As the young men carried the half-dead Qin Rongrong to the kitchen, Qin’s wife was berating someone loudly in the kitchen.

“Damn it,

You bastard Wang Dashuan!

Heartless creature!

You owe me a chicken.

Ah, my poor ancestors’ chicken, just gone!

Gone!

I can’t live like this!”

Outside, the gatekeeper Wang Dashuan, overwhelmed by frustration, listened as the young men asked what was happening.

Wang Dashuan opened up immediately, chattering away.

It turned out, earlier Wang Dashuan led some men to the Qin family to see why they hadn’t gathered at the drying yard as planned and they rushed to the Qin household only to find a maddening scene.

In the courtyard, Qin’s wife had lit a large fire, roasting a fat chicken on a stick over it, while the Qin family’s five idiots sat around happily munching on the chicken.

Wang Dashuan was fuming. The people in the village were all ready, just waiting for the Qin family to join them.

But instead of preparing, the Qin family was roasting chicken at home!

Wang Dashuan immediately scolded the Qin family. This time, Mrs. Qin didn’t throw her usual tantrum, knowing that the flood was imminent, a matter of life and death, she muttered a few words and started to follow Wang Dashuan and the others.

However, Qin Dahai, being foolish, managed to let the chicken they had tied up escape. The Qin family’s chicken, regaining its freedom, flapped its wings and flew away.

Mrs. Qin was beside herself with anxiety and wanted to chase after the chicken.

How could that be acceptable? Was the chicken more important or their lives?

Wang Dashuan, infuriated, ordered his men to carry Mrs. Qin and her family back to the drying yard.

Without her ancestral chicken, Mrs. Qin was like she’d lost her life, rolling on the ground and making a scene at the drying yard. Qin Dahai and Li Erhua, both fools, joined in her commotion.

Song Jiandang was furious. Without wasting words, he had Mrs. Qin tied up and thrown onto a cart, taken up to the mountaintop and locked in the kitchen.

Once in the kitchen, Mrs. Qin did not settle down. She complained about the kitchen leaking and accused them of mistreating an elderly person. She kept babbling about her ancestral chicken, nearly driving Wang Dashuan to violence.

Now, the lonely and bored Wang Dashuan, seeing a few young men, poured out his heart to them, feeling relieved and began to chat cheerfully.

“Hey, who’s this unfortunate soul looking half-dead?”

Daliuzi chuckled.

“Qin’s Qin Rongrong.

She was gagged with a foot towel by me.”

Wang Dashuan: …….

~

Mrs. Qin continued to rant inside the house but suddenly heard noises outside and the door opened.

Mrs. Qin was thrilled, thinking the villagers were coming to release her. She eagerly started to run forward but stopped when she saw a few strong young men carrying in a person whimpering.

Mrs. Qin was startled and quickly stepped aside, waiting for them to leave.

Peering through the darkness, she asked.

“Hey!

Are you still alive?”

Qin Rongrong recognized her grandmother’s voice and whimpered louder.

Mrs. Qin, puzzled, moved closer to hear what the person was saying but recoiled the next second, holding her nose.

“Yuck!

How long have you not bathed?

You reek of stinky feet, trying to suffocate me?

No way!”

The repeatedly misunderstood Qin Rongrong was in tears.

…….

Outside, the torrential rain continued, thunder rolling loudly. After dealing with the troublemaker Qin Rongrong, everyone was exhausted. They hastily washed up and crawled into their makeshift beds, quickly falling asleep.

Although it was summer, the heavy rain and cold wind caused temperatures to plummet on the mountaintop and everyone, wearing only thin clothes, shivered uncontrollably.

Unable to sleep from the cold, they did what they could, they were here to escape disaster, not to enjoy luxury.

How so? Just because it’s cold, should they stop living?

The village elders’ stern words silenced those who were feeling sorry for themselves.

With no other option, they brought out their own blankets, huddled together for warmth and eventually fell asleep.

Fortunately, the Song family always used thick cotton for their quilts. The young girl, covered in a thick pink blanket and resting her head on a small pillow, slept soundly.

Chen Juhua lovingly tucked the blanket around her granddaughter, then, rubbing her own aching legs, also lay down to sleep.

They slept through the night until the fire in the house crackled down to ashes. Suddenly, a loud boom awoke everyone.

“What’s that?

What’s that noise?”

The villagers, still groggy, ran outside in their clothes. The young girl followed her family out to see and by then it was slightly light outside. They saw clearly that the entire mountainside was flooded and the village of Dahe Mountain, where they lived, was submerged.

The loud boom was the sound of a floodwater rushing down, breaking the mid-mountain dam. The villagers, watching their lifelong homes submerged, had their eyes turn red.

Some of the older villagers started crying outright.

“Gone. All gone.

Our lifelong homes, my Daxie Mountain, all gone.

Oh heavens, why didn’t you take my old life instead?

Our homes are gone, our lands are gone, how are our children and grandchildren supposed to live?!”

The old man’s plaintive cries were too much for the villagers, who began crying out loud.

Song Jiandang, seeing the villagers with swollen eyes, grabbed a megaphone, his face resolute,

“What are you doing!

Can crying solve anything?

As long as we are alive, there’s nothing to fear.

Chairman Mao once said, ‘To struggle against nature is endlessly joyful!’

We are now heeding Chairman Mao’s call, declaring war on this ruthless natural disaster!

Comrades!

We have survived. We have our hands and feet; together, we will overcome this hardship!”

Song Jiandang’s speech, while not particularly inspiring, at least stopped most of the villagers from crying.

Yes, the captain was right.

They had all survived.

As long as they were alive, what was there to fear?

Thinking this, the villagers started to thank Song Jiandang.

It was all thanks to the captain. If he hadn’t organized their evacuation early, would they have survived?

Probably not.

The villagers all gave Song Jiandang a thumbs up, but he shook his head modestly. This wasn’t his credit, it was Xiang Dong who had alerted him overnight; it was all Xiang Dong’s doing!

Song Jiandang watched from a distance as Song Xiangdong hesitated to speak. Xiangdong then smiled, waved at his good friend and turned his attention to his yawning daughter, feeling a sudden wave of heartache. He then coaxed his daughter back to the house to sleep.

Song Jiandang, observing his friend, the doting father, was momentarily speechless.

That Xiangdong, that stinker, he thought, if someday his precious daughter is swept away by some rascal outside, he’d see how Xiangdong would cry.

But right now, Song Jiandang had no time for these thoughts. He was busy organizing the villagers to take care of the pigs raised by the production team and to look after the team’s cattle and donkeys.

This relocation had been greatly aided by these animals.

They needed to be well fed, along with safeguarding the village’s grain supplies, which were vital. He had to make sure the grain was kept dry, not exposed to the cold and secure from theft.

With these concerns in mind, Song Jiandang hurried to assign tasks.

While everyone in the village was busy, the cherished young girl comfortably slept through the whole ordeal. By the time she woke up refreshed, the villagers were already preparing lunch. The rain had stopped by then, but the sky was still overcast.

However, regardless of the weather, people needed to eat.

Only a full stomach can sustain life and sustaining life meant a chance for a future.

In a space behind the temple, each family marked a circle on the ground where they would live and cook. The Song family, following suit, drew their circle, moved dry firewood from their cart, brought out a large pot and started a fire to cook.

When the young girl went to find her family, Chen Juhua was stirring a pot of steaming millet porridge, which smelled so good that it caught the attention of the surrounding villagers.

Old Ji, known for his sly demeanor, couldn’t help but peek into the Song’s pot.

“Old sister-in-law, your family must be well-off to have millet porridge in these hard times.

Truly the mark of a wealthy family.”

His sarcastic remark made a few nearby villagers envious.

Chen Juhua knew she shouldn’t flaunt her family’s food stock during these hard times and sighed, wiping away a tear.

“Ah, Brother Ji, to tell you the truth, this is all the millet we have left.

This little bit of millet, I’ve been hiding it like a treasure. But there’s no choice, my four children have been starving.

It’s been days since they’ve had a full meal. We may be poor, but we can’t let the children starve.

So, I decided to make porridge with this little bit of millet, at least to fill up the children’s stomachs for once.

Brother Ji, what did your family have for breakfast?

Oh!

You had cornmeal pancakes? That’s really lucky.

My husband and I can only afford to eat these choking coarse flour steamed buns.”

With tears in her eyes, Chen Juhua pulled out two frozen hard coarse flour buns from her bag, keeping one for herself and giving the other to Old Song. The elderly couple sadly nibbled on their buns.

Meanwhile, Old Song, envying the cornmeal bun in Ji’s hand, looked as if he was longing for it.

Frightened, Old Ji turned pale and hurried away with his cornmeal bun.

He ran quite fast for an elderly man.

The villagers, seeing Old Ji’s behavior, despised him more than ever, each voicing their criticism.

“Old Ji can never stand to see anyone else have a good day!

Ugh, what a character!”

“Don’t feel down, Sister Ju. We’re also eating coarse flour buns.

What does it matter, as long as we’re full? Better days are ahead!”

“Exactly, Sister Ju, we sisters will get through these times together.”

The villagers comforted Chen Juhua, who nodded and wiped her tears, provoking more comforting words from those around.

What an act by the grandparents!

The young girl watched, dumbfounded.

When breakfast was ready, the Song family sat at the edge of their cart, each holding a large bowl of porridge. Chen Juhua, making sure no one was around, pulled out several white flour pancakes from her bag, distributing one to each person and whispered,

“Eat quickly and then get back to work!”

The Song family, following orders, quickly finished the pancakes. As the young girl was walking around to aid digestion, her grandmother called her over and secretly handed her three more white flour pancakes, tasking her with the honorable duty of delivering breakfast to Grandfather Ye and Ye Chenchuan.

Casually accepting the task, the young girl tucked the pancakes away and headed towards Ye’s backyard.

When the young girl arrived, Grandfather Ye was already awake and the young man (Ye ChenChuan) was tending the fire. Hearing footsteps, he looked up at the girl, his dark eyes filled with smiles.

“Jiaojiao is here.”

The young girl blinked.

“Excuse me, what did you call me?”