When they heard the knocking on the door, or more accurately, the sound of the door being smashed, Little Liu Ying and her grandmother thought it was the wind at first, but after listening carefully, they realized that it wasn't because someone was shouting at them from outside.
Her grandmother asked Little Liu Ying to wait on the bed while she waded through the water up to her knees to open the door.
As soon as the door opened, deeper water immediately rushed in, almost pushing her grandmother over. Fortunately, a strong arm supported her.
It was Liu Ying's parents who came back in the pouring rain. They didn't even open an umbrella because it was meaningless.
They didn't say much, just two simple words — transfer.
Her grandmother didn't ask much. She immediately handed them the waterproof valuables and went to hold Little Liu Ying's hand.
Her mother waded into the house and brought the commonly used medicine, instant noodles, and other emergency food.
"What about the clownfish?" Little Liu Ying, who was carried on her father's back, looked back at the fish tank and asked.
After opening the door, the candles were blown out. The fish tank was dark, and nothing could be seen.
However, no one answered her. No one cared about the clownfish now.
Her mother's flashlight was swaying. When it occasionally swept across the fish tank, something flashed in the fish tank. Little Liu Ying thought it was the eyes of the clownfish, staring at her.
As soon as she stepped out, she was drenched by the storm. The heat accumulated in her body hadn't dissipated yet. She was cold on the outside and hot on the inside. It was very uncomfortable.
All the villagers were moving with their families to higher ground, to a safe place.
There were no roads in the village. There was only a river as far as the eye could see. The water was almost up to an adult's thigh.
The muddy water carried all kinds of debris, including dead poultry, broken trees, and even a small boat. The boatman was paddling to avoid the obstacles in the water, and on the boat sat the family with dull eyes.
Even at such a time, her grandmother didn't forget to lock the door. She was afraid that the house would be burglarized after the water subsided, and all the household appliances would be moved away.
On the main road, the village leader shouted at the top of his voice to organize the villagers to move.
The nearby garrison had also arrived. They drove speedboats to evacuate the villagers. There were dark green figures moving everywhere.
Little Liu Ying's father drove a speedboat from the fishery. She did not like to take this speedboat because the stench of rotten fish and shrimps was so strong that she could smell it even in the pouring rain.
"The clownfish are still at home," she said again after getting on the speedboat, and cold rainwater poured into her mouth as soon as she opened it.
Maybe it was because the rain was too loud, or the loudspeaker was too loud, but her parents didn't seem to hear her question. Or maybe they heard it and didn't feel the need to answer.
Grandma held up an umbrella with her skinny hand, shielding Little Liu Ying from the heavy rain. However, it was only raining outside and drizzling inside the umbrella.
"It doesn't matter. Grandma will buy it for you in the future," Grandma said as if she had sentenced the clownfish to death.
Her father started the speedboat and took the family out of the village. Little Liu Ying kept staring at the house until she could no longer see it.
After the typhoon, the water in the village receded in less than a day or two. The trees and debris that blocked the road took another two to three days to clean up, including burying the corpses of poultry and livestock everywhere to prevent the spread of the plague.
Her family and other villagers stayed in relief tents for several days before returning to their former home.
Some villagers' houses were washed away, so they could only continue to live in relief tents and wait for the village committee to build temporary housing.
Little Liu Ying's house was relatively sturdy, and it survived the typhoon safely. However, there was an obvious watermark on the wall, indicating where the water level had reached its highest point.
The fish tank was not in its original position. It lay quietly on the ground, but it was intact.
Because the highest point of the water level had exceeded the center of gravity of the fish tank, the fish tank had drifted away from its original position.
Not only the fish tank, but almost none of the cabinets, tables, beds, and furniture were left in their original positions. It was as if a grand party had been held while the owner was away.
There was still more than half of the water left in the fish tank. It was very turbid and had moss growing on it.
Little Liu Ying scooped it many times with a fishing net. There were no clownfish, sea anemones, or even their corpses in the fish tank.
"They have swum back to the sea." Grandma's wrinkled face smiled. "The Dragon King has come to pick them up."
Grandma was comforting her and telling her not to be sad.
Little Liu Ying believed it, but she still wanted to cry because the clownfish were her companions. She was the one who saved them from death. Even the Dragon King had no right to take them away.
In fact, somewhere in her heart, she felt that the clownfish should have died. All the poultry and livestock in the village had died in the typhoon, and many fish that were bigger than them had died. They floated on the water with their bellies up. How could they have survived?
The following days were very busy. Every family was rebuilding their homes and trying their best to make up for the losses caused by the typhoon.
When they were a little free, Grandma wanted to buy two more clownfish for Little Liu Ying, but she refused.
She remembered how helpless she was at that time. She couldn't protect the clownfish like this. Even if she bought more clownfish, they would still leave her when the next typhoon came.
Her parents' fishery suffered heavy losses in the typhoon. After discussing it, they decided to sell the fishery and change their career.
When summer was about to end, she left the small fishing village with her parents and went to a nearby city to seek refuge with relatives. She also went to primary school there.
Grandma was reluctant to leave her hometown for so many years, so she stayed in the small fishing village. Nominally, she was guarding the ancestral house. She heard that after Little Liu Ying left, she played mahjong again.
After Little Liu Ying went to primary school, she knew that the clownfish were probably really dead. Because the rain and stagnant water were freshwater, even if they escaped from the fish tank at the last moment, they couldn't swim back to the sea safely.
She occasionally went back during winter and summer vacations, but she became a little estranged from her grandma. The short and happy days were gone forever.
Later, her grandma died of illness.
After burying her grandma, her parents sold the old house in the village and bid farewell to the past. Little Liu Ying never returned to the small fishing village.
On that stormy day of the typhoon, she sat on the bed with her grandma with her feet raised, watching the rising water, and the dark fish tank, as well as the faint reflection in the fish tank before she left. It was firmly imprinted in her mind like a film that would never fade.
After Liu Ying finished her story, she was still immersed in the past.
In the beginning, everyone would interrupt her with a few words. Qin An, who was carrying the camera, would even make fun of her a little, but later on, everyone listened quietly to her story.
In the dimly lit aquarium, looking at the clownfish in the quarantine tank with a white membrane, everyone seemed to have gone back to more than 20 years ago. They carefully experienced Little Liu Ying's helpless feelings at that time. In the face of a disaster that could not be resisted by human power, only she cared about her companions in the fish tank.
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