Current Situation in China (4)
Yuan Huawei and the others crossed the last ridge. On the empty road in front of the tunnel entrance, one lane was occupied by men wearing military caps, and the other lane was occupied by women wearing military caps. They formed a relatively standard team and marched forward in large strides. Their voices were deafening, and the road was crowded with thousands of people who were watching the fun and pointing at them.
Yuan Huawei originally thought that there should be about 5,000 refugees here. Who knew that there would be more than this number of people watching the show? There were also about 3,000 men and women gathered here. Adding the two together, the number of people was not much different even if it was not 10,000. It was really beyond his expectations.
The few of them watched from a high place for a while and felt a little shocked. The people who usually looked listless gathered together for training, and their entire aura was different.
The water level of the river beside the bridge in the distance dropped a little. A helicopter took advantage of the afternoon to transport the materials and circled along the surrounding roads to check the post-disaster terrain and damage. Then, it flew to the distance bit by bit. It was unknown whether this situation was frequent or accidental.
Yuan Huawei could only watch quietly. His thoughts briefly drifted to the hillside beside his house. He did not know if his mother and neighbors were still safe. He looked in the direction of his home. Some humid smog floated in the mountains, blocking all his vision. As the afternoon approached evening, the sun shone for a while, illuminating the mountains with a faint golden color. The sun was setting in the west, and a few clouds slowly began to turn red, as if they were stained with blood. A special sense of desolation climbed into his heart.
He went down to the valley with the others helplessly. After walking for a while, he finally made it back to the crowd before the training was dismissed. After watching their training for a while until the end, they returned to their relatives and friends. Those who were not selected looked at the selected ones with mixed feelings. They discussed animatedly as they returned to the tunnel.
Yuan Huawei's companion would occasionally say something along the way," I'm proud to be single. He was so excited that the others didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
When the food was distributed at night, this time was a special exception. Everyone was given three packets of instant noodles and told to have a good rest at night. They had work to do tomorrow.
Everyone chewed the instant noodles and wolfed down the food. Everyone's mentality was that as long as they could eat better, they didn't care if they worked or not.
After most people had their dinner (instant noodles), they were unusually noisy and didn't have their usual quietness. Perhaps it was because they felt that their bodies weren't as cold anymore, and they were more energetic. It was almost midnight when they finally quieted down.
The next morning, everyone was given three packets of instant noodles again, regardless of whether they were reserve players or ordinary people. They were all given the same amount. In addition, they were also given warm thin porridge. Although it was so thin that only a few grains of rice could be seen, it still made everyone grin happily.
After breakfast, everyone left the tunnel at the appointed time. The reserve members had already separated from the rest of the people more than ten minutes ago. They had their own training and tasks, leaving only the rest of the people to start grouping according to their personal conditions, separating those who could work and those who could not. Then, the leader of the army began to speak through a loudspeaker.
It was already past ten o'clock in the morning when they were divided into groups. More than three thousand people, old and young, were left behind. There were also nearly a thousand people who could not work, old and young, and injured who returned to the tunnel.
The dozens of soldiers in the company had been busy for almost the entire morning. Each of them had thin beads of sweat on their foreheads. It was finally over. In the end, they held their guns and were responsible for guarding the periphery.
Yuan Huawei was standing at the front of the first row (the list was probably arranged according to yesterday's registration). He had been waiting for almost two hours. Finally, the person-in-charge of the company spoke to them. This person-in-charge was the person in charge of screening and registration yesterday.
The person-in-charge climbed up the high platform that was made up of two tables. There was no red cloth under his feet. The stripes on the table looked very good from afar and blended into the natural color of the hillside. The audience was chattering about him, and not many people noticed that he had already ascended the high platform.
The person in charge coughed twice into the loudspeaker as if he was testing the sound. Then, the audience slowly quieted down.
The person in charge said,"My fellow villagers, calm down." He paused for a moment, and the noise below the stage slowly became smaller until it was inaudible from his position. It took less than ten seconds. Then, he continued to speak.
"Fellow villagers, it's not easy for us to gather here!" We are all survivors of this disaster. The disaster that we have just experienced has taken away many of our relatives and friends. Almost all of our assets have been reduced to nothing in this disaster. It has left us with nothing. We are hungry and naked. The departure of our relatives and friends makes us even more sad.
However, we are also lucky because we are still alive and want to live better for our family and friends. If we lose our money, we can earn it again. If we lose our house, we can rebuild it. If we lose our lives, then everything is really gone.
The person-in-charge looked at the noise below and patted the loudspeaker to make the venue quiet again. Then, he continued.
"I believe many of you know that the disaster has affected all parts of the country. The death toll has exceeded 15.48 million, which is more than 1% of the country's population. There are more than 300 million refugees, which is more than 20% of the country's total population. Moreover, more people will soon become new refugees (data from the morning of the sixth day of the month). This is a disaster for our country and our people. This is only the population. Similarly, our economic losses are even more difficult to calculate. Many people were homeless and needed the help of the government. However, the country was waiting everywhere to reach out to the government for help. The country simply did not have the ability to help everyone because the country had also lost a lot in this disaster. The country had more things to consider.
What should we do? We can only rely on the basic security provided by the country to be self-reliant. Only then can everyone eat as much as possible and wear warmer clothes.
What we need to do now is to produce and save ourselves. What we lack now is food and clothes to protect us from the cold.
"The food is now allocated by the country. Although we can't eat to our fill, we can still ensure that we won't starve to death.
There was a burst of sighs from below. Obviously, the crowd had opinions, but the person in charge chose to ignore them. He continued to speak and immediately changed the topic.
Manager: I know that food may not be enough for some people, but we have more urgent things to do now.
Nowadays, many people slept without a blanket or a mattress. Every night was like walking out of the gates of hell. They were worried that they would end their hard-earned lives if they fell asleep.
The person in charge looked at the crowd below the stands. Seeing that the discussion had successfully shifted from food to something that concerned their lives, he smiled lightly and continued.
[Manager: After reading about the refugees 'self-rescue methods on the Internet, I've really found a way to alleviate the situation.]
The discussion below the stage grew louder and showed great anticipation. The person in charge pressed down with his left hand, and the venue instantly fell silent. He was eager to know what method could solve the problem of keeping everyone warm in one go.
Manager: First of all, I want to ask you if you are afraid of hardship and if you can endure hardship.
Everyone said in unison,"I'm not afraid of hardship, I can endure hardship."
" Our ancestors were very intelligent. They relied on this wisdom to ensure the inheritance of our civilization for 5,000 years. It was only when we entered a new era and had better substitutes that we slowly forgot about this inheritance of our ancestors. That was the grass.
A new round of discussion appeared below the stage. Some were confused, some were enlightened, some shook their heads and sighed, and some had spirited eyes…
The person in charge went around in a big circle and finally told him what the work he needed to do today was. He needed to go to the surrounding mountains to collect thatch and then send it back to the woman to weave a thick mat. Then, the men and women would divide it equally to resist the increasingly cold weather (the effect of the cold air passing through).
In the end, the person-in-charge said," No fire was allowed on the mountain. Otherwise, they would be the public enemy of everyone here. They wanted everyone to freeze to death here. Once someone was found to have started a fire, even if it was just a fire, they would be killed without mercy.
Yuan Huawei looked at the person-in-charge and thought that the person-in-charge might be afraid that everyone would start a fire to roast the carcasses of the animals on the mountain and eat them. This would not be a good job, or it would be a waste of straw resources. What would he think if he knew that the person in charge's real thoughts were to guard against a pervert who was afraid that someone would deliberately set fire to the house and make it impossible for everyone to survive the winter safely?
When the meeting was about to end, everyone had already noticed that the instant noodles cart had arrived at the side of the venue. It was full of instant noodles. Looking at the situation, there should be at least three packs for everyone. As expected, the person-in-charge announced that everyone would be free to work in groups after they had collected the instant noodles.
Each of them had three packs of instant noodles and a bowl of soup made from some unknown dish. After wolfing down the food, they began to set off under the leadership of their respective captains.
Yuan Huawei's team had ten people including him. He was the captain because the person in charge had made it clear during the meeting that they only needed to complete the task according to the requirements. The team that exceeded the requirements would be given straw woven fabric in advance. This was a great temptation. After all, most of them had been frozen for several days.
There was a 50-year-old man in the team who was considered a local. He knew where the grass was the most abundant and said that they could easily complete the task. However, the journey was a bit far. Yuan Huawei asked if the place would change because of the Catastrophe. The old man hesitated for a moment and said that it would not change much halfway up the mountain. Yuan Huawei hummed and told them two new tasks. One was that they could spread out and pick up some animal corpses along the way. The other was to weave some ropes with straw. Everyone instantly understood the meaning behind his words and praised their captain for his intelligence.
In just a short distance of more than a mile, everyone had woven several ropes, and almost everyone had two or three rabbits or pheasants in their hands. Everyone was grinning from ear to ear, as if they couldn't finish their saliva. At first, one of them wanted to roast it on the spot, but the order from the military commander forbade the others from starting a fire. In the end, it was Yuan Huawei who said, If we bring these things back and hand them over to the higher-ups, I don't believe that they would dare to hack all of them themselves. We should be able to eat a portion of it, and we might even leave a good impression on the military leaders. It wouldn't be considered a loss for us. If we really started a fire in the mountains and were discovered, the outcome…I think those soldiers would really dare to take our lives.
When everyone heard what he said, they thought that it made sense. They stopped thinking about it and admired this youngest captain even more. Then, they chatted and laughed along the way, understanding most of each other's situation. They also knew that he was a senior student at Peking University. No wonder he did not enter the reserve team like most of his fellow students. It turned out that there was more room for development.
They chatted and laughed along the way as they continued to search for the corpses of the rabbits and pheasants. Soon, they arrived at the place the little old man had mentioned. It was a huge thatch. Not to mention the entire thatch, half of it was enough for the mission.
Everyone began to cut the grass. Unfortunately, only three of them had smaller knives. The others could only use other methods to break the grass bit by bit. In the end, after a simple division of labor, the ones who cut were only responsible for cutting, and the ones who collected were only responsible for collecting. Although the speed was faster, it was still not very useful. After more than an hour, each person had just one bundle of grass. Everyone could only smile helplessly and plan for some people to go back and find some knives to speed up.
Therefore, four people stayed behind. Yuan Huawei led the other six people back with the rabbit, pheasant, and thatch to hand in the mission.
Along the way, the six of them hurried back. Halfway there, they heard a few gunshots. Everyone guessed that someone could not help but roast the animal carcass and was discovered. Perhaps they all wanted to go back and understand the results and see what the situation was.
They crossed the last mountain ridge and finally arrived at a slightly empty valley. Other than the reserve duty training and a small number of soldiers, there was almost no one else. They were the first batch to return.
When the six of them went down the valley to hand in the mission, everyone looked at the grass, rabbits, and pheasants that they had brought back. They were all more excited than the six of them, as if these things belonged to them.
The person in charge saw from afar that someone had already brought back the thatch. Because this was the first batch of people to return, he was also very excited and came over from afar. When he walked closer, he saw rabbits and pheasants. He was also as excited as a child. It was obvious that he had not eaten meat for a few days. After he came over, he was ready to help carry the things. However, after the great disaster, his interpersonal relationships were weak. With his good habits, it was like snatching things from the hands of the people. He hesitated for a moment and did not reach out to help.
Yuan Huawei was already pressed down by the 40-odd rabbits and pheasants strung up with straw ropes. Seeing the expression and eyes of the person-in-charge, Yuan Huawei wanted to help but was embarrassed. He did not care about this and hung two strings on his body. Since he was going to hand them over anyway, he did not care about the time and even reduced the weight for himself.
The person-in-charge was stunned. Since he was already on it, he was too embarrassed to put it back on him. He could only take a look at him. It didn't matter. He realized that it was the first Peking University student he had received yesterday. He could be considered an acquaintance. He thought to himself that this person was really enthusiastic. He had ranked first twice.
Yuan Huawei saw his expression change and said," The meat was safe to eat. It died in the Catastrophe weather and was not poisonous. The weather was still cold these days, so the meat was well preserved.
The person-in-charge lost his temper after hearing his explanation. He could only follow him to the registration area. Along the way, he wanted to say something a few times, but he didn't say anything.
As the journey was not long, they soon arrived at the registration office. When the person in charge saw that the person in charge was also helping him with his things, he smiled and warmly welcomed Yuan Huawei and the others.
After registering Yuan Huawei and the others, he took the rabbit and pheasant from him. The person-in-charge also handed the things to the registration office and smiled as he watched Yuan Huawei deal with these things.
Yuan Huawei had already thought of a way to say it, so he started talking. Ever since the disaster, many people had not seen the smell of meat at all. They could not stand it anymore. Fortunately, during the meeting, they had instructed them not to set fire to the mountains. It was a small matter, but it would be a pity that the delicious food in the mountains would be burned up. Then, it would be even harder for everyone to see the smell of meat. When my team saw these rabbits and pheasants, a few of them wanted to barbecue them on the spot to satisfy their cravings. However, when they thought of the danger of starting a fire in the forest and the repeated orders during the meeting, they felt that it was better to bring these things back and let the team handle them. It's just that all the old brothers in my team wanted to satisfy their cravings. I'll have to trouble you to give us more when the time comes. After saying that, he chuckled.
The person-in-charge watched Yuan Huawei from the side and praised him from time to time, making him feel very proud. As he looked a few years older than Yuan Huawei, he habitually reached out to pat Yuan Huawei's shoulder and praised, The students of Peking University had high awareness, organization, and discipline. It was commendable that they could still think of more people after the disaster. If you have any difficulties, tell the organization. The organization will give priority to you.
As Yuan Huawei thought about it, an idea suddenly popped up in his mind. He didn't know if he could contact the helicopter to rescue her mother and her fellow countrymen. But after thinking about it carefully, even the company commander couldn't do anything about this, so what could he do? If he said that he couldn't help, it would be equivalent to slapping his face. It would have the opposite effect. It was better to wait until there was an opportunity to talk about this on other occasions. Hence, he mentioned another small matter.
Yuan Huawei,"There's really something urgent…"
The person-in-charge was stunned. This person really knew how to climb up the ladder. He looked down on him a little. Just as his expression was about to change, he heard Yuan Huawei continue to tell him about his little matter.
Yuan Huawei: " It's just that our team went to mow the thatch and realized that it was really difficult to do without a knife. We don't know where we can find a knife or something. We can borrow it to mow the thatch so that we can get the thatch as a bedding for the winter." We came back so early to see if anyone else had a knife or something…
When the person-in-charge heard that it was because of this matter, he completely explained it to him in his heart. Instead, he looked at him even more highly and said, I thought it was something, but it turned out to be something like this. This is a good thing. You should support it. I'll lend you this dagger first. As he spoke, he took off the dagger sheath tied to his pants.
The registrar said," You can't do that. This dagger is a military offering and also a prohibited item. Ordinary people can't wear and use it, let alone in this special period…"
Manager: " Um…Alright, let's go to my dorm. I have another small knife for you." He was surprised for a moment, then turned to Yuan Huawei and said.
Yuan Huawei didn't stand on ceremony and followed him. The registrar and his remaining teammates looked at each other.
The registrar looked at the pile of rabbits and pheasants beside him, took out his dagger and asked, Which one of you knows how to clean this up? This rabbit skin is a very good material for keeping warm, right? Come, let's pack up these things first. The remaining five people looked at the dagger that was handed over. They looked at the dagger and hesitated for a moment, but one of them still took it. He started to peel the rabbit skin. At this moment, Yuan Huawei had already walked a little further away with the person in charge.
Along the way, Yuan Huawei answered a few questions from the person-in-charge. He answered them truthfully. When he was asked,"Is his family all right now?" He sighed heavily and said, My mother and more than 20 fellow villagers are trapped in the mountains and can't come out. I've already reported this to the company commander. The company commander said that he had already informed his superiors to go and rescue them. It's been two or three days, but there's still no result. I don't know how their situation is now.
The person-in-charge looked at Yuan Huawei's disappointed expression. She could only comfort him by saying that she could help him ask again.
Then, they began to ask questions and answer questions. The atmosphere was obviously much colder than before. Yuan Huawei could only sigh, feeling a little disappointed.
Along the way, Yuan Huawei followed the person-in-charge to his residence. Due to his courtesy, he did not follow him into his residence. He could only take a look at the room through the moment he lifted the tent flap. There was a bed on each side, and the quilt was neatly folded. There was only one table in the room, and half of the books and materials were piled on it. The rest was occupied by two laptops. Then, as the curtain fell, it blocked his vision. He could only wait quietly outside. Fortunately, it did not take long for the person in charge to take out two small folding knives, the kind that could be hung on a keychain.
Yuan Huawei thanked him, and the two of them walked back, chatting and laughing. Yuan Huawei learned that the person in charge was called Wang Zhiguo. Then, he started calling him Brother Wang.
Along the way, Brother Wang asked if there were many rabbits and pheasants like this around. After getting a positive answer from Yuan Huawei, his eyes lit up as if a new plan had appeared in his mind.
By the time they returned to the registration office, more than half of the rabbits and pheasants had been dealt with. Dozens of rabbit skins were piled up in a high pile. It was not a problem to make a single person's blanket. However, this also became a new problem. He did not know how to deal with them. In the end, Wang Zhiguo waved his hand and said, Each rabbit and pheasant earned one point each, and the two rabbit skins earned one point. After a round of counting, 59 points were credited to Yuan Huawei's team. Each of them had 5.9 points.
Yuan Huawei and the others looked at these things turning into points. They were all confused and did not know what the points were for. Brother Wang could tell that Yuan Huawei and the others were confused, so he simply told them that this would be of great use to their social class and welfare in the future. The more points they had, the better.
Not long after, Yuan Huawei and the others were ready to continue cutting the grass, but they were asked by the people at the registration office to leave one person to continue dealing with the animals. They had no choice but to go on their way.
Along the way, Yuan Huawei and the others began a new round of picking up rabbits and pheasants. However, the topic of discussion changed to the use of points. The final result might be the same as the work points of the production club in the 1950s and 1960s. All of them were filled with curiosity.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。