There were several more aftershocks after that.
Fortunately, none of them were very strong, and everyone managed to get through them safely.
Still, the children were badly frightened.
Shanshan was the youngest and simply couldn’t withstand such a shock. On top of that, she already had a slight fever and hadn’t been resting properly these past couple of days.
Now she finally couldn’t hold on any longer, by that evening her temperature shot up to nearly forty degrees Celsius, even edging toward forty-one.
Fortunately, Gu Zhengchu had prepared thoroughly in advance and had all kinds of medicine on hand, antipyretics, fever reducers, everything.
After taking several packets of medicine, the child’s condition finally began to improve.
Even so, it gave Shen Xi quite a scare. In a situation like this, they really couldn’t afford for anything else to go wrong.
Tongtong and Xiao Yu didn’t have fevers, but both children were injured to varying degrees.
Earlier, when Xiao Yu was at the gate, both his knees had slammed into the concrete ground.
At the time he was so frightened that he didn’t feel the pain, but once things settled down, he finally couldn’t hold back and started crying.
Only then did the adults realize that a large patch of skin had been scraped off his knees, smeared with blood and dirt, making it look terrifying.
Tongtong had a huge bump on his head. He couldn’t even say where he’d hit it.
Now it was swollen and shiny, and just looking at it made people ache for him.
Aside from the children, the adults also had various scrapes and sprains.
Old Master Gu treated everyone’s wounds one by one, with Shen Cong assisting him at his side.
Although Xiao Yu’s mother had come inside with everyone, her expression was numb, and her tears never stopped flowing.
Obviously, what she had experienced that day had exceeded what she could bear.
She had fallen badly herself earlier, but now it was as if she felt nothing at all, not even bothering to check her own injuries.
She only clutched her phone tightly, hoping desperately that the next moment it would ring with a call from her husband.
Shen Cong picked up the iodine solution and cotton swabs and walked over.
“Let me treat your wounds first,” she said. “Otherwise, when you go looking for people tomorrow, you won’t be able to walk.”
She had acted on instinct when she saved them just now.
No one could truly stand by without reaching out when someone right beside them was about to die.
But saving someone’s life didn’t mean being tied together from then on. There were already enough people in her family, Shen Cong had no desire to take on two more mouths to feed.
Besides, the relationship simply wasn’t that close.
So no matter what, she couldn’t let Zhou Ying collapse inside the house and be unable to go out later.
Xiao Yu’s mother didn’t know what Shen Cong was thinking. At this moment, she was filled with deep gratitude toward her.
She stood up, took the medicine, and said sincerely to Shen Cong, “Thank you, Xiao Shen. If it weren’t for you today, Xiao Yu and I would be dead. At a time like this, I won’t bother with polite words, but I, Zhou Ying, will remember this kindness. I will repay it one day.”
After speaking, she wiped her face hard, drying her tears, and looked at the rest of the Shen family.
“I caused you all trouble today. Thank you, truly, thank you.”
She bowed deeply to everyone.
“Why are you thanking us?” Cheng Ru waved her hand. “Anyone would lend a hand in a situation like that. There’s no need for thanks.”
Zhou Ying nodded gratefully at her, then continued, “Uncle, Auntie, I still need to ask you to take in Xiao Yu and me for tonight. With things like this outside, the two of us can’t go anywhere.
When it’s light tomorrow, we’ll leave. I still need to find his father and his grandparents, even if we die, we should die together as a family.”
By the time she finished that last sentence, tears were streaming down her face again.
“Don’t talk about dying,” Shen Jianyi said sternly. “If you managed to survive something like this, it means you’re blessed with good fortune. You got through such a huge disaster, after this, you won’t die so easily.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“Xiao Zhou, have you thought about what you’re going to do next?” Cheng Ru asked again.
The earthquake had just happened, what plans could anyone possibly have at a time like this?
Just staying alive was already hard enough.
But Cheng Ru still asked.
In the end, she had her own private considerations.
After all, they weren’t family. Lending a hand in a critical moment was one thing, but afterward, everyone still had to look out for themselves.
There were simply too many secrets in her own family, she had no intention of taking in an outsider under these circumstances.
Especially an outsider she barely knew.
Unexpectedly, Zhou Ying had already thought this through.
She said, “Auntie, I think the first thing I have to do is find Xiao Yu’s father. Once we find him, our family will go back to our hometown.
I don’t believe the whole country can be having earthquakes at the same time. My parents are in Pingchuan, we’ll go back there. At worst, we’ll start over from scratch.”
Pingchuan was known for producing jade, that was why their family could run a jade shop.
Hearing Zhou Ying say this, Shen Cong nodded in understanding.
These days, what people feared most was running into troublemakers.
Like Liu Xia and her son, people with bad intentions, no matter what they said, the Shen family would never agree to let them stay.
Someone like Zhou Ying, who clearly understood the situation the moment she spoke, was different. In the face of disaster, the Shen family was willing to let her stay temporarily.
That night, the adults hardly slept at all.
They lay down fully clothed, curled up on the living room sofa and floor mats, staying alert at all times.
The children slept for a while, but not soundly, every so often they were startled awake by nightmares, crying out again in the middle of the night.
At last, they endured until daybreak.
With Zhou Ying and her son present, Shen Cong couldn’t conveniently take things out of her storage space.
Fortunately, before the earthquake the family had been making buns. Some of the steamed ones had rolled onto the floor during the quake, but they hadn’t gone bad.
Peeling off the outer skin and tidying them up a bit, they were still edible.
In the morning, Cheng Ru brought out the buns, and the ten of them shared the meal together.
After eating, just as they had agreed the day before, Zhou Ying prepared to leave with her child.
Cheng Ru originally tried to persuade her to leave Xiao Yu behind first and come back for him after she found her husband.
But Zhou Ying insisted on taking her child with her.
It was clear she had truly made up her mind, if they were to die, they would die together as a family.
Since that was the case, there was no point in trying to persuade her further.
Shen Cong took out the clothes and sneakers she had bought for Tongtong and changed Xiao Yu into them.
She then packed an emergency bag, putting inside a rain poncho, a folding safety helmet, a flashlight, first-aid medicine, biscuits and candy, and two bottles of water.
She handed the bag to Zhou Ying, hesitated for a moment, then stuffed a collapsible self-defense baton into her hands as well.
Seeing all those things, Zhou Ying burst into tears again.
This time she didn’t say anything. She bowed deeply to the Shen family, took her son by the hand, and walked toward the door.
“Wait!” Shen Xi said, then ran back into the inner room.
When she came out again, she was carrying a pair of her own sneakers and a lightweight windbreaker.
“Put these on before you go.” She draped the jacket over Zhou Ying’s shoulders.
Zhou Ying’s tears fell drop by drop, but she obediently took off her sandals, changed into the sneakers, and put on the jacket.
After seeing Zhou Ying off, Shen Cong, Gu Kai, and Shen Jianyi also slung on their backpacks and took out tools that could be used for rescue, entrenching shovels, machetes, and the like.
They were preparing to go out and take a look.
To see what things were really like outside now.
Which places had been completely destroyed, and which had miraculously survived.
Whether there were any other survivors.
And whether government rescue teams had arrived.
Although their home still looked all right for the moment, and the family was safe and sound, survival itself didn’t seem to be a problem— they knew that outside there were surely many, many neighbors and companions like Zhou Ying who needed help.
When there was no other choice, people had to look out for themselves first.
But when they had the ability to lend a hand, they couldn’t bring themselves to survive alone with a clear conscience.
“I’d better go with you,” Gu Zhengchu said again unwillingly when he saw them heading out. “Your sisters-in-law and Xixi can take care of the kids just fine at home.”
“Dad, didn’t we agree?” Gu Kai replied. “Someone capable has to stay behind to guard the house.
Mom and my sister can clean up and look after the children, but if someone really breaks in, the two of them won’t be able to handle it. Don’t forget, we don’t even have a front gate anymore.”
“And what if Shanshan starts running a fever again? If we all leave, my sister won’t even be able to find help,”
Shen Cong patiently explained to her father-in-law once more.
Yesterday, while he was on the phone with his nephew, the earthquake struck out of nowhere. Hearing the screams coming through the line with his own ears had been a huge shock to the old man.
Over the course of just one night, he seemed to have aged several years.
At a time like this, no one wanted him to go out with them, what if he suffered another, even greater shock?
Gu Zhengchu understood the family’s good intentions and didn’t insist any further.
He nodded and said, “Then I’ll put together a fence and block off that opening too, so the kids don’t accidentally wander out and run into danger.”
The whole family nodded in agreement.
The bamboo grove that Shen Jianyi had always been so proud of had been completely ravaged by yesterday’s disaster.
Being able to make use of those bamboo poles now was probably the best possible end for them.
Shen Cong and the others left through the front of the house and walked east along the crack, toward what used to be the residential compound’s exit.
After walking about a hundred meters, they finally passed the narrowest section of the fissure, and the road ahead gradually widened.
By this point, the three of them had figured it out: the massive crack extending in both directions was shaped somewhat like a wide-mouthed “V,” with the Shen family’s home located right at the bottom of the V.
Walking forward along one of the slanted sides, they could see not only rubble but also one or two houses that were still relatively intact.
Especially in some of the houses that had been occupied, faint yellow light could be seen inside, probably candles or emergency lamps.
All of this meant that the people inside were still alive.
Where there were people, there was hope.
Seeing those lights made all three of them feel a little more at ease.
They walked on for a while longer when Shen Jianyi suddenly stopped and shouted loudly toward a villa ahead, “Old Qian! Is that you? Old Qian!”
Hearing his voice, two people who were heading into the house stopped and turned to look in their direction.
When the man recognized Shen Jianyi, he became excited as well, waved his hand, and ran toward them.
Shen Cong recognized the couple too, they were neighbors from the compound.
Uncle Qian, whose surname was Qian, was her father’s fishing buddy; they would arrange to go fishing together every few days.
Old friends meeting again after surviving a disaster, it was an intimacy beyond words.
As the two old men talked, their voices even choked with emotion.
“What’s the situation now? Isn’t your house up ahead? Why are you here now? How many people are left in our compound? How many didn’t make it?”
Shen Jianyi fired off a string of questions anxiously.
Old Qian wiped his tears and said, “It’s terrible. The two rows of villas in front of your place are completely gone, four detached houses and four townhouses. That’s twelve units in total!
Fortunately, not many people were living in those houses. Otherwise, no matter who was inside, there would’ve been no escaping death.”
Old Qian’s words made everyone feel heavy-hearted.
Even though he said not many people lived there, everyone knew there were people living there after all.
For example, Zhou Ying’s family, who lived directly across from them, had been in one of those detached villas.
And besides Zhou Ying, there had to be others, Shen Cong had seen cars parked in front of some of those houses before.
At this moment, though, everyone sincerely hoped one thing—
That those neighbors hadn’t been home.
“How’s your place holding up?” Old Qian asked with concern. “From a distance I saw that your courtyard wall didn’t collapse. You should be all right, right?”
His wife chimed in from the side. “I was scared to death yesterday. I was standing right in the yard and saw the ground split open in front of your gate with my own eyes. I was terrified!
I really thought we were all done for. Who would’ve thought we’d actually survive? Heaven truly watched over us!
We’re blessed, really blessed.”
Old Qian’s wife’s surname was Jiao, and she was clearly a talkative woman.
As she spoke, she kept patting her chest quickly, her tone full of the emotions of having survived a catastrophe.
But the Shen family wasn’t in the mood for small talk right now.
After responding perfunctorily, Shen Cong pressed on, “Auntie, you came out early, have you seen anyone else from the compound? We only ran into the two of you along the way.
Phones don’t work, there’s no network signal either, and we have no idea what’s going on outside. Has anyone gone out to check?”
“Nothing works, not just for us. The property management people are frantic. They couldn’t even reach anyone to ask for help.
They sent someone out this morning, but the roads were all cut off and completely impassable, so the person had to come back.
They’re short-handed now, only three people left, and can’t spare anyone to go out again. As for whether anyone else went out, I really don’t know.”
Aunt Jiao was clearly the worrying type, even at a time like this, she was still unusually well-informed.
Her mouth kept going nonstop:
“Oh dear, the people from the property management office are really unlucky. The earthquake collapsed the roof of their office.
They say one person’s leg was crushed on the spot, and another got a concussion from being hit.
They came around earlier looking for help, saying the high-rise area is complete chaos. Compared to that, our place is actually not too bad. I heard it’s much worse over there, lots of people died!
But Old Qian and I are already this old. What can we really do?”
“Where are the property management people now?” Gu Kai couldn’t listen anymore and cut her off.
“They’re probably busy everywhere. They set up a relief station over by the property office and said people can go there if they need help.
We went to take a look just now, there’s only one tent, and it’s tiny. It’s full of injured people, and there isn’t even anywhere for others to sit.
They don’t provide food or lodging either, so Old Qian and I talked it over and decided to stay at home instead, not add to the authorities’ burden.”
At that point, she seemed to suddenly remember what she had been doing earlier.
She subconsciously stepped back two paces, retreating behind her husband, and hid the plastic bag in her hand behind her back as well.
Then, a little awkwardly, she asked Shen Cong, “You still have food at home, right? If not, you’d better hurry and look for some. This disaster is serious, and who knows when government aid will arrive. You can’t survive without food.”
Shen Cong had already noticed the few grimy packs of instant noodles in her bag, clearly scavenged from beneath the rubble.
She knew the couple had taken advantage of the chaos, while everyone else was too overwhelmed to care, to rummage through the belongings of families who had been buried.
Having lived through the apocalypse once before, she had seen this sort of thing many times.
Not just scavenging from the dead, within a couple of years, things far worse than this would be everywhere.
She was long past being shocked by it, and she certainly wasn’t going to judge others over something like this.
On the contrary, she thought the couple were actually being smart.
Not many households around here had supplies. If you didn’t look now, there would be nothing left later.
And in weather this hot, even food would spoil quickly.
After saying goodbye to the couple, the three of them headed toward the compound’s temporary relief station.
By then, nearly twenty people had already gathered there.
It was obvious that the property management office had also suffered severe damage, the three-story building was now little more than an empty shell.
Fortunately, a large portion of the supplies stored inside had been salvaged.
If what Aunt Jiao said was true, that only three people were left working for the property management, then they must have been working incredibly hard and handling a great deal on their own.
It was still early, not even eight o’clock yet.
But on the open ground in front of the property office, a tent had already been set up, with two canvas sunshades like the ones commonly used for outdoor promotions in summer standing beside it.
Inside the tent were likely the severely injured. From the outside, it was clear that they had all received basic bandaging, and family members were staying by their sides.
Under the sunshades, the ground was covered with cardboard, on top of which lay strips of red fabric banners laid out haphazardly. Some were obviously pulled from the rubble, dirty and torn, in a sorry state.
Five or six injured people were sprawled out on the banners, groaning in pain.
Nearby, several others sat on the ground with their backs against the wall, their expressions strained with suffering.
They all appeared to have injuries of varying severity, some wounds still bleeding.
Their conditions weren’t as serious as those inside the tent, though.
Sitting here, they were likely waiting their turn to have their wounds treated.
A young man squatted with his back to the outside next to one of the injured, fumbling clumsily as he tried to bandage a wound. It was clear he had been pressed into service at the last minute, his movements extremely awkward.
“I’ll do it,” Shen Cong said, striding over.
After returning from Nan’an in her previous life, she had volunteered with her father-in-law at the village clinic.
She couldn’t treat illnesses, but she was very used to bandaging wounds.
“Sis, you know how?!” The young man lit up when he saw someone stepping in to help.
“Go ahead, go ahead!”
He didn’t even wait for Shen Cong to answer, like shedding a burden, he quickly grabbed the medical kit beside him and stuffed it into her arms.
Only then did he rub his nose awkwardly and say, “Sis, all the medicine we’ve got in the compound is in here. There’ll probably be more injured people coming later. You… just use it as you see fit.”
After that, he turned around and finally noticed Gu Kai and Shen Jianyi standing behind her, his face breaking into another look of delight.
He rattled off questions excitedly, “You’re here to help too, right?”
And when he saw the entrenching tools and axe they were holding, his eyes lit up so brightly they practically shone.
He was so excited he looked like he was about to jump, shouting loudly, “That’s great, that’s great, you actually have tools!”
He quickly turned back to Shen Cong, his face full of anticipation, and asked, “Sis, can you help keep an eye on things here? I’ll take them over there to help, okay?
My colleague will be bringing injured people over later. If anything comes up, you can look for him then.”
The young man had probably only been working for a short time. He lacked experience and still carried an air of youth about him.
He didn’t even realize that Shen Cong and the others were residents themselves and might have come seeking help.
To him, seeing them was like seeing family. He immediately assigned tasks to their whole group.
And his eyes were filled with trust and expectation— making it impossible to say no.
Fortunately, Shen Cong and the others had come precisely to help.
“Don’t rush. You need to tell me what the situation is like over there first, so I know how to allocate these medicines,”
Shen Cong said quickly, pointing at the medical kit.
At her question, the young man’s eyes immediately dimmed.
He lowered his head, his voice heavy. “It’s terrible. There aren’t many people in the villa area, so it’s not as bad here, but the high-rise section… you can’t even bear to look at it.
My colleague just said, when he came back to get the cart, that a lot of people are still trapped underneath.”
The group fell silent at once.
Shen Cong took over the young man’s duties, while Gu Kai and the others went with him to the high-rise area.
ᘻᘿᓍᘺ
The entire morning, Shen Cong didn’t move from her spot.
She stayed beneath that sunshade the whole time.
At first she squatted; later, when she could no longer hold the position, she half-knelt as she stopped bleeding and bandaged wounds.
By the time someone finally remembered to bring her a small stool, both her legs were so numb they barely felt like her own anymore.
Not long after Gu Kai and the others left, a three-wheeled cart carrying injured people was brought over.
That three-wheeled cart was the same one they had previously lent to the security guards and hadn’t yet gotten back.
According to the people who brought the injured over, two buildings in the high-rise area had collapsed, and another had sunk straight into the ground with the people inside, there was no way to carry out any rescue at all.
Counting both property management staff and security guards, there were only about a dozen people in total. In a situation like this, that was nowhere near enough. Right now, most of the rescue efforts there were being carried out by residents themselves.
From last night until now, several groups had gone out to seek help, but not a single one had returned with good news.
Those who had no choice but to come back said that conditions outside were no better than inside the compound. Roads were gone, and in some places even the terrain itself had changed.
Not only had several huge fissures appeared, but between Yingshui Village and their residential complex, a small hill had inexplicably risen out of nowhere!
It was simply unimaginable.
Given the situation, it was impossible to know how long they would have to wait for government rescue.
For now, they could only rely on themselves.
But without tools, and with a shortage of medicine, how could they rescue anyone?
Even if people were pulled out, how many would survive without timely treatment?
As he spoke, the man, already in his forties, suddenly squatted down, clutching his head and sobbing aloud.
That alone was enough to show just how horrific the situation over there truly was.
Shen Cong silently took some medicine for treating external injuries from her personal storage and, when no one was paying attention, slipped it quietly into the medical kit.
At this moment, that was all she could do.
Around noon, Old Master Gu came over.
He was carrying a lunchbox in his hand and his usual medical kit slung over his shoulder.
As soon as he entered the area beneath the sunshade, he pushed Shen Cong aside and took her place.
“Go eat. I’ll handle things here.”
Shen Cong didn’t argue. She stepped aside, opened the lunchbox, and ate quickly.
She knew that every second counted right now, if they could treat one injured person a bit sooner, it might reduce the chance of infection for that person.
After finishing her meal in just a few bites, Shen Cong slung another medical kit over her shoulder and ran off toward the high-rise area on her own.
She knew that area needed more hands.
What Shen Cong didn’t expect was that someone had arrived even earlier than her.
Before she even reached the door connecting the high-rise section to where she was, she saw a familiar figure from a distance.