Lixi Village, one of the three villages closest to the west of Ningyong County, is one of the three richest villages among the more than 40 villages under the jurisdiction of Ningyong County.
There are more than 3,000 people in the entire village of Lixi, but on weekdays, most people do not live in the village. Instead, they work or study outside the village. Most of the people living in the village on weekdays are the elderly and children.
But even so, the permanent population of the entire village remains at around 1,200 to 1,300 people.
Since the earthquake occurred near the Chinese New Year, many villagers who worked in factories outside the village returned home early.
But after all, the earthquake broke out 20 days before the Chinese New Year, and most factories and units could not give their employees more than a month's vacation, so only more than a hundred people actually returned from other places at that time.
Earthquakes, hail, blizzards, these natural disasters continue one after another.
The villagers of Lixi Village had no preparation and had a very difficult life during this period, especially those villagers who were seriously injured in the earthquake, and those elderly and children who had no young and middle-aged people in their families. They suffered terribly.
Even if everyone tried their best, they still lived frugally in daily life and carefully calculated every piece of firewood.
But after the snowstorm stopped, the whole village was filled with cries. Not only were many villagers buried underground during the earthquake and have not been dug out yet, but many of those who were seriously injured died from infections caused by their injuries. The arrival of the snowstorm also took away a large number of people who had little firewood at home and were reluctant to burn it at night, as well as some elderly people who saved food and wanted to wait for their children to come home to eat.
In just two months, one hundred and fifty to sixty people died in the entire village.
Various cries can be heard in the village every day, and a heavy mood weighs on the hearts of every villager, especially Chen Zhou.
After the earthquake, Liang Ping's left leg was shattered by the collapsed courtyard wall. Chen Zhou had originally planned to take his mother to the county hospital for treatment. However, Xu Rong lost her temper and refused to let him leave. She felt that their simple house was too shabby and did not match her original imagination. She was even more unwilling to live in such a dilapidated house.
Chen Zhou and Xu Rong had a big fight over this matter.
However, what I didn’t expect was…
It was because he and Xu Rong had a big fight that caused Xu Rong, who was only seven months pregnant, to have a miscarriage and gave birth to a skinny, red, wrinkled girl who weighed only more than three pounds.
The child was like a kitten. When he was just born, he couldn't even cry. It was only after Aunt Zhou, who was helping with the delivery next door, patted him hard a few times that the child reluctantly cried twice.
A child of more than seven months old was really too small, and Chen Zhou had no idea whether he could raise the child.
The mother was also delayed in sending the child to the county hospital for treatment because of the birth of the child and the subsequent hail.
His wife gave birth prematurely, his daughter was weak, his mother's treatment was delayed, and he was blamed by his father-in-law and mother-in-law. In addition, there were continuous natural disasters. Each one was like a huge rock pressing on Chen Zhou's chest, making it difficult for him to breathe.
This was the second time he doubted whether marrying Xu Rong was the right choice.
If I had not been with Xu Rong in the beginning, but chose to continue to be with Qin Suyun.
Then his mother would not have chosen to return to the village to worship her ancestors at that time, and her left leg would not have been hit by the collapsed courtyard wall, resulting in the sequelae of leg slope today, and his daughter would not have become a seven-month premature baby.
Because of premature birth, Xu Rong had no milk after giving birth to this child.
After searching the entire Chen family's house, all that could be found were two cans of milk powder for middle-aged and elderly people. After feeding the child these two cans of milk powder, the child could only drink rice soup and sugar water every day.
The blizzard covered the entire land. Even if Chen Zhou could fly, there was no way he could go out in such a severe blizzard to find food for the child. Therefore, even after two months of raising the child, the child was still skinny, small, and shriveled, looking very unhealthy.
These days, not only the children, but also the adults have lost a lot of weight. Not only do they have to work hard to clear the snow piles every day, but they also have to go out in the snowstorm to find some food and firewood, and take care of the two women in the family. They are extremely tired.
Not only were Chen Zhou's cheeks a little thin and out of shape, but he had no time to take care of the beard on his chin, which had grown densely. He had blue stubble, thick dark circles under his eyes, and a tired look. He looked very disheveled.
If the snowstorm hadn't stopped a few days ago, he would probably have given up.
Chen Zhou looked at his daughter's skinny little face sleeping at the head of the bed, feeling mixed emotions.
This daughter, who should have been born with the whole family's anticipation, is probably living a life worse than those free-range children in the village in the past.
Chen Zhou felt a little uncomfortable, but someone bumped him twice from behind. Xu Rong's dissatisfied voice rang out, "What are you looking at here? Why haven't you gone to cook yet? It's so late today, and you haven't cooked yet. Do you want to starve us to death? Do you want to wait for me to get up and cook for you? I'm a pregnant woman who just gave birth not long ago and needs to recuperate!"
"There is no food at home. I went out looking for it for a long time today, but I couldn't find anything to eat. What can I use to cook for you?" Chen Zhou frowned and spoke in a bad tone.
There was snow half a man's height everywhere outside, and he went out to look for a long time but couldn't find anything to eat.
Unlike other villagers who live in the village all year round and have some farming at home, their family of three has rice harvested last autumn stored at home.
The only thing their family had was some food that Liang Ping and Chen Jihong had prepared in advance for ancestor worship when they returned home.
Although there was a lot of food, there were six adults in their family. In more than two months, all the food had been eaten up.
"No food? How can you live in the countryside without food? Other families have it, so why wouldn't you go and borrow some?" Xu Rong glared at Chen Zhou in dissatisfaction. "How can a grown man like you be so useless?"
Just an earthquake and a snowstorm, and she couldn't even afford to eat ordinary rice? Not to mention the delicacies, Chen Zhou couldn't even bring back ordinary food. He was simply a useless waste!
Xu Rong was so angry that her chest ached. She cried out "ouch" and lay back on the bed. She pointed at Chen Zhou's nose and cursed, "I'm so unlucky to marry a man like you. I can't even afford a bite of food!"
If Chen Zhou hadn't quarreled with her that day, how could she have given birth prematurely?
Giving birth to a child in such a shabby place, I wonder if there will be any sequelae in the future?
After working hard all day, Chen Zhou had to endure such humiliation when he got home. He was simply filled with rage. "I'm telling you, Xu Rong, don't go too far! If you hadn't been trying to stop me that day, I would have taken my mother to the hospital long ago, and her leg wouldn't be in the state it is now!"
It takes a hundred days to heal a broken bone. Although Liang Ping's left leg has not yet fully healed, anyone with eyes can see that her leg will never be able to return to its original state!
Every time Chen Zhou saw his mother limping, a fire burned in his heart and he was filled with anger.
"Your mother's leg was clearly injured by the earthquake. What does it have to do with me?! Don't just accuse others of anything. I'm telling you, I won't buy it!" Xu Rong sat up from the bed, glaring and shouting, "Even if you really took your mother to the county people's hospital that day, you would definitely have encountered hail on the way. With that much hailstorm, do you think you and your mother could have made it to the county safely?"
"If you two had really gone out, you'd have been crushed to death by the hailstorm!" Xu Rong said coldly. "Besides, didn't you hear what that person said earlier? This means the County People's Courtyard collapsed in the earthquake. Even if you went to the hospital, there wouldn't be anyone to treat your mother!"
"You!..." Chen Zhou was choked and speechless, his face looked even uglier than pig liver.
What Xu Rong said was right. In fact, even if he really took his mother to the hospital, they would encounter hailstorms on the way. The hailstorms were so heavy that they couldn't even find a place to hide.
But sometimes, humans are just strange creatures...
They were not willing to put all the blame on themselves, but instead liked to look for reasons in others, especially when Xu Rong was still making a fuss. They had clearly encountered such a big thing as an earthquake, but the other party still insisted that the countryside was not clean. Even when his life was almost gone, he was still so picky.
"Wow wow wow~~! Wow wow!..."
The baby, who was originally sleeping soundly, started crying loudly because of his parents' quarrel. His skinny little face turned red from crying and he almost couldn't breathe.
After all, she was his own daughter. As a new father, Chen Zhou was still very concerned about his daughter. He picked up the baby from the bed and patted his daughter's back hard.
Chen Zhou stared at Xu Rong and said coldly, "I don't want to argue with you, and you don't need to say anything more to me here. If you want something to eat, just go find it yourself... Other women only have a month of confinement, but you've been at home for two months, so it should be over by now. Since you don't have any milk anyway, you can leave it with me every day from now on. Just come with me to find food during the day. After all, your parents live here, don't they?"
"Chen Zhou, you are so heartless. Have you forgotten what you promised me? You actually asked me to go out with you to find food in such a cold weather?! Do you still have a conscience?" Xu Rong widened her eyes in disbelief.
If Chen Zhou hadn't promised her that he would treat her well in the future, how could she possibly marry a married woman?!
The noise in the room was so loud that the two people's voices were carried through the wall into the other two rooms.
Xu Xiangguo looked at the thick snow half a person's height outside the window, listened to the noisy sounds of his daughter and son-in-law, and frowned.
"Alas, Prime Minister, why does our daughter always quarrel with her son-in-law? Our whole family lives in her son-in-law's house now, and we have to rely on him for everything. If our daughter quarrels with her son-in-law like this, she will be the one who suffers in the end." Mother Xu sat in the room, listening to the noise next door, with a frown on her face.
Ever since the earthquake, there has not been a single day without the two youngsters quarreling.
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