Dong Qiangqiang's Story of Leaving Germany

Chapter 1115. The Child on the Roof
Lang slapped Dong Qiangqiang on the face, and he instantly came to his senses. He decided that it was more important to take care of the things at hand.

He reached out and grabbed the trunk of the rotten tree root closest to him, shook it vigorously a few times, and after making sure that the rotten tree root would not float away easily, he alternated between his left and right hands, holding onto the rotten tree root and swam to the next rotten tree root.

The cold river water stimulated his nerves and made his body tremble. He thought bitterly that after this lesson, he would definitely put two more bottles of whiskey in his backpack next time he led a tour group. As the saying goes, it is better to be safe than sorry.

When he first entered the river, there was still mud under his feet. As he got closer to the center of the river, he could feel that there was gradually no place to gain leverage under his feet, and he could only maintain his balance by constantly treading water.

Zheng Chunhua, who was helping Dong Qiangqiang to stand and cheer on the shore, was nervous for only a few seconds when Dong Qiangqiang first went into the river. But seeing that he was concentrating on every move and treading carefully, she stopped worrying and turned her attention to the upper reaches of the river. As long as there was no heavy rain when Dong Qiangqiang crossed the river, or the river water did not surge, or there was nothing else that posed a danger to Dong Qiangqiang flowing downstream from the upper reaches, he would cross the river without any mistakes.

Fortunately, although there are occasional debris floating on the water, there are no more dangerous objects such as rotten tree roots. It is estimated that the water level was too high before, and all the tree roots with loose foundations were brought down at once. It seems that new ones will not be able to come for a while.

When she went to see Dong Qiangqiang again, Dong Qiangqiang was clinging to the second rotten tree root and looking straight ahead.

There was a large bridge hole between the second rotten tree root and the third rotten tree root. Because the bridge hole was spacious, there were no tree roots blocking the middle for Dong Qiangqiang to leverage on. He could only rely on himself to swim through the bridge hole and reach the third rotten tree root.

At this time, the water in the river was flowing rapidly and surging, visibly faster than the usual flow rate. With Dong Qiangqiang's height, his feet could not reach the bottom. Zheng Chunhua didn't dare to think about the situation under the water. She just hoped that there would be no aquatic plants or the like to disturb Dong Qiangqiang.

Just when Zheng Chunhua was about to ask Dong Qiangqiang how he planned to get over, Dong Qiangqiang pushed the tree root hard with his hand. Instead of swimming towards the next tree root, he rode away diagonally upwards.

Dong Qiangqiang, who is tall and has long arms, paddled a few times before stopping and following the current down to the third tree root.

Soon he reached the other side.

Zheng Chunhua looked at her watch. The whole process took only ten minutes, which was really fast.

"Is there any signal on your cell phone?" Dong Qiangqiang climbed ashore and wiped the water on his face, which he couldn't tell whether it was rain or river water.

Zheng Chunhua spread her hands, looking helpless: "It seems that we both have to change mobile phone operators in the future. My phone is not good and your signal is too bad. Whose phone do you use? Deutsche Telekom? O2?"

"We'll talk later. Why are you still standing there? Come here quickly."

Zheng Chunhua thought she had heard wrongly: "Me? Going there too?"

"If I can't reach the child through the window, we can definitely go together. You can use my method to cross the river. The water is a little cold, but I don't know if you can stand it."

"But I can't...swim." Zheng Chunhua said embarrassedly, "How about we wait for support? Or should I rush to the nearest village to find someone to try?"

Dong Qiangqiang looked up at the child on the roof in the distance: "First, we don't know if her family has called the police. Second, we don't know when the rescue will arrive. She can't hold on for too long. Throw my shoes over here, and then go to the nearest village to find someone. If you hear a signal on the road, call the police immediately. If we can get down safely, we will meet here at the broken bridge."

"Then you should pay attention to your own safety, do things within your ability, and don't try to be reckless." Zheng Chunhua reminded him worriedly.

Dong Qiangqiang's Martin boots were heavier than Zheng Chunhua had imagined. She used all her strength and finally managed not to throw Dong Qiangqiang's two shoes into the river.

Dong Qiangqiang put on his shoes and waded through the water towards the girl's house.

When they reached the fourth house, Dong Qiangqiang was deeply moved by the girl's expression of obvious limit. He could sense that although the girl was still trying hard to hold on, she felt that she might be disconnected from the chimney at any time. He knew that he had to get to the roof as soon as possible.

He paddled quickly to the door and turned the copper handle twice, pushing hard while turning it, but the copper handle turned but the door didn't move at all. He didn't know whether the door lock was broken or some furniture had fallen and blocked the door. Dong Qiangqiang didn't insist. He looked around and noticed that the nearest large window was not slanted. He quickly moved to the window and picked up a hard object from the garbage floating on the water. He smashed the window with a few bangs, reached in and pulled the window handle twice, and pushed the window open easily. The house was in a mess, and many small objects were floating on the water. Dong Qiangqiang had seen many similar scenes along the way, and he was no longer surprised.

"Is there anyone in the house?" Dong Qiangqiang shouted in German, and then explained his purpose of entering the house, "A child is about to fall from the roof, and I came in to help."

The room was very quiet, with only the clock on the wall making noises.

Dong Qiangqiang was just about to step into the house when he suddenly discovered a huge mouse with shiny fur floating out from the kitchen. The mouse followed the current from the kitchen into the living room, floating on the water like a reed, with a peaceful expression on its face, as if it had just left. He was startled by this and suddenly thought that there might be electricity in the water. He immediately put down his foot that had not yet been raised from the water, and his hand that was holding the window frame also jumped away immediately.

He knew that Germans loved to have mice in their houses, and there would be a few mice hibernating in the landlord's attic every winter.

Since there is a power leak in the house, he can only find a solution from the outside. He couldn't help but sigh that if there was a "radar" at this time, he would have more helpers.

He took a few steps back and was about to look up to see if there was a chance to go up to the second floor through the sewer pipe, when the mouse, which had been motionless just now, suddenly turned over on the water, and its four little paws started to pounce violently. In the blink of an eye, it turned into a speedboat, quickly circled on the water, and disappeared in a few whooshes.

Seeing that the mouse was still alive, Dong Qiangqiang realized that it was a false alarm and carefully went back into the house.

The structures of German-style houses are similar. Dong Qiangqiang quickly reached the attic window and looked out. The little girl's hands were off the chimney. She was lying on the roof very neatly, looking up at the sky. Even if she heard movement from the window, she didn't dare to turn around.

Dong Qiangqiang looked towards the river, wanting to see if Zheng Chunhua was still there, but found that the motorcycle and Zheng Chunhua were no longer in the same place, only his helmet was still there.

It seems that he went to ask for help.

He heard the little girl grunt softly, and thought for two seconds about how to start, trying to make his voice sound gentle and harmless: "Hello, my name is Dong Qiangqiang, and I'm a student at Trier University. What's your name?"

"Josephina." The little girl still didn't turn her head, and there was no timidity in her tone, as if she had known that the person coming was a foreigner.

"Josephina, is this your home?" Dong Qiangqiang tapped the window frame. "There's no one in the house. Do you know where the adults have gone?"

"My father has been working at the winery for the past two weeks, and my mother and I are the only ones at home. When I woke up today, my mother was not in the house, and the house was shaking. When I saw more and more water, I was scared, so I walked upstairs to the attic. I thought if I stood on the roof, my parents might notice it. I don't know why I walked from the window to the chimney, and I didn't dare to go back, so I had to stay here." After Josephine finished speaking, she sighed, as if she couldn't understand what she had done. This was somewhat unexpected to Dong Qiangqiang. He thought that the little girl would burst into tears or scream when she saw the adults coming to rescue her, but the child's emotions were extremely stable, which undoubtedly provided great help for his next rescue.

"Josephina, you are very brave. Did you see your parents on the roof?" Dong Qiangqiang asked while observing the roof structure, thinking about how he should move on the roof, grab the other person, and then return to the attic safely.

"I looked for a long time, but I didn't see my parents, nor our neighbors or friends. But I saw our car, but it was far away and it looked like it was about to fall into the river." Josephina sighed again, looking very sad. "I like our car very much. Can you help me save it?"

"You mean to save your car? Well, that's a bit difficult, but you don't have to worry too much, your car is protected by an insurance company." Dong Qiangqiang encouraged, "I think your teacher must have told you that it is safest for children not to move around when it is windy and rainy, especially on the roof. But it is not safe to stay on the roof all the time. Uncle wants to take you downstairs to find your parents. Are you willing?"

"I would, but I dare not move."

"Then uncle will come to pick you up, and you will follow my instructions. If you are afraid of my request, just tell me and we can solve it together. Is that okay with you?"

The little girl finally turned to Dong Qiangqiang and nodded heavily: "Okay."

A doll-like face was trying to make a serious expression, but her eyes revealed full trust in Dong Qiangqiang.

Dong Qiangqiang turned around and took a close look at the things in the attic, then walked straight towards a roll of rope.