Reborn Bao Guowei, I really didn’t want to be a great writer!

Chapter 520 Disaster Relief! Wujia Village, Where Hope and Despair Coexist!

"Wake up! Wake up!"

When everyone saw that the woman who was about to die miraculously survived, they immediately shouted excitedly.

Hong Shen, who originally had a painful expression on his face, also showed a look of surprise. He looked at Bao Guowei and said.

"It's really a miracle! Bingwen, my worship of you, sir, was not in vain!"

Bao Guowei was speechless. He always felt that the other party's call of "Sir" meant that he was at a disadvantage.

"Alive!"

At this moment, Hu Die was exhausted and collapsed on the ground. She no longer looked like a star. It was only because Ruan Lingyu was stroking her that she did not fall down.

"Mom~"

When the child saw his mother wake up, he immediately threw himself into her arms.

Seeing this scene, Hu Die's face showed genuine joy and tears flowed from her eyes.

Even though she ended up in a mess, the feeling of having brought back a life-or-death informant made Hu Die happier than any reward.

In the past, I was praised by all the powerful people in the Shanghai Stock Exchange, deified, and honored as the "Movie Queen". However, the happiness I had then was not even one-tenth of what I feel now.

Hu Die let out a breath and began to re-examine what true "helping the people" meant.

Mei Lanfang stood aside with deep emotion, regretting that he had never been exposed to medicine. Seeing this situation, he could only stand aside and worry.

He praised repeatedly, saying: "This time it is all thanks to Bingwen. If it weren't for you, we would have seen the tragedy of separation of flesh and blood today."

Everyone was praising her, but Bao Guowei looked at Hu Die. He was a little surprised that the other party could do this.

"Ms. Hu Die also made a great contribution. Without your help, this rescue would not have been so smooth."

Hu Die smiled and shook her head repeatedly, saying, "If it weren't for your instructions, I would not be able to do it."

During the conversation, with everyone's help, the woman had completely regained consciousness. Several actresses in the troupe took out their clothes and took the woman to another car, changed her into dry clothes, and then came back.

There is no hot food on the bus, but some compressed biscuits and hot water are enough.

Bao Guowei was not in a hurry to inquire about the situation. He waited until the mother and son wolfed down a whole box of compressed biscuits and drank several large cups of hot water before he stepped in to stop them because he was afraid that the two would get sick from eating too much.

Just when he was about to ask about the woman's situation, he saw the woman and her child kneeling down with a plop, and kowtowed to everyone.

"Thank you, sir and ladies! Thank you, sir and ladies!"

Hong Shen hurried forward and helped the woman up.

"Don't be like that. This is the Republic of China. Kneeling is not the norm. Sister, please tell us what is happening in Xinghua County? Have the victims received relief?"

Bao Guowei felt it was a bit ironic when he heard Hong Shen say that kneeling was not a popular custom in the Republic of China.

However, in today's Republic of China, due to the lack of information flow, even though the Qing Dynasty has collapsed, there are still people who live in the way of the ancients.

Even decades later, there were still people in the deep mountains and forests who saw some villages. They didn't even know that the Ming Dynasty had fallen and were still using the Chongzhen era name.

China is too big, especially in an era when information is not well circulated.

The woman was a native of Xinghua and spoke the Xinghua dialect.

There were also many people from Jianghuai present. Both Shanghainese and Hangzhou dialect belong to the category of Jianghuai Mandarin, so communication was not difficult.

Otherwise, during the Republic of China period when Mandarin was not yet popular, it would have been extremely difficult to communicate with people from other rural areas.

After the woman's own account, everyone roughly understood what had happened to her.

The woman's name was Wu Cuiyu. She was from Wujia Village in Xinghua County. She looked to be in her forties or fifties, but in fact she was only twenty-five.

In this era, even women had to work in the fields. Long-term labor, coupled with malnutrition, made her skin dark and dry, and she looked no different from an old woman.

A boy of eight or nine years old is naturally his child.

"Half a month ago, the rain never stopped. At first, everyone in the village was worried. The crops were about to be harvested, but the rain continued. Who knows how many families will starve to death this year."

Compared with the barrenness of the northwest, the land in Xinghua is considered fertile. But even so, it is still powerless under natural disasters.

"But later, everyone found that the rain showed no sign of stopping. The floodwaters not only overflowed the ridges of the fields, but also destroyed the riverbanks. Our Wujia Village is located on higher ground, so it was not flooded like other villages.

But"

Having said this, Wu Cuiyu covered her mouth and sobbed.

"But no one expected that the flood did not only flood the village, but the landslide swallowed up most of the village."

Compared with other counties, Xinghua County is low-lying, which is one of the reasons why the county suffered severe disasters.

Wujia Village was built almost on a hillside, so it was spared from the erosion of floods. However, unexpectedly, it was eventually engulfed by the mudslides caused by heavy rains.

The villagers had no awareness of disaster prevention, and by the time they discovered the landslide, it was too late.

"There were hundreds of people in the village, but less than half escaped. Angkor's family was buried under the rocks, and only one child was left in the family of the eldest sister-in-law next door."

Although people did not see the real scene, they could imagine how many human tragedies had occurred in Wujia Village just through the woman's simple description.

The sudden disaster caused countless people to be separated from their families and there was widespread grief.

The bodies of the villagers who were swallowed up in the village could not even be found. Some of the "lucky" ones were washed out by the flood, but their remains were almost unrecognizable.

As she spoke, Wu Cuiyu's face seemed to become numb. Under natural disasters, humans are almost no different from ants.

But this disaster is not just a natural disaster, it is more of a man-made disaster!

When talking about herself, Wu Cuiyu said with great grievance: "Everyone has nothing to eat, so they can only make a living on their own. My husband is missing, and I, a woman, can't find anything to eat, so I can only think of catching fish in the pond."

After listening to Wu Cuiyu's description, Hong Shen was furious and said, "Didn't the government send us relief food and supplies? So many things donated by all walks of life, where did they go?"

Wu Cuiyu replied: "The county may be able to get some, but our mountain villages certainly don't have any."

During the years of the Republic of China, it was a blessing not to be persecuted by government officials and soldiers. How could ordinary people at the bottom of society expect help from the government?

Equal disaster relief seems to be a matter of course for modern people who grew up under the red flag, but it was unimaginable in ancient times and even in the Republic of China.

The National Government said that the situation had stabilized, but even Chu Huiseng and Zhang Qun did not know the specific situation below. Everything was just reported by the local officials themselves.

Hong Shen slammed his fist on the carriage: "These damn officials! What do they think of human life?"

There were also people in the crowd who wanted to speak for the government.

"Supplies are still insufficient. It's hard enough to take care of the county, let alone the village."

"Not even a shit!" Hong Shen spat. "Don't you understand the nature of those people in the government? How much better than the Qing Dynasty? Not selling the supplies is already a kind gesture, and this is in spite of the supervision from people from all walks of life and the legislation for severe punishment."

Everyone in the group was filled with indignation, and Bao Guowei said to Wu Cuiyu.

"Can you still find anyone in the village? Take us there."

"This." Wu Cuiyu said hesitantly. "I have some impression, but I can't guarantee that I can find it."

Seeing that Bao Guowei seemed to be going to take everyone into the village, the patrol captain Wang Yong, who had been accompanying them, immediately stepped forward to persuade them.

"Sir, our mission is to perform a charity show for disaster relief. It's okay to go to Xinghua County, but the situation in this village is unclear, so it's not appropriate for us to go."

Bao Guowei turned around and glared, "Do you want to watch hundreds of people starve to death on the mountain?"

Patrol captain Wang Yong immediately shrank his head. The person with the most influence here was obviously Bao Guowei.

After thinking for a while, Bao Guowei looked around at everyone and said.

"If you have any objections, you can allocate a separate car and go to Xinghua County first."

Everyone looked at each other, and after a long time, Hong Shen stood up.

"I signed the disclaimer earlier because I wanted to do something in the disaster area. I'm worried about danger and trouble everywhere. Am I here to provide disaster relief or to enjoy myself? Count me in!"

With Hong Shen taking the lead, the actors and stars who were already mentally prepared immediately made up their minds and came out to express their opinions. Especially after seeing Hu Die put aside his celebrity status to save the woman, everyone was also infected.

The famous movie stars of the Republic of China era were not like the stars of later generations who were born into a life of luxury. Most of them had experienced hard times and had consciences in their hearts.

Everyone had expressed their opinions, so patrol captain Wang Yong naturally had nothing to say and could only sigh.

Bao Guowei looked at him and said, "Send a few more people to Zhenjiang City to inform them of the situation here, and find more disaster relief personnel and supplies."

Of course, he was not naive enough to think that he could truly bring disaster relief by relying solely on these performers.

When he first arrived, Bao Guowei thought that charity performances were the most important thing, but now it seems that disaster relief is still the most important thing.

In this way, the members of the charity troupe who originally planned to perform became disaster relief workers. The car turned around and drove towards Wujia Village in the direction indicated by Wu Cuiyu.

The mountain road in the middle was rugged, and the crowd had no choice but to take some supplies and go up the mountain road.

"Right over there."

As they walked, Wu Cuiyu pointed to a flat area on a small hill where many temporary shacks had been built.

To be honest, it was a bit of a rush to bring celebrities and actors to the disaster relief. They had not done much exercise, so they were exhausted after climbing these mountain roads.

But with Bao Guowei's encouragement and the fact that they had already made up their minds, they still persevered.

After walking for a while and avoiding muddy places, we finally reached the hillside and saw the gathering place.

There were more than 20 shacks built on the hillside, which could barely provide some shelter from the wind and rain. The shacks were filled with ragged victims, who were covered in dust and had pale faces and thin bodies. Their first reaction when they saw Bao Guowei and others was not hope, but fear.

Some people even had a stress response and wanted to escape secretly.

Wu Cuiyu explained to everyone with a sad tone, "The village often encounters banditry and war. Everyone is very scared when they see the master and the young lady."

Bao Guowei, who was about to speak, suddenly fell into silence.

Wu Cuiyu immediately stepped forward and explained to the villagers: "Don't be afraid, these are kind people from the city, they are here to help us."

After Wu Cuiyu's repeated persuasion, the villagers finally put aside their fear. An old man stood up and spoke to Bao Guowei and others on behalf of the villagers.

"Greetings, gentlemen and ladies. I am the head of Wujia Village, Wu Xuewen."

The old man was wearing a tattered gown and looked like a scholar.

After his introduction, Bao Guowei had a general understanding of him and the current Wujia Village.

The village chief, named Wu Xuewen, is already quite old. In the Qing Dynasty, he was considered a student and was elected as the village chief because he had some education.

His description was exactly the same as Wu Cuiyu's.

"More than half of the people in the village were buried there."

Wu Xuewen pointed out a direction for everyone with great sorrow.

He led everyone to a hillside and looked down. It was a collapsed slope and everything underneath was swallowed up by mud and gravel.

"I led the remaining villagers and managed to escape. The village originally had 300 to 400 people, but now there are less than 100 people left."

Wu Xuewen burst into tears, and the villagers following him also sobbed.

Xu Zhimo asked, "What about the government's disaster relief? Didn't anyone go to the county to ask for help?"

Wu Xuewen said sadly: "We went to ask for help, but the county was still busy with its own affairs, so how could they care about our lives? The supplies we received were distributed to the county in a short time, so we couldn't get any."

"How can this be possible!" Even the usually mild-mannered Xu Zhimo was a little angry, waving his fist and saying, "Even disaster relief has to be divided into different levels?"

Bao Guowei said nothing, he said to Xu Zhimo.

"Record the situation here, write a report later, and publish it in the newspaper so that people from all walks of life can see the situation here."

Hong Shen also nodded and said: "That's right, let the gentlemen outside see where their money is spent!" This time they came to the disaster area not only for the purpose of charity performance, but also for supervision!
Without saying much, Bao Guowei knew that these villagers must be starving, so he immediately ordered people to take out a lot of supplies and food from the car.

Disaster relief in disaster areas is a science-based matter. In the disaster-stricken areas, order has been completely destroyed. If you want to carry out disaster relief normally, you cannot have too much "sacred heart".

Therefore, Bao Guowei provided disaster relief and distributed food while also letting Cao Yanhai lead the patrol team to maintain order.

The supplies were distributed to each villager one by one in an orderly manner.

Afterwards, they used the supplies they brought to build a shed and built an earthen stove inside the shed.

No matter how many biscuits you have, they are not as satisfying as a full meal.

Bao Guowei waved his hand and said, "Light the fire and cook!"

This sentence immediately reassured many villagers, who called Bao Guowei and others "living Bodhisattvas" and wanted to bow down to them.

"No kneeling!"

Cao Yanhai followed Bao Guowei's instructions and immediately started yelling when he saw the villagers kneeling down.

New ideas may spread in big cities like Shanghai, but in these villages, traditional concepts are still maintained.

Hu Die, Ruan Lingyu, Mei Lanfang and others had never cooked before, and Bao Guowei was not arrogant. He followed the lead of several actors in the team who could cook and cooked a large pot of rice porridge.

The thick rice porridge exuded a fragrance that made the villagers swallow their saliva.

"Give out porridge!"

After Bao Guowei gave the order, a dozen actors and stars set up a donation stall, and the villagers rushed up with their bowls to take their food.

There was some unrest at first, but when people are starving, who cares about anything else?

Bao Guowei had already made preparations and asked Cao Yanhai to maintain order.

"If you want to eat, just queue up. If you don't queue up, you won't get any food."

As soon as Cao Yanhai showed his ferocious look, no one dared to move. Wu Cuiyu also helped everyone and communicated with the people in the village in dialect.

Order was quickly established, the villagers got food, and were no longer anxious. They all had tears in their eyes and expressed their gratitude profusely.

When Bao Guowei poured a whole bowl of rice porridge for the village chief Wu Xuewen, Wu Xuewen's eyes widened. He had never eaten such thick rice porridge before. His nose immediately felt sore and he knelt down in front of Bao Guowei and said.

"It is a great honor for the villagers of Wujia Village to meet you, your kindness is like a reborn parent. Wujia Village is poor and cannot repay you. In the future, we will definitely build a shrine for you to repay you for saving our lives."

Although he was just a student, Wu Xuewen's speech was quite eloquent.

Bao Guowei found it funny and picked up the old man who was kneeling on the ground and said.

"I've told you so many times, don't kneel!"

Wu Xuewen scratched his head and said embarrassedly.

"But I don't know what your name is?"

Bao Guowei smiled and said nothing.

Ruan Lingyu carefully poured rice porridge for each villager, fearing that it would burn them. But the villagers didn't care at all and licked any excess clean with their mouths.

Such a scene could not help but touch Ruan Lingyu.

There were also some children, with tears in their eyes, who would call Ruan Lingyu "Sister Bodhisattva" when they saw her.

Bao Guowei did not allow them to kneel down, so they held the rice porridge high above their heads and bowed deeply.

The villagers no longer had the fear they had before, and they all called these people, who were obviously city lords and ladies, benefactors.

From the previous despair to the current hope, it’s just a bowl of rice porridge.

Even Xu Zhimo expressed his feelings.

"The demands of the lower-class people are so simple. Just a bowl of rice is enough to make people worship them, but the government still cannot satisfy them."

After eating, the sky gradually darkened.

Bao Guowei helped the villagers build temporary huts using some of the waterproof plastic they brought, which were much better than the original huts made of hay and bamboo.

The largest shed became a temporary meeting center for the gathering point.

Gathering around the fire, everyone dried their wet clothes and felt extremely comfortable at the moment.

After settling down, many villagers were happy but also started to become sentimental.

"My child starved to death. If he had met the benefactors earlier and had a bite to eat, he might not have died."

"Dad is still buried down there, I don't know if he's still alive. If he passes away, I can't even hold a funeral for him."

"What are we going to do in the future? Our village is gone, our fields are gone, where can we get food?"

The villagers were talking at once, full of sadness and worry, and from time to time quiet sobbing could be heard around the fire.

Bao Guowei could see the villagers' worries, especially the village chief Wu Xuewen, whose brows were tightly furrowed. He was not only the village chief but also the oldest patriarch of Wujia Village, and he shouldered the hope of leading the entire village to seek a way of survival.

He patted the village chief's shoulder and said comfortingly.

"Don't worry, old man. I have already notified Zhenjiang City. You will receive assistance soon, and someone will arrange your subsequent livelihood."

Wu Xuewen showed gratitude in his eyes, but he still sighed and said, "Mr. Bao, it's not that I don't want to believe you, but I have to return to reality. Even if you know some big shots, it will be a different story when it comes to actually implementing it."

In this day and age, good people like these people are really rare.

Wu Xuewen could see that these people were all extraordinary, but they were still actors and actresses after all.

In Wu Xuewen's opinion, it would be difficult to solve their problems unless one was a high-ranking official or held a position in the government.

Hong Shen, who was listening to the conversation, suddenly burst into laughter, patted Wu Xuewen on the shoulder and said, "Old man, don't you know who he is? He is definitely one of the people in the world who can solve your problems, and he is even one of the best!"

Hearing Hong Shen's high evaluation, Wu Xuewen was confused and quickly bowed to Bao Guowei and said, "Sir, you don't look like an official."

"I have never been an official," said Bao Guowei.

"And who is your Excellency?"

Wu Xuewen was confused for a moment, but he couldn't blame him. He was busy all day and had too many things to do, so he didn't even ask the other person's name.

At this time, Xu Zhimo smiled and added: "This is Bao Guowei, Bao Bingwen! You are ignorant, so just ask him for help."

"Bao Bingwen" Wu Xuewen tried hard to recall, he always felt that this name was very familiar. He also heard people call the other party "Bingwen" during the day, but Wu Xuewen did not take it to heart.

Xu Zhimo continued, "You old man know nothing. You are the Bao Bingwen who wrote The Legend of the Condor Heroes, the Bao Bingwen who made our country famous at the sports games, the Bao Bingwen who was highly praised by foreigners, and the Bao Bingwen who invented allicin."

He listed Bao Guowei's many achievements one after another, as if they were his own treasures.

At this time, Wu Xuewen's eyes suddenly lit up. He looked at Bao Guowei in disbelief and said, "Are you the great saint Mr. Bao Bingwen? Mr. Bao Bingwen who saved thousands of people? Mr. Bao Bingwen who wrote martial arts novels?"

Without waiting for Bao Guowei to answer, Wu Xuewen immediately bowed his head.

"Sir, please accept my greetings!"

"Mr. Wu, you haven't corrected this bad habit yet." Bao Guowei helped the man up.

Wu Xuewen stood up with excitement in his eyes and spoke to the villagers present.

"Fellow villagers, you don't know yet, right? The man in front of you is the famous Mr. Bao Bingwen, a kind man. He has saved countless people from the plague, and now he has come to save us. We are saved from now on!
Come, come and meet Mr. Bao with me!"

Without waiting for Bao Guowei to stop him, Wu Xuewen led the villagers in bowing.

Even though they were repeatedly stopped, the villagers didn't listen at all and just kept thanking and kneeling down.

"Thank you Mr. Bao for saving my life! Long live Mr. Bao~"

"Thank you Mr. Bao for saving my life! Long live Mr. Bao~"

"Thank you Mr. Bao for saving my life! Long live Mr. Bao~"

Words like these resounded through the sky, and even Bao Guowei, who was standing aside to avoid kneeling, was moved.

Hong Shen came over and said with a smile: "Bingwen is the people's favorite. Even Chiang Kai-shek would not get such an honor if he came here, right?"

Bao Guowei sighed and said, "Sir, please don't raise it any higher."

The higher the hat is worn, the more attention it will naturally attract. In the past, Bao Guowei could hide his shortcomings, but now he can't hide them even if he wants to.

When the villagers' energy died down, Bao Guowei smiled and said to Ruan Lingyu in order to divert their attention.

"Sister Ruan, didn't you say you wanted to do something for everyone? We are in need of a show tonight, how about you sing a song for the villagers?"

Ruan Lingyu was still shocked by Bao Guowei's "popular sentiment" and immediately stood up and said.

"That's no problem, but what shall we sing?"

Under the current circumstances, those songs about drunkenness and extravagance in the foreign concessions are not very suitable.

Bao Guowei thought for a moment and said, "Let the world be filled with love. This song fits the occasion."

Ruan Lingyu nodded: "No problem, I'll just sort it out briefly."

She brought some cosmetics, but left them in the car. Now she was covered in dust and dirt, so she really needed to dress up.

Bao Guowei nodded, asked Cao Yanhai to help build a small platform, stood on the platform, and spoke to the villagers below.

"Fellow villagers, don't worry, we will leave enough food, and I promise that someone will come to help you in a few days.

The night is long, I will let our female star, Ms. Ruan Lingyu, sing a song for everyone. "

When they heard that there was a show to watch, the villagers, who usually lacked entertainment activities, suddenly became interested and quieted down.

Wu Xuewen seemed to be in a very good mood. On the one hand, he was grateful to Bao Guowei, and on the other hand, he stroked his beard and spoke.

"Ms. Ruan is like a fairy descending to earth. It's worth our lives to be able to listen to one of her songs."

"Yeah~"

"I have seen Miss Ruan's movies."

Hearing the villagers' flattery, Ruan Lingyu couldn't help feeling a little shy. She carefully stood on the simple stage, looked at the more than one hundred people present, and slowly opened her mouth.

Suddenly, melodious singing filled the shed.

The lyrics are very simple and the melody is catchy.

After singing for who knows how many times, Ruan Lingyu had already become proficient in it, and every tone was just right.

The villagers were immersed in the singing for a moment and began to fantasize about the future.

"

hold your face gently

Wipe your tears away

This heart belongs to you forever
Tell me I'm no longer alone

……

"

As the singing continued, only Bao Guowei's smile gradually disappeared, and his eyes gradually became profound.

(End of this chapter)