Shao Jingque took the newspaper, and the thin piece of paper felt a little heavy in his hand.
Before she could prepare herself mentally to read the contents of the newspaper, the huge headline had already caught her eye.
The entire newspaper was devoted to special reports on the flood in Henan Province.
"An unprecedented disaster", "We must be responsible to the people", "The people's soldiers are in action"... one big, bold headline after another caught her eye. Every report in the newspaper talked about various aspects of the flood in Henan Province.
Shao Jingque's gaze fell on one of the reports that occupied the largest space and contained the most detailed data. One paragraph clearly read:
"So far, torrential rain has caused more than 60 reservoirs to burst, causing massive damage to 30 counties and cities downstream in Henan Province. The affected area of farmland has reached 17.8 million mu (approximately 16.8 million hectares), and the number of people affected is estimated to exceed 10 million..."
"Previously, a total of 6,584 officers and soldiers from Ningxia, Suiyuan, and Guangzhou cities were deployed to support the disaster relief efforts. Except for the 186 personnel at the command center, all other officers and soldiers at the disaster site are currently out of contact..."
Disaster relief officers and soldiers...all lost contact...
Shao Jingque's eyelashes trembled again and again, and she read the few short lines of words over and over again. The shocking numbers made her heart beat faster, and her empty stomach suddenly felt churning.
How could this be...
Didn’t she already tell Lu Zhan that the reservoir would burst?
Hadn't she already told him to contact the Banqiao Reservoir and the local garrison to confirm the rainfall situation upstream?
Shao Jingque felt his breathing quicken, his hands and feet began to go numb, and his body swayed involuntarily.
Xiaolan saw that the situation was not right and quickly supported her:
"Sister-in-law, don't worry. The newspaper said the flood destroyed all the roads and communication lines downstream. Perhaps that's why Captain Lu and the others lost contact. Maybe we can contact them after the flood recedes!"
Shao Jingque was already a little distracted at this time, and his face had lost all color.
The harm of a flood is not as simple as Xiaolan thought. She thought that everything would be fine once the water receded. Only she knew how serious the consequences of losing contact in such a big flood would be.
Not to mention what it means to lose contact in the flood, just waiting for the flood to recede and traffic to be restored will take at least an unknown number of days. What will all the trapped people eat and drink during these days?
As time goes by, the large number of rotting animal carcasses in the flood will breed many deadly bacteria and viruses, which can easily infect humans once they come into contact with them. At the same time, there are neither corresponding medicines to treat them nor disinfectants to disinfect them. In this case, it is very easy for plague to spread among the population.
If the secondary disasters after a flood are not handled properly, they may even claim more lives than the flood itself!
The more Shao Jingque thought about it, the heavier his heart became. Assuming that Lu Zhan had not died in the flood, with China's current rescue conditions, without assault boats, rescue helicopters, and even drones, it would be impossible to find someone in the vast water surface of tens of thousands of square kilometers.
She tried to calm herself down and forced herself not to think about those hypothetical questions. At this moment, she still had a glimmer of hope in her heart.
Yao Wenbin told her that if there was any accurate information, the military district would definitely notify the military families.
Shao Jingque kept comforting herself in her heart that the information in newspapers of this era was inaccurate and had a strong lag. Maybe when she was scaring herself, the military district had already contacted Lu Zhan's unit, so no one had come to the guesthouse to inform her until now.
As long as she didn't receive any notification from the military district, she firmly believed that land warfare was safe!
Shao Jingque didn't remember how she returned to the room. She only knew that as soon as she came back, she took out the household registration book that Lu Zhan left with her.
Speaking of which, Lu Zhan gave her the household registration booklet on the first day they met. After that, they went back and forth several times, and the household registration booklet was still in her hands.
Although she had never believed in the so-called fate between men and women before, she wanted to believe it today——
If Lu Zhan is really her destined partner, then he will definitely come back safely!
......
"Mrs......"
Qi Mingyuan's assistant was holding a cup of brewed ginseng tea and was blocked by Qu Jingyun at the stairs.
Qu Jingyun raised his eyes and glanced at him, then said slowly:
"Assistant Ding, has Mingyuan asked you to run any important errands these days? You stay in the study so late every day, and I haven't seen you several times during the day."
Assistant Ding's face froze. What he feared most was that Qu Jingyun would ask him about Mr. Qi's affairs. He couldn't say it, and it wouldn't be right if he didn't say it.
He considered it for a while before speaking:
"Don't worry, ma'am. It's nothing serious. Just some small errands."
Qu Jingyun snorted softly, and said with a forced smile:
"Are they all trivial matters? How come people have seen you going to the credit union or the housing authority these days? Which of these two places looks like a place for trivial matters?"
Assistant Ding was suddenly speechless. He didn't expect that Qu Jingyun knew everything about his movements in the past few days. He couldn't think of any excuse to make up to fool her.
Seeing that he remained silent, Qu Jingyun twitched the corner of his mouth and suddenly talked about another thing:
"Assistant Ding, perhaps you didn't know this, but our art troupe will be conducting a semi-annual assessment next week. Those who fail will be sent back to their hometowns. Doesn't that leave this position vacant? I remember you asked about a job for your niece last time. If she's interested in working in the art troupe, I can help her this time."
"After all, we are acquaintances. Isn't it normal for acquaintances to help each other?"
How could Assistant Ding not understand the implication of her words? He couldn't help but struggle inside.
His brother has three children. One of them took over his sister-in-law's job in the textile factory, one joined a collective, and the only one left was his niece, who was about to graduate from high school and had not yet found a job.
The urgent problem we are facing now is that if we don’t find a job before graduation, we have to accept the arrangement of going to the countryside, and even our household registration has to be transferred to the countryside.
It is easy to transfer it out, but it is difficult to transfer it back later.
What's more, how could a little girl who had been spoiled at home since childhood be willing to be "exiled" to the countryside alone? She cried and made a fuss at home every day. Her brother had no choice but to ask him for help, so he asked Qu Jingyun about the recruitment of people for the art troupe.
Qu Jingyun obviously also knew the key, so she used this job to exchange the information she wanted to know with Assistant Ding. When his niece really joined the art troupe in the future, it would be easier for her to control Assistant Ding.
Assistant Ding hesitated for a long time, but still couldn't resist the temptation of working in the art troupe.
After carefully looking around, he whispered:
"I went to the credit union and the housing authority to discuss the betrothal gift for the eldest son's wedding. Mr. Qi asked me to transfer a property in Ning City..."
Assistant Ding's words made Qu Jingyun's eyes widen, and her back teeth were almost broken.
She never expected that the heartless Qi Mingyuan would actually want to transfer the house to Qi Shengzhi without her knowledge. Did he think she and Guangyao were dead?!
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