After the frail beauty went to the countryside, she went crazy with scientific research.

Chapter 186, Episode 0193: Disaster Relief
No aftershocks occurred after a whole morning.

The villagers believed that there would be no more aftershocks. The wailing and crying that had filled the morning turned into cheers of relief and joy throughout the village at noon.

But just then, the ground shook again.

The cheers turned into screams of terror.

Fortunately, this shaking was less severe than the previous ones. The house no longer felt noticeably swaying; only the furniture inside slipped, but there was no longer any danger of it tipping over.

Most of the villagers who had been warned ran into the courtyard, and the families squatted down in an open space, waiting for Ren Zhen to come over.

“The first brigade was lucky. The magnitude of this earthquake was not too high, and because of the explosion in the mountains ahead, many villagers were not asleep at that time, so the village was notified in time.”

A large group of people were lucky and none of them died.

After all, most people don't live in relatively sturdy brick houses like theirs, but rather in mud-brick houses that have almost no earthquake resistance.

Many of these houses were built by the older generation, and they were already riddled with cracks that had been patched up repeatedly. When an earthquake struck, they couldn't withstand the damage for very long.

They didn't want anything; they ran out as soon as they heard the gong. Thank goodness.

They insisted on bringing all their money and coupons, and some even brought their family's grain. Unfortunately, many of these people were buried under the collapsed houses.

Because of their past bloodshed, the first brigade would immediately gather in the large square outside the village committee building upon hearing the sound of a gong, which prevented a tragedy from occurring.

"It was lucky. Some people didn't sleep, and the brigade leader and his team led the way well. Although many houses collapsed, thankfully no one was hurt."

It can be said to be a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.

Unbeknownst to them, this village was the only one within the earthquake's impact zone where no one had perished.

"Wait, I heard from Aunt Tian that Old Lady Hua is injured." Ren Yan looked up from her bowl.

Liu Huai took a bite of rice and replied expressionlessly, "After the earthquake, Grandma Hua ignored the brigade leader's and the others' attempts to stop her and ran back to look for her hidden stash of money. Unfortunately, she encountered an aftershock. Even more unfortunately, while the rest of their house was fine, the wall where she hid her money collapsed."

Grandma Hua not only kept her guard against her sons and daughters-in-law who had already separated from the family, but also her husband, not letting anyone follow her.

The elderly person already had difficulty walking, and when the wall collapsed, there wasn't even time to run away.

"One leg was crushed and the other side was twisted."

At this point, Liu Huai's face showed a complicated expression. "Their family is quite lively. The son and daughter-in-law are unwilling to pay for the old lady's treatment. The old lady has money and notes but insists that she doesn't have any and insists that her sons pay. Later, the eldest grandson found a roll of notes in the pile of fallen walls. The old lady said it was hers, but her sons all stopped her from giving it to him."

One listener: "..."

Is it really that lively?

It's a pity I didn't see it with my own eyes.

The atmosphere outside today is too oppressive. Almost every household has suffered losses. I heard that several houses collapsed in the educated youth settlement.

Leng Xingran and several other men went out to help with disaster relief in the morning, but they went to the south end of the village, which was more severely affected by the disaster, and was quite far from Grandma Hua's house.

Lin Yuexi and Ren Yan had been tidying up at home all morning and hadn't even left the house. So even though Liu Huai's tone was as calm as if he were stating a fact, everyone listened with great interest.

After the surgery, Xiao Dong, a soldier, was settled in Liu Huai's house. While slurping chicken soup, he also pricked up his ears.

Grandma Hua wasn't the only one injured in the village, but her injuries were the most severe.

Liu Huai was still very busy. After finishing lunch, he went into the house to check on Xiao Dong's condition, and then hurriedly left with his medical kit.

After resting for a while, Leng Xingran and the other two also left.

The large-scale disaster relief effort took nearly three days.

On the fourth day, the men of the first brigade dispersed again to go to the second, third and fourth brigades for disaster relief.

During this period, the commune only sent one staff member down to investigate.

However, this time it wasn't the company president taking revenge for personal reasons, but rather that a place was much more severely affected than the Red Star Brigade, where the entire brigade was buried by a landslide caused by the earthquake.

Although the Red Star Brigade was also affected by the disaster, their team, led by Huo Han, participated in the disaster relief efforts that same day, which was considered lucky compared to other disaster-stricken areas in the surrounding area.

No one in the First Brigade was buried under the collapsed houses, so the disaster was relatively minor. Huo Han's team went to the Second, Third, and Fourth Brigades where people were buried the next day. After rescuing the buried people, they immediately went to the Qianyang Brigade, where the entire brigade was buried.

The Qianyang Brigade is surrounded by mountains on all sides. One side of the mountain has been severely damaged by logging, leaving only small trees less than an arm's thickness. Landslides have been frequent there for a long time, and this time the landslide almost slid down the mountainside.

The people of the former Yangdu Brigade were all buried in the ground while they were sleeping.

Zhang Ze, covered in dust, sat down on the stone steps and ate a steamed bun. "I heard that the roads into the mountains are blocked. The people sent by the commune are all stuck outside and can't get in. The Production and Construction Corps sent two regiments to provide disaster relief, but they can only cross over the mountains."

Qianyang Brigade is located further past Xiayang Brigade. The only road leading to Qianyang Brigade was a narrow path, a cliffside path that was impassable to oxcarts in many places and could only be traversed by wheelbarrows at most.

That's not all. The most troublesome thing is that to get to Qianyang Brigade, you have to cross a canyon that is about ten meters wide. There is no bridge across the canyon, and you can only get in and out by the only iron chain.

They call it a sliding bridge.

The two ends of the iron chain were tied to a huge tree.

The earthquake bent one of the big trees, and one end of the iron chain mysteriously fell out, meaning the slide bridge was gone and the road to Qianyang Brigade was cut off!
"I don't know what method the soldiers came up with to reconnect the landslide bridge, but the landslide blocking the road and the bridge falling down took a lot of time."

There is no such thing as a golden time for rescue, but everyone knows that the earlier someone is rescued after being buried, the greater their chances of survival, and the later they are rescued, the smaller their chances of survival.

Ren Yan was covered in dust today. She slurped up a mouthful of egg drop soup and let out a satisfied "ha".

"We can't help them over there, and they won't let us go. Has our brigade done the tally yet? How many people were involved?"

Xu Zhichuan immediately replied solicitously, "The Second Battalion suffered seven dead and eleven seriously wounded."

Lin Yuexi frowned, "How could the Fourth Brigade be in such a serious condition?"

Xu Zhichuan sighed, "Well, I can only say it's just bad luck. There's a family in the Fourth Brigade who built a new house. They have a custom there: after a new house is built, before moving in, they have to invite relatives to sleep in the new house for two days. The more people, the better. The idea is that the strong human presence will drive away bad things."