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Indeed, the situation that Tang Zhinian was worried about had happened before in the village. A young villager who had made some money was eventually forced to move out of the village due to constant borrowing, leaving behind a whiff of bitter relationships. Even until now, the family hasn’t returned.

Tang Zhinian wasn’t fond of handling such complexities, so he just decided to act as if all their money had been washed away by the flood. He was firm in keeping this secret, for he knew he still needed to send his daughter to school – these were her future tuition fees.

Tang Zhijun tucked the money back into an oilcloth bag, climbed up the large tree in their yard, and hid the money high in its branches. They’d retrieve it once they had a roof over their heads again.

They moved their belongings to the little shed in their farmland early the next morning. Then, they carried on tending to their small plot of land. As the village chief had said, they could always rebuild their house; you wouldn’t freeze to death from sleeping outside, but if they abandoned their land, there wouldn’t be anything left to eat.

With old and young mouths to feed in the family, how could they survive without their crops? Then starvation would be the only outcome.

Everyone in the village, along with those who came from the county, pitched in to help mend their homes – some completely rebuilt, others patched up as best as they could.

Regardless, they needed a place to shield them from the wind and rain.

They added a couple of bricks to the Tang family’s house, and then used wooden beams to construct a roof. It was good enough to live in for the time being. All the bedding and other necessities were ruined and needed to be replaced. The two Tang brothers rode a tricycle into town to purchase supplies.

After tidying up, Tang Zhinian made a table and chairs out of wooden planks. Their home was slowly coming back together.

On the first day back, Tang Zhijun retraced the ten thousand yuan they had hidden in the tree. He deposited it at the town’s credit union before the next dawn, to avoid any unpredictable misfortune.

They only kept around a hundred yuan at home, thinking that should suffice.

The two brothers kept their heads down, tending to the fields as usual, hoping for a good crop yield and decent prices this year. Although they knew they had ten thousand yuan now, it didn’t seem to be enough upon closer consideration.

They needed to rebuild their house, feed three mouths, and Tang Yuxin was still young. They also needed to find a wife for Tang Zhijun, which might require building another house.

Tang Yuxin sat in Sun Zhong’s now empty house, clutching a wooden plank, practicing her needlework.

Chen Zhong ran his hand over the fresh wall of his house. The flood had washed away all the valuable things he had accumulated over the years, including his collection of books.

“Ah…” he sighed, reflecting on his life’s worth now washed away.

Thankfully, he walked over, squatted down in front of Tang Yuxin.

“You’re a tough little girl, not washed away by the flood. In the future, all of grandpa’s hopes lie with you.”

He gave her head a comforting ruffle, finding a glimmer of solace in his heart.