The Late School

Zhang Tan and Su Lan had a simple breakfast, rented an off-road vehicle in the city, bought some first aid supplies, water and food, and rushed to Xiaobai's house.

"I still didn't get through the phone." Su Lan said, and the "unable to connect" prompt sounded from the phone.

She comforted: "In the mountains, the signal is bad, and an earthquake will definitely affect the signal source. This doesn't mean that something happened to Xiaobai. Maybe nothing happened, but the signal was broken."

Zhang Tan said that he hoped so. He continued to drive and left the city. After driving for an hour, he came to the county town that he arrived last night again, but he still couldn't enter the city and was blocked at the intersection.

There were many vehicles that were stopped, hundreds of them were blocked at the intersections entering the city. Many people got out of the vehicles and negotiated with the traffic police responsible for traffic control.

Zhang Tan also got off the car to check the situation.Most of the stopped vehicles were people who lived in the county town. After learning about the earthquake, they came back to check the situation.

"Brother, where are you going? The accent is not here." A young man asked Zhang sigh.

"I'm from Pujiang, I'm going to Baijia Village." Zhang Tan said, "Do you know there are other ways to go there?"

"Pujiang? Came so far? Baijia Village? Which Baijia Village? Which township?"

Zhang Tan said he was in Wutong Town.

"Wutong Town? The place of this earthquake is Wutong Town."

"Yes, so I am very anxious. Do you know any other way to Wutong Town?"

...

Su Lan had been sitting in the car, watching Zhang Tan negotiating with the people outside, and suddenly saw him running back and asked, "How is it?"

Zhang Tan got into the car: "I found someone to lead us and take a detour."

Zhang Tan gave the young man 500 yuan and asked him to lead the way.

The two cars left one after the other. They walked on a black asphalt road that was in disrepair for a long time, with bumps and bumps. Fortunately, Zhang Tan saw the navigator showing that they were indeed approaching Wutong Town.

"It looks like someone is injured in front." Su Lan said from the passenger seat.

A few tens of meters ahead, two people were reaching out to stop the car. One of the middle-aged men was covered with a bandage on his forehead. The bandage had bleeding stains and half of it was stained red. The other boy supported him.

The young man who led the way did not stop and drove over.

Zhang Tan stopped and asked, "What's wrong?"

The helper said: "We are in the village here. The earthquake knocked down my house. The beams fell and broke my dad's head. He is now anxious to go to the hospital in the county town. You can take us. Cheng?"

Zhang Tan was embarrassed: "We just came out of the county seat and are going to Wutong Town."

"Wutong Town is all in chaos now, why are you going there."

"Find someone."

"Could you take us to the county seat first? Brother, please."

Su Lan looked at Zhang Tan and saw his embarrassed look, so she apologized to the window and asked Zhang Tan to drive away.

Su Lan said: "I think the journey is about half an hour away. When the time comes, the car that led the way will come back to carry the two people. Now it is important to find Xiaobai. I don't know what's going on with her. We rushed all the way. Here, to find Xiaobai, this is the most important thing."

Zhang Tan also figured it out: "Susu, you are right, turn around and let the guy who led the way carry them and give him some money."

The car leading the way saw them following and started again.

After the car drove for more than half an hour, the young man leading the way stopped at a fork and got out of the car and waved to Zhang Tan.

Zhang Tan stopped and asked, "What's wrong?"

The young man pointed to the mountain road to the right at the fork and said, "Go this way. It will take about half an hour to reach Baijia Village. Your car is an off-road vehicle. You can go on this mountain road. My car can’t go. Sorry, I can’t go anymore. I led the way, but you just go straight along this road. There is no fork in the road. In this col, it's just this village."

Zhang Tan expressed his understanding. After thanking the other party, Yiyan gave 500 yuan and said, "Did you not meet a father and son when you came? One of them has a broken head and is going to the county hospital. It looks very serious. You When you go back, if you meet each other, take them for a ride."

The young man said: "I saw it on the way here, but in the opposite direction, so I didn't stop, and now I can't carry it."

Zhang Tan said to give him money.

The other party waved his hand and said, "It's not a question of money or not, do you see this road over there?"

He pointed to the other side of the fork to show Zhang Tan. Zhang Tan could see the outline of a building at the foot of the mountain in the distance.

The other party said, "That's Wutong Town. Since I've been here, I have to go over and take a look. It is the place that has been hit hardest by the disaster. Maybe I can help."

Zhang Tan watched him drive to Wutong Town, while he drove toward another rugged mountain road.

The mountain road was obviously affected by the earthquake, but luckily it was still driving.

The distance is actually not far, less than 10 kilometers, but the road is difficult to walk, so it took more than 40 minutes to arrive.

At first glance, Zhang sighed with a sigh of relief. The houses in the village were intact and did not collapse, indicating that there was not much damage here.

After feeling relieved, Zhang Tan carefully looked at the small village.

The village is located in a depression in the middle of a valley, surrounded by mountains and mists. Due to the rain these days, the valley is surrounded by faint clouds and mist and heavy humidity.

Xiaobai lives here, Zhang Tan thought.

He parked his car at the entrance of the village and walked in with Su Lan. It is less than 9 o'clock in the morning. The village is very quiet and no one can be seen outside.

They came to the nearest house.

"anyone there??"

A middle-aged woman came out of the kitchen and asked, "Which one are you?"

Zhang Tan was about to reply, when suddenly another person came out of the room, a man. Seeing Zhang Tan, he was dazed and asked uncertainly: "Boss Zhang?"

"Are you?" Zhang Tan looked at the other party and didn't remember who it was.

Seeing that Zhang Tan did not deny it, the other party asked excitedly: "Is it really that boss Zhang from Pujiang? Are your paws here?

Zhang Tan nodded and said that he was the boss Zhang in Pujiang.

"Oh, it's really Boss Zhang, I'm old Bai Xi."

Zhang Tanxin said, don't think I don't know Lao Bai, Lao Bai is Xiao Bai's uncle, you don't see it as his uncle!

After the other party recognized Zhang Tan, they enthusiastically invited them into the house.

During the chat, Zhang Tan learned that it was a misunderstanding. He is indeed Lao Bai, because this is Baijia Village, everyone has the surname Bai, and all call themselves Lao Bai.He was working on a construction site in Pujiang, and Bai Jianping was with him. He met Zhang Tan, so he knew him.

Zhang Tan was concerned about the earthquake and asked: "You were not affected by the earthquake last night, right?"

Lao Bai explained that the disaster was only relatively light. The rocks and soil on the mountain rolled down, and many old houses and trees collapsed. The young people in the village dealt with these things early in the morning to clear the waterways and mountain roads. Come back, I will go again after breakfast.

"Where is Xiaobai's house? Is her house okay?" Zhang Tan asked the most concerned question.

Lao Bai said, "Something happened to her family..."

Zhang Tan listened with trepidation, and declined the other party's invitation for breakfast, and hurried out with Su Lan, drove to Wutong Town.

Lao Bai and his wife stood under the eaves and watched their car go away. His wife asked curiously, "Which one is this? The paw comes from Pujiang?"

Lao Bai: "The big boss from Pujiang, from the film studio, take good care of Xiao Bai..."

His wife praised Su Lan beside her: "That girl is so good."

Zhang Tan and Sulan returned on the original road and drove to Wutong Town.

Lao Bai told him just now that Grandma Xiaobai had fallen and was sent to the hospital in Wutong Town early in the morning.Xiaobai and her uncle and aunt followed.

Wutong Town is a small town with only one street. On both sides of the street are three or four-storey buildings. Most of them collapsed at the moment. Rescue troops are rescuing people from the rubble.

The road was blocked, Zhang Tan and Su Lan got off the car, asked where the hospital was, and walked there.

The street is about three kilometers long and the hospital is in the center of the street.

The earthquake-proof level of the hospital is high, so it survived the catastrophe last night without any damage.The hospital was full of people, and from time to time injured patients were pushed in. Zhang Tan's eyes were all wounded, and his ears were full of Sichuan dialect, noisy, like a vegetable market.

At this time, it’s useless to ask anyone. Zhang Tan and Su Lan had to go to Xiaobai by themselves. They searched the first floor and didn’t find them. When they came to the second floor, the corridor was full of doctors, nurses and patients’ family members coming in and out. Sighing that he was about to check one ward and one ward, Su Lan suddenly took his hand and said, "Look over there."

Zhang Tan followed her gaze and saw that at the end of the corridor on the second floor, a little Douding in red clothes and a woolen hat was standing by the window, with a small hand holding a bottle high, and an infusion line from the bottle. It hangs down and connects to a simple hospital bed beside it, with people lying on it, covered with a quilt, and the appearance is not visible.

People come and go in front of her, and she stands alone in the corner, holding the bottle high, while gently tapping the person on the hospital bed with her small hand, singing:

Malianhua, Malianhua,

Not afraid of wind and rain,

Please bloom now.

After singing a sentence, he quickly changed his hand to hold the bottle, rubbed the lowered hand, and continued singing:

Hardworking people will not fall,

Malanhua is blooming all over the world,

Keep driving to my home.