Chapter 5 Preparing to Evacuate

"Get in the car!"

Jiang Weimin looked at his children's complicated expressions and knew what they were worried about.

"Don't worry. Although it hasn't been serviced in the past few years, the car hasn't had any problems. I even drove it for a stroll along the river last month and it was fine. Besides, even if we evacuate, we'll only evacuate to our post. It's only a few miles away, so nothing will happen."

The rest of the family was a little worried, but there was nothing they could do but accept the situation silently. After all, they had no other car to use, and they could only hope that this "old friend" who had been their main financial support would not fail.

After learning about the village's decision, the Jiang family got busy. After all, they had a lot of stuff at home, and they could only take a limited amount with them when evacuating. They needed to carefully select and consider what to take with them.

Clothes, shoes, socks, raincoats, rubber shoes, and most importantly, food and water, all need to be prepared in advance. After Jiang Dong drove the dilapidated bus from the vegetable garden behind his house to the front door, the others began to move the prepared things onto the bus one by one.

The interior space of the Jiang family's bus is not small. It can carry up to 38 passengers. It is about 9 meters long, two and a half meters wide, and three and a half meters high.

After the bus was scrapped, Jiang Weimin removed almost all of the seats and sold them for scrap. Aside from the four seats at the rear, the only remaining seats were the three seats in the front row next to the driver's seat. The rest of the bus was completely empty, leaving plenty of space inside, allowing for plenty of storage.

Near the rear seat of the car, there is an old mattress that is one and a half meters by two meters. On the other side is a wooden table and a small car refrigerator, but this refrigerator can only be used when the car is started.

Because the previous renovations were almost all done by her father alone, Jiang Qian had only heard of it but never seen it before, and always wondered what kind of transformation a broken bus could be made into?

It was not until she got in the car that she realized that the car had been modified to a considerable extent. Except for the lack of a bathroom and induction cooker, it had almost become an RV, and the comfort level had increased dramatically.

Jiang Weimin still had a lot of affection for his old friend and often came to clean and mop the carriage. The carriage was clean and did not look messy, which was much better than Jiang Qian had expected.

But because it had been renovated before, the remaining space was not as big as expected, so after discussion, the whole family picked out the things they wanted to bring.

The first thing to be moved into the car was the mattress in Jiang Dong's room, which had been bought only a few years ago. After all, there were six people in the family, and the original mattress was not enough for everyone to rest. In addition to the mattress, a folding bed that was one and a half meters wide was also brought in.

Next came the bedding and clothes for the six people, as well as the family's savings account and valuables. Any appliances that could be taken away were also dismantled and taken away. They were all bought only a few years ago, and I couldn't bear to leave them at home. I would be heartbroken if they got soaked.

If it doesn't fit inside the car, put it in the trunk or luggage compartment. If it's not afraid of rain, seal it with oil paper or plastic sheeting and tie it to the roof of the car.

Of course, the most important thing is to bring enough food and water to last the family for a while.

There was more room in the car than I thought, and I ended up fitting a lot more stuff in it than I expected.

Jiang Weimin and Huang Liping wanted to move all their belongings into the bus in the little extra space. In the end, there was no room on the bus, so they had to pile up the remaining things in the house to reduce the possibility of them being soaked in water.

In addition to their family, other families in the village were also taking action. The evacuation preparations did not stop because of the heavier rain, but became more urgent.

Because the Jiang family ran the only small shop in the village, many people in the village rushed to buy things before the evacuation.

Although no one in the countryside is short of food, it is still necessary to buy some more food for emergency use.

The villagers who came to buy things were surprised to see Jiang Dong and his family of three at home.

"Xiaoru and Chenchen are also at home? When did they come back?"

Ren Ru smiled as she helped pack the things, "She came back yesterday with Dongzi, Aunt Hongxia."

"The weather is so bad? Why are you back? It would be nice to stay in the city. We can live upstairs and not worry about flooding."

Ren Ru's smile froze for a moment, then quickly recovered. "The power outage in the neighborhood and Chenchen's school are on vacation. Dongzi was worried about his parents, so we came back."

The middle-aged woman called Aunt Hongxia praised, "You and Dongzi are filial. If I hadn't called my husband, he wouldn't have thought of contacting me, let alone coming home to visit."

Huang Liping was happy to hear this, but she also knew she couldn't just go along with what others said. It didn't matter how much they disparaged their own children, but if someone else said something about them, anyone would blush.

She quickly praised him, "Your Jiahang is a very good man too. He's busy running a restaurant in the city, but every time he comes home he's packed with bags. Your daughter-in-law is the same. She bought you two down jackets worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars just for you. In her free time, she takes you two on trips everywhere. Didn't they even go abroad last time? You have such a wonderful son and daughter-in-law, and you're still not satisfied?"

Hearing this, Aunt Hongxia smiled and said, "Well, it's only young people like them who spend money recklessly. They only dare to do so now because they don't have children. If they continue to spend money recklessly like this when they have children, I will definitely have a good talk with them."

Huang Liping smiled and complimented, "That's because the children can earn money."

"Well, what can they earn? They're so loose-handed that they'll spend whatever they earn!"

Jiang Qian listened to their conversation and saw that there were quite a few villagers at home. She interrupted and asked, "Is Jiahang and his family in the community okay?"

Aunt Hongxia turned around and answered Jiang Qian's question, "It's okay. I called this morning, and he said that they have a newly built community, and the drainage facilities are planned according to the latest standards. There is no water accumulation in the community. It's just that there is not much food at home. It's raining so hard, and few supermarkets outside are open. It's hard to buy food. It's better for us to stay at home."

Another villager waiting nearby added, "Even if we have food, it's no use. My son and daughter live in the old complex, and the water has already reached our first-floor home. The water on the road outside is even higher, reaching people's chests. They're on the third floor, and they live in fear every day, afraid that it will flood them one day."

"What about the rescue? They're in the city. If anything happens, the fire department should go there, right?"

"How could it be so timely? I heard that almost all the firefighters are going to the villages along the river to provide rescue. That area is usually a scenic spot along the river, with nearly 30 villages along the river. The situation is the most serious right now. Even in the city, those with less serious injuries have to wait in line."

"Then I think it's better to go home than to stay in the city," Jiang Qian said casually, "At least at home I have food and drink, and if I need anything, I can go to the mountains. It's hard to escape in the city."

Everyone who heard her say this was stunned, and then they started laughing.

"Qianqian, you're not right. Even though we have food and drink at home, and the police and soldiers can still come to our rescue if we get into trouble in the city, who can we rely on in the remote countryside?"

"Our hometown is nice, nestled in the mountains and close to the water. But it's still not as good as the city. After all, if the city wasn't good, why would so many people rush to move there?"

The others echoed, "Yeah, it's better to be in the city. We don't necessarily get flooded in the city, but we're definitely going to have to evacuate and relocate."

Speaking of this, everyone's mood became depressed and no one wanted to talk about such topics anymore. They bought what they wanted and hurried home.

Villagers came in groups of three or four, and almost everyone left with a large bag of groceries. Items like instant noodles, sausages, biscuits, and bread were extremely popular, and the small shop's remaining stock was completely sold out in less than half an hour.

Even the snacks and candies that children like were sold in large quantities, and the only things left in the store were oil, salt, sauce and vinegar that were not often bought.

The constant ringing of payment notifications on their phones made the Jiang family's parents, who were originally worried, look less solemn, and counted today's income with joy.

But looking at the almost half-empty store in her home, Jiang Qian became more and more anxious.

She wanted to tell her parents to save some things for her family, but when she saw that almost all the people who came to buy things were her grandparents and uncles who had watched her grow up, she couldn't say the words that were on the tip of her tongue.

In the end, he could only sigh and comfort himself that at least the batch of goods that Dongzi had just bought had just been moved into the car, so he wouldn't have to worry about having nothing to eat in the short term.

After she mentioned it, the villagers all thought the city was better. When other villagers came back, Jiang Qian didn't say anything more. She just suggested that everyone take more food and water with them when they evacuated. After all, after being soaked by the flood, it was still unknown whether the food at home was still edible.

While receiving the villagers who came to buy things, the family did not stop and continued to collect their own things.

Even though the bus can take away a lot of things, there are still more things left at home that cannot be taken away.

Jiang Weimin and Jiang Dong worked together to move some items that were sensitive to water to the rooftop, wrapping them in oil paper and plastic sheeting. There wasn't much left in the shop, so they packed everything up and loaded it onto the bus.

Because most of the people in the village came to buy instant foods that were easy to preserve, the convenience store was almost filled with half a freezer full of frozen dumplings.

This thing is difficult to preserve, but I couldn't bear to leave it at home. Finally, I listened to Jiang Qian's advice and prepared to carry it and other fresh food in the house, including the freezer, onto the bus during the final evacuation.

These are all frozen items. As long as you don't open the freezer door frequently, even if the freezer is out of power, the cold air inside can keep these things preserved for a day or two.

As they were packing up, the water in the river in front of their house rose higher and higher. Slowly, even without leaving the house, they could see the yellow and turbid river water not far away.

Jiang Weimin and Jiang Dong hurried on, wrapping up all the wooden furniture and carrying it to the roof. Jiang Qian and Ren Ru were also busy sealing the doors and windows with scotch tape, hoping to reduce water ingress. Huang Liping went to her own vegetable patch and brought back all the vegetables she hadn't picked yet.

While the family was busy, the village loudspeaker suddenly sounded.

Amid the sound of heavy rain, the shrill alarm bells suddenly rang and spread through the radio to every household in the village.

Jiang Weimin, who was busy on the roof, heard it, glanced at the river not far away, and hurried down with his son, shouting, "Pack up the last of your things, we're leaving now."

The whole family realized the seriousness of the situation and did not dare to delay for a moment.

Jiang Weimin and Jiang Dong unplugged the freezer and lifted it onto the bus. Ren Ru was urged to get on the bus early with her children. Huang Liping brought the vegetables she had just picked and the pots and pans she would use. Jiang Qian pushed out the electric tricycle at home and was the last one to lock the door.

Not far away, cars were driving out of the village one after another and disappeared at the end of the road in the endless rain.

Jiang Dong and his father put the freezer on the bus and got off. He took the tricycle from Jiang Qian and urged her, "Hurry up and get on. I'll drive the tricycle."

At this critical moment, there was no time to argue, and Jiang Qian really didn't know how to drive a tricycle very well.

She ran onto the bus. The next second, the bus door closed and Jiang Weimin started the car.

Two cars, one in front and one behind, drove along the road towards a hill not far away.

The urgent rain hit the tightly closed car windows. The heavy rain curtain that made it impossible to see the road ahead made people feel uneasy, and the expressions on everyone's faces were extremely solemn.

For safety reasons, I dare not drive too fast.

The bus slowly drove out of the village. After traveling for a distance, several other cars followed behind it. They should be the villagers who evacuated after them.

Jiang Weimin was not in the mood to pay attention to these things at the moment. His heart was completely on the bridge in front of him.

To reach the higher hills, one must cross the cement bridge at the end of the village. However, the river was rising continuously, and the water level that was originally below the cement bridge had long since overflowed the bridge surface and was flowing rapidly.

【Author’s words】

This chapter has been completed, and there should be no other updates today.

I was so happy to see that my collection had increased yesterday. Thank you, my dear. Your collection is a great encouragement to me.

If you like similar apocalyptic stories, there is also a pre-collected article about opening a bathhouse in the apocalypse, you can take a look.

Thank you all for your support, give you all a thumbs up!