After turning a corner, she could already see the village she grew up in. Shi Xiaoman was extremely nervous. She leaned forward, clenched her fists tightly, and held her breath as she tried to look at her home. Seeing that the first house she entered the village had collapsed, Shi Xiaoman's vision darkened and she felt dizzy.
Seeing this scene, Lu Yiwei's mood was particularly complicated. Guiyu Village was one of the most backward villages in Nanyang County. Other than rich forest resources, there was nothing else. The people who lived here were even poorer. Most of them relied on the weather and had no source of income. If the year was not good, even food and clothing would be a problem, let alone other things.
Most of the houses were built in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic, and some were even built during the Republic of China. Most of the houses were made of bricks made of mud, and the beams were mostly made of wood. There were few modern houses with brick and concrete structures. After the baptism of wind and rain, most of the foundations were corroded, and the wooden beams festered, becoming a veritable dilapidated house.
The local village government had repeatedly reported this problem to the County party committee and the county government. Lu Yiwei had also seen similar requests for the county government to allocate special funds for the repair of the houses. At that time, the county head, Zhang Zhiyuan, had always been concerned about the suffering of the people. He allocated 500,000 yuan to Guiyu Village, requesting that the actual difficulties of the people be solved as soon as possible. However, in the current situation, the local village government did not use the money on the people at all. What exactly went wrong? Did the local village government intercept the money for other purposes, or did they directly eat up the special funds? No one knew.
After entering the village, the situation was worse than expected. Almost half of the houses in the village had collapsed. Shi Xiaoman was so anxious that she was about to cry.
When the villagers saw a car coming in, they thought it was the county leader, so they all ran to the road to stop it. A woman climbed directly into the car, patted the hood, and cried, "Lord, you're finally here …"
Lu Yiwei stopped the car and got out with a heavy heart. The villagers quickly surrounded Lu Yiwei and pulled him, saying, "Lord, please save me. My house is also gone …"
A sharp-eyed villager recognized Shi Xiaoman. As if he had seen his savior, he pulled her back and said, "Girl, you are an official in the county. You can't just watch people die. Look at what our village has become." As he said that, an old man actually sat on the ground and cried bitterly with his head in his arms.
Shi Xiaoman hurriedly helped the old man up and said, "Uncle, get up quickly. Don't worry, the government will definitely help everyone get through this." In her heart, she was even more eager to go home.
Lu Yiwei was already exhausted. After standing in the snow for a while, his legs felt like jelly. He lost his balance and his body leaned forward. If not for a villager supporting him, he would have fallen to the ground.
The villagers looked at the two people in a sorry state and guessed that something must have happened. They came full of hope and gradually left with despair. Although Lu Yiwei was not in charge of civil affairs and disaster relief, as a leading cadre of the Party, he could not turn a blind eye to it. He braced his body and said in a weak voice, "Who is the village chief?"
At this time, the villagers turned their heads and focused on the old man who was sitting on the ground. The old man walked up and said excitedly, "I am the village chief."
"Good!" Lu Yiwei said, "Where is the village headquarters? I will call the county now and ask them to organize a rescue as soon as possible. "
From Lu Yiwei's tone, the old man guessed that he must be the village chief. He shook his head desperately and said, "I do have a phone, but I couldn't get through two days ago. If I could get through, I would have called the village long ago."
"Is there any other phone?"
"No, there is only one phone in the village."
Lu Yiwei took a deep breath. It was like a bolt from the blue that there was no communication device. He quickly thought of a solution and asked, "Is there any other way to contact them?"
"No!" The old man said in despair.
He had to give the villagers the courage and confidence to continue living. Lu Yiwei took a deep breath and shouted, "Fellow villagers, no one expected to encounter this kind of natural and man-made disaster. At this juncture, we must not be discouraged or complain. Instead, we must raise our spirits and unite to think of a way to save ourselves. You must believe in the government. We will never abandon anyone. We will never let anyone fall behind. Do you have confidence? "
The villagers did not speak but stared at Lu Yiwei. They more or less did not trust him. Also, they were curious about who this person in front of them was.
Lu Yiwei swept his eyes around and shouted, "Party members, stand up!"
The villagers were still unmoved, and the wooden stumps stood there blankly.
Shi Xiaoman, who was standing at the side, could not stand it anymore. She also shouted, "Comrades, the person standing in front of you is the deputy director of the County party committee. Everyone must listen to his command."
"Lass!" It was a familiar person waving his hands in the crowd. Shi Xiaoman saw her father and rushed forward excitedly. She held her father's hand and asked, "Dad, is everything okay at home?"
Shi Xiaoman's father sighed. "Everything is fine, but the pigsty collapsed. Three piglets died."
"Where's my mom?"
"She's cleaning up the yard."
Hearing this, Shi Xiaoman's heart was at ease.
At this moment, a villager asked Shi Xiaoman softly, "Lass, what is the organization department?"
It was not easy to explain to the villagers. "It is in charge of Party members, including the village chief. He is in charge of all the leaders in the village!"
The villagers suddenly understood. So it was a high-ranking official.
Lu Yiwei shouted again, "Those who are Party members, stand up!"
At this moment, Shi Xiaoman's father raised his hand and stood up. He proudly patted his chest and said, "I am a Party member. I am the same age as my motherland."
"Good! Who else? "
The villagers looked at each other, but no one stood up.
At this moment, the village chief stepped forward and said, "I am also a Party member. There are only the two of us in the village. The rest have all gone out."
Lu Yiwei was helpless. He continued to shout, "Are there any young people? Young people, step forward. "
Still, no one responded. Lu Yiwei looked around. They were either women or the elderly. There was no sign of a young person.
The village chief said, "The young people have all gone out to work."
"Not a single one?" Lu Yiwei questioned.
"None."
Suddenly, a villager shouted, "Then is Buttface considered a young person?"
The village chief glared at him and reprimanded, "Buttface is a mute. What can he do when you let him out?"
Lu Yiwei took another step back and shouted, "Those who are not affected by the disaster, raise your hand!"
The villagers did not know what Lu Yiwei was up to. None of them raised their hands.
The village chief said anxiously, "Comrade Leader, stop asking questions. Just tell us what you want us to do."
Lu Yiwei nodded. "Good. I need a few people to go to the village and inform them of the situation here. Ask them to organize a rescue team as soon as possible."
"Tsk!" The villagers instantly booed, which made Lu Yiwei quite puzzled.
The village chief said again, "It's useless. The township government is on vacation. Other than the old man at the gate, there is not a single person."
Hearing this, Lu Yiwei was so angry that he stomped his feet. There might be a way, but the only way was to spread the news. "Uncle, we have to inform the people in the county to come and rescue. How about this, I will give you a phone number. Ask someone to go out and think of a way to get through." He then said to Shi Xiaoman, "Do you have a pen and paper? Write down Xiao Yang's phone number."
"Okay." Shi Xiaoman quickly found a pen and paper in her bag and wrote down a phone number.
Lu Yiwei raised the paper and said, "Who wants to go?"
No one dared to go out in this horrible weather. It was killing them. The villagers did not say a word and chose to remain silent.
At this moment, Shi Xiaoman's father suddenly stood up and volunteered. "I'm a party member. I'll go!"
When Shi Xiaoman saw her father stand up, she immediately became nervous. She tugged at her father and said, "Dad, you can't go. You're sick. Besides, it's more than 30 kilometers from here to the village. The road is covered in snow. I'm afraid it will be dark before you can walk out."
Shi Xiaoman's worry was not without reason. At that moment, the weather was gradually darkening. The sky was covered in dark clouds, and a new round of snowstorms was coming.
Shi Xiaoman's father said without a care, "My body is still strong. If we don't spread the news, everyone in the village will freeze to death. Our family is not seriously affected. I'll go!"
Hearing Shi Xiaoman's father volunteer, another villager also stood up and said, "My family is also not seriously affected. I'll go too."
This was also a helpless move. Lu Yiwei was very clear about the difficulties and obstacles on the road. He looked at Shi Xiaoman and said to Shi Xiaoman's father, "Uncle, the road is dangerous, and there's a landslide. If there was a way, I would definitely not let you take this risk. However, this concerns the safety of the people. Besides, there might be heavy snow tonight. I'll leave this matter to you!"
Shi Xiaoman's father comforted Lu Yiwei, saying, "I'm familiar with this mountain road. I've walked it all my life. Don't worry." With that said, he turned to another villager and said, "Let's go home and bring some rations. We'll set off immediately!"
After Shi Xiaoman's father left, Lu Yiwei said calmly, "We have to think of a way to save ourselves while waiting for the county's rescue. Where are the villagers whose houses collapsed now? "
The village chief pointed and said, "There! They're all squeezed into the village's school. It's relatively safe there. "
Hearing that the villagers' residences were settled, Lu Yiwei heaved a sigh of relief and said, "Tonight, all the villagers must be moved to the school. Not a single one of them can be left in the room!"
"Alright!" With Lu Yiwei's arrival, the villagers seemed to have found their backbone and nodded in agreement.
"Alright then. It's going to be dark soon. Everyone, go back and prepare!" With that said, the villagers scattered and jogged home, afraid that they wouldn't be able to retrieve anything valuable if they were late. To them, even if it was a broken pot, it was a lifetime's savings.
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