frightfiction Chapter 417 - 415: Natural Disaster 1
Chapter 417 - 415: Natural Disaster 1
Meanwhile, the commune members of Shishanling crowded onto the brigade’s sunning-ground. A large group stood there in the pouring rain. The men’s eyes were bloodshot as they stared at the homes and fields destroyed by the landslide, wanting to cry but having no tears left. The women slapped their thighs and wailed in despair...
The children, usually so lively and mischievous, now huddled against their parents and older siblings, their faces streaked with tears.
Tears still clung to Captain Zhou’s face, which was as wrinkled as elm bark. He was filled with a mix of emotions. He was thankful that when the disaster struck, everyone had been in the brigade’s drying house, cleaning mushrooms. Otherwise, there was no telling how many casualties there would have been.
What was agonizing was that the landslide had destroyed nearly half of the houses. The homes of some twenty families were now buried under the mud and debris. How was he supposed to house these twenty-odd families who had lost everything?
He worried about the commune members who had gone out of the mountains to find their superiors. Would they be able to bring back relief supplies? Food and clothing for over a hundred people—where was he going to get it all? ...
Zhou Shitou’s family and his father stood there in a daze, staring at where their home once was, now buried by the landslide and reduced to a field of ruin.
Xu Hongju held her younger son, weeping silently. Her daughter, Little Yu, and her older son had tear-streaked faces, and they occasionally raised their hands to wipe their eyes away...
Wu Shufang collapsed onto the wet, muddy ground, her face streaked with tears as she gazed at the flattened houses and ruined fields. "Heavens, why won’t you give us a way to live? What sins have we mountain folk committed? Why is our life so hard?..." Her vision went black, and she crumpled to the ground.
Just when things were starting to look up and the family finally had something to hope for, this sudden, catastrophic disaster had utterly crushed her.
Seeing her go limp and fall, Zhou Dashan rushed forward and gathered her in his arms. "Dear, what’s wrong?"
Zhou Shitou and Xu Hongju rushed over as well. "Mom! Mom, what’s wrong with you?"
The three children began to cry in a panic, "Grandma! Grandma..."
Captain Zhou came to his senses and quickly said, "Quick, press the point under her nose!"
Xu Hongju hurriedly pressed the spot on Wu Shufang’s upper lip, calling out anxiously, "Mom, wake up! Mom, wake up..."
Wu Shufang slowly opened her eyes and looked at them, tears streaming silently down her face.
Captain Zhou said to them, "Hurry and carry her to the drying house. I’ll go back and have your aunt find a change of clothes for her." His house, along with a dozen or so others, had not been destroyed by the landslide.
Zhou Dashan said hoarsely, "Thank you, Great Uncle."
Captain Zhou waved his hand and headed for home.
Zhou Shitou carried his mother into the drying house. Inside, a dozen or so women who had fainted from overwhelming grief and been revived were already lying on the floor.
When the others saw them enter, they cleared a space.
Xu Hongju went to fetch a bundle of straw, spread it on the ground, and Zhou Shitou laid Wu Shufang down on it.
Wu Shufang looked at them and her voice trembled. "Old man... Shi Tou... Hong Ju... how are we going to live from now on?"
Zhou Dashan looked at her and comforted her in a low voice, "Dear, if something were to happen to you, what would we do? Once the rain stops, we’ll go out and find your second sister and her husband. We’ll ask them to help us figure something out."
Zhou Shitou also tried to console her. "Mom, we’ll go find Aunt, and our cousin, and Second Brother. They’ll have a way to help."
"That’s right, Mom. There’s always a way. If anything happened to you, we..." Xu Hongju was so choked with emotion she couldn’t finish.
Wu Shufang looked at her grandchildren staring at her with pleading eyes. The thought of her sister’s family and her second son’s family in the East Market rekindled a flame of hope in her heart. She nodded through her sobs. "SOB... SOB... Thank goodness we still have them... SOB... SOB..."
Captain Zhou returned from his house with a change of clothes. Xu Hongju helped Wu Shufang into the night watchman’s room to change out of her wet garments.
Zhou Dashan said to him, "Great Uncle, we’ve lost everything. The landslide buried all our food and belongings. What are we going to eat for the next few days?"
"That’s right, Captain Zhou! We didn’t get any of our things out. The rain is so heavy, we don’t dare try to dig through the mud to get anything."
"Everything’s buried. We didn’t even bring out a single sweet potato. What are we going to eat now?"
The sound of muffled sobs rose from the crowd again.
Captain Zhou shouted, "I’m warning you, no one is to go digging for their things!" His gaze swept over the commune members. "If you don’t want to die, you listen to me. Do not, under any circumstances, dig in that mud."
He was in a difficult position too. It was the lean season between harvests, so even the families whose homes weren’t hit didn’t have enough food for themselves. ’I can only take the grain from the storeroom for now as an emergency measure,’ he thought. ’I can’t just watch everyone starve.’
"Then what are we supposed to do? Just starve to death?"
"Eat roots? Eat tree bark?"
Captain Zhou raised his hand, cutting off the clamor. "Let’s wait for Dashu and the others to get back and see what the commune leaders say. If it comes to it, I’ll open the storeroom and distribute the grain to everyone. We can also dig up some wild greens, pick some pumpkin shoots, find some taro, and grind up some elm bark for flour. We’ll get through this."
Dashu was the captain’s eldest grandson. The dozens of families in Shishanling were all related in one way or another. The families who had been spared wouldn’t just stand by and watch everyone else starve.
Someone else asked, "What about the terraced fields and rice paddies down below that were destroyed by the landslide? What are we going to use to pay this year’s public grain tax?"
Captain Zhou reassured them, "Don’t you worry. The government won’t abandon us. We’ll have news once Dashu and the others get back."
Hearing this, the families who had lost their homes felt a little more at ease. As long as there was food to eat, they wouldn’t be afraid.
Before nightfall, the captain opened the storeroom and brought out a basket of sweet potatoes. He also went home to ladle out some coarse grain flour and grab some salt.
The families who were spared brought over green vegetables. Each household shared some bowls and chopsticks. The displaced families used the large iron wok in the drying house to cook a pot of vegetable mush, and everyone ate from the communal pot.
The hundred or so people ate until they were about half-full. The families whose houses were still standing shared their quilts and bedrolls, and everyone bedded down for the night on dry straw spread out in the drying house and the brigade meeting hall.
A chill settled over the mountains at night. Thankfully, they had the bedding from their fellow villagers; otherwise, it would have been too cold to sleep.
Wu Shufang lay with her eyes open, listening to the chorus of snores and suppressed sobs that filled the drying house. Thinking of all the hardships she had endured in her life, she couldn’t stop the tears from flowing.
In the middle of the night, the rain finally began to let up.
Early the next morning, Wu Shufang’s family and the other displaced commune members huddled under the eaves outside the drying house. They stared out at the rain and fog that shrouded the sky, praying for Dashu and the others to return soon.
In the afternoon, Dashu and several other able-bodied men returned to Shishanling, caked in mud, carrying large baskets on their backs and leaning on wooden staffs.
Everyone joyfully swarmed around them, helping to take the baskets. When they saw the rice and flour inside, they cheered with delight.
The captain asked anxiously, "Dashu, what did the commune officials say?"
Dashu wiped the rain from his face and pointed at the rice and flour in the baskets. "The commune officials worked through the night to help us buy this rice and flour. They said you should open the storeroom first and make sure no one goes hungry."
He caught his breath and continued, "They’ve reported the situation to their superiors and are sending people with relief supplies right away."
Smiles finally appeared on the faces of the watching commune members.