Sha Zhu's Rebirth in the Courtyard: Starting with Hitting Someone in the Head

Chapter 86 Torrential Rain

On July 30th, He Yuzhu brought Ma Hua's family into the courtyard. Ma Dayong carried two quilts, Ma's mother held her youngest daughter, and Ma Hua and Ma Qiang carried a change of clothes. The family of five moved into the three rooms in the east wing.

Moving into such a nice courtyard for the first time, Ma's mother's eyes welled up with tears as she touched the brand-new furniture. Ma Dayong squatted at the door, staring blankly at the pomegranate tree in the yard. Following them, Old Li's family of three moved into the south room. Tian Xinghua, carrying her child, went inside and looked around, saying that this room was no worse than the main house in the middle courtyard.

On the evening of the 31st, the sky was as dark as the bottom of a pot. The sweltering heat that had been building up all day was suddenly lifted by a strong wind, and thunder rolled across the roof, making the windowpanes buzz.

It started raining at six o'clock in the evening. The raindrops pounded on the tiles with a dense, crisp sound, and a mist of water instantly rose in the courtyard. Rainwater trickled down the cracks in the walls, and strings of tiny bubbles rose from the base of the walls.

At 10 p.m., He Yuzhu brought out a pot of ginger and brown sugar water and placed it on the stove. He asked Ma's mother and Aunt Xinghua to add firewood and heat the soup. The children were herded into the inner room and were not allowed to come out.

He stood at the entrance of the main room, with five canvas and tung oil raincoats piled behind him. He distributed the raincoats to Ma Dayong, Lao Li, Ma Hua, and Ma Qiang, and put one on himself as well.

The water in the courtyard was ankle-deep. He Yuzhu shone his flashlight on the two flood barriers, and found that none of the walls of the courtyard were leaking.

Five people started scooping water out of the yard. He stood up and wiped the rain off his face: "Hurry up and finish, then come inside and have some ginger tea."

The four men each grabbed a tin bucket and quickly poured water out. Ma Hua and Ma Qiang stood inside the moon gate, scooping out bucket after bucket, dumping all the accumulated water into the front yard of the courtyard. Their master had said that the courtyard was bound to flood, so they weren't worried about the extra water from the outer courtyards.

Ma Dayong and Lao Li were in charge of the main gate of the courtyard, and the two quickly poured water out. He Yuzhu took a large broom and swept the water towards the moon gate. In less than half an hour, the water in the courtyard was reduced to a thin layer.

In the main room, Ma's mother served ginger and brown sugar water, a large bowl for each person. After Ma Qiang finished drinking, he put the bowl on the table and let out a long breath, his hair still warm from the heat.

At 12:05, the five people worked again and cleared all the water.

The rain intensified, with rainfall exceeding 120 millimeters between 1 and 2 a.m., and the water level in the courtyard reached nearly 20 centimeters.

Five metal buckets were used non-stop, scooping out the water as soon as it rose. By 3 a.m., the rain had subsided slightly, and the water in the yard was almost completely cleared.

He Yuzhu straightened up; his back was soaked, indistinguishable between rain and sweat. He waved for the group to come inside, cooked a pot of dumplings, and added extra scallions, ginger, and chili to the dumpling soup. The seven of them ate until they were drenched in sweat.

The situation at the courtyard houses was dire. The water in the alley was over 50 centimeters deep, overflowing into the courtyards and unable to drain out. Every household was flooded, with the water level reaching over 30 centimeters in the lowest points and knee-deep in the lowest areas.

Madam Jia was the first to realize something was wrong, and she shouted in a shrill voice to Jia Dongxu to hurry up and move the grain. The Jia family had rented the empty east wing room, where they still had several hundred catties of grain stored, with cornmeal, millet, and mixed flour all piled up together.

When Jia Dongxu waded into the water, the water almost reached the bottom of the raised grain sacks. He frantically carried the grain sacks to the bed, while Jia Zhangshi stood by the bed helping her son stack them higher. Just as they finished moving them, the roof started to leak.

Water droplets splattered onto the blankets covering the flour sacks, and she told Qin Huairu to quickly set out all the pots and pans to catch the water, even using the large bowl that had been passed down in the Jia family for generations.

The leaking raindrops pattered against the rim of the basin and the bottom of the bowl. Jia Zhangshi plopped down on the edge of the bed, guarding the pile of grain sacks that were like her lifeline, cursing the heavens and the earth and this damned weather.

Yan Bugui's family wasn't much better off than the Jia family. Jie Kuang and Jie Di used pots and pans to catch the leaking water, while Yan Bugui carried a tin bucket to empty it.

Yang Ruihua squatted in front of the stove, protecting the last remaining coal briquettes. They were all soaked, and black water had seeped all over the floor.

In the backyard, at Liu Haizhong's house, Wang Caifeng used bamboo poles to prop up an oilcloth to cover the bed. Liu Haizhong and Liu Guangtian used basins to scoop water outside the door; the father and son's arms were already so sore they could barely lift them. Liu Guangfu took over and continued the work.

The worst off was the old deaf woman. She watched helplessly as water flooded the house and the roof leaked. She huddled on her half-soaked mattress, the wind howling through the cracks in the window like ghostly wails. There was no food or firewood in the house.

When I was hungry, I could only take a dry cornbread from the chipped porcelain bowl, put it in my mouth, and slowly chew and swallow it.

Daylight broke, and the rain was still falling, though it had lessened somewhat. Grain stores on the street remained open as usual, and sales clerks waded through knee-deep water to carry bags of flour to the counter.

Jia Dongxu waded through the water with an umbrella to buy coal briquettes. He queued up and bought more than ten kilograms. When he came back, his trousers were rolled up to his thighs and his rubber shoes were full of water.

The taps had been shut off long ago; the water supply was cut off due to power outages and pump stoppages. Those households that had stored water were alright, but those that hadn't could only collect rainwater. Some people dismantled old stools and chairs for firewood, moved tables under the eaves, set up stoves on them to boil water and cook porridge, and the thick smoke from the burning wet firewood made people's eyes water.

In the courtyard, He Yuzhu tied on an apron and heated the iron wok until it was red-hot. A spoonful of oil sizzled as it hit the wok, and the aroma of scallions, ginger, and garlic immediately burst forth. He stir-fried the pork cracklings and cabbage until they glistened with a dark brown sauce, and tossed the stir-fried pork with chili peppers in the wok again and again. The spiciness and the aroma of meat mingled together and wafted out from the courtyard, past the moon gate, and into the front courtyard.

As Jia Zhangshi nestled in bed, she swallowed hard, the aroma making her mouth water, her stomach rumbling with hunger. Unable to bear the craving any longer, she climbed onto a stool and peered outside, cursing under her breath.

The others in the courtyard could smell it too. Yan Bugui stood at the door, tilted his head back, sniffed, and squeezed out, "The He family is stir-frying meat again." Water dripped from the eaves onto his ladle with a pattering sound. He stood there for a moment on an empty stomach, then lowered his head and went back inside to continue scooping water.

Two days passed like this. The government urgently transported dry coal and firewood into the city, and fire trucks drove into the alleyways to deliver clean water to the residents. Police station and street workers waded through the water to deliver food and pickled vegetables to each household. Several families shared a stove and took turns cooking and roasting coal briquettes. At least they could have a hot meal. With government support and mutual assistance from neighbors, no one starved to death and no major epidemic broke out.

The torrential rain lasted for seven days, with the floodwaters constantly rising and receding. On August 6th, an even heavier downpour lashed down, worsening the flooding and expanding the affected area. Many houses in Beijing were damaged by the flooding.

Li Huaide was commended by the factory for arranging drainage and flood prevention in advance. Afterwards, he specially brought a bottle of Moutai to the courtyard and said, "Brother He, your weather forecast is more accurate than the meteorological bureau. In the future, you'd better let me know in advance if there's any news."

He Yuzhu poured him a cup of tea, but didn't respond to the question. He just said that food supplies would be even tighter after the heavy rain, and that he should prepare in advance. With so many employees at the steel mill, the more food he stockpiled, the better.

The two never expected that Yang Honglin would start to hold a grudge against them because of the flood prevention incident, and his resentment grew stronger and stronger.