Back to the teenage years

Chapter 614 Young Master Lu's Broken Teeth

After Zhang Yunqi turned back, a chubby girl from the university's student union rushed into his arms. Perhaps he was too excited, as he was both amused and exasperated. It was Li Yufei who came over and pulled her away.

Now that Shanwa has been rescued, no one dares to linger any longer.

There was only one road on the opposite bank of Songzhenping, which had been submerged by fire. The group of them ventured into the dense forest from this side of the stream, but they couldn't find a way out.

Fortunately, there are still the mountain children who grew up in Black Elk Peak.

The little girl they had just rescued became their guide as they traversed the rugged mountains and forests. She lay on Zhang Yunqi's back, her little hands occasionally using them to find their way.

When they stumbled out of the canyon and looked back, the lush Songzhenping that morning had been reduced to a sea of ​​fire. Flames soared into the sky, black smoke swirled, and heat waves licked the air. Burning pine needles and broken leaves rained down like dark red rain, and the firelight had dyed the sky orange-red.

Everyone feels a sense of relief at surviving such a disaster.

Everyone carries a heavy burden in their heart.

They survived, but everyone knew the trouble was far from over. The atmosphere in the group was oppressive; everyone had their own worries, and they helped the wounded and hurried on their way amidst the towering flames behind them.

After the group returned to Yiyun Reservoir, Li Xiaoman arranged for people to split up and find a bus to take the students who had been seriously stung down the mountain for treatment. However, many students were very responsible and insisted on putting out the fire before leaving, even with minor injuries.

Li Xiaoman went straight to the village committee.

The village chief of Heimi Village is named Wang Shoudao. He is a middle-aged man who is nearly fifty years old. He has a dark face, a very thin body, and hunched shoulders, but he is extremely capable. He is obviously a man who has been struggling to make a living in the deep mountains for many years. He must have received the news of such a big fire long ago.

I'm so anxious I could jump up and down!
He immediately used a crank-operated telephone to call the township police station, which then transferred him to the county forestry bureau's fire prevention office, so Li Xiaoman didn't need to worry about it at all.

The real problem is that the mountains are high and the roads are long!

The county fire brigade is rushing to the scene, but it will probably take another two hours.

By then, the fire will have already spread from Songzhenping across the even more intense cedar forest, surging towards the deep forests stretching for hundreds of kilometers. This is the core area that later led to Heimi Peak being designated a national forest park! It's filled with towering giant trees, centuries-old trees; once it catches fire, the Heimi Peak mountain range will become a blazing inferno!

Wang Shoudao dared not even imagine the consequences of ending up in that situation. Let alone the county fire brigade, even the city and provincial fire brigades would likely struggle to control the fire in the short term. Their Black Elk Peak would become infamous throughout the country because of it!
When Zhang Yunqi and his group arrived at the village committee, village chief Wang Shoudao was shouting into the village loudspeaker: "Fire at Songzhenping! Fire at Songzhenping! It's an emergency! All able-bodied men, drop what you're doing and assemble at the village committee! Bring fire extinguishers!"

Wang Shoudao shouted many times until his voice was hoarse before he noticed someone behind him. When he turned around, he saw a group of young people, all of them disheveled, with black and white streaks on their clothes, looking flustered and embarrassed. Many of them had red and swollen marks on their faces and hands from wasp stings.

His face darkened further: "So it was you who burned the mountain?"

Li Xiaoman's face turned pale, and she nodded.

Lu Yuanzhou, sporting a swollen face, took two steps forward and said, "This was an accident. It was mainly due to the dry weather. Village Chief, putting out the fire is the priority now. We will definitely find a way to take responsibility!"

Village Chief Wang, speaking in the local Lijin dialect, angrily shouted: "Take responsibility? Take responsibility my ass! You'll be going to jail!"

After saying that, he ignored the troublemakers and continued to call for help through the loudspeaker! Soon, the village, nestled on the mountain ridge, was thrown into chaos. Villagers emerged from all corners, their shoes clattering loudly, and rushed to the dilapidated village committee. In a very short time, they devised a plan for how to put out the fire and how to divide into groups.

Compared to Lu Yuanzhou and others who were only thinking about how to lessen their guilt for setting fire to the mountain, these simple villagers were thinking about how this mountain forest had been passed down from their ancestors. They didn't understand any grand principles, they only knew that the mountain was their livelihood, their lifeline, and their home, and they couldn't just watch it burn away.

The firefighting team was quickly formed. At this time, the tools used for farming came in very handy. The villagers, each carrying a shovel, sickle, backpack sprayer, and torches made of branches, divided into groups, left the village committee and braved the heat and thick smoke to head against the flow of the main fire in the southeast.

Wang Shoudao led his men to a ridge not far from the main fire zone to assess the situation. He carried a loudspeaker that could transmit information to the firefighting team and arrange emergency personnel at any time.

At this point, Li Xiaoman and the others seemed to be of no use at all. They had stayed at Black Elk Peak for two days. Wang Shoudao naturally knew that these troublemakers were pampered college students from the city. He resolutely forbade them to enter the fire again. Not only would they be of no help, but they would also cause more trouble for Black Elk Village if someone died.

He was very fierce, but he still asked the village's barefoot doctor to prescribe some folk medicine for treating wasp stings. He gave it to Li Xiaoman and the others, and after they applied it, they watched the firefighting efforts from a distance on the ridge.

The main fire zone at Songzhenping had been burning for quite some time. Zhang Yunqi estimated that the fire had spread to a width of nearly a kilometer and was now spreading towards the fir forest in the northwest. In fact, everyone present knew that if the fir forest were ignited, the fire would be completely out of control and the entire mountain range stretching for over a hundred kilometers would be set ablaze.

Currently, the fire brigade lacks professional firefighting equipment, so the method for extinguishing the fire is to create a large firebreak below the main fire area in Songzhenping, cut down shrubs, and clear the ground.

This is the fastest and most effective solution that these villagers can think of right now.

If Li Xiaoman and Lu Yuanzhou had listened to Zhang Yunqi's advice and fled immediately when the fire started, and mobilized the villagers to clear a firebreak like they are doing now, they would definitely have made it in time. However, the fire has now spread to dozens of acres, and at the speed at which the villagers are digging the firebreak, Zhang Yunqi felt that there was no way to control the fire with manpower.

Of course, Zhang Yunqi hadn't realized this before. He saw that the firebreaks dug by the villagers had been breached by the flying fire several times, the heat radiation was getting stronger and stronger, and the smoke was getting thicker and thicker. These villagers lacked professional protection, and several people had already been burned and had to retreat. Moreover, as the main fire got closer and closer, more and more people retreated.

Seeing this, the people on the ridge remained silent, their expressions dejected, and the atmosphere extremely oppressive.

Wang Shoudao was at a loss. The fire was now beyond human control. After thinking for a moment, he raised a megaphone and shouted, "The fire is out of control! Everyone get down! Survival is the priority! Wait for the fire department to come and put it out!"

Lu Yuanzhou gritted his teeth.

He was primarily responsible for the fire, and had considered the consequences countless times along the way. Upon hearing Wang Shoudao's words, this usually calm and rational young man seemed to suddenly lose his composure.

He snatched the megaphone from Wang Shoudao and shouted, "Why are you backing down? By the time the fire brigade arrives, it'll be too late! Village Chief Wang, let them go up and put out this fire, and I'll give you 100,000!"

Wang Shoudao suddenly turned around, his dark face flushed red, and the veins on his neck bulged: "You want to buy our lives with money?" Lu Yuanzhou was rooted to the spot by the blunt question, opened his mouth, but could not utter a sound.

The crowd fell silent, all eyes fixed on him, a mixture of astonishment, unfamiliarity, confusion, and a touch of anger and disdain.

Zhang Yunqi didn't pay attention to this matter; he knew Lu Yuanzhou all too well. This young master Lu was like a fish in water in the city, full of clever schemes and making a name for himself. Even Zhang Yunqi had to admit that he was an outstanding young man. However, Lu Yuanzhou's experience in rural life was probably zero. Leading so many people to make a series of fatal mistakes must have severely damaged his arrogant heart. He also knew very well the consequences of burning Black Deer Peak, which is why he gradually revealed his true nature.

Zhang Yunqi picked up a leaf from the ground, sensed the wind direction for a while, and said, "Village Chief Wang, I suddenly thought of an idea. Do you want to try it?"

Wang Shoudao glanced at the raggedly dressed boy with soot and bloodstains on his face. Before he could speak, Li Xiaoman, who was almost in despair beside him, immediately said, "What?! Zhang Yunqi, you speak!"

Zhang Yunqi picked up a twig and squatted down to draw a diagram. Everyone gathered around him: "The main fire area is currently in Songzhenping, burning towards the northwest towards the fir forest. Moreover, I noticed that the wind direction has been very stable today. As long as the wind direction remains unchanged, we can find a suitable place between Songzhenping and the fir forest, light a fire first, and let this fire burn back to meet the main fire. Once the oxygen and fuel are exhausted, the fire will automatically go out."

After hearing his solution, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.

Zhang Yunqi's idea was somewhat counterintuitive and illogical.

Lu Yuanzhou was a little confused about Zhang Yunqi's intention in proposing this method. Under the immense pressure of his own predicament, he questioned everyone's gaze, "The fire is burning in the northwest direction. If you put a new fire in the southeast direction, won't the two fires blow in the same direction? Won't it just get bigger and bigger?!"

Zhang Yunqi was completely enraged.

He stood up and slapped Lu Yuanzhou hard across the face: "Why the hell do you always drag your feet at crucial moments? Why don't you come up with a solution? Throw money at the villagers to their deaths? Young Master Lu, remember, the only thing you need to do right now is shut up!"

Lu Yuanzhou's face turned to one side from the slap, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

He froze, a mixture of shock and humiliation surging across his face.

He immediately wanted to retaliate, but the students around him were all staring at him with unfriendly expressions. A series of misjudgments today had already caused him to lose everyone's trust and support. In everyone's eyes, Zhang Yunqi's slap seemed to be well-deserved, brilliant, and perfectly executed.

Wang Shoudao completely ignored the conflict between Zhang Yunqi and Lu Yuanzhou. He remained squatting on the ground, looking at the drawing Zhang Yunqi had made. After a while, he asked, "Are you trying to fight fire with fire?"

Zhang Yun nodded: "Yes."

His method of extinguishing fires is called the reverse fire extinguishing method.

As early as the 1970s, this firefighting method was already a standard forest firefighting tactic in countries such as the United States, Canada, and Australia. Later, as the technology matured and its application became more widespread, it became one of the standard advanced forest firefighting tactics worldwide in the new century. It is frequently used in dealing with massive wildfires, but most of the public has never even heard of it.

In 1996 China, professional forest fire brigades and forestry departments theoretically knew this scientific method and it should have been included in internal training materials or mastered by senior experts. At the grassroots level, ordinary people like Lu Yuanzhou and Li Xiaoman, who had never experienced a large-scale wildfire and lacked professional knowledge, were certainly completely unaware. Experienced mountain dwellers like Wang Shoudao might know the folk method of "setting fires to stop fires," but they wouldn't understand the underlying principles, as this involves a great deal of scientific knowledge related to airflow and geography.

Zhang Yunqi had watched a documentary about the Peshtigo wildfire in Wisconsin, USA, in his previous life. That wildfire killed 1500 people and was the deadliest wildfire in human history! He was indeed shocked at the time and had a deep understanding of the systematic reverse ignition method explained in the documentary.

Wang Shoudao asked, "Have you studied professional firefighting techniques? How confident are you?"

Zhang Yunqi spoke frankly: "I have never actually used this firefighting method before; it's all theoretical. So the risk is very high. If it's not controlled properly, it will indeed start a new fire and intensify the blaze. In general, this method requires precise location, accurate timing, and a good grasp of the wind direction. However, Village Chief Wang and the villagers of Heimi Village are all experienced in this area, so it mainly depends on you. I will offer some suggestions, and with everyone working together, there should still be a chance."

These words sounded reassuring, and Wang Shoudao nodded.

He knew that manpower alone was no longer enough to extinguish the fire. By the time the county fire brigade arrived, the fire would have spread to the fir forest, and then the county fire brigade wouldn't be able to put it out! So now he could only try anything, even if the boy's idea didn't work, as long as he could set up an evacuation route, it would only make the wildfire bigger.

Thinking of this, Wang Shoudao did not hesitate any longer. He took a loudspeaker and called over all the villagers who were fighting the fire, and reorganized a new round of firefighting.

The reverse fire extinguishing method was proposed by Zhang Yunqi.

No one knew how to operate it, so he had to go along to help the firefighting team find a suitable ignition point, calculate the distance and wind direction, and so on.

Before setting off, Zhang Yunqi took the megaphone from Wang Shoudao and shouted to the throng of people, "Fellow villagers, just now, our CEO Lu Yuanzhou made a promise that as long as everyone works together to put out this fire, he will give out 100,000 yuan as a reward for your hard work!"

Zhang Yunqi said, "Of course, I know that this amount of money is really not enough compared to the homes that have been destroyed by the fire. But I believe that as long as everyone works together to put out the fire, with Mr. Lu's financial resources and his compassion, it would be no problem for him to give another 100,000, 200,000, 500,000, or even 1 million!"

At this point, Zhang Yunqi turned to look at Lu Yuanzhou and said loudly, "If you don't believe me, you can ask our CEO Lu right here and now whether he's willing to take one million?"

Lu Yuanzhou was standing on the periphery of the crowd.

He was so angry when he suddenly heard Zhang Yunqi writing a check in his name that he almost broke his teeth!

This bastard stole the spotlight all day; he was beaten the whole way he walked.

However, Young Master Lu still cared about his image. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, especially with Li Yufei present, if he showed even the slightest hesitation or change of heart, the meager semblance of dignity he had painstakingly maintained would completely crumble, turning him into a laughingstock. Although, in the eyes of others, the dignity he had imagined was now practically nonexistent.

Under the gaze of hundreds of eyes, he nodded stiffly.

The scene immediately erupted in cheers!
On the blazing mountain ridge, clouds swirled and tumbled, and endless ashes fell in the dark red rain. But among the resounding sounds that echoed through the valley, there seemed to be a glimmer of hope for life.

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