Quick Transmigration: When Can I Just Lay Down and Wait to Die?

More than ten days passed, and on July 7th and 24.5th, someone in the courtyard said that it had been half a month and nothing had happened, so could they go back to their rooms to sleep? After all, the children were happy sleeping in the courtyard, but it was still a bit inconvenient for the young women and wives.

A group of people gathered together again. Uncle Wang said, "Since the pamphlet says it's between July 7.15th and August 8.15th, we should at least hold on until August 8.16th. It's better to believe it than not to believe it."

So, before, those from the front yard slept in the front yard, and those from the back yard slept in the back yard. From now on, the men will sleep in the front yard, and the women and children will sleep in the back yard. It will only last about 20 days. We'll go home when everything is really alright. Let's all persevere a little longer.

Everyone agreed. They slept together, especially the women who slept in the backyard, which made it very lively. Every night they chatted endlessly about everyone's business.

It's not surprising that people are like this. In this day and age, there aren't many forms of entertainment, so people need to find a way to release their passions. Originally, couples could do things they liked at home, but now that they're all in the yard, all they have left is gossip and chatting.

The women gossiped, and the men in the front yard were no slouch either. They boasted, and apart from the two young single men, they were all reminiscing about their past...

At 3:42 a.m. on July 28, 1976, the earth shook violently. Because Beijing was not far away, the tremors were very noticeable. Everyone was sound asleep at that time when suddenly the ground shook violently.

Everyone woke up with a start and jumped to the ground. The men ran towards the backyard, shouting, "Get down on the ground! Get down on the ground!"

The women sat on the ground, protecting the children, who were crying loudly in fear. No one had time to comfort them; they just held them tightly and waited for what would happen next.

Aftershocks continued intermittently until around 5 a.m., when the earth finally calmed down and everyone could finally relax and take the children, whose voices had become hoarse from crying, into their arms and gently comfort them.

After confirming that the women and children in the backyard were all safe, the men finally had time to check on each house. Fortunately, the houses had been reinforced recently, so there was basically no major damage.

The rain shelters did collapse due to the earthquake, since they were temporary structures. Most of the roof tiles fell off the houses, and some odds and ends fell to the ground. Overall, there was no damage to the yards.

The survivors, wide awake, gathered together and chatted, "We don't know who lost this booklet. Luckily we had it, otherwise, if the earthquake had happened at three or four in the morning, every family would have been wiped out!"

"Yes, it's terrifying to even think about. The earthquake was so strong in Beijing, how serious must it have been in Tangshan?"

The men chatted as they rebuilt the collapsed rain shelter, this time making it much more sturdy, since the pamphlet had said that rain usually follows an earthquake.

Everyone took advantage of the absence of aftershocks to go home, bringing out the rainproof tarpaulins and other items they had prepared in advance. They also started setting up rain shelters in the yard for use when resting at night, and a temporary stove was also set up with a canopy on top.

Earlier, everyone had discussed that if an earthquake really occurred and it started to rain, they would all eat together from the same pot for a while.

Each family contributed grain based on the number of people in their household; two children under the age of 10 were counted as one person. For vegetables and other necessities, everyone paid a portion of the money in advance to Zhang Qing.

The concern is that if it really rains later, transportation will be disrupted and vegetables will be hard to buy. Zhang Qing is in the logistics department, so he has more connections and resources than most people and can manage to get some things back for everyone.

Liu Yuxi also said that he would go and say hello to his classmates at dawn, and if it really came down to it, they would try to get some meat, since adults could endure it without any problems, but children couldn't. No one objected, and they simply agreed to split the cost of the tickets equally.

As soon as it got light, everyone got busy. People went to the factory to check if there was any damage. If any factory buildings had collapsed, they had to salvage the machines and other equipment as soon as possible.

The rest of the people continued to work at home. Liu Yuxi also took the opportunity to go out for a walk, under the pretext of saying hello to a classmate's house. She also took the opportunity to check on the surrounding yards and found that there was basically no major damage. Everything was in order despite the chaos.

In the morning, people from the neighborhood committee came to check the yard. After confirming that there was no loss of people or property, they told everyone to stay outside for a while longer before leaving for the next yard.

Sure enough, the sky darkened in the evening, followed by a continuous downpour, with occasional aftershocks.

Fortunately, just past noon, Liu Yuxi climbed onto the roof and replaced all the broken tiles on each house with new ones. Otherwise, the rain was going to continue for quite some time, and the houses would have been in trouble.

At that time, Beijing's drainage system was not very well-developed. People piled up sandbags they had prepared in advance at the entrances of the courtyards and houses, ready to unclog the drains at any time, and also ready to pour water out of the courtyards whenever there was standing water.

The heavy rain lasted for three days, only stopping for half a day before starting to drizzle again. The children couldn't play and had to stay on their beds under the rain shelter every day. Liu Yuxi and a few other older children would tell them stories or play with them to pass the time, otherwise the children would definitely be crying loudly.

Meals were just so-so; we hadn't seen any leafy greens for several days, just potatoes, radishes, and cabbage. Liu Yuxi brought back meat twice, but because of the heat, he didn't dare bring too much at once, only about ten pounds each time.

On the day I got it back, I rendered the fat into lard and sliced ​​the lean meat and stir-fried it all. I ate some of it that day and put the rest in the lard jar. The next time I had a meal, I would take the meat out and stir-fry it with the vegetables. This way, it would last longer and I could still have a bit of meat flavor every day.

These days continued until August 20th, when the sky finally cleared up completely. This disaster should be considered over, and transportation should soon resume.

After discussing it, everyone agreed that each family could go back inside to sleep, but the rain shelters and other protective equipment would not be removed for the time being, in case of any unforeseen circumstances. They would remove them after a while when they were sure there was no problem.

Afterwards, everyone divided up the remaining grain and vegetables, and then gave the meat money to Liu Yuxi. At night, some people still slept in the courtyard, but most people had already returned to their houses.

Everyone in the factory was closely following the situation in Tangshan. Fortunately, they learned from the factory's newspaper within two days that "a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Tangshan at 3:42:53 AM Beijing time on July 28, 1976. Thanks to the government's early warning and proper post-earthquake arrangements, the earthquake resulted in 132 deaths, 367 injuries, and enormous economic losses, which are still being tallied. The government and the people are dedicated to the post-disaster reconstruction of the Tangshan area. With our united efforts and concerted efforts, we will surely be able to properly arrange the lives of the people and the post-disaster reconstruction work."

Seeing this death toll, Liu Yuxi, who had been on edge these past few days, immediately breathed a sigh of relief. "It's not just over 24 people, that's great, that's great..."