Xiao Qin and his colleagues temporarily built a shed in the dark to provide shelter for the family.
The shed had just been set up when it began to rain heavily, making a loud noise as it hit the tarpaulin. This heavy rain, which had been anticipated for five months, came after a disaster.
It came at a time when everyone had lost their homes, which was undoubtedly adding insult to injury.
But they were much better off than other people in the village. They had to wail among the ruins in the rain. The houses where several generations had lived were gone.
The rain came late and lingered for a long time. The family huddled together in the shed to keep warm. The firewood in the stove crackled. Xiao Hechuan's bedding was soaked by the rain that flowed in from the ground, so they had to push a cart in and let him sleep on it first, with thick bedding underneath and a lot of other supplies at his feet. The family didn't even have a place to sit. They all looked dazed and had not yet recovered from the disaster.
We endured in silence until dawn, when the rain outside subsided.
Seeing that it was already dawn, Xiao's father could no longer stay there, so he found two umbrellas and prepared to go to the village with Xiao Qin to check on the condition of his house.
When the father and son arrived at the village, there was no trace of its former appearance left, only ruins. The villagers who usually came and went were rescuing people in the ruins in the rain. At this time, they could not care about so many grudges and the most important thing for everyone was to help each other, rescue people and find usable supplies.
Father Xiao's lips were trembling. He and Xiao Qin hurried back home, but when they saw the scene before them, they could no longer hold back.
Father Xiao burst into tears.
The house he built with great effort was once the largest house in the entire village. Its courtyard wall was magnificent, so he was always the envy of the villagers.
Now, the back mountain collapsed due to the earthquake and buried the house directly. If you can still see the remains of a house in other places, there is not even a piece of wood to be seen in his house. It is all buried under the mountain.
Half of his life's work was gone just like that. He was just an honest farmer, and he lost his land and his house. How would such a big family survive in the future?
He squatted on the ground, covering his face, crying in a low voice without any image. Xiao Qin also had mixed feelings in his heart, but he was young and could handle it, and he comforted his father in return:
"Dad, don't be discouraged. Everything will be fine. As long as the whole family is still here, this family will not fall apart, and we will still have the house."
Father Xiao responded and was helped up by his son.
He quickly cheered up and wiped his tears:
"Go back and call your two brothers, let's help everyone. I'm going to go save people first."
In the past, people were very humane. Even though there were bound to be frictions and quarrels in daily life, when times like these came, it was the time for people to be most united.
Xiao Qin nodded and hurried back to the land temple.
As soon as the day broke, Jiang Sui no longer sat there waiting to die. The firewood he brought back from home was soaked by the wind and rain and was difficult to burn. Once it was burned, it produced thick smoke.
The stools and tables were moved under the tarpaulin and wiped clean so that everyone had a place to sit. Xiao's mother prepared some porridge so that the family could eat first.
Seeing Xiao Qin coming back from afar and telling him about the situation in the village, Xiao's mother was shocked at first, then distressed, and finally felt fortunate when she heard that her house was completely buried by the collapsed mountain.
She suddenly looked older, as if she had aged a few years, but she could not show her weakness in front of her children. She had to persevere, so she said to her sons:
"Each of you should drink some porridge first. Eat your fill before going to help. That way you will have more strength. Call your father. No matter how sad you are, you cannot go hungry. Ask him to come back and eat something when he has time. We will stay here to guard Hechuan and sort out our things."
Xiao's mother knew Xiao's father very well. The family's land and house were his lifelong pride. Now they were all destroyed. It would be strange if he was not sad. He was just pretending to be strong.
The sons all nodded, then took their bowls to drink the porridge. After they were done, they did not delay any further and immediately went back to the village to help.
The rain was a little lighter, so Xiao's mother asked Zhou to take Goudan to look after Xiao Hechuan, while she, Jiang Sui and Xiao Lanlan went to pick up some bricks from the land temple to put under the shed to isolate the rainwater on the ground.
Their shoes and socks were all wet, and they were afraid that they would catch a cold if they stayed there for too long. The old cow had also been getting wet in the rain, but they didn't have to worry about it for the time being as it had thick skin and flesh. They could just take it to the nearby area to eat some grass later.
He checked the tarpaulin on the grain again to see if there was any water seepage, and added a few bricks to hold it down.
There is only one shed like this and it is already crowded enough. I don’t know where to sleep at night, which is also a problem.
The benefit of having a man around comes at this time. The father and son will find a way to solve this problem later and use local materials to build a temporary place to shelter from the rain and rest.
All in all, their current situation couldn't be better; at least they were not exposed to the rain.
The reason why Xiao's mother didn't let Zhou get wet in the rain was because she took into consideration that her body had just recovered and was afraid that she would be affected again by getting wet in the rain, so she let her stay in the shed to watch over her.
But Zhou was not idle either. She laid all the bricks they picked up on the ground. The ground was finally drier and she felt much more comfortable.
The firewood has not been soaked by the rain yet, so it will definitely be difficult to burn at the beginning, but it will be fine after a while. Everyone should try to take care of themselves and those around them at this time.
Xiao Hechuan showed no signs of waking up and continued to be unconscious. This was what the family was most worried about.
Later, the father and his two sons came back. It was already afternoon and smoke was rising from the shed. They had been digging through the rubble for a whole day and had rescued many people and supplies.
They built a temporary shelter. Everyone was hungry and tired, and there was no time to treat the injuries of some people.
On the Xiao family's side, Jiang Sui and his mother covered the carts and food with the ruins. Jiang Sui took into consideration that so many people in the village had no food or water, and when they found out that they had everything they needed, they would become greedy and would do anything to survive.
Afterwards, he led the cow to eat grass nearby before stopping to rest for a while.
I still had porridge in the evening and put a circle of corn tortillas on the edge of the pot. Due to limited conditions, this was the only way I could eat.
Father Xiao looked at his youngest son who had not woken up yet and sighed repeatedly. Now it was like adding insult to injury. He had witnessed many separations and deaths today.
When the old village chief's son, the current village chief, was rescued from the rubble, he was only breathing his last breath and his body was covered with wounds. The old village chief also fell ill.
Some elderly people could not be rescued and were crushed to death. In short, those who were dug out, no matter old or young, were half dead.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
