Chapter 43 Rain (3)
The wind and rain stung his face, and Chen Yun carefully looked back while holding onto a tree.
There weren't many people, but the queue was very long.
Zheng Wen was the last one to fall behind.
He didn't know what conditions he offered, but he made Liu Hai help carry Song Shiwei's body. The two of them walked cautiously and lagged behind for quite a distance.
Ma Zhigang carried Zhang Guixiang on his back right behind Chen Yun.
Yang Juhua and Ruanqiu helped support her from behind, while Ma Laoniang helped Ma Cuifen, whose fever had not yet subsided, and they all walked with great difficulty.
"Are you alright?" Chen Yun asked.
All that could be seen was Zhang Guixiang nodding under the raincoat, and Ma Zhigang blinking hard, seemingly unable to see the road ahead.
Chen Yun took off the towel and draped it over Ma Zhigang's head. Wearing a straw hat made it difficult to carry Zhang Guixiang on his back, so he could only use the towel to cover her up casually.
“You keep walking, I’ll follow,” Ma Zhigang said to Chen Yun, his teeth chattering.
"We're almost there, just hang in there a little longer."
Thanks to Gao Ming and Li Huguo for cutting most of the weeds on the road in advance, Chen Yun only needed to continue walking along the visible path.
All that could be heard was the sound of rain and the rustling of the grass in the wind. Maybe half an hour, maybe an hour later, just as Old Lady Ma's legs were about to give way and she was feeling dizzy, Chen Yun excitedly pointed to the exit ahead and shouted, "We're here!"
Although the sky was still dark, you could already see a cement road running across the area more than ten meters away.
Exhausted energy surged back, and the team unconsciously quickened their pace.
The moment Chen Yun stepped back onto the cement road, he let out a long breath.
Muddy water kept flowing down the road, carrying with it a lot of weeds.
"Chen Yun, look at the floodlit sports field."
The floodlit sports field was diagonally opposite where the group had come out. Chen Yun looked in the direction Ruan Qiu was pointing and saw that the entire field was submerged in red mud, and the first row of stone steps was no longer visible.
"Go to the hospital," Chen Yun simply said.
The mud on the field must have washed down from the mountains above. It was only thanks to that open space that the two rows of family buildings below the field were not impacted.
Along the way, we could see that many family buildings had already organized people to set up sandbags to prevent mud and water from flooding in.
The hospital is right in front of us.
"Carry Sister Guixiang to the first floor inpatient department first, and the rest of you can go to the second floor conference room and empty rooms to rest."
Zheng Wen did not go into the hospital, but silently carried the person directly from the side courtyard of the hospital to the funeral home at the back.
Monday was a day of torrential rain, but no matter how strong the wind and rain were, Aunt Jiang still arrived early and opened the hospital doors.
I was startled to see a group of people rushing into the hall, thinking someone had been in trouble and needed to be rushed to the hospital.
"Aunt Jiang."
Chen Yun took off his straw hat, revealing a pale and haggard face.
"Director Chen!"
"Please make sure to put sheets on both beds in the inpatient ward first. Also, could you please get a few bottles of hot water and take them to the empty office?" He spoke, his hair still dripping wet, his straw hat offering no protection against last night's downpour: "Has the hospital director come to work yet?"
"No."
"Then open the door to the second-floor conference room and the other empty offices. I will report the reason to the dean when he comes to work."
"I'll go right away." Aunt Jiang immediately turned and walked away.
"Director Chen."
Another disheveled person walked into the hospital. Zuo Lingling carried a four- or five-year-old child on her back and walked in with faltering steps.
After putting the child down, she began to gasp for breath.
"Your house was flooded too?"
"Hmm." Zuo Lingling nodded, casually brushing aside her rain-soaked hair, her lips trembling as she finally managed to say a complete sentence: "My house is on the first floor... the first floor is flooded."
Zuo Lingling's family lived in a bungalow allocated to the factory cadres in the early days, along with Huang Xuegong and Li Weihong.
The red bricks were fired by the workers themselves in the early years, and after only a few years, they already have air pockets and debris. Yesterday, after being soaked by heavy rain, it started raining lightly inside the house while it was raining heavily outside.
"Li Weihong and the others are behind us." Zuo Lingling caught her breath and quickly pointed behind her, "Who can go and help?"
"I'll go." Seeing Chen Yun put on the straw hat without hesitation, Ruanqiu quickly snatched it and put it on her own head before rushing into the rain: "Go to the office and change into some dry clothes."
A few minutes later, Ruanqiu carried Li Weihong into the hospital through the heavy rain. As soon as Zhang Lanqiong entered, her legs gave way and she collapsed to the ground.
It was only after asking that I learned that Huang Fangcheng and Huang Xuegong had been called to rescue important machinery in the factory, leaving only the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law at home.
The same situation applies to Zuo Lingling's family. Gao Cheng went to the factory to stand by for emergency response, while her parents-in-law and their eldest granddaughter hid in the security office long ago, leaving the mother and daughter at home.
Upon hearing that the factory was facing flooding, Hu Gangtie and the Liu brothers rushed into the rain without even changing their clothes.
Chen Yun was particularly surprised that Liu Haiyi followed without hesitation.
"You sleep in bed for a while, I'll go check on Zhang Guixiang and Li Weihong."
Ruanqiu shook her head, looking at the heavy rain outside the window with worry: "I wonder how Li Huguo and Gao Ming are doing?"
It was all a lie to reassure her; Chen Yun was just as worried about Gao Ming, who hadn't been heard from all night.
"You go to work first. I'll go to the finance department to ask for leave, and then I'll go to the security department to find Li Huguo."
Sitting in the office waiting for news was even more agonizing, so Ruanqiu quickly decided to go find them herself. More importantly, she wanted to tell them that they had already evacuated, as she was worried that Gaoming and Li Huguo would not know the situation and would go back to find them.
"If you don't see anyone, come back quickly. It's not safe anywhere outside right now," Chen Yun said.
Ruanqiu nodded.
After Ruanqiu left, Chen Yun went to the inpatient department to check the health of the two pregnant women.
Zhang Guixiang's contractions temporarily stopped, and she returned to her lively self.
Li Weihong was well protected throughout the journey, but she was worried that she would be too sleepy to keep her eyes open as soon as she lay down after not sleeping for half the night.
"If you're tired, Auntie, go upstairs to the empty office and take a nap. Comrade Li Weihong won't wake up anytime soon, so don't just stay here doing nothing."
After the check-up revealed no problems, Chen Yun noticed that Zhang Lanqiong was yawning several times, so she advised her and Old Lady Ma to go upstairs and rest.
Regardless of what happens tomorrow... staying in the hospital is definitely safe for now.
"Let Sister Ma go!" Zhang Lanqiong said, deferring to Old Ma again, and then stood up and stretched, "I still have to go to the broadcasting station in a while."
"What notices have been issued from the factory?" Chen Yun asked.
"Last night, the factory held a meeting and decided to temporarily evacuate the residents of the several apartment buildings backing onto the mountain to wait in the auditorium. I'm relieved to have Weihong here..."
Zhang Lanqiong, who had raised her hand and then lowered it, suddenly changed her expression and clutched her waist in pain.
"It seems like Bei Weihong twisted her waist just now."
"Let me see."
The waist may have just twisted slightly, but the wound on the calf, as long as a palm, was gushing blood, staining the black cloth shoes black and red, leaving a bloody trail with every step.
"Clean the wound first. It's so deep... it probably needs stitches," Chen Yun said after examining the wound.
If such a deep wound is soaked in mud and water, the chance of infection is very high.
"No! The announcement must be made before 10 o'clock. I can't take responsibility if something goes wrong due to a late evacuation."
The factory's notice clearly stated that if the rain had not subsided by 9:30, the evacuation notice should be broadcast to ensure that all employees and their families near the danger zone evacuate to a safe place to take shelter from the rain.
The clock on the wall showed that it was almost nine o'clock, and Zhang Lanqiong didn't even have time to get stitches.
“I’ll go in your place.” Chen Yun made a quick decision, then took off her white coat: “Go to the office on the second floor and find Dr. Zuo to stitch up your wound.”
The document has already identified which residential buildings need to be evacuated and has clearly arranged where the evacuees will be resettled.
What Chen Yun had to do was very simple: go to the radio station and hand the document to the radio station staff.
"You must personally hand the document to the station manager."
Before leaving, Zhang Lanqiong repeatedly reminded everyone to say the name of stationmaster Zhao Jidong.
The rain was pouring down, and the entire factory was shrouded in a misty haze. On the way to the broadcasting station, we could see people running by from time to time, some wearing raincoats and others carrying umbrellas.
My clothes, which I had just changed, were already mostly wet again, and I could even clearly feel the water running down my neck.
Chen Yun carefully moved the file folder to a dry place and wiped the rain off her face.
Snap—Snap—
A series of rapid footsteps pierced through the rain and reached Chen Yun's ears. The people were walking very fast and caught up with Chen Yun in no time.
"Chen Yun".
One of them suddenly turned around, called out Chen Yun's name, and grabbed the raincoat of the person in front of him.
"Gao Ming, it's Comrade Chen Yun."
"Li Huguo." Chen Yun recognized who was calling her, spat out the rainwater that had just entered her mouth, and shouted happily, "Ruanqiu went to the security department to look for you just now."
"I saw it!" Li Huguo practically roared.
"Chen Yun, what are you doing out there?" Gao Ming frowned, his voice trembling slightly. "If you have nothing to do, go back to the hospital and wait. I'll come find you when I'm done."
He reached out and wiped Chen Yun's face with his large hand; his usually scalding palm was now as cold as her face.
"I'm going to the radio station to deliver some documents," Chen Yun said.
"Evacuation documents?"
Chen Yun nodded with difficulty.
"No one's at the broadcasting station, we're going to find Zhao Jidong now."
The station manager, Zhao Jidong, first heard the name Gao Mingkou from a local storytelling event, and he had a very bad impression of it.
The second time he heard it, Gao Ming coldly uttered the name again.
Starting in the early morning, the Youth League Committee office made several calls to the broadcasting station office, but no one answered. The assembly notice, which was supposed to be given out at six o'clock, was still not answered by seven o'clock.
When Gao Ming and the security personnel arrived at the broadcasting station, they found the office door tightly shut and no one in sight.
"None of us know how to use the broadcasting equipment, so we're planning to go find Zhao Jidong now."
Zhao Jidong was nowhere to be found in the broadcasting station's dormitory, so everyone had to go to his house to look for him.
After hearing this, Chen Yun decided to go with the security department to Zhao Jidong's dormitory to find him. The difference this time was that she was carried on Gao Ming's back to the door of Zhao Jidong's house on the third floor.
"Station Chief Zhao."
"Station Chief Zhao!"
No one answered when I knocked or called out, and the curtains were drawn tightly so I couldn't see what was going on inside.
Gao Ming suddenly raised his elbow and slammed it hard against the window.
With a crisp click, a hole was knocked in the lower left corner of the window glass, and a finger was used to gently pry the latch back up.
Push open the window and draw back the curtains...
Before I even got close to the window, I could smell a strong stench of alcohol wafting from inside the room.
Several men were passed out drunk inside, and no one even bothered to look at them despite the sound of shattering glass.
"He's drunk." Gao Ming turned his head, his dark eyes filled with gloom: "Smash the door or jump out the window?"
"Bang on the door!"
A cold, deep voice came from the corner of the stairs, and Chen Yun then realized that Zhao Feng was also in the group.
The paint on the door looked freshly applied. After Gao Ming kicked it, a clear black footprint appeared instantly.
Three legs... The wooden door can only withstand three legs.
The door separated from the frame instantly and fell straight down. A scream was heard, probably from someone who had passed out drunk by the door.
"You can wait at the door."
Chen Yun nodded.
Even through the gap in the curtains, Chen Yun could see that someone in the room wasn't wearing pants, and among the several bottles of liquor on the dining table was the Shuangfeng brand liquor.
"Who is it...?"
"Stationmaster, let's have another drink... It's raining so hard and we're not working anyway, let's drink our fill."
Zhao Jidong, who was so drunk that he was unconscious, was dragged to the corridor by Zhao Feng, who grabbed him by the foot. Zhao Feng's eyes were filled with an unfathomable emotion, but they were chillingly cold.
Zhao Jidong doesn't look like Zhao Feng at all. In an era when ordinary people could barely eat their fill, he managed to become so fat that his belly was bigger than that of a woman who was five or six months pregnant, even when he was lying down.
Zhao Feng looked down at him.
The sound of snoring echoed in the corridor. Perhaps feeling a bit cold, he waved his hand haphazardly and shouted, "Cold!"
After calling out for a while and receiving no response, he simply started shouting loudly.
"Yang Liying, get me a blanket! Yang Liying... Yang Liying... I'll beat you to death!"
After roaring angrily, he suddenly opened his eyes, looking so agitated that it seemed he would burst out and throw a punch at any moment.
Chen Yun unconsciously took a step back.
"Get up now that you're awake."
Upon seeing this, Zhao Feng immediately kicked Zhao Jidong hard, his face showing no anger but his foot using considerable force.
Zhao Jidong clutched his arm and jumped up with a loud "Ouch!"
"Do you want to die... Dad! What are you doing here?"
"Get dressed now and come with me to the radio station. If you dare to utter another word, believe me, I'll whip you to death with my belt."
Zhao Feng spoke calmly, his face remaining expressionless.
Chen Yun couldn't tell whether he was angry or wanted to quell the situation. After speaking, he simply looked up at the room and then turned back to look at the torrential rain that showed no signs of abating.
"Yang Liying, quickly find me some clothes."
"Yang Liying... Where did Yang Liying go...?"
After Gao Ming checked who the drunk people in the room were, he came face to face with the furious Yang Jidong.
Yang Jidong turned his face and immediately became a different person, greeting everyone with a smile.
"Why is Captain Gao here too?"
Gao Ming ignored him and went to the corridor to report to Zhao Feng: "Zhao Qiang from the Reform Committee and two other staff members from the Reform Committee, and the remaining two are from the broadcasting station."
"Hand the person over to the security department to take back, and we'll go to the broadcasting station with Zhao Jidong."
Chen Yun had already walked to the door and was looking into the room.
Zhao Jidong had been searching for Yang Liying, and Chen Yun was also curious to see what this poor woman, whose name she had only heard of, actually looked like.
Looking around at the room, which was only about twenty square meters, Chen Yun couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
The room was a mess, as if it had been ransacked; the bags hanging there were all open, and the locks were still on the drawers.
"Get out here now."
Zhao Jidong grabbed a random piece of clothing from the room and put it on. He had just noticed the wide-open drawer when Zhao Feng's shout startled him so he didn't have time to look closely.
A few people from the security department stayed behind to handle the aftermath, while the rest continued walking into the rain toward the broadcasting station.
Splash splash splash splash—
"Yang Liying has already run away."
Gao Ming's low voice drifted into my ears, mingling with the sound of rain.
Chen Yun nodded on his back: "I saw that the house had been ransacked, so they must have run away last night."
“Just as dawn was breaking,” Gao Ming suddenly said.
Chen Yun leaned closer to Gao Ming's cheek, waiting for him to continue.
"I opened the door."
Chen Yun forgot the factory's rule that the gates had to be locked at night, so Yang Liying could only leave during the day, and she had to register her information if she left the factory before her working hours.
This morning, Gao Ming was arranging a convoy to transport machinery at the gate when he noticed a suspicious figure loitering around there.
Gao Ming recognized Yang Liying, and the other party also recognized her.
"She said she was going to stay with her ex-boyfriend." Gao Ming licked his upper lip with the tip of his tongue. "So I quietly opened the door and let her go."
Chen Yun reached out and wiped the rain off Gao Ming's face: "I hope she made the right choice this time."
"I hope so."
The broadcasting station is located on the top floor of the factory's office building.
The place that should have been the voice of the entire factory was now tightly shut, and a large iron gate at the third-floor stairwell was separated from the outside by chains.
After going downstairs, Zhao Jidong finally realized the seriousness of the problem. He climbed back upstairs and didn't dare to say another word. He quickly opened the iron gate.
Pushing open the office door, a sour smell, a mixture of old paper ink and spoiled food, hit me.
The massive machine occupying one wall wasn't so eye-catching; it was the several aluminum lunch boxes on the desk and the wine bottles scattered all over the floor that were more disgusting.
The sour smell comes from food that has been sitting out for who knows how long.
Zhao Feng glanced at it coldly, then pointed at the machine and said, "Immediately notify all male employees in the factory to assemble in Workshop No. 3. Also, read this evacuation document that Chen Yun brought."
"well……"
Zhao Jidong took the file bag, walked to the table, pushed the lunchbox aside, picked up the microphone covered with a red cloth, and patted off the dust.
I turned off the preheating switch on the loudspeaker... but the machine didn't move at all.
"well……"
With a sigh, Gao Ming walked to the corner, picked up the plug, and plugged it into the power strip.
There was a crackling sound, but the dark red indicator light that symbolized its usability did not light up. Zhao Jidong felt as if Zhao Feng's icy gaze was about to pierce through his back, and he frantically patted the microphone.
"Hello, hello, hello—"
The machine still didn't respond, and Zhao Jidong, who only knew how to push that button, just frantically turned it.
"Factory Manager," Gao Ming's angry voice rang out as he squatted in front of the power strip, "the wires seem to have been chewed through by rats."
After saying that, he turned the megaphone around again, and several fat rats suddenly scurried out from the bottom.
Chen Yun was so frightened that she hid to the side.
Zhao Jidong must have spent a lot of time eating and drinking in the broadcasting room; he even kept the rats as fat and big as him.
"It's not just the cable; the underlying cable board has also been chewed up."
The original wire mesh box had become a rat's nest, filled with scraps of paper and leftover food.
The densely packed wires were chewed up, with only a few intact. Not to mention the few people present, there wasn't a single engineer in the entire factory who knew how to repair loudspeakers.
"what to do!"
Chen Yun asked the biggest question that followed and turned her gaze to Zhao Feng.
"Send someone to each family building to notify them." Zhao Feng pinched the bridge of his nose and immediately turned to Gao Ming to instruct, "Go to the Youth League Committee and tell them to quickly organize the evacuation."
"good."
Accountability can wait until after the disaster is over. For now, Zhao Feng tried his best to suppress his anger and began to calmly arrange the work.
"Dr. Chen, you should go back to the hospital and stand by. If there are any patients injured due to the disaster, they should be sent to the hospital for treatment."
Chen Yun nodded solemnly.
The couple parted ways downstairs, said "Be careful" to each other, and then walked in different directions.
The rain hadn't stopped, and now the wind had picked up.
The rain poured down, turning the uphill road to the hospital into a fast-flowing river, with tree branches being swept away by the water at high speeds.
Even a slight dodge would result in a cut on his foot, and the wind mixed with rain made every step Chen Yun difficult.
With the help of the wind, the tree roots that had been loosened by the water lost their last restraint and fell down amidst the howling wind.
Office on the second floor of the staff hospital.
Of the four doctors, only two arrived.
Fang Ping arrived late at 11 a.m., saying that she had a fever last night and was delirious in the morning, only waking up around 10 a.m.
Ye Yuanjun simply had his wife ask for leave, the specific reason for which is unknown.
Upon receiving a notice from the Youth League Committee, Dean Liu Baoguo organized all male staff members of the hospital to participate in the relocation of employees' families.
As it turned out, Ye Yuanjun didn't come... Besides Liu Baoguo, there were only two old men sweeping the floor.
Liu Baoguo set off while cursing Ye Yuanjun, handing over all decision-making power regarding hospital operations to Chen Yun before leaving.
The wind rattled the floor-to-ceiling glass doors of the hospital lobby, occasionally slamming against the bare branches on the glass, a sound that sent chills down everyone's spine.
Chen Yun and several nurses pushed the nurses' station in front of the door to block it.
Fortunately, the other windows were supported by wooden frames, so the windows didn't make much noise.
Chen Yun and the others hid in the nurses' station, also serving as part of the weight blocking the door.
"If our factory is in this state, won't the situation in Huangniba Commune be even worse?"
Ruanqiu squatted down next to Chen Yun, covering her ears with her hands, seemingly trying to block the whistling wind from entering them.
"I don't know." Chen Yun peeked outside: "The most important thing for us right now is to protect ourselves, so that the people working outside don't have to worry about us."
The family members of the few people squatting at the nurses' station had all joined the evacuation mission; worrying about them was enough to keep everyone from thinking about anything else.
"I wonder how my family is doing?" Duan Yun said, resting his chin on his hand in frustration.
The safety of the family members is unknown, and it remains to be seen whether the homes evacuated in such a hasty manner can withstand this storm.
"How is the situation at Building 10?" Ruanqiu asked.
The only concern about tenement buildings is whether the windows can hold up, but for the ten buildings by the river, after half a day of torrential rain, the water is probably already above their calves.
Will those neighbors who mocked them for being cowardly before the evacuation still be calmly waiting for the notification?
The thought of the notification made Chen Yun sigh with frustration.
Before Ruanqiu could ask, he told the others what had just happened at the radio station.
Chen Yun's biggest worry was that some people would stubbornly wait for the notice and refuse to evacuate, and with the wind so strong now... taking the back roads would be even more unsafe.
"Isn't he harming people?!" Ruanqiu exclaimed angrily, pounding her leg.
Duan Yun hesitated for a moment, then gently patted Chen Yun's arm: "Just tell us about this, don't go around telling everyone."
"Why?" Ruanqiu asked, puzzled.
“Zhao Jidong is a scoundrel. If he holds a grudge against you because of this… the Reform Committee will be giving you trouble every day from now on…”
The Reform Commission and Zhao Jidong are in cahoots; many people in the factory have suffered losses because of them.
"Don't rush things about him." Chen Yun suddenly raised his hand and stood up: "Someone's here."
At the hospital entrance, a long line of people were helping each other as they approached. Chen Yun immediately recognized Huang Lian, who was leading the group.
It seems that their building was designated for evacuation from the hospital.
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