Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 1028 - 541 Flood_2

Chapter 1028: Chapter 541 Flood_2

"Once we have a car, when you’re not busy at home, you can drive them out for some fun. Take a spin around the city, and visit the surrounding cities as well, to gain some experience. Staying in our little broken-down town all the time, you’ll eventually turn into an idiot," Yan Fei said, talking more than usual, because he had placed a dark brick.

Actually, this was something he had long considered. The more he traveled, the more he could feel the isolation and backwardness of Sancha River.

Especially now that the new highway was finished. Before, Sancha River was only a few miles from the provincial road, but now it was more than a dozen miles away. Don’t underestimate the distance - in the city, it would be just a bus ride away, but in the countryside, this added stretch of road made a huge difference.

Take, for instance, the village to the west of the greenhouses. It used to be by the road, so people could do some small business easily, and it was convenient to catch a ride out of town. But now, it was no different from the other villages.

"To get rich, build roads" was not just an empty saying. Now that Yan Fei’s home village and his grandfather’s village were closer to the highway, some villagers took advantage of the farming off-season to make "vegetable combos" or griddle cakes, or fry peanuts and boil eggs at home, selling them to passengers when the long-distance bus stopped, making some extra pocket money.

After all, the ingredients were all from their own kitchens, and if they didn’t sell, they could just heat them up and eat them at home.

This was just the beginning. Surely, before long, as the economy developed and more buses came and went, more people would start small businesses.

For rural people, especially women, without culture or technical skills, being too weak for physical labor, having the opportunity to run a small business and earn eight or ten dimes a day was already quite good.

Because the new highway was farther from Sancha River, this was disadvantageous for the development of the town. But for most people from Sancha River, all they knew was that taking a vehicle was a bit more expensive now and riding a bike on the old, poorly maintained road was inconvenient—as for the rest, they had no clue.

Running around outside exposed him to more things, and naturally, he saw things more clearly. It’s like how kids know nowadays that the Earth is round and an apple falls because of gravity. These are common knowledge, but mention such things during the emperor’s time, and who would believe it? You’d be lucky not to be called crazy.

So Yan Fei had realized that to worry less himself, he needed to ensure that folks around here could stand on their own; just staying in Sancha River, even with further education, wasn’t enough.

Heizi agreed with this view, as young people all wanted to venture out. But Heizi also had different opinions, "You want us to drive such a good car out and about? You’re not worried, but we are! How about buying a second-hand van for the farm? It’s cheaper to transport more people, and you wouldn’t mind the bumps and scrapes."

"And besides, that’s going to be your car, meant for you to use when you go out. How does it look if others are driving it around? After all, you are the boss; you’ve got to look the part. Always motoring around on a motorbike, like that time we went to the city for a meeting, weren’t you embarrassed to ride your motorbike there?"

Yan Fei was annoyed by Heizi’s theories, "I really wanted to ride the motorbike, but didn’t I have no license? Same goes for the car; I can drive it at home, but would I dare to drive it on a long trip?"

Heizi was stunned, as it had just occurred to him that his Brother Fei wasn’t even old enough for a driver’s license.

It wasn’t until almost dawn that Chen Yingjun managed to free himself from those people’s pestering and called Yan Fei.

He began with grateful words, "Brother Fei, I won’t say much— from now on, you are my sworn brother. Don’t worry, I’ll deliver the Black Pearl and the money to you a few days after the opening. If I’m a dime short, I’ll take my head off to see you."

Yan Fei laughed, "Is it that serious? I’m not in a hurry on my end. You can wait until after the opening when things settle down. No rush."

Then they exchanged some pleasantries until the call ended. But Heizi was still worried, "I think we’d better just wait there and get our money. Or we could turn back now, to avoid any complications."

Yan Fei, who had never suffered the ordeal of driving in the middle of the night unless it was with his wife, was impatient, "Go back now? We’ve come this far, just relax! Even if he had the guts of a bear and the boldness of a leopard, what’s mine is mine, and if he dared to take it, I’m confident of getting it back."

Heizi tried to persuade him a few times, but seeing Yan Fei’s resolute attitude, he couldn’t do anything about it.

The next day at noon, the pair finally returned to Sancha River. Yan Fei kept a low profile and asked Heizi to go get a driving permit, while he continued running about on his motorbike as usual.

But he didn’t feel like running around for more than a couple of days.

The relentless rain from above caused the water levels in the river to rise higher and higher, and that wasn’t all—the path leading to the bamboo sheds, not far from the bridge entrance, sat on lower ground and was now submerged.

Ever since the great flood more than twenty years ago, the two rivers on the east and west sides of Sancha River Town would reach their peak levels each year, but never to this extent.

Yan Fei looked at the flooded path with dismay, regretting his previous disbelief in the possibility of a major flood. Now, wasn’t he just the butt of the joke?

Ironically, the water was neither too much nor too little, too deep for people to wade through in the middle but too shallow for a small boat to be practical on either side.

Fortunately, seeing the situation worsen two days earlier, they had harvested a batch of mushrooms and earthworms from the sheds. Now, with the remaining crops, there was no suitable place left for relocation—all they could do was hope for mercy from the heavens.

With continuous reports of floods in other areas broadcast on television, anxiety spread among the people.

At the Village Entrance of Sancha River Town, bags of sand and soil had already been packed and piled up on both sides of the road, ready to block the entrance at any moment.

There was no need to worry about the location of the cattle farm though. This place was known as a geomantic treasure for a reason—the area surrounding the town was higher in elevation, making sense of the geomancer’s praise of it being "at the forefront of the tide," and the "Green Dragon drawing in water."

"It’s nothing, really it’s nothing, the river is still far from the banks! I have absolutely no problems here, mom, you can be at ease!" Yan Fei crouched on an Apricot Tree by the river, spouting nonsense while looking at the surging waters.

The Apricot Trees on higher banks were still untouched by the water, while the willows by the river had already begun to sway in the water. Luckily, farther upstream the river turned a bend, and by the time the water reached this point, the current wasn’t as fierce, sparing the trees from being washed away.

As June was drawing to a close, it was only a matter of days before the high school students would head to the county town for the college entrance examination—meanwhile, the water level in the river continued to rise. Yan Fei, alone by the Bamboo Forest Shed, felt utterly helpless watching over his shed.

The people from the farm suggested demolishing the site in advance, to salvage whatever materials they could before they got swept away by the flood.

But Yan Fei felt it was not worth the trouble.

As for the bricks used in the walls, there was no concern of them being washed away and he wasn’t worried about the wooden part of the sheds either. He was certain the water wouldn’t rise enough to flood the sheds; if it did, the sheds would be the least of their worries.

The key issue now was that the road was already cut off, making it difficult to move the belongings.

Anyway, even if the wood was swept away, he wouldn’t mind. As long as the flood hadn’t entered the shed, he still held onto hope each day, resolutely staying guard over his belongings, refusing to leave first.

Many tried to persuade him, like Lin Baoguo and Ma Yongming who didn’t need to be mentioned, as they checked the water level daily and called him upon arriving—using the phone from the cattle farm, not minding the phone bill at all, as it came from the proverbial wool of the sheep.

His parents were also worried, frequently calling to inquire about the situation.

And they were not the only ones concerned for him; even Secretary Jiao from the county committee had given him a call, urging him to be cautious and not let the star enterprise of the county become a major disaster victim due to neglect.

After finally calming his mother and hanging up the phone, Yan Fei continued to perch on the Apricot Tree, irately reprimanding the increasingly uneasy animals, Old Tiger and Black Bear, beneath him: "Settle down, the water hasn’t risen up here yet! Keep waiting, we’ll leave when the water reaches our feet..."

This fellow remained unrepentant, clinging onto the last sliver of hope that the flood wouldn’t reach inside his shed!

While it’s said that a person won’t give up until they reach the Yellow River, his stubbornness held firm: not until floodwaters entered his house would he give up hope...