Everyone received a al of two dishes and a portion of rice.
Cheng Dong felt a bit embarrassed to distribute his stew separately from the stead pork ribs in black bean sauce made by Wang Fan. He was afraid of causing dissatisfaction among the fellow villagers.
After all, their als could only be described as passable, while this al from Wang’s younger brother had to be described as top-notch.
He only ate one piece of those ribs and redistributed the rest. How could they eat when the villagers hadn’t even had a bite of hot food?
But just that single piece left him with an unforgettable taste.
After separating the al like this, he also reduced the quantity of each portion. Even for soone his age, what Wang Fan prepared was enough to fill him up. These older folks and children couldn’t finish a full portion. By reducing the quantity, more people could eat first.
Jia Fengyue held the al she received, and the rich aroma finally soothed her heart a bit.
Warm als have such a comforting magic.
As long as there’s a hot al, things will never be at their worst.
But looking at the ribs, Jia Fengyue felt a bit troubled.
She hardly eats ribs anymore with her age—not because she doesn’t want to, but because her teeth can’t handle it.
But clearly, this was not the ti to be picky about food. Having food was luck enough, so where was there room to be choosy?
She scooped a piece of ribs with her spoon; the golden ribs looked very enticing. The aroma kept wafting into her nose, making her swallow her saliva uncontrollably.
If she were twenty years younger, she could easily have eaten three bowls of those ribs!
Regretfully biting into the ribs, Jia Fengyue was surprised to find her old teeth could easily tear the at off the bone.
The ribs were so tender that hardly any effort was required to separate bone from at. As she spat out the bone, Jia Fengyue began chewing eagerly.
The rib at was not only tender but juicy. With each chew, delicious at juices squeezed into her mouth, the rich flavor overwheld her taste buds, montarily making her forget about her flooded ho.
A smile crept back onto her sowhat aged face, as if the natural disaster wasn’t as hopeless as it seed.
"Grandma, eat the at."
Zhong Pingi was seven years old this year. Her parents worked elsewhere, making her a left-behind child, so she tead up with Jia Fengyue when receiving the al.
Jia Fengyue also had a granddaughter, but she lived in Guangfu with her son and daughter-in-law. Seeing Zhong Pingi felt like seeing her eldest granddaughter.
Jia Fengyue bead as she pushed back Zhong Pingi’s spoon and scooped two more pieces of ribs from her own bowl, saying, "Grandma’s getting older and can’t eat much. You should eat more; these ribs are really delicious."
Zhong Pingi’s small spoon was moving quickly. As long as she could rember, she had never eaten sothing so delicious.
The ribs were delicious, but the rice mixed with the rib’s greasy richness was even more fragrant, the second most enticing thing in the world, only second to the scent in her mother’s embrace.
Eating so eagerly, Zhong Pingi’s small face was already covered in rice grains. Jia Fengyue smiled watching her and said, "Look at you, eating like a little kitten. Slow down, eating too fast isn’t good for digestion."
Zhong Pingi smiled shyly, in the period of losing her baby teeth, barely sprouting front teeth, combined with the rice-covered little kitten face, made Jia Fengyue feel more and more delighted.
She sincerely hoped the flood would pass soon!
...
"How many?"
"Half an hour, 800 als."
"Are you making this up!? If you dare lie to , do you believe I’ll make you run a 10-kiloter drill?!"
"Captain Chen, even if I had one hundred nerves, I wouldn’t dare lie to you about this."
Cheng Dong scread his grievances, "It truly was 800 als prepared in half an hour, and the second batch is about to be served. At this rate, at least 1500 als every hour, we’re confident that within 3 hours all the villagers will have hot als!"
"Great!"
Chen Baoguo’s voice over the phone was full of excitent, "Once this task is over, I’ll definitely comnd you! That’s it for now; I need to go save a villager stuck in the flood. Keep an eye on that influencer, don’t let him cause any trouble."
"But..."
Cheng Dong was just about to explain that the speed was all thanks to Wang Fan, that he didn’t even need to supervise, and the brother was the real key player, but the call had already ended.
"Alas!"
With a sigh, Cheng Dong temporarily set aside his plan to clarify for Wang Fan. The captain was surely overwheld with work, so he decided not to disturb him for now and to report the situation when the opportunity arose.
Chen Baoguo, busy as he was, had only snatched a mont to grasp the situation. As soon as he put down the phone, he jumped back into the water.
As the kayak rounded a bend, he saw an elderly man clinging to a telephone pole in the water.
Fortunately, there was no power!
Wearing a life jacket, Chen Baoguo quickly swam toward the elderly man, who was clinging to the pole, shivering incessantly, his eyes looking vacant, with no sign of vitality.
"Hang on, sir, I’m coming to save you soon."
Chen Baoguo shouted for comfort as he quickly approached.
The sound of Chen Baoguo’s voice finally brought so vitality back to the elderly man’s eyes, although his lips kept trembling, rendering him speechless.
Chen Baoguo finally swam to his side, struggling for quite so ti to get the elderly man off the pole, cold and soaked as he was, his body already stiff.
Dragging him back to the inflatable boat, they hurriedly covered him with thick blankets, "Let’s get him back first."
This scenario wasn’t isolated; similar scenes unfolded all across izhou City.
So people were fortunate enough to be saved, while others...
After getting the elderly man to safety, Chen Baoguo could only look at the vast flooding, sighing helplessly.
"Captain Chen, just now there was a ssage; a ninety-year-old lady was trapped under the debris at her ho for over ten hours. The villagers pleaded with us..."
The team mber glanced nervously at Chen Baoguo’s expression, biting their lip before adding, "...to retrieve her body."
The last two words were almost inaudible.
After a mont of silence, Chen Baoguo spoke with a heavy voice, "Let’s go."
Having served as a firefighter for fifteen years, he was already accustod to life and death.
Yet, even with that experience, he couldn’t help but feel a heavy heart, unable to grow numb.
Familiar with the area, the team quickly found a two-story building. The flood had blasted a large hole through the house, leaving debris scattered around—likely where the old lady was buried.
"What a damn calamity this is!"
Muttering a curse, Chen Baoguo jumped into the water again and swam toward the small building.
The second floor was relatively less flooded, with over half still above water. As he approached the collapsed area, he saw a pale hand.
Just when his heart was heavy, he was thrilled to notice that the hand was trembling!
"She’s alive! Speed up the clearance!"
With excitent, Chen Baoguo shouted to his team, and led by example, pushing a steel plate aside...
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