Natural Disaster: Back to the End of the World

Part 41

The rain started in the middle of the night, but by just after five in the afternoon, the sky had turned overcast, as if it might collapse. The dark clouds made it feel like the city was under siege. Seeing the sky, the villagers knew a big change was coming, so everyone went to the drying area to collect their things.

A thunderclap in the middle of the night marked the start of the heavy rainstorm.

Yao Ziqing sat up in bed when he heard the thunder and checked the time—it was just after two in the morning. Lei Xiao patted his back. "It's fine, it's just rain. Go back to sleep."

"But I feel like the windows might break."

To address Yao Ziqing's concerns, they had added an extra layer of wooden windows on the outside. When both windows were closed, they were both soundproof and sturdy. However, now they were rattling in the wind. Yao Ziqing was worried that the young trees in the yard, which had been planted only a few months ago, might be blown down.

Lei Xiao was also concerned. This kind of wind, described as a "demon wind" by the older generation, could even blow people away. They had brought out the thicker quilts to air them earlier, but they had only been stored for a few days. Lei Xiao brought one to Grandma's room, thinking if the weather suddenly turned cold, they could use the quilt to keep warm. Yao Ziqing also got up to check the whole house to make sure everything was secured before going back to sleep with Second Brother.

The next day, the rain showed no signs of easing. It poured heavily, as if it was trying to compensate for the months of drought. Fortunately, the power grid was still functioning normally, so they had to stay indoors, watch TV, and play on the computer.

With nothing else to do, Yao Ziqing dragged out the corn he had just stored yesterday and took out the grinder he had bought earlier. "Alright! With this heavy rain, we might as well get some work done!"

Lei Lang was lounging on the sofa, changing TV channels idly. The news was filled with reports about the heavy rain. The storm had spread from the nearby city, where it was the hardest hit. Given the scale of the rain, he wondered if the poorly constructed buildings would withstand the storm.

"Si'er, what are you up to now? If you can't sit still, just clean up the house."

Yao Ziqing organized the living room, laying out a clean carpet and spreading out the dried corn kernels. He set up a clean bucket and started grinding the corn.

Grandma had started knitting sweaters for her grandsons. She had bought a lot of high-quality wool, which was soft and comfortable, perfect for passing the time. She sat on the sofa with reading glasses, slowly knitting, planning to make vests for each of them first.

The temperature had dropped sharply after the rain began, requiring long sleeves even though it was only August. It already felt like early autumn, and it was uncertain if the weather would warm up after the rain stopped.

Seeing that Si'er was having fun, Lei Lang, bored with the TV, decided to help out.

In about an hour, Yao Ziqing managed to grind most of a bucket of corn flour. He felt the flour wasn't fine enough, so he asked Lei Lang to bring out the stone grinder. After grinding once with the machine, he used the stone grinder for a finer texture, making the food taste better.

Grandma could make a variety of dishes, like corn cakes, corn pancakes, corn sponge cakes, corn flatbreads, and corn porridge. She could list the recipes for all these dishes.

The sponge cake was a common family treat, though they rarely made corn sponge cakes because they grew rice instead of corn. Additionally, grinding at the market wasn't as fine as doing it at home. Corn needs to be ground finely to avoid a coarse texture.