Chapter 27.1 You’re Going to Seduce Teacher Jiang Now That Xie Hezhang Is Dead?

The sudden downpour lasted for more than two hours.

The heavy rain had just stopped.

The sky had completely darkened.

In just those two hours, the entire courtyard had been flooded. The water was almost overflowing the steps and about to rush into the house.

Shu Qingyao looked at her watch. It was almost seven o’clock. Xie Hezhang should have been off work and coming home by now.

She said to Xie Xiaoqian, “Xiaoqian, stay here and wait for me. I’ll go out and pick up your brother.”

Xie Xiaoqian nodded vigorously, her big eyes filled with anxiety. Shu Qingyao stroked her hair, “If you’re hungry, go to the bedside table in the bedroom and find some snacks. Your brother and I will be back soon.”

Just as she was speaking, a loud “boom—boom—” sound suddenly came from a distance.

The sound was as loud as thunder, but it wasn’t thunder. Shu Qingyao paused, hurriedly opening the window to look out. It was pitch black outside. The cold wind, carrying a misty drizzle and moisture, blew on her face. Shu Qingyao shivered.

The neighbors next door also heard the sound and opened their windows. Whispers of doubt and uncertainty leaked out from the windows.

This rainstorm had already made Shu Qingyao extremely worried about Xie Hezhang. Now, this strange booming sound was the last straw that broke her sanity.

After settling Xie Xiaoqian, she pursed her lips, waded through the water and left the courtyard, rushing towards Captain Jin Zhuang’s house.

Halfway there, Shu Qingyao met Captain Jin Zhuang and a group of militiamen appearing on the path, looking haggard. Each of them had a serious expression and held a shovel in their hands.

Xie Hezhang’s small team was also under Jin Zhuang’s management. Shu Qingyao hurriedly ran over, “Captain!”

Jin Zhuang heard the sound and turned around, “Teacher Shu.”

Shu Qingyao ran up to Jin Zhuang, out of breath, “It’s already dark, where are you going? The rain stopped just now, and there was a loud bang outside. What happened?”

A young militiaman next to him quickly answered, “The mountain on the east side, because of the heavy rain, there was a landslide. It buried several families. We have to go there now to rescue them!”

Shu Qingyao’s heart sank. A bad feeling became even stronger. Her face turned pale as she looked at Jin Zhuang and asked, “Captain, it’s almost eight o’clock now. Xie Hezhang, I don’t know what happened, but he hasn’t come back yet…”

Jin Zhuang looked at her pale face, as if he was reluctant to tell her the cruel truth. He sighed, took a deep drag of his cigarette, and said to Shu Qingyao, “Teacher Shu, go back home first. I’ll have someone notify you if there’s any news.”

Shu Qingyao heard the subtext. Her body swayed, and her eyes widened slightly.

Not far away, several families also ran over and stopped Jin Zhuang. Each of them looked panicked. They were the families of the members of Xie Hezhang’s team. They asked Jin Zhuang why their family members hadn’t come home yet, even though it was so late.

Shu Qingyao stood in the crowd, listening to Jin Zhuang’s explanation.

It turned out that Xie Hezhang’s team had been assigned to cut down trees on the mountain today. The village had decided to clear the land on the eastern mountain, and they would plant cotton there next year.

Clearing the land was a hard and tiring job. The captain was always strict with the few troublemakers in his team who had bad backgrounds, so he directly assigned them to clear the land in the mountains.

But they didn’t expect that on the first day of clearing the land, they encountered heavy rain. The vegetation on that land was sparse, and after being washed away by the heavy rain, it directly formed a mudslide.

It also flooded almost all the houses at the foot of the mountain.

When Jin Zhuang finished explaining, the women of those families were already crying. They cursed the team for being malicious. They bullied people on a daily basis, and now they were forcing them to die.

Jin Zhuang took a drag of his cigarette and didn’t say anything else.

He was in charge of more than a dozen educated youths and ten team leaders. The daily farm work of the Eastern Brigade needed to be arranged and coordinated by him. Then, after he assigned specific tasks to the team leaders, the team leaders would then assign them to the members under their command.

But he naturally couldn’t control what the team leaders assigned their members to do.

It wasn’t his responsibility.

Shu Qingyao stood in the wind, listening to the crying and cursing around her, looking at the dark mountain range in the distance. Her heart was filled with panic.

Xie Hezhang would be fine, right?

She had bought so many things back today, and she hadn’t cooked for him yet. How could he have an accident?

Tears fell from her eyes. Shu Qingyao wiped them away forcefully and walked up to Jin Zhuang, “Captain, give me a shovel. I want to participate in the mountain rescue!”

*

The news of the mudslide on the eastern mountain spread quickly throughout Helian Village.

The village branch held a meeting at night and broadcasted a message, calling on villagers to voluntarily participate in the rescue.

The people of Helian Village had lived in the village for generations. Most of them were neighbors. When they heard that villagers and members had been buried by the mudslide, no one refused. They quickly organized a rescue team of over a hundred people.

However, Shu Qingyao’s request to participate in the rescue was rejected by Jin Zhuang.

Jin Zhuang said with difficulty, “Teacher Shu, you’re a woman. Just stay at home and wait for news.”

He knew that Shu Qingyao couldn’t carry or lift anything.

Landslides were also dangerous. He couldn’t let another educated youth have an accident in his brigade.

Shu Qingyao said, “Captain, I’m also a member of the Eastern Brigade. I also want to contribute to the rescue. I won’t cause you any trouble. Just let me go.”

Xie Hezhang’s life was hanging in the balance. How could she stay at home and wait peacefully?

She wished she could grow wings and fly over there immediately to see if Xie Hezhang was okay.

“I can’t agree to that.”

Jin Zhuang shook his head sternly. He also arranged for a militiaman to send Shu Qingyao to the educated youth dormitory and asked the female educated youths in the dormitory to come and comfort her.

“Yao Yao!”

Tang Maning ran out of the dormitory. When she saw Shu Qingyao, who was soaked and being sent over by the militiaman, looking distraught, she quickly took off her dry coat and put it on her.

“I heard the news. Don’t worry, Comrade Xie will be fine!”

Old educated youth Jiang Qin also comforted her, handing her a cup of warm water and saying to Shu Qingyao, “Shu Qingyao, don’t worry. There are small landslides in Helian Village every year. Everyone has experience in rescue. Just wait here. I heard that there are experienced old members in Xie Hezhang’s team. They’ve been through this several times. They’ll be fine this time.”

The male educated youths also came over to comfort her, asking her to relax.

Shu Qingyao rubbed her eyes, forced a smile, and took the water from Jiang Qin.

The educated youths worked not far from the residential area, so when it rained, they all went to the villagers’ homes to take shelter from the rain. They didn’t get wet.

Shu Qingyao sat in the dining hall, Tang Maning sat next to her and chatted with her. She held her enamel mug, but she was still restless.

Xie Hezhang’s fate had been disrupted by her joining in this time.

According to the original trajectory, he had already been caught and sent to a juvenile detention center for stabbing Xie Helan.

In other words, he wouldn’t have been involved in this landslide.

Is it because of the butterfly effect that he’s in trouble?

The rain outside gradually stopped completely.

Shu Qingyao thought about Xie Xiaoqian being home alone and was worried. She decided to go back and check on her.

Just as she was about to get up and say goodbye to Tang Maning, Jiang Xun and several militiamen rushed in from outside and said to the educated youths in the dormitory, “Male educated youths, come out! There was a landslide in the mountains. There aren’t enough people to go up the mountain to help. We need to pick five of you. Who will volunteer first?”