Chapter 105 Letter
Under the gray sky, slanting raindrops continued to fall.
In the hills north of the Uyghur village, the water level has receded to about one meter.
The villagers who had taken refuge here to avoid the flood are now safe.
This was the result of the efforts of Wei Yang and the male comrades of the 25th Company who worked through the night.
Despite the poor visibility at night and the slow progress of clearing the road, everyone never stopped to rest.
Thanks to their efforts, the water level dropped lower and lower, making the project easier and easier.
The bad news was that, in addition to the four corpses of the three old men and one child, Wei Yang and his men found two more corpses after searching the surrounding area.
Exhausted from a night's work, the rescue workers, covered in mud, slumped on the dry mounds, waiting for the water level to drop further.
The villagers huddled together, their faces filled with sorrow as they looked at the collapsed ruins in the water.
Although each household doesn't have much property, this is what they have accumulated over many years.
People who lost their parents and children wept bitterly while holding the bodies.
The rescuers couldn't bear to look away.
An hour later, the water level had dropped to calf level.
Wei Yang stood up and said, "Help them retrieve everything that has been swept away."
Everyone was covered in mud, dripping wet. Wei Yang and his men had been working for twenty hours without rest, and the men of the 25th Company had been working for nearly fifteen hours.
Although everyone was exhausted, they did not complain at all and completely obeyed orders.
They were busy until four o'clock in the afternoon, and there was nothing left for them to do in the village.
Wei Yang shook hands solemnly with the company commander and political instructor of the 25th Company, saying, "Thank you for your support. Without your dedication, the water level would not have receded so quickly."
Company Commander Wu wiped the rain off his face and shook his head, saying, "The important thing now is to wait for the rain to stop so that the houses in the village can be built as soon as possible. What we've done is nothing."
The male comrades of the 25th Company were sent back to the camp.
Hearing the commotion, the people in the camp came out to greet them.
"how's it going?"
Everyone's eyes were filled with worry and concern.
Everyone was covered in mud, from head to toe, looking disheveled and exhausted, but thankfully they all returned unharmed.
The rain is getting lighter and lighter, and most of the dark clouds in the sky have dispersed. It seems that the rain will stop today.
Everyone listened to the rescuers recount the perilous situation in the village, and heard of the deaths, which weighed heavily on their hearts.
After several days of rain, many of the dugouts in the 25th Company's camp collapsed, with the upper levels completely submerged, blocking the entrances and making it impossible to enter.
Fortunately, everyone moved into the brick house at the beginning of the rain.
Although there was nothing on the bed and it wasn't comfortable to sleep on, thankfully there were no casualties.
The drizzle stopped completely in the evening, and the next morning, the sun rose in the east, the sky was a clear blue, and the rainwater was hidden under the dry and water-scarce soil. If it weren't for the smell of rain in the air, it would have seemed as if the heavy rain had never happened.
The company commander blew his whistle again, urging everyone to get to the ground quickly.
“The men who participated in the rescue yesterday can rest for a day; the rest of you should get to the ground immediately.”
Seeing that everyone was still sluggish, Company Commander Wu scolded, "You've rested for four days, are you all too lazy to move around?"
Someone replied listlessly, "It's because I've been lying in bed for a few days that I'm feeling unwell."
The air is cool on rainy days, and the thin blankets are not warm enough. Long hours of labor have caused discomfort in everyone's back and waist. They are used to working in the fields every day, and after a four-day rest, the symptoms of back pain can no longer be suppressed.
Song Lubai had back pain, leg pain, neck pain, and wrist soreness; every part of her body was screaming that she couldn't do it anymore.
Unfortunately, reality didn't allow it, so she could only obediently eat her bread, carry her farm tools, and go to the fields with the rest of the group.
Passing by the vegetable garden, seeing the short but already flower-budding eggplant seedlings and other vegetable seedlings that were about to bear fruit, everyone felt that the days of eating cabbage and drinking vegetable soup every day were coming to an end.
Yangcheng Food Factory, Henan Province.
Zhang Cui was stopped by security personnel as she passed the guard room at the entrance on her way home from get off work at noon.
"Zhang Cui, there are two letters from your family."
Song Lubai's letter was sent nearly fifty days ago before it arrived together with Lin Shuhong's letter.
There's no way around it; mail delivery is just that slow these days. Besides, Xinjiang province is too large and transportation is inconvenient, so letters are sent out all at once once they've accumulated enough.
Lin Shuhong's mail address was listed as Room 308, a dormitory building in the food factory, and the recipient was Lin Dahai.
The postman simply placed all the mail addressed to the food factory's dormitory building in the food factory's mailroom.
They were all from the same factory, and the security personnel knew almost everyone in the factory. The person on duty today also happened to know Zhang Cui's family. Although the recipients of the two letters were different, the addresses were the same, and that's how Lin Shuhong's letter ended up in Zhang Cui's hands.
One letter was sent back by her daughter, and the other was sent by Lin Shuhong to Lin Dahai.
When she got home, Zhang Cui first opened Song Lubai's letter.
Zhang Cui hadn't received much formal education, but when she first joined the factory, they organized a literacy campaign, and she attended night school to catch up on her studies. She now knows most of the commonly used characters.
In her letter, Song Lubai naturally only reported good news and not bad news.
She told her mother that she had arrived safely and wrote down what she had seen and heard after arriving in the area.
She didn't mention that she was doing farm work, only that her workplace provided meals and accommodation, and paid her a monthly salary. Apart from the fact that this city was not like a city and was far worse than her hometown, she didn't complain once about how hard life was.
Zhang Cui felt relieved and then opened the other letter without hesitation.
Upon seeing Lin Shuhong's letter confessing that he was an unfilial son and sorry to Lin Dahai, and describing how difficult life was after XJ, Zhang Cui spat and said, "Serves him right!"
In the second half, Lin Shuhong complains about her to Lin Dahai again. She sneers, "Go to hell! Your father already knows. Do you want him to beat me up? You bastard, you're really heartless."
Zhang Cui sat at the table, swinging her legs as she pondered the purpose of Lin Shuhong's letter.
Before he left, that ingrate didn't even come back to see his father once, acting as if he was saying, "You've wronged me, I'm never going to see you again."
Lin Shuhong is clearly still blaming Lin Dahai for the death of that child, so why is she sending a letter back to pity his father?
money!
It's all about the money!
After thinking it through, Zhang Cui wanted to tear up the letter.
Lin Shuhong is far away in Xinjiang Province and can't come back. She tore up the letter. Since Lin Shuhong won't get the money, she will definitely resent Lin Dahai.
But there's no guarantee that Lin Dahai won't get a response and will grit his teeth and continue sending letters back demanding money and filing complaints.
If Lin Dahai finds out, he'll definitely cause her trouble again.
She is no longer afraid of Lin Dahai, but she also wants to know if Lin Dahai has really changed.
Zhang Cui sneered and put the letter back on the table.
Lin Shuhong should not expect to use a single penny of her family's money from now on.
Just as Zhang Cui was sneering inwardly, Lin Dahai pushed open the door and returned.
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