Ordinary people's rice bowl

Chapter 20 After the Earthquake
The rain in late autumn is thin and lingering. It has been drifting for a day during the day, but the night still has no meaning of stopping. There is drizzle in the sky, and the people who are still wrapped in the coolness of autumn can't stand the slightest chill at this time. The leisurely people return early. At home, I got into the warm bed.The students who sat in the classroom for evening self-study, because the doors and windows were closed tightly, blocked the large amount of outdoor cold air from penetrating, it seemed that they were not obviously aware of the damp and cold outside, and each lowered their heads to review the homework of the day.

As soon as the evening self-study was over, everyone shrunk their necks and ran wildly in the drizzle. The day students rushed to their homes, and the boarding students poured into the dormitories that had just been lit.Everyone was still talking and laughing as they made their beds, briefly exchanging what they had learned about the day. When the lights were turned off, the dormitory was immediately quiet, except for the occasional dog barking outside.

In the middle of the night, the wind blew outside, blowing the withered and yellow leaves on the trees that had not yet fallen, making a "rustling" sound, but the sound of the wind in the quiet night did not affect the people who were sleeping soundly in the middle of the night.The hour hand points to five o'clock in the morning, the wind has stopped at some point, and the dark silence before dawn allows the sleeping people to rest soundly.Suddenly, a white light flashed in the northwest sky. Some early risers did not understand what the blank light was in late autumn. Then the ground and the attachments on the ground began to shake, and the bunk beds in the dormitory made a "creak, creak" sound.A heart-piercing howl came from the male dormitory of the high school—"Earthquake! Earthquake!" This howl was like a thunderbolt in the night, mobilizing the students in the whole building, and they also shouted at the same time Get up, "Earthquake! Earthquake!" Immediately after, I heard the chaotic footsteps stepping heavily on the floor like a strong wind and rain, mixed with wailing, pleading for help, and the sound of throwing objects falling to the ground upstairs, piercing the darkness in the night sky.

It is true that the children slept deeply. The harsh noise of the high school dormitory still did not wake up the sleeping children. Jiang Shanchuan who was sleeping next to Mu Zhen did not know whether he was awakened by urination or a dream. Hearing the yelling of the high school students, they also yelled, "Earthquake! Earthquake!" Hearing Jiang Shanchuan's yelling, some children woke up, and by the way they woke up their bedmates or clinical classmates, "Run, hurry up!" Run, there’s an earthquake!” The children didn’t care to put on their clothes, got out of bed, rushed straight to the door of the dormitory, and came to the open space in front of the dormitory.

When Mu Zhen woke up, she first heard Jiang Shanchuan's yell of "Earthquake! Earthquake!", and while rubbing her sleepy eyes, she complained, "It's midnight, why are you shouting?" Jiang Shanchuan listened Seeing Mu Zhen's questioning, he stopped and responded: "Hurry up, it's an earthquake!"

"There's no such thing as an earthquake, scare yourself!" Mu Zhen muttered without even raising her head.

"Look, you've finished running!" Jiang Shanchuan said loudly.

It was only then that Mu Zhen noticed that the lights in the dormitory were turned on. Except for Jiang Shanchuan who was kneeling there talking to him, all the beds on the first floor were empty. He hurriedly jumped out of bed, "You still don't run away!"

Only then did Jiang Shanchuan come to his senses, he jumped out of bed, pulled Mu Zhen and ran out of the dormitory together. When they got out of bed for the first time, the two of them, like other students who ran out, had time to wear shoes in the future, and their bare feet felt The cold and slippery underground is a kind of heart-warming coolness.Through the weak light from the window, Mu Zhen noticed that most of the students who ran out were naked except for a few who were wearing underpants. They were so cold that they hugged their chests and shrugged their heads, as if they had made a mistake and were punished for something. stood there, at a loss.

At this time, the first thing people think of is survival. In the face of nature, the fragility of life is obvious. In the face of survival, all the etiquette and shame, the three principles and five constant principles, have become illusory. People's emergency measures are to escape and survive. They have no choice.

Someone yelled, "It's better to go back to the house to be warm than to be frozen here!" Perhaps this sentence reminded the children who were shivering from the cold, and a few bold ones began to try to go back to the dormitory to get dressed, and followed everyone They went back to the dormitory one after another, and after putting on their clothes, some of them ran outside the dormitory again.The others were thinking about their own thoughts in the dormitory, afraid to speak, as if they were afraid of alarming something, they quietly pricked up their ears to listen to the noise of the high school dormitory building not far from the pond behind.

It didn't last long, and the school bell rang as usual. Everyone regained their composure and regained their former peace, but the fear in their hearts still lingered.

The ground of the playground after the rain is a bit sticky. According to the usual practice, after the rain, there is no exercise. After waking up, I go directly to the classroom to start my morning reading, but today is different. The students who were disturbed by the earthquake came to the playground in groups of three. , a group of five, gathered together, although they didn't say anything, they didn't dare to leave.

The head teachers of each grade came and instructed the students in their class to get together and stand in a team.On the rostrum of the playground, as usual, the physical education teacher who led the exercise blew his whistle and shouted: "Every class has them, look in the middle, look forward, take a break!"

The leaders of the school all came. After standing under the rostrum and watching the student team line up, as soon as the physical education teacher said "take a rest", Principal Wang stepped onto the rostrum: "Just an hour ago , the first time we felt a natural phenomenon, just as everyone shouted, it’s an earthquake! Please don’t panic, it was indeed an earthquake just now, but we didn’t see a house collapse in this earthquake. If you don’t panic, we will It will not cause personal injury. We have all studied geography. Earthquakes are an inevitable natural phenomenon on the earth. If it is a major earthquake, we are not in a hurry. When an earthquake comes, it only takes ten seconds or even a few seconds , is just a dozen seconds, where can we run, especially with so many of us, running is the solution to the problem, the easiest way for us to avoid danger is to find the most convenient small space in the house and get in immediately I just received a call to inform us that our place is not the epicenter. The epicenter is in Yize, which is [-] kilometers away from us. Even if a major earthquake really happened there, if it reaches us, it will only be felt and will not cause much damage. Today We should have gathered in the classroom to study, but because we felt the earthquake for the first time, fear and fear made everyone gather here. Although it is inevitable, we must know him scientifically and clearly, and don't blindly scare ourselves. Let me assure you that if there is a major earthquake, we will definitely inform you in advance and organize everyone to avoid danger! So now please go back to the classroom to study at ease, don’t listen to any rumors, let alone make up rumors. Good for the aftermath of the students in each class."

Although President Wang's words were very pertinent, they did not fundamentally relieve the haze of the earthquake that had just fallen on everyone's minds.Principal Wang stepped off the stage, and following the words "disband" from the physical education teacher, the students dispersed and walked to their respective classrooms as usual.What is different from usual is that this time when I left, I couldn't hear any words. Except for the "swish" sound of everyone walking, there was no noise mixed in.

After breakfast, Zhang Jianguo, who was well-informed in the class, sent news that several students in the high school were injured because of shock absorbers. One jumped down from the second floor holding a quilt and sprained his foot, and one fell down on the stairs. I broke my head.There was no other major damage, and the school house was safe and sound.Zhang Jianguo's father was the person in charge of the school's logistics department, and his mother also worked at the school. The students believed his news deeply.Regarding the losses caused by the earthquake, the students seldom talked about it. The most talked about was whether the earthquake would have aftershocks or the precursors of a major earthquake. Everyone reminded each other that it is safer to be vigilant than to be undefended.

During the rest at night, the school kept the lights on in the dormitory for everyone's safety to prevent any accidents. Even so, it was still difficult to relieve everyone's nervousness.

At night, there were students who were alert and sleepy, with their ears pricked up when they slept. As long as there was any movement, they would be awakened, and they would shout "earthquake!" I didn't feel any tremors, but at this time everyone's tense nerves could collapse at any time. Everyone would rather believe it than believe it. There is only one thought in their minds, that is to escape indoors and go outdoors as soon as possible to avoid danger.

I don't have a good rest at night, so naturally I lose my energy in class. The whole campus is quiet, and I seldom talk even during recess.In order to quickly detect the coming earthquake, a high school student placed the water ladle on the bottom of the upside-down bowl and placed the upside-down bowl on the outdoor window sill. He believed that as long as there was a slight vibration, to be reminded.That morning, when everyone was in class quietly, the water scoop might have been blown by the wind or for other reasons, fell down and made a "bang" sound when it fell to the ground. The whole class stood up almost at the same time. Without being greeted by the teacher, he rushed to the outside of the classroom, and then all the grades took action. The classroom was empty, and the students quickly gathered on the playground, looking at each other. They really didn't understand why they ran out ?

The absurdity caused by tension has aroused the great attention of the school leaders.In order to stabilize people's hearts and eliminate everyone's fear caused by the earthquake, the school had to suspend classes. In one afternoon, all the teachers and students of the school were organized to gather in the playground. Teacher Zhang, the most knowledgeable and experienced teacher in the school's geography teaching and research group, explained the cause of the earthquake to everyone.The knowledgeable teacher Zhang started from the composition of the earth’s crust, then talked about the theory of the earth’s plates, the prediction of earthquakes at home and abroad, etc., and finally encouraged everyone: "Earthquakes are not terrible, what is terrible is the fear that arises in the heart. Yesterday The epicenter of the earthquake is predicted to be 5.9. Our place is only 3. It is far from the level that can damage our houses. What are we afraid of? Everyone can read and rest at ease, and don’t worry about aftershocks affecting our lives. I can guarantee that even if there are aftershocks, it will not threaten our lives!"

Although the report in the afternoon eased the fear of the students a little, the tragedy still happened that night.

That night, the students slept relatively peacefully. When the bell rang to get up early in the morning, Wang Liqiang, who was sleeping on the upper bunk in Mu Zhen’s dormitory, was suddenly awakened. Perhaps the nerves that had been tense for the past two days had not been relaxed. Suddenly got out of the bed and jumped off the bed, and ended up jumping onto a row of bicycles placed in front of the bed. Accompanied by the sound of the bicycles falling to the ground, there was a scream of "Ouch, Ouch", and the students in the entire dormitory They were all stunned, and the students who understood in an instant hurried up to pick up their bicycles, and then tried to pull up Wang Liqiang who had fallen into the pile of bicycles. However, as soon as they touched his arm, he cried out in pain and helped him The students panicked, and the monitor, Yan Xiguang, rushed to report to the class teacher, Mr. Li. When Mr. Li arrived, everyone had already put on their clothes, helped the bicycles to line up, and could only watch helplessly as Wang Liqiang, who had fallen to the ground, was holding his arms Make a painful "ouch".Seeing the situation in front of him, Teacher Li suddenly had a premonition that his arm might be broken!
"Hurry up, go to the infirmary to find Dr. Liu!" He said while waving to Wang Liqiang who was lying on the ground, "Don't move, first take a quilt and cover him!"

Perhaps because of the special period of the earthquake, Doctor Liu arrived at the scene within a few minutes.After careful inspection, he said hastily: "Hurry up, go to the infirmary to get a single frame, and carry it to the hospital. Your arm and leg may be broken!"

With the help of Dr. Liu, Wang Liqiang was moved to a single frame by several classmates, and carried to the hospital in shifts.

The hospital's diagnosis came out. Wang Liqiang suffered fractures in his left arm and left leg, and needed immediate surgery and bone grafting. While going through the hospitalization procedures, Mr. Li arranged for class leader Yan Xiguang to try to inform his parents to come to the hospital to accompany him.

When Teacher Li returned to school tiredly and reported to Principal Wang that there was a fear of falling in the class, Principal Wang did not speak for a few minutes.Although this incident was just an accident, it attracted Principal Wang's attention.That morning, the school took this event as a bloody lesson and preached it at the school-teacher-student meeting. In the end, Principal Wang repeatedly emphasized: "A real earthquake is not terrible, what is terrible is that the spirit is destroyed!"

After the school-wide teacher-student meeting, Principal Wang organized a class teacher meeting and asked all class teachers to pay close attention to the fear of the students in their class and do a good job in ideological mobilization. We must not let the small earthquake frighten us out of our nerves, we must face up to this natural disaster , If you are emotionally unstable, you can do ideological work in time, and for students who are depressed and nervous, you can arrange to go home and rest for a few days.

Just after this incident, due to the school's attention, and the solid and meticulous work done, the school order gradually restored. Especially later, through the media such as radio and newspapers, it fully understood the various situations of the earthquake and communicated it to various departments in a timely manner. In the class, it was repeatedly stated that the earthquake has passed, and life and study must continue. The majority of teachers and students gradually came out of the shadow of the earthquake.

(End of this chapter)