Chapter 42: Despair? Hypocritical!
The rainstorm stopped and the floods receded, but Longshan Village no longer had the bustle of the past. Instead, the dead silence was filled with a musty smell.
Village Party Secretary Lin Shan squatted in the mud of the threshing ground, picking out moldy grains with his fingers.
Embedded in the cracks of his fingernails were broken pieces of dark brown grains; they were the food that everyone had worked so hard to harvest - they had all been soaked into a mushy paste that even pigs wouldn't eat.
"Damn it!" Lin Wang, the production team leader, suddenly kicked the mud on the roadside. "The fields are flooded, the houses collapsed, and we don't know what we're going to eat tomorrow!"
Suddenly, a heart-wrenching howl came from the east end of the threshing ground.
Aunt Li sat slumped in the mud, holding a bulging sack in her arms - that was the thirty kilograms of corn seeds she had secretly buried under her stove, now all soaked and sprouted.
Despair is brewing in the threshing ground.
Some people murmured whether it was time to pack up and prepare to flee the famine.
Gu Zhongzhang's hand gripping the telephone line was throbbing with veins: "Director Li, the 1,376 people in Longshan Village are now relying on that batch of relief grain..."
The rustling sound of flipping through documents came from the other end of the phone: "Xiao Gu, it's not that I won't approve it for you. Last month, the Zhumadian Reservoir burst, and the victims in Henan all crowded into Xinyang Station. The central government's grain transfer order directly took away the reserves of three provinces..."
Suddenly he lowered his voice and said, "The provincial government is still wrangling over your blasting of the mountain to divert floodwaters..."
Gu Zhongzhang looked at his distorted reflection in the glass - the unauthorized use of explosives had already involved his father and the Tang family, and some people were worried that they could not find any evidence against the Tang and Gu families.
At this moment, a crisp "crack" sound came from behind the broken wall of the threshing ground.
Everyone turned to look——
Behind the broken wall, a slender figure walked over the broken tiles. The autumn sun shone into a brilliant halo behind her, as if giving her a divine outline.
She took every step very steadily, and the sound of her boots rolling over the broken tiles was crisp and powerful.
"Lin Xiaobai!"
Amid the exclamations, everyone saw her appearance clearly—
In his right hand he was dragging a wild boar whose neck was broken by vines, and in his left hand he was holding a bunch of pheasants and rabbits that were still bleeding.
The thorny vines wrapped around the pig's neck were still wriggling, and blood left a glaring red mark on the ground.
“Bang!”
The two-hundred-pound wild boar was thrown into the center of the crowd, and the dust it kicked up hit everyone's faces.
"Have you cried enough?" Xiao Bai looked around and sneered, "If you've cried enough, get up and work."
Behind her, Tang Jingmo unloaded a large bag of grain. The mouth of the bag opened, revealing golden corn and plump sweet potatoes.
"Eat well and rebuild your home!"
Lin Shan opened his mouth, but then drooped it again: "This...can't last for a few days..."
"If I can solve one meal, I can solve the next one," Xiaobai kicked the pig's belly, "There are always more solutions than problems. Can a living person be suffocated to death by urine?"
The old village chief stood up tremblingly and slammed the ground with the stick in his hand.
——The crutch had been washed away by the water, so I temporarily found a thick wooden stick to support myself——
"Xiao Bai is right! When we were fighting the Japanese, we even ate tree bark. Now we have food and meat. Don't be scared!"
When the Lin siblings heard that Xiaobai had returned, they came running over.
"Xiaobai~"
"Great, sister, you're okay!"
"I thought..."
Xiaobai caught the calligraphy and painting that was flying towards him with one hand and put the other hand on Xiaoan's shoulder.
She raised her eyebrows at her eldest brother Lin Guohua: "Why, you thought I was dead?"
"It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back, go home and rest quickly, you...have suffered..."
At this moment, the Lin siblings only saw their sister with a tired face in their eyes and hearts.
"etc--"
She suddenly raised her hand, and everyone fell silent.
The sunlight shone on her fair face, outlining a sharp outline.
"Listen to me carefully!"
Lin Xiaobai jumped onto the stone mill in the middle of the threshing ground and looked around at everyone there. The invisible pressure intimidated everyone around.
"Since I am the chief commander of the emergency rescue, I have the final say on what happens next!"
"Xiaobai, just give us your orders and we will all listen to you!" Everyone knew how the flood receded, and they obeyed Xiaobai's words.
"good!"
"Uncle Lin Shan led people to clean up the garbage, burn all the corpses and bury them deep—" Her eyes suddenly became sharp, "Whoever dares to steal and eat the dead poultry, I will bury him with them."
"Lin Wang is responsible for repairing the houses, setting up cordons on dangerous buildings, and breaking the legs of those who enter without permission."
"The old village chief is in charge of the meals. Today's meal is enough for you." She paused, "Saving food is tomorrow's business. From now on, whether you eat meat or drink porridge is up to you!"
"Song Wan continues to take care of the wounded with the female educated youth." She looked in the direction of the educated youth point, "All male educated youth must participate in the reconstruction. If they don't work, get out of Longshan Village."
Finally, she patted Xiao An on the shoulder and said, "Take the children to set a trap, with the mountain temple as the boundary."
Wang Tiezhu was the first to pick up his shovel: "Listen to the commander-in-chief!"
"Listen to the commander-in-chief!" The voices came like a tide.
Xiaobai's whole body was shining in the sun.
Tang Jingmo stood behind her with a smile on his face - this was the Lin Xiaobai he knew, as dazzling as the sun, always bringing hope to people.
"Your wife," Gu Zhongzhang squeezed into the crowd without knowing when, hooked his childhood friend's shoulder, and gave him a finger, "Awesome!"
He pulled Tang Jingmo aside, frowning, "There's something you'd better know..."
Tang Jingmo seemed to have anticipated what he was going to say next, "My dad was investigated, so I guess Uncle Gu was not spared either."
"Good boy, you are really smart. What are you going to do? Now we are all on the same boat, so don't hide any good ideas."
The Tang Jingmo that Gu Zhongzhang knew was always a man who had a plan in mind, so he must have had a plan in mind.
"Given the current situation, let's take it one step at a time. For example, you can come with me to get the food back first."
"What? You have a way to get food? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
This is the best news Gu Zhongzhang has heard recently.
Tang Jingmo, who was walking in front, had a smile in his eyes and thought, it was not that he had the solution, but that their "commander-in-chief" had the stored food.
The Xu brothers can now use the things in their private vault openly, but...
He glanced at the county magistrate Gu who was as happy as a child behind him and said, "There is a way, but I need you to write an IOU!"
Let’s not talk about how Gu Zhongzhang was fooled into writing several IOUs.
By the time they returned with the grain, Longshan Village was already in an uproar.
Three large iron pots were set up in the middle of the threshing ground, with boiling water boiling wild boar meat, and the aroma of meat floated in the air.
A dozen half-grown children shuttled through the ruins, stacking the usable tiles neatly into piles.
The women gathered together and used their own unique skills to make the most of the food and make various dry foods.
“Relief food has arrived!”
Gu Zhongzhang jumped out of the car, not caring that his shoes were mired in mud. "The bag on top is made of refined rice. Make some porridge for the sick and the children. If anyone doesn't have milk, come and share some milk powder to feed the baby."
The crowd cheered. Several women came over with red eyes, and the baby in the cradle finally had some food.
"Others, don't be jealous. If I find anyone snatching food from the little kid, I'll make you reincarnate right away!"
Xiaobai appeared beside the car at some point and slapped the rice bag hard with his palm.
Everyone burst into laughter. "Who would steal the baby's food? Isn't that immoral? Xiaobai, don't look down on others."
"Hey, Chen Dagua, have you changed your ways? I saw you snatching cornmeal from your nephew last time."
"Go to hell, you're the one who grabbed the cornmeal, I was just blowing it to cool it down, don't burn yourself!"
Under the warm sun, everyone was talking and laughing, their faces full of hope for the future, and you could hardly tell that they were refugees who had just been affected by the disaster.
The old village chief wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with relief. As long as people's hearts remain united, Longshan Village will sooner or later regain its former vitality.
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