"Everyone, come and see, my daughter is in the newspaper." Mrs. Xu, holding the newspaper, rushed into the workshop.
Hearing his wife’s clamorous voice, Mr. Xu furrowed his brow, looking puzzled at his eldest son, "What is your mother shouting about?"
Xu soon went to listen and quickly returned with a face full of surprise.
"Dad, something big has happened, my little sister is in the newspaper!" Xu’s face beamed with joy, looking proud.
Mr. Xu, who was still learning how to repair machinery, didn’t catch on until someone reminded him and he came back to his senses.
"Captain, your daughter made it to the newspaper?"
"What? She’s in the newspaper?" Mr. Xu reacted and quickly walked towards Mrs. Xu.
Seeing his wife, he snatched the newspaper from her, put on his glasses, and began reading carefully, his smile growing broader as he read.
"Captain, what does it say in the newspaper? What remarkable thing has Yingying done now?"
By this time, everyone had grown accustomed; the captain’s daughter was always up to something impressive—just hearing her name meant she must have done something great.
A look of excitement took over Mr. Xu’s fatherly face: "My daughter has sold our Food Factory and Textile Factory’s products to the Friendship Building.
Do you know what the Friendship Building is for?"
Everyone looked puzzled. The Friendship Building sounded similar to the Department Store—could it be a place that also sold things?
If it was just about selling things, it wouldn’t be so impressive since Department Store was already selling products from the Food Factory and Textile Factory.
Unable to watch any longer, the deputy captain urged, "Brother Jianguo, stop beating around the bush and just tell us all about it."
Mr. Xu laughed heartily, "Friendship Building is exclusively for selling goods to foreigners.
It’s not easy to get in there; us people from Hua Country can’t even enter. Those who can enter are big foreign business tycoons.
Even Magic City Food Factory’s products can’t get in there, but our products did, and that tells you how impressive our Food Factory is."
Everyone finally understood Mr. Xu’s words and their faces filled with shock followed by joy.
With everyone smiling broadly, droplets began to splatter across the courtyard floor, one after another.
Then, following the flashes of lightning, the rain started pouring down like crazy.
Suddenly, the heavens and earth seemed separated by a layer of gauze, hazy and chaotic, the rain grew heavier, as if someone was dumping large buckets of water from above, and the raindrops hit the windows, creating a crackling sound.
This sent a shiver through everyone’s hearts.
Initially, Mr. Xu hadn’t paid much attention, but remembering his daughter had been concerned about the dam lately, his heart suddenly clenched.
Since the time his daughter fell into the river and woke up telling them about a grand dream she had, Mr. Xu sensed something was off—perhaps it wasn’t just a dream, maybe his daughter could predict future changes.
Looking at the torrential rain outside the window, Mr. Xu’s face was full of worry.
The people in the workshop, however, smiled at the heavy rain, "It’s finally raining. It’s been over a month since the New Year without a drop, if it didn’t rain soon, the crops in the fields would suffer a drought."
While they now had jobs, the farmers still depended on the weather.
If the heavens were kind and provided favorable winds and waters, their farming would face less hardship and yield more crops.
But facing a drought or flood could lead to a year with no harvest.
No crops affected more than just the local villagers; the food for city dwellers also came from their rural areas.
But as the rain grew heavier, turning from tight droplets to a torrential downpour, it seemed as if the heavens had sprung a massive leak, water cascading down furiously.
Everyone’s faces suddenly changed.
The older elders looked grave. "This rain doesn’t look like a good one."
The speaker was the oldest elder in the village, who had experienced a famine when he was young. At this moment, he looked out at the heavy rain with a heart full of panic, hoping it wasn’t as he feared.
Mr. Xu, too, wore a worried expression. "Uncle Xu, when do you think this rain will stop?"
Grandpa Xu was the oldest person in the village and usually took on the task of weather forecasting.
After all, country people had no televisions or radios, literally no tools to check the weather, they completely relied on observing the sky for their daily activities.
Uncle Xu walked to the front door, looked up at the dark clouds in the sky, and frowned even deeper, remembering Yingying had asked to check the dam—could she have known something?
That girl was clever; she might have heard some news from somewhere.
Uncle Xu looked at Mr. Xu with a complex expression on his face. "Jianguo, take me to find Yingying.
Everyone else, hurry home."
While the rain has not yet collected enough to hinder travel, those who can go home should hurry; otherwise, with so many people trapped in one village, there wouldn’t be enough food, and the situation would become even more severe.
The others, upon hearing Grandpa Xu’s words, felt a sudden pang of alarm. Those from outside the village dared not ask further and dashed home through the rain.
The remaining villagers, with grave faces, looked at Uncle Xu. "Uncle Xu, what’s wrong with this rain?"
Uncle Xu remained silent.
This made everyone even more afraid.
"Uncle Xu, please tell everyone what’s going on," the crowd was desperate.
The worry was evident on Uncle Xu’s weathered face. "I dare not discuss this matter privately, we’ll see in a few days.
Jianguo, let’s go to your house first; I have something to ask Yingying."
Mr. Xu guessed the gist, and the others weren’t fools either.
Who hadn’t been a disobedient child, scared by the elders at home?
Everyone vividly remembered the flood in Yu County decades ago, which had destroyed houses and submerged nearby villages.
"It’s alright, we’ve all built new houses this year, all two stories, and they’re sturdy, there definitely won’t be an issue," one of the villagers said, trying to reassure everyone.
Hearing this, everyone felt reassured. Indeed, the new houses were solid.
Mr. Xu hurried home with Uncle Xu, followed by Mrs. Xu, Mr. Xu’s younger brothers, and their cousins.
When Uncle Xu saw Yingying, he directly asked, "Yingying, when you asked us to check the dam earlier, did you already know about this heavy rain?"
The rest looked at Yingying in shock.
How could she have known about this, she wasn’t an immortal.
Yingying nodded. "Mr. Xu is right. I had been on a business trip out of town and happened to see a weather forecast on a TV, saying it would keep raining in our region.
It even mentioned heavy rain; I wasn’t sure if it was true, but I know how crucial the dam is. My dad is the team leader, and I’ve been immersed in this since childhood.
So, I reminded my dad to be cautious with the dam, but I didn’t know anything beyond that.
Did Mr. Xu notice anything?"
Uncle Xu, hearing Yingying’s explanation, sighed. He had been overthinking.
"I can tell from the sky that this rain won’t stop anytime soon, at least for a week.
If it continues to be this heavy, our crops will definitely be flooded. What will we do then?"