Chapter 129

129. Chapter 129: Hailstorm

Jiang Wei turned her head to glance at the field ridge not far away; the ditch that had been used to divert water down the mountain had already been blocked by the villagers with mud. Now that the autumn harvest was approaching, there was naturally no longer such a great need for that water.

"So it was just raining..." Jiang Xiaoxiao, who had been soaked through by the rain, wiped her face. Seeing the scene before her, she felt a sense of relief in her heart; she had thought something major was going to happen...

However, in the next second, a series of pitter-patter sounds suddenly erupted in a dense flurry.

"Ah! What is hitting my head!"

Amidst the pattering sound of the rain, she heard the screams of villagers ringing out.

She instinctively looked up and saw, through the curtain of rain, hailstones the size of ping-pong balls falling from the sky along with the downpour, hitting people, hitting the fields, and hitting into the water-filled ditches with a pitter-patter...

"Ah! My rice!"

Before the villagers could recover from this sudden hailstorm, they turned their heads to see the rice in their fields being beaten flat by the falling hail.

"Quick! Go home and find straw mats to cover the rice! Otherwise, it will all be ruined!" The Li Zheng wiped the rainwater from his face and shouted at the villagers in the fields through the curtain of rain.

Only then did the villagers react, running home one after another to fetch straw mats.

Unfortunately, this downpour came too suddenly, and it was heavy and fierce. The field ridges were a muddy mess, extremely slippery, and some who didn't step firmly nearly fell into the fields.

Jiang Xiaoxiao protected her head with her hands, but her shoulder was struck by a falling hailstone, causing a burning, stinging pain.

These hailstones were all the size of ping-pong balls, and their own weight was not light. Added to the fact that they were falling rapidly from a great height, the impact force was extreme, making it especially painful when they hit someone.

She had to quickly find a place to take shelter!

She had just taken a step with her short legs when she was instantly scooped up by her mother.

Jiang Xiaoxiao looked up and saw that her mother had draped a thick blanket over herself at some point, covering her from head to waist. Being held tightly in her mother's arms, she was spared from being hit by the hail.

"Mother..." Jiang Xiaoxiao called out weakly.

This blanket must have been taken out by her mother from her space; neither its texture nor its material belonged to this era. Moreover, her mother had come empty-handed, and now that there was suddenly a blanket on her, if it weren't for the heavy rain and hail blocking the view, someone would have surely seen it long ago.

She wanted to remind her mother to leave this place quickly.

But before she could speak, Jiang Wei was already running away with her in the other direction through the rain curtain.

Everywhere she looked was a torrential downpour; Jiang Xiaoxiao couldn't see the road ahead at all. Yet, with her mother holding her, it was as if she could see the path clearly, running steadily in a certain direction.

Besides the sound of the rain, her ears were filled with the cries for help from the villagers and a cacophony of noise.

By the time they ran under the nearest eaves to take shelter from the rain, this sudden hailstorm had also stopped.

This hailstorm lasted for a total of twenty minutes.

Afterwards, the rain also gradually ceased.

Jiang Xiaoxiao raised her head, and her vision cleared, allowing her to see where they had run to: it was under the eaves of the household closest to the field ridge.

Not far away was the big locust tree in the village.

She saw that many branches of the big locust tree had been broken off by the hail, with leaves scattered all over the ground. Many villagers who had taken shelter under the tree had also suffered; they were soaked through, and some even had large bumps on their heads from the hail, with many people grimacing in pain.

Jiang Wei had just put away the blanket when she heard a scream: "Mother! What happened to you!?"

The voice came from the house behind them.

The mother and daughter turned to look; they were shocked by what they saw.

Behind them was a thatched cottage. The hailstorm hadn't lasted long, but it was fierce and intense, accompanied by a downpour. The thatched roof had been battered to pieces by the rain, and the larger hailstones had even pierced directly through the thatch. The elderly person inside the hut had been struck on the head by a hailstone and had passed out cold.

"Quick, go find Zhou the Physician!" Seeing the blood trickling from the head of the seventy-year-old, Jiang Wei, who was outside the house, hurriedly reminded them.

The man hurriedly told his wife to go find Zhou the Physician.

This hailstorm had been too violent; she wondered how the rice in the fields was doing.

Jiang Wei was very worried, so she took Jiang Xiaoxiao with her and rushed to the fields.

Many people had been called by the Li Zheng to go home and fetch straw mats, but before the mats could be brought, the hail had stopped.

The rice in the fields was not only beaten to pieces, but the ground was covered in broken branches and withered leaves, and the rice ears, which had gradually been filling out, were scattered across the fields.

Many elderly people were kneeling in the field ridges, crying loudly.

"Oh Heavens, are you trying to force us to our deaths!"

"This rice was finally saved, why did you have to send down such big hailstones! How are we supposed to live now!"

"We worked so hard all year, and the rice we finally managed to raise has been ruined like this. What are we poor folk supposed to do..."

Jiang Wei looked at the villagers crying in a heap, her brows deeply furrowed.

She turned her head to look at the Li Zheng not far away. He was soaked through, having had no time to take shelter, and there were several large bumps on his head from the hail. Yet, he seemed unaware, his eyes fixed firmly on the rice in the fields, the veins on his forehead bulging, and his eye sockets already red.

Jiang Wei walked over and called out, "Uncle Liu," and only then did the Li Zheng gradually come to his senses.

She glanced at the rainwater and hail filling the ditch and said, "Don't be in such a hurry to grieve, the rice can still be saved!"

"Th-this, what should we do, Xiaoxiao's mother?" Upon hearing that it could be saved, the Li Zheng's dull eyes suddenly lit up.

Jiang Wei pointed to the fields and said in a calm tone, "First, dig ditches to drain the water out of the fields. This rice, which is about to mature and be harvested, cannot be soaked in water. Use shovels to clear the hail out of the fields, straighten the beaten-down rice, and then quickly loosen the soil in the fields to let the air in..."

Jiang Wei stated the measures one by one, in an orderly fashion.

The Li Zheng was stunned: "Th-this, will it work?"

Jiang Wei didn't dare to guarantee it, only saying, "Treat the dead horse as if it were alive."

"Xiaoxiao's mother, you are a well-read young lady from a good family, I believe you!" After saying this, the Li Zheng turned and ordered the villagers to start implementing it immediately.

The villagers, no longer having time to grieve, gathered their families, young and old, and picked up hoes and shovels to start taking action.

This hailstorm hadn't lasted long, but the amount of hail that fell was significant, and many rice stalks were pressed firmly underneath the ping-pong ball-sized hailstones.

The villagers followed the measures Jiang Wei had suggested, draining the water while shoveling the hail out of the fields, and then carefully straightening the flattened rice.

As for the rice ears that had already been knocked off, they were truly beyond saving and could only be drained out of the field ditches along with the water.

The villagers worked until evening without stopping. Their clothes were still soaked through, and they hadn't had time to change. When the night wind blew, they shivered uncontrollably.

Jiang Xiaoxiao stood by the field ridge, shivering and sneezing.

Even though she had kept her voice very low, Jiang Wei, who was busy directing the villagers, still looked over at her.