Si Nan did not sleep well that night. She had been moving stones for two consecutive days and her body was tired and sore. Her body was also covered with dust and sweat. She had no way to get the hot water she had stored from the space to wash herself in front of everyone. She lay on the dirty camp bed, feeling very uncomfortable.
Because they were staying in a medical tent, the patients inside kept screaming in pain, so she stuffed two balls of cotton into her ears. Although the noise was reduced a little, she finally fell asleep with great difficulty, and the sound of dripping water continued in her ears.
She wondered vaguely why it started to rain. If the rain got heavier, it would add a lot of trouble and work to the rescuers, and those buried under the rubble would have less chance of being rescued.
She was just about to get up to see how hard the rain was falling outside when she was woken up by the creaking and shaking of the camp bed.
She was stunned for a moment, but soon realized that it was an aftershock. The dripping sound in her ears disappeared after she woke up, and it seemed that the rain had stopped.
As soon as the rain stopped, she didn't want to move. She was really too tired. Every time she moved, she felt sore in all the bones. She really didn't want to move, so Cheng Suming just carried her out.
A group of people outside were frightened in the dim light in the dark night, but she curled up in Cheng Suming's warm embrace and fell into a deep sleep.
Cheng Suming looked at her sleeping face, a helpless smile appeared on his handsome face. After the aftershocks passed, he carried her into the tent. No matter how the patients outside wailed, he held her tightly. The two of them squeezed on the narrow camp bed and fell asleep in each other's arms.
Early the next morning, everyone was awakened by a sharp whistle.
There are soldiers on duty in the tent area at night. If there is an earthquake, the soldier on duty will blow a whistle to let everyone get up and take shelter. If there are no aftershocks, blowing the whistle means gathering rescue.
"Everyone get up! The aftershock is coming!"
Several powerful voices of soldiers rang out in various parts of the tent.
Everyone woke up from their dreams and felt the tents on the ground shaking. Everyone ran outside exhausted with disheveled hair and sleepy eyes.
It was fine for ordinary people, they could just run out, but the patients couldn't run, and had to be supported, carried, or hugged by their family members.
Less than half a minute after the group of people ran out, the aftershocks stopped and everyone had to move back into the tents.
Some people were tormented and complained: "How many times are these damn aftershocks going to come? I've had enough! I won't run again. I'd rather be crushed to death than run back and forth and tire myself to death!"
This statement was recognized by many people. After experiencing two years of natural disasters and such a large earthquake, most people were already physically and mentally exhausted, and had more or less psychological problems.
Nowadays, most people are in a mentality of going with the flow and lying down.
Anyway, natural disasters will not stop, the living environment will become worse and worse, and living in this world is worse than death. If aftershocks come again, if they don’t run away and die in the aftershocks, it can be considered an early relief.
Si Nan heard what those people were talking about, rubbed his sleepy eyes, looked at the soldiers on duty outside the tent changing shifts, and the canteen tent starting to cook. There was a lively scene of people walking around and talking. He muttered, "I don't want to run away either."
Cheng Suming stood beside her. When he heard what she said, his long sword-like eyebrows slightly twisted. He stared into Si Nan's eyes and asked, "Anan, tell me, did you hear any dripping water at night?"
"I heard it." Si Nan looked at the ground around him blankly. "Strange, I clearly heard the sound of rain, but why is the ground outside not wet at all? Did I hear it wrong?"
Cheng Suming's eyes darkened, he took a few deep breaths, and then asked: "Anan, you have been moving stones in the ruins these two days. How do you feel when you see those bodies dug out from under the ruins?"
Si Nan thought for a moment and said, "I feel it's quite sad, but I'm also happy for them. The world is a purgatory. Before the natural disaster, most people suffered and struggled in this world just to earn a meager salary to support their parents and children. Now that they are dead, I feel it's a relief."
After she finished speaking, she realized what was happening and asked Cheng Suming, "Why are you asking these questions all of a sudden?"
"Anan." Cheng Suming's eyes were slightly red, "You are sick, and very sick."
Sinan:
How come she didn't know she was sick?
"When depression is severe, patients will hear dripping sounds. You have always had symptoms of depression, no expectations for the future, and bad thoughts all the time. Although you try your best to hide it, live your life, and find happy things to make yourself happy, once something stimulates you, you will become restless, blame yourself, and have auditory and visual hallucinations."
Sinan remained silent.
Her childhood experiences, coupled with the subsequent betrayal by a scumbag, caused her great psychological damage, and she has been suffering from depression.
Before she met Cheng Su Ming, she did have bad thoughts every day, wanted to die every day, and had no expectations for the future.
But after marrying Cheng Suming, with his company, she thought about stockpiling supplies and growing vegetables every day, and how to survive future natural disasters. She hasn't had any bad thoughts for a long time.
According to Cheng Suming, she suddenly started to hear auditory hallucinations, which should be due to her depression getting worse, but she herself didn't think there was anything wrong.
Could it be that she had a stress reaction after seeing the bodies with broken limbs and smashed bodies, or that she was anxious and worried because Sheng Youqing's family had not been rescued yet, and that was why she was hallucinating?
Cheng Suming reached out and held her hand, and said gently, "It doesn't matter if your depression is severe. Just take your medicine on time, exercise actively, and live optimistically. I will be with you for a while, so that you can feel the warmth of the world, and your illness will be cured sooner or later."
The warmth of his palm seemed to be transmitted to his heart from the contact of their skin. Si Nan looked at Cheng Su Ming's serious face, felt the warmth in his heart, and smiled brightly on his beautiful face: "Okay, I'll listen to you. You are a doctor, you will definitely cure my heart disease."
She had stockpiled all kinds of medicines in her space. Cheng Suming told her about several medicines for treating depression. She took them out and took them one by one. Only then did Cheng Suming take the iron lunch box to get food with satisfaction.
When the two were eating, the aftershock came again. This time the aftershock was quite loud, and half of the porridge on the table was spilled by the aftershock.
Si Nan and Cheng Su Ming sat face to face, staring at the dangling bowl of porridge.
Si Nan asked: "Why don't you pull me out?"
Cheng Suming picked up the bowl of porridge and took a sip calmly: "Dazhen can't run away, Xiaozhen doesn't need to run. If you don't want to run, I won't force you. I won't run away either. At worst, we can die together."
Sinan chuckled, "Who told me to be positive and optimistic just now? You're going to give up on me so soon."
Cheng Suming also laughed: "I follow the chicken wherever I marry a chicken, and follow the dog wherever I marry a dog."
"Then who is the chicken and who is the dog?"
"You can be a chicken or a dog if you want."
"I don't want to be a chicken or a dog. Isn't it better to be a good person?"
"It's best if you can think so."
After the two finished their meal, they were going to do their own things. Si Nan put on his cotton gloves and was about to go to the volunteers to register for today's rescue when he suddenly heard a familiar voice from a distance: "It's time!"
Si Nan turned around, opened his eyes wide, and saw in disbelief a fat white shadow running out from the ruins in the distance.
The shadow went from running quickly at first to spreading its wings and flying high. Under the surprised and amazed gazes of everyone in the tent, the white shadow flew straight in front of Si Nan.
"Dabai!" Si Nan was extremely surprised: "Why are you here?"
Dabai stretched out his neck, spread his injured and bloody wings, and kept rubbing against Sinan's legs and feet, making cooing noises in his mouth, with tears in his eyes, as if he was crying, "Master, where have you been? The goose is going crazy looking for you!"
Si Nan was shocked to see the goose, which he thought was mostly dead, actually found him in such a big city. Tears welled up in his eyes. He half squatted down and reached out to hug Dabai in his arms: "Dabai, I'm sorry, I didn't hold you and Xiaobai tightly during the earthquake, and you disappeared. I thought you were gone. I didn't expect you to come to find me..."
"You deserve it!" Dabai shouted and gently sucked her forehead with his goose beak, indicating that it was okay and they didn't blame her.
Then it turned its head back in the direction it came from and yelled, "Damn it!"
A response came from the other side soon, I think it should be Xiaobai.
Sure enough, five minutes later, Cheng Wei and the other two appeared on the road in the ruins.
Xiaobai was held in Cheng Wei's arms. Yang Wentao and Yu Yong jogged side by side with her. The three of them ran to Sinan breathlessly.
"Sister-in-law, sister-in-law, I finally see you." Cheng Wei put Xiaobai in her arms on the ground, supported her knees with both hands, and said to Si Nan while panting: "You two geese ran too fast. I don't know how this gander knew you were here. When we were about half a kilometer away from you, it kept flying forward, forcing us to chase it all the time."
"Cheng Wei, Yang Wentao, Yu Yong, why did you come just now?" Cheng Wei and the other two were carrying bulging backpacks, and they all looked energetic. Si Nan was very happy to see them. He let go of Dabai in his hand, stood up and asked the three of them: "Have you had breakfast?"
Yang Wentao nodded: "Sister-in-law, we have eaten."
"Sister-in-law, what do you mean by just arrived? We set out early this morning before daybreak." Yu Yong slumped down on the ground, leaning his back against his backpack, and panted in a very ungraceful manner, looking up at the sky and saying, "If we hadn't spent a lot of time catching your goose yesterday, we wouldn't have come so late today."
Si Nan looked at the uninjured Xiaobai and Dabai who were reunited and making cooing noises. He asked curiously, "What happened? How did you find Dabai and the others?"
"It's a long story..."
It turned out that Si Nan fell down during the earthquake and accidentally lost the two geese. The big goose and Xiao Bai were flying in the dust and fog, but were still crushed under the rubble by the buildings.
Fortunately, they were not buried very deeply. After the earthquake stopped, Dabai led Xiaobai and crawled out of a hole made of piles of building materials.
When Cheng Wei saw the geese, they were being chased by a hungry crowd. Dabai and Xiaobai were running and hiding, and their wings were injured during the process. They were almost caught and stewed by the victims.
Cheng Wei recognized that the geese were Sinan's pets, and quickly called Yang Wentao and Yu Yong to catch them.
They ran for a long time, and finally Cheng Wei shouted that she would take them to see Si Nan, and they stopped.
Because they had been rescuing people yesterday and had lost time to catch the goose, by the time they remembered the agreement, it was already dark.
The ground after the earthquake was not suitable for nighttime movement, so they got up early in the morning and came here.
Upon hearing this, Si Nan was extremely grateful and said, "Thank you for helping me rescue Dabai and Xiaobai. Come on, I'll take you to see Su Ming."
Si Nan led Cheng Wei and the other two into the medical tent. The two geese followed her in step by step, leaving the people outside to discuss: "There are still people who keep geese as pets these days? This is really an eye-opener!"
"If someone can still afford to keep a pet at this time, their family must have stored a lot of supplies and have no worries about food and clothing. I don't know if that woman's house was destroyed by the earthquake, what area she lives in, and whether she has managed to rescue any supplies. If I knew, I would definitely go and check her house."
"Those two geese, each weighs at least 15 to 20 pounds. If we kill them and stew them, we can have several meals. I haven't eaten meat for more than a year, and I've almost forgotten what it tastes like."
"Stop trying to get the geese. That woman is the wife of Dr. Cheng, a surgeon hired by Chief Zhou in the medical tent. Dr. Cheng is a ruthless man. He uses a scalpel to cut flesh and perform chest surgeries from morning to night. He also uses an electric saw to saw off the limbs of people who need amputations! Didn't a woman die yesterday? Her mother was making a fuss, but Dr. Cheng kicked her down and handed her over to the army. I heard that Dr. Cheng dotes on his wife. No matter how busy or tired he is, as long as his wife has something to do, he will take care of his wife's affairs first before doing other things. If you eat those two geese and anger Mrs. Cheng, Dr. Cheng might stab you with a scalpel when he gets angry. In order to keep him as a doctor, the army may turn a blind eye and turn a deaf ear. Don't let it be your own fault."
“Is it that close?”
"You don't believe it? If you don't believe it, you can go and try it. Then I will help you collect the body for free."
"... Never mind. I'd better go look through the ruins and find something else to eat."
Cheng Suming hadn't started the operation yet. He seemed very happy to see Cheng Wei and the other two. He asked them what their plans were.
Cheng Wei hesitated and said, "Brother, Wentao and I came here today just to tell you that I want to go to the old house to see if grandma is okay."
Cheng Suming stopped putting on the disposable medical cap on his head and looked up at her: "Have you thought about it? If you go, there is a high possibility that you won't be able to come back."
Cheng Wei pursed her lips and said after a long while: "I know, but my grandmother raised me and loved me very much. Now there is no Internet communication, I can't contact her, nor can I contact my parents in Kyoto. I must go to the old house before I can feel at ease. As for the rest of the matter, we will talk about it later."
Cheng Suming didn't say anything, but picked up the disposable medical gloves on the table and put them on his hands.
Cheng Wei looked at him nervously, then looked at Yang Wentao.
Yang Wentao immediately said, "Brother Cheng, I know what you are worried about. Don't worry, I will protect Weiwei well and will never let her be trapped by others and suffer like last time."
Cheng Suming looked at them indifferently: "I have no objection to you going there, but I want to make it clear in advance that if you don't come here to find me for more than five days, I will not save you again."
"I understand." Yang Wentao puffed out his chest and answered seriously.
Cheng Suming nodded: "Go ahead, be careful on the road."
"Hey, wait for me!" Seeing Cheng Wei and the other person were about to leave, Yu Yong, carrying a heavy backpack, said to Cheng Suming, "I'm here to say goodbye to you, too. You know I have an older brother who does business in G Province and has settled down there. I found my parents the day before yesterday, and they are fine. They just want me to go to G Province to find my brother and make sure he is alive, so I'm here to say goodbye to you."
"Province G is more than 300 kilometers away from Xingcheng by car. If you want to walk there, it will take at least one or two months. Is it safe for you to go alone?" Si Nan said.
Yu Yong smiled, "I'm not alone. I'm going to G Province with my parents and two cousins. My two cousins' husbands are also in G Province, so we won't have any problems on the way. Sister-in-law, don't think I'm a playful person. I'm also good at fighting. If I didn't often make the house a mess, my parents wouldn't be so annoyed by me that they would drive me out of the house and let me fend for myself outside. If I hadn't gone to find them this time, they might not even remember me as their son."
Having said that, anyone could tell how happy he was that his parents were alive and reunited with him.
Cheng Suming: "Go ahead and take me to say hello to your parents."
"After we say goodbye today, I don't know when we will meet again." Yu Yong suddenly felt sad. There is no communication network now, and the ground is completely damaged after the earthquake. Large-scale transportation is impossible, and people can only rely on walking or bicycles.
After he left, he didn't know when he would see Cheng Suming again, and they might lose contact forever, so he reached out and patted Cheng Suming on the shoulder: "Take care, old friend."
"Take care." Cheng Su Ming thought for a moment, then lowered his voice and said to him, Cheng Wei and the other two, "If you really can't come over, or are delayed by other things, please remember that the army will build a survivor base at the foot of the stone mountain in a month at the latest. I will take Si Nan there by then. If you want to come to find us, go there, and don't go to a private base to waste time."
"The army is going to build a base there?" Cheng Wei was a little surprised: "Wasn't the ground there destroyed by the earthquake? Where did you get the news from?"
"Shishan has a special geographical location, and the soil is relatively hard, which is much better than the post-earthquake damage in other places. Why do you think I am willing to perform free surgery here?" Cheng Suming shook the scalpel in his hand, "If you want to get the latest news, you naturally have to get into the organization."
Cheng Wei suddenly realized and gave him a thumbs up: "It turns out that he is my brother. I was wondering how you could be so kind to do good things with your scheming personality. It turns out that you have a purpose."
Cheng Suming's face suddenly turned black: "Is this the kind of person I am in your eyes?"
"I was just saying it casually, as a joke." Cheng Wei looked embarrassed.
"Pfft..." Si Nan pushed Cheng Wei out with amusement, "Okay, it's getting late, be careful on the road."
"You should also pay attention to safety." Cheng Wei waved to her and followed Yang Wentao and Yu Yong with reluctance on her face.
Si Nan looked at their departing backs, feeling inexplicably melancholy. He always felt that once they left, the next time they would meet would be just as Yu Yong said, and he didn't know when they would see each other again.
I hope they are all safe and sound, and that we will be able to reunite one day.
After seeing Cheng Wei and the other two off, at Si Nan's strong request, Cheng Su Ming reluctantly cleaned and bandaged the goose's left wing.
Because of personal grudges, Cheng Su Ming specially wrapped Da Bai's entire left wing like a dumpling, making it impossible for Da Bai to lift the wing. He almost fell flat on his face, which looked particularly funny.
Si Nan couldn't help laughing: "Do you really have to bandage it like this?"
"I bandaged it because of your kindness, what else do you want?" Cheng Su Ming said coldly: "This haunted ghost thing, it was shaken like that, and it still found you."
"Doesn't this mean that it has a connection with us? Don't forget, this time the earthquake happened early, and it was the goose's desperate cries that reminded us, so we were able to go downstairs early and not be buried by the rubble. Dabai is our lifesaver, you have to be nice to it and Xiaobai."
Cheng Su Ming was speechless for a long time before he said with a headache: "If you want to raise them, then continue to raise them. Let me make it clear that I will not care about their life or death. You are responsible for their eating, drinking, defecating and urinating. Don't even think about handing them over to me. I am very busy and have no time to take care of them. If you hand them over to me and they are caught and eaten by others, don't blame me."
With just a few words, Si Nan was blocked from saying what he wanted to say.
"Stingy." Si Nan held the heavy Dabai in her arms, looking at his departing back. She looked around and found that everyone was looking at her two big geese, with greedy looks in everyone's eyes.
If she really left the two geese in the medical tent, she was afraid that these people would catch and stew them at any time. So she had to take both geese with her and go to the rescue team to participate in the rescue work.
Outside the tent area, the assembly whistle was blown. After assigning the day's work, Captain Li saw her with two geese and asked in surprise, "Mrs. Cheng, you still keep two geese as pets? Why didn't I see them before? Are you going to take them with you to the rescue?"
Si Nan put Dabai on the ground and said with a smile, "My cousin brought them here this morning. My male goose is quite smart. On the day of the earthquake, it noticed something was wrong and woke me up with its constant cawing. It came into my room and held me in its mouth, wanting to run away with me. That's how my husband and I were able to avoid disaster. I heard that geese have good hearing, maybe they can be used like police dogs."
"There is such a strange thing." Captain Li looked at the bandaged gander in amazement.
It was holding its head high, looking around with a very intelligent look. It seemed that this gander really had some abilities, otherwise Cheng Suming and his wife would not have raised it until now, and even wrapped it with bandages when it was injured.
Captain Li nodded and said, "Since these male geese are intelligent, Mrs. Cheng, you must be careful with them and don't let them out of your sight. What if..."
He didn't say the rest, but Si Nan understood: "Don't worry, I will protect them and won't let anyone catch them."
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