Chapter 404
Zhao Ger hurriedly helped Guaizai into his clothes: "Still sleepy? Don't sleep yet. Something's happened in Anxi County. Go with your father to take a look."
Guaizai rubbed his eyes, his voice thick with sleep, and let Zhao Ger dress him: "Something happened? What happened?"
"I don't know."
Seeing his grave expression, it must be something serious. Guaizai immediately stopped feeling sleepy: "Then Guaizai will go with Father. Guaizai can help."
Zhao Ger kissed him: "Good boy."
Fang Zichen lifted Guaizai onto the horse. The wind from galloping was strong and a little cold, so he wrapped Guaizai in a piece of clothing. He waved for Zhao Ger to go back inside and not see them off, then rode away with the yamen runner who had come to deliver the report.
It was late at night, and the villagers were all fast asleep. The past month had been nonstop — harvesting, transplanting rice seedlings, work inside and out. Now they could finally rest. The village was quiet. As they passed the gate of the paper mill, the two villagers on night watch saw Fang Zichen and a man dressed as a yamen runner galloping away in haste. They exchanged glances.
"What's going on? The lord is taking the young master out in the middle of the night."
The other villager's expression was grave: "Something must have happened."
Fang Zichen hadn't received any prior news. He'd been busy lately too. This really caught him off guard.
The yamen runner had come as soon as he received the order. He wasn't clear on the situation in Anxi and Anbei villages either.
Fang Zichen didn't dare rest the entire way.
Other places in Anxi County were relatively fine — nothing major had happened. Some villages had their thatched roofs blown away, some fields were flooded. As long as no one died, it wasn't considered a big deal. After all, as long as the green mountains remain, there's no worry about firewood.
[留得青山在，不怕沒柴燒 (liú dé qīngshān zài, bù pà méi chái shāo): lit. as long as the green mountains remain, there's no worry about firewood; fig. as long as the foundation or core is preserved, there will always be future opportunities.]
But Anxi and Anbei villages sat at the foot of a mountain. After days of nighttime thunderstorms, more than half the mountainside collapsed and buried both villages below.
It all happened in an instant. With a deafening roar, the mountain came crashing down. The villagers had no time to react, and only a handful managed to escape.
At this point the rain still hadn't stopped, and the wind was still howling fiercely. Broken branches and shattered tiles were everywhere — a scene of utter devastation.
Where the torrential rain and mudslides had swept through, mud, sand, boulders, and trees were piled up everywhere. Most of the houses were buried.
The village they had once known was now a ruin.
Those who had escaped stared blankly at the scene, speechless, as if stupefied. When they came to their senses, they began frantically clawing at branches and rocks with their bare hands.
"Husband? Husband?"
"Tiedan..."
Some were calling for their parents, some were searching for their children. Wails and weeping mixed together into one continuous sound.
The rain fell harder and harder, but none of the survivors left. They had nowhere to go, and their loved ones were still here. They couldn't leave.
Some were buried under the rubble, calling for help. Others were simply missing.
They hadn't brought hoes or tools. Some people's hands were bleeding from digging, yet they still hadn't managed to dig out a single pit.
Old women sat on the ruins holding their grandchildren, wailing loudly. Apart from crying, they didn't know what else they could do.
"What sin have we committed! How did it come to this? My son! My son! Where are you? Mother can't live without you!"
"If anything happens to you, Mother won't live either."
The children were crying from fear too, clamoring for their parents.
Everywhere were cries of despair and grief.
How did it come to this?
Many people were thinking.
They had never done anything bad. So why had it come to this?
This year they had just started using chemical fertilizer. Their family had sold grain and earned a good sum of silver. They thought good days were finally coming. And then...
Their home was gone!
The night passed. The rain stopped. Several people who had been dug out were severely injured, their bodies covered in mud stained red with blood. With nowhere to place them, they lay on the ground. The bleeding wouldn't stop. One man had a wooden stake still embedded in his thigh. His father pulled it out, then looked at the wound and was too terrified to move further.
They were all honest villagers who had never weathered any storms. In daily life, they'd seen plenty of small injuries — a knife cutting a hand, a hoe hitting a foot. But they had never seen wounds this bad. The bone was exposed, the flesh torn and mangled. Onlookers were terrified, their legs shaking.
Everyone was at a loss, panicking, in pain, in despair, utterly bewildered. Some men organized everyone to find shelter first — looking at the weather, the rain would probably continue.
People didn't want to leave.
But the elderly and children had weak constitutions. After being drenched in rain all night, they were already coughing.
Someone asked in a choked voice: "Where can we go?"
That one sentence stopped the men in their tracks.
Yes! Where could they take shelter? All the houses in the village had collapsed. Most people were buried. They still needed to be rescued! How could they leave? But they couldn't dig them out. The elderly and children needed shelter from the rain. There were caves on the mountain, but no one dared go there now.
Everyone was drowned in grief and despair. Their limbs felt weak, their minds blank and numb. They couldn't do anything.
What were they supposed to do?
Someone, please save them!
Who could come to save them?
Someone had relatives in the neighboring Anbei village and ran there for help, only to arrive and freeze.
Heaven itself was trying to destroy them!
Grandma Tang held her grandson close, trembling. She had cried all her tears dry.
In her arms, her six-year-old grandson called to her, weak and soft, his voice barely a whisper.
"Grandma, I'm cold, and my foot hurts so much."
Grandma Tang wiped her tears and held him tightly: "Grandma's holding you. You won't be cold anymore. Won't be cold anymore."
But it was no use.
She was wet, and the child was wet. The sky had started raining again. When they escaped, the child's leg had been crushed by a roof beam. The blood was still flowing. Mud wrapped around it was useless.
Only she, her grandson, and her son's fulang had made it out. Her husband and two sons were still buried under the soil.
In the distance, Tang Fulang was clawing at the mud, both hands bloody from digging.
The rain fell again, endless. The sky was a murky gray. Everywhere was the swishing sound of rain.
Another night passed.
Several men hastily threw together a thatched shelter, but it was useless. Outside it poured, inside it drizzled.
One after another, people were dug out.
More bodies were laid out on the ground.
Rain washed over them. The water pooling beneath ran red. Even the downpour couldn't wash away the smell of blood.
The first ones dug out were laid under a thatched shelter, already burning with fever. Their families sat beside them, crying until they went numb, with no idea what to do.
Earlier, someone had run to the town to find a physician, but other places had also suffered disaster. The physicians weren't there.
The town only had two or three medical halls. And barely any physicians stationed there. Including young apprentices, the whole of Anxi County had only seventeen people who knew some medicine. But many villages had suffered disaster! Everyone was busy now!
There was no one at the yamen either...
At this moment, they were truly at their wit's end, watching their family members lie in the rain, blood flowing endlessly. They had tried every method, but nothing could stop the bleeding. Apart from crying, apart from watching helplessly, they truly didn't know what else they could do.
"Niuwa's daddy." Grandma Tang suddenly called out: "Come quick! Niuwa isn't moving, come quick."
Tang Fulang stumbled over, staring straight into Grandma Tang's eyes, unwilling to accept it was real.
"Mother, what did you say?"
Grandma Tang wailed: "...Niuwa isn't moving. What do we do?"
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