"Our village is poor and cannot afford such a meal. But don’t worry, we will definitely make arrangements. The Song Family has factory buildings up the hill; they have a canteen there that offers four dishes and one soup every day. Their service is particularly good. We can go there to eat when the time comes."

Obviously, it’s not up to this standard.

President Chen stood silently in the rain, the sound of water splashing on the umbrella was like the sound of his heart crying out.

...

President Chen carried a meager meal of crispy rice and fermented tofu back to the guesthouse, while Secretary Xiaozu was still busy!

As soon as she arrived at the Village Department, she saw some villagers coming over with umbrellas, and they asked:

"Secretary Xiaozu, as mentioned earlier, we planned to buy grape seedlings from Baiyu County to plant—my family is ready to prepare the land first. Are we still going to plant them?"

"We will definitely plant them." Secretary Xiaozu opened her phone on the spot, "Wait while I check the weather."

Upon checking—oh no, it seems the entire Ning Province is entering the rainy season.

This way, the grape seedlings in the scientific plantation have rows and trenches, with drainage and rescue measures that are surely better than the rough planting methods in our village, right?

Therefore, she could only sigh and say, "We’ll plant them, but there’s no need to rush. Prepare the land first, and we’ll talk after the rain stops."

Anyway, the grapes won’t bear fruit this year. The villagers were casually asking, not really in a hurry:

"Well, I’ll mention it in the group. I noticed quite a few people were asking."

Secretary Xiaozu was so busy she didn’t even have time to check her phone, so she just nodded. Then she asked:

"Did you come all this way in the heavy rain just to ask about this?"

"No, it’s not." The other party chuckled, "My granddaughter is on summer break. I sent her back this afternoon and said she wants to stay for a while. I saw it’s raining quite heavily, so before it gets too dark, I came to buy some tofu to stew for them tonight."

And she added: "She bought a small duck at the school gate, and who knew it would grow into a goose. It’s growing bigger at home, eating a lot and pooping a lot... Having sent it back to the old home, it’s bothering me, the old lady."

"This goose, it wouldn’t be good to let it roam in Old Song’s fish pond, would it? Their fish sell for such a high price..."

It truly is a dilemma.

The goose doesn’t eat fish, but to be fair, even if it only eats the pond’s weeds, it’s still different.

Moreover, if your family releases geese, and later my family releases a few ducks, one says the goose is vegetarian, the other says the ducks just nibble a little...

After a long time, starting this trend isn’t good.

Secretary Xiaozu pointed in another direction:

"Over there, there’s a small pond by the door of Old Mrs. Qin, who receives Five Guarantees assistance. You can let the goose recognize the way and go there every day."

And she reminded: "You better watch out. Geese have loud voices; don’t let them scream in the middle of the night, or everyone will complain."

Those who’ve raised them know, when they start making noise, it’s truly earth-shattering!

Why else do so many rural places use them as guards?

A dog’s bark might not bother many, but a goose’s call pierces the sky.

Speaking of previous times, you raised chickens, I raised ducks, and who raised geese, nobody said anything.

But now, with villagers busy everywhere, who has time to raise these? At most, they keep a few chickens to boost family health.

Adding a goose, with noise day and night, especially now with many working night shifts, the commotion is big...

The other party chuckled, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

After all, if a goose starts calling, what can she do about it, right?

Comparatively, while Old Song’s family worried and prepared, the other villagers were much more composed.

After all, heavy rain in summer is normal! A couple of rainy days is not unusual.

Old Song’s family checked the weather—they’re college graduates, after all! They believe in scientific forecasts.

When told it would rain for a month, they immediately began gathering tea branches and corn.

For corn growing so well, they harvested it all, leaving only a small patch, supposedly for their own consumption later...

It’s heart-wrenching to watch.

But it’s their land, and they earn more money than the others, so folks don’t say much.

But in July and August, the weather is as changeable as a kid’s face. Today’s forecast may say a month of rain, and perhaps in two or three days there could be blazing sun.

People were muttering to themselves, just regretting the rainy weekend which meant no tourists to buy vegetables.

Many of the veggies in their fields ripen quickly in summer. If tomorrow’s the same, they have to quickly collect and tidy the vegetables from their gardens.

There’s all kinds of talk in the village.

Some believe, and some don’t.