Chapter 42 Rain (2)

"The river is still rising..."

In the morning, the bridge was still over the water, but by the afternoon, only a faint outline remained on the surface.

Gao Ming and Li Huguo felt uneasy. After lunch, they went to clean another mountain path leading out from the side of the house, saying they would take the opportunity to check on the situation in other places.

If you want to evacuate, it's too dangerous to cross the small bridge; you can only take a long detour and walk up the small hill behind.

Chen Yun and Ruan Qiu carried all the small items downstairs to the empty room on the second floor, making trip after trip.

It was past 5 p.m. when I finished my work. It was as dark as it usually is around 8 or 9 p.m., and the only sound in the world was the pattering rain.

No matter how I tune the radio, there's no signal, and I have no way of finding out what's happening outside.

With a growing sense of unease, Chen Yun gently patted her wildly beating chest and stood at the doorway again, trying to peek through the rain to see what was happening outside.

Many withered branches and leaves floated on the river, and occasionally the carcasses of small animals could be seen flashing by.

"Li Huguo and Gao Ming are back."

Two figures slowly approached from the other side of the slope, wearing straw hats and raincoats, and carefully jumped down, grabbing onto the grass.

"How's the situation outside?"

Before the two even reached the door, Chen Yun asked anxiously.

The rain was so heavy that Chen Yun couldn't see Gao Ming's expression at all, but that slight shake of his head was enough to say everything.

Chen Yun frowned even more deeply.

Reaching the door, Gao Ming bent down and pulled up the few remaining scallions in the vegetable garden, rinsing them in the water as he did so.

Chen Yun then noticed that the ground at the entrance was already covered with a layer of rainwater.

“Gao Ming and I are going out again in a bit.” Li Huguo took off his straw hat, revealing a stern face. “The landslide washed away the wall behind the club, but luckily no one was inside at the time…”

As she spoke, she looked up at Ruanqiu, her hesitant expression sending chills down one's spine.

"How's the situation at the hospital?" Chen Yun suddenly asked again.

“There are no mountains behind the hospital, and it’s located on a slope. There wasn’t a drop of water in the hospital when we passed by,” Gao Ming replied.

Just as everyone was marveling at how important work was to Chen Yun, she suddenly added, "If the water floods past the threshold, we'll evacuate to the hospital."

After saying that, as if he had made a decision, he turned around, went into the house, took down two towels, and handed them to Gao Ming and the other person.

Ruanqiu asked, puzzled, "Then why don't we just go to my house now? Isn't it safer for us to live on the fifth floor than at the hospital?"

"no."

The remaining three people almost simultaneously uttered the same two words.

Chen Yun looked at the two of them in surprise and hurriedly asked, "Did something happen in dormitory building number twenty-five?"

She felt it wouldn't work because she had lived there herself. Half of the trees on the small hillside had been cut down, and people were secretly planting corn in the mountains. If a landslide occurred, the first buildings to be hit would definitely be the twenty-five family apartment buildings.

"This morning, the bamboo grove next to the house was washed away. All the bamboo was washed up to the first floor, and everyone on the first floor moved upstairs."

Ruanqiu let out a nervous "Ah," and almost instinctively reached for her handbag.

"Luckily, I listened to you yesterday and brought all the valuables with me."

"Where are you going tonight?" Chen Yun put the wet towel into the basin and poured out two half bowls of ginger soup from the kettle: "Drink some to warm yourself up."

The more severe the disaster, the more the security department must be at the forefront, eliminating dangers and evacuating people are their duties.

The transport team had long since suspended its transport missions; Gao Ming must have gone out because of the torrential rain.

"The factory notified all department cadres to hold an emergency meeting. Li Huguo and I had to go after we got back and ate."

“Then let’s go cook now,” Chen Yun immediately replied.

Gao Ming nodded, but did not rush to cook, because he and Li Huguo had more important things to do at the moment.

"While Huguo and I are here, move all the important things in the house to the second floor."

Chen Yun cherishes the treasure cabinet, the plush sofa that just arrived a few days ago, and the refrigerator, the most valuable item in the house.

When the second floor was built, two wooden pillars were specially added to the first floor, so there is no need to worry about the load-bearing capacity of the walls now.

After a quick meal, the two rushed out into the rain without even changing their clothes.

Before leaving, Gao Ming instructed Chen Yun that if things looked bad, he should quickly leave through the side path, as they had already cut a path with stones when they went out in the morning.

Don't feel bad about not having time to move the furniture and honeycomb briquettes upstairs.

Chen Yun nodded in agreement, her eyes filled with worry as she watched the two leave.

"You sit down, I'll carry the honeycomb briquettes upstairs."

It was only then that Ruanqiu learned that Chen Yun was pregnant. As soon as she closed the door, she decided to slowly move all the honeycomb briquettes from the corner to the second-floor stairwell and pile them up.

Without honeycomb briquettes, they wouldn't even have a hot meal.

Knock knock knock—

The knocking became muffled in the rainy night, and Chen Yun, worried that Gao Ming was distracted, didn't hear it at all.

Then the people outside started knocking on the window.

Who is it?

"It's me, Little Chen."

"Aunt Ma?"

Chen Yun hurriedly opened the door. Ma's mother and son were both outside, wearing raincoats and with their trousers rolled up to their knees.

"Have we run out of coal?"

Chen Yun guessed it from Ma's mother's embarrassed expression.

"I didn't come to you about this." Old Ma wiped the rain off her face. "Cuifen has a slight fever, and I don't have any medicine at home. I wanted to ask if you have any fever reducers?"

Ma Cuifen went out to get honeycomb briquettes in the morning and got caught in the rain. She started to have a fever in the afternoon. Since the folk remedies didn't work, she had no choice but to ask Chen Yun for help.

"Wait for me to get it."

Chen Yun did indeed keep several basic medicines in his room.

Normally, Chen Yun would give Yinqiao Detoxification Tablets to Old Lady Ma, but the current situation is special. They might have to evacuate in the rain tomorrow, so he gave Old Lady Ma Analgin instead.

"Eat this first, one slice is enough."

"Okay." Old Ma handed the medicine to Ma Zhigang: "I'm going to talk to Little Chen for a bit, you go back first."

"If you don't come to me, I'll go to your house to look for you."

Old Mrs. Ma looked around the house and noticed that they had already moved the sofa upstairs. Her expression immediately turned serious.

"Does the girl also think this rain isn't going to stop anytime soon?"

Chen Yun nodded.

"That's what I wanted to tell you. The bridge outside is flooded. If we stay here... what if the water rises and we can't leave?"

What does the old lady think?

"I'm unsure, and you know my family... my eldest son is simply not the type to make decisions..."

The entire Ma family follows Madam Ma's arrangements, but right now her mind is in turmoil, like a tangled ball of hemp thread, so she can only come and ask Chen Yun for his opinion.

“I’ve roughly observed the rate at which the water is rising.” Chen Yun lifted the curtain and pointed to the riverbank: “If the rain is still heavy, the water will be flooding the house by tomorrow morning at the latest.”

"So fast!"

"As long as the rain lessens, it'll be fine..."

Boom—

A deafening clap of thunder exploded overhead, giving Chen Yun no chance to get through it safely.

Chen Yun sighed: "Let's not sleep tonight. If things don't look good, we'll leave."

Old Ma sighed heavily, "I'll listen to you. If you leave, remember to call me. I'll go back and have Zhigang carry the cabinet up to the second floor."

"It's best not to bring your furniture up there."

"Why?"

“The entire weight of your second floor rests on the walls; there are no supporting pillars underneath.” Chen Yun pointed out the four iron pillars in the house and the welding points between the second floor and the steel trough to Granny Ma. “Moreover, your second floor is made of wood. Lifting it up would actually increase the risk of the walls collapsing.”

Old Ma didn't understand anything about welding points or stress points, but when Chen Yun said it might collapse, she believed him completely.

"Then let's ignore it."

Chen Yun then instructed Granny Ma to pack up all the important things, especially Zhang Guixiang's clothes and the baby's clothes after birth.

Twins, which are nearly 223 days old, could be born prematurely at any time.

However... Chen Yun hoped that Zhang Guixiang's baby could hold on for at least another half month.

If labor starts in the next few days, there will definitely be landslides on the road to the county town, so the only option is to give birth at the staff hospital.

Old Lady Ma returned home with a solemn expression.

All the lights were on in the houses that night, and there were probably eyes watching anxiously from behind several windows.

At 3:30 a.m., Chen Yun, still worried, went out to check on the situation again.

The rain had indeed spread, the vegetable garden was soaked in muddy water, and the entire middle of the residential building had turned into a muddy red muddy water.

"Xiao Chen, my house is flooded."

The door to Yang Juhua's house next door was also open. Hu Gangtie was sweeping water out of the house, while Yang Juhua had piled up her chaff pillow at the doorway.

"If I had known, I would have followed Comrade Gao's example and built a threshold too," Yang Juhua said.

The blame lies with the fact that the couple has been completely preoccupied with their heartless daughter lately, leaving them no time to attend to other household matters.

Hu Yue'e was determined to live in the Tang family's house, and even referred to herself as the Tang family's daughter-in-law in public.

Despite Hu Gangtie and Yang Juhua's repeated attempts to persuade him, they finally gave up and stopped interfering.

"Sister-in-law, we might go to the hospital to take shelter from the rain with Aunt Ma's family in the middle of the night." Chen Yun told Yang Juhua about her discussion with Aunt Ma that night, and worried that the couple might not realize the seriousness of the problem, she also relayed the situation outside the factory.

"..."

"I don't think this rain will stop anytime soon," Chen Yun sighed.

“Let’s go together.” Hu Gangtie stopped sweeping the water and waved to Yang Juhua: “Old Yang, go pack your things. Anything you can’t take with you, just pile it on the table.”

Hu Gang was among the first group of workers to come to Panshui County to build the factory. At that time, a landslide occurred in the mountains due to rain, and the mudslide buried the newly built factory buildings, causing the deaths of several workers who were building the buildings.

It was because of this incident that the factory relocated and rebuilt its factory. Unexpectedly, it encountered such heavy rain again this year.

Heavy rain and mudslides come together. Better safe than sorry, Hu Gangtie knew very well that life couldn't be gambled with fate.

"Then I'll go ask the other companies if they're interested?" Chen Yun said.

"Don't go!" Hu Gangtie hurriedly chased after him to stop him. Yang Juhua and Ruanqiu each grabbed one of his arms and pulled him into the house. Ruanqiu said, "Don't go and cause trouble. If something happens to you, how am I supposed to explain to Gao Ming?"

"That's right, Lao Hu and I will go."

The task of tidying up the house fell to Hu Xiangyang again, and the couple put on raincoats and prepared to go door to door to ask.

Just then... a bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, instantly illuminating it.

With a snap, the lights in the room went out.

Chen Yun's breath hitched, and her expression changed drastically.

Just as the lightning illuminated the scene, she saw tiles falling from Zheng Wen's roof, and at the same time, a hole appeared in the wall.

"Zheng Wen's house is about to collapse!"

Without much thought, Chen Yun grabbed a raincoat, put it on, and rushed into the rain.

"Zheng Wen!"

"Song Shiwei!"

Avoiding the roof tiles that could slide down at any moment, Chen Yun nervously pounded on Zheng Wen's window.

Seeing this, the others quickly joined in the shouting.

The lights were turned off at Zheng Wen's house as soon as it got dark; they must have gone to bed long ago.

Both Ma's family and Liu's family opened their doors, and everyone braved the rain to call for help at Zheng Wen's door.

Regardless of their usual relationship, they had long since put aside their past conflicts in the face of disaster, and only hoped to call out Zheng Wen and the other person together.

Who is it?

"Zheng Wen, the house is about to collapse, come out quickly!" Chen Yun shouted.

Perhaps the wind and rain were too loud, because the people inside didn't move for a long time. It wasn't until everyone shouted for several minutes that the door slowly opened.

"What's up?"

Zheng Wen looked at the group with displeasure, and lazily tugged at his coat as he spoke.

"The house is going to collapse."

Chen Yun simply pulled the person out and then pointed to the increasingly large opening in the wall.

The crack had grown to the thickness of a finger in just a few minutes, and the wooden beams under the eaves were also showing signs of breaking.

"Go and call Song Shiwei quickly!" the others shouted anxiously.

Zheng Wen stared intently, finally realizing the seriousness of the problem.

Just when everyone thought Zheng Wen would rush back to call his wife, he suddenly rushed towards the eaves of Chen Yun's house across the street.

He ran away without wasting a second...

"Get out of the way..."

Ruanqiu only had time to scream once before she grabbed Chen Yun and ran back, causing the crowd gathered in front of the door to scatter instantly.

Tiles slid down like raindrops, shattering into pieces with a crackling sound at my feet.

"Song Shiwei! Come out quickly!"

Click—

A thunderclap seemed to explode right next to his ear, and a buzzing sound echoed in Chen Yun's mind.

The next second, the wall of the house near the river began to collapse in front of everyone, falling down section by section.

Chen Yun heard screams coming from the sound of rain.

But at this time, no one dared to approach, and the collapsed wall was still standing in place with the steel troughs protruding.

Within minutes, Song Shiwei was buried under the rubble.

The neighboring houses were also affected. Liu Shan rushed home and called his family out. Fortunately, the steel troughs supported the walls and prevented them from collapsing completely.

"Quickly, save them!"

"Shi Wei".

The house collapsed, burying people underneath. Only then did Zheng Wen, the husband, finally feel heartbroken, walking towards the ruins while crying.

Hu Gangtie and several other male comrades climbed onto the ruins, while Zheng Wen was crying.

When they found the location where Song Shiwei was buried, Zheng Wen was still crying.

"Get out of here."

Not only did she cry, but she also blocked the way up the ruins. In a fit of anger, Chen Yun grabbed Zheng Wen by the back of the collar and ripped him open.

"You're worse than an animal! Song Shiwei would rather be with a dog than with you!"

"Aren't you afraid of being struck by lightning? If you had just turned around and called Song Shiwei a couple of times, she would have come running out. You beast..."

Unable to climb up, Old Lady Ma wiped the rain off her face while jumping up and down and cursing. After a few words, she must have swallowed a lot of water.

“Old Hu, you lift the left side and I’ll lift the right side. Once this board is removed, we can see people,” Liu Shan called out.

Song Shiwei should be sleeping on the second floor. The main beam of the house did not collapse because it was supported by the Liu family's house next door. It should only have been crushed by the tiles and some wall bricks.

But after everyone worked together to move the stone, they discovered there was a wardrobe underneath, and the person was trapped inside.

"Lift the cabinet with force."

"I saw it, I saw her hand."

"We need to lift all the wardrobes out... Wait... Chen Yun, come up and take a look."

The men stopped carrying the cabinet, and Hu Gangtie called out anxiously to Chen Yun.

Chen Yun didn't care about anything else and hurriedly climbed up the collapsed wall bricks using both hands and feet.

Blood... Blood kept oozing out from under the cabinet, staining a large area red.

Chen Yun's heart skipped a beat, and she turned sideways and crawled to the other side of the cabinet.

"Song Shiwei, can you hear me?"

A face, wet with either rain or tears, slowly turned toward Chen Yun, and Song Shiwei nodded weakly.

"Where are you hurt?" Chen Yun asked again.

"..."

"Where is Zheng Wen?" Song Shiwei asked instead of answering.

"He's down there, don't worry about him for now. Tell me where you're injured first," Chen Yun asked again, sounding annoyed.

Even now, you're still thinking about that scumbag...

“He’s a beast.” Song Shiwei suddenly smiled, “I just saw him run away.”

After saying that, she laboriously raised her hand and groped around in her chest for a moment before handing over a beautifully embroidered purse: "When I die, use this money to bury me, and consider the rest as a thank you."

"Don't talk nonsense. I'll help you stop the bleeding if you're injured."

"I'm not going to live." Song Shi smiled miserably, and with his right hand he pushed upwards, revealing the iron rod stuck in his chest.

Chen Yun's heart sank to the bottom.

The iron rods that should have been welded together to form iron bars were instead split into several, baring their fangs and claws as they pierced through the wardrobe and into Song Shiwei's body.

The iron rod that would instantly pull out Song Shiwei's body if the wardrobe was lifted would cause her to bleed to death if she wasn't separated from it.

Moreover, Chen Yun did not see the specific point of penetration and was unclear whether it had caused damage to the abdominal organs.

Even if she was lucky enough to avoid all the vital organs, the hospital didn't have an operating room to perform the surgery... Chen Yun didn't dare to think any further.

"I never imagined that you would be the one to see me off on my final journey before I died."

"I've only learned how to survive by relying on men in this life, but I've never thought about surviving on my own... If... cough cough... if there's a next life... I want to live on my own."

Song Shiwei stretched out his hand, his face suddenly brightened, and his eyes were filled with a radiant sense of relief.

Chen Yun reached out and grasped that cold hand.

"Thank you."

Finally, the adrenaline was completely gone. Song Shiwei's chest caved in forcefully as she exhaled sharply, while Chen Yun's hand was gripped so tightly that it lost all color.

As Song Shiwei reluctantly closed his eyes, all he could hear again was the sound of wind and rain.

Chen Yun withdrew his hand and touched Song Shiwei's carotid artery, which was no longer pulsating.

"He's dead!" Hu Gangtie shouted in fright.

Witnessing someone's death firsthand stirred up a flood of emotions, and Chen Yun's eyes stung with tears.

As the wardrobe was slowly moved aside, Chen Yun saw that Song Shiwei had six iron rods piercing through her chest and abdomen, each one a fatal wound.

So she died very quickly, so quickly that Chen Yun didn't even have any chance to save her.

"..."

Silently, everyone carried the body out of the rubble and placed it on a door panel. Chen Yun tore a curtain from the rubble and covered the body with it.

Blood was still flowing from under the door, quickly turning the surrounding rainwater red.

"..."

By this time, the rainwater had already submerged his ankles, and within moments the blood had spread.

"mother!"

Another exclamation broke the somber silence.

Ma Cuifen rushed out of the house and shouted in a panic at her mother, "My sister-in-law has a stomachache!"

Zhang Guixiang was also watching the situation closely. When she saw Song Shiwei's mangled body from afar, she was so frightened that she went into labor. Now, she was in so much pain that she couldn't even stand up.

"What a terrible thing!" Old Ma glared at Zheng Wen fiercely, then quickly turned and ran back into her house.

“Brother Hu, let’s go now.” Chen Yun made the decision immediately, then looked at Zheng Wen with a cold gaze: “You can either carry Song Shiwei out, or stay here and wait for the rain to stop before taking her out.”

His wife died, and Zheng Wen was completely invisible throughout the entire ordeal; not even his few cries and shouts were heard.

"I dare not."

Unexpectedly, Zheng Wen took two steps back in alarm, pointing towards Chen Yun's house and saying, "We'll carry the second floor of your house first, and then I'll find someone to carry it after the rain stops..."

Snap—

Before he could finish speaking, Chen Yun slapped him hard across the face.

"You beast, you coward!" Ruanqiu pointed at Zheng Wen's nose and shouted, "You even fought in a war, you're a disgrace to veterans!"

“You have to recite it today, or tomorrow the whole factory will know you’re a coward who abandoned your wife.” Chen Yun pointed to the group of neighbors who were all giving him a cold shoulder: “Let’s see how you’ll have the face to live after this.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

After saying that, he ignored her and rushed to the Ma family to check on Zhang Guixiang's physical condition.

My water hasn't broken, but I've already started having contractions. Judging by the frequency, I'll probably be born today or tomorrow.

"Go to the hospital!"

Chen Yun only said three words, urging Old Ma to pack her things quickly.

She went home, went upstairs, packed a few sets of clothes into her bag, wrapped them in a raincoat, and carried them on her back.

"You're wearing a raincoat, please don't catch a cold."

Ruanqiu tore off her own raincoat and insisted that Chen Yun wear it. She found a piece of oilcloth from somewhere and wrapped it around her head.

Chen Yun looked out the window; Song Shiwei was still lying there quietly.

Zheng Wen was saying something in front of Liu's house, and then he ran to the door of another neighbor's house and said something to them.

Hu Gangtie ran through all six rows of houses, and of the twenty-four families, only five decided to leave, and all of them were families from his two rows who had witnessed Song Shiwei's death.

The condition of the path is unclear. If you suddenly slip and fall into the river, it would be a greater loss than a gain. It would be safer to wait for the rain to stop.

Of course, many people felt that Chen Yun was making a mountain out of a molehill, and the "men" who usually disliked her not having to do anything at home were especially opposed to the evacuation.

Old Lady Ma urged, "Let's get ready, we can go now."

Of the five families, Old Lady Ma was definitely not going to wait; she finished cleaning first and stood at the door urging everyone on.

The group stood in water that was already above their ankles, locked their doors, and Chen Yun led the way in the direction Gao Ming had left.

"Old Hu, you stay here and wait for the rain to stop."

"Exactly, it's embarrassing for grown men to take orders from a woman."

"How long can this rain last? Last year, the houses were flooded, but no one drowned."

"If you ask me, the house collapsed because they built a second floor. Zheng Wen learned from the Gao family and suffered such a big loss, and in the end, his wife was also killed."

"If you stay indoors, you can eat and drink, but if you go out, you can't even get a sip of hot water."

"Don't try to persuade us, anyway, if something happens on the road, it won't be our fault."

"The factory didn't even notify us to evacuate, they're just getting all worked up."

Before climbing the slope, Chen Yun heard a lot of people watching and laughing at him from under the eaves of the neighboring houses.

The water that barely reached their ankles was nothing out of the ordinary to them, while Song Shiwei, hidden under the curtains, was a victim of the construction of the second floor.

Hu Gangtie stopped talking to those people, took Hu Xiangyang's hand tightly, and followed the group.

Chen Yun was at the front of the group, and only one voice in her mind told her to keep moving forward.

Touching her lower abdomen through the raincoat only strengthened her resolve.