Chapter 94 : Earthquake

Xiao Hechuan had also woken up. Jiang Sui told everyone to grab their quilts and run out first, while she herself gathered the gold ingots hidden under her pillow and some loose coins she kept on her.

After hearing Jiang Sui’s urgent shouts, no one dared to delay. Everyone rushed out clutching the quilts they had been sleeping on.

Luckily, there were two carts. The bedding and clothes they didn’t immediately need had already been tied onto one of the carts. Inside the land temple, only thin bedding had been laid out, so it was easy to evacuate quickly.

The land temple wasn’t large , just a couple of steps and you were outside. In that moment, everyone forgot everything except their most essential belongings.

Almost as soon as they got out, the tremors intensified. The earth began to shake violently. With a thunderous boom, small cracks started to open in the ground, making it hard to stay on their feet.

Xiao Lanlan lost her balance and fell, clutching a small box tightly in her arms.

One by one, the others began to fall too, thrown off by the trembling earth. The men managed to stay standing, but the women kept falling again every time they tried to get up. The collapsing land temple kicked up a thick cloud of dust.

A crack split open beneath Jiang Sui’s feet and she nearly fell again. Xiao Hechuan, who was right beside her, saw this and quickly grabbed her, using his own body to cushion her fall.

Jiang Sui landed on top of him. Amid the chaos, there was only a muffled groan of pain from him and then, silence.

She had no choice but to hold on to him tightly. The crack beneath them wasn’t deep, fortunately, but it was enough to rattle them.

Zhou screamed in terror, while Xiao Mian held her tightly. Xiao Lanlan clung to Mother Xiao. They all fell to the ground and held on to each other, not daring to move, just hoping the disaster would pass quickly.

The earth-shaking didn’t last long, but loud crashing sounds could be heard some far away, some terrifyingly close. It was the sound of buildings collapsing one after another.

In less than a quarter of an hour, Baima Town and all of Huaxi County had been reduced to ruins.

When the shaking finally stopped, the eldest son, Xiao Qin, holding his son, helped Father Xiao to his feet. Little Goudan couldn’t stop crying, he had fallen into a ground crack and was badly frightened.

How could a child so young comprehend such devastation?

To witness homes vanish just like that…

Once they were sure the shaking had stopped, everyone helped one another up and checked for injuries.

Jiang Sui also got up from Xiao Hechuan and quickly checked on him first.

In order to shield her, Xiao Hechuan had used himself as a human cushion. Unfortunately, when he hit the ground, the back of his head struck a rock. The impact had been severe, and he had passed out.

“Hechuan! Wake up!”

Jiang Sui kept calling him, but there was no response. She started to panic.

Hearing her cries, the rest of the Xiao family rushed over and helped lift him from the ground. Jiang Sui cradled his head and felt something warm on her hand. When she pulled her hand away and smelled it, the strong scent of blood hit her that’s when she realized he was hurt.

“There’s blood! Hechuan hit his head!”

When Mother Xiao heard this, her vision went white for a moment, and she nearly lost her balance. The child’s head had already been injured in the past, and there was only a slim chance of full recovery. Now he had been hit again, would he really never recover this time?

“Oh my God, it’s like Heaven doesn’t want us to live!”

They had just survived a disaster, and now Hechuan was injured again. Everyone was a bit shell-shocked, but Jiang Sui was the first to pull herself together:

“Hurry, check our supplies. We’ve lost our home, those supplies are now the key to our survival. We can’t afford any mistakes. I remember when Master Su was recovering at our house, he left some gauze and anti-inflammatory and hemostatic medicine. Go find them to treat Hechuan’s wound. Also, light a fire for visibility.”

She gave out instructions quickly, and everyone followed her lead searching through their supplies and getting a fire going.

Fortunately, the two carts of supplies were still mostly intact. However, during the earthquake, one of the cart wheels had gotten stuck in a ground crack and some of the goods had spilled.

The ox and the poultry had survived, and now that the shaking had stopped, they were gradually calming down.

Xiao Lanlan searched through the bags and finally found some gauze and a small bottle of powdered medicine for pain relief and to stop bleeding. There was about half a bottle left.

They spread a blanket out on the grass and gently laid Xiao Hechuan down on it. He was still unconscious.

Jiang Sui calmly treated the wound first stopping the bleeding, then applying the anti-inflammatory powder, and finally wrapping it in gauze.

“Suisui, when will he wake up?” Mother Xiao asked anxiously.

Jiang Sui shook her head. She didn’t know. She wasn’t a doctor.

“Maybe soon. Maybe by tomorrow morning.”

She couldn’t give a definite answer. What really worried her was whether this incident might derail Xiao Hechuan’s recovery. His brain had just been on the verge of healing, what if this setback caused permanent damage?

Wouldn’t that make her the one to blame?

Mother Xiao clutched her chest, filled with unease. She didn’t understand why this year had been so full of misfortune. She also had no idea what the situation was like in the village now.

The land temple was no longer habitable, but thankfully, the oilcloth they had used for market stalls was large. They cut two pieces to cover the supplies, and with what was left, they were able to pitch a simple tent on the spot.

Right after the earthquake, strong winds began to blow, and everyone was covered in dust, looking utterly miserable.

The village itself had been completely reduced to ruins. The disaster struck late at night when many people were fast asleep and didn’t have time to react. Some managed to escape, but because they lived in tightly packed homes, many were still injured. Others who didn’t get out were buried in the rubble, mostly the elderly and children, who couldn’t move quickly.

Inside the village, cries of despair filled the air as survivors dug through the debris, desperately calling out for their buried loved ones parents, children…

Even the old village chief’s family wasn’t spared.

The old chief had lived a life of good deeds, and perhaps that brought him some luck. Just before the house collapsed, his grandson managed to carry him out. But his own son, the current village chief had stayed behind to shield him and ended up buried in the rubble.

He was the one who had helped the Xiao family move.

When the old chief heard that his son had been crushed, he fainted from grief. He was old and couldn’t handle such a devastating blow. During the quake, he had also been injured bumping into things and possibly spraining his waist.

Among the suffering, many people cursed the heavens for being unfair how could such a disaster happen? First came a severe drought with no harvest, and now an earthquake that destroyed even their homes. How were they supposed to survive?

At that moment, the Xiao family might have been the only ones with all members accounted for everyone was alive, though Xiao Hechuan was injured.

And it was all thanks to Jiang Sui. If she hadn’t insisted on moving out of the village the night before, who knew what fate might have befallen them down at the foot of the mountain?