Qiao Qingqing felt bad about rejecting a mother who was doing this for her child, even though she knew it was the best choice for herself and her family.
She returned to the tent and took out the food, and ate the late lunch with Qiao Songzhi and Shao Shengfei. After finishing eating and cleaning up, she couldn't help but look outside the tent several times. Shao Shengfei sensed her emotions and asked her, "Do you want to go out and play?"
He told Qiao Qingqing: "It's raining outside, let's change our clothes and don't go out to play, understand, sister?"
Qiao Qingqing exhaled: "I know, brother, I don't want to go out to play."
"Let's go out and play after the rain stops. I'll pick some pretty flowers for you." Shao Shengfei gestured. Just now when they were climbing over the tank, he saw a very beautiful flower.
“Pink,” he said.
Qiao Qingqing raised the corners of her mouth slightly: "Okay, thank you, brother."
Waiting always makes people anxious, but waiting is also a happy thing, at least there is a chance to wait.
Qiao Qingqing took out toys for Shao Shengfei to play with. Qiao Songzhi wanted to sleep, so she took out a soft pillow and quilt and spread it out: "Go to sleep, Mom."
"Won't you lie down for a while?"
"Lie down later, go to sleep."
She took out the wool, cleared her mind and knitted a scarf while listening to the sound of rain.
The rain outside was getting heavier, accompanied by the whistling wind, which made the tent flap.
She didn't know how much time had passed before she heard someone calling her.
"Qiao Qingqing is here, right? Is Qiao Qingqing here?"
Qiao Qingqing came back to her senses and recognized the voice as the soldier who had taken them to resettlement. She quickly responded, "Here!" She put down her things and opened the tent door. The wind and rain outside were blowing in her face. Qiao Qingqing looked up and asked, "Are there any results?"
The soldier nodded and shook his head: "I didn't find these three names in the roster."
“…Is it possible that I missed it?” she asked.
In the rain, the soldier shook his head: "We just cleaned up the roster yesterday."
"...Okay, I understand. Sorry for bothering you. Thank you."
The tent door was closed again. Qiao Qingqing looked back and saw her mother sitting up. Shao Shengfei also looked up from his toys, both eyes looking at her. She forced a smile and said, "Sheng An and the others are not here. We will stay here for a few days. If no one shows up, we will dismantle the tent and leave to the next camp."
Qiao Songzhi and Shao Shengfei had no objection.
Qiao Songzhi lifted the quilt and folded it.
"Mom, aren't you going to sleep?"
"I won't sleep anymore - you knitted this pattern very well. You've made progress." She picked up the scarf knitted by Qiao Qingqing and praised.
"There are obviously several wrong stitches. I'll take it apart and start over."
"I'll take it down. You wipe your face. It's all rain water."
A cry came through the rain, followed by the sound of soldiers maintaining order. Qiao Songzhi slowed down her unravelling, listened attentively, and sighed, "It seems someone has died."
Before nightfall, dinner began to be distributed in the temporary camp.
What was delivered to Qiao Qingqing and the others was a can of potatoes and a piece of compressed biscuit.
"This is enough for three people for two meals tonight and lunch tomorrow."
Qiao Qingqing understood that the camp only provided two meals a day, which was too little, and it was obvious that supplies were really scarce. Thinking of the tanks she had climbed before, Qiao Qingqing realized that a lot of supplies must have been lost in the earthquake, and now these tents and supplies must have been rescued by the soldiers.
She returned the food: "We still have enough food, let's share it with others first."
The soldier asked one more question: "Are you sure?"
"I am sure."
He smiled with his teeth showing: "That's good, if there is not enough food, tell me and I will give your family some."
"Okay, thank you."
The food distribution caused a lot of noise in the camp. The food was indeed insufficient, and after it was distributed, there was a lot of dissatisfaction. It seemed that the food yesterday was not so scarce. Qiao Qingqing and the others stayed in their tents, waiting for the night to come.
"It's so lively here." Qiao Songzhi said as he listened to the noise outside.
"Some people are crying, and they are crying all the time." Shao Shengfei asked, "Have they also been separated from their parents? But I was also separated from my parents, so I didn't cry."
Qiao Songzhi touched his face with heartache. This silly child cried secretly in his sleep every day, as if he didn't know.
"Okay, Feifei is the best. When I see Axia, I will tell her that you are very well behaved."
"Mom Qiao, let's make a pinky promise. You must tell me that I am a good boy."
At eight o'clock in the evening, Qiao Qingqing left the tent and found a place far away to fire a flare, but received no response. Her hopes were shattered and she was extremely disappointed. When she walked back in the rain, she met a patrolling soldier who asked her, "Are you looking for someone?"
Qiao Qingqing said "hmm".
The soldier was the one who received them during the day, and he encouraged them by saying, "We will find it."
"Thank you for your good words."
As night fell completely, the noise in the camp gradually died down, except for the sound of crying coming from somewhere, followed by someone scolding... Qiao Qingqing closed her eyes, leaned against her mother's warm body, and fell asleep listening to the various sounds in the rain.
The next morning, Qiao Qingqing got up early and walked around the camp to make sure there were no new survivors. After Qiao Qingqing's observation, she estimated that there were about three or four hundred survivors in the camp. There were seven large tents in total, one of which was obviously farther away, and the crying sound heard at night came from there. She asked, and the soldier told her that there were patients living there: "Don't get close if you don't have anything to do, their diseases are contagious."
"Did they come into contact with the body?"
The soldier sighed, "Some people who didn't come into contact with the corpses have also fallen ill. Since the rain, more people have fallen ill. You must also be careful of unclean water sources."
After a few brief words, the soldiers were about to leave. Qiao Qingqing saw them gathering outside the camp, and some survivors followed them after taking shelter from the rain. She was curious, so she went over to ask a few questions.
A survivor said: "They were going out to look for food. There wasn't enough food in the camp and we couldn't get enough to eat. So we just took a ride with them and went out to look for food. All the food we found was ours and they wouldn't collect it."
So that's how it is.
Qiao Qingqing did not go out. She went back to the tent to prepare breakfast, and waited for Qiao Songzhi and the others to wake up before the three of them ate together.
The ordinary day was spent in the rain.
In the afternoon, Qiao Qingqing heard the noise and opened the tent door.
The people who went out to look for supplies returned, and along with them came bags of harvest. The air was filled with the smell of earth, indicating that they had dug a lot of land. The food was pulled into the tent that served as a warehouse. The sacks were worn out, and a large piece of something fell out. Qiao Qingqing recognized that it was the tuber plant that she had tried before.
In addition, Qiao Qingqing also saw many lucky newcomers who were looking around anxiously in the rain. Unfortunately, Shao Shengan and the other three were not among them.
Qiao Qingqing returned disappointed. The newcomers crowded the already crowded camp, and there were noisy sounds of dissatisfaction everywhere. Some people started to fight from inside the tent to outside the tent, and even crushed a corner of the tent. The soldiers angrily separated the people, built a simple awning to throw them out, and cancelled two days of food supplies.
Two days later, the camp was flooded even more.
The land where the camp is located is relatively flat, with only a crack in the ground not far away.
Rainwater flowed into the cracks in the ground, but the water in the camp was still rising at a visible speed, soon reaching above the instep. The soldiers organized people to dig ditches to drain the water, and Qiao Qingqing also went out to help.
Sleeping in the tent at night, feeling the smelly and damp air, Qiao Qingqing couldn't sleep.
She stayed in a daze until dawn and found that the wind and rain were getting stronger. She looked up at the dark clouds gathering in the distance and felt a little worried.
"We shouldn't be that unlucky. Will the rain be as heavy as it was in Huacheng before?" Qiao Songzhi said worriedly.
If there is another flood like that, where can they go? They have kayaks and speedboats, but what about other people? If there is another flood, many people will die in the flood.
The members of the rescue team obviously had the same concerns. They held a meeting in the tent, and the squad leader was undecided: "But there are so many people in the camp, where can we move to? We can't contact our superiors or the people at other sentries."
"Today, there are two more patients with high fever, vomiting and chills. They have been moved to the ward. If the rain continues, more and more people will get sick, unless there are tall buildings to completely leave the epidemic area."
One person said: "Our place is not considered an epidemic area, not so many people died——"
“The rain brought the germs here.”
"The person who went out to find a way has not returned yet..."
The rescue team was in a meeting, and Qiao Qingqing was discussing with Qiao Songzhi and the others: "We have been here for four days, Sheng An and the others should not be coming. They must have found a place to shelter from the rain. Instead of waiting for them to come, we might as well continue looking for them." Sheng An and the others also had a set of raincoats in their backpacks, but it would be difficult to get through the night without a tent. This kind of weather was not suitable for traveling, and she believed that Sheng An would definitely find a place to shelter from the rain and moisture to settle down temporarily.
She had enough supplies, and the rain was not a big obstacle. During the four days in the camp, they did not need to be on guard against strangers, and the three of them got enough rest and had enough energy to set off again.
"You're right. When are we leaving?"
"Tomorrow morning."
After making the decision, Qiao Qingqing felt relieved. But plans can never keep up with changes. That night, the wind howled and blew into the cracks in the tent, making the ghost-seeing special effects sounds commonly seen in horror movies.
The next day, the wind was even stronger. After Qiao Qingqing and the others finished their breakfast, only ten minutes had passed and the wind speed seemed to have increased several times!
"What a strong wind! The tent is shaking so violently!"
There were no such strong winds during the previous sandstorms. Qiao Qingqing's tent looked small, but a small tent had its advantages in the camp. "A big tree attracts the wind." Their tent was sandwiched between the big tents and could hold up for a while.
"I've used four buckets of water to hold down the four corners, don't be afraid," said Qiao Qingqing.
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