Chapter 23 Chapter 23 Choice

*

"Thank you! Thank you for the medicine, thank you for the fan and cooling patch. Thanks to you, the children were able to sleep well today. I, I thank you on their behalf."

The yard was shrouded in thick fog and it was dark. Only Zhou Qin's eyes were shining with tears.

With a small stature and a choked voice, she stood side by side with Wei Qianlan, looking at Gu Mengran and others intently and sincerely, then bent her waist and bowed solemnly.

"No, no, no, don't do this!"

Before they could bend their waists, a pair of hands suddenly supported their shoulders.

Meng Gaoyang's brows were knitted so tightly that they could pinch a mosquito to death. When the two of them stood up again, he let out a long sigh and said anxiously, "What's wrong with young people nowadays? I want to thank you for such a big gift."

Wei Qianlan: "Grandpa, you guys have helped a lot, this is due to you——"

"Why should I agree? Girls, we are just doing a small favor. You are the kind people who take care of so many children at this critical moment!" Meng Gaoyang admired the two girls from the bottom of his heart and was so moved that his eyes became red as he spoke.

Zhou Qin tried to hold back her tears and sniffed, "Grandpa, you're joking. We're not righteous people, but we just can't bear it..."

"Good girls, they are all good girls!"

"How many children are there in your school? Aren't their parents here to pick them up?" Gu Mengran was not as sentimental as his grandfather. He was only interested in understanding the situation and went straight to the point without hesitation.

Zhou Qin's shoulders were shaking so badly that she couldn't speak for a while.

Wei Qianlan patted her arm and sighed softly, "Our school is not large, with no more than 100 people including kindergarten teachers and students. After the yellow fog broke out, the small and medium classes were suspended, and only our large class was still in class as usual."

"Of course, many parents were worried and asked for leave for their children. Only 14 children attended class on the day of the earthquake. The earthquake came very quickly and violently. The teaching building collapsed. Fortunately, we were in the activity room at the time and were lucky enough to escape."

Wei Qianlan pointed to the left front, but it was pitch black and nothing could be seen.

"Fourteen," the old man looked through the window into the dark activity room and muttered to himself, "What about the other children..."

Wei Qianlan: "It's okay, everything is okay. After the earthquake, six children were picked up by their parents one after another, and the parents of the remaining eight children have not come yet. I guess..."

The words were not finished, but everyone understood.

No one will abandon their loved ones, except Gu Decheng and the dead.

The heavy topic made the yard quiet for a moment, and the depression spread silently.

Gu Mengran was sweating even standing there. He wiped his forehead, lowered his eyes to look at the sweat on his palms, and asked softly, "What are you going to do next? Do you plan to stay here forever?"

"I don't know." Wei Qianlan shook her head, confusion evident in her eyes.

"When you came here, you should have seen that there was still a building in the garden that had not collapsed. It was the newly built canteen at the back. Zhou Qin and I checked it out and found that there was no major problem with the house. There was still a lot of rice, flour and oil inside, enough for us to hold on for a while.

We originally planned to move in with our children, but the parents who came to pick up their children and the aunties in the kindergarten taught us a lesson: the house didn’t collapse, but the people’s hearts had already collapsed.”

Zhou Qin couldn't hold back any longer, and tears fell down in big drops.

She stubbornly refused to let anyone see her, covering her face with her hands, and burst into tears: "They were like bandits entering the village, rummaging through the building and taking whatever they saw! They didn't care about the children's lives at all, and took away all our food."

The old man was so angry that he cursed: "Beast! A beast who repays kindness with enmity!"

"So how have you been spending these days?" Gu Mengran asked.

Wei Qianlan: "People often come here to look for things. We can't live in the cafeteria, so we have to hide in the activity room. During the day, one of us looks after the children while the other goes to the ruins to find food. We can still barely make ends meet."

"But starting from the night before yesterday, the temperature suddenly rose and it was extremely hot. There is a generator in the park. We took great pains to move it here and install it. But after just one day of using the air conditioning, the generator broke down."

Zhou Qin gradually calmed down, rubbed her red and swollen eyes and sighed: "We don't know what to do. Zixuan got heatstroke after the power was cut off for a long time. If the temperature doesn't drop, the children will not be able to bear it."

"It broke down after just one day?" Gu Mengran raised his eyebrows. "Is the generator powered by diesel or gasoline? What kind of oil did you use?"

Wei Qianlan's eyes flashed with a hint of doubt, "There are diesel and gasoline generators? We, we use gasoline from the cars on the road."

If you don't come into contact with a generator often, you will definitely not be able to tell the difference. Gu Mengran pinched his chin thoughtfully, "I guess I added the wrong oil."

"Do you know anything about generators? Can you help fix it?" Zhou Qin asked.

Her slightly red and swollen eyes were filled with anticipation. Gu Mengran avoided her gaze, pursed his lips and fell into deep thought.

It could be repaired, and at worst he could give them a brand new generator, but the question was, how long could the generator and air conditioner last? The temperature was getting higher and higher, and ordinary air conditioners were useless in such extremely hot days.

And even if they managed to survive the high temperatures, Linhuai City is still located in the lower reaches of the Huangjiang River. It won't be long before this place will become a vast ocean.

Ten adults might be able to turn a blind eye, but eight children, two girls... Gu Mengran felt a headache.

Gu Mengran knew that he couldn't let good people burn out their blood and die with regrets. So after a brief thought, he looked up at the two great teachers and said solemnly: "Leave, it's not a solution to stay here forever. Two people work for ten mouths to feed. How long can you hold on if you can't wait for rescue?"

The two were stunned by what they heard and remained silent for nearly a minute. Zhou Qin spoke first: "Go to a city where there is no earthquake? But the fog is so heavy and we are bringing a group of children with us. How can we leave?"

No earthquake? Hearing this, Gu Mengran realized that after the earthquake, communications were interrupted and the news was blocked. Not everyone knew that this disaster was global.

There was no way to explain it directly, so Gu Mengran reminded him in a roundabout way: "It's about the same. There may be rescue and bases in other cities. It's better to go out and look for them than to sit and wait for death. As for how to go..."

Gu Mengran thought for a moment and said, "We are planning to go to Yinan now. If you don't mind, we can go together. We have a car and food, and we can help take care of the children on the way."

"Yinan? That's too far." Zhou Qin began to hesitate when she heard this.

"Your destination is not necessarily Yinan. We will pass through many places on the way. You can stop at any time when you encounter a base or rescue personnel." Gu Mengran explained patiently.

With a car and food, the car must have air conditioning. Wei Qianlan was very excited and asked for details: "How do you drive the car in such heavy fog? Do you have enough fuel? Is there enough food and water for everyone?"

Gu Mengran answered them one by one: "We have a way to leave since we came from Shaozhou. You don't have to worry about that. We have prepared a lot of fuel, food, water, and daily necessities. There is enough for us."

After the disaster, everyone was in danger and had no time to take care of themselves. Wei Qianlan knew how difficult it was to meet a group of enthusiastic people who were willing to lend a hand. There was only one chance. Once this group of people left, they would be trapped and die in Linhuai before they could be rescued.

To go or not to go?

Zhou Qin looked hesitant and was clearly still hesitating. Wei Qianlan could not make a decision on her own. After careful consideration, she said to Gu Mengran, "When are you leaving? Can we discuss it?"

At three o'clock in the morning, Gu Mengran glanced at the time and said, "Before dusk. You guys should discuss first and agree to come to the camp to find us. If you don't want to leave, you don't have to make a special trip. We will leave before we can wait."

"We will come whether you leave or not. Thank you. Thank you."

*

After leaving Sunshine Kindergarten, the three of them walked back exhausted.

After passing the devastated ruins, the kindergarten disappeared in the thick fog behind them. The old man immediately quickened his pace to catch up with Gu Mengran, twisting his head and asking, "Boy, where is your car?"

There were cars everywhere in the middle of the road. Gu Mengran pointed at them and smiled at his grandfather, "Okay, pick whichever one you like. Don't be polite to me."

"Let's talk business, you're not serious!" The old man glared at him angrily, "Hurry up and tell me what you are planning to do. How are you going to take care of a group of five or six-year-old children? How about putting them in the space and taking them away?"

"No, I can't."

Before Gu Mengran could say anything, Liang Zhao decisively rejected the old man's proposal: "Grandpa Meng, the greenhouse is gone. The flowers in the greenhouse must face the storm and actively adapt to the environment. Mengran can't protect them all their lives. We must face reality."

Gu Mengran agreed with this statement very much and nodded solemnly: "Yes. And unless it is an emergency, the space must not be exposed."

Thick fog and floods made it impossible to drive cars or boats, so it seemed that putting the children in the space was the best option. But the space was their last trump card, and it was Gu Mengran's confidence in ensuring the safety of his family. If one more person knew about it, there would be an additional risk, and he couldn't take that risk.

"Tsk, this won't work, and that won't work either. Then tell me how to solve it?" The old man scratched his head anxiously, "One or two is like playing charades. What if someone comes directly in the afternoon? Can more than ten of us walk together?"

Gu Mengran: "Grandpa, don't worry, I'm trying to figure it out."

The old man was stunned, "Do you want it now?"

"Yes."

"You kid! You were so confident just now, I thought you had a plan in mind, but... what should I do?"

There were no questions or doubts, and it seemed that everyone tacitly agreed that they should have taken the group of children away with them. Gu Mengran liked the feeling of being united with his family.

As for how to solve it...actually, they don't need to solve it.

Gu Mengran vaguely remembered that thick fog and high temperature did not exist at the same time.

The temperature rises sharply and the thick fog gradually dissipates, but this is not good news. Without the shelter of the fog, they will face the scorching sun and experience the hottest summer in history firsthand.