Li Lanzhen instructed Han Mingjiang to observe the river water and to inform her immediately if he noticed any obvious rise or turbidity in the water.
She had been feeling uneasy, and just before going to bed that night, a remark made by Han Yinan and the other children caught her attention again.
The children washed their hands and feet in the water and then told Li Lanzhen about it when they returned.
"Grandma, I've noticed that the water in the underground river isn't as salty anymore."
Dog Egg also said, "That's right. The river water is very muddy and there's a lot of water. When we were playing in the river before, the water only reached our calves, but when we were washing in the water just now, the water was almost up to my knees."
The rising river level made Li Lanzhen even more uneasy.
She didn't rest; she sat outside the thatched shed waiting for Han Shunde and Xue Laohu to return.
After seeing the two of them come down from underground and above the cave, Li Lanzhen went to greet them.
When Han Shunde and Xue Laohu saw Li Lanzhen approaching, they asked, "In-laws, is there something you need?"
Li Lanzhen said, "I feel that the underground river has risen quite a bit. Let's hurry up and get to the surface tonight."
Xue Laohu immediately seized on the key phrase she used: "The river level has risen considerably."
He asked, "In-law, are you sure the river has risen?"
He walked into the middle of the underground river. He looked down.
"Oh no, we have to get up from the underground river to the surface right away!"
Li Lanzhen saw that there was a large hole above the underground river where they entered and exited, and they stepped out by stepping on a few stones.
If all the people of Hanjiacun walked this way, it would be very crowded.
She walked to the crack in the underground river cave.
After thinking for a moment, he took out a number of large stones from his spatial storage.
These stones were placed there gradually after they entered the stone forest.
It hasn't been listed in the store yet.
Because she was moving quickly and the lighting was dim on that side, no one noticed anything.
Only Xue Laohu noticed her movements.
Li Lan had just finished arranging the stones when she quickly returned to her thatched hut and woke up her family.
"Hurry up! Everyone get up and pack your things, we're going to the ground."
After saying that, she walked to the donkey cart and mule cart and, taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, put her own mule cart and donkey cart, as well as the donkey carts of Zhang Deshui's family and Xue Bao's family, into her space.
Li Lanzhen's family was the fastest to pack up. Han Yinan, Su Chen, and Gou Dan, who were still half asleep, quickly woke up when they heard that they were going to leave the underground riverbed and go to the surface. They put on their baskets and followed the adults to the rocks to wait for them to go up.
Li Lanzhen led them across the river to the other side. There, in front of the large rock she had placed, they looked up and saw a crack in the river that was more than a meter wide.
He shouted loudly, "Han Mingjiang, come quickly, hurry up!"
Xue Bao immediately ran over, looked at the stone and the top, and said, "Brother-in-law, let me go first. You can follow me after I go up."
After the men went up, they took the baskets and children up one by one, and then carefully helped the women out.
Because the crack was quite large, stones were placed underneath it. Stepping on the stones, the distance to the crack was less than two meters, so it was relatively quick.
The more troublesome ones are donkeys and mules.
Li Lanzhen really wanted to put them into her space, but it was inconvenient with so many people around.
Zhang Deshui was very experienced. He blindfolded the mules and donkeys with several pieces of cloth, and then urged them to slowly climb the large rock.
By threading a rope through their front and hind legs, and having people above pull on them simultaneously, they were lifted up.
After all of Li Lanzhen's family members had gone up, she stood on the big rock and turned to look at the villagers.
Under Han Shunde's arrangement, they lined up and climbed out in an orderly fashion.
There were no fools causing trouble.
Han Mingxiang and Han Minghai stretched out their hands and called out to Li Lanzhen.
She took the opportunity to leave.
As soon as she stood on the ground, a wave of heat swept over her. Li Lanzhen looked around and realized that this area was a wasteland of weeds, with no stones left.
The weeds were dry and cracked underfoot.
It is evident that this area has experienced a prolonged drought, resulting in the absence of green vegetation.
Xue Laohu shouted for the group to leave quickly and headed towards a place he and Han Shunde had inspected.
This place is relatively high, and the soil underfoot is quite firm, unlike the soft soil where you stand right after emerging from the underground river.
Xue Nizi and Li Sanya and a few others found a place near a mound to settle their families.
Li Lanzhen stood on the earthen hill and looked around.
To the east, it was pitch black and couldn't be seen. It must be the mountain that Xue Laohu and the others mentioned, covered with trees and weeds.
The area in front of us is all earthen hills and mounds.
There wasn't a single tree, but there was plenty of thatch.
Li Lanzhen's mother, Madam Ye, tugged at her sleeve.
"Lanzhen, quickly sit down and rest for a while."
Madam Ye felt sorry for her daughter. Since leaving Yiye Bay to escape famine, she had seen all the hardships Li Lanzhen had endured along the way.
The son-in-law died early, and his daughter suffered. He still had to take so many children and grandchildren with him when they fled the famine.
When she felt better, she did her best to help take care of the children.
Li Lanzhen sat down next to Ye Shi. Knowing that Ye Shi felt sorry for her, she patted her arm.
"Mother, you should rest quickly. It will probably be a long way to go when it gets light."
As more and more people arrived, the earthen hill could no longer accommodate them, so everyone went up to the hillside next to it to rest for the time being.
After Li Lanzhen's family emerged from the underground river, they took advantage of the chaos and poor lighting at the foot of this earthen hill to release their own and their in-laws' donkey carts.
So when the people from Hanjiacun came out, they saw their car and shouted.
"Han Mingjiang, how did you manage to lift the car out?"
Xue Laohu quickly stepped forward and said, "Unload the things from the car, one person pulls from above and the other pushes from below, and you can get them out."
Han Shunde also said, "Our family's items were also brought out. Who didn't bring theirs out?"
Han Dazhong said, "Those who haven't taken it out should take it themselves. What's with all the shouting? Why are you all using your brains and trying to find solutions instead of blaming others?"
The men, looking disheveled and embarrassed after being reprimanded, prepared to go back and retrieve their carts.
Li Lanzhen reminded them, "If you didn't take the car, then don't go down."
"What if something happens if you guys go down there?"
Zhou, speaking in a sarcastic tone, stirred up trouble, saying, "What trouble could possibly happen? Why didn't you call on others to help pull it out when you were pulling it out?"
Li Lanzhen didn't have time to pay attention to her. Anyway, she had reminded her, so whatever happened was none of her business.
She sat down, leaned against Ye Shi, closed her eyes, and prepared to take a nap.
The men from those households prepared to go to the underground river to pull their cars up, amidst the nagging of their wives and mothers.
Li Lanzhen closed her eyes, and before a cup of tea had been brewed, she had already finished drinking.
I could feel the ground beneath my feet trembling.
And I heard a loud crashing sound.
Immediately afterwards, the men who had gone down to the river to pull the cart came running up in a panic, shouting.
"Run! There's a huge flood!!"
Li Lanzhen opened her eyes, immediately stood up, and looked in the direction of the underground river. At this time, the surface of the underground river was still intact, with only a few naturally formed holes constantly collapsing downwards.
Seeing that those people weren't carrying any carts, they headed this way.
Han Shunde stood up and shouted, "What's wrong?"
Those people were talking all at once.
"Village chief, run! We need to get uphill quickly. The river is flooded! We just got close enough to go down into the river when we discovered that the underground river had already submerged our car."
We were about to go down and retrieve it when more floodwaters came in.
We were so frightened that we ran over immediately.
Upon seeing this scene, the old village chief decisively said, "Everyone, keep going uphill. We can't stay here."
When those people said the underground river was swollen, Li Lanzhen told the families to pack their things and prepare to go upstream.
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