As the family was chatting and laughing, they saw Zhang Huai hurrying over, his face glistening with sweat. "Uncle Zheng," he said to Zheng Changhe, "I’ve co to help you harvest your wheat—" He saw Zheng Changhe was about to offer so polite words and quickly waved his hand to stop him. "Let help you finish up quickly so Qingmu can co help my family with our harvest. The old folks are saying the weather feels off, and they’re afraid a big storm’s coming. My dad said we can’t wait. We have to harvest it and carry it straight ho instead of leaving it in the fields to dry."
Zheng Changhe quickly stood up and asked, "Is that so? I thought sothing felt off, too—it’s so stuffy! But it won’t rain that soon, will it? Who said so?"
Huai Zi took the large bowl of chrysanthemum tea Qingmu handed him and chugged it down. "GULP, GULP..." he gasped, then replied, "It was Grandpa Li from the village chief’s family. He didn’t say it’s coming right away, but we have to be prepared, right? Otherwise, if it starts raining with the wheat still in the fields, we’ll be crying our eyes out."
The Yang Family nodded again and again. "He’s right to be cautious," she said. "It’s better to wear ourselves out for nothing than to risk it by cutting corners. Let’s hurry up and finish harvesting. Once we’re done, Qingmu can go help Huai Zi. Your father and I can manage things here at ho. Huai Zi, have you had lunch yet?"
Zhang Huai quickly replied, "I’ve eaten! How could I co over to work without eating first? Besides, I didn’t give Juhua a heads-up. It wouldn’t be right to put her to the trouble." As he spoke, he smiled at Juhua.
Seeing them get busy, Juhua quickly cleared away the bowls and chopsticks, then added a word of caution. "Dad, don’t get all flustered. The more rushed things get, the more important it is to stay calm. If you panic and cut your hand or hurt yourself, you’ll just be making things worse, won’t you?"
Zheng Changhe nodded with a smile. "Dad knows. You go on back now."
Only then did Juhua pick up Lanzi and head ho.
The weather was absolutely grueling. It was unbearably hot and muggy, with earthworms crawling all over the ground—all signs pointing to a downpour. The threat scared the whole village, young and old, into frantically harvesting their wheat and carrying it ho. And yet, after a day or two had dragged by, the rain still hadn’t co.
And while everyone cheered, they didn’t dare let their guard down completely. The frogs at night were making a terrible racket—another sure sign that a heavy rain was on its way.
Juhua set aside her household chores to help the Yang Family thresh the wheat with a flail. Afterward, she was constantly out in the sun, helping turn the grains to dry. It was only when they had moved all the dried wheat into the house with winnowing baskets and surrounded it with woven bamboo mats in the main hall that she finally let out a long sigh of relief. ’At least we’ve secured a little more food.’
Zheng Changhe had gone to help Zhang Huai’s family thresh their wheat. The whole village was in a state of chaotic activity, filled with a constant clamor. The rain seed imminent now, and the dark clouds blanketing the sky left no room for wishful thinking.
She and the Yang Family were using hoes to deepen the ditches in their two vegetable gardens for better drainage during the downpour. Just then, they saw Zheng Changhe hurry back ho. He grabbed a bamboo ladder, propped it against a wall, and then pulled over a large pile of rice straw to add to the roof.
Juhua hurried over to steady the ladder for him. Looking up, she called out, "Dad, please be careful! Can the roof even hold your weight?"
Zheng Changhe shouted down, "Don’t worry! Didn’t you see spread straw on the ground below? Juhua’s mother, hand the straw!"
Juhua looked and saw that her father had indeed laid down a thick pile of straw on the ground as a precaution in case he fell.
As the Yang Family handed straw up to Zheng Changhe, she said to Juhua, "I’d completely forgotten about this. This house is so old, the roof thatching needs to be replaced every year. We were planning to build a new house, so we skipped it this year. If a heavy rain cos, the roof is bound to leak. Thank goodness your father rembered."
The three of them worked for quite a while, and at last, they managed to add another thick layer of straw to the entire roof.
After all that tension and frantic work, the rain stubbornly held back. Juhua couldn’t help but think irritably, ’Is this weather deliberately toying with us?’
Zheng Changhe climbed down from the roof and chuckled. "There. Now we really have nothing to worry about."
The Yang Family asked, "Did Huai Zi’s family get all their wheat brought in?"
Zheng Changhe laughed. "They finished. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be back yet, would I? The harvest always cos first. Qingmu should be ho soon, too." He had seen his wife and daughter digging earlier, so he added, "Let’s deepen these ditches so more. This storm... either it’s not coming at all, or it’s going to be a big one when it does. If we don’t make the ditches deeper, the vegetables will flood, and that’ll be a real problem, won’t it?"
The Yang Family looked up at the sky. "Let’s dig, then," she said. "The heavens have been toying with us for two days now; I’m afraid today’s the day it finally cos. We just put up the trellises for the Huang Gua and cowpeas. Sigh... If there’s too much rain, the plants will suffer. It’s such a sha, they were growing so nicely."
Juhua called the ducks back in, fed the pigs, gave the ox so more grass, and cut so chives and greens from the garden. Just as she finished all the preparations, a deafening crack of thunder exploded overhead. It sent a flock of chickens scattering for cover under the eaves, and the little Black Dog dove headfirst into the kitchen.
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