CHAPTER 220: CHAPTER 196: IT FINALLY RAINED (3)

Everyone covered themselves tightly.

Xiaomi also saw how they caught the locusts. They used long cloth curtains, tied them to bamboo poles, and swooped down to catch large swathes of them.

After Jiang Hu rested for a while, he covered up the children, carried them into the kitchen, where Aunt Yang and the second wife were already cooking.

They had made do during the day, but for dinner, they needed to prepare something decent.

Fortunately, their kitchen and the adjacent woodshed had a small door connecting them, so they didn’t have to worry about getting their grain and cured meat snatched by the locusts.

"These locusts are terrifying; the sorghum stalks in the field don’t even have a single leaf left."

Last night, they only used scythes to cut off the sorghum heads and brought them home, leaving the stalks in the field, which now truly only had bare stalks left.

"The weather looks like it’s about to rain. Once it rains, there should be much fewer locusts."

Uncle Liu was an experienced elder and often led people in various tasks when he was young, so he had a certain understanding of climate changes.

Jiang Hu nodded: "I also feel like it should rain, but it’s uncertain when exactly the rain will come."

The second wife brought a bowl of meat soup over: "Whether it rains or not, or when it rains, it doesn’t help to worry about it. But today, I did notice that the water level in the pond seemed to have risen a bit."

At least since the drought started, though Fu’an Village also suffered from a water shortage, they never ran out of water, and even people from neighboring areas came here to fetch water.

The people of Fu’an Village were indeed quite lucky.

People fetching water from farther away mentioned that in places without water, people died of hunger and thirst. Although the government provided water in towns, it was only a bowl per family, no more.

The people of Fu’an Village hadn’t been to town since they bought salt and made cured meat earlier, and news from outside only came from word of mouth.

"Really? It’s great that the water level is rising, it means the underground water is recovering, and this rain should come soon!"

Uncle Liu rejoiced.

The evening meal was still steamed buns, reheated leftover buns from the day, accompanied by a pot of cured pork soup stewed with radishes, some steamed sweet potatoes, and a dish of pickled vegetables.

The napa cabbage was all consumed; only a few radishes were left. Once these were gone, there wouldn’t be any vegetables left at home.

For the next three consecutive days, the whole village was busy catching locusts, and they got updates about the outside world from people who came to fetch water in the village.

Luckily, everyone reacted quickly. Initially, when the Jiang family started planting sorghum, some people also planted a little, but only those who exchanged for winter sorghum seeds.

This time, when the Jiang family harvested sorghum early, some heard the news while fetching water and harvested without hesitation.

Of course, there were still some who didn’t believe it and insisted on waiting a few more days; they inevitably suffered losses, depending on how quickly they reacted later.

As for the locusts, they were just about everywhere, in large, dense numbers that were impossible to catch completely.

On the third day, the long-standing clear weather finally turned overcast, and the once rampant locusts became listless.

Seeing the long-awaited rain was about to fall after nearly half a year, everyone was filled with anticipation.

However, that day remained overcast from morning till night without a drop of rain, as if teasing them, causing everyone to feel anxious and uneasy.

At night, lying restless in bed, suddenly there were several crackling noises from the roof.

Before anyone could react, in the next moment, a louder and more intense sound arose.

It was raining!

It finally rained!

"It’s raining! It’s pouring rain!"

The excited shouts traveled from one end of the village to the other. Jiang Hu and the second wife hurriedly put on their clothes and rushed out the door, even forgetting to light the oil lamp.

"That’s great, it’s finally raining!" The couple rushed into the courtyard, unable to resist tilting their heads back and opening their mouths to catch the raindrops.

Although they still had some water at home, they conserved it carefully, only drinking it when very thirsty, not daring to waste a drop.

"Second wife, you should go back inside. It’s too cold at night, and you’ll catch a chill in the rain!" Fortunately, Jiang Hu reacted in time, pulling the second wife back under the eaves, then running back out.

"I’m going to bring out the water tanks to collect the rain!"

"Brother Jiang, I’ll go with you!"

Qixi was also awakened by the sound of rain, and ran over barefoot.

Others also came out one by one, both excited and happy, with only Xiaomi still ’sound asleep.’

Water dripped quickly from the eaves, and dozens of large water tanks were lined up, even the backyard had empty fertilizer buckets lined up to collect rainwater.

Behind the latrine, a ditch was directly dug to channel the eaves’ water into the pit.

That night, everyone was busy and excited.