bestfiction Chapter 283 is coming!
Chapter 283 is coming!
"Even if there really is an earthquake, look at these houses in our compound. Most of them are single-story and sturdy. Nothing will happen, right, Lao Zhong?"
Zhong Shanyue gently waved his palm-leaf fan.
"Old Li, let's not worry about whether this is true or not. Take it as a joke or have some fun. It's only three days anyway, so just treat it like you're back to being a fool. There's always a chance of something going wrong. As far as I know, the higher-ups have made preparations. It's not just baseless talk. After all, you only have one life. How can you joke about it?"
Old Li, you didn't sleep all night, going around the yard one by one. You must be feeling uneasy, right?
"This..." Old Li looked embarrassed and somewhat awkward.
"Ha ha……"
Zhong Shanyue smiled.
"I could just lay out a mat in the yard and sleep there for three days straight. Honestly, lying in the yard, looking at the starry sky above, I couldn't help but think of the war days decades ago. Back then, we were hiding in trenches. The wind was biting, the crescent moon hung in the sky, and the earth was a pale white, but we had our comrades by our side, so we didn't feel cold. In the blink of an eye, decades have passed. I wonder where my old comrades are buried. They probably don't even have a tombstone. They're nameless, and no one knows their birth, their past, or their death. It's as if they never came into this world. Sigh..."
As for me, I'm still barely clinging to life.
"Old Zhong, why are you suddenly feeling sad?"
Old Li patted him on the shoulder and said:
"How about this? I'll squeeze in with you for the next three days. We'll use the ground as our mat and the sky as our roof, and have a good time drinking and chatting, okay?"
"Okay!"
"Then hurry up and bring out those bottles of Moutai from your house. I've been wanting them for a long time."
Zhong Shanyue laughed and scolded, "Old Li, all this beating around the bush, you're probably just after my few bottles of Moutai, aren't you!"
This was something his son had bought for him when he came home from visiting relatives. He got up to get it.
In the compound where Zhou Xiaobai lived, her family of three also lived in their own small courtyard. Xiaobai's older brothers and sisters-in-law were all serving in the Northeast military. It was just her, her parents, and herself at home. They lived on a straw mat with a mosquito net set up.
Chen Yijun complained.
“This yard is full of mosquitoes, and it’s stuffy and hot. Look at what other people think of us. We have houses but don’t live here. We come here to sleep in the yard. They’ll probably say we’re sick.”
"mom!"
Zhou Xiaobai came over and pulled her mother to sit on the mat, saying helplessly:
“You’ve been talking for so long, let’s take a break. A calm mind will cool you down. You’ve been talking nonstop, how can you not get hot? Let them talk, this is our own home, we can do whatever we want.”
"Mom, you should learn from Dad. Look at him, the military region commander, he doesn't complain at all. A straw mat, sandals, a palm-leaf fan… such a perfect combination! You can think of it as a reminder of past hardships."
Chen Yijun lightly slapped her daughter.
"You ungrateful little brat, all the love I've given you has been for nothing, and you already think your mother is a nuisance?"
"Mom, I would never find you annoying!"
Zhou Xiaobai hugged her mother's neck and acted coquettishly.
"It's only three days, just bear with it for a bit, it'll be over soon. Yuemin said that whether it's true or not, it's only three days. Sometimes 'suffering a little loss' isn't necessarily a bad thing."
"You!"
Chen Yijun looked at her man and said:
“Old Zhou, did you hear that? Our daughter is completely obsessed with Yuemin now. She can’t stop talking about him. We’ve wasted our time raising her. If you ask me, we should transfer Yuemin back to Beijing as soon as possible. These two kids are always separated like this. They’re not young anymore, and it’s not a good thing.”
Zhou Zhennan fanned himself with a palm leaf fan, closed his eyes to rest, and didn't respond. He had heard his wife say this so many times that he was tired of hearing it.
“I’m talking to you, make a sound. You don’t care about your daughter’s marriage at all.”
Zhou Zhennan opened his eyes.
"You're just worrying unnecessarily. The kids are all grown up and have their own ideas. Don't interfere. This military unit isn't ours to run. You can't just transfer them back whenever you want. Even if I agree, it won't matter. If you're so capable, go and talk to your in-laws."
Chen Yijun was furious and about to speak again when her daughter stopped her.
The same scene of people sleeping on makeshift beds outdoors was also occurring in Tangshan city. Although most people did not believe the news of the impending earthquake, they knew that life was precious and no one dared to joke about it. So for three consecutive days, the vast majority of citizens consciously took their straw mats and palm-leaf fans and went outside to sleep after dinner. The usually quiet nights were surprisingly lively outside.
Adults gathered to chat, while children chased and played. As the third night approached, the widely rumored major earthquake failed to materialize, sparking much discussion among the citizens.
"Look, what earthquake? There's no earthquake at all. Let's not sleep outside tonight. There are mosquitoes everywhere. It's torture."
"Old Wang, it's just one more night, hang in there, maybe disaster will strike tonight."
The neighbor said, "I'm not kidding you, I really did notice something unusual during the day today."
"What's abnormal?"
People around gathered around.
The neighbor said:
"I went to the river to wash clothes in the afternoon and found a large group of rats crawling out of the rat holes on the riverbank. There were at least fifty or sixty of them. It was terrifying."
"This is nothing unusual; perhaps the rat hole has been flooded."
"Bullshit!" the neighbor said.
"The riverbed is almost dry, how could it flood? Let me tell you, animals are the most alert to impending disasters and can predict them in advance. I'm not making this up, it's what the books say. History shows that animals can predict many disasters, such as floods and earthquakes."
"Hey, now that you mention it, there really is!"
Another said:
"In the afternoon, when I came out of the factory, there were swarms of dragonflies flying very low on the street. I had never seen such a scene in my life. It looked like a scene of people fleeing a disaster."
Everyone chattered on, and no one mentioned going back to their rooms to sleep anymore. It had been a whole night; they'd stayed up.
Time quickly passed to around 3 a.m. on July 28th. The entire city of Tangshan was eerily quiet, shrouded in darkness. Even the occasional barking of dogs could not be heard. For humans and animals, their biological clocks are actually quite similar. Three or four in the morning is the time when they are most sleepy. This is the main reason why the earthquake caused so many casualties. Many people died in their sleep. Forget about escaping. Just imagine, when you are in deep sleep, the house suddenly shakes violently. You might think you are dreaming and have no idea that danger is coming. Before you know what is happening, you are crushed under the rubble.
As time passed, a few barks came from some corner in the darkness, then, like a chain reaction, more and more came, followed by the sound of a baby crying.
Suddenly, a red light appeared on the dark city horizon in the distance, and the ground shook violently, as if a colossal beast from the ground had emerged, roaring and tearing at the earth!