Qi Tongwei: Sign-in relationship started during student days

Chapter 439 Water Ghost

Wu An, sitting on the assault boat, regretted his decision. If he had known that the dike would collapse at night, he would have been guarding the dike himself. He would rather be washed away by the flood than witness the disaster caused by his own negligence.

He felt that he was really sorry for Secretary Qi. A year ago, if Secretary Qi had not visited the countryside and promoted him, an old cadre who had been at the deputy section level for more than ten years, to the position of Party Secretary, he would still be sitting on the bench.

As the saying goes, if you treat me like a national hero, I will repay you like a national hero.

Who would have thought that he would betray the other party's trust before he had the chance to repay the other party. Now he can only try his best to make up for it and must not allow any casualties to occur.

It’s just that the dam collapse last night was discovered too late, and the speed of the collapse was too fast, as if someone had exploded.

"Help! Help!" A cry from above a low bungalow brought Wu An back to reality.

Wu Anding looked over and saw a tobacco curing room with swaying figures above it.

Wu An pointed at the target and called to the helmsman: "Hurry, hurry, save him!"

The speedboat sped over, and only then did they realize that this tobacco curing house made of earthen bricks was filled with more than a dozen people. Due to the erosion of the water, the earthen bricks on the side of the tobacco curing house were peeling off from time to time, and it looked very dangerous.

But they only had two small speedboats and had no way of taking them away.

The helmsman said, "Secretary Wu, our boat can't accommodate so many people."

Wu An made a quick decision: "Let's send the elderly, weak, women and children out first."

As soon as the speedboat pulled alongside, the villagers rushed to board without waiting for Wuan to make any arrangements.

Wu An tried hard to maintain order, "Everyone, please don't crowd, let the elderly, weak, women and children go first!"

But in the face of human nature, who is willing to give up their chance to survive?

The boat was shaking due to the pushing and shoving, and there were dangers everywhere.

Wu An, who was holding back his anger, pointed at the middle-aged men and started cursing, "Have you any sense of reason? You're grown men, but you don't know how to respect the elderly and love the young? All of you, get out of here! If you don't obey my orders, I'll have you arrested as soon as the boat docks!"

The middle-aged men had no choice but to get off the boat cursing.

Wu An arranged everything one by one. When both boats were ready, only the middle-aged men and a woman as strong as a man with a baby were left on the roof. The baby was crying in fear while hugging his mother.

A tall, middle-aged woman stepped forward and pleaded, "Leader, can you please let my husband and children go first? My whole family can't stay here."

Wu An looked at the tall woman and the short, fat man and felt inexplicably funny. The woman was taller than the average man, but the man was shorter than the average woman.

"No, I can only send the elderly, weak, women and children first."

The tall woman said, "Leader, I am also a woman. Can I give my seat to my husband?"

Wu An looked at the man cowering behind the woman and said helplessly, "I'm so sorry, the boat can't hold any more now."

The woman refused to take it anymore and clung to the boat, "Boss, you can't let my whole family stay here, this isn't fair!"

Wu An thought about it and realized that it made sense. He couldn't just treat someone as a woman just because she was tall. So he simply jumped down and waved his hand for the woman to go up with the child.

The helmsman said worriedly, "Secretary, this isn't right. It's too dangerous to leave you here."

Wu An waved his hand nonchalantly and responded, "Stop saying these useless words! Time is running out, you guys should hurry up and get them to their destination safely as soon as possible and then come back to pick me up!"

Although they were still nervous, facing Wu An's firm order, the two helmsmen had no choice but to nod and invite the women to get on board.

The woman did not get on the boat, but simply carried her man horizontally onto the boat. Wu An's mouth twitched when he saw this scene.

The woman took out a few sweet potatoes from her bosom and handed them to the man, "Lao Kuai, remember to make some sweet potato flour for me when I come back."

Old Kuai held the child in his arms and said reluctantly, "Don't worry, I can make it without sweet potatoes."

"That's right, then don't put in the sweet potatoes."

The two helmsmen drove the speedboat away quickly, leaving Wu An standing there, watching the speedboat go farther and farther until it disappeared on the vast water.

Wu An looked at Dabei Town, which had become a flood in just a few hours, and felt sad again. He took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. The spicy smell made him sober up a little.

He turned to the middle-aged men and asked, "Why haven't you evacuated yet? Didn't the village let you leave a long time ago?"

The tall woman interrupted and replied, "We...came back when we saw nothing was wrong. We have to take care of the tobacco we grow at home. If we don't, all our work for the year will be in vain."

Wu An said angrily, "Didn't the village say they would cover your losses? Which is more important, money or life? Huh?

Now look, not only are the tobacco fields flooded, but we also have to organize rescue operations. If anything bad happens, I don't know where you'll go to regret it!"

"Bang!" As they were talking, a brick suddenly fell down from the side, scaring everyone.

The tobacco curing room made of adobe bricks does not give people any sense of security.

Wu An soothed them, "Everyone, don't move. Hold on a little longer, the speedboat will be back soon."

Everyone calmed down again.

To liven up the atmosphere, Wu An took out a cigarette and handed one to everyone, "Come on, let's all light up."

When it was the tall woman's turn, Wu An wanted to put away his cigarette, but she took the initiative to hold out her hand. Wu An had no choice but to pass her one as well, and then asked casually, "What's your name?"

"Secretary Wu, please call me Sister Yu."

Wow, this name is quite advantageous.

"You know me?"

Sister Yu shook her head. "I don't know. I saw the boat driver calling you that, so I followed suit."

"Sister Yu... How was your income from growing tobacco last year?"

"Not bad, enough for a family to eat and drink, with some left over."

"That's good. By the way, isn't Handong rich in rice and barley? Why do you still like eating sweet potato noodles?"

"Well, Secretary Wu, you don't know, my family has an ancestral craft that can make sweet potato noodles without using sweet potatoes."

"Really? I didn't expect there are still talented people in Handong. Then you can try to make more and set up a stall in the food city. It will also be a special feature."

"This is too hard. I need to do it at night."

"why?"

"Because this sweet potato flour cannot be seen in public."

Wu An had no doubt about it. Some things were just made in strange ways.

"That's strange."

"That's nothing surprising. The surprise is yet to come, Secretary Wu. Last night when we were making sweet potato noodles, we saw a group of water ghosts."

"Water ghost?"

"Yes, those ghosts went to the dam last night, and soon the water started to flood."

Wu An was shocked. He was a staunch member of the Red Star Party. How could he possibly believe in ghosts? The only possibility was...

Thinking of this, Wu An lost his composure and hurriedly called Qi Tongwei.

What he didn't notice was that the earthen bricks in the corner of the tobacco curing room were constantly being taken away.

……