Siheyuan: Starting from a Truck Driver

While wiping the rain off his hair, he explained: "Comrade driver, I'm afraid you will have to wait a little longer. Only half of the food has been distributed because of the heavy rain. I have asked the mountain people to deliver food to the families in need first, and the rest will have to wait until the rain stops."

Point Guard Here

"This is the only way." Li Xiaodong looked at the cloudy sky and nodded in agreement.

It was not until this moment that Cui Shanhe noticed Cui Dake's presence, and he immediately frowned. He had never liked Cui Dake, who was not only slick but also dishonest.

"Dake, go help your uncle distribute food!" Cui Shanhe ordered. Unexpectedly, Cui Dake did not hesitate at all.

He dug out a piece of rag from a pile of debris, put it on his head and rushed out.

The rain did not stop until late at night.

Faced with this situation, Li Xiaodong and Niu Meng could only accept the reality and wait in the commune.

Fortunately, there was a vacant house here, and Cui Shanhe asked two aunts to deliver two quilts in the rain.

Perhaps out of fear, Niu Meng didn't dare to sleep alone and insisted on squeezing into Li Xiaodong's room.

Considering her safety, Li Xiaodong agreed to her request.

The master slept on the bed and the apprentice slept on the floor, and they both fell asleep to the sound of rain.

After an unknown amount of time, Li Xiaodong seemed to wake up. He heard a rapid ring and woke up from a half-asleep state.

The heavy rain outside was still pouring down, and the sound of the rain was mixed with heavy footsteps and noisy chatter.

Li Xiaodong took out a flashlight from his arms and woke Niu Meng up: "Wake up, something might have happened!"

Niu Meng rubbed his eyes and yawned: "What could happen in the middle of the night?"

"Anyway, it's not a good thing. Let's go and take a look at the situation."

The two of them hurried to the commune's auditorium, where many members had already gathered.

There were still people running out of the rain, even though they were wearing tattered straw raincoats and their cotton jackets were already soaked and dripping with water.

The members' faces were pale, their expressions were tense, and their eyes were full of helplessness.

The commune director Cui Shanhe paced back and forth among the crowd with his hands behind his back.

At this moment, a figure staggered in, his whole body was wet, and his cotton jacket and trouser legs were covered with mud.

"Director, hurry, hurry, the water in Xiaobei River is about to overflow!"

"Really, is it true?" Cui Shanhe's voice trembled.

"I saw it with my own eyes. It rained heavily two days ago and the river water rose. It rained so heavily again this time." The member wiped the sweat from his forehead with his wet sleeves, his expression horrified. "Last time the Xiaobei River flooded, many people in our commune were drowned..."

Cui Shanhe interrupted him: "Let's go to the riverbank and protect the collective property, even if it means sacrificing our lives!"

At this time, it is crucial to stabilize people's hearts.

"We must protect collective property, even at the cost of our lives!" The members raised their hoes, shovels and baskets and shouted in unison.

People of that era all had firm beliefs.

They are willing to sacrifice their personal interests and even their lives for the collective.

Although Li Xiaodong came from later generations, he was also moved by this spirit.

After all, he participated in the 1998 flood relief efforts during his childhood and learned many scientific rescue methods from the soldiers.

At this moment, he decided to step forward.

"Director Cui, I'll go with you!"

"This...Comrade driver, going up the riverbank is indeed risky."

"You guys aren't afraid, so how could I be afraid?"

"Good! What a tough guy!"

Cui Shanhe raised his shovel high and shouted, "Even the comrades in the city are not afraid of danger, and we in Nanshi Commune cannot be cowards. Comrades, rush to the riverbank and protect our collective property!"

"Rush to the riverbank to protect collective property!"

Amid passionate shouts, Li Xiaodong and Cui Shanhe led the villagers, braving the pouring rain, and arduously crossed the muddy road, heading straight for the riverbank behind the village.

Xiaobei River has flooded many times in history. Before liberation, every few years, the surrounding area was shrouded in a desolate scene of nine out of ten houses being empty. After the founding of New China, the state invested heavily in water conservancy construction, mobilized treasury funds and materials, and organized manpower by the commune. After years of hard work, a solid river embankment was built. The river embankment is made of cement, more than two meters above the ground. The widest part is enough to accommodate the passage of the liberation car, and the narrowest part is also wide enough for human tricycles to pass.

In the past, the commune regularly sent people to maintain the riverbank, but due to economic difficulties in recent years, maintenance work was interrupted. Recently, there have been continuous rainfalls, and people only lamented that the rain was heavier than usual, and did not realize that the water level had quietly exceeded the warning line. When Cui Shanhe, Li Xiaodong and many villagers arrived at the scene, the scene in front of them made them feel nervous.

This is not a rising river, but a river bank in danger of collapse. Once the dam is lost, the villages and farmland behind will suffer a devastating blow. Cui Shanhe, who has always been calm, was also panicking at this moment. Li Xiaodong was also in a heavy mood. He did not expect to encounter such a crisis while delivering grain.

The riverbank is not far from the commune. If the river bursts, the trucks and the food he parked there will face disaster. No, the trucks are secondary. More important is the houses and property that the villagers have worked hard to build. At this time, most rural houses are built with mud bricks, and the roofs are covered with wood and tiles, which are difficult to withstand floods. Once the house collapses, especially for the elderly with limited mobility, the consequences will be disastrous.

Li Xiaodong, who knew the seriousness of the situation, did not hesitate any longer. He grabbed Cui Shanhe and shouted, "Director Cui, we are far from enough. Go and ring the gong to call everyone to help! Also, give me a bicycle and a flashlight. I need to check the riverbank myself." Li Xiaodong's eagerness awakened Cui Shanhe, who quickly handed the flashlight to Li Xiaodong and said, "Please ride my bicycle, Comrade Xiaodong."

Cui Shanhe has been through the battlefield and is fearless in the face of gunfire and bullets. But now, if the river bank collapses, his home will be destroyed. As the director of the commune, he cannot face the expectations of the villagers. At this moment, he can only choose to trust Li Xiaodong and deal with this crisis together.

After all, in his opinion, Li Xiaodong, as a city man and a truck driver who travels all over the world, naturally has much more experience than him.

Li Xiaodong said nothing more. He took the bicycle handed over by the villagers and immediately sat on it. Just as he was about to pedal, he suddenly remembered Niu Meng, so he turned around and shouted, "Apprentice, follow Director Cui and see where you can help."

It was Niu Meng's first time experiencing such a scene, so she couldn't help feeling a little nervous.

However, after being yelled at by Li Xiaodong, she immediately straightened her back and responded: "I understand, Master, you can go ahead."

Li Xiaodong: “…”

Sometimes what this stupid apprentice says is really laughable.

But he didn't have time to teach her a lesson. He pedaled hard and sped away.

After watching Li Xiaodong leave, Cui Shanhe turned around and saw Cui Shanmin still standing by the river. He kicked him in anger and said, "Why are you standing there? Go gather some help! The dam is going to collapse and the village will be in danger!"

Cui Shanmin then hurriedly picked up his weapon, stumbled away from the river bank, and ran back to the village to report the news.

Soon, the sound of gongs and shouts were heard in the village.

Dangdangdang——

The sound of gongs echoed over the village.

At this time, the villagers were preparing to go to bed.

Hearing the sound of the gong, they casually put on their cotton coats and ran out.

The last time the gong was struck late at night was because of a wolf attack.

But now the rain is falling continuously and the wild animals are hiding in their caves and cannot come out to look for food.

Cui Qingming, the oldest person in the village, is over 60 years old, but he is in good health and agile, and is in no way inferior to young people.

After going out, he looked around and soon found Cui Shanmin who was beating the gong.

He quickly stepped forward and grabbed Cui Shanmin, and other villagers also quickly gathered around.

"Sixth child, why are you beating the gong in the middle of the night? This is not a joke!"

Cui Shanmin ran all the way and beat the gong for a long time, and was already exhausted.

Hearing Cui Qingming's question, he answered breathlessly and intermittently: "Eighth Uncle, there was an accident on the river bank. My second brother asked me to come back and inform everyone."

When Cui Qingming heard this, his face instantly turned gloomy.

The younger generation has not experienced floods, but he saw the power of floods with his own eyes when he was a child.

Once the dam collapses, not only Cuijiazhuang, but also several surrounding villages will suffer.

He immediately shouted to the surrounding villagers: "Did everyone hear what the mountain people said?"

Hurry home to get tools, including hoe, sack, and hemp rope.

Don't be lazy. Once the dam breaks, the house we worked so hard to build and the belongings inside will be destroyed!"

Upon hearing this, the villagers immediately took action.

It’s not like no one has thought about going home first to rescue valuables.

But then I thought, who can beat the speed of the flood? It will be hard to escape it, so I might as well think about how to help.

In the crowd, Cui Dake saw this scene and his eyes turned cunningly.

While everyone was busy with flood relief, this person was secretly calculating his own interests.

Watching everyone going home to get their tools, Cui Dake quietly slipped towards the commune.

There are so many grains piled up that even if some is stolen, it probably won’t be noticed.

What's more, the fuel burned by cars is a rare and good resource!

******

In the dark of night, Li Xiaodong rode his bicycle and carefully inspected the condition of the river embankment along the way.

Fortunately, the river embankment showed no signs of collapse along the way, indicating that it can still hold for a while as long as flood prevention measures are strengthened.

Just as Li Xiaodong was about to return, he suddenly heard a slight "plop" sound in his ears.

The sound was so faint that it was almost imperceptible to ordinary people on a rainy night.

However, Li Xiaodong is unusual.

During this period, he consciously exercised, and thanks to the ten thousand times increase in experience, his physical fitness increased dramatically.

Although our hearing ability today may not be as good as that of the masters in movies and TV shows who can identify the numbers on the dice, it is already far superior to that of ordinary people.

Li Xiaodong immediately jumped out of the car and bent over to check.

When I looked up, I heard the same sound again.

This time he saw clearly that a piece of wet cement under his feet was breaking into pieces and falling into the river.

After one piece, comes the second, then the third...

The collapse of riverbanks is increasing.

Li Xiaodong's heart sank. Oh no, the river embankment might really collapse!