He got out of bed in the dark, touched the ground with his feet, and stepped on a foot of water.

Before you know it, the water has flooded into the house.

Lu Zhou: "Brother? ”

Lu Xu: "Don't come down, it's waterlogged." ”

He touched his clothes from the bed and put them on, poured out the stagnant water poured into his shoes, and couldn't tell whose shoes it was, so he put them on indiscriminately, and put them on the stool, Lu Xu bent down and picked up the other shoes and put them on the stool, and went out with an umbrella.

As soon as he opened the door, the louder sound of rain filled the house, and it was very dark, Lu Xu walked out in the dark, and sure enough, he heard the sound of gongs.

The master's family also got up, they lit the only oil lamp in the house, Lu Xu saw the light, and hurriedly shouted: "Uncle, what's wrong?" ”

The owner said: "I don't know, it looks like water, I'll go to the street to take a look." ”

Lu Xu thought for a moment, "I'll go with you." ”

The situation on the street is similar to where they live, there is standing water everywhere, and there are people running here with their families.

The terrain here is higher than the rest of the place, and it is dark and they don't know what is going on elsewhere.

When asked on the road, no one could explain clearly.

The official who sounded the gong to warn him kept ringing from a distance, which made people feel anxious to hear.

Lu Xu went back with the male owner of the borrowed household, woke everyone in the family up, and went door to door knocking on the doors of the neighbors, so that no one could hear and be trapped at home.

Lu Xu has never encountered a flood when he is so big, the outside is full of water, and the room is also full of water.

He went back and forth, flustered, and forced to calm down.

"Brother, come up too."

The stagnant water had already passed through his calves, and there was not much left from the fire kang, so Lu Zhou stood on the fire kang and urged him.

Lu Xu gritted his teeth, swept the things on the table away, moved the table to the bed, and moved the chair floating in the water as well.

"If the water goes over the bed, you two will stand on the table, and if the water will go to the window, we will go out, and I will push you out of the window, and if there is water outside the window, we will take a stool and smash the roof open, and we will go out from above."

Lu Zhou froze and let out a loud "um".

Yan Junqi stretched out his hand, and Lu Xu grabbed his hand and climbed onto the bed.

The rest of the day, none of the three slept.

Lu Xu also took out half of the cake left over during the day and broke it into three parts, and distributed it to Yan Junqi and Lu Zhou to eat.

"Hurry up and eat two bites, save up your strength, as long as you grasp the wood, even if there is a big flood, we can survive it."

In the dark night, Lu Xu heard Yan Junqi and Lu Zhou laughing, and he reached out to hug his younger brother and Junqi.

After staying up until dawn, the flood waters finally receded.

When I could see the ground, there was only ankle-deep water left on the ground.

The tamped ground is soaked softly, step on it, step by step in the mud, and walk with your feet up like pulling a turnip from the mud in autumn.

When Lu Xu went out, the rain outside had stopped, and the yard and county were all trapped in the yellow mud.

The host's family looked at the mess in a place, with both joy and fear for the rest of his life after the catastrophe, and helplessness who didn't know what to do, and he wanted to cry without tears.

His family is in good condition, the neighbor's house in the distance, the old house has been collapsed by the flood, and the family's cry can be heard across the entire alley.

Lu Zhou looked over there, his face pale.

Lu Xu went to the stable to look at the mules, but fortunately, he was afraid that the quilt would be wet on the day he borrowed it, so he piled all the quilts and mats on the box, and it was not very wet at this time.

Inside the mule cart, the box was only wet to the bottom.

Lu Xu opened it and saw that it was the wet box containing clothes and shoes.

Thanks to Yuan Manniang, the shoes were wrapped in oiled paper, and the shoes were padded under the clothes, and the clothes on them were not wet.

Lu Xu cleaned up the mud from the mouth of the carriage, put the wet mat on the roof of the carriage to dry, fed the mule some dried beans, and wiped the mud on its legs.

It must have freaked out last night too.

Lu Xu checked the things, went to help the master's house, fished out the things trapped in the mud, and went to help the neighbor's house, carrying the injured neighbor to the hospital.

The hospital was overcrowded.

The elderly and children who were frightened and had a fever, the people who soaked in the rain and the cold, the people whose houses collapsed and were injured by smashing, and the people who fell and were injured when running to high places......

Even the doctor's own face was covered with mud and wounds.

was busy until the afternoon, and Lu Xu was dizzy with hunger.

The host's food was soaked, the firewood was wet, the old lady in the family was frightened and had a fever, half of the people were busy taking care of the old lady, and half of the people were busy sending the children to the high ground near the yamen for refuge, and there was no one to cook at all.

Lu Xu waded through the mud and bought a large bag of steamed buns from a steamed bun shop next to the yamen.

It's all right here!

It's just that a bun has risen from eight yuan to twenty yuan.

At this time, he didn't care about whether the price would rise or not, Lu Xu gnawed off one as he walked, and took the rest back to Lu Zhou and Yan Junqi.

The two of them are still helping their neighbors find things and take care of the elderly and children.

When Lu Xu went back, the yamen had already come over and called someone to repair the river embankment.

Except for the passers-by and accompanying companions who want to enter Beijing to catch the exam, everyone else has to go.

Yan Junqi's face was very bad: "Just now, the official sent to inform me that the stone bridge completely collapsed last night, and they will repair the suspension bridge first on the third or fifth day to let the candidates pass." ”

Lu Xu couldn't help frowning.

Drawbridge.

Their mule carts simply couldn't get through.

Lu Xu looked at Yan Junqi, and then at Lu Zhou, "Let's go over and have a look." ”

Each of them took two buns and handed out the rest to the old people and children who had not left.

By the time they found the yamen, a group of scholars and merchants had gathered.

Only then did Lu Xu realize that Jialin City had trapped so many candidates.

Looking at this amount, Lu Xu no longer had much hope.

They just drop their luggage and go to the other side, can they find the car right away?

Even if there is one on the other side, competing with so many people, can he guarantee that he will definitely buy it?

Even if you buy the mule cart luggage again, the opposite side is a mountainous area, and the mountain road has just passed through heavy rain and torrents, can you walk easily?

If you are sick or tired because of Lu Junqi or Lu Zhou, you are simply putting the cart before the horse.

Lu Xu asked: "If we cross the river by boat from the downstream and then find the official road to Beijing, how long will it take?" ”

The official who dealt with them said impatiently: "Fourteen or fifteen days if it is smooth, twenty days if it is slow, if you want to make a detour, you can go out of the city today, and we will send you a guide who knows the shortcut." ”

Lu Xu: "Can you pass the car on a shortcut?" ”

Official: "Yes, it's just that it's not easy to walk." ”

Lu Xu turned his head and said, "Jun Qi, Lu Zhou, let's go around." ”

Yan Junqi nodded.

Lu Zhou hesitated: "Brother, I want to stay and help." ”

Lu Xu said categorically: "No." ”

His voice was a little loud and stern, which scared Lu Zhou into a daze.

His good-natured brother rarely spoke in this tone.

People nearby also watched him quietly.

Lu Xu was unconscious, slowed down his voice and said to Lu Zhou: "We want to send your brother Junqi into Beijing, I must send him safely, we have only walked less than a third of the way, and we can't delay here for too long." And you're too young, I'm never going to leave yourself here. If you stay, you might as well leave early, so as not to delay their disaster relief. ”

The impatient officer and soldier were stunned, laughed, and said to Lu Zhou: "Your companion is right, how can you scholars do this. ”

He looked at Lu Zhou again and said with a smile: "Child, it's enough to have your heart, our own city, we will come by ourselves." ”

Lu Zhou was stunned and froze in place.

The official said, "Are you also a scholar?" ”

Lu Zhou nodded.

Official: "Then take the exam well and be a good official in the future!" ”

Lu Zhou opened his mouth, but after all, he still didn't say that he was actually an escort, and he hadn't been admitted to Tongsheng yet.

Lu Xu patted him and took them back to pack their things.

Before leaving, in addition to the three hundred wen that he borrowed, Lu Xu gave the borrowed family five taels of silver.

The half-grown child of the host's housekeeper was stupid in place.

Lu Xu: "Hide it, wait for your father and mother to come back and hand it over to them." ”

The child nodded, "Thank you, thank you." ”

Lu Xu set up the car, took out a small packet of beef jerky from the car, and threw it to him.

Finally, when passing by the medical hall, Lu Xu squeezed in and asked for a pot of ginger soup, leaving ten taels of silver for the medical hall.

Lu Xu asked Lu Zhou and Yan Junqi to drink a bowl of ginger soup alone, covered the rest, and put it in the carriage, "Let's go." ”

Lu Zhou nodded, "Hmm." ”

At the gate of the city, more than a dozen of their cars went out of the city with the people of Jialin City, but they left in the direction of the downstream direction at the gate, and rushed to the embankment broken by the flood.

After leaving Jialin City for a long time, Lu Zhou couldn't help but look back at this disaster-stricken small city, and said silently in his heart: "I will." ”

Chapter 192: Sweet

Ten days after leaving Jialin City, it seemed that he was about to reach Linghu Beach, which could cross the river, when dark clouds gathered and it rained.