Siheyuan: Starting from a Truck Driver

From the historical records of Xiaobei River, we can know that it has flooded many times. Before liberation, the surrounding areas would be ravaged by floods every few years, and the fields were barren and nine out of ten houses were empty. The scene was shocking. After the founding of New China, the state invested heavily in water conservancy construction. The government provided funds and materials, and the commune also mobilized manpower. After several years of hard work, a solid river embankment was finally built.

The river bank is built with solid cement, more than two meters above the ground, and wide enough for Jiefang vehicles to pass smoothly at its widest point, and even human-powered tricycles can pass smoothly at its narrowest point. In the past, the commune needed to send people to maintain the river bank regularly, but as the economic pressure on the commune increased, the maintenance of the river bank became intermittent.

With the recent continuous rainfall, people only paid attention to the increase in rainfall and did not realize that the water level had exceeded the high tide line. Cui Shanhe led Li Weidong and many members to the scene, and the scene in front of him made him feel depressed. It was obviously not that the river water was about to rise, but that the river bank was on the verge of collapse. Once the river bank broke, the village and farmland behind him would suffer heavy losses.

Cui Shanhe, who was always calm, also felt panic at this moment. Li Weidong was also in a heavy mood. He did not expect that the task of transporting grain would encounter such a crisis. The distance from the river bank to the commune was not far. Once the flood broke the bank, his truck parked in the commune and the grain on the truck would face disaster. The truck may not be a big deal, but the farmers' houses and property are more important. In this era, rural houses are mostly built of mud and bricks. Wooden roofs and green tiles cannot withstand floods.

Li Weidong knew the situation was serious, and he shouted to Cui Shanhe without hesitation: "Director, we are short of manpower. Go find the gong and gather everyone! Also, help me find a bicycle and a flashlight. I need to check the riverbank." Cui Shanhe handed the flashlight to Li Weidong, ordered him to ride his bicycle, and said: "Comrade Weidong, please."

Although Cui Shanhe had experienced life and death before, he felt more nervous than ever before when faced with the reality that his home might be destroyed. He trusted Li Weidong because, as a city dweller with driving experience, Li Weidong had better judgment and insight. Li Weidong took the bicycle, got on it, and was about to set off when he suddenly remembered Niu Meng and turned around to shout, "Apprentice, follow Director Cui and see what you can do."

It was the first time that Niu Meng experienced such a scene and she was a little scared, but with the encouragement of Li Weidong, she straightened her back and replied, "I understand, Master. You can go with peace of mind." Li Weidong had no time to blame her. He pedaled hard and the bicycle sped away.

After Cui Shanhe watched Li Weidong leave, he turned around and saw Cui Shanmin still standing there in a daze. He kicked him angrily and said sternly: "Why are you in a daze? Go and inform everyone! The river bank is going to collapse, and some villagers will die!" Cui Shanmin hurriedly ran away and rushed to the village to deliver the warning.

Soon, the sound of gongs and shouts of people rang out in the village. "Dangdangdang", the sound of gongs echoed in the air. The villagers were just about to go to sleep, but when they heard the gongs, they immediately put on their clothes and rushed out. The last time the gongs were struck late at night was when wolves invaded, but now it was a rainy night and the wild animals would not come out to look for food.

Cui Qingming, the oldest in the village, was over 60 years old but still in good health. He walked out of the house, looked around, found Cui Shanmin who was beating the gong, and quickly walked up to him to ask. The 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 panted and explained, "Eighth uncle, something happened on the river bank, and my second brother asked me to come back to inform everyone."

Cui Qingming's face changed drastically when he heard this. He knew the destructive power of floods. Once the river bank collapsed, not only Cuijia Village but also the surrounding villages would be affected. He immediately called out to everyone: "Did you all hear that? Go home and get tools, hoes, sacks, hemp ropes, anything. Don't be lazy. Once the river bank breaks, our homes and property will be gone!"

The villagers heard this and took action. Although some people considered rescuing valuables first, they knew that the flood was coming too fast, so they chose to stay and help. In the crowd, Cui Dake watched all this with a cunning look in his eyes. He was making his own wishful calculations and planned to take advantage of the chaos.

Li Weidong rode his bicycle in the dark night to carefully inspect the riverbank. Fortunately, the riverbank along the way was stable and there was no need to worry for the time being. However, when he heard a slight sound of water, his sensitive hearing made him aware of the problem. It was a sound that was almost imperceptible in the heavy rain, but Li Weidong's hearing was far superior to that of ordinary people due to the physical training he had received during this period. He immediately got off the bike, leaned over to check, and found that the wet cement was cracking, and the danger of the riverbank was gradually increasing.

OK, damn, the riverbank is really going to collapse! He quickly got on his bicycle and pedaled hard, as if he was riding a Ferrari. When he found Cui Shanhe, many members had gathered on the riverbank and were checking the dike.

Seeing Li Weidong coming back, Cui Shanhe immediately went forward to greet him. "Comrade Weidong, what's the situation?" he asked anxiously.

Li Weidong's face was solemn. "The situation is not optimistic. The riverbank on the north side has shown signs of soil sliding. We must take action immediately. Cui Shanhe, you must immediately organize people to fill sacks with sand and gravel. If there are wheelbarrows, use them to transport them. If there are none, you must carry them over."

Cui Shanhe seemed to have forgotten that he was the person in charge. After hearing what Li Weidong said, he immediately assigned tasks and everyone worked together to deal with it. At the same time, Li Weidong found Le Niu Meng and told her: "Apprentice, the rain is getting heavier and heavier. You have seen the situation by the river. Go back to the commune and drive the truck in. In this way, even if it floods, the car will not be soaked."

Niu Meng nodded, then asked, "What about you?" Li Weidong rubbed her head and said, "I will stay here to help, go quickly!" Niu Meng said worriedly, "Then you must be careful!" Li Weidong waved his hand and told her to go quickly, and Niu Meng left reluctantly.

Seeing Li Weidong busy helping Cui Shanhe, Niu Meng temporarily put her mind at ease and quickened her pace towards the commune. Although she had not been with Li Weidong for a long time, her driving skills were still good. She was still a little excited about driving alone for the first time.

The truck was parked at the door of the warehouse, and the grain had been unloaded to avoid long-term storage. Even the tarpaulin could not completely prevent it from getting wet by the rain. Niu Meng recalled Li Weidong's teachings and whispered to himself: "The master once said that before driving, you should walk around the car and check the tires to see if there are any signs of oil leaks."

I wanted to check the engine oil, but the car had not been parked for long, so the check might not be accurate. Niu Meng opened the door, took out the rocker, knocked on the front wheel first, and walked to the rear of the car after confirming that there was no problem with the rear wheel. She squatted down and got under the car.

As soon as he climbed in, he met a pair of oily green eyes and a bright forehead that reflected Niu Meng's face even in the dark. Cui Dake never expected that he would be discovered even if he was hiding under the car. The person who came was the apprentice of truck driver Li Weidong. He looked inexperienced and easy to be deceived.

Cui Dake grinned and wanted to speak, but Niu Meng looked weak, but in fact she was extremely strong and had a bad temper. She would attack at the slightest dissatisfaction. She was not afraid of Chu San from the grain station, so would she be afraid of Cui Dake? Without hesitation, Niu Meng swung the joystick and hit Cui Dake's head hard.

Everyone was fighting the flood on the dike, but he was hiding under the car. He must be a thief. With a bang, the joystick hit Cui Dake's head accurately. He felt severe pain and fainted instantly. When he fainted, his strength also disappeared. He fell from under the car and hit the ground heavily. The pain made him sober.

Cui Dake covered his bleeding forehead and pointed at Niu Meng angrily, wanting to curse. However, Niu Meng tightly grasped the joystick and stared at him, as if looking for an opportunity to attack. Cui Dake was so scared that he closed his eyes and pretended to be dead. Although the pain was unbearable, he could only grit his teeth and endure it where Niu Meng could not see.

Niu Meng looked at Cui Dake with regret, thought for a moment, and crawled out from under the car. Cui Dake breathed a sigh of relief and was about to sneak away, but found that his ankle was tightly grasped. Before he could understand what was going on, a strong force came and Niu Meng dragged him out from under the car.

Facts have proved that those who are fine after being dragged for a long time are just liars. Cui Dake landed face first, and the only part of his body that was protruding was his waist. The feeling of being dragged made him feel the pain of brakes. Halfway through being dragged, he screamed: "Stop dragging, I will get out by myself." In a short period of time, he felt that he was at least two inches shorter. If this continued, would his lumbar spine still be able to bear it?

When Niu Meng heard Cui Dake begging for mercy, he let go of his legs, put his hands on his waist, stepped on his waist and questioned: "You guy, everyone is rescuing people, but you came here to steal things. I remember your name is Cui Dake, you were still talking to my master in the afternoon, and you dared to attack us tonight, it's amazing!"

"No, no, you misunderstood. I didn't steal anything. I just never saw a truck since I was a child. Curiosity drove me to go down and take a look."

Who is Cui Dake? He is a master at flattery and deceiving his superiors and subordinates. It is easy for him to deceive a little girl. However, he chose the wrong person this time. Although Niu Meng is usually careless, she is very sharp when it comes to trucks. She has already determined that Cui Dake is a thief, so she will not easily believe his words.

She just sneered: "Okay, just keep quibbling, I want to see what tricks you can come up with!" As she said that, Niu Meng searched around.

Cui Dake had a bitter face, and the blood on his forehead had begun to flow into his eyes. If he didn't treat it, he might die from excessive blood loss. So he racked his brains to make up a lie, trying to deceive Niu Meng.

After all, he had hidden the stolen food somewhere else, and although he didn't steal the oil, he still got something. He planned to escape and hide, and he didn't even need to hide, he just needed to bite back, claiming that it was Niu Meng who wanted to tamper with the food, and he got violent when he found out, and he didn't fight back because he saw she was a little girl, and ended up getting hurt.