After running quite a distance, An Shuyi stopped and looked back. It was truly a close call. "Wood, count the number of people quickly."
Village Chief Lin nodded, "Okay, sister-in-law." But before he could count them, several people nearby started crying, muttering about their sons and their fathers.
When they went up to ask, they learned that Lin Changtu's son was carrying his grandfather and fell behind. When the mountain collapsed, he was buried. In addition, Lin Changyou was carrying his youngest son. He slipped and fell down the mountain and never got up again.
Everyone felt an indescribable sadness. They had all survived the journey of fleeing famine, but now, because of the landslide, four of them were gone.
But it's still raining heavily, so even if they dig the person out now, they might not be alive, and they don't know if the mountain will collapse again.
"Wood, tell everyone to hurry up and get going. We can't let people die here. Carry the children on your backs, and help those who are older, have too many children to carry, and those with fewer children at home." After An Shuyi finished speaking, she carried Xiao Qi and walked forward.
The water has already spread upwards and cannot go any further downwards. When going upwards, one must also be careful of mudslides. However, mudslides do not occur randomly; they require loose soil and the accumulation of rainwater from above to form.
Above the dilapidated temple is a hillside, and it's likely that the soil there is loose, which caused the mudslide due to the recent torrential rains.
Village Chief Lin comforted the two families who had died, emphasizing that the living were more important. He also told the others to quickly carry the children and elderly and set off, as the area was too dangerous to linger.
Although the two families were grieving, they still had children, so they had to pull themselves together and follow their clansmen.
They walked all day but still hadn't found shelter from the rain. Finally, it got too dark and walking any further would be even more dangerous, so Xia Hua took out a few sheets of oiled paper from her basket, spread them out, and everyone hid under them.
When she fled, she gave the horse-tethering rope to her eldest son without losing the basket. When she fled with her father's second grandson, she carried it on her back. With the basket, when she took things out, people would only assume that they were things that had been placed inside before.
The night was incredibly long. Everyone huddled together, trying their best not to get wet in the rain. But the parts of them that weren't covered by bags when they ran away were already soaked. The adults were okay, but the children and the elderly were getting weak. They hadn't eaten or drunk anything, and even the adults couldn't take it, let alone the children.
The next day, just as dawn broke and they could barely see, An Shuyi urged everyone to hurry on their way. They had to find shelter from the rain today, otherwise she couldn't be sure how many people would survive. She told the adult men to carry the elderly and children on their backs as they climbed up.
They had only been gone for a little over two hours when the eldest son ran to her side carrying the fifth child on his back, saying, "Mom, the fifth child's body is very hot."
This morning, he noticed that Xiao Wu was very weak. Although his clothes were dry, his thighs were wet. It must have been because his legs weren't covered when he was carrying him and got wet in the rain.
An Shuyi touched Xiao Wu's forehead; it was really hot. Xiao Wu also looked listless. "Let's climb up first; there's a cave up there."
There's no suitable place here, and it's pouring rain, so we can only go upstairs first, find a place to take shelter from the rain, and then ask Doctor Liu to come and take a look.
"Okay, Mother." Then she started climbing up.
With An Shuyi's family leading the way, everyone walked quickly, and they naturally saw the weak fifth child lying on the eldest child's back.
Upon climbing up, we discovered that it wasn't a cave, but a canyon. Two rocks joined together, creating a large cave below. No rain would fall here. Standing outside the cave, we could clearly see down below. It was so high that even if it rained for a month, it wouldn't flood this place.
An Shuyi ran into the cave, put Xiao Qi down and made her sit quietly, then hurriedly ran to the eldest brother's side and helped Xiao Wu down. "Eldest brother, go and invite Doctor Liu to come and take a look at Xiao Wu."
"Mother, no need, eldest brother, I'll go." After saying that, the second brother put down the sixth brother and went to fetch Doctor Liu.
"Boss, go find some firewood and start a fire." After giving the order, An Shuyi hurriedly ran to Xia Hua and took out a bundle from her basket, which was actually her warehouse. It contained her clothes, but she couldn't care less about that now.
When she returned, Doctor Liu had already arrived and was taking Xiao Wu's pulse.
Seeing Dr. Liu, An Shuyi hurriedly asked, "Dr. Liu, how is Xiao Wu?"
Dr. Liu opened his medicine box. "Xiao Wu was already weak, and yesterday he got caught in the rain, so he caught a cold. His body is already burning up. I'll give him a few acupuncture needles first, and then I'll prescribe some medicine for him to take later."
"Fortunately, his health is much better than before. Although he was very sick, he will be fine as long as his fever subsides. Please make sure to keep him warm and prevent him from getting cold again."
An Shuyi nodded, "Okay, I will be careful. I would also appreciate it if Dr. Liu could also check on the other children, especially my two little grandsons."
Yesterday, when she was running away, although she kept an eye on her family, the rain was too heavy. Even though she had a bag and a straw hat, she still got soaked.
"Wait until I finish giving Xiao Wu acupuncture." After saying that, Doctor Liu focused on giving acupuncture. "Alright, come to my place to get your medicine later. Boil three bowls of water down to one bowl." After saying that, he took the pulses of the other children.
"The remaining children are all fine. I'll give them some water boiled with Bai La Yun later. Erwa, go get the medicine from me. I still need to check on the others."
"Thank you, Dr. Liu. Second brother, go get the medicine!" An Shuyi said, handing the silver to her second brother.
"Boss, change Xiao Wu's clothes, and take good care of Xiao Liu and Xiao Qi. I'm going out for a bit." After saying that, he went to find Xia Hua.
"Huahua, I need to go out and bring back some things. There's nothing here, no food, and we can't hold on for long." She also doesn't have anything to make medicine for Xiao Wu, so she has to go down the mountain to check.
Of course, she didn't go down the mountain to look for anything; she just took some things out of her warehouse.
Xia Hua nodded and took out the contents of her basket: oil paper, bags, and then, with the basket concealing them, she took out several more items.
"Let's go together." That way we can bring back more.
After saying goodbye to Village Chief Lin, the two women carried their baskets and headed down the mountain in the heavy rain. Little did they know that after they left, Village Chief Lin stood there, gazing in the direction they had gone, unable to come to his senses for a long time.
Only when he felt a chill did he hurriedly return to the cave, instructing everyone to start a fire, dry the clothes of the children and the elderly, and then ask Doctor Liu to examine them, so that those who were sick could take medicine and those who were not sick could have a proper check-up.
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