There is water all around.
The sky was dark and heavy, mountain torrents were roaring on the dam 800 meters away in Qu County, and the alarm lights in the factory area dyed the rain blood red.
“The dam is about to collapse.”
"If you have basins, take them. If you have buckets, take them. Our factory is just downstream and will be flooded soon."
The gongs of the flood prevention team were ringing in the family quarters.
Jiang Ningning found herself trapped in a small body. The panic in her heart overwhelmed her and she could not control her body at all.
Mother Li Mingxia put on a blue work suit over her nightgown and stroked her bangs with her fingers that smelled of motor oil. "Ninja, be obedient. It will be dawn when you count to one. We will be back when it is dawn."
"Mom, can you please not go? I'm scared." Fourteen-year-old Jiang Ningning has seen through the adults' lies.
The white woven lamps on the ceiling of the living room swayed in the rainstorm like white funeral banners.
"Engineer Jiang! The water has overflowed the warning line!" Zhu Zhenming ran in with a pale face.
"Precision milling machines are the eyes of the country. If water gets into them, they will go blind." Jiang Ming was anxious and angry.
"Ningning's mother, you take the female workers to wrap the precision machine tools with oilcloth. The CNC drawings of the machine tools must be wrapped with three layers. I will go to the distribution box to remove the circuit boards."
Li Mingxia grabbed his arm, worry in her eyes, "Lao Jiang, the power box is dangerous!"
"I know, but if an electric shock occurs, the consequences will be disastrous. Besides, building the Red Flag Canal was much more dangerous than this. What's there to be afraid of?"
Jiang Ming was carrying a canvas tool bag and had an oil-soaked wrench stuck on his back, shining like a decisive sword in the lightning.
He turned around to look at his wife and daughter, then bit his tongue and plunged into the dark rain.
The raindrops floating in the flashlight aperture are like thousands of silver needles.
Li Mingxia stomped her feet and followed closely behind.
"mom!"
"Please don't go..."
Jiang Ningning reached out to grab it, but only pulled off the "Advanced Producer" medal on Li Mingxia's left chest. I chased him out barefoot and lay down in the corridor.
Workers in rattan hats were seen swarming into the streets like ants, mud rolling up muddy waves around their waists, and the flood-control sandbags on their shoulders were dripping with water.
The flashlight light made a swaying Milky Way in the rain curtain and flashed past the slogan on the wall: "Not afraid of hardship, not afraid of death."
"hiss--"
She suddenly felt pain and lowered her head. The medal she was holding was rubbing her palm, leaving a bloody five-pointed star, and the red paint had turned a darker brown.
At the darkest moment before dawn, the roar of the dam burst resounded throughout the land, and the Han River opened a gap eighteen miles away.
Mud mixed with diesel poured into the workshop, engulfing the machine tools wrapped in oilcloth, the water-soaked quotation boards, and finally the always-burning flashlight on the distribution box.
Little Jiang Ningning stood in the mud and kept digging.
One after another.
The hope in my eyes disappeared little by little.
Aunt Zhu ran over and pulled her, "Ningning, stop searching. It's useless. We've searched everywhere."
It was she who refused to die. Her parents had clearly promised her that she only needed to count to one.
I counted to one, but it was still dark, and they didn't come back.
Liar!
Didn't she count enough?
Then can she have dozens, a hundred, or ten thousand more...?
After searching for an unknown amount of time, Jiang Ningning finally fished out a work badge from the mire.
The aluminum nameplate was twisted into a knot by the mudslide, but the three raised characters "Li Mingxia" could still be clearly seen.
Boom!
A flash of lightning exploded outside the window, and the heavy rain of 1976 meandered like a river on the window glass. The sound of flood prevention gongs overlapped with nightmares.
"Mother……"
"Mom, don't cry..."
Hearing soft sobs, Jiang Ningning suddenly opened her eyes.
Her chest ached and was filled with heavy memories, which almost made it hard for her to breathe.
The two little dogs snuggled in her arms, whimpering and calling to her like helpless little animals.
The clothes on the chest were soaked.
Jiang Ningning felt as if her body was suddenly tightened by thorns. She reached out and hugged them, "Mom is here, babies, don't be afraid."
It seemed like a signal, and Manman finally couldn't hold back and burst into tears.
Xia Xia was crying so hard that she was out of breath.
"Mom, why are you crying so sadly?"
"We are good and obedient, please don't abandon us, okay?"
Jiang Ningning's nose was sore and her heart was about to break from crying. She kissed the two little girls' cheeks and said, "Mom didn't abandon you. I just had a dream. I dreamed about your deceased grandma and grandpa..."
With her comfort and repeated assurances, the two balls finally fell to the ground.
Hearing the mother's mumbling "Mom, don't go" and "Don't leave me", we can't help but empathize.
If there was a mother who didn't want us, she would definitely cry more than she is now.
"Will grandma and grandpa turn into stars in the end?" Xia Xia leaned against her mother's soft little face.
The adults in the family compound said that when a person dies, his body will become a star in the sky.
Jiang Ningning felt uncomfortable and painful as if something was blocking her throat. After a long pause, she spoke with difficulty: "We become gears on a milling machine, turning clacking in each machine."
The spirit of Jiang Mu will be passed down from generation to generation. It is because of such great people who are not afraid of sacrifice that the motherland is becoming more and more prosperous.
But for Yuan, such a sacrifice was too cruel.
Manman's little head couldn't understand this sentence.
The two small hands behind her clumsily imitated her past actions, gently patting her back and also brushing away the rusty smell that was deposited on the work badge.
"Don't be sad, Mom."
Jiang Ningning's eyes curved into a crescent shape, "Well, I'm not sad now."
Kissing the two little ones on the cheeks, she got up and turned on the light. I tried pulling the lamp cord several times, but the light still didn't come on.
There's so much wind and rain outside the window, there must be a power outage.
Jiang Ningning remembered that when Huo Donglin was repairing furniture in the middle of the night, he left a kerosene lamp in the living room. She turned around and told the two kids, "Stay still in bed, mom will light the kerosene lamp."
The two little hands were behind their backs and they nodded obediently.
"Okay, Mom!"
"Mom, little 뀞!"
Jiang Ningning felt a softness in her heart. With her two cubs by her side, she could be strong and brave no matter what difficulties she encountered.
If it were my previous self, I would probably be so scared that I would hide under the quilt and scroll through my phone with the volume turned up to the maximum when I heard the howling of wind and rain outside.
At this moment, a force called maternal love urged her to grope her way into the living room along the corner in the dark.
Boom!
Jiang Ningning gasped as her knees hit the table and chair hard. She subconsciously covered her mouth to prevent the moan from coming out.
"Mom?" Manman suddenly spoke.
Jiang Ningning bit her lower lip and replied, "I'm fine."
Manman could still immediately hear the tremor in her voice, and he suddenly felt guilty and sad.
If I grow up a little more, I can help my mother.
Of course, the one I hate the most is Heidan.
Why are you always not there when I need you?
Bad black guy!
I hate 놛깊 the most.
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