Chapter 58 Tangshan, Earthquake

Steep River Reservoir, in the eastern suburbs of Tangshan City.

Zhang Chaodong is a very common name in this era, and his home is on the edge of the reservoir. After three years of natural disasters, the Zhang family was gone, and the last family left only his mother and him. He was born in five or six years, and he is twenty years old this year, which is the time when he is strong.

After the natural disaster, he had a new nickname, Dog Leftover, and his mother said that people with cheap names live longer. With the help of his neighbors and the government, he grew up day by day. In the production team, vegetables from the city are supplied. Every morning, as soon as the morning dawns, the old captain Wang Tiezhu's broken gong voice begins to shout on the radio: "Attention comrades of the society, go to work, carry out the dictatorship of the proletariat!" ”

This was followed by the daily routine of revolutionary songs, first of course, "Dongfang Hong". When he was a child, every morning, he would sing along to the tweeter with a group of children. Day after day, year after year, the puppy of the year has become Zhang Chaodong today.

This year has been a very unhappy year for him. On the eve of the Spring Festival, the beloved prime minister was lost. After the Spring Festival, the commune required its members to conduct an earthquake drill once a week. Anything has a novelty at the beginning, and after a long time you get tired of it. However, whenever the alarm sounded, he habitually picked up the old lady and hurried to the team's barn.

On July 6, news of the death of the commander-in-chief came over the radio. At the age of twenty, when he was a child, he saw his grandparents, father, brothers and sisters passing away one after another, and he was a little silent about death. But he was also very sad about the death of the boss and saw his mother who kept sobbing.

The next day, he tied black yarn and pushed the cucumbers and peppers in the team with a cart to deliver them to the grain depot in Lunan. Originally, the tractors of the supply and marketing cooperatives were often pulled. It is said that it has broken down in the past two days, and it is Qian Daqiang, the son of the director of the supply and marketing cooperative, who drives the tractor.

Speaking of this Qian Daqiang, they still have a grudge. When they were young, the two of them were classmates. Qian Daqiang's family is as poor as Zhang Chaodong's family, it is said that the children of such two families cherish each other. However, Qian Daqiang's family is his father, who is lazy and lazy, and causes trouble outside all day long. That kid has liked to fight since he was a child, and he is a famous fighting king in the village.

There is a female classmate in the class, Li Xiaohong, who is from the city, and her grandmother is the fifth grandmother on the team. In Zhang Chaodong's memory, Li Xiaohong was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Qian Daqiang sat at the back of the classroom, and Li Xiaohong sat in front of Zhang Chaodong. I don't know what's going on, one day Qian Daqiang snatched Li Xiaohong's head rope away, and she was so aggrieved that tears rolled in her eyes.

Zhang Chaodong saw it and walked directly in front of Qian Daqiang: "Take it!" ”

"Who do you think you are? Dog leftovers! Dog leftovers are dogs that don't eat them, and they dare to compete with me? I'll beat you to death! Qian Daqiang said, and his fist stretched out.

That was the only one in Zhang Chaodong's life, although he was a few years older than the other party, but due to malnutrition, he was not as tall as the other party. In the end, he won, but his clothes were torn in half, and when he returned home, his wife was beaten up.

After graduating from junior primary school, Zhang Chaodong was promoted to senior primary school with all five points.

On the day of graduation, Li Xiaohong, who usually handed over the head rope he snatched to her, gave him a fruit candy and said to him: "Zhang Chaodong, my parents took me back to the city to go to school, see you again." ”

After saying that, he ran away, and the bow flying on his head was so beautiful.

When I got home, my mother had already made noodles. It seems to be the first noodle meal in my life. He ate the noodles in one go, and drank all the noodle soup in the pot.

Mom was very happy, and a few potatoes in the bowl didn't move: "Old son, you have also graduated from junior high school." When my mother said this, she couldn't say any more, and she sobbed there.

"Mom, Mom, don't cry. What's the matter, you say! Zhang Chaodong also knows the hard work of his mother, doing the same work as a man in the field every day, other people's work is seven points, and his mother only has five points. The children of the poor are in charge of the family early, and he only went to school at the age of nine, and he is already sensible.

"Mom, I don't read anymore. I will also participate in labor from tomorrow. With that, he rushed to the edge of the reservoir and watched blankly as the fish swam in it. The sun was about to set, and his mother kept calling him to go home.

"Mom, I won't go to the ground today, Uncle Tiezhu asked me to deliver vegetables to the grain depot in Lunan." Zhang Chaodong wore a vest, went home and took off his straw hat, and wiped the sweat beads on his face with a sweat towel.

It's too hot.

In the past two years, his mother's health has deteriorated, and Zhang Chaodong can get the highest ten points of work every day, so he won't let his mother work in the field. However, during the busy farming season, my mother still has to help, and usually sends food to her son to the field every day.

"This is a light job, do it well, don't embarrass Uncle Tiezhu. Old son, you wait, Mom will make you some bread to eat on the road. ”

"No, Mom, I'm full. Mom, don't be busy, I'll go first. After speaking, Gu Du poured a bowl of tea into his mouth, wiped his mouth with his hands, put a sweat towel on his shoulder, put on a straw hat and went out.

Qian Daqiang's father is a stinky scoundrel, but it is said that this person is very ruthless, and the former director of the supply and marketing cooperatives was crippled by him. Later, he became the director of the supply and marketing cooperative, and Qian Daqiang also became a tractor driver.

That kid is really not a thing, he doesn't pay attention to anyone when he sees it, and he calls Uncle Tiezhu "Old Wangtou". I'm bah, Zhang Chaodong thought of Qian Daqiang, "horn" spit a mouthful, resting on the road, his mouth was very thirsty.

"Kid, give!" Another one pulling a cart was Uncle Wu, a veteran from the same village, because he was injured when he was beating Lao Maozi and couldn't do heavy work, so he was arranged by the team to pull the cart.

Today, when the road was flat and downhill, Uncle Wu was still able to hold on. Every small uphill, in fact, there is not a very steep slope here, Zhang Chaodong pulled his car to the top of the slope, and then went to pull it up for Uncle Wu. Uncle Wu's military kettle is very beautiful, and the words "serving the people" in Taizu style are a little blurred on it.

"Third uncle, how long is it left?" Zhang Chaodong took a sip happily. Usually, Uncle Wu pulls a cart every day, giving the team ramen, oil, bean cakes, or something, and is very familiar with this road.

"It's going to be soon, and it's only going to be there in more than ten minutes."

When he arrived at the grain depot, Uncle Wu went to find someone from the canteen to weigh it, and he guarded the car.

"Eh, these cucumbers look so beautiful, like they've just been plucked from the ground." A female voice said.

"Not really. When I was a child, I often went to my grandmother's house to steal food, and I remember one time I had diarrhea after eating too much. Another female voice continued.

Looking back, two young girls walked in through the gate.

"Sister Xiaohua, you see, I chose the right grain depot when I distributed it. If you can meet someone as good as Sister Xiaohua, you can still eat vegetables that have just come down from the ground every day. The girl continued.

"No, isn't it fresh for your family every day?" The first female voice answered. This girl pulled up a bun that symbolizes women, and she should have been married not long ago. The other girl, with big eyes and a high nose, squinted as if she was smiling.

"Li Xiaohong!" Zhang Chaodong is blessed to the soul. The two girls looked at him in surprise.

"Who are you?" asked Sister Xiaohua vigilantly to ask him.

"I, I'm Zhang Chaodong. Li Xiaohong, you don't know me anymore? Zhang Chaodong was a little excited.

"Oh my God, are you really Zhang Chaodong?" Li Xiaohong walked quickly to his side, raised her hand from her forehead, and then reached his shoulder: "Why are you so tall?" ”

Zhang Chaodong smiled embarrassedly.

"Yo, facing east, have you met an acquaintance?" Third Uncle Wu had already come with someone who had been weighed, carrying a scale in his hand.

"Li Xiaohong, my junior classmate. By the way, you were in the army for a few years. The daughter of the aunt of the fifth grandmother's family. By the way, this is the third uncle, the old Wu family in the west of the village, the People's Liberation Army, do you remember, Li Xiaohong? Zhang Chaodong is usually a little wooden, and he didn't expect to speak very neatly today.

"Huh? Then I should be called the third uncle, right? Hello third uncle. Li Xiaohong screamed sweetly.

The village uses a tractor to deliver vegetables, and there will be a discount every time, and the most one is more than 100 catties. Go and ask for a tractor, Uncle Tie Zhu still has to say bad things.

These days, the farm work is not busy, and Uncle Tiezhu specially arranges people. Since then, Zhang Chaodong has taken over the work of delivering food. Of course, not every time it is delivered to the grain depot, sometimes it is also sent to other units. However, every time Zhang Chaodong went, he would stuff Li Xiaohong with a little vegetable.

She went from pushing and not at the beginning, to now waiting for him at the gate at noon every day. She also told him that after graduating from secondary school, she asked to be assigned to the grain depot in Lunan, but she didn't expect to meet him. Zhang Chaodong went and was taken to the cafeteria to eat. Sister Xiaohua laughed at her several times about this.

Seeing that it was about to be the end of the month, Xiaohong said that she would pay her salary on the 30th and buy herself a gift. Zhang Chaodong rummaged in his pocket for a long time, the total is six cents and five, and he has to buy her a gift when the time comes, what should I buy?

Mother Zhang naturally saw her son's strange appearance, and secretly asked Uncle Wu. The granddaughter of the fifth aunt's family was very beautiful when she was a child. But my family is rural, and I am so poor, do people look up to our family? She was a little worried. Oh my god, rats, a lot of rats.

"Old son, old son, come out quickly." Zhang's mother shouted loudly.

"Mom, Mom, what's wrong?" Zhang Chaodong had just returned home, and his breath had not yet rested.

"Look there, rats, lots of rats." Zhang's mother was so frightened that she hid in the child's arms.

"Mom, it's okay, your son is here." Zhang Chaodong gently stroked his mother's back and slapped his chest with a crackle: "Your son is tall and good, he is not afraid of anything." ”

Zhang's mother looked at her son and felt that she was making a fuss. Standing on tiptoe and touching his son's face, there was some gray on it: "Son, just now I went to pick pumpkins at your father's grave, which frightened me, and a few weasels kept spinning there." Finally, I didn't pick the pumpkins, and I ran back. ”

"Smack", as he was talking, a voice came from the side.

"Oh, little swallow, you can't fly yet. Old son, get a ladder and send the little swallow back. ”

Zhang Chaodong hurriedly listened to his mother's words and sent the little swallows to the nest, and there were three little swallows inside. Seeing Zhang Chaodong climb up, the big swallow flew away in fright. As soon as the ladder was moved, all three of them fell down this time.

"Son, don't send it. I saw it, it was the big swallow that threw it down with its beak. Hearing his mother's words, Zhang Chaodong looked at it, isn't it? There should be five little swallows in total, and the two big swallows screamed sadly, and flew away with the two that could fly, and the two looked at each other.

"No matter, Mom, let's leave it at home first, let's catch some caterpillars to feed them." As he spoke, he put on a sweat towel and went out: "Mom, I'll go to the reservoir to take a bath." ”

"Be careful, when you were a child, how many times did your mother beat you when she swam for you." Zhang's mother watched Zhang Chaodong walk away, and was still muttering: "Old son, you are my mother's heart." If something happens to you, how do you want your mother to live? ”

"Huhuhu", Zhang Chaodong was thinking about the gift, and didn't pay attention to what "popped" and was hit in the face. Kindness? What's going on? There are a lot of dragonflies, overwhelmingly coming. Seeing this, Zhang Chaodong immediately covered his head with a sweat towel. After a while, I didn't hear a sound before I took it off. Good guy, I'm afraid it's more than 200 meters wide, and it's all dragonflies.

stripped himself naked in three or two, and Zhang Chaodong quickly went into the water. Ever since he was a child, he liked to be bare-bottomed in the water, how free. His mother beat him a few times, and he finally knew what was going on. When I came home in the summer, the first thing my mother did was to pull him over, scratch her nails on her arm, and spank him when she saw that it was a white mark. One day, after swimming, he went crazy with the children for a long time, and scratched it by himself after the worst, but there was no mark! It turns out that if you sweat, there is no mark. Since then, he has not been beaten for swimming.

Why is the water so muddy? Zhang Chaodong's water nature is one of the best in the village. He likes a fierce man to plunge into the water and watch the fish swim around with his eyes open. The water is so muddy today that I can't see anything. Hastily rubbed a sweat towel on his body twice, and then went ashore.

He casually plucked a dog's tail grass on the shore, and pulled off the tail on it, breaking the teeth. Eh, why did such a small fish fly so high, Zhang Chaodong felt very strange, seeing the small fish jumping from the water into the air and falling to the surface of the water, there motionless. There are a lot of fish on the water, is it someone else who has put pesticides? He crouched down and fished a fish. It's alive! He threw it down, pulled up his trouser legs, took a few steps into the water, and fished a few more, all alive. Come to your nose and smell it, there is no smell of pesticides. The fish were still jumping out of the water, and he scooped up a fish that had just fallen, and looked left and right. Could it be that the fish jumped up on its own and knocked itself unconscious?

Suddenly, he felt like he was missing something.

The rat runs, the swallow escapes, the weasel that Mom said is spinning, the dragonfly just now is also running away, and the fish commits suicide.

Earthquake! It's an earthquake coming! He strung to the shore in three steps and two steps, picked up his shoes and ran.

"Mom, Mom, Mom!" He ran to the door of his house out of breath, where his mother was waiting for a few little swallows.

"Earthquake, Mom, earthquake." He shouted to his mother. Then he said all these precursors, and Zhang's mother's face changed. This year, the team has been talking about the precursors of earthquakes, isn't that all?

"Son, what should I do?" Zhang's mother was anxious.

"Mom, it's okay, I'm here." Zhang Chaodong touched his anxious mother's head.

"Mom, I'm going to the city, I'm going to see Li Xiaohong." Zhang Chaodong said excitedly to his mother.

"Okay, son, mom will go with you, and our mother will die together." Zhang's mother said, went in and took a bag, put two changes of clothes, and carefully put the three little swallows in.

When the two of them rushed to the grain depot, Li Xiaohong was at the door of the grain depot. Seeing Zhang Chaodong, he suddenly threw himself into his arms: "Zhang Chaodong, everyone is saying that there is an earthquake tonight, I am on duty these days, I am so scared." ”

"Don't be afraid, good, I'm here. Come on, this is my mom. Zhang Chaodong took Li Xiaohong's hand.

"Mom, hello!" As soon as he finished speaking, he realized that something was wrong, and beat Zhang Chaodong's chest: "It's all you, it's all you!" ”

Zhang's mother watched from the side, with a happy smile on her face.

At this time, a group of soldiers came over. They were holding a flag in their hands, and when Zhang Chaodong looked at it, it read "Mountain Division Detachment of Huacheng Military Region".

"Comrades, now the signs of the earthquake are already clear. We're in charge of the grain depot tonight. Now, let's move the food to the open as much as possible. Who is in charge? "The officer didn't look very old, but he looked imposing.

"I, I'm on duty." Li Xiaohong pushed Zhang Chaodong away and said tremblingly.

"Do you have a treasury key? Please open the door immediately. The officer-like man said.

Because of the earthquake drills, everyone was sure that there would be an earthquake soon. Besides, where there is danger, there is the People's Liberation Army. has always emphasized that in this era, there are no liars or anything. Dare to pretend to be the People's Liberation Army, that is to seek death.

"It's good, it's good." Li Xiaohong hurriedly went to open the doors of the two warehouses.

"Stand upright, look to the right, look forward, and count!"

The sound of one after another opened the eyes of Zhang Chaodong and the three of them, and they could see the drills of the People's Liberation Army up close, what a happy thing it was.

"Report to the instructor, the rescue detachment should be 150 people, but it is 150 people, please instruct."

"Li Yuanjun, you take a row of people to the warehouse on the left."

"Yes!"

"Ou Xujiang, you take the second row of people to the warehouse on the right."

"Yes."

"Zhu Jianquan, you take the third platoon of people to protect the scene with me, ready to replace the tired comrades-in-arms at any time."

"Yes!"

"Fellow, are there enough carts in there?" He turned his head to Li Xiaohong and said that he nodded when he saw her: "By the way, please boil some boiling water, Xie Luxie." ”

Zhang Chaodong watched the blood boiling next to him. Since childhood, he has had a dream of being a soldier. It's a pity that when I grew up, I couldn't let go of my mother, and I never went to the army. Seeing that the soldiers were busy, he hurried to help. Zhang's mother and Li Xiaohong kept boiling water and put boiling water in buckets. When the soldiers came, they filled their military kettles.

There was indeed too much food, and it was busy until one o'clock in the evening before all the food was transferred. The soldiers fell asleep on the edge of the grain pile, with their backpacks on their backs.

Everyone should know the way, yes, this instructor is Wushan. The mountain brigade was upgraded to a mountain division within a few days after the exercise, and it was an independent division, and Old Man Xu recruited three more regiments of recruits. The reconnaissance company was expanded into a battalion directly under the division headquarters. Everyone was promoted accordingly, and the identity of the instructor of Wushan Company is said to be ready to be promoted. Liu Taimeng and Xu Shiyou reported the situation and talked about Wushan, but they were vetoed by the old man Zhao Lisheng who was sitting on the side.

The battle of the Jingshi in this life is not as strong as in the previous life. Although seeing the death of the Prime Minister and the Commander-in-Chief, the momentum over there has risen slightly, but it is just a disease of scabies.

Because of Xiao Jun's attention, Wu Zhen also reported to the central government, and this time the country attached unprecedented importance to the Tangshan earthquake. Wushan has always wanted to personally participate in the earthquake relief, so he went to General Xu Shiyou to ask for his life and came over with the company. The company commander and deputy company commander are good at training, and they are then training the recruits.

After this period of busyness, the comrades-in-arms have fallen asleep, and even the family of three of the fellow has spread a reed mat next to it and fell asleep. Wushan is very excited, he can personally participate in this event, and he can also do his best for the villagers in Tangshan. In a daze, he also fell asleep unconsciously.

Kindness? The ground is shaking up and down. Later, the comrades-in-arms who went through two more exercises were quite vigilant and stood up in unison.

Earthquake, earthquake is coming!