling. "My mother was hit by a bamboo shoot, and she's bleeding so much from her head..."

"Huh?" Chunnuan exclaimed in surprise, "Why didn't you take it to the town's pharmacy to find a doctor?"

"My father isn't home, and we can't lift it. Sister Chunnuan, Brother Chunning said you're very capable, and you can definitely save my mother, right?"

"I'll go take a look first." Chunnuan was about to rush out when Xu grabbed her and tied a raincoat around her neck: "This was left by the previous tenants. It's a bit dirty, but it can keep you out of the rain. You can go take a look, but don't be reckless."

"Yes, Mother, I know."

Chunnuan put on a straw hat and a raincoat and followed Luo Xiaogang into the rain.

While running along the road, I asked about the situation. Sure enough, Aunt Luo was looking for chickens in the bamboo forest when the wind was blowing hard, and unsurprisingly, she had an accident: she was hit by several bamboo branches that fell down. One of the bamboo branches was broken and pierced her ear.

"She's bleeding so much," Luo Xiaogang said. "I sprinkled dried loofah powder on her, but it didn't stop the bleeding. Sister Chunnuan, will my mother die?"

(End of this chapter)