Chapter 63 Preparation
After listening to Shui Qing come back and repeat the old village chief's words, Fan Jin's face turned as cold as water.
"The flood is not the most terrible thing. What is terrible is the loss of grain harvest that followed, the corruption of government officials to provide food relief, the proliferation of diseases, and the desperate people taking risks when they are hungry..."
Shui Qing thought of the old village chief saying that he had enough money to stock up on lime, which was also a means of sterilization and disinfection.
It's just that after a disaster occurred in China, the government made unified arrangements for eradication, so there was no need to worry about it yourself.
But it's different here. You have to rely entirely on yourself, whether it's disinfection and sterilization to prevent diseases after a flood, or the safety of people and property.
She said with a solemn expression: "The old village chief asked Sister-in-law Guifen to go to the village and inform the village. I think some people will follow suit.
But, do the people in the village have enough food? "
“The rice people in the village earned this year can be replaced by black flour to survive until the end of next year. However, floods require not only enough food to eat, but also a place to shelter from the wind and rain.
Otherwise, if the house collapses, not to mention there is no place to store food, even if a person is exposed to heavy rain for several days, he will not get sick. So I guess that the villagers will use part of the rice to replace the tiles, and the adobe bricks will be replaced by the end of the year. The house is built. "Fan Jin looked at the Shanshui Village not far away and guessed.
Every summer when there is a lot of rain in their Shanshui Village, there are always one or two families whose thatched houses are collapsed by the rain. However, there are many people in the village, so you can stay elsewhere for a while. We will work together to help the rest. You can help me and I can help. It was covered in just one handful.
But it is different if there is a flood. Before the flood, there are continuous heavy rains. By then, too many houses have collapsed, and there is no place for them to resettle. Everyone is too busy to take care of themselves, so how can they have the free time and manpower to take care of other people's houses?
By then, families with many elderly people and children will be miserable.
Shui Qing also looked in the direction of Shanshui Village and saw small thatched houses one after another there, many of which still looked quite old.
Except for the old village chief who relied on hard work and the Fan family whose ancestors accumulated a family fortune, the other families in the village basically guarded a few acres of thin farmland. With a population of 100,000 people, they relied on the weather for food. After a year of being busy, there was basically no money left.
If your family background is too poor, your ability to deal with risks will be poor.
“Only by knitting the people in the village into one rope can we deal with the safety issues after the floods, and to knit together the people, we must at least ensure that everyone has something to eat and will not starve to death.”
If you are hungry for a long time and outsiders come to rob you, what can you do to resist?
Helping people in the village is also helping yourself. After all, in this place where there is no security, especially after a natural disaster, the government officials have no hope at all. They have to rely on themselves to protect their property and safety.
And their family has a young child and two daughters. If a refugee gang comes to Shanshui Village, breaks into her house with sticks and kitchen knives, and sees Yan Qiuxing's return, he will have unusually vicious thoughts...
Shui Qing didn't dare to think about it anymore. Normally, she wouldn't think too badly of people, but after the disaster, she wouldn't think too well of them either.
Fan Jin has seen a lot of ugly things since he was a child. Their men are unlikely to die, but Shui Qing and Yan Qiuxing turned into women.
He took a deep breath, calmed down, turned to look at Shui Qing and asked, "Shui Qing, can you still buy the kudzu seeds you bought last time?"
Shui Qing nodded: "You can buy it. Are you going to sow the seeds yourself?"
There are thirty-four households in the village, and it is not easy to sprinkle them all on their respective hills.
Fan Jin shook his head and expressed his thoughts sincerely: "No, I have thought that we should help people and let them know our kindness, so that when something happens, they will do their best to help us.
Secondly, dealing with disasters is their own business after all. If it is too easy this time, they will only think that they are lucky and will still have a lucky mentality in the future;
As long as they actively participate, choose, and work hard, they will reap the rewards of their efforts compared with those who have not paid and reap the consequences. They will learn more experience in the future. "
"What do you want to do?" Shui Qing felt that although Fan Jin was not suitable for the imperial examination, he was quite suitable to be a master. He did not just take over everything, but guided his growth.
However, it may be that this flexible way of thinking is not suitable for the eight-part essay imperial examination that can only make empty sense, which is why he repeatedly failed in the imperial examination.
Alas, I can only say that I was born at the wrong time.
Fan Jin didn't know that Shui Qing had already thought of so many things, and he was about to say: "Shui Qing, buy a few more kudzu roots.
I took it to the village chief's house and said that it was dug out of the mountain behind us. It was good to eat and could fill my stomach. I also collected a lot of seeds. If someone in the village was willing to plant it, I could get it for free at his house.
I have thought about it, heavy rains occur in summer, when kudzu has sprouted and grown, and waterlogging only occurs in fertile fields. There is no waterlogging in the mountains and there is no way to accumulate water, so it should not affect the growth of kudzu.
You also said that its harvest season is in September and October. At that time, the villagers' food is about to run out, and kudzu is just the right time to make up for it. "
After speaking, he asked uneasily: "Shui Qing, do you think what I said is right?"
"Yes, that's right!" Shui Qing affirmed without hesitation.
Seeing the tall and tall man in front of him, his fair face was flushed, and even his ears were gradually turning red. He hummed softly and said in a low voice: "Just don't think I'm talking nonsense."
Since he repeatedly failed in the imperial examinations, it seemed that everything he did was wrong and everything he said was wrong.
Shuiqing proved it with practical actions. She quickly bought dozens of kilograms of kudzu seeds and five raw kudzu roots and handed them over.
Fan Jin put away his worries, and smiled with a relaxed and happy look on his lips, "Then I will go to the village chief now."
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Except for the elderly with mobility problems and young children, all the others were picking mushrooms on the mountain.
However, it was dinner time, and besides the elderly and children, people would be sent back to cook.
In the yard, the old village chief chewed the kudzu root carefully, and then told his eldest daughter-in-law: "Take out the gong, ring it and walk around the village."
This meant to notify the whole village.
Wang Guifen heard the order and hurriedly did it.
After a while, the crisp sound of the gong spread to every corner of the village, big and small, as well as the surrounding hills.
"What's going on? The old village chief doesn't strike the gong easily."
"Let's go back first. It's time for dinner. Let's go and listen to what the old village chief has to say. After listening, go home and have dinner before coming back."
"That's right. Let's go to the old village chief's house."
In the time of an incense stick, the people who can be the head of each household gathered at the old village chief's house.
The old village chief asked his grandson Changlin to count inside and outside. After finding that almost every household had someone, he cleared his throat and said, "The kid found this kind of root-like food on the hill behind his house. Eating it can fill your stomach.
He heard me say that this year's weather is abnormally cold and there may be floods next year. Thinking that we are all from the same village, he took out all the seeds he had collected before.
You can try it. If you want to plant it, I will count the number of people and distribute it according to the number of people in each family."