Qiao Qingqing and the others were also hiding from the rain, and the rain hitting the tent made an annoying noise.
"Sister, it's peeled." Shao Shengfei handed the peeled tuber to Qiao Qingqing.
Qiao Qingqing didn't take the tuber cut from the crack at that time. Later, when she was on her way, she came across another one. The ground was turned upside down by the earthquake, revealing a large area of tuberous plants. She didn't lack food, so she just took one piece back to try.
"Thank you, big brother. Give it to me." Qiao Qingqing put it on the plate and carefully cut it into pieces with a knife. She picked the smallest one and put it in her mouth. It was a little astringent at first, and the astringency became stronger and stronger after chewing, and slowly it seemed as if her mouth was numb. Qiao Qingqing carefully judged its edibility and danger, and finally swallowed it.
"If it doesn't taste good, just spit it out. I see you're having a hard time eating it."
Qiao Qingqing shook her head: "It's okay, Mom. I only ate a little bit. Let's cook the rest."
Qiao Songzhi had no idea what to do with her daughter. She told her to cook it and try again, but her daughter said that sometimes there was no condition to make a fire for cooking, so she had to judge whether it could be eaten raw.
The alcohol stove flickered with a blue flame, and the water in the small pot quickly boiled. Qiao Songzhi put the remaining tubers in and stirred them carefully with a spatula to prevent them from sticking to the pot.
Shao Shengfei looked at the pot carefully and reminded Qiao Songzhi: "Mother Qiao, you can add sugar now."
"Why does Feifei feel like adding sugar?"
"Sweet soup needs sugar." Shao Shengfei said as a matter of course. Qiao Songzhi laughed and stirred it a few more times. He felt that this pot of stuff really looked like sweet potatoes. No wonder Feifei thought it was sweet soup.
So Qiao Songzhi finally added two spoonfuls of white sugar. When she screwed the can tightly, she felt Shao Shengfei staring at the candy jar in her hand. She asked softly, "Fei Fei, do you want some candy?"
"Yeah!" Shao Shengfei nodded hurriedly, "Can I have a little candy? I will remember to brush my teeth before going to bed!"
"Of course. Qingqing, do you have any more milk tea?"
Qiao Qingqing nodded, took out a bucket of milk tea, and filled two clean cups.
"Brother, let's not eat white sugar, can we drink milk tea?"
That’s even better!
"Sister, don't you want to drink?"
"I don't want to drink it. I'm trying new plants. Brother and mom can drink it."
"I don't want to drink it, so put it away." Qiao Songzhi also had a sense of food crisis and instinctively wanted to save some.
"Drink it, mom." Qiao Qingqing stuffed the cup into Qiao Songzhi's hand and winked at her. "There are so many milk teas, really."
"I……"
"Mom, I brought back these new plants not because we were short of supplies, but because I thought that even if we can't use them now, we have to know what to eat in case of emergency. You make me very sad."
The daughter was acting coquettishly and trying to reason with him, so Qiao Songzhi had no choice but to take over.
Next to him, Shao Shengfei happily held the cup and drank it sip by sip.
Qiao Qingqing was a little absent-minded.
"What's wrong with you? Are you feeling uncomfortable after eating that thing?" Qiao Songzhi took a sip of milk tea and felt much more relaxed. Seeing this, he asked worriedly.
"No... I was just thinking it's raining, maybe I can store some rain water."
"Hey, why didn't I think of that! Then hurry up and get the bucket out."
"There are other people nearby. They can see that we didn't bring a bucket when we came here. Let's fill the tent with water."
The sandstorm had caused considerable damage to the tent, especially the top, which was pressed too hard. Even though Qiao Qingqing used a stick to prop the top higher so that the sand could slide down, it was still worn down to a thin layer. It might be completely damaged and leak on this rainy day. Qiao Qingqing took out a piece of PVC pipe from the space and directly punctured the damaged part of the top of the tent as a pipeline for collecting rain. The joint was then reinforced with waterproof cloth.
"Put the tube into the bucket—" Qiao Qingqing took out another bucket to collect water.
Watching the rain water flowing in through the PVC pipe and falling into the bucket, Qiao Songzhi happily praised her: "My daughter is so smart."
"My sister is so smart!" Shao Shengfei agreed.
Qiao Qingqing smiled and looked at the rainwater in the bucket, but there was a hint of worry in her eyes. She didn't dare to say it out loud to worry her mother and elder brother, but she was really worried about Sheng An and the others. Did they find a place to shelter from the rain?
With a bitter taste in her throat, she came back to her senses and continued to pay attention to the changes in her body.
After several hours, my throat and tongue were still in a bitter and numb discomfort, but I had no symptoms such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, dizziness, nausea, etc.
"It's okay to eat it raw for now, but I eat too little, so I don't have enough data. I'd better cook it." Qiao Qingqing said, adding a lighter and two boxes of matches to Qiao Songzhi and Shao Shengfei's backpacks. Fire is very important during the escape, and the backpacks are filled with important things, not even clothes.
"That's enough. There's a magnifying glass and flint in the bag. We can make a fire no matter what the situation." Qiao Songzhi patted her hands.
"Yeah." Qiao Qingqing responded softly, leaning her head on her mother.
On the fourteenth day of the earthquake, the ruins of the Xicheng survivor base looked even more desolate in the rain.
The regrouped army and security forces split into many small teams to carry out rescue operations in various places. Aftershocks, sandstorms and rain all hampered the rescue process.
Fourteen days later, all the survivors who could be rescued were rescued, and those who couldn't come out... probably died under the ruins and cracks in the ground.
The smell in the base was getting worse and worse. Rainwater was seeping into the ground and accumulating. The stagnant water, carrying the smell of rotting corpses, was flowing everywhere.
Survivors began to fall ill, with fever, coughing, vomiting, and weakness.
There were not enough tents, and each tent was densely packed with people. In the pits of the ruins, some survivors were barely huddled together to avoid the rain, their eyes numb and empty.
The base had made preparations for a major earthquake in advance, but in the face of an absolute natural disaster that was impossible to resist, all the preparations seemed so powerless.
Mayor Luo went through many difficulties under the protection of his guards. Half a month later, his hair turned completely white, his upright body became a little hunched, and his cheekbones became protruding. He was too busy. He had been busy since that day, which almost drained his energy and made him look depressed. But he was tough and his eyes were still as sharp as before.
Somewhere on a flat ground on Yeshan Mountain that had been torn into several pieces, in the municipal temporary command center, Mayor Luo was in his office looking at the latest rough report on survivors. This breath seemed to still weigh heavily on his heart, making it hard for him to breathe.
The last time, the population of the base was counted, there were 897,562 people, not including the survivors outside the base. As a medium-sized base, the Xicheng Survivor Base has been accommodating survivors since its construction. It has been almost six years since its construction, and countless people have worked hard, sweated and blood, and countless people have contributed to the Xicheng Base...
"133,547 people..."
This number is the number of survivors counted so far. Commander Peng said that half of the scattered soldiers on hand have lost contact, and that half of the soldiers cannot be completely gone. Those people must be alive in other corners, and may be with many survivors.
But even with the optimistic statistics and the floating numbers, Mayor Luo still couldn't bear it. He couldn't stop crying when he read the number. He covered his eyes and knocked his head on the table. His suppressed crying sounded at the door. Tan Jianling didn't leave after delivering the report. He stood straight at the door, but after a while, his back seemed to bend a little. He lowered his head, took off his glasses, and exhaled heavily.
The rain continued to fall, just like Mayor Luo’s endless sorrow and pain.
Two days later, the rain got heavier, the gloomy and depressing atmosphere in the air became heavier, the dark clouds in the sky became thicker and thicker, and occasionally lightning could be seen flashing in the thick clouds.
"It seems like a typhoon is coming." Qiao Songzhi looked at the sky worriedly, "The wind is so strong that I can't even open my eyes."
At this time, the outline of Ye Shan became clearer and clearer. They were close to the outskirts of the base and encountered more survivors. But this "more" was only relative to the wild. The number of residents in the wild was limited. Given the large number of residents outside the base, the number of survivors should have been dozens of times greater than that of the survivors in the wild.
In addition to the survivors, the most common thing to see was corpses. Rainwater accumulated on the rugged ground, and the bodies that had not been dealt with in time floated up, and the smell of rotting corpses melted into the water. In the distance, there were several places where thick smoke rolled in the rain. Qiao Qingqing used a telescope to check the nearest place where thick smoke was emitted and saw that it was a place where corpses were burned.
In order to avoid infection, Qiao Qingqing and her family were fully armed, wearing one-piece waders and masks under their raincoats. Qingqing led her family to the cremation site. She guessed that it must have been done by the rescue team, as only they had the manpower and resources to handle so many bodies.
After walking a few hundred meters, Qiao Qingqing finally saw the tent through the telescope. Judging from the style and size of the tent, it should be the rescue team.
Qiao Songzhi was very happy and surprised to hear that. She wiped the rain off the brim of her raincoat: "Is it really a rescue team? It's been almost half a month, and this is the first time I see a rescue team!" She also picked up the telescope and looked over: "Qingqing, let's go over and take a look. Maybe Sheng An and the others are in there?" Qiao Songzhi couldn't see anyone in the tent, and she expected that Sheng An and the others were in the tent.
"That's what I thought, let's go."
The three of them walked towards the resettlement site over there wearing raincoats.
"Wow! What is this?" Shao Shengfei pointed forward in surprise.
Ahead was a crack in the ground with a tank stuck inside, revealing its original cold luster under the rain.
Qiao Songzhi took a deep breath and said, "It must have fallen down when the ground cracked during the earthquake. It's probably too heavy to lift up. "Qiao Qingqing looked away and said, "I'll go over first."
The tank was stuck there, just the right bridge to cross the gap. Qiao Qingqing jumped down carefully, walked a few steps and then climbed up. It was only 50 to 60 centimeters high, so it was not difficult to climb up.
"Mom, brother, please be careful." After making sure they could get through, Qiao Qingqing jumped down again and stood on the tank to support them.
The three of them climbed carefully and successfully reached the other side of the crack. Shao Shengfei stood firm and looked back at the soil next to the tank.
"Let's go Feifei."
"oh!"
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