Tang Fulang took Niuwa into his arms and called him several times. Niuwa didn't respond, as if asleep.
Tang Fulang pressed his lips together, reached out a trembling hand, and touched Niuwa's pale face, only to find it was cold. His heart lurched.
"Niuwa, don't scare Daddy. Please don't scare Daddy. Open your eyes and look at me. Don't sleep. Look at Daddy."
Niuwa didn't move. His hair was wet and stuck to his pale little face. He was very thin. Now, held in his arms, he was almost weightless. Yesterday he had occasionally called out that he was cold, that his leg hurt. Today, Grandma Tang held him and noticed he wasn't speaking, just sleeping in a daze. She shook him, and he said he was sleepy, wanted to sleep a bit.
Grandma Tang had only thought the child had been frightened yesterday and hadn't slept well because his leg was uncomfortable. But by noon, when she wanted to find some food for the child, her body wasn't nimble. When she got up, she didn't hold the child steady, and he fell to the ground. Niuwa rolled over once, but didn't wake. He stayed face-down, completely still.
Grandma Tang felt something was wrong. Panic shot through her as she scooped up Niuwa and called his name over and over, but he didn't open his eyes to look at her like he used to.
Tang Fulang's voice cracked into a hoarse roar, thick with grief and despair. The people around him heard it, and sorrow rose in their chests. They turned away and wept.
Grandma Tang broke down again, wailing in agony.
Tang Fulang held Niuwa, staggered to his feet, and was about to rush toward the village entrance: "Find a physician. I need to find a doctor. Nothing can happen to Niuwa."
Grandma Tang was crying too. She'd just pulled herself up from the ground and was about to follow them when she saw her son's fulang crumple. His knees gave out and he collapsed, burying his face against Niuwa and sobbing.
What good would finding a physician do?
They had no money. The money they'd earned from selling grain this year — along with her husband, her father-in-law, and her two younger brothers-in-law — had all been buried.
He hadn't dug anyone out.
Two days had passed...
He only had this one son left, and yet: "Who will save my son?"
Grandma Tang was crying too: "Niuwa's daddy."
Tang Fulang's tears kept streaming down: "Mother, save Niuwa, save Niuwa — won't somebody please save my son!"
Right now, no one could help them.
They didn't even know who to turn to for help, or where to go to find it.
The rain hadn't stopped. It kept falling in a steady drizzle.
A few women from the surrounding area came over and urged Tang Fulang to go rest under the thatched shelter.
Tang Fulang didn't listen. He stayed kneeling on the ground, clutching his son tightly, gently patting him just like he did when coaxing him to sleep on ordinary nights, choking on his sobs.
Seeing him like this, the others didn't say anything more. They were all suffering themselves right now and truly had no energy left to persuade him. They sighed and were just about to turn back...
Then suddenly, hoofbeats sounded in the distance.
Against all the crying, the sound cut through sharp and jarring.
The sound was deafening, echoing through almost the entire valley.
The rain couldn't drown it out. The crying couldn't muffle it.
Everyone looked over.
At the bend in the cement road, a group of soldiers came riding through the rain, forcing their way into view, galloping toward them. At the very front rode a handsome young man, with a small child sitting in front of him on the horse.
When they got close and he saw the situation, Fang Zichen made a quick decision and dismounted.
"Let me see the child."
Tang Fulang stared at him blankly, and without thinking, let go.
Fang Zichen took Niuwa and first felt his face — it was cold, but not stiff. He checked his breathing — there was still breath, though very faint.
"Physician Li."
He called out. Physician Li, like a prisoner, was supported over by two new soldiers holding his arms.
After riding hard the whole way, Physician Li was barely hanging on by a thread. But the moment he saw Niuwa, he forgot all about his own discomfort. Saving the child came first.
He checked Niuwa's pulse — it was cold sickness, plus excessive blood loss. He needed treatment as soon as possible.
Tang Fulang was still dazed. When he saw them carrying the child away, he hurriedly stood up and tried to follow on heavy legs: "The child... Who are you? Give me back my child."
"It's Lord Fang."
Someone recognized him and shouted excitedly: "It's Lord Fang! Lord Fang is here! We're saved, we're saved!"
In the darkness, a ray of light appeared, illuminating the dark.
With light, the hurricane and the torrential rain were no longer frightening.
It brought hope.
Everyone was cheering.
Fang Zichen had instructed the deputy prefect earlier that with so much summer rain, they needed to guard against flooding.
The deputy prefect remembered. As soon as something happened on the Anxi County side, he received the news and immediately dispatched soldiers.
But the elite troops originally in Zhuozhou City had all been transferred to the training area for joint training. When the deputy prefect sent the order, Zhu Zheng, upon hearing it, dispatched five hundred men to the local area for disaster relief.
Why not send more?
Because earlier, Fang Zichen had bought three hundred horses and shipped them to the training area for the new soldiers to train with. After that, he'd bought more one after another, totaling about five hundred-plus horses.
Any more and they’d have to go on foot. But Zhuozhou was a long way from Anxi County — it would take four or five days to get there. By the time they arrived, it would be too late.
Among them were a hundred young gers and women who'd only been recruited in the past few months. With lives at stake, everyone traveled day and night without daring to rest for even a moment.
Fang Zichen had met up with them halfway. He kept three hundred men and seventy young women and gers, and split the rest into small teams to assist other villages.
On the way, he'd already given orders: upon reaching Anxi County, after purchasing tools, some would head to Anbei Village, and some would follow him to Anxi Village.
Now that they'd arrived, everyone dismounted and got straight to work.
The men went to rescue people. The young women and gers settled the injured, busying themselves with bandaging, brewing medicine, and setting up tents.
Everything was orderly and methodical.
When the villagers first saw Fang Zichen arrive, everyone had been dazed and at a loss. But now it seemed they suddenly had someone to lean on.
Fang Zichen went with the new soldiers to dig people out. Guaizai stayed in the back with Physician Li, helping where he could.
His small figure slipped through the crowd.
Fang Zichen's group had numbers and tools. Before long, someone was dug out.
This person was badly injured — half his face was a bloody mess, and there was a hole in his belly. It looked horrifying. The blood had practically flowed the whole way.
The people dug out earlier in the thatched shelter behind were already too weak to make a sound. But the person just dug out was being held down by Liu Ger and the others while they cleaned his wounds, and he screamed incessantly from the pain.
That shrill sound echoed in their ears, making everyone's heart panic. It was Guaizai's first time facing such a brutal scene directly. His whole body went rigid, his small frame stiffening.
He was still young after all. Tang Daniang was afraid he'd be frightened and wanted to take him away, but Guaizai didn't move. When they'd gone to suppress bandits, he wasn't afraid. When he'd gone on stage to fight the Beimang people, who were tall and big, he wasn't afraid. When they'd gone robbing, he wasn't afraid either — he'd even been happy because they earned silver.
But now... he was a little scared. He instinctively wanted to find Fang Zichen and have him hold him. But when he looked up and gazed toward the foot of the mountain — Fang Zichen was braving the wind and rain, organizing the rescue. The soldiers around him were bustling non-stop — prying rocks, digging mud, pulling at tree roots. Another elderly person was carried out.
Guaizai stared for a long while. When Tang Daniang once again reached out to take him to rest in the thatched shelter, he shook his head.
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