Chapter 68 Landslide
"Why are you up so early? It's already bright outside. Children should get more sleep." Godmother said when she saw Yike washing up.
"I'll go keep an eye on the outside." Yike quickly washed up and walked out.
"Hey, don't go. Eat breakfast first. Your mother is watching outside."
"What, mom went to watch so early. Wait, you didn't sleep last night? You were watching there all the time?" Yi Ke found it a little unbelievable. Staying up all night just for a few pigs, what's the point of that?
"Hehe! That's almost a thousand pounds of meat, we can't bear to part with it. We also have people to sleep with, we can take turns." The godmother was a little embarrassed.
"Okay, you guys can do it! I'm going to have breakfast. Hopefully we can catch a big tiger today." Yi Ke didn't care anymore. It didn't matter if he didn't sleep all night. They were all people who were used to living a hard life. They wouldn't even be willing to give up a few pounds of meat, let alone thousands of pounds.
Regardless of whether they caught the big tiger or not, Ziyi, Li Haoran and Du Qingcang marched quickly all the way and finally arrived at Du Qingcang's residence when it was dark.
They packed up their things overnight, and packed up the food and things that were urgently needed first, and put the things that were not urgently needed and could not be taken away temporarily away for the time being. I collected and packed until late at night, tied up the packed things, and left with them on a shoulder pole at daybreak.
The next day, Ziyi woke up first. He felt unwell all over. He looked at the bed he slept on and saw a bare wooden board. No wonder he felt uncomfortable. It was caused by a bump on the bed.
Yike's bed is still more comfortable. It is covered with a thick straw mat, and on the straw mat are pieces of leather. After getting used to sleeping on the soft bed, it is normal to feel uncomfortable going back to sleeping on the hard wooden board.
I wonder what Yi Ke is doing now? Have you gotten up? Probably not. She usually gets up at six. I really want to hear them say good morning, "Good morning, dear! I hope you will be happy all day long!" Sometimes she will say, "Good morning, dear! I miss you every time I open my eyes or close them!" Doesn't she think about how she can be in a good mood if she flirts with others when she wakes up in the morning? I was about to explode, but after being punished several times I finally behaved myself. So it became "Good morning, dear! May you be in a good mood all day, have a healthy body, and be happy and free from worries!" I don't know where so many different ways of greeting her good morning came from.
"Ziyi, why are you grinning like an idiot there so early in the morning! Come and get ready for breakfast." Li Haoran got up and saw Ziyi standing motionless by the bed, chuckling from time to time, so he called out.
"Dad, good morning! The whole day..." Yu Yi almost said a good morning greeting, but stopped when he came to his senses. He touched his head awkwardly, took out a towel and went to wash up.
"It's weird so early in the morning." Li Haoran was a little confused.
"Brother, it's so early! Are we going to Hu Haohan's house or Li Youcai's house first today?" Du Qingcang asked as he put water in the pot to boil soup.
"Let's go to Haohan's house and tell him. Let Haohan convey the message to the other families. We need to go back early as we are always feeling uneasy. Haohan's house is nearby, so we should go there and come back quickly." Li Haoran said.
"Okay! Let's set off after breakfast. I'm also feeling nervous. I wonder if Cuihua and the others will be obedient and stay in the cave." Du Qingcang also began to worry. They knew that as long as they didn't leave the cave, there would be basically no problem. The only thing they were afraid of was that they would not be obedient.
"It's time for breakfast. How many minced meat pancakes do you want? Two salted eggs each. What else do you want to eat? We also have dried meat and peanuts. Would you like some of each? Godfather, soak the dried cabbage in the soup. Yes, you can actually eat the dried cabbage by soaking it in boiling water." Ziyi rummaged around in his bag and took out a bunch of things.
"Yike is such a girl. She prepared so much food that there's no way she could finish it. I've never eaten so well and lived so happily as I have in these few days in my entire life." Du Qingcang said with emotion.
"Don't worry! You will eat well and live well every day from now on!" Li Haoran patted his shoulder to comfort him.
"Yes! From now on I will follow big brother and enjoy the good life." Du Qingcang felt relieved all of a sudden.
"Hu Haohan!"
"Hu Xiangdong!"
"Aunt Hu!"
“Lili!”
"Fang Fang!"
Ziyi and the other two arrived at Hu Haohan's cave and found the door locked and no one inside. The three of them looked at each other strangely and decided to look around first.
"How is it?" The three of them looked around and reunited.
"No, not in their vegetable garden either. I didn't see Aunt Hu and her two daughters." Ziyi said.
"If Haohan and Xiangdong went hunting, his wife and daughter should be at home. If not, they should be nearby. There are no traces of wild animals around. Where did they go?" Du Qingcang was puzzled.
"Did he go to Li Youcai or Chen Shengli's house?" Li Haoran said.
"It's possible. Let's go over and take a look. We can go back after we have seen it." Ziyi was anxious to go back, so he urged.
The three of them went to Li Youcai's house which was closer, hoping to see Hu Haohan and the others, otherwise they would have to continue looking.
"Brother, Ziyi, why are you here?" Li Youcai came out of the cave carrying a big pot and looked at the three people who were exhausted in surprise.
"What happened to you? Why are you like mud monkeys? Where are you carrying the big pot? Are you going to cook a big pot of rice? Where is Haohan? Is he with you? Why did his whole family disappear?" Li Haoran did not rush to answer but asked instead.
"Oh! Something terrible has happened! A very terrible thing!" Li Youcai said anxiously, "Shengli's cave has collapsed. His Yue'er is still in the cave and hasn't been dug out yet. I'm going home to get a pot to boil water. From yesterday to today, I haven't eaten a single bite of rice or drank any water. Everyone is exhausted. I'm going home to carry the pot over and boil some water so that I can have the strength to continue digging."
"Hurry! Get the tools, let's go and help dig." Li Haoran and the other two went to get the hoe and shovel from Li Youcai's house. There were not enough tools, so they should take them over. The three followed Li Youcai and ran to Chen Shengli's house. On the way, Li Youcai briefly explained the situation. It turned out that Chen Shengli thought that his son was going to get married and the cave was not big enough for him to live in, so he dug deeper into the cave, preparing to carve out another cave to use as a new house. As a result, there has been heavy rain for several consecutive days, and rainwater has seeped into the cave. After the rain stopped, Chen Shengli found it much easier to dig a cave, so he sped up the excavation process. However, the cave suddenly collapsed. The first to collapse was the newly dug hole, followed by the cave outside. Everyone was having dinner at the time, and they ran out as soon as they saw something was wrong. Only Yue'er finished her dinner first and went into the new cave early to collect soil and carry it out, so she was still in the new cave when the cave collapsed...
"When did it collapse?" Ziyi asked.
"Yesterday at noon," Li Youcai said, "we kept digging, trying to dig a passage to the new cave, but we had too few hands and it was too slow. I'm afraid we've lost all our manpower."
"Not necessarily. As long as there is air, it's only been a day and a half, there's a chance he's still alive," said Li Haoran.
"I hope so, otherwise my Dashan might go crazy." Li Youcai said sadly. His father Dashan was about to marry Chen Yue'er in a few months, but he didn't expect a disaster to happen.
"Brother..." Chen Shengli was trying hard to move a big rock and throwing it down. When he turned around, he saw Li Haoran running towards him. Tears rolled out uncontrollably. From the time the accident happened until now, he has been moving stones and soil without saying a word. Although his eyes were bloodshot, he did not shed a single tear. At this moment, seeing Brother Li Haoran running over, he could not help but burst into tears.
"Brother already knows. We believe Yue'er is still waiting for us. Don't panic. Let's work together to rescue Yue'er," Li Haoran patted his shoulder and comforted him.
Chen Shengli nodded with sobs, and immediately went back to move the stones. All he wanted now was to move one more stone so he could rescue his daughter sooner.
"Sister-in-law, give us the tools. You guys take a rest. Boil some water for everyone and make some soup. There are food in Ziyi's bag. You'll have strength only if you're full." Li Haoran walked to Hu Haohan's wife Sun Meili, took her shovel, shoveled the soil and threw it away.
"Mrs. Li, give me the hoe, I'll do it." Du Qingcang also picked up the hoe and started digging hard.
Everyone present was digging and moving things. Even Hu Fangfang, who was only eleven years old, and Chen Fugui, who was twelve years old, were using dustpans to carry the soil out.
Ziyi handed the cloth bag to Aunt Hu, looked at Aunt Chen lying on the wooden board, and asked in a low voice: "Aunt Chen is injured?"
"No, she fainted because she was too sad. Your uncle said that if she fainted, she would feel even worse when she woke up. He was afraid that something might happen to her, so he gave her a herbal medicine that would make her faint. She won't wake up for a while. Oh! How pitiful!"
"Then I'll go and help too!" Ziyi said as he walked towards the collapsed cave. Ziyi observed carefully and found that the front of the cave had collapsed. Uncle Chen and his team dug for a whole night and half a day, but they only dug a hole in the front part. Moreover, rocks and soil were falling down as they dug. If they continued like this, they might not be able to find a new hole even if they dug for another day.
"Dashan!" A loud roar interrupted Ziyi's observation. He ran forward and saw that the hole dug in front had collapsed again, and Li Dashan, who was at the front, was buried by the collapsed rocks and soil. Everyone hurriedly dug the dirt off his body. Fortunately, there were no big rocks around, only some smaller rocks hit his head. Blood flowed out of his head. He wiped it with his hand, climbed up and continued digging without saying a word.
"Dashan, can you please come out and treat your wound first? Look, your uncle Hao, Ziyi and the others are here, and your uncle Du is here too. Now that there are more people, we will be able to dig in quickly. Can you please bandage the wound first?" Li Youcai said while dragging his son.
"Dad! Yue'er is still waiting for me, let go!" Li Dashan roared with bloodshot eyes.
"No! You are not allowed to dig unless you bandage it!" Li Youcai also shouted.
"Dashan! Dashan! What's wrong with you? Oh my god, there's so much blood! Come on! Come with me to check and stop the bleeding first." Li Dashan's mother heard the man's roar and ran over in a hurry. Seeing her son's face covered in blood, she also panicked...
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