Rainstorm

 　　On the Qixi Festival in 2022, there was a sudden and violent rainstorm in northern Shaanxi.

　　For me, Qixi Festival is a very normal day. We get up at 7:00 and have breakfast as usual. As usual, the children do their homework and I clean up the house. It has nothing to do with romance, and wechat circle of friends has not seen any transfer of bouquets to show affection. Some friends said that it seems that the economic situation this year is really not optimistic.

　　It was nearly six o'clock in the afternoon. I had just washed the dishes and was about to cook when I heard the sound of thunder in the distance. I stood at the door and looked at the sky. I saw dark clouds, probably a thunderstorm was coming. I just heard a huge thunder suddenly sounded, and Erbao jumped into my arms in horror to hug her. I hugged her, thinking that I would cook after the rain. Well, it will be over soon. I thought so, holding my second treasure, and waiting for the thunderstorm to pass.

　　The gust of wind was blowing, blowing the toys in the yard to the ground. The chirping little swallows and little sparrows on the telegraph poles don’t know where they flew to? Where can they go in this violent wind and thunder? Within a few minutes, bean-sized raindrops fell from the sky, crackling and patting on the bricks in the yard, on the eaves, and on the window lattices, getting bigger and bigger. I looked at my phone, and in the WeChat group, my sister sent a small video saying: "On the way home from get off work, the car couldn't move due to the heavy rain. Look at the motorcyclist in front of me, he was drenched." What's it like?" My sister said with emotion that she is still happy, at least she doesn't need to get wet in the car. I joked: "That motorcycle rider is so stupid, wouldn't he park his motorcycle on the side of the road to take shelter from the rain"? Everyone just chatted in the group without saying a word.

　　Suddenly, Dabao exclaimed: "Mom, it's not good, the rainwater has flowed into the house!" I looked at the door, and the rainwater did flow into the house from the yard. Looking at the yard, it seems that because there is too much water in the yard, the rainwater flows into the house along the door. I suddenly panicked, at a loss, what should I do? I panicked and shouted in the group: "All the rain in our yard has entered the house, what should I do?" I asked Dabao to hold Erbao, but Erbao didn't want to, and still wanted to be hugged by his mother, but there was no way. I have to fight floods! I comforted Erbao and asked Dabao to take her to play with toys. Then I removed the cushions from the two benches and placed them horizontally at the door, but they couldn't stop them at all. The rain still flowed into the house, and it had already entered the entire living room, and flowed towards the kitchen and bedroom. I took an umbrella, carried three bricks from the gate and placed them horizontally in front of the cushion, but failed again. The rain still kept flowing into the house, and the kitchen and bedroom were flooded. My sisters told me in the group to use blankets. At this time, I was at a loss, so I couldn't think too much about it. I didn't care whether I could use a blanket, or whether it was suitable or not. I hugged two blankets, rubbed them together and put them at the door to block the water. It seemed to have played a role. The speed of the water is not as fast as before. As much as you can block, you can only hope that this rainstorm will end soon, and it will end soon!

　　I don’t know how long it took, the rain gradually subsided, and the thunder gradually went away. I rolled up my trouser legs and walked out of the gate with an umbrella. Sure enough, the water in the alley was deeper than the water in the yard, like a small river. The stagnant water was no higher than half of my calf, and it was because the stagnant water in the alley could not go down, so the stagnant water in the yard could not flow out, so it flowed back into the house. Step by step, I wobbled along the side of the alley, leaning on the wall, and walked out of the small river-like alley. At the entrance of the alley, there were several people, all holding umbrellas and wearing rain boots, washing water from their own yards and pouring it into the alley. Only I wear slippers. It seems that all the houses in this alley are flooded, just like my house. I think we are so pitiful. A heavy rain has made us neighbors who don’t know each other become acquainted. We complain about the heavy rain, we predict whether the heavy rain will come again, and we talk about what to do if there is water in our house. After a while, several community workers came. They took the machine and said it was to deal with the sewer. Pumping maybe? Maybe it's stirring up the mud in the sewer? I do not know either. I leaned on the wall and staggered through the small river-like alley again and went home first. Dabao is coaxing Erbao seriously. I replied to everyone's messages in the group again. There was a lot of concern in the group, and my family was worried about me.

　　After the sewer was treated, the stagnant water in the alley slowly went down, thanks to the government and the community workers. The stagnant water in the yard also gradually flowed out. The next thing I have to do is to clean up the rainwater that is coming into the house. The terrain of the two bedrooms is slightly lower than the living room and the kitchen, so more stagnant water flows into the bedrooms. The task seemed to be harder than I thought...the house has a lot more rain than I thought it would. I settled down with Er Bao first, and showed her the cartoons on the phone. She was obviously attracted by the cartoons very quickly. I used a dustpan to shovel and shovel the water on the ground into the basin, and Dabao poured it out of the gate one by one. Every time he pours out a pot and comes back, I have already filled another pot. Just as we are doing this cycle of water washing, the community workers come to see how much water has entered my home. It is probably a caring condolence, the community One of the elder sisters just picked up the broom to help me sweep the water, when the phone rang, I quickly took the broom and said: "You are busy with your work, I will do it myself, thank you". They looked at the situation and went out, and probably went to another house to inspect the situation. Some neighbors from the left and right also came over and said that the situation of each family was similar. After everyone left, our mother and I continued to go out to wash water. We were busy for nearly two hours. I was too tired to stand up, and Dabao was too tired. The water finally came out. I let Dabao go to rest, the child has helped me a lot, thank you very much for my good baby. I drank saliva, took a short rest, and continued to fight. I mopped the floor over and over again with a mop, wringed it out, and mopped the floor over and over again, wringed it out. All mopped up. At least no more swirling water.

　　I looked up at the clock on the wall, it was past nine o'clock in the evening, and I was exhausted. I know the shoes under the bed must be wet, but let's dry them tomorrow, I'm so tired and we're all hungry. I cooked some noodles as quickly as possible, and the children ate a lot, and said that the noodles cooked by mother were really delicious. I feel a little sad. The pot of noodles was finished in no time, and the kids went to bed first. I washed the dishes with all my strength, poured them on the pillow, and checked my phone. It was already past ten o'clock in the evening.

　　Never thought that a rainstorm would come so violently. In northern Shaanxi, this is a place with little rain, and there are few floods, but this rainstorm came too fast and too violent. Tomorrow, I think, it will be sunny, and I have to dry those rain-soaked shoes.

hurry home

　　When I was very young, my father brought back a bag of carrots from nowhere. Mother rambled and said, "I can't finish eating the carrots grown by my own family, so why do I have to accept other people's carrots?" And he always blamed his father, saying that the money borrowed should be returned instead of carrots. Only then did we know that someone else had borrowed my father's money and was unable to repay the money, so he gave a bag of carrots to approve the loan. Listening to my mother's complaints, my sister and I decided to sell those carrots.

　　The next morning we set out at dawn. I was carrying a bag full of carrots, and my sister was carrying a big basket. We were all very excited, as if we were going to do something big. There was a thick layer of snow on the ground, and every step we took made a sound. With heavy carrots on my back, I was too tired to walk just a few steps out of the house. A bag of carrots is too heavy for me. So my sister and I discussed it and decided that each of us would hold one end of the bag and carry it together, while my other hand carried the basket. In this way, one deep foot and one shallow foot, the two little girls left two strings of long footprints on the snow. We walked and stopped, looking at the footprints behind us from time to time, feeling an indescribable excitement. Yes, excited. Seeing that I was about to walk on the road, my foot slipped and I staggered and almost fell. Fortunately, the basket hit the ground first, so I groaned and threw myself on the basket without any pain. My sister and I laughed at the same time, lifted the bag again, carried the basket, and walked to the side of the road step by step. We put the bag down and put some of the carrots in the basket so we can see them from afar.

　　So, on a cold and snowy morning, two little girls selling carrots appeared on the road.

　　Because the weather was too cold, perhaps because it was too early, there were very few people walking on the road. It was really cold and boring, so we trotted in the snow, or drew pictures on the snow with a carrot. We thought, what if someone came and bought our carrots. If it can't be sold, my mother will always complain about my father. We don't want to hear my mother's complaints because of this bag of carrots. Occasionally, a person came by, glanced at our basket, said to himself: "Hey, carrots", and then left. My sister and I were a little disappointed, so we could only continue to wait. It was too cold, and the waiting time was too long, too long. Before I knew it, I had been out for more than an hour, and it was really too cold. Although we were all wearing cotton-padded jackets, it was obvious that our two little faces were flushed from the cold, so we could only rub our hands and cover our faces, but no matter how we trotted and jumped, our feet were still cold and our legs were still chilly. I don't know how long it took, the number of pedestrians on the road gradually increased, and my sister shouted timidly: "Carrot! Carrot!". People passing by us would look into the basket, probably because the basket of carrots in the snow was too conspicuous. But people who come and go have no intention of buying.

　　I don’t know how long it took before a well-dressed young woman came over and asked, “How much do carrots cost?” My sister and I were overjoyed, and quickly said, “Fifty cents a catty.” She was squatting next to the basket, picking carrots. Looking at those big, well-groomed carrots. The younger sister was a little anxious and wanted to stop: "You can't pick like this, or the rest will not be easy to sell." The woman curled her mouth: "I'm not allowed to choose when I'm shopping, and I won't buy it if I don't let me choose." We had no choice but to let her pick out the good-looking carrots. After she picked them out, we found a small shop nearby, borrowed a scale from the shop, and weighed them, which was about six catties. My sister and I looked at the three yuan in our hands, not to mention how happy we are. After selling six catties, our confidence suddenly increased, and we firmly believed that this bag of carrots would definitely be sold out. We waited and waited, hoped and hoped. He kept stomping his feet that were about to freeze, and rubbing his red hands from time to time. But my heart is very happy. Every time someone came by, we both would whisper: "Sell carrots". Then they looked at each other and smiled, the immature shout seemed not so loud, and there was also a hint of embarrassment.

　　Another long wait.

　　While we were waiting anxiously, we saw a white car slowly driving out of an alley, slowly, slowly climbing up the slope at the entrance of the alley, and then slowly driving towards this road. Just passed us, but stopped again, took a few steps back, and retreated to our side. A middle-aged man got out of the car. He looked at our carrots, rubbed his hands and said, "Are you putting these carrots here for sale?" "Yes." My sister and I nodded, praying in our hearts. , he can buy some. He asked us, "How much is a catty?" I quickly said, "We sold six catties just now, and it was sold at fifty cents per catty. Do you want to buy some?" voice and language. I only heard him say: "Pour everything in the basket into a bag and pack it for me. You two silly children, it's such a cold day, go home quickly. A catty of carrots sells for fifty cents, even if this bag They're all sold out, and I can't sell them for a lot of money." My sister and I thought we had heard it wrong, and stood there in a daze. The uncle said again: "Don't weigh it, just put everything in the basket into a bag, and I'll give you a total of fifty yuan, is it enough?" My sister and I realized this, and quickly picked up all the carrots in the basket. The bag, I saw some carrots were small and a little crooked, I felt a little sorry. The kind uncle gave us fifty yuan, put the whole bag of carrots into the trunk of the car, and said to us again: "It's such a cold day, hurry home." A bag of carrots weighs about forty or fifty catties, but he gave us fifty yuan, which is half of the extra money. God knows how grateful my sister and I are to him. Besides, we have been standing in the snow for more than two hours, and we are almost frozen into icemen. His appearance fell from the sky like a warm current, which is an indescribable gratitude. My sister and I said loudly: "Thank you uncle". The loudest thank you is really our heartfelt and most sincere thanks.

　　The two of us happily carried the basket, jumped and jumped and hurried home. Isn't it, it's such a cold day, let's go home quickly.

　　One cold evening many years later, I was on my way home. The moment the car passed by, I saw a sixty or seventy-year-old grandmother standing at the corner of an alley. She was looking anxiously, with a basket of cabbage in front of her. It was already autumn, and it was still drizzling, but she didn't hold an umbrella. Probably because I didn't know it would rain when I went out. At that moment, a voice suddenly flashed in my mind: "It's such a cold day, hurry home." I asked my lover to stop the car, ignored his doubts, hurriedly opened the door, and ran to the salesman. The grandma of the cabbage. Seeing me coming, she said happily, "Do you want to buy some cabbages?" , a total of more than a dozen, washed by the rain, clean. The old lady smiled and said, "One yuan for a bunch. I grow them myself. The tender cabbages are delicious." "I want all these cabbages. It's such a cold day, so hurry home." The old lady took the money and said happily that she would be able to go home after selling the basket of cabbage, otherwise she would have to get wet for a while.

　　Seeing that I bought so many small cabbages, my wife was surprised and said: "Don't you like eating small cabbages? Why do you still buy so many?" I didn't answer his question, but just said softly: "It's such a cold day. , hurry home."