Chapter 130

130. Chapter 130: Remedial Measures

"Uncle Liu, it's getting late. You all just follow what I said earlier; I'm going home first." After saying this, Jiang Wei scooped up Jiang Xiaoxiao, who was shivering with cold.

"Alright!" The Li Zheng nodded. "I heard that many families' thatched roofs were damaged by this big hailstorm. You should hurry back and see if everything is alright."

Jiang Wei carried Jiang Xiaoxiao home. Most of the people in the village remained in the fields; even though it was almost dark, not a single person went home.

This rice had already matured and was about to be harvested, but suddenly there was such a downpour and big hailstorm. Almost all the rice stalks were beaten down into the mud. If these big hailstones weren't cleared away in time, the remaining rice grains would only rot in the mud.

At such a critical juncture, even if the villagers didn't eat or drink, they had to clear the big hailstones from the fields.

Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night.

Every household was holding torches by the field ridges, working hard with their heads down.

Only in the fields of Zhao Wulai's house was it pitch black, with not a single person there.

The rice stalks were all crushed under the hail, the knocked-off rice grains were washed into the ditches by the rain, the water couldn't be drained, and the rice roots in the fields were soaked soft and rotten by the water...

And at this moment, Zhao Wulai and Widow Xu, who were at home, had no time to worry about the rice in the fields that had been ruined.

The roof of their house had been smashed with several large holes by the hail, and the rainwater was falling, landing right on the head of the bed in the inner room, soaking the bedding and dripping down.

There were two beds in the inner room; one was wet, and one remained clean.

Zhao Wulai and Widow Xu were fighting over the right to use the last bed.

"Zhao Wulai, the child I'm carrying is yours! Are you not even going to let me sleep in the last bed?" Widow Xu said in a fit of rage.

Zhao Wulai curled his lips and said with extreme reluctance, "Why should I! This is my bed, why should I let you have it!"

Widow Xu hugged the bedding tightly, kicked Zhao Wulai off the bed, and cursed fiercely, "If you dare to get on the bed, I will definitely kill you while you're sleeping!"

Seeing the kitchen knife Widow Xu had placed on the bedside table, Zhao Wulai swallowed back the dirty words that were about to come out.

He knew that Widow Xu was capable of doing such a thing.

Widow Xu was not like Chunmiao's mother, who endured him in every way. This crazy woman was afraid of nothing when she got fierce. In the past few days, he had already experienced what Widow Xu was like when she went crazy.

Zhao Wulai swallowed twice, and in the end, he didn't say anything, only able to go sullenly to the room next door where his son slept.

"Dad, did you wash your feet? Why do you smell so bad?" Zhao Ergou covered his nose in disgust, watching his father climb onto his bed without a word, and couldn't help but say, "My bed is small, it's only big enough for me to sleep in. Go sleep with Widow Xu."

Zhao Wulai's face turned black instantly.

It was one thing for Widow Xu to dislike him, but even his own son disliked him!?

Zhao Wulai was so angry that he slapped him and cursed, "Less nonsense! If you don't want to sleep, get out!"

After saying this, regardless of Zhao Ergou, he snatched the quilt and fell asleep.

But the resentment in his heart could not be suppressed.

In the past, only he had the right to dislike others. He disliked Chunmiao's mother for being a yellow-faced woman who turned his stomach. All along, he had slept in separate beds from her. Moreover, the bed at home was small and only big enough for one person, so Chunmiao and Chunya slept squeezed in the same bed with her.

Now it was his turn to suffer this. He and eleven-year-old Zhao Ergou were squeezed into one bed, and he had never felt that a bed could be so small; sleeping two people was simply suffocating!

There had been a downpour during the day, and it was a bit cold at night. Zhao Ergou kept pulling the quilt from him in the middle of the night, disturbing him so much that he couldn't sleep at all.

Lying on his side on the hard bed, he couldn't help but think that if the person sleeping beside him were Zhao Dasao, she would definitely not bear to let him suffer like this, would put him first in everything, and would let him have everything good...

Thinking and thinking, for the first time, a trace of regret arose in Zhao Wulai's heart.

When Jiang Xiaoxiao was carried home by her mother all the way, it was already completely dark.

The dirt road outside their courtyard was soaked through by the downpour, a muddy mess, and pitted with holes from the hail, making it very difficult to walk.

After entering the courtyard, their sheep pen and rabbit nest had also been smashed by the hail, and the rabbits were huddled under the thick fur of the milk goat.

It was late now, and there was no time to repair the sheep pen and rabbit nest, so Jiang Wei could only pick up some wooden boards to build them a temporary shelter.

The clothes on both mother and daughter were wet. Jiang Wei went to the kitchen to boil hot water for a bath, and Jiang Xiaoxiao prepared to go back to her room to change clothes.

But as soon as she entered the room, she saw that their roof had also been smashed with several holes by the hail.

The holes weren't big, but the rainwater flowed in along the thatch, landing on the table nearby, and the few books she had left on the table were soaked through.

Jiang Xiaoxiao felt a pang of heartache. Ignoring the need to change clothes, she hurriedly moved the books on the table, wiped the water stains off with a cloth, and then placed them under the window to dry.

The floor in the room was still dirt, and it was a muddy mess from the water that had fallen.

Jiang Xiaoxiao had no choice but to sigh; for the first time, she felt the embarrassment of "a house leaking rain on top of a leaky roof."

The house they lived in had been left behind by a former hunter in the village, and it was in disrepair; it was understandable that it would be smashed by the hail.

Jiang Xiaoxiao checked around the room again. Fortunately, the place where they slept in the inner room was intact, and there was no leaking.

Jiang Wei boiled the water and entered the room, preparing to call her to take a bath, and also saw the situation in the room, which made her frown involuntarily.

She scanned the room and found that only the roof above the table was leaking, which made her breathe a sigh of relief. She said, "I'll repair it tomorrow. In a few more days, we won't need this broken house anymore."

Jiang Xiaoxiao couldn't help but laugh when she heard this. Once they had a new house, they would never live in this leaky, broken house again.

The two went to the kitchen, where the water in the pot was already boiling, bubbling away.

Jiang Wei skillfully used a wooden bucket to scoop up the hot water and pour it into the large wooden bathtub, then poured two buckets of cold water into it.

Mixed with cold and hot, the water temperature was just right.

Jiang Xiaoxiao stripped off her clothes and lay in comfortably. In the blink of an eye, she saw her mother take out a larger wooden tub from the space, also pouring hot and cold water into it.

The soap and shampoo for bathing were placed between the two wooden tubs. Her mother didn't enjoy the leisure time of soaking in the bath either; she sat in the wooden tub, rubbing her hair, lathering herself with soap foam, and then started washing. The whole process was by the book.

Jiang Xiaoxiao, who had been soaking comfortably in the hot water and didn't want to move, saw this and couldn't help but sit up straight, also starting to apply soap to herself.

These soaps were all taken out by her mother from the space. Needless to say, they must be from the modern era. After wetting and spreading them, there was a faint jasmine fragrance.

People in this era generally bathed by washing with clear water and scrubbing hard. For washing hair, it was slightly better; they used rice-washing water, and for washing clothes, they used plant ash.

As for bath beans, these were only used by wealthy families. Ordinary people couldn't buy them even if they wanted to. She had been in Yuhe Village for so long and had never seen any family that could afford bath beans.