"Quick! Quick, grab a bucket and put out the fire!"
Through the gate of the small courtyard, Lu Qiqi saw Zhao Xiaodong holding a drum in his hand, shouting loudly to the villagers.
Lu Qiqi quickly put on her clothes, and Li Changlong, upon hearing Zhao Xiaodong's words, hurriedly went back to the house to find a bucket.
Lu Qiqi ran quickly out of the courtyard and grabbed Zhao Xiaodong, who was about to leave.
He asked urgently, "Where is the fire?"
Under the bright moonlight, Zhao Xiaodong recognized Lu Qiqi and said, "There's a fire in Tianping Village, and Village Chief Niu's house is about to burn down!"
After saying that, Zhao Xiaodong was about to go and ask the villagers for help.
Zhao Xiaodong's sleeve slipped from Lu Qiqi's hand, and Lu Qiqi's heart sank. She followed the large and chaotic team towards Tianping Village for rescue.
Tianxin Village is not far from Tianping Village; you can get there quickly by taking a shortcut.
Following the villagers who were helping with the rescue, Lu Qiqi left Tianxin Village and saw flames spreading in the distance.
With a fire this big, I'm afraid an entire house will be burned down.
Suddenly, a bad thought flashed through her mind.
Most of the houses in Tianping Village are built with wood, and even the roofs are covered with straw, without a single tile.
If it catches fire, the houses connected together will likely be destroyed!
The raging fire was still burning, and without thinking twice, Lu Qiqi urged the villagers to hurry up and go to the rescue.
Running all the way to Tianping Village, Lu Qiqi saw a huge fire in front of her, and a scorching heat came straight at her, as if it would dry her out.
Niu Dahang's house was standing in a sea of fire.
Villagers, some with basins and others with buckets, crowded haphazardly at the well not far away to draw water.
The fire was still spreading, and sparks were flying everywhere.
It hadn't rained in Heshun Prefecture for a long time, and the straw on the roof was so dry that it could be ignited by the slightest spark.
Lu Qiqi saw that the houses of the two families on either side of Niu Dahang's house were also burned down.
The old man knelt on the ground crying and shouting, while the child the woman was holding cried incessantly in fear.
The worst thing about fighting a fire is when things get chaotic. This not only delays the firefighting efforts but could also lead to an irreversible situation.
Despite her reluctance, she couldn't afford to think about it any longer.
We must organize the villagers, otherwise all the houses in this area will be burned to the ground!
Lu Qiqi searched around and found Niu Dahang's son.
Niu Xiaozhou.
At this moment, Niu Xiaozhou's face was covered in dust, and his whole body was filthy, as if he had just rolled in a mud pit.
He was carrying a bucket and squeezing his way to the well to draw water.
Lu Qiqi pulled him out, and Niu Xiaozhou looked somewhat surprised when he saw Lu Qiqi.
Lu Qiqi ignored his expression and said, "This can't go on. Go and call a dozen or so villagers over here to listen to my instructions."
After hearing Lu Qiqi's words, Niu Xiaozhou felt as if he had seen a savior and hurriedly said, "I'll go right away."
There are many people in Tianping Village. When Niu Xiaozhou called out, more than a dozen villagers followed him over.
Lu Qiqi looked at the man in front of her and began to assign tasks.
She didn't know what these people were called, but the instructions had to be given directly to the individuals.
Otherwise, it will still be a mess.
So, Lu Qiqi used a very primitive method.
She pointed at the two men and said, "You two led people to draw water from the well."
"The three of you should arrange for people to form a long line and pass water to extinguish the fire in a relay."
"You four, go back and get some lightweight blankets from home, soak them in water, and use them to extinguish the flying sparks to prevent more houses from burning down."
"You five, find someone to wet the houses near the fire source with water to prevent the fire from getting too big and burning down the houses."
Upon receiving the instructions, the villagers immediately dispersed and each performed their assigned tasks.
Niu Xiaozhou stood there stunned. Lu Qiqi hadn't assigned him any tasks, and the bucket he had been holding had been taken away.
For a moment, I didn't know what to do.
Lu Qiqi frowned as she looked at Niu Xiaozhou, who was standing there in a daze, and said, "What are you standing there for! Hurry up and help them organize people to put out the fire!"
"Oh, oh, oh!" Niu Xiaozhou finally realized that Lu Qiqi hadn't assigned him any tasks, but rather asked him to coordinate all the villagers.
After agreeing repeatedly, he turned and ran into the crowd.
With Lu Qiqi's arrangement, the villagers were quickly organized and lined up in five long queues to pass water to extinguish the fire.
The villagers worked together, and for a moment it was impossible to tell which villages were involved in the firefighting effort.
At that moment, they all had only one thought in their minds: to put out the fire!
As night deepened, the air above Tianping Village was filled with the smell of burning.
The crackling sound of flames burning wood was jarring and irritating to the eardrums.
Lu Qiqi stared at the burned-out house in the distance, her expression dark and unreadable.
Before she could even feel distressed, she heard someone shout, "It's over, it's over, it's over!"
"It's completely over!"
Lu Qiqi looked in the direction of the sound and saw Niu Dahang sitting on the ground, half of his body leaning against a woman's chest.
Niu Xiaozhou's wife stood to the side, holding the crying child in her arms, gently soothing him.
When the aunt saw that her husband was awake, she could no longer hold back and cried out, "Dad, you're finally awake!"
...
At dawn, the fire was finally extinguished after a night of fighting.
The villagers were so exhausted that they couldn't move, so they simply lay down on the ground to sleep, not caring how cold the ground was or how cold they felt.
I feel pain in every part of my body just from stretching my arm.
There wasn't a single part of my body that wasn't sore.
Li Changlong finally found Lu Qiqi in the crowd.
Lu Qiqi helped direct the firefighting efforts last night and didn't sleep a wink; her eyes were a little red.
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