Chapter 70: The Suddenly Arriving Second Harmful Rain

The Hua Nation news broadcast was still the same old three items: abroad was deep in hot water, and domestically, aside from the coastal bases whose situation gave cause for concern, the other bases were thriving, with good news pouring in nonstop.

Xia Qing washed dishes while listening to the Hua Nation news broadcast, then returned to the living room to continue listening to the Hui City Base news broadcast and the Hui Three Base news facts, and then came the most crucial segment: the weather forecast.

Farmers could be said to eat by the grace of the heavens, so every lord kept a very close eye on the weather.

"According to the joint forecast of the Hui One Base Meteorological Center and the Hui Three Base Meteorological Station, most areas of Hui City Base will welcome this year's second large-scale Harmful Rain the day after tomorrow." Xia Qing's heart skipped a beat; she immediately stopped and listened with full concentration. "…On May 21st, both the Hui Three Base safe zone and the territories outside the zone will have Harmful Rain, with the highest level being orange, lasting two days, with a total rainfall of approximately 90 millimeters…"

The subsequent agricultural knowledge broadcast also targeted this Harmful Rain, specifically introducing to the lords how to protect crops that had already been growing for two months during the upcoming Harmful Rain.

Just as Xia Qing treated Old Sheep, the Hui Three Base announcer first fed the lords some sweet talk: "The level, duration, and precipitation of this Harmful Rain are not only lower than the last one, but it is also the least threatening of the Harmful Rains in the past five years. As long as every lord makes thorough preparations and helps the spring-planted crops successfully weather this Harmful Rain, a bountiful harvest is guaranteed. Next, let's learn together about the main methods for crops to cope with the Harmful Rain…"

After carefully recording the response methods introduced in the broadcast in her little notebook, Xia Qing turned off the radio and switched on the walkie-talkie.

On the lords' channel, the upcoming Harmful Rain was being hotly discussed.

Qi Fu spoke at length: "The broadcast is right; this rain is coming at just the right time. Our grain and vegetable seedlings, except for the cotton, are all past the seedling stage, so the probability of Harmful Mutation is much lower. If the Harmful Rain came half a month later, it would catch the wheat and mung beans right at their flowering stage, and we'd have to cut production in half."

Zhao Ze immediately followed up: "Brother Qi is right, but are we really going to cover all the fields with rain cloth? Not to mention whether there's enough rain cloth, we can't get it done in just two days either."

Kuang Qingwei fired back at Zhao Ze: "You already have the time to pick up stones and build landscaping, how could you not have time to put up rain shelters?"

Zhao Ze explained quietly: "I didn't specifically build landscaping, I just picked up a few stones when I was tired from work. Brother Qi, Brother Wei, can you cover all your fields? Several mu, how is that even possible?"

Kuang Qingwei didn't bother with Zhao Ze anymore and asked Qi Fu for advice: "Old Qi, what are you planning to do with the pumpkin vines?"

Qi Fu answered: "I don't have enough rain cloth, so I plan to gather the vines together, cover as much as I can, there's really nothing to be done about what can't be covered. Does anyone have extra bamboo poles? I'd like to trade for some."

Given Qi Fu's cautious temperament, it was impossible he hadn't prepared enough rain cloth, bamboo poles, and lumber to cope with the Harmful Rain. Xia Qing felt he said this to shut the other lords' mouths, to keep them from asking to borrow supplies from him.

The channel was quiet for a while, and surprisingly it was Tang Huai who picked up the thread: "You lords with forests don't have enough bamboo poles and lumber to build rain shelters, let alone me with hardly any trees. Is Brother Feng from Plot One there? Can you trade me some bamboo poles?"

"Pfft—" Xia Qing, who was drinking water, couldn't help but spray it out.

For the sake of a few bamboo poles, Tang Huai actually called his sworn enemy "Brother"…

Are you still the same Tang Huai who argued with Beard Feng every day over the wolf matter? To protect the farmland, you've thrown all your pride away?

Beard Feng drawled slowly: "Nope."

Tang Huai, who had pinched his nose and swallowed his pride, didn't believe it and raised his voice by twenty-eight degrees: "Don't you have a bamboo forest on Mountain Forty-Nine? How could you possibly not have bamboo?"

Beard Feng yawned: "You want bamboo poles from Mountain Forty-Nine? Sure, pay the entry fee and go chop them yourself."

Tang Huai exploded, cursing: "You lunatic, just you wait, there'll come a day when you need me."

"Sure, I'll be waiting." Beard Feng yawned indifferently.

The lords' exchange ended amid cursing. Xia Qing turned off the walkie-talkie and soon received a message from Beard Feng: Does Young Lady Xia need bamboo poles?

After Xia Qing replied that she had already prepared enough, she put away her phone and began to put on her protective suit.

Qi Fu was right that the second Harmful Rain coming now was better than coming half a month later, but she hoped even more that the Harmful Rain could come five days later. Because her territory didn't only have cotton in its seedling stage, but also even younger cutting sweet potato vines, and sixteen Green Lantern sweet potato seedlings that had half their vines cut and hadn't recovered yet.

Damn it, yesterday's weather forecast still said no Harmful Rain within five days—otherwise how could she have chosen this critical moment to do the sweet potato cuttings!

Where the hell did this demonic wind carrying Harmful Rain come from? Isn't this just deliberately making things hard for her!

Xia Qing cursed as she finished putting on her protective suit and immediately got to work.

Harmful Rain was coming, and since she had enough materials, she naturally had to protect all the crops in the fields.

The two planting belts on the hillside were the easiest—just cover the already-built insect netting with another layer of rain cloth. But the wheat fields, mung beans, cotton, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and pumpkins in the farmland all needed rain shelters built on the spot.

The materials to build rain shelters were sufficient; finishing them by tomorrow would be fine, and Xia Qing could definitely get it done in one day. What worried Xia Qing most right now were the newly cut sweet potato vines, and Old Sheep, who might lose control again during the Harmful Rain.

The sweet potato cutting field had to be well protected, and so did Old Sheep.

With the Harmful Rain imminent, every second counted. Xia Qing moved the rain cloth, bamboo strips, wooden sticks, and steel bars to the yard, repeatedly sprayed them with evolved camphor tree sap and evolved aconite grass juice for pest control, then sprayed Zhang San's deodorizer to remove the smell.

Old Sheep hated the pungent smell of the camphor sap and hid inside the house, so Xia Qing worked alone for most of the night.

Not just her—the lords of Hui Three Base who heard the broadcast all stayed up all night.

A little past five the next morning, Xia Qing drove out the micro-cultivator and hitched on her homemade tractor cart. The cart's wheels were made by hammering round the steel bars salvaged from the abandoned village buildings and welding them together; the cart body used steel bars for the frame and wooden planks for the side panels. Crude it certainly was, but the capacity was large enough. Xia Qing only made two trips to haul all the rain shelter materials to the edge of the fields.

Then, Xia Qing unhitched the tractor cart and attached a single-blade plowshare to till the empty ground between the plots.

Following the method introduced in the broadcast, Xia Qing had arranged all the farmland into long strips with enough gaps between plots, specifically to make it convenient to build rain shelters and dig drainage ditches.

Xia Qing drove the thick bamboo strips deep into the loose, tilled soil and stomped them firm, then drove bamboo strips into the corresponding positions on the other side of the three-meter-wide field and stomped them firm too, then tied the upper ends of the two corresponding thick bamboo strips together with rope—a single arched rain shelter outer frame was complete.