When they gathered with other villagers, some villagers followed the path Ye Changtian had taken and picked up some branches. Fortunately, Qiao Qingqing was prepared and stopped picking up halfway.
"Brother Changtian is so strong. I'm so envious."
"Don't be jealous, you're quite strong. You chopped a lot today. The firewood is as tall as you are, haha."
"Hey, I have to make some more to send to Xiu Li's house."
"Let's go! Don't fall behind!" Ye Changtian took a deep breath, crossed his legs, bent over, and directly picked up the tree and supported it on his right shoulder.
Carrying the tree like this, the tree was twice as thick as he was, but he was able to carry it and move forward.
"How amazing." Shao Shengan exclaimed again.
Liuzi smiled and said, "Brother Changtian has been a strong man since he was young. I heard from my eldest brother that when he was young, Brother Changtian was invincible. No one in the nearby villages could match him! His daughter is just like him. She is also very strong. She can carry such a big stone at the age of six!"
“What a gift.”
On the way, Ye Changtian changed hands several times, easily moving the tree from the right side to the left shoulder, and then from the left side to the right side, and only stopped to rest twice in the middle.
It was dawn when they returned to the village. Ye Changtian threw the firewood on the ground and called the roll first.
"Okay, everyone is here, let's go home! Remember to pack up the firewood and don't let the children at home play with fire, mirrors or glass!"
"I see, Brother Changtian, you always say that I have already memorized it."
Ye Changtian kicked Liuzi and said, "Damn it, do you think I'm patient enough to tell you this every time? My dad told me to do that! Okay, get out of here!" After saying that, he picked up the wood and walked towards home.
Qiao Qingqing and the others followed behind him, watching him knock on the gate of his house and carry all the wood inside.
Qiao Songzhi and the others had already gotten up and were anxiously waiting for the two of them to return home. When they heard the noise from afar, they came out to greet them. Shao's father hurried to help unload the goods, Shao's mother wiped their sweat with a towel, Qiao Songzhi handed them cups of water, and Shao Shengfei's tall body jumped behind Qiao Songzhi, wanting to give them the bread he had on hand.
"Thank you, big brother." Qiao Qingqing took it and gave one to Shao Shengan, who then grinned with joy.
The two were welcomed into the tent with an attitude that could be described as the moon surrounded by stars. The tent was stuffy, so Qiao Songzhi turned on the fan.
"You guys change your clothes. Feifei and I will go out first." She took Shao Shengfei out, and waited until Qiao Qingqing and her husband changed their clothes before coming in with breakfast.
"My mother-in-law got up at four o'clock to cook porridge. You can have a bowl." Qiao Songzhi looked at them distressedly, "Are you very tired? You look so ugly. There is no shortage of wood at home, why did you bring back so much?"
Picking up the clothes they had changed into the basin, she flipped them over and said, "The clothes on your shoulders are all worn out. Are your shoulders okay?"
Qiao Qingqing smiled and shook her head. She and her husband applied medicine while changing clothes. "It's okay. The forest there is so big that I can't take my eyes off it. Mom, you know I'm such a greedy person. I must cut more and bring it back."
"Mom, that forest is very far away. It took us more than an hour to get there and almost two hours to get back. We can't just bring some wood for such a long journey. The village chief's son also said that if we go there every time, there will be less wood. The next time we go back, there might be no more wood. He also suggested that we bring back more firewood within our means."
"I'll go next time too. One more person means more strength."
Qiao Qingqing didn't argue with her mother about this topic. She agreed verbally and changed the subject: "The porridge is delicious. Mom, have you eaten it?"
"Not yet. We don't have an appetite until you guys come back."
Qiao Qingqing looked at Shao Shengan, who immediately stood up: "Let's eat together, I'll call my parents in."
Shao's father refused to stop chopping wood and asked Shao's mother to go into the tent to eat.
"I'll eat after I finish. Go ahead!" He kept waving his hands to avoid Shao Shengan's chopping hands with the axe. "Hey, don't bother me. I'll finish it soon."
Shao Shengan had no choice but to give up.
Shao's father's clothes were all wet from chopping firewood. Shao's mother and Qiao Songzhi washed clothes together. After washing off the sweat smell, they hung the clothes to dry. Soon after the sun rose, the clothes were completely dry, and Shao's mother hurriedly put the clothes in.
"Let me sew it." Qiao Songzhi had already prepared the needle and thread.
Mother Shao rubbed the hardened clothes to soften them a little, and said worriedly, "It's only been an hour since the clothes were exposed to the sun and they're already so dry. I'm afraid the clothes will become brittle and will break if I rub them."
Qiao Songzhi smiled when she heard this. She took the clothes, turned them over and began to sew the torn shoulder: "Don't worry, we will mend it if it's torn. If it can't be mended, we will replace it with a new one. There are enough clothes at home."
Shao's mother expressed her observation: "Mother-in-law, I think if we change into new clothes, we should also put some patches on them. I see that many people's clothes in the village are like this. We can't wear too new clothes, it's too eye-catching."
Surprised that the simple-minded Shao's mother would have such an idea, Qiao Songzhi sighed after being surprised, everyone is working hard for this family. So she nodded seriously and affirmed Shao's mother's idea: "You are still thoughtful, and wealth is not exposed. We will mention it to Qingqing and Sheng'an later." Shao's mother showed a very happy look, "I'm glad you can help!"
The firewood brought back this time was enough to last for a long time, but in the days that followed, every two or three days, Qiao Qingqing would always see Ye Changtian taking another group of villagers out at night to chop firewood.
"Village Chief Ye should be training his son to be the next village chief," said Shao Shengan.
"Village Chief Ye has a successor." Qiao Qingqing retracted her gaze, put on her shoes and stood up.
"I'll go with you. Give me the box." Shao Shengan followed.
A week ago, Qiao Qingqing, led by Liuzi, went to his home to take his sister's pulse.
Liuzi's sister was not in good shape during pregnancy, malnourished, and with the fetus in an abnormal position, she was in a very bad condition as she was about to give birth. Qiao Qingqing didn't know how to deliver a baby, so she could only prescribe some tonic medicine that was beneficial to pregnant women. She originally wanted to prescribe Chinese medicine, but too much water was used to boil the Chinese medicine, and Liuzi's sister refused, so Qiao Qingqing finally prescribed Chinese patent medicine.
Just now Liuzi came running over and said that his sister had started trying to give birth two days ago, but she still hasn't given birth after two days, so he hopes she can come over and help.
The two quickly rushed to Liuzi's house, and as soon as they entered the door, they heard Liuzi's sister screaming in pain in a hoarse voice.
"Sister Qiao, my sister, you must help save my sister!" Liuzi pleaded.
"I'll do my best." Qiao Qingqing took the box and pushed the door into the room.
Liuzi's sister's fetus was in an abnormal position. Haopo used all her life's skills to help her correct the fetal position over the past two days. The fetal position was finally corrected, but she did not have the strength to give birth, and even her screams became weak.
"Fang, hold your breath first, and then push when I ask you to give birth." The good mother-in-law heard the noise and turned around to see Qiao Qingqing, looking at her, "Are you the new doctor in the village? Fang's health has improved a lot, thanks to your medicine. Otherwise, Fang would not have been able to bear the birth in the next two days. I have run out of medicine on hand, alas!"
"Hello, good mother-in-law. My name is Qiao Qingqing. I can't be called a doctor, but I just have some experience." She opened the box, took out the needle, and gave Ye Fang a few injections first.
"I really don't know how to deliver a baby, dear mother-in-law, I still have to rely on you."
Good mother-in-law was surprised to find that Ye Fang's pain seemed to have eased and her expression was relaxed. She also breathed a sigh of relief: "It's okay if you can't deliver a baby. You are good enough. The three of us will work together and we will definitely be able to do it!"
Shao Shengan was also very nervous in the yard. No one knew better than him how hard his wife had worked over the years. She would be so disappointed if Qingqing couldn't help this time.
"Brother Shao, please sit down. Please sit down." Liuzi moved a chair for him to sit on, and he had no choice but to sit down.
Liuzi squatted beside him. His parents and brother-in-law were standing nervously outside the room. In the silence, he said in a muffled voice: "Actually, I am not happy that my sister is pregnant at this time, but my parents and brother-in-law are very happy. I know why they are happy. My sister has been married for four years and still has no children... But I really can't be happy. Actually, I also love my sister's child. I really love my nephew, but I..." As he spoke, his voice choked up.
Shao Shengan came back to his senses, thought for a moment and comforted him: "Your sister will give birth safely, don't be afraid."
Liuzi covered his mouth with his hands: "I'm really scared. My sister is so thin, but her belly is so big. She hasn't given birth in two days. I'm so scared..."
Another sharp scream was heard in the room. Liuzi trembled and could not help but grab Shao Shengan's arm, staring at the room with wide eyes.
Ye Fang gave birth for two days and one night. She fainted several times due to exhaustion. Her mother-in-law tried every possible means. After Qiao Qingqing came, she used acupuncture and medicine to sustain her spirits and replenish her strength.
"Almost there! I can see the end!"
Seeing this, Qiao Qingqing put a slice of ginseng in Ye Fang's mouth.
After struggling until dawn, Ye Fang finally gave birth to a baby boy, estimated to be more than 15 kilograms. No one knew how Ye Fang, with such thin limbs, managed to raise a child so big in the end times when supplies were scarce.
"Thank you! Thank you!" Ye Fang's husband knelt down and kowtowed to his mother-in-law and Qiao Qingqing, then rushed into the room crying to see his wife and children.
Haopo was old and in a depressed mood, so Liuzi's mother hurriedly took her to her room to rest.
"Let's go home too." Shao Shengan wiped the sweat off Qiao Qingqing's face. He was a little worried when he saw that Qiao Qingqing looked unhappy, but he didn't dare to ask when he saw that Liuzi's family was so happy.
"You go home, I probably have to stay for a while." Qiao Qingqing said tiredly. She saw Shao Shengan out. Shao Shengan couldn't help asking at the door: "Is his sister...not well?"
"If everything goes well in the next two days——"
Shao Shengan took a breath and said, "Then I'd better stay."
"Go home, don't stay here with me, go!"
Qiao Qingqing insisted that he go back, so Shao Shengan had to go back, but he came back half an hour later with food from home.
"Mom said she was afraid you would get hungry quickly from working, so she cooked some dry rice this morning. You can have some."
Liuzi's family had no mood to cook, and they only started cooking after Ye Fang gave birth. Qiao Qingqing ate some chocolate without anyone knowing, and she was really hungry at that moment.
Seeing Qiao Qingqing eating, Liuzi felt very sorry and hurried to tell his parents.
"Oh, it's my fault. Even my benefactor came to help me and I can't even have a meal!" Liuzi's mother quickly rummaged through the cupboard and took out a can of beef. "Give it to Dr. Qiao. Ye Shanfa's canned meat is delicious." It can be considered a good gift nowadays.
Watching Liuzi running away, Liuzi's mother discussed with her husband, "We have to give two good thank-you gifts to Haopo and Dr. Qiao. I just heard Fangfang say that she took a lot of Dr. Qiao's medicine and tasted ginseng. Ginseng is hard to find right now. We started looking for it a few months in advance for Fangfang to give birth, but we couldn't find any."
Liuzi's father sighed, "You said ginseng is hard to come by. It can save lives in critical moments, and people are reluctant to exchange it if they have it. Haopo's remuneration for delivering babies is fixed. Now that there are no eggs, send her 10 kilograms of rice. Doctor Qiao... They came from outside, and I heard they only brought a tricycle and a few backpacks of supplies. Send her 10 kilograms of rice as well."
Liuzi's mother hesitated: "As much as Haopo, is that okay?"
"Let's do this. If it weren't for Dr. Qiao, Fangfang would have been too weak to give birth."
"Okay, got it."
"I'm going to my brother's house. You take care of the kitchen."
Knowing that her husband was going to borrow food, Liuzi's mother nodded.
Later, the Ye family's meal was ready, and Liuzi served Qiao Qingqing a big bowl full of it.
"I'm not hungry anymore, you guys eat."
"Sister Qiao, please eat something. My mom's cooking is delicious, and there are even rice crusts!"
"Then I'll have some rice crust. I really can't finish such a big bowl."
She took a piece of rice crust and nibbled it slowly, while carefully telling Liuzi about his sister's situation.
"... I'm afraid there will be heavy bleeding. If there is heavy bleeding now, basically... I have already given your sister medicine. I will give her a few more injections later. Your family members must keep an eye on her condition."
Liuzi took a long time to absorb the meaning of Qiao Qingqing's words. His tears fell and he choked up, "I, I, then I'll go tell my mother."
Three hours later, Ye Fang showed obvious symptoms of hemorrhage. Haopo couldn't handle it. She hadn't helped deliver babies at home for many years! Even when everyone was used to giving birth at home thirty years ago, she would ask the mother's family to send her to the hospital when she encountered such a situation!
Qiao Qingqing tried her best to save Ye Fang, but in the end she was unable to stop the bleeding.
When Ye Fang left, Liuzi's whole family cried loudly, and the newborn baby also cried like a cat in his father's arms.
The good mother-in-law supported herself on the bed and stood firmly, with tears in her eyes.
Village chief Ye rushed over after hearing the news and sighed, "Let's arrange Fangfang's funeral as soon as possible." Otherwise, in this kind of weather, the body would stink soon.
Qiao Qingqing and Shao Shengan returned home. She was covered in blood. Fortunately, there were few people on the streets during the day, otherwise passers-by would have been scared.
After returning home, she changed her clothes first, and Shao Shengan asked her to get some water for a bath.
Seeing Qiao Qingqing looking at him, he whispered, "It's okay. Don't go out for a while after you take a shower. Others won't know that you took a shower."
So she took a bath, and Shao Shengan went to wash her clothes, and the bucket of bath water was poured into the big bucket of soil.
She was in a bad mood, watching a person's life slip away in front of her, and Ye Fang's eyes begging for life seemed to be still in front of her. Ye Fang was speechless, and only looked at Qiao Qingqing, begging Qingqing to save her life. She still had parents, younger brother, husband and children, and she didn't want to leave.
But Ye Fang still left.
"As long as you have tried your best, things are unpredictable." Qiao Songzhi comforted her.
Qiao Qingqing hugged her mother and whispered, "Mom, was it painful when you gave birth to me?"
"Silly child, which woman doesn't feel pain when giving birth?" Qiao Songzhi touched her head and said gently, "But mom is very happy that you are my daughter. Your grandparents are a bit son-centric. When I was pregnant with you, they kept saying that you were a boy, but I didn't believe it. At night, I touched my belly and called mom my good daughter, and you would kick my belly. I was looking forward to your arrival so much. When I gave birth to you, the nurse said congratulations on giving birth to a daughter, and I felt that all the pain was worth it."
Qiao Qingqing's eyes were red: "I am also very happy that my mother is my mother."
Enjoying her daughter's coquetry, Qiao Songzhi's eyes were full of fine lines. She coaxed her daughter: "So don't be sad. Ye Fang gave birth to the child in such a difficult environment. She is very brave. The child is healthy and safe. She must be at ease when she leaves."
"No." Qiao Qingqing shook her head. "What about her parents? When Sheng An and I left, Liuzi's parents cried very sadly."
"But there is never a perfect choice in this world, Qingqing, that was her choice."
Ye Fang's funeral was held on the same day. Her parents, brother and husband sent her off and buried her on a nearby mountain. It was said that everyone in their village would be buried there after their death.
After the funeral, Liuzi came to give her rice in the evening. Qiao Qingqing refused to take it, so Liuzi got anxious and said, "Sister Qiao, you must take it."
She shook her head: "I'll collect the wood. When you have time, just send some to my house. There's no need to rush. Take this rice back and make rice porridge for your nephew. Conditions are not good now. Don't let the child suffer." She paused and said, "Although rice porridge is not as nutritious as milk powder, it is also a good thing." At least the child can eat it.
Liuzi's lips moved, and he couldn't stop crying when he thought of his nephew crying at home.
"Come on, I'll take you home." Shao Shengan put his arm around his shoulders, picked up the rice bag and took him back.
Soon, Shao Shengan came back with new news.
"A lot of people came to the village entrance again. I looked around and saw that they were all cars."
Shao's mother was surprised: "All cars?"
"Yes, there are a lot of people. They should have come to Akiba Village together to seek refuge."
"That's great. It's really safe here and there are supplies to distribute. I hope people from Huacheng can come here too." Qiao Songzhi looked at Qiao Qingqing, "Do you think they know about this place?"
Qiao Qingqing nodded affirmatively: "Of course I can."
At the same time, Huacheng.
Wang Jiaxin and Wang Jiale were crying. Wang Jiale, who had been missing for several months, finally found his family. Wang Jiaxin cried excitedly: "Why did you come back just now? Grandma is gone! Grandma is gone! She has always missed you. Why did you come back just now? I miss you too, brother. You are the only one left to me, brother!"
Wang Jiale couldn't hold back his sadness and cried with his sister.
After feeling sad, Wang Jiale wiped his tears, looked around at his family, walked over to hug his crying wife Zhou Ling and son, and turned to his family and said, "Pack up quickly, we are leaving."
"Where are you going?" asked my uncle hurriedly.
"I came back from the XX area. My speedboat was robbed at that time... I wanted to come back after the water receded, but it was too smelly outside. Many people got sick after going out. I wanted to wait a little longer. It was getting more and more chaotic there. People were robbing everywhere. Then one day soldiers came to protect us. They got the news a while ago that they were going to build a survivor base."
The family members cried out in surprise, and Uncle Wang asked hurriedly, "Is the news true or false? Communication is not good now, how did you get the news?"
Wang Jiale explained: "Where did you come from, the people who reported the news? We came from the survivors' base in the future!"
My uncle's eyes welled up with tears: "Really? Then can we go now? Is there a car to pick us up?"
Wang Jiale shook his head. “Uncle, we have to go by ourselves. I heard that they are short-handed. The temperature is so high now that driving will cause too much damage to the car… The people who reported the news also drove out. I heard that there were no more wheels to replace on the road, so they abandoned the car and walked to Huacheng.”
"It's hard work, it's too hard. We can walk by ourselves. As long as we can settle down and have a place to live, walking a few steps is nothing." Uncle Wang asked again when to set off.
“We should wait a little longer. Didn’t the library just receive the notification? All the shelters in Huacheng must be notified, and then we can set off together.” Wang Jiale hugged his wife and children tightly, glad that he came with them. He found his family!
"Then where is my husband? Where is Chen Binggang? Where is Wang Jiale, my husband!"
Chen Binggang's wife rushed out and asked loudly: "You're back! Where's my husband?"
Wang Jiale let go of his wife and children and turned to face her. His happy expression was replaced by sadness: "Uncle Chen later fell ill and died after just over ten days."
"No, impossible, impossible! You are talking nonsense!" Chen Binggang's wife fainted.
Her daughter-in-law Zheng Xiuyi picked her up and apologized to Wang Jiale first: "My mother was too emotional and had a bad attitude. I'm sorry."
Wang Jiale waved his hands quickly: "Don't say that. Don't say that."
"Another thing, I want to thank you for bringing news about my father-in-law. My mother-in-law... has been waiting, waiting..." Zheng Xiuyi gave the Wang family a sad but calm smile, "You are so lucky, so lucky." Then she and the child helped her mother-in-law away.
On the top floor of the municipal building, Yu Jingshen stood outside the window and looked at the deserted city. He couldn't help but feel a little wet in his eyes. He took a deep breath, turned around and said to his secretary: "Send the notice as soon as possible. We will set off in ten days at the latest."
After the secretary left, he returned to his desk, took out his homemade calendar, looked at the circles on it, and had an indecipherable expression: "They should all have arrived." Putting the calendar down, he looked around the huge office, and finally realized the plaques on the wall. He clenched his fists and closed his eyes.
Fifteen days later, the huge and long team was advancing in the darkness, people kept falling ill, and new people kept joining. The sick people were isolated in the military cards in the team, and the military doctors gave them simple treatment. There was a lack of medicine, so they could only feed them a little antibiotics.
The atmosphere in the team was solemn. Everyone did not communicate with each other and avoided excessive contact. The most common sounds in the team were coughing and vomiting, as well as the exclamations of everyone when swarms of rats ran past their feet.
The child was carried on his parents' chests, wearing a simple mask, his big eyes looking at the dark night in confusion.
There were corpses all over the floor in a room on a certain floor. The last corpse fell to the ground. The murderer wiped the knife on the corpse without a care. Hearing the noise outside, he leaned to the window to look -
Only when the long line of people had gone away did he sneer, draw down the curtains, and begin to search the house.
Some people blend into the light, some choose to continue to fall into the darkness. Everyone will make their own choice and walk their own life.
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