typeface
large
in
Small
Turn off the lights
Previous bookshelf directory Bookmark Next

Chapter 23: The Midnight Wind and Rain

A few more days passed like this.

Huo Xidu was busy going down the net with Huo Erhuai, selling fish, selling crabs, and making bald butter.

Thinking that she had a lot of butter at home, Huo Xi thought of going to the market to find out the prices.

The other family made so much with confidence, but in the end they couldn't sell it at a high price, so all their hard work was in vain. Before going to bed, Huo Xi and Yang Fu discussed where to sell the butter. After they agreed, they fell down and fell asleep.

I slept until midnight, feeling cold, so I got up and looked for the quilt. As soon as I covered myself with the quilt, I wanted to lie down and continue sleeping, when I heard the sound of water droplets hitting the roof of the boat.

After listening carefully, it turned out to be raining.

"Dad, Mom, it's raining."

When Yang and Huo Erhuai heard this, they stood up, listened, and said, "It's okay, it's just raining. Don't be afraid. Dad just repaired the boat a few days ago. It won't leak. Xi'er can sleep peacefully."

Huo Xi thought so. They had been living on the water for ten years. What kind of situation had they not seen? It was just raining. Didn't they get up even if they didn't see Yang Fu?

Then he went to sleep with peace of mind.

Yang and Huo Erhuai got up and took the important things from the bow and stern back to the cabin, and then continued to sleep.

Unexpectedly, in the middle of the night, the whole ship started to shake.

Hearing it again, there was a noise outside: "Get up, get up! The wind is picking up and the rain is getting heavier!"

Huo Xi sat up with a grunt.

Before I woke up, I saw Yang pulling open the curtains and saying urgently: "Xi'er, Fu'er, get up quickly! It's raining hard."

Huo Xi was still stunned, but Yang Fu had already stood up quickly, not even bothering to put on his clothes. He quickly walked out of the cabin and went to secure his boat with Huo Erhuai.

Huo Xi didn't know what to do, and suddenly Yang put Huo Nian into his arms: "Xi'er, hold Nian'er and stay in the boat. Don't be afraid."

Seeing Yang also exiting the cabin, Huo Xi hugged Huo Nian tightly and looked toward the bow and stern of the ship.

At this time, the windproof mast light on the bow of the ship was swaying violently in the wind and rain, and the ship's hull seemed to be swinging. Huo Xi felt like he was swinging on a swing, and his head began to feel dizzy.

After a while, he started shaking even more and couldn't sit still. Huo Nian was also woken up. Maybe he didn't sleep enough, so he started to cry.

Huo Xi firmly grasped the horizontal panel of the inner wall of the cabin with one hand, hugged him with the other and coaxed him with her legs. After coaxing him for a long time, she couldn't coax him well, and she was very anxious.

The wind outside got stronger and stronger, rolling across the water, and there was a whimpering sound. The rain also fell harder and harder, hitting the top of the boat with a crackling sound. Huo Xi glanced at the top of the boat from time to time, fearing that it would leak.

Already.

Rainwater from the bow and stern of the ship poured in and splashed into the cabin. Huo Xi held Huo Nian tightly in front of her.

She had never seen such a scene before and was a little scared. She glanced at Huo Nian from time to time.

"Xi'er, come on, put on the raincoat quickly. Wrap Nian'er in the raincoat. Don't get wet." Mrs. Yang came in, pulled her up, and put on the raincoat for her.

The boat rocked violently, and the two of them almost couldn't stand. Huo Nian cried and stretched out his hand to Yang. While putting Huo Xi into a raincoat, Yang coaxed him: "Nian'er, be good. Mother will hold Nian'er again later. You have to be good."

."

After dressing Huo Xi, Yang helped her sit down, wrapped the bedding pillow with oilcloth, opened the cabin board, and stuffed it in. The sleeping mat was also stuffed in.

After stuffing it and covering the hatch, Yang hurried out again.

After a while, Yang Fu and Huo Erhuai also ran in one after another, took the small clay stove, stove and other items outside and returned to the cabin and put them in the bilge.

Huo Xi stared blankly, unable to help, and worried in her heart. The boat rocked violently, and Huo Nian couldn't help crying. She sat in the cabin, staggering around with Nian'er in her arms.

After a while, Yang came in again, took Huo Nian, wrapped her in a raincoat, and took Huo Xi out.

"It's raining heavily and we can't stay on the boat anymore. We have to go ashore."

Huo Xi grabbed her raincoat tightly and staggered out with her.

"Xi'er, give me your hand!"

Yang Fu, wearing a raincoat with raindrops on his head and face, reached out to her on the shore. Huo Erhuai set up a springboard at the stern of the boat and picked up Yang and Nian'er in turn. She was also pulled ashore by Yang Fu.

When we got to the shore, we found that people from the houses where the boat was parked were carrying things ashore one after another.

Yang Fu took her and Yang to the oilcloth tent set up on the shore. Huo Xi looked around and found that many people had set up oilcloths in an orderly manner. It was obvious that they often encountered such situations.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

Looking again, Huo Erhuai put away the gangplank and got on the boat again. He rowed the boat until it was parked with everyone else's boat. All the boatmen at the ferry docked their boats closely together, tied them two by two, and tied them horizontally.

Vertically form a line.

When the wind blew, the river swelled and rolled up waves. All the boats were tightly together and swayed with the wind and rain. The swaying range was not small, but they were tied firmly and did not capsize.

There was a gap in the dark sky, and heavy rain poured down.

The wind rolled up the tarpaulin tent, making a roaring sound, and the rain hit it with a loud sound. Huo Xi couldn't help but look at it, worried that the tarpaulin would be smashed in the next second. Fortunately, it was set up in a triangle shape, so there would be no accumulation of water or rain.

It flowed down both sides, and water quickly accumulated around the tent.

Huo Xi looked at the boats tied together outside, and only then did she understand why everyone parked their boats in one place at night.

When the storm comes, everyone helps each other and relies on each other. If it were a single boat, it would have capsized long ago.

Moreover, with so many people, even if a boat is overturned, as long as the boat does not sink, everyone will work together to turn the boat over again. This can also reduce some losses.

Otherwise, how can we say that people live in groups? Sometimes it is difficult to walk alone.

At this time in the tent, Huo Nian was in Yang's arms, cried for a while, smelled the familiar fragrance of milk, and fell asleep again. Being wrapped tightly by Yang, she was protected from wind and rain.

As for Huo Xi and others, let alone sleeping, there was no place to sit. They were just standing in the oilcloth tent, with a puddle of water on the ground, up to their ankles.

Huo Erhuai brought in two fishing boxes, turned them upside down on the ground, and helped Yang and Huo Xi sit on them.

Huo Xi swung her feet and water started flowing down.

Yang Fu was standing next to Huo Xi when he suddenly remembered the bald butter in the cabin and ran out again.

"What are you doing? Come back!"

Yang called him, but he didn't even look back. Through the rain curtain, he saw Yang Fu jumping onto the stern of someone else's boat.

"Fu'er, what are you doing!" Huo Erhuai got out of the tent and shouted to him. Seeing that he was unable to stand due to the wind, he became anxious and chased after him.

"Brother-in-law, the rain is getting heavier and heavier. I want to carry Bald Butter outside." He replied loudly, then found his own boat and got into the cabin.

Huo Erhuai wanted to say that the cabin was wrapped in oilcloth, but when he saw that the wind outside was getting stronger and stronger, it was the first rain since autumn. Even with such a strong wind, the boat could not be tied up. He began to worry.

.

Those members of the Bald Butter family had to tear their fingers apart to get such precious things. If they were overturned by the wind and thrown into the river, he would be heartbroken to death.

Without further ado, he followed behind and entered the cabin. The two of them worked together to lift the cabin board, and together with Yang Fu, they packed the layers of bald butter into their clothes and then into their coir raincoats. They carried each other out.

run.

The boat was blown by the wind and carried by huge waves, rocking constantly. Huo Erhuai and Yang Fu held on tightly, but still slipped several times. Yang and Huo Xi watched from a distance, worried, fearing that they would fall into the river.

Go inside.

It doesn't matter if you fall in, they have good water properties, but the bald butter will really turn into bald yellow water.

Seeing the two of them landing on the shore against all odds, Yang let out a long breath.

"Yang Fu, what's the important thing? We have to go up in the wind and rain to get it!" Qian Sanduo and others asked. This is really life-threatening.

"My mother-in-law!" Yang Fu replied in a loud voice.

"Ah? Hahaha..." Qian Xiaoxia laughed loudly and stamped his feet in the water, splashing all over him.

The fishermen who were frowning and hiding from the wind and rain also laughed when they heard this, "Oh, it's Yang Fu's mother-in-law. She can't feed the river god. If you can't marry your mother-in-law, you will be single, haha..."

"Yang Fu, how much have you saved? If you don't have enough, just say it and everyone will lend you some. I can't let you have no money to marry your wife."

Everyone was joking and laughing.

Yang glared at Yang Fu and also laughed. If she hadn't been holding Huo Nian, she would have wanted to beat him up. She was so crazy.

Huo Xi looked at him with a smile. Yang Fu stood next to her holding a box of butter tightly, winking at her and laughing.


This chapter has been completed!
Previous Bookshelf directory Bookmark Next