The crowd watched her figure. Situ and A Ning exchanged a glance, and both raised their hands simultaneously, "Director Huang, we dropped our things too!"
"Hmm... don't wait for us then."
After jumping out of the car, the two quickly caught up with Xia Weiliang, "Sister, what did you drop? Let's look for it together!"
Seeing this, Wai Shao knew it wouldn't do and was about to chase after them when he was stopped.
The rain began to fall heavily again. Lang Yue's clothes were already soaked through, and her shoes were stuck in the mud. She pulled them out decisively, ignoring the footwear, and stepped onto the sandy and stony ground barefoot. She, along with the young men, picked up shovels and began to shovel sand.
"Everyone, work faster. We must beat the..."
She stopped mid-sentence.
"Village Chief, is that... is that Director Huang?"
Several young people exclaimed in surprise.
Through the dense rain, she saw over a dozen people rushing towards them, led by Director Huang himself.
Lang Yue was momentarily stunned, her eyes betraying an uncontainable joy at his appearance.
But it was quickly suppressed.
Director Huang walked straight to her. Without a word, he bent down, took hold of her ankle, lifted her foot from the mud, and wiped it clean directly with his sleeve before slipping on a pair of rain boots.
Then he stood up, draped his rain slicker over her, placed a hat on her head, and pressed a walkie-talkie, carefully sealed in a waterproof bag, into her hand. "Use this to contact me if there's any trouble."
After speaking, he took the shovel from her hand and took over her task.
Lang Yue watched him, her nose stinging a little. She quickly averted her gaze.
Since her father's death, she had become the backbone of the family, and gradually, the backbone of the entire village.
She was accustomed to shouldering everything herself and didn't mind bearing the weight of the entire village on her young shoulders.
But in that moment, the feeling of being protected, of being shielded behind someone... it was so unfamiliar that it almost made her want to cry.
Lang Yue was rational. She pushed away these inappropriate emotions and plunged back into the emergency relief efforts.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, the rain continued to fall.
This relentless rain, lasting for two days and one night, was unprecedented in Gumo Village. The rainfall had already reached torrential levels. The county issued an urgent notice demanding immediate evacuation!
At three-thirty in the afternoon, communication was lost.
Xia Weiliang helped Uncle Qu out of the door. At the same time, families were rushing to evacuate. Lang Yue stood at the front, using a loudspeaker to direct everyone, repeatedly shouting, "Don't bring too much heavy stuff! Nothing is more important than our lives!"
Yet some villagers still carried large bags and bundles, especially the older ones, who tried to carry as much as they could.
"Oh no! My umbrella!" Uncle Qu turned back, intending to retrieve it. Xia Weiliang grabbed him, "Master, don't go back! Once we're safe, you can make as many as you want!"
But Uncle Qu shook his head resolutely, "That's an oil-paper umbrella from Gumo Village, the most ancient of oil-paper umbrellas. If... if I... I just want to leave something for future generations, so I must go back!"
Looking at her master's determined expression, Xia Weiliang understood.
She smiled, "Master, I'll go."
She happened to see Wai Shao ahead and called out to him, asking him to take Uncle Qu ahead. She then ran back against the flow of the crowd.
Behind her, Uncle Qu's anxious shouts followed, "Girl, come back..."