"Oh no!"
Zhou Qiqi suddenly slapped her forehead, only then remembering that she still had a soup of white fungus, lily bulbs, and lotus seeds cooking in her pot!
To save time, she added two new pieces of coal to the stove, and the bright blue flames leaped high from the stove opening, hoping to cook the food quickly.
Unexpectedly, Sister Cuixiang from next door rushed over in a panic, saying that Zhouzhou had an accident at school. She ran out without even taking off her apron, completely forgetting to put out the stove fire.
That's exactly where the problem started!
She quickly took out her keys to open the door, and as soon as she pushed it open, a pungent smell of burning, mixed with thick gray-black smoke, rushed towards her.
"Cough cough cough..."
Zhou Qiqi's eyes stung from the choking, and she instinctively spread her arms to block Deng Cuixiang and the two children behind her.
"Sister Cuixiang, you and the children wait at the door, this smoke is choking!"
As she spoke, she casually picked up the apron that had fallen on the ground, rinsed it under the tap, folded it into a triangle to cover her mouth and nose, and crouched down as she moved toward the kitchen.
The kitchen window wasn't closed properly, and a draft of black smoke billowed out.
She squinted and fanned herself twice, making the viewer's heart pound with fear.
The large aluminum pot used for stewing soup was now leaning against the coal stove, its lid had fallen to the side, and black water was bubbling out of the pot. The overflowing soup solidified into brown lumps on the blue brick floor, like magma eruption.
The door to the coal stove below was half-open, and the dark red coal briquettes had a bluish-gray tinge. Occasionally, sparks would fly out and scorch the newspapers on the wall, leaving scorch marks the size of fingernails.
The situation is dangerous, but thankfully no fire has broken out.
When she moved the stove last month, she was worried about this problem, so she deliberately placed the stove by the window, not next to the wooden cabinet. Unexpectedly, it made a big difference.
However, the most urgent task at hand is to use furnace tongs to close the air inlet of the coal stove.
This is how the fire in the coal stove can be extinguished.
She reached forward, clutching the corner of her apron. Where were the stove tongs?
It was still on the stove yesterday...
Black smoke and heat hit her face. Zhou Qiqi squinted and groped on the right side of the coal stove. Her fingertips had just touched the cold iron tongs when she suddenly felt a heat between her eyebrows—a spark the size of a bean was jumping out of the stove and flying straight toward her nose!
"careful!"
Fortunately, at that moment, a not-so-strong arm pulled her back forcefully!
Zhou Qiqi was suddenly pulled like that, and she fell backward, landing hard on her bottom.
As she fell, a spark grazed her nose and landed on the ground, giving her a fright.
Before I could even express my feelings, I heard a "Ouch!" from behind me.
Although she fell on her bottom, she landed on someone else and it didn't hurt much; the person who pulled her away was the one who was in trouble.
He landed hard on his butt on the kitchen threshold, with someone on top of him, and he was wincing in pain.
"Yingying, are you alright?"
Zhou Qiqi rushed to help her up, and when her fingertips touched the other person's forearm, Zhu Yingying flinched as if she had been burned.
Zhou Qiqi noticed a large dark purple patch on her wrist and quickly asked what happened.
Yingying, disregarding her bottom, hurriedly rolled up her sleeves, saying that she had accidentally bumped into something in the afternoon.
Before he could finish speaking, Commander Wang returned. As soon as he saw smoke coming from Zhou Qiqi's house, he rushed in.
After understanding the situation, he pushed the two women out the door without saying a word, grabbed the stove tongs, and rushed into the kitchen.
This man truly lived up to his reputation as a soldier; when he came out again ten minutes later...
The air inlet of the coal stove was jammed shut with iron clamps, and the remaining coal inside the stove was completely covered with soil from the vegetable garden.
The aluminum pot, its bottom burned through, was submerged in a wooden basin filled with water, sizzling and steaming.
The black smoke in the room has decreased considerably, but—
"Although we've opened the windows for ventilation, the smoke is toxic, and the room isn't safe for anyone to stay in for a while..."
Seeing the situation, it was indeed impossible to stay inside. Deng Cuixiang, holding Zhouzhou's hand with one hand and Xiangyang's hand with the other, suggested.
"Why don't you come to my house first? I bet the kids are hungry."
"OK."
Zhou Qiqi nodded and took Zhouzhou to change into clean clothes.
Deng Cuixiang then greeted Zhu Yingying and her husband.
“Yingying, you and Commander Wang are here too. Your house is downwind, so it's not a good place to stay. You two probably haven't eaten yet, right? Come to my house and grab a bite to eat.”
Yingying naturally had no objections.
Before they even reached their doorstep, they bumped into Battalion Commander Jiang, who was in a great hurry.
He's been busy at the military base these past few days and just got back. He heard a few words from Xiang Hai and was extremely worried. He was about to go to school when he ran into Xiang Hai on the way, otherwise he would have made a wasted trip.
He was covered in sweat from running, his military cap askew on his head, and he glared at Xiangyang in the crowd.
"What happened? What happened to Xiangyang at school? Did he get into another fight? And how did Zhouzhou get involved? That brat, I'm going to beat him up!"
Xiangyang yelled and hid behind Deng Cuixiang, his dirty little hands grabbing Deng Cuixiang's trouser leg.
"Dad! I didn't fight!"
Deng Cuixiang also testified, "No, you've misunderstood!"
"No fight?"
Battalion Commander Jiang didn't believe it, and he reached out to grab his son.
"Look at yourself! You're filthy! Your face looks like a cat's! You're a constant source of trouble! You're nothing compared to Xiang Hai!"
"Get out here!"
Zhou Qiqi quickly stepped in between them.
"Brother Jiang, Xiangyang is a little hero today! He hit someone to protect Zhouzhou!"
Battalion Commander Jiang didn't believe what Deng Cuixiang said, but he had no choice but to believe what Zhou Qiqi said, so he quickly looked up and asked Deng Cuixiang.
"real?"
Deng Cuixiang nodded hurriedly, pushing him as she spoke.
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