Chapter 629 Heading to Locust Flower Village

Cheng Wanwan stood at the gate of Nanyang City.

By now it was already broad daylight, and in the distance, more and more disaster victims were fleeing with their families, and the number of people surrounding the city gate was also increasing.

If this trend continues, tens of thousands of people will likely gather at the city gate. It will be a huge problem for so many people to see a doctor and get food.

But right now, she doesn't have the energy to deal with these things.

Call her selfish or heartless, but her premise for helping ordinary people is that she first protects her own family.

She looked at the crowd and asked, "Are there any villagers from Huaihua Village in Qing'an County?"

At the very back of the crowd, more than a dozen ragged villagers raised their hands: "We are from Huaihua Village."

She continued, "Do you know what the situation is like in Huaihua Village now?"

A woman, holding a child in her arms, said with a worried expression, “Yesterday morning, the sun was shining brightly, and everyone in the village was planting rice in the fields. It was such a beautiful day. Suddenly, a torrent rushed down from the mountain, and the farmland was flooded instantly. Several children were swept away… At the time, the village head didn’t realize the severity of the situation and was even preparing to organize people to retrieve the children’s bodies… Who would have thought that the river would become more and more rapid and the current would increase? In just half an hour, the river was flooded, and the main road was also submerged… Everyone thought the water would stop after a while, but it didn’t. The water slowly rose into the houses, then flooded the windows, and slowly climbed onto the roof…”

“My husband experienced a flood when he was a child. His first instinct was to tell everyone to escape. The villagers who believed him managed to escape, including us about a dozen. But the villagers who didn't believe him probably…” The woman began to weep. “After my husband pushed a large wooden tub to get us out of the village, he went back to rescue people, and then he never came back…”

Cheng Wanwan counted, and there were only seventeen people from Huaihua Village present, including the children.

A village with at least four or five hundred people had to be reduced to just a dozen or so, which shows how fierce the flood was...

A pang of sorrow gripped her heart, and she asked softly, "Was the cotton magistrate in your village when the flood occurred?"

The woman thought for a moment and said, "The magistrate in charge of cotton, that's Lord Zhao, the one who taught us how to grow cotton, right? When the flood came, he was in the field tending to the seedlings. Later, as the water rose higher and higher, I think I saw him go to the village head's house. The village head's house is on high ground, and it has a foundation made of large stones from the mountain. It should be able to withstand the flood..."

She herself wasn't entirely sure about what she said.

A flood may not be able to destroy a stone house, but it will certainly submerge it... Even someone who knows how to swim is helpless in a flood.

Suppressing her emotions, Cheng Wanwan asked, "Could you take us to Huaihua Village?"

The people the prefect sent knew how to get to Huaihua Village, but they certainly didn't know where the village headman's house was, nor were they familiar with the terrain... Even if something really did happen, they still had to find the child's body...

The woman turned her gaze to the three children standing beside her. All three were boys, the oldest being ten years old and the youngest four or five.

Just now, her youngest son took the fever reducer that Sui Gongren had given him.

“I will take good care of my younger brother,” her eldest son said. “Mother, go with Sui Gongren to rescue people.”

An old woman nearby chimed in, "I'll help look after your three boys. You should hurry and take Sui Gongren to rescue people. There are still hundreds of people trapped in our village. Save as many as you can..."

The woman, probably thinking of her husband, became determined: "Eldest son, you stay with your younger brother and the people of Huaihua Village. Don't get separated. Mother will be back soon."

She patted her three sons' heads, nodded to the villagers, and then got up and walked towards Cheng Wanwan.

Cheng Wanwan's gaze was somewhat clouded; in order to save her own son, she had caused another woman and her son to be separated...

She stepped over and looked at the eldest child, saying, "Take good care of your younger brother. I will bring your mother back safely."

As she spoke, she pinched the boy's wrist. The boy felt a sudden weight on his sleeve and was about to take a closer look when Cheng Wanwan shook her head, turned around, and left with her entourage.

After she left, the boy quietly took something out of his sleeve; it turned out to be a large bag of dried snacks.

His eyes immediately welled up with tears. Sui Gongren was such a good person...

Heading west from Nanyang City, you gradually reach the county town. The county town is relatively well-affected by the disaster; the water only reaches the calves. There are still some people in the town who have not yet escaped, most of them sitting on the rooftops, probably believing that the flood will recede soon.

A light drizzle was falling from the sky, and my hair was already damp from walking.

“Gongren, we can’t go any further,” Cheng Yi said. “This water is too dirty; getting wet will easily make you sick. Let me take some men to Huaihua Village.”

The yamen runner from Nanyang City said, "We can build a simple wooden boat on the spot, which will suffice."

Cheng Wanwan observed the water level. The area was relatively far from the disaster center, and the current was calmer there. However, the further inland they went, the stronger the current became, making it easy for the makeshift wooden boats to capsize…

She paused and said, "When we were walking here, I thought I saw a boat in the bushes over there. Let's go look for it."

Cheng Yi spoke up: "The boats abandoned by the roadside must be broken, otherwise someone would have picked them up long ago."

“It’s better to repair a damaged ship than to build one temporarily,” Cheng Wanwan said as she walked forward. “Split up and search. Shout out when you find one.”

Given her position, although the orders were somewhat unreasonable, those present had no choice but to obey.

While searching for boats, many people were still fleeing from the direction of the disaster, all soaking wet and in a sorry state.

Seeing people heading towards the flooded area, the disaster victims kindly advised them, "You can't go any further, it's all submerged, everything's gone, God has done a terrible thing..."

Seeing that many people had escaped death, Cheng Wanwan couldn't help but ask, "Are there any people from Qing'an County?"

Everyone shook their heads: "The tallest building in Qing'an County was flooded. Even the county magistrate couldn't escape. Tens of thousands of people from dozens of villages are probably dead..."

The woman who had come with Cheng Wanwan turned pale and almost lost her balance and fell into the water.

Cheng Wanwan helped her up: "Don't panic, Madam Huang. Your man is a lucky man, he should be alright..."

The woman's husband's surname was Huang, and she was known as Lady Huang. She forced a smile and said, "Thank you for your kind words, Lady Sui. Let's find a boat quickly."

Cheng Wanwan didn't dare to delay any longer. She found a secluded corner, bought two secondhand, dilapidated boats from the mall, threw them directly into the bushes, and then called for help.

These boats were originally designed for flood control and disaster relief; they were fast and could withstand rapids, making them ideal for use in this situation.

Cheng Jia was extremely surprised: "Such a fine ship, without any holes, how could it have been abandoned here?"

"Never mind that, let's get the boat into the water first. There are twelve of us in total, six people per boat, let's go quickly." Cheng Wanwan directed the people to launch the boat into the water and took the lead in getting on the boat and sitting down.

The constables rowed in pairs, and the assault boats floated on the flood, heading towards Qing'an County.