"Let's go to Xinguang Village and take a look at the disaster situation in the village. We'll go back to the village for dinner after we confirm that there are no problems!"
After sitting in the car, Li Rui told Ma Yuming and the driver about the recent itinerary.
Although Ma Yuming and the driver were hungry, as Li Rui's followers, they naturally had to follow Li Rui's footsteps. Moreover, they were not very hungry and could still endure for a while, so they agreed.
It was very close and easy to get to Xinguang Village from Guyang Village. They followed the main north-south road in the village all the way north. After driving for five miles, they would reach Xinguang Village. As soon as they left the village, they could see the villagers of Xinguang Village who had been persuaded to return home. Some of them were riding bicycles, some were riding electric scooters, some were driving electric tricycles, and some were driving cars. They formed a unique scenery on the road.
Li Rui sat in the car and carefully observed their expressions. He found that most of them were very calm, as if they were not too affected by the disaster. This was understandable. This time, the majority of the villagers who came to the village to complain were the family members of the deceased and injured. However, there were not many of them, and the majority of them were the villagers who did not suffer any losses. Since they did not suffer any losses, naturally, they would not be too emotional. To put it bluntly, the attitude of most people now was that "it did not concern them, so they did not feel the pain." No matter how tragic other people died, how serious their injuries were, or how many houses collapsed, it had nothing to do with them. As long as the disaster did not affect them for the time being, they could be indifferent to it. Although it was unpleasant to hear, this was the truth.
When they were still three miles away from Xinguang Village, they could see small hills standing under the blue sky and white clouds not far ahead. Roughly counting, there were more than a dozen hills. The villages were scattered on the plains to the east of these hills. Many houses had corn stacks erected on them, and the yellow color was very obvious.
Ma Yuming pointed to the hills and introduced them to Li Rui, "Those hills are all coal hills. Most of them have been hollowed out. Xinguang Village is at the bottom of the hills."
Li Rui said, "Okay, let's go around the village when we reach it."
It did not take long. In a few minutes, they arrived at the village. This time, the west side of the village suffered the most from the collapse. A few houses in the north of the village also had cracks, but the south, middle, and east of the village, which were far away from the hills, were intact. At least on the surface, there was no damage. There was not even a crack on the ground. The police had already evacuated the residents in the west and put warning signs on the main road to remind the villagers not to go west.
Li Rui and the others drove around the south, east, and north of the village. They did not find any geological disasters, nor did they see any mass gatherings. Most of the villagers were still living their normal lives in their own homes. It seemed that the villagers living in the west side of the village were the most affected by the disaster. Then, they parked the car in front of the village's two committees and walked to the west side of the village.
When they arrived at the west side of the village, Li Rui frowned. It seemed that an earthquake had just happened. There were several large holes in the road that were six to seven meters deep. Below them was dark yellow soil. A few farmhouses nearby had collapsed. Some of the houses were still covered in bricks and mud. Some of the houses had completely fallen into the ground. There were only a few large heatable brick beds left in the yard. Not far away, there were also large cracks in the forest. Many large poplar trees were tilted up. There were no people or animals walking around. Even the most common dog in the village could not be seen. There was also no movement. Only the whistling of the wind could be heard. The scene was truly shocking.
After Long Baoyu saw it, she exclaimed with an exaggerated expression, "Oh my god, is this the Black Wind Demon?!"
Ma Yuming pointed to the nearest hill in the west. It was about two hundred meters away. The hill was not tall, and there was not a single blade of grass growing on it. He said, "The coal mountain that made the explosion should be this hill. It's the closest to the village, so the damage caused by the explosion was the greatest here."
Long Baoyu pointed to the ground and said, "The ground must have been hollow long ago. Otherwise, no matter how big the explosion was, it would not be able to create so many holes. Well, did it think it was an underground bomb, or a cluster bomb?! "
Li Rui asked the deputy director of the village police station who was in charge of evacuating the villagers. He asked if the villagers in the west side of the village had been evacuated.
The deputy director nodded and said, "Actually, there was no need to evacuate. After such a big incident, no one had the guts to stay. They all ran out without any mobilization."
Li Rui briefly pondered. The incident happened yesterday afternoon, and a night had passed since then. He asked, "Where are the villagers that ran out staying?"
The deputy director replied, "Hey, who doesn't have relatives or friends in the village? You can find any one of them to stay for three to five days."
Only then did Li Rui feel relieved and said, "In the afternoon, the technicians from the Provincial Geological and Environmental Monitoring Station will rush over to check the geological safety of the village. At that time, two of your comrades will be in charge of their security to ensure their safety."
The deputy director immediately agreed. His attitude was reassuring.
After a brief pondering, Li Rui felt that it was about time to return to the village for lunch. Thus, he led the team back.
After lunch, Li Rui rushed back to the Village Committee's courtyard to oversee the work. But even at 3 p.m., he still did not see Su Tao's shadow. He had no idea if Su Tao had found a place to take a nap or returned to the county.
At 4 p.m., Bo Yubing immediately rushed to Guyang Village after sending off the Vice-Chairman of the Municipal Political Consultative Conference, Song Pingan. She personally came to the scene to understand the situation.
Surprisingly, when Bo Yubing arrived, Su Tao, who had disappeared for half a day, suddenly appeared. Furthermore, he rushed out of the building as if he had been busy all this while.
When he saw Bo Yubing, before Li Rui could speak, Su Tao rushed forward to report the work that had been done since the morning. Su Tao's skin was really thick. He placed himself in the main position while Li Rui was at the bottom. He did not even mention Li Rui more than twice. He said that all the work was done by him and that he was the one who solved all the problems. For example, persuading the villagers to gather in the Village Committee's courtyard and setting up a temporary shelter. All of these were done by Li Rui, but he completely ignored Li Rui's contributions. He also talked a lot about his own "wise" actions, such as going to the village hospital to visit the injured and their families. He wasted a lot of saliva and spoke in a sincere and touching tone, as if he couldn't wait to portray himself as a good leader who loved the people.
Li Rui was not bothered by it. On the contrary, he wore a smile on his face. He wanted to see how thick Su Tao's skin could be.
"The county will pay for the treatment of the injured. Is that what you said?"
Bo Yubing's expression did not change after hearing Su Tao's report. She was still cold and indifferent as she raised a point that she did not understand.
Su Tao wanted to be praised by her, but he never expected that she would ignore his contributions. He couldn't help feeling a little disappointed as he nodded his head. "Yes, that's what I promised to the injured's family. That also calmed their emotions and helped us persuade the villagers to return. Otherwise, there would be a huge mess if things continued to develop."
Bo Yubing's face was as cold as ice. Her eyes were as cold as lightning. She stared into his eyes and said, "Who told you to say that?"
When Su Tao saw her gaze and heard her tone, he was frightened to the point that his heart skipped a beat. He suddenly realised that Li Rui did not receive her imperial edict, but made the decision on his own. If that was the case, then it would be time for him to take revenge on Li Rui. Haha! He pretended to look at Li Rui in disbelief and said, "I didn't say that. It was … it was County Magistrate Li who said it. I thought that he had received your approval before saying it. Could it be that … without your permission, he …"
He purposely did not finish his sentence, but he believed that Bo Yubing would understand the meaning behind his words.
Bo Yubing's cold gaze swept across his face before she turned away. She did not look at Li Rui and said in an indifferent tone, "I was just casually asking. So it wasn't you who said it."
Su Tao originally thought that he would succeed in sowing discord. Even if Bo Yubing did not reprimand Li Rui, she would still bear a grudge against him for his arrogance. But who knew that she would change her tone the moment she heard that it was Li Rui who said it. Su Tao was surprised and furious, but there was nothing he could do about it.
After Bo Yubing finished listening to the report from the village government, she took a car to the temporary settlement that was still being built. She raised a few requests, which were none other than 'complete the construction work quickly and with good quality, and ensure that the villagers who can't return to their homes can live comfortably'. After that, she went to Xinguang Village to check on the geological disaster.
At this moment, the technicians from the Provincial Geological and Environmental Monitoring Station had already arrived at the village and were conducting a geological survey. Bo Yubing brought Li Rui, Su Tao, and the rest around the village and found a technician to ask about the geological disaster in the village. The technician's answer was not optimistic. About a thousand mu of land in the west of the village had been severely damaged. It was roughly the size of a circle with the west of the village as the center and the distance between this point and the nearest coal mountain in the west as the radius. The ground in the south, east, and north of the village had not been inspected yet, but it should have been affected to a certain extent.
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