Restarting life in Siheyuan

Xiao Donghai and his companions quickly dispersed according to Liu Dan's instructions.

There was not much else on the assault boat, but since it was a rescue operation, the rope was indispensable. Zhu Xuefeng threw a bundle of ropes onto the roof.

"Please take some time to lower the women, children and the elderly down first. I will catch them from below, and the men will help to secure the ropes from behind."

Zhu Xuefeng and Jian Hui switched to the speedboat and waited for the next farm personnel. Dozens of people consciously lined up in a row, pulling at the rope. With so many people holding on, the people coming down should be safe. A little girl was at the front of the line, and the adults behind her were loudly telling her to tie the rope around her waist.

A plump middle-aged woman dragged a little boy to the front of the queue that was preparing to get off the mountain, grabbed the rope and tied it around herself.

There was a commotion in the queue, but no one spoke up to stop it. Zhu Xuefeng saw it from below and cursed in a low voice.

"Who the hell is this person? He is so shameless that he wants to steal this."

Jian Hui blushed at the side, "This is the lover of our deputy director."

Zhu Xuefeng immediately got angry and pointed upwards, "Come in order, don't cut in line, it's easy to cause trouble. Female comrade, go to the back and let the children in front get off first."

"Why? You just said that women, children, and the elderly should go first. I am a woman and an elderly person, and I have a child with me. Isn't it right for me to go first?"

Without waiting for Zhu Xuefeng to say anything, she slid down holding the rope with one hand and the child with the other. Zhu Xuefeng was furious, but he had to take it with so many people watching.

The rope was being slowly lowered from above, so Zhu Xuefeng could only take the child and put him in the speedboat first, and then go to pick up the middle-aged woman. It seemed that the middle-aged woman was too heavy, and he fell into the water without paying attention, and took Zhu Xuefeng, who was supporting her, into the water as well.

The speedboat shook violently and almost capsized. Everyone on board panicked and hurriedly pulled the rope, but the other end of the rope was empty. Jian Hui squatted down, holding the child with one hand and holding the speedboat with the other hand to look underwater, searching for the two people who fell into the water. She wanted to go into the water to save them, but she was worried about the crying child in the speedboat.

Two lives were lost at once. It was a big accident. Just when everyone was in a mess, in less than a minute, a middle-aged woman who was drowning and dying was seen being lifted out of the water by Zhu Xuefeng. He reminded her breathlessly, "Be careful, this comrade is very heavy. Don't capsize the speedboat."

After much effort, the two finally rescued the middle-aged woman into the speedboat. Not caring that she was lying in the speedboat and vomiting constantly, Jian Hui once again pulled Zhu Xuefeng, who seemed to have lost all strength, into the speedboat. Zhu Xuefeng was also pale, and he supported himself with his hands behind his back, collapsed in the speedboat, and gasped for breath.

"Are you OK."

Zhu Xuefeng waved his hands with difficulty, "Let's see how the woman is doing first, I hope she's not in danger."

Jian Hui turned around and looked at the middle-aged woman with disdain. "She should be fine. She's not vomiting anymore, and her chest is rising and falling. She's fine."

"I almost drowned, so I'm fine."

The woman closed her eyes and cursed, then seemed to have lost all strength and stopped talking.

"It's good that she can talk. It proves there is no danger. Let's save her." Zhu Xuefeng laughed secretly in his heart. He just dealt with this woman secretly and made her unable to say anything. It felt good. He suppressed his laughter and climbed up again.

With serious cooperation with Jian Hui, everyone learned their lesson this time and were rescued safely into the speedboats. Seeing that the three speedboats were almost full, Zhu Xuefeng pulled the jet ski over, started it, and headed for the high ground six kilometers away.

The subsequent rescue operations went smoothly. After several rounds, more than 300 people were rescued. The farm manager shook hands with the six people one by one and thanked them again and again.

"Don't thank us. The government sent us here. We should thank the government." Li Bin was still very sensible. Naturally, the others also said that this was as they should do. The organizer Liu Dan came over panting at this time. He was also exhausted. He had to arrange all the chores.

"It's what I should do. Comrades, you have worked hard. You should have a good rest. We still have to rebuild our homes. We have to withdraw. There may be more places that need rescue."

At the insistence of the farm staff, the rescue workers took photos with the affected people.

Looking at Yu Haitang who was fiddling with the camera excitedly, Zhu Xuefeng said with a smile, "Hurry up, we have to go back. Who knows what tasks will be waiting for us."

"Thank you, thank you organization, thank you government, thank you party, thank you!"

Before leaving, the farm manager and his people kept expressing their gratitude, but the group just waved and quickly returned. They rescued two more groups of people on the way before successfully returning to the outside of the city. There was no heavy rain and the water level receded quickly. Now the jet ski could no longer return to the steel mill gate, so it had to stop nearby.

Liu Dan found a factory and reported the completion of the task to the city. Zhu Xuefeng also shamelessly made a phone call to Lao Yang to inform him that the task had been completed and they had returned victoriously. He could hear Lao Yang laughing heartily across the phone.

The successful rescue made the city very satisfied. Now the brothers have something to do. Countless disaster-stricken people are waiting for rescue, especially in Fangshan where tens of thousands of people are waiting to be evacuated. More than half of the speedboats have been allocated to Jinhai City and BD City. They were worried about the shortage of rescue boats, and the addition of this new force came at the right time. They were requisitioned without hesitation.

The brothers who were feeling proud of themselves, like Zhu Xuefeng, could only ask someone to pass a message home, and then they were sent to various places for rescue.

Under the leadership of Liu Dan, the brothers moved to many places in the past few days, eating, drinking, defecating and urinating in the flood. This time they experienced the hard work of the rescue workers. The performance of the brothers also made Liu Dan stand out. The agile jet skis have much more maneuverability than speedboats. They chased the people and supplies washed away by the flood in the rapids many times, and won great praise from the affected people.

The five children from the compound did not discredit their fathers. Instead, they showed the responsibility that a second-generation should have. They were always at the forefront and requested to take part in dangerous rescue missions many times.

This time, we finally cooperated with the rescue team to safely evacuate tens of thousands of disaster-stricken people near Shidu. Several young men also fell down on the hillside due to exhaustion.

The water had been drunk, and several people lay down on the slope with their heads resting on their arms. Following Xiao Donghai's suggestion, they chewed the wild vegetables that Yu Haitang had found, trying to moisten their dry lips with the grass juice.

"Do you think that the couple injured by the house can be saved? It seems to me that their situation is unlikely." Li Bin suddenly said.

"I think it's quite dangerous. How could someone be so unwilling to listen to advice and insist on going home to rescue property? Now two of them are seriously injured and have been staying here for a few more days. I think it's too dangerous." Xu Mingchuan threw away the vegetable roots and stood up.

"I heard that they wanted to snatch the food from the rice jar. Alas, it was because they were scared of hunger in the past few years. The two children in that family are so pitiful. Their parents are both dead. Who will take care of them in the future?" Huang Yuanshan looked at the sky with a straight gaze and sighed softly.

"Li Bin!" Dong Hai!"

Li Bin and Xiao Donghai seemed to be in sync, calling each other at the same time. They looked at each other, were stunned at first, and then smiled knowingly. "You go first..." Xiao Donghai still respected the leader of the small team.

"If the couple can't be saved, the five of us can do a good deed and adopt the siblings together. What do you think?"

"Not very good. There are obviously six of us." Everyone understood what Li Bin meant and nodded. Yu Haitang on the side listened in a daze, but Xie Junjie sat up suddenly and expressed his opposition.

Zhu Xuefeng also stood up to express his opinion, but his words surprised everyone.

"I understand your sympathy for these two children, but we are not yet independent and are not suitable adoptive parents. This method is inappropriate."

"But their homes are destroyed. If their parents can't make it, their village will be gone. How can they count on their neighbors and fellow villagers..."

Xu Mingchuan also felt very sympathetic towards this family and was willing to do something for them. It should not be a problem for any of the five families to adopt these siblings.

"Let me put it this way. If the two adults in this family cannot be saved, it would be fine for any of you to adopt them. However, we are still relying on our parents and the country, so it is not appropriate for us to adopt them. We can provide assistance."

"Adoption is not that simple. You can go to the civil affairs department to ask. In our case, individuals should not meet the adoption requirements. If these two siblings lost their parents and have no relatives, and their homes were destroyed, they would most likely be resettled by the civil affairs bureau. There is no need to worry about their lives, as the country is their backer."

Li Bin sighed. What Zhu Xuefeng said made sense, but this family was indeed too miserable. He couldn't convince himself not to do something after seeing it.

"If possible, let's do our best to help. This older sister is younger than my youngest sister. It's hard to imagine how she will be able to help her younger brother grow up with such tender shoulders."

The brother and sister are not very old, one is seven years old and the other is four years old. We have just learned that the family seems to have no relatives in Beijing, but we don’t know about them in other places.

"Yes, they are too young. So adoption is usually based on family. Not only do they have to raise the child to adulthood, but they also have to provide family affection, such as fatherly and motherly love. Who among you can give that? It's too presumptuous for a group of young men to adopt someone."

Zhu Xuefeng's words were too calm, and Xie Junjie felt a little unhappy listening to them. Although they had been through thick and thin together for so many days and their feelings had become closer again, he still felt that Zhu Xuefeng was too calm.

"So what do you think we should do to help this pair of siblings?"

"The first thing, of course, is to see if we can help their parents survive." Zhu Xuefeng said this, but he himself did not have the confidence. When they rushed to this hilltop, both of them were breathing their last breath. It was estimated that they passed away before they even got to their parents. Zhu Xuefeng could do nothing in this situation.

Everyone was silent. Everyone could see that there was basically no possibility for this couple to be together, otherwise they would not have thought of helping the brother and sister.

"anything else"

"Another thing is, it would be best to find them a normal family that is missing a child. This would be best for them."

Combined with what Zhu Xuefeng just said about fatherly love and motherly love, everyone understands that this is indeed the best for the future growth of the two children.

"Any more?"

"The last possibility is that if they are not adopted, they will probably grow up in an orphanage. We can also visit them regularly, provide them with some care, and help them grow."

"Yes, there might be more than one family like this in this flood. Didn't Liu Dan say that more than ten people disappeared during the first Longba incident here? There must be similar families." Huang Yuanshan also got up and added.

Li Bin also made a decision at this time. There might indeed be a lot of such children in this flood. Since everyone is willing to contribute, why not make things bigger? He spoke with a hoarse voice.

"Everyone, Xiaofeng has provided us with a very good idea. There are probably many children like this in this flood. Since we can't adopt them, we should take care of those children who have no one to adopt. Didn't Xiaofeng mention the orphanage? Why don't we go and help those children instead of focusing on this pair of siblings?"

"That's right, count me in for this." Zhu Xuefeng then smiled. After this disaster relief experience, the mentality of these people has really changed. They would never have this idea before, thinking that they were too busy to play. Now that they have experienced disaster relief and seen countless disaster-stricken people, it can be considered a baptism.

"As for you, forget it. You're not working and you're going to study abroad soon, so you don't have time. The five of us are here, so you don't have to worry about this." Li Bin denied Zhu Xuefeng's participation.

Zhu Xuefeng lay down again, "I will definitely get involved in this matter. I will contribute as much as I can."

"Okay, okay, Li Bin means well. Since you have this idea, let's do it. You're one of them." Xiao Donghai quickly set the tone.

Yu Haitang understood what was going on. These six young men wanted to help the children who had lost their parents. She was so excited that she blurted out what they wanted.

"And me, I can help too, I'm at work."

The few of them then realized that there was a girl around them, and Li Bin walked forward with a smile.

"Xiao Yu, this is a matter between us grown men, so don't get involved. You've been very hard-working these days. Now that the mission here is almost over, we brothers will take you back soon."

Yu Haitang seems to still have the complexion of a student who just graduated. She is easily infected by positive emotions. This time she is very determined and will not give in.

"I also want to do my part for these children. Don't stop me. I'm going to find Team Leader Liu right now..."

After saying that, he got up and ran away. Looking at the pair of half-long braids swinging back and forth, Zhu Xuefeng was a little confused. This person seemed a little different from the character in the play. Maybe he had not been polluted yet and still retained the pure and innocent heart of a student.

When Liu Dan's tired black face appeared again, it brought condolences and encouragement from the city, as well as inquiries. Without saying a word, the few of them simply packed up and followed the rescue team to the Jinhai rescue site. The water there had been receding slowly and the affected area was even larger. In an era without the Internet and telephones, countless places still needed manual search and rescue.

A week later, several people returned to the capital city exhausted again. Except for Zhu Xuefeng, the others were so tired that they looked out of shape, just like the old fishermen on the beach, dark and thin, except for their eyes that became deep and had some spirit. They looked even worse than the victims. The motorboat had been left in Jinhai. Yu Haitang who came back with them also looked different, just like a refugee.

The friendship of fighting brought them closer. The baptism of this battle changed them a lot. They were less reckless and more stable. They saw too many disaster victims and faced too many exciting scenes. Their souls were purified. (End of this chapter)