If there are many spaces at the entrance of the alley, such as one's own farmland or a place that does not interfere with others, then the slope of the alley can be made gentler.
But for families like Uncle Liu's, their alleyway faces the main road directly. They can't destroy the road, so they can only make the alleyway slope steeper to shorten the alleyway distance.
Such alleyways are fine on ordinary days, but they become a big problem in extreme situations like this.
Facing the surging floodwaters, the resistance was too great; it was difficult for even people to climb out of the pit dwelling, let alone pull a mule.
"Be careful when you go down there. The water is so high, you don't want to be swept into the seepage pit."
When Wang Tianxiao went down, he discovered the problem with the alleyway and warned Wang Tianyi in advance.
As you exit the pit courtyard from the alleyway, the water flow suddenly increases in speed and impact force, much like a flood discharge, because there is no resistance on either side.
In addition, after entering from the alleyway, the last short section of the slope is extremely steep, and if you are not careful, you can easily be swept to the side.
Sure enough, as soon as the two entered the door, a tremendous force propelled them forward at high speed.
Wang Tianyi slipped and fell into the water, immediately choking and struggling to breathe.
Wang Tianxiao was prepared, so he reacted quickly, grabbing the door frame next to him and grabbing his younger brother's hand with his other hand, holding on tightly.
"Tianyi, don't exert any force. Slowly stand up with the current. You're strapped to a tire, so you won't sink. Don't panic."
With Wang Tianxiao's encouragement, Wang Tianyi gradually calmed down and finally regained his balance.
But he still drank some water and kept coughing.
After making slight adjustments, the two slowly felt their way down the wall and arrived at Uncle Liu's pit courtyard.
Although the rain hadn't completely stopped, the sky was slowly beginning to brighten.
In the dim light, Wang Tianxiao saw someone in the southwest corner. He and his companion went over and found that it was indeed his sixth uncle, who was standing on the ground, motionless.
Because of his limited height, and because this pit-style courtyard was close to the main road and there was a lot of water coming down, the water almost reached Uncle Liu's neck.
If the water level continues to rise, it could drown his mouth and nose.
But he didn't seem to react; he just stared blankly ahead.
"Sixth Uncle?"
"Sixth Uncle?"
Wang Tianxiao walked over with difficulty, shook his sixth uncle, and called out twice.
Uncle Liu still reacted.
Where is my sixth aunt?
"In the water."
"In the water?!"
Wang Tianxiao looked around, but there was water everywhere, and he really couldn't see where Aunt Liu was.
Where is it?
"Tell us quickly, Uncle Liu, so we can help you rescue them."
"It's right in the pit."
Uncle Liu raised his finger and pointed in front of him.
Wang Tianxiao looked in the direction the finger was pointing, feeling slightly dazed, his head buzzing.
The pit that Uncle Liu mentioned is a seepage pit.
Perhaps Wang Tianxiao had adjusted to the light, or perhaps it was because dawn had finally broken, but he suddenly noticed that a mule's head was floating in the seepage pit.
But the mule had already drowned.
Wang Tianxiao made a quick decision, untied the rope around his waist, tied one end to the window frame, made several tight knots to make sure there were no problems, and then said to Wang Tianyi, "Tianyi, I'll go down and try to fish it out. Remember to pull me out every thirty seconds or so."
Wang Tianxiao cannot swim, so he has never practiced holding his breath.
He remembered falling into an icy river in his past life and being able to hold his breath for about several tens of seconds.
So we can only give it a try.
"Second Brother, is it safe to go down there? You'd better not, the water is so deep!" Wang Tianyi looked at the puddle with worry, not wanting Wang Tianxiao to go down, it was too dangerous.
“Maybe Aunt Liu can still be saved.” Wang Tianxiao patted his brother’s shoulder. “Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. If we haven’t encountered it, then so be it. After all, we’re not gods. But if we have encountered it, we should give it a try. We’ll regret it for the rest of our lives.”
After saying that, Wang Tianxiao slowly used his feet to try to reach the edge of the seepage pit, held his breath, and slipped in.
As soon as I went inside, I couldn't see anything in front of me.
This is what floods on the Loess Plateau look like: basically all mud mixed together, with visibility almost zero.
Once inside, he could only grope around.
Stepping on the edge of the seepage pit.
The seepage pit is not a circular pit; strictly speaking, it is more like a cone.
From top to bottom, the bottom of the pit gets smaller and smaller, mainly to facilitate water collection.
If it weren't for the heavy rain, the accumulated water could be used for washing things or feeding livestock or poultry.
After all, it rarely rains in Qingcheng throughout the year.
It's easy to fall into a cone-shaped pit but difficult to get out. Once you fall in, there's no support around you, and because the pressure from above is applied to the bottom, the contact area is too small, making it even harder to get out.
It looks just like a funnel.
As soon as Wang Tianxiao got down, he immediately bumped into the mule's body.
The seepage pit, which was only three or four meters in diameter, was almost half occupied by the mule's carcass.
Once he went down there, he couldn't see anything, so he could only grope around blindly.
Before he could even touch anything, Wang Tianyi grabbed him and pulled him up.
I had to make some adjustments and dive in again.
He kept touching it until the third time, and finally touched Aunt Liu's clothes. He hurriedly grabbed the clothes and, with Wang Tianyi's help, slowly pulled them up.
Uncle Liu was very excited when he saw Aunt Liu come up. Wang Tianxiao stopped him and carried Aunt Liu up to her.
On the way up, we encountered another problem at the entrance of the alley.
Going down a steep slope is fast and easy, but turning around to go uphill becomes very difficult.
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