Time entered August 1987. After several consecutive days of cloudy weather, one morning there was a sudden thunder, and the sky seemed to be torn open, and it began to rain heavily. The rain delighted the farmers so much that the thirsty corn seedlings in the fields and the potatoes in urgent need of water were all full.
Yang Liufang, who was working with the workers in the factory, was a little worried. In the morning, Li Tongfu and Wang Shan went to the countryside to sell goods. The assassin didn't know whether they were in the village or on the road. These days, the weather forecast on the radio actually says that there will be rain every day, but it never rains. For several days in a row, the forecast is like "the wolf is coming", and gradually no one takes the weather forecast seriously. But today it happened, and the rain became heavier and heavier. The heavy rain covered the surrounding areas, as if it was dark. Although four lanterns were lit in the factory, it was still a bit troublesome to do the joinery. Yang Liufang simply stopped and waited for the rain to stop before working again.
When it rained, Wang Shan and Li Tongfu had just left a village and walked onto the road. They were in a place with no village in front and no store behind. Because of the thunder, they did not dare to take shelter under the trees, so they had to put raincoats on the horses, and they hid in the carriage with a piece of plastic sheet on their heads. They persisted like this for half an hour, and the rain kept falling without stopping. The two of them were cold, and Wang Shan was worried about the villagers who would be rotating in the sand washing plant today, so he simply drove the carriage back slowly in a hurry.
At this time, the rain mixed with the loess on the road, quickly turning the road into a yellow mud soup, and the road became muddy as we walked. On an uphill road, the horse's breathing became heavier and heavier. Although it struggled hard, the carriage did not move at all.
Li Tongfu and Wang Shan had to push the carriage one on the left and the other on the right. After finally pushing it, they were already drowned. But it was better to move than to be left on the road. The two of them were afraid of being stranded, so they had no choice but to follow the carriage and continue moving forward.
At the sand washing plant in Wangshawan, the workers had just washed several loads of sand. When they saw it was raining, they shut down the machine and went into a simple shed to take shelter from the rain. As the rain became heavier and heavier, the reservoir upstream of Zhaomagou also began to release water. The sluice gates were opened, and the river water and rainwater rushed downstream, carrying the dead branches and leaves in the river and the floating soil on the river bed.
Over the past few months, Wangshawan has been pumping water to wash sand. The precipitated yellow mud has raised the river bed. Coupled with the obstruction of dead branches and leaves, the water level instantly reached the roots of the willow trees on the shore, and gradually gradually increased over time. The land spread along the river bank towards the sand washing plant. The water level accumulated deeper and deeper, gradually submerging the calf, and then invaded like a wild horse that had escaped the reins.
The villagers who participated in today's rotation of sand washing panicked when they found that the river was overflowing. They threw down their tools and machines and ran towards the village. Wang Shan was not there, and everyone was like headless flies, one foot deep and one foot shallow, running in the direction of Wangshawan in the dark rain. I don't know who shouted: "Run to higher places, run to higher places.", everyone. It was all chaos, and some timid ones were so frightened that they cried loudly, "Oh my God!" For a time, the sound of rain, thunder, crying, and shouting were all mixed together.
Yang Liufang, who was waiting anxiously in the factory, paced back and forth to relieve his anxiety. Suddenly the door of the factory rang. Yang Liufang ran over to open the door and saw the village chief Shitou wearing a raincoat and lighting a lantern.
"Have Wang Shan and the others come back?"
"No, Brother Shitou. I'm almost dying of anxiety about this damn weather forecast."
"Ouch, something happened!"
"What's wrong, Brother Shitou."
"There was an accident at the sand washing plant. One of the workers escaped."
"Ah, did you look for it?"
"He's already gone. It was his father-in-law, Village Chief Zhao, who sent someone on a tractor to deliver the message. I'm not in a hurry and thought they were back. Come look for him quickly!"
"Oh, what should we do? Brother Shitou, do you want us to go look for him together?"
"With this heavy rain, it's useless for us to go. We can only wait for Wang Shan to come back. Eda will comfort the missing family members first, and then look for them after the rain stops. I hope everything is okay."
"Oh! I hope it's okay." Yang Liufang rubbed his hands and sighed. Then he asked again: "Is our village okay?"
"No, I walked around when I came here. Those who didn't go out were hiding in the cave dwellings."
"Oh, that's good, Brother Shitou, you can inform me that if you have difficulties at home or leaks, you can come to the factory to take shelter."
"That's what I mean too."
"Okay, then go and inform us as soon as possible."
After a while, the radio sounded, "Comrades, the rain is heavy, and if you have problems with leaks at home, you can come to the village headquarters to take shelter from the rain or go to the village woodwork factory. Please pay attention to safety."
The rain hadn't stopped when Wang Shan and Li Tongfu came back. The horse was so tired that it lay on the ground as soon as it entered the factory and couldn't pull it up. Yang Liufang had to use scissors to cut the rope of the horse's raincoat before taking it off and putting it aside. Keep the water cool. Li Tongfu and Wang Shan were so tired that they took off their wet clothes and lay down directly on the ground. Yang Liufang was afraid that they would catch cold, so he asked the canteen master to boil ginger sugar water for them, and boiled two pots of hot water for them to wash up quickly and put on their clothes. Clean clothes. Just as Yang Liufangyang was about to tell Wang Shan about the incident at the sand washing plant that killed one person, the head of Shitou Village brought two families to the factory to take shelter from the rain. He said that the cave dwelling at home was in disrepair and had serious rain leaks.
Seeing that Wang Shan had come back, he told him about the sand washing plant. When Wang Shan heard this, he said "It's broken!" and was about to rush out, but was hugged by Yang Liufang.
"Third brother, there's nothing we can do now. It's more than ten kilometers away and it's raining so heavily. How can you run back? It's too dangerous. Let's wait for the rain to stop."
"We must have comforted the missing people. Calm down, let the horses rest, and prepare for the worst. If we can't find the people, how can we compensate them." The head of Shitou Village also said.
"Alas! I regret not listening to brother Xiao Yang." Wang Shan sighed and murmured.
"There is nothing you can do if you listen to me. Farmers need to eat and make money. When the machine starts, all money is laundered," Yang Liufang said.
The rain still didn't stop at night, so Yang Liufang asked the cafeteria to make steamed noodles. Wang Shan didn't want to eat them, so he took a few bites and went to bed. When Yang Liufang heard him pancakes, he tossed and turned all night and didn't sleep much. At dawn, when he heard the sound of rain subsided, he got up, put on his clothes and left. Yang Liufang and Li Tongfu also hurriedly got up and followed him. Before the three people drove the carriage out of the village, Village Chief Shitou followed. Because he was worried about them and the people in the village, Village Chief Shitou didn't sleep all night.
The four people drove the carriage back to Wangshawan along the muddy road. As soon as they left the village, they met the tractor coming to pick up Wang Shan. At this time, the carriage and the people were a burden, so Wang Shan asked the village chief Shitou to drive the carriage back to the village first. When the weather clears and the road becomes easier, we will return to Wangshawan. The three of them got on the tractor and went back. Wang Shan briefly asked his master about the situation. The master said that when he came out, the search team organized by the village was divided into three groups and was already searching. Zhao Machuan also sent a team to search on the other side and in the sandpit. Don't know what to take over.
"Go directly to the sand washing plant." Wang Shan was anxious.
"good."
The tractor was pulling them. Before they arrived at the sand washing plant, they heard people nearby shouting vaguely: "Wang Cheng..." It turned out that the missing person was named Wang Cheng. Before he got married, he wanted to contribute through sand washing. Earn some money so you can find a house wife.
The tractor drove to a group of people who were searching. Wang Shan came down and asked, "How are you doing? Have you found them in the sandpit and the river?"
"I looked for it. I searched along the river for five or six kilometers and couldn't find it."
"Where's your forehead?"
"The village chief is at Wang Cheng's house."
"Let's go, I'll search with everyone." A group of people took sticks and searched along the direction they ran near the sand factory, all the way to the village, but still found nothing. When the other two teams came back, Wang Shan saw that everyone was very frustrated and that there was no result. Accompanied by family members, they walked to Wang Cheng's house. Wang Cheng's mother had cried silently. Her eyes were red and swollen under her messy white hair, and she was crying silently. She opened her mouth but could not speak.
"How is it?" the old village chief asked Wang Shan and the others.
Wang Shan shook his head. When the old lady saw it, she covered her face with her hands and took a breath. Everyone was at a loss, pinching people and pouring water. After several struggles, the old lady finally regained her breath. When she woke up, she opened her mouth without making any sound.
The old village chief asked his mother-in-law and several older women in the village to accompany him here. He called Wang Shan and several village cadres to go to the village headquarters for a meeting to discuss the aftermath. Seeing that they could not help, Yang Liufang and Li Tongfu said goodbye to Wang Shan and the village chief, left the village to hire a tractor and returned to the factory.
