A saying goes, the weather in June is like a child's temper, changing in an instant.
Just a few miles from home, Chen Yang's clothes were soaked with sweat from the scorching sun.
But after he had only reaped a few rows of rice in the fields, the weather suddenly changed.
"This is bad, it looks like it's going to rain heavily."
"The grains on the threshing ground haven't been collected yet, everyone hurry and collect them! We'll deal with the fields when it clears up!"
Shen Fuguo watched the sudden change in the sky and paced anxiously.
Putting aside the rice stalks in the field, if the harvested grains were soaked by heavy rain and couldn't be dried for a day or two, they would sprout and the entire harvest would be ruined.
The hard work of Shenjiaba Village for more than half a year was all in this harvest. The planned grain to be handed over to the state and the year's rations for hundreds of villagers depended on it. How could he not be worried!
Chen Yang deeply understood the disaster this weather change brought to Shenjiaba Village!
Due to the failure to collect in time, a large portion of the grains on the threshing ground was washed away by the sudden downpour. Even though the rain only lasted for half a day, it was terrifyingly heavy.
At first, everyone thought it was just a shower and planned to cover the grains, assuming they could be dried again after the rain stopped. This was how they had always managed.
However, no one expected that this sudden torrential rain would be an extremely rare short-duration heavy rainfall in the meteorological history of the entire Liuhe County.
The rainfall in just one hour reached nearly sixty to seventy millimeters. Even though it only rained once, the subsequent days were all sunny.
But the torrents formed by the heavy rainfall washed away more than half of the grains that the villagers had covered on the threshing ground. The washed-away rice could never be found, resulting in Shenjiaba Village worrying about fulfilling the planned grain quota and their rations for the coming year.
The old village secretary, due to the poor harvest, was filled with self-reproach. He overworked himself and passed away in the second year after Chen Yang returned to the city.
"Everyone, if you have baskets at home, bring them. If you have oilcloth, bring oilcloth. If you have plastic sheeting, bring plastic sheeting. Before it rains, let's collect all the grains we can. We absolutely cannot let the heavy rain wash them away."
Chen Yang followed Shen Fuguo, shouting desperately. He knew how severe this downpour would be, and it was crucial for the village's entire year's harvest and everyone's rations for the next year. He had to step forward and make everyone realize the seriousness of this historically rare heavy rain.
"What are you shouting about here? The village secretary has spoken, it's not your place to interrupt."
Hearing Chen Yang speak, the surrounding villagers paid him no mind. Rain had fallen at this time of year before, and they had always gotten through it.
"Old village secretary, look at the sky. When have you ever seen such a dark sky? This could be a torrential downpour."
"We need to hurry and do everything we can to collect the grains. If we can't collect them, we must at least enclose them. If the water rises, it might sweep all the grains away."
"Even if we work in the rain for an hour, it's a small matter. If the grains are truly washed away, even a day or ten days of rain won't bring them back."
"Think about how much hardship we endured for this harvest. It would be too much of a loss if it's all swept away due to a single oversight."
Chen Yang gritted his teeth. He knew that many people in Shenjiaba Village looked down on him, the educated youth who "ate soft rice," because he often slacked off. Who would like that?
But he truly couldn't bear to see the old village secretary develop a heart condition due to such an oversight, and then pass away from overwork due to grain issues.
And the villagers of Shenjiaba Village, although many of them looked down on him, quite a few had secretly helped Shen Xue. He also couldn't bear to see those who had helped his family starve on wild vegetables for the next year.
"Although Chen Yang is a bit lazy in his work, what he says makes sense. This weather is truly abnormal. In my sixty-odd years, I've only seen such a dark sky during a flood thirty years ago."
"Fugun, take some people to the threshing ground and use wooden stakes to build temporary granaries. Line them with plastic sheeting first. This way, the enclosed grains won't be washed away by heavy rain."
"For the rest, if we can't collect them all, put them in baskets. As long as they're not on the ground, even if they get wet, it's better than being washed away."
Initially, Shen Fuguo only thought of covering the grains to prevent them from getting wet, fearing they would sprout.
But after Chen Yang's words, he considered it. Just covering them on the ground, if the rain became too heavy and caused a current, and the grains were swept away, there would be no way to salvage them.
Compared to getting wet and being washed away, Shen Fuguo unhesitatingly chose to get them wet to save the grains.
The main issue was the extremely short preparation time. The rain was about to fall. If there was enough time, who wouldn't want to collect all the dried grains into the granary!
"Everyone, don't just stand there! Young men, drive the stakes. Women and children, hurry home and get oilcloth and baskets. No one dares to be idle today; this is everyone's year's hard work."
"If the grains are truly gone, our entire Shenjiaba Village will be eating the northwest wind next year."
Chen Yang shouted while being the first to sprint towards the threshing ground. Hearing that the old village secretary supported Chen Yang, no one dared to be negligent.
It concerned the entire village's year's hard work, and at this critical juncture, no one dared to be careless.
...
"Weiguo, Maosheng, drive the stakes deeper here. The ground is loose here. If the stakes fall, all the grains will be lost."
On the threshing ground, Chen Yang was swinging a sledgehammer, having already driven several wooden stakes. Beside him were fellow educated youths Zheng Weiguo and Liu Maosheng. In just a few minutes, the three of them had hammered out a temporary fence five meters long and wide.
By this time, the women who had rushed home also arrived with baskets and plastic sheeting. They wrapped the plastic sheeting around the erected fence, forming a circle, and everyone began shoveling grains into it, scoop by scoop.
Not only Chen Yang and the others were working desperately, but everyone was. The entire threshing ground had been used to dry the rice from the over a thousand mu of paddy fields in Shenjiaba Village that had been harvested recently.
In the 1970s, due to limitations in fertilizers and technology, the yield of rice was only about four to five hundred catties per mu. For over a thousand mu of paddy fields, this amounted to four to five hundred thousand catties of grain.
Even with everyone in the village, from old to young, helping, they had only managed to collect half of the harvest when the rain began.
"Immediately cover the grains that have been put into the temporary granaries with plastic sheeting and tie them securely!"
"For the rest, don't worry about whether they get wet or not. Hurry and fill the temporary granaries. This rain, I'm afraid it won't stop soon. If we don't save them, they'll all be washed away."
Chen Yang had just filled a temporary granary and hadn't had a moment to rest. Looking at the pouring rain, he directly shouted at the men preparing to cover the grains with plastic sheeting on the spot.
"Everyone listen to Chen Yang. When have you ever seen hailstones the size of bird eggs? If this rain lasts for an hour, this threshing ground will be submerged, and not a single grain will be left."
"Hurry and fill them! As long as they are covered and not washed away by water, when the rain stops and the sun shines, the grains can still be saved. At worst, we'll hand over the dry ones as planned grain, and eat the wet ones ourselves. At least we'll have something to eat. If they are truly washed away, what will we eat next year? The northwest wind?"
Shen Fuguo watched the raindrops, which were painful hitting his head, and began to realize the seriousness of the situation. In his previous life, perhaps the situation was urgent, and he had misjudged the danger caused by this rain.
But now, with Chen Yang's repeated reminders, he knew he couldn't just cover the grains with plastic sheeting as usual, fearing they would get wet.
"Rumble!"
A dull thunderclap, mixed with the overwhelming rain, struck the hearts of all the villagers of Shenjiaba Village on the threshing ground.
They were going to fight against the heavens for their grain!