Chapter 274
Satellite Extra
July 1998, Yichang.
Heavy rain, floods, and endless rain are the main themes on television, newspapers, and radio this month.
Last month, the Nenjiang River had a flood peak. Because of the El Niño in 1997, in fact, the authorities have been discussing flood control and prevention tasks and arranging flood control work since the beginning of the year.
Comrade Leng Feng, an infantry squad leader of a combat unit of a military region, is a member of the flood fighting force.
The soldiers, wearing camouflage uniforms and helmets, were transported by plane and truck and had a bumpy ride to their destination. They lined up at attention as soon as they got off the truck.
They had just arrived at the disaster relief site.
"Have you heard that a 500-meter-long hole was opened in Jiujiang, and a paramilitary troop was swept away as soon as they got off the plane?" said Xiao Wang.
"Run forward. It is said that the flood is just ahead. Hurry up. I want to see what the flood looks like." Leng Feng said.
He grew up in the north and although he served in the army in Chengdu, he did not have the same specific impressions as the southern children. When he heard about the flood, Leng Feng was quite excited.
Well, as he ran, his heart began to pound.
"Damn it." When the flood was right in front of him, Leng Feng was stunned.
The places we passed along the way were all flooded houses, and on the rooftops were ordinary people waving their hands. Well, saving people and throwing sandbags into the river was their most important task now.
Xiao Wang carried a bag of sandbags and threw them into the river while running. Suddenly, he turned around and found Leng Feng holding one in each hand and running faster than him.
"Hey, Leng Feng, what's the matter? Come on evenly. You'll easily sprain your waist if you do this. Carrying sandbags requires more than just enthusiasm; you also need skills." The company commander looked at Leng Feng and scolded him.
Leng Feng turned around and smiled, "Captain, that's because your waist is not good. I'm young, a 20-year-old boy, and my waist is at its best. If you don't believe me, just watch. I can carry two for a whole day, and I guarantee my waist will be fine."
There were about a hundred young men in the company. They were all full of enthusiasm when they arrived, but as they carried the work for a while, it all became a mechanized operation.
There is mineral water everywhere along the river, which can be drunk directly. There is no food to eat, but they can overcome it.
However, looking at the surging river, the soldiers became anxious and could only keep throwing sandbags into the river.
The team was full of energy on the plane. After getting off the plane, they worked continuously for 26 hours on their first day on the battlefield before the troops came to take over.
"Leng Feng, let's go. What are you still doing?" The company commander shouted when he saw that Leng Feng was still going strong.
Leng Feng was still carrying two bags of sand. "Captain, I just want to ask you, is my waist stiff?"
"Hard, you're really fucking tough, hurry up, the people at the disaster relief office ahead said there are bread and instant noodles in the gymnasium, follow me, go eat something, take a rest after eating, and then continue to fight the flood." The company commander shouted.
After working for nearly a day and a night, when we followed the main force back, we found that a steady stream of soldiers were running forward, heading towards the place where the flood had broken through the dam.
"Hey, squad leader Leng, have you written to your girlfriend again? You can also make a big fuss about our flood relief efforts. Then, maybe your girlfriend will be so excited that she will be willing to see you." Xiao Su, a classmate who is only eighteen years old this year, two years younger than Leng Feng, said with a smile.
Leng Feng said loudly, "How could she not have written it? I sent a letter to her school before I left. I guess she is holding the letter right now, tears welling up in her eyes with excitement. Oh, she must love me to death."
"Yes, she loves you to death. But the last time we went to Shanghai, we waited outside the school gate for three times in a row, but she didn't come out to see you. Well, what we suspect now is that your girlfriend is a fabrication by you. That girl, Nie Weixing, doesn't like you at all." The company commander said loudly as he jogged beside her.
Leng Feng got angry when he heard this. "Captain, I took you to see her because I have a good relationship with you. Besides, my Aunt Chen said that she went to teach in the rural areas. When we went there, she went to teach in the rural areas. Do you understand?"
Anyway, everyone's military uniforms were wet. Leng Feng tore open his chest and said, "With my physique, how could she not like me? I tell you, even if Nie Weixing talks about other guys, tell me, which guy can beat me, huh?"
The company commander ran backwards. "Well, after the flood fighting mission is completed, we will have another vacation. Then I and I will accompany you to Fudan. Your girlfriend should be graduating soon. If she dares to fall in love, we will help you get her back."
Leng Feng immediately jumped onto the squad's back and said, "Captain, I love you the most, really."
"Bastard Leng Feng, my waist." The company commander's waist was about to break.
Yichang Gymnasium, a temporary resettlement site for disaster victims.
"We are here to travel, and we are leaving now. Since you are volunteers, you should provide us with a car, do you understand? We are Shanghai citizens, and when we arrive in Yichang, you should protect our lives and safety." said a thin middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses.
Next to him was a woman in her 40s, pointing at a girl's nose and scolding her, "Instant noodles, bread, these are the things we eat every day. How on earth are you going to handle the resettlement of disaster victims? It's really terrible."
"Maybe they stole all the good stuff and fed us bread every day." The man said, "Anlin, let's go. I don't believe we can't find a place to eat if we go out now."
A female volunteer was distributing bread and instant noodles. These two people, who looked like intellectuals, did not express gratitude like the disaster victims did, but actually started swearing at her.
The female volunteer was a college student. She cried out of sadness when she saw the bread and instant noodles thrown into her hands and the two men scolding her.
"Let's go. I don't believe we can't find a place to eat." The woman pulled the man and said.
"There are flood peaks everywhere now, and this gymnasium is the safest place. What if you go out now and get swept away by the flood?" A girl blocked the two people.
The woman was angry. "What's wrong with you? What's wrong with this country? We came out for a trip and something like this happened. A flood. If there is a flood, we should ask the armed police to rescue us and carry us. Anyway, we have to go home now. That's it. We have to go home."
As they talked, the two of them held hands, carried their luggage, and prepared to rush out.
At this time, a girl who had been distributing bread suddenly rushed over, stopped the man, and said, "Uncle Xiao, please stop right there. Who allowed you to leave?"
"Nie Weixing, right? You said you are Chen Lina's daughter Nie Weixing. Well, let me tell you now, I, Xiao Chen, am your mother's old friend. We are leaving now, and it is up to you to stop us."
Wei Xing crossed his arms in front of Xiao Chen and said coldly, "I have to stop you because you are out there courting death. It doesn't matter if you don't want to live, but the lives of the armed police soldiers are precious. I will never allow you to waste the time and lives of the armed police soldiers."
"As expected of Chen Lina's daughter, you are really good at talking. Let me tell you, although I, Xiao Chen, have retired, I was once a state cadre. You don't need to tell me what to do."
"I don't want to tell you what to do, but if I say you can't leave, you can't leave." Nie Weixing said, "You two sit down right now, and be careful of my fists and feet."
As she spoke, she raised her fist.
"You!" Xiao Chen snorted, but still pulled An Lin back and sat down.
An Lin looked at Nie Weixing, who was distributing items, taking the temperature of the elderly, or delivering hot water, and said, "I heard that my sister also has one, about the same size, but I heard that he didn't achieve much and joined the army."
"Stop mentioning your sister, okay? Why do you always talk about her? She didn't provoke you." Xiao Chen was quite dissatisfied.
An Lin felt his hand shaking and suddenly got angry. "What's the matter? You're the one who can't forget her. You ran to the border several times in the past few years. Don't think I don't know what you did. Humph, you went to see her secretly and then ran back quietly."
"I was sorry for her at first."
"Then are you worthy of me? You always say that it is my sister who refuses to have children, but what about you? You can't even have a child." An Lin glared at Xiao Chen and said with disdain.
Well, her eyes, tone, and even the wrinkles on her face are exactly the same as her mother Wang Yun.
Xiao Chen closed his eyes in pain. He really couldn't understand why he would give up Anna, who was kind, generous and seemed to be out of touch with the world, and fall in love with such a worldly woman.
But it was true that he himself was incapable of getting pregnant, and now he and Anlin were old and did not even have a child.
"Think about it, think about it again. What's the use of regretting? I heard that she found an old man. Well, marry an old man and have a child. That's how Anna's life will be." An Lin said with a smile.
"Report, the 37th Company of a certain combat unit is here to set up camp. Is there any room left?" Suddenly, a loud voice came from the gymnasium.
"Satellite, is there any place available? A group of soldiers came over there and said they have been busy for a whole day and night and haven't slept a wink. Now they want to find a place to sleep." Volunteer Xiao Liu ran over and asked.
Nie Weixing was busy repairing a broken generator at the moment. He was holding a breaker in his hand, and his hands were greasy. "Wow, soldiers, hurry up and take them to the hall in front of the gymnasium. That place is windy and it is also the most dangerous place when floods come. Put them there."
"What are you talking about? They just came down from the front line."
"But the hall is full of disaster victims now. Most of them have been flooded. There are so many elderly people and children. Soldiers are in good health, so they should be on the front line. Go quickly."
She lowered her head and continued to repair the generator.
There is no hot water now, and many elderly people and children need to make milk powder, so they must use hot water.
Otherwise, they would soon have diarrhea after coming out of the flood. Once they have diarrhea, they would get dysentery. Dysentery is contagious, and adults may be able to handle it, but what about the children?
The satellite got his hands full of oil and couldn't fix the generator, so he was getting anxious.
Suddenly, a pair of soldiers were seen marching in from outside.
"Oh my God, look at these soldiers, why are the clothes on their shoulders all torn?" said an old lady.
The middle school student next to me said, "It must have been bruised from carrying sandbags. Grandma, I want to be a soldier when I grow up."
The satellite looked at it and suddenly an idea came to his mind. He waved his hand and said, "Comrades, comrades, look here, look here. Excuse me, is there anyone among you who has studied electrical engineering?"
…
"Hello, comrades. My motor repair machine is broken. May I ask, did any of you study motors or engines before joining the army?" She stood up and waved her hands.
The people coming in now are a whole company of more than a hundred guys, big and small.
Sure enough, there was someone who could repair motors. The company commander was the first to raise his hand and said, "Comrade, I can repair motors. Come on, let me see what's wrong with your motor."
The sandbags Leng Feng carried yesterday were twice as many as others, but he is in high spirits now. Look, he is bragging to Xiao Wang, "When I was little, my girlfriend was very nice to me. Let me tell you, when I was eight years old, she fed me and put on shorts for me every morning. Well, I liked to sleep naked at that time..."
"Come on, Leng Feng, why don't you speak?"
In the messy gymnasium hall, there was a girl in her early twenties with a ponytail, wearing sneakers and a white T-shirt. Her forehead was covered in sweat and there was a little oil stain on the tip of her nose.
Leng Feng stood there and watched for a long time, then suddenly grabbed Xiao Wang and said, "Xiao Wang, you're done."
"What's wrong with you, Leng Feng? Can you please stop being so crazy?"
"My girlfriend, my girlfriend is there." Leng Feng said.
All of the students in the class were shocked. "Where, where is it?"
All the young men stopped and looked in the direction of Leng Feng's hand, and saw a girl in her early twenties standing next to the company commander.
Her bright smile is really like the red sun, and her eyes are as charming as the moon. She is beautiful, just like the shepherdess in Wang Luobing's song.