Save the rice fields
Author: 橙子澄澄
Source: Instadose
There were follow-ups that night, through the grapevine, it was heard that even the village chief rushed to the home soon after.
But in the end, Liu Yusheng was too young and couldn't stand staying up any longer. She fell asleep unconsciously, and didn't know what happened later.
In the morning, drawing in some perseverance, she woke up early, just before her father and mother were going to go to the fields.
A pair of little hands clutched Liu Dalin's trousers and held her face up sweetly, "Dad, Nannan, go!"
"No, no, working in the field is dirty and tiring. Dad can't look after you well by then." Liu Dalin quickly opened her little hand and gave the old lady a wink to take her away. "Nannan, stay obediently at home. Dad will finish everything quickly and come home to accompany you!"
"Nannan, listen, the sun will come out later and you'll get a sunburn. Your little face will get tanned too." Chen Xiulan got down and also advised shortly.
Grandma Liu hurriedly came out of the kitchen and carried Liu Yusheng with both hands, "Come here Nannan, be good and stay at home with grandma, if you really want to play, wait for grandma to finish the work at hand and take you out for a walk. Let's not pester your mother and father, hmm~~"
"Nannan, wants to go." Big eyes blinked and looked at a few people earnestly.
Liu Dalin hastened to turn his head away, afraid that if he continues to look at his baby daughter, his heart will soften and he'll give in right away.
"Grandma, dad, mother, I'm going!" She struggled to get down, stomped her legs and hugged her dad's leg, refusing to let go. "Nannan, blessed, crops, good!"
Sensing the soft dumpling clutching his calf, Liu Dalin's resolve immediately vanished. "Otherwise, let's take Nannan along with us, we'll let her sit on the ground with a straw hat, we'll just let her watch us ..."
This capricious man, Chen Xiulan glowered at him. She just wanted to continue persuading when a milky voice passed to her ear, "Mother~"
"... Then come along. Nannan must listen and don't' go running all over the place." The second capricious person chimed in.
Grandma Liu's mouth drew straight.
"Nannan, Grandpa will take you there!" Then out came Grandpa Liu who changed into his working coarse clothes, jeering with a booming voice.
"Dad, you can't go! You are still recovering..."
Liu Dalin choked the rest of his words when his old man glared at him, "Why can't I go? I know my own body, alright? Don't paint everything black, come on! Nannan! Grandpa will take you to the field to play!"
"Dad! Brother! I'm coming too!" Another one promptly joined in the fun, "This injury on my head doesn't prevent me from doing anything, I can work in the field and come back early later!"
Liu Erlin's head was wrapped in gauze, but he walked out with a bundle of energy.
When Grandma Liu looked at the two men and was struck with a dizzy spell, each of them just can't wait to get into trouble!
Nannan was looking at her anxiously, so she opened her mouth and waved her hands, "Go, go! Everyone go! I'll stay home with Du Juan to look after the two boys!"
"Grandma! Mwaa~~" Liu Yusheng's eyes brightened. She got up and gave Grandma Liu a kiss.
In a stroke, the dark clouds gathering in Grandma Liu's heart were swept away.
"You should all take care of Nannan! Don't come back too late! Dalin, stare at your grandpa and brother, don't let them play crazy with Nannan!"
"Ey! Got it mother, I'll stare at them!"
"Wife, what are you saying, how old am I, don't go telling the children to look after me!"
"Look, look, grandpa!"
Cheers and laughter spilled on the road behind the family.
In view of the two wounded people in their company, Liu Dalin finally snatched the sovereignty to get close to his baby daughter.
Carrying the baby around his neck, he felt the overwhelming momentum of a man two meters in height while walking with wind.
Along the way, they met villagers who were going to work early on the field, from time to time. Liu Yusheng sweetly greeted everyone.
Most of the fields in the village are concentrated south of the village, against the Qinghe River.
The Liu family field was just beside the Qinghe River.
When they arrived, there were already quite a few people around working and immersing themselves in their own tasks. They occasionally looked up and when they saw Liu Dalin's family, they called out their greetings from afar.
The morning sun fanned out over the fields, dispersing the morning mist. The air was abundantly fresh mixed with the scent of the earth and grass.
Occasionally, the breeze blew all over the place, bringing forth a chill.
Country fields, the unfolding cirrus clouds in the sky, this kind of environment can easily wash away the tawdry hustle and bustle in people's hearts.
When they reached their own field, Liu Dalin left Liu Yusheng in a field ridge, and plunged down into the field with the others.
Liu Yusheng sat there obediently while she mapped out the environment covertly.
In the fields of Xinghua Village, rice was planted. Rice seedlings have been sowed and now young and unripe rice grains grow on yellow green rice stalks, causing the stalks to bend over.
If irrigation was sufficient, there would be a good harvest.
The scuffle last night caused the river channel to be temporarily opened, which resolved the urgent problem of water shortage in the fields.
Guilty of injuring someone, the villagers in Xiaopo Village temporarily let the river channel stay open.
But this was only a temporary measure.
Looking at Qinghe River in front of her, Liu Yusheng frowned. She has already heard Grandpa saying that the water level in Qinghe River was already very low, but now that she saw it with her own eyes, it was more serious than she thought.
The entire Qinghe River has almost reached its bottom, and the water flow was flat and slow.
If the drought continues, the river will soon dry up.
And the harvest was still at least a month away.
Judging from the current situation, the rice fields will unlikely yield a bumper harvest.
The crops that people worked hard for more than half a year, for families who rely solely on their harvest to make ends meet, if their income was flushed out of the basket ...
"The water is not enough. If the drought continues, all the rice in the fields will only end up skipping stones." The jovial mood when they came immediately melted away at the sight of the condition of the fields. Grandpa Liu hunkered down on one ridge with brows locked, "Let's wait for a few days and see, if it's really impossible, we can only harvest early!"
"Dad, if we harvest early, I am afraid that the harvest will be cut by at least half!" Throwing the weeds that he just pulled out with his, gloom also climbed Liu Dalin's face.
For this short period of time, his old man and younger brother braved accidents one after the other. The little silver that they have all saved up had already run out. So little by little, the pressure in the family is now counting on the harvest in the field.
Liu Erlin's temperament has always been to make things light and be more optimistic, "Less than half is better than nothing at all! After the harvest, let's find some sort of jobs in town, and I'm sure we'll be able to get through the days. Life goes on so don't be disheartened. If we have hands and feet, can we still starve to death?"
A neighbor in the field next door replied, "Our villagers rely on the heavens to eat, but God doesn't show us mercy. There's no use worrying, we can only take one step at a time."
"Our Xinghua Village is actually thriving much better. I heard that in several villages on the other side of the town, the fields have already gone cracked, and all their crops in the field were ruined. I don't know how they are going to survive!"
Liu Yusheng slipped into the mouth of a canal when no one was paying attention, and buried her little hand into the shallow ditch.
The spiritual spring water flowed out from her fingertips, mixed into the water, and rushed into the surrounding paddy fields in the direction of the current.
There's not much she could do. Just now, her grandfather mentioned early harvest so she came up with the idea of mixing rice field water with spiritual spring water.
Spiritual spring water can vitalize plants and shorten their growth cycle. Diluting the concentration with water won't cause a phenomenal effect, which could likely scare the farmers.
It's just right.
Note this is for Offline reading/purpose only credits to the authors, publishers, editors and translators.