The two children who had just stepped onto the shore were a little scared, and one of them almost fell to her knees with her legs weak. Su Qingluan subconsciously stood up to pick up the child, but in that brief moment, she noticed in her peripheral vision that the thing she was worried about had finally happened.
The cracks on the ice were becoming more pronounced, and near the center of the river, four children still hadn't reached the shore! The piercing cry for help just now came from none other than Chen Jiabao, the most mischievous child from before.
At this moment, he no longer had the arrogance he had before, and his arrogant expression disappeared. He looked pitiful, and his little face was pale with fear.
Su Qingluan soon saw why he was so scared - one of the tiny cracks on the ice surface passed right under Chen Jiabao's body!
As mentioned before, unlike the open and slow-flowing waters where Su Qingluan chose to ice fish, the narrow river channel in this area is bound to make the water flow under the ice more turbulent and more difficult to freeze.
Even if the river surface is frozen, the more turbulent water flow will cause the ice layer to thin. Moreover, the eddies caused by the twisting turns will hinder the further formation of the ice layer. Therefore, even if it is the same river and the same external temperature, the thickness of the ice surface in different waters will vary significantly.
It just so happens that the ice layer here is not only thinner, but also because there were more than a dozen children playing on the ice just now, the pressure they exerted on the ice surface was much greater than that of Su Qingluan and her friends. It is not surprising that cracks are gradually appearing in the ice layer!
Even though the other children were not so unlucky and happened to be lying on top of the crack, they could still sense that the crack was getting worse. One of them was even so scared that he started crying and was about to stand up and run to the shore while saying "Dad and Mom".
Su Qingluan thought to herself, "This is bad!" In such a dangerous situation, many adults would easily have a mental breakdown, let alone a child. Furthermore, children are very easily influenced by their friends. If one cries, the others will panic, causing even greater panic.
We must never let them panic first, otherwise the situation that could have been saved will become even more dangerous!
Su Qingluan's heart trembled. She took a deep breath and shouted with all her might, "Don't get up! Everyone, get down!"
After all, Su Qingluan's soul is that of an adult, and after a period of experience as "Shopkeeper Su", without her even noticing, Su Qingluan's majesty and aura have become completely different from those of an ordinary thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl.
What's more, those children who wanted to cry were already completely panicked. When they heard Su Qingluan's harsh scolding, they were so scared that they immediately lay back down and dared not move.
Su Qingluan saw that they had finally calmed down and secretly breathed a sigh of relief: if those children had suddenly run in panic, not to mention that the fragile ice surface could not withstand such pressure, the children could easily fall on the ice in a hurry, causing additional injuries.
Thinking of this, Su Qingluan suddenly looked at Chen Jiabao - the other children, whether fast or slow, whether relatively calm or with snot and tears, were finally able to move slowly towards the shore.
Only Chen Jiabao had been lying there without moving a muscle since he shouted “Help”!
Su Qingluan walked sideways to a position directly in front of Chen Jiabao, continued to lie down and shouted loudly: "Everyone has done well. As long as you crawl over to the shore, you will be safe! Chen Jiabao, you too! Aren't you a boy? Weren't you so arrogant just now? Show some boyish courage!"
"I... I don't dare!" Chen Jiabao's voice was trembling, revealing obvious fear. "I feel the ice below is moving!"
"Of course the ice is moving, it's floating on the water!" Su Qingluan explained patiently, "But do you want to lie there forever? No one can step on the ice now, you can only crawl over here bit by bit!"
"I feel like the ice will crack if I move - ah!" With another shrill scream from Chen Jiabao, the other children on the ice were all scared to death.
Some people were so scared that they almost slipped and fell flat on the ice, and some people were so scared that they cried.
Su Qingluan's heart shuddered as she suddenly stood up and looked towards Chen Jiabao's position. She didn't know if it was her illusion, but she always felt that the place where the ice cracked seemed...
It seems like the water is shimmering in the sunlight!
This discovery made the hairs on her back stand up - she had to speed up!
"Come on, everyone, go faster! Come on!" Su Qingluan shouted to everyone anxiously. While dragging another child from the ice to the shore, she was praying in her heart, hoping that she was just too anxious and her eyesight was blurry at that moment.
However, what you fear often comes true, like Murphy's Law, though delayed. The most irrefutable evidence is Chen Jiabao's cries: "Help me! The water is so cold! Water is coming out of the cracks in the ice! I dare not move!"
not good!
Su Qingluan's heart trembled: if the river water overflowed from the cracks and wet Chen Jiabao's clothes, then even if he did not fall into the ice hole now, as long as the icy water soaked his clothes, he would gradually become hypothermic.
She turned her head and looked towards the village, but there was still no sound from there - if Tian Xing'er had brought reinforcements, then she would at least be able to see human figures in the distance.
But now it's just a bare area with nothing there.
Su Qingluan complained in her heart: Aren’t there usually a few people passing by? Why can’t I see anyone when I need help!
At this time, the remaining children had already reached the shore. Su Qingluan looked up at Chen Jiabao and said, "Try to lie down! Do you want to freeze to death?"
Su Qingluan really didn't want to say this last sentence to a seven or eight-year-old child, but the situation was too critical, so she had to try every possible means of coercion and inducement.
Perhaps because the words "Do you want to freeze to death?" were too intimidating, Chen Jiabao finally began to move his somewhat stiff body.
After a while, we could see that the child was trying very hard, but with little success. He cried out, "I don't know why. It's too slippery. I can't get up! I can't get up!"
Su Qingluan stood up and looked at the broken ice layer under Chen Jiabao's body, and immediately understood what was going on: because water continued to flow up from the cracks, and Chen Jiabao wanted to move forward, the ice surface near the cracks was covered with a layer of river water.
This "water film" makes the surface of that small area very smooth, and moving forward on the ice requires greatly increasing friction.
However, Chen Jiabao's condition, far from increasing friction, actually significantly reduced it. Worse still, because he clearly had no waterproof clothing, the water below quickly soaked through his clothes, gradually freezing him and slowing him down.
If the child stays like this for a while longer, he might freeze to death. Su Qingluan's mind raced: What should I do?
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