With the signal destroyed and the road collapsed, Wanxi Village was practically cut off from the outside world. If the radio hadn't been repaired around noon, they probably wouldn't have known about the relief supplies being distributed.
Therefore, Zhao Xingguo and his men were even less clear about what was happening in the county.
Zhao Xingguo originally wanted Zhao Tianliang and others to go to the county people's hospital first, find a pharmacist and a doctor to help the villagers treat their wounds, and save as many as possible.
By the way, ask Zhao Tianliang and others to go to the county government if they have the chance. It would be even better if they can get rescue help from the county government.
I just didn't expect Zhao Tianliang and his team to be gone for such a long time, and even bring back news of a county in chaos...
Zhao Xingguo's heart sank, and his expression became even uglier. Zhao Zhengde and several village officials beside him also stared at Zhao Tianliang seriously, waiting for his next words.
"After the earthquake, the road from the village to the county seat was severely damaged. Normally, we could travel these dozens of miles by bicycle in two hours at most. But after the road was destroyed, it took us over six hours to reach the county seat..."
Zhao Tianliang slowly recounted his journey to the county capital with two other villagers. "It was already late, so to avoid wasting time, we rushed straight to the county People's Hospital... But the hospital was in dire straits. Besides the outpatient building, both inpatient buildings had collapsed! Seventy to eighty percent of all the patients, doctors, and nurses were buried underneath. We searched for a long time before we found Dr. Zhou, who was willing to come with us to the village to help. The other doctors were either buried underground or unwilling to come with us."
"Even though we found the man, we couldn't travel in the middle of the night... We had to stay overnight at the county hospital and stop by the nearby county government office to inquire about the situation... However, when we got there, the county government office was already deserted, with no staff at all. After asking around, we learned that everyone in the county government had taken refuge in the two best department stores in the county."
"We didn't know the reason at first, but later on, when we got there, we discovered that, aside from the two newly built department stores, most of the remaining shops on the commercial street in the old county town collapsed in the earthquake... Those two department stores are the sturdiest buildings in the entire county." Speaking of this, Zhao Tianliang shook his head and sighed, "Many houses in the county are older than those in our village. Especially those in the county center, many of which were built in the last century... When the earthquake hit, almost none of those houses were saved. Many affected residents, left with nowhere to live after their houses collapsed, rushed directly into those two department stores..."
"Tianliang, you've been talking for a long time but I still don't understand what you mean by 'chaos'? It's an earthquake, so it's normal for houses to collapse. Didn't most of the houses in our village collapse? But this shouldn't cause chaos in the county, right?" Uncle Jiu's skinny old face showed a look of confusion.
"Uncle Nine, don't be impatient. I will tell you what happens next right away!" Zhao Tianliang looked at Uncle Nine helplessly. Their Uncle Nine was an impatient person. He started to urge him before he even finished speaking.
"Then you'd better tell me quickly, don't waste time here." Uncle Jiu said with a frown, puffing on his pipe.
Zhao Tianliang sighed and said, "Everyone's house collapsed, so they took refuge in those two department stores. It shouldn't have been a big deal... But what happened was that among those people were some scoundrels who often hang out in the county town. After they entered the department stores, they took advantage of the chaos and simply looted and ran away. I don't know who started to follow suit, but the two department stores became chaos! Many people also smashed and looted, hoping to make a fortune while no one was paying attention during the earthquake!"
"Just as a huge fight was about to break out between those people and the department store security guards, armed police rushed over to provide shelter for the people, and only then were the riots in both department stores quelled. However, people from the county government also deployed troops to guard the department stores to prevent such incidents from happening again."
In fact, the owners of the two department stores were also smart people. Seeing that there were more and more victims and they couldn't drag out the goods they had left in the malls, they directly asked people to clean up the lobby on the first floor and handed it over to the government to accommodate the victims.
With more people, naturally more people went to the department store to buy things. Many people had some money on them, so the bottom three floors of the five-story department store were quickly cleared out. Clothes, shoes, bedding, sheets, and food were all things everyone needed. The owner of the department store made a fortune and earned back all the money that had been stolen before.
It’s just that Zhao Tianliang and the others didn’t know about these things, and he even felt a little sorry for the owner of the department store.
"Uncle Nine, you don't know! Those guys started it all at the department store, and when we came back this morning, we saw several shops being robbed. Some people even set fire to other shops. Besides those whose houses had collapsed, many people didn't dare leave their homes, fearing these guys would target them and cause trouble."
A strong young man who had gone to the county town with Zhao Tianliang sighed, "Everyone was affected by this earthquake. We're all in this together. I don't know why these guys would do this... Aren't they afraid that others will cause trouble after the earthquake is over?"
"Hey, why are you meddling so much?" Another man patted the shoulder of the sturdy young man next to him and said, "These things don't have much to do with us. We only need to care about the affairs of the village. Even if the sky falls outside, there are still tall people to hold it up! Those guys in the county town can't possibly come to our village. There are only a dozen of them. If they dare to come to our village, I will definitely beat them up. They won't even recognize their parents!"
Zhao Xingguo listened to what the three of them said and sighed deeply. "It seems that waiting for rescue from the county government is impossible. We can only rely on ourselves... The most important task for everyone these days is to dig out the valuables from the rubble of our own home, and then deal with the house. You three should also hurry back to help your parents. I don't know if we can finish this busy work before the New Year."
According to Zhao Tianliang and others, the current situation in the county town is probably even worse than that in their village. The people in the county government simply cannot spare any manpower to help the victims in other villages. They can't even deal with the small hooligans in the county directly. You can imagine how tight the manpower is at the county government.
Zhao Xingguo touched his chin, which was covered with stubble. If the county government had enough manpower, they would definitely arrest this group of people and detain them immediately instead of letting them do evil in the county.
"Oh..." Zhao Xingguo sighed. It was no wonder that the higher authorities couldn't cope with the earthquakes that occurred in so many places at the same time.
The supplies dropped by the plane were enough for each person to get six days' worth of food, consisting of 12 cans of food and 20 bags of compressed biscuits. If eaten sparingly, this food should last for seven or eight days. Many people secretly thought that they would have to conserve food during the period when they could not find their own food.
For these two meals, everyone ate food provided by other villagers, but they couldn't always eat other people's food.
Not to mention whether others are willing or not, even they would feel embarrassed.
The relief supplies that had just been received were distributed to the villagers before they had even warmed up. Since Qin Suyun had no intention of accepting the relief supplies distributed by the village, she didn't want to stand there and join in the fun. When the supplies were halfway distributed, she and He Zhennan went home when they saw that there was nothing else to do.
There are still a lot of things to deal with at home, and I don’t have that much time to waste outside.
"Hahahaha... Beautiful girl, you're back~! Hahahahaha!"
Qin Suyun just opened the gate when she returned home, and Zhazha flew over from Xiaowu's head, stood on Qin Suyun's shoulder, blinked her little eyes, and rubbed Qin Suyun's cheek in a very familiar manner.
Qin Suyun really couldn't help it, and reached out to poke the parrot's puffed up chest. It had only been a short time since she left the house, and this little thing had already become friends with the other animals in the house, as if what happened more than an hour ago had never happened. Even Xiaowu was willing to let the bird stand on its head. It was really strange.
She also thought that the furry kids at home would want to bite Zhazha every time they saw it.
“Woof woof woof!”
The owner's attention was snatched away by the new bird. Xiaowu and Xiaoqi, who were fine just now, immediately became unhappy and cried out to Qin Suyun in a coquettish manner, wagging their tails like a Hot Wheels. Dahei and Heidou, on the other hand, were like two old cadres, squatting not far away, quietly watching the interaction between Qin Suyun and Xiaoqi and Xiaowu, and occasionally wagging their tails and shaking their whiskers, looking like they were in a good mood.
Qin Suyun was in a good mood because the furry animals at home were competing for her favor, so she added a snack to their dinner when she made dinner.
only……
When it was time for dinner at night, Qin Suyun clearly discovered that the appetite of the pets at home had doubled!
Normally, she could be full with two pieces of meat for a meal, but this time, after eating, Dahei and the others kept howling at her. Qin Suyun didn't understand what Dahei and the others meant at first. But before she could think about it, Zhazha, who was cracking walnuts nearby, suddenly flew over and landed directly on Qin Suyun's shoulder, making a cackling sound.
"Quack, quack, quack! They're not full, they say they're not full..."
Qin Suyun: “……???!!”
She felt like she finally understood what the chatterbox meant.
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