"What's wrong with the dog?" Zhou Huaian and his companions quickly turned around and followed him to the gate of the courtyard. He put down the bucket and squatted down to comfort the dog. "Laifu, Wangcai, what are you yelling about?"
"Woof woof woof..." The dog looked at him and continued barking towards the stone bridge.
Immediately afterwards, there was a loud "boom" sound, which was similar to the muffled thunder in the morning.
Everyone felt as if the ground beneath their feet was shaking. Yang Chunyan and her sisters-in-law rushed out, holding the younger ones and holding the older ones.
"What happened? What happened?"
The old man said in a deep voice: "There should be a mudslide or landslide at the bridge head.
Zhou Huaian glanced at Yang Chunyan, and they both looked towards the bridge head, thinking that since it was raining so hard, the fishermen should have left, right?
"We were in the wasteland and saw rocks rolling down." Zhou Jiaming grabbed his brother's hand, looking scared. Fortunately, their father called them back, along with three classmates.
The family stood quietly at the gate for a while, and the old man said, "Take the hoe and pickaxe and go over to take a look."
"Grandpa, old man, you stay at home, let's go."
Zhou Huaian and his two brothers went back to the house to get their hoes and pickaxes. They were all wearing raincoats and rain boots and did not need to change. The brothers came out and ran directly towards the stone bridge from the path outside the door.
At this time, many men in the village ran there with hoes and crowbars, and Zhou Datian and Secretary Xu also hurried over.
The four brothers ran to the bridgehead and saw that many people had gathered on the wasteland. When they looked over, they saw that the earth slope, which was originally two stories high, had collapsed, and the flood, along with mud, sand and rocks, had rushed into the ravine.
Twenty or thirty men were crowded there, some moving stones, some using hoes to dig out the collapsed mud and rocks.
Zhou Huaian felt very disappointed and thought to himself: Looks like someone is in trouble again!
A man saw his brothers coming with hoes and pickaxes, and he shouted to them: "Zhou Laoyao, come and help quickly, Fang Laowu is buried down there."
"Oh oh!" Zhou Huaian and his brothers hurried over to help.
Fang Laowai, whose hands were covered in blood, shed tears of regret when he saw Zhou Huaian. He sat down in the water and kept hitting his head, "Zhou Laoyao, I remember to run to both sides. My fifth child didn't make it in time... wuwu...wuwu..."
"..." Zhou Huaian didn't know what to say, he just dug hard at the rocks and sand that were washed down.
At this time, Secretary Xu and Zhou Datian also came with people. Seeing everyone digging mud and rocks, they said, "Everyone, hurry up and help. Lend a hand. The faster you dig it out, the greater the hope of saving him."
Everyone who followed went up to work, prying and shoveling the mud and rocks aside. Some people even broke their shrimp baskets, revealing a pair of yellow rubber shoes.
“Found it!”
"Be careful, don't hurt anyone."
Seeing the man, everyone worked faster and put down their hoes, pickaxes and crowbars and started digging with their hands, for fear of accidentally hurting Fang Laowu.
"Laowai, you son of a bitch, stop crying, we found Laowu." A man shouted to Fang Laowai in surprise, and then shouted to Fang Laowu below, "Laowu, hold on, your kid is still a virgin, it's not worth it if you don't find a wife!"
After hearing this, Fang Laowai hurriedly got up and said, "Lao Wu, hold on, you haven't found a wife yet..."
Zhou Huaian removed the stone that was pressing on his legs, and the others had already dug out all the mud and sand that buried him. Fang Laowu, who was covered in mud and sand, was carefully carried out by everyone.
"Go up and check quickly, is the person still alive?" Secretary Xu yelled at a skinny young man.
"Oh!" The barefoot doctor touched the aorta at Fang Laowu's neck and said excitedly, "He's still alive. Send him to the clinic immediately."
Zhou Huaishan, Zhou Huairong and two other men lifted Fang Laowu and ran after the barefoot doctor.
“Wow~ Wuuuu… Wuuu…” Fang Laowai looked at his brother being carried away and burst into tears.
Secretary Xu kicked him and said, "Fuck you, what are you howling about? Horse urine is worthless, why don't you hurry up and catch up."
"Oh! Thank you, brother." Fang Laowai stumbled and ran after him.
Those who stayed behind began to look for the hoes and pickaxes they had brought with them. Some of them found their fingers bleeding and then they felt the pain.
Zhou Huaian and Zhou Huaijun were carrying hoes, pickaxes and prying machines. Their rain boots swung in the water for a few times to wash off the yellow mud on top. They heard what the people in front of them were saying.
"Fang Laowu is lucky. Today, everyone was guarding the river. When they saw Fang Laowai shouting, they all ran over to help. Otherwise, the teenager would have died before he even had a wife."
"Just now, Fang Laowai was talking to Zhou Huaian and he ran to both sides, and Laowu didn't catch up. What does that mean?"
"Ask Zhou Laoyasa!"
Zhou Huaian smiled and said, "My two nephews were fishing over here. When I came to catch them, I saw rocks rolling down the slope. I was worried about mudslides after the heavy rain, so I reminded Fang Laowai that if there was a mudslide, he should run to the sides..."
After hearing this, several people looked back at the direction where the mudslide was rushing down and nodded, "That's right, we have to run to both sides. If we run down along the mudslide, we will be buried."
"Uncle, second uncle..." Zhou Xiaoxi's voice came from the front.
"Xiaoxi is here!" Zhou Huaian and his brother strode over, "Sister, cousin, you're back!"
The two smiled and nodded. Zhou Yumei asked, "Second brother, youngest brother, what are you doing there?"
Zhou Huaijun said: "It was raining heavily and mudslides were coming down..."
"Oh my god, this is so scary." Zhou Yumei pointed at the stone bridge, "If the water level rises any higher, we won't even be able to find the bridge to get in or out."
Zhou Huaijun had seen floods before. "No, the rain was heavier than this ten years ago and it also flooded here."
When everyone walked to the entrance of the village, they saw Xu Laosan driving a tractor out of the drying dam. "Brother Xu San, where are you going now?"
Xu Laosan shouted back, "The doctor said Fang Laowu has a broken bone. Send him to the hospital."
"Oh!" Zhou Huaian and others stepped aside and waited for the tractor to drive away before continuing to walk back.
"Sister, you guys stay at home tonight and go back tomorrow!"
Zhou Yumei shook her head. "We'll leave after we eat. There are so many things in the shop and no one is guarding it. We'll empty it out overnight."
Luo Haili took over the conversation, "A few days ago, a sales agency store in town was robbed. Their family is just like us, with a store and a house. We don't know when someone pried open the door, went in and stole the things."
Zhou Huaian: "During this period of time, the crackdown has been so strict, how can someone still steal things?"
Zhou Yumei: "Why not? No matter how hard you try, you can never catch all the petty thieves."
Zhou Huaijun: "Then you have to be more alert at night."
Zhou Yumei smiled embarrassedly: "Fang Dongming sent a dog, it's quite smart."
"Sister, I think Fang Dongming is a nice guy, why didn't you bring him home for dinner?"
"We had agreed to come together today, but it rained heavily today and the water level in Ning River rose, so those who were on leave in their unit were called back to fight the flood."
"The Lianning River has risen in water, and there is probably heavy rain upstream as well," said Zhou Huaijun.
After they arrived home and exchanged greetings, Luo Qiaoling got together with the children and went to the west wing to watch TV.
Xiao Jiuer took Zhou Xiaoxi to the main room and got a big apple for her to eat.
Zhou Yumei and Luo Haili took out the tobacco leaves, wine, and cakes they bought for the old man and Zhou's father, "Grandpa, old man, these were bought by my cousin and Fang Dongming."
The old man smiled in a reproachful manner and said, "We have money at home, why spend all this money?"
Zhou's mother took over and asked, "Why don't you bring Dongming home for dinner?"
"He..." Zhou Yumei explained the reason, "If he doesn't come, we can eat more."
Zhou Huaishan said with a smile: "Today we have chicken, duck, fish and meat. As long as you can eat, feel free to eat as much as you can!"
Yang Chunyan brought over some cold tripe noodles and said, "Sister Yumei, cousin Luo, I still have some glutinous rice wine. Can we have two bowls?"
Zhou Yumei: "We'll go back after dinner. There have been a lot of thieves in the town these past two days, so we can't leave anyone at home."
After hearing this, Zhou's mother swallowed the words that were about to come out of her mouth, "Then quickly put the food on the table, and after you eat, let Huai'an drive the tractor to take you back."
Zhou Yumei smiled and said, "No need, just send him across the stone bridge. If it rains heavily and the bridge is flooded, he won't be able to come back."
Mother Zhou: "The stone bridge has never flooded in all the years since I got married. At most, it has flooded the edge of the bridge, but you can still cross it by feeling your way across."
The old man nodded and said, "Don't be afraid. That bridge is at least a hundred years old. It has never been flooded since I can remember."
"The food is here, let's eat and chat!" Zhang Xiuxiang and her sisters-in-law brought the food to the table, "The salted eggs and rice dumplings are ready, we can only eat these two today!"
Zhou Jiakang looked at the fragrant steamed, fried, stewed, and mixed dishes on the table and swallowed his saliva. "What if I want to eat these? I can't eat them?"
Zhou's mother smiled and patted him, "Greedy cat, eat if you want. Go wash your hands and eat now."
The whole family gathered together, with the children at one table and the adults at another. They ate happily and talked for a while. Then Zhou Yumei and her friend got up and said they wanted to go home.
Zhou's mother said, "There are so many things at home, we won't keep you here. Your husband said you like to eat sticky corn, so he picked some and brought them back. You can carry them back and cook them."
"Take some of the herb roots we dug today." Yang Chunyan put some wild Codonopsis pilosula, Adenophora radix, and Cirsium japonicum in a net bag and gave it to Zhou Yumei.
Zhou Huaian caught two big black fish and some yellow croaker, put them in a urea bag, and put them in her back pocket. "Take it back and eat the yellow croaker first, then the big black fish."
Zhou Yumei nodded with understanding, "Got it, remember to come to my place when you go out."
Zhou's mother came out with a bamboo basket filled with various beans and sticky corn. She reminded him worriedly, "Remember to bring letters home if anything happens. And about your relationship with Fang Dongming, your grandfather and brothers all said it's good, it's good enough."
Zhou Yumei nodded, "I understand. I'll bring him back when he's done with this."
"Where's your cousin? Let her go and have a look if there's a suitable one. She's so young, she can't live like this for the rest of her life." While Zhou's mother was happy, she also began to worry about her niece's lifelong affairs.
Zhou Yumei shook her head. "Aunt Li introduced a few to my cousin, but she didn't even look at them. She said it would be fine for her to live with Qiaoling."
Zhou's mother sighed, "It's all because of that beast Luo Dayou. He ruined her life." (End of this chapter)
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