Disaster Apocalypse: Farming, Family, and My Hidden Secret Space-Chapter 90. Something has happened

"The village chief is here, the village chief is here!"

Someone shouted out, and the villagers who were standing by, unable to help, quickly gathered around.

"Village chief, what are we going to do?" someone asked anxiously.

Hua Laohan didn’t even spare them an extra glance. They were anxious, but he, as the village chief, was even more anxious, and he headed straight to the site of the house collapse.

He looked around but didn’t see any sign of Old Zhao, frowning.

"Didn’t anyone from Old Zhao’s family escape?"

"Didn’t see anyone," replied the Sun family, who were the first to notice and lived closest to Old Zhao’s house, shaking their heads.

Everyone had a very bad feeling, like the whole family might be gone.

Old Zhao’s house was indeed old, but the beams were real solid wood. If they pressed down on a person, it would be disastrous.

At the site of the collapse, Hua Chengtian and his team were working nervously, carefully with every move, worried about causing more harm to anyone below.

Unable to help, Hua Laohan stood to the side, anxiously waiting, occasionally reminding them to be cautious.

"Found someone?" Hua Meng, to Hua Chengtian’s left, suddenly shouted, and several people scrambled over. After heaps of straw and mud, and a few logs were cleared, the first person from Old Zhao’s family was rescued.

It was Old Zhao’s wife, carried out by several men, and gently placed on a door plank that had been cleared.

Seeing someone had been rescued, many villagers gathered around, shaking their heads at Old Qian’s ashen face, sighing in regret.

The Sun family was closest, and Sun Tu’s wife was urged by her mother-in-law to quickly fetch a tattered quilt from their home.

"How is it? Is she okay?" Hua Laohan asked Hua Sanshan, who was examining her, with tightly knit brows.

"She’s gone," Hua Sanshan withdrew his hand and shook his head.

A wave of sighs ran through the crowd at once.

Sun Tu’s wife looked at her mother-in-law, holding the tattered quilt.

She wasn’t bothered if a person was alive, but now that someone had died, she hesitated, especially since there weren’t many quilts at home.

Seeing her mother-in-law shake her head, Sun Tu’s wife held onto the quilt tightly and sighed in relief.

But she wasn’t just left lying there. A kind woman picked up a burlap sack unearthed and covered Old Qian with it.

Hua Laopozi was also feeling bad; she had seen her just a few days ago. Although she didn’t like talking to the lazy woman, she still felt uncomfortable that she was suddenly gone.

She held her granddaughter tighter, regretting letting her delicate granddaughter come along now that someone had actually died.

Seeming to sense her grandmother’s worry, Hua Jin looked up, "Grandma, I’m not afraid."

Hua Jin indeed wasn’t afraid; there were so many people here. It was just the unpredictability of life that struck her, how a person could be gone just like that.

Although she hadn’t interacted with this family much, it was still hard to watch.

"Grandma... is there really no hope?" Hua Jin glanced at the person covered by the burlap sack,

"Your Grandpa Sanshan knows some simple medicine; if he’s sure... alas!" Hua Laopozi couldn’t help but sigh.

Seeing everyone’s mood somewhat downcast, Hua Jin couldn’t help but feel a bit low herself.

Hua Yunao and his brother came over and immediately gathered by their father’s side to help.

With more people, the clean-up sped up, and soon more people were dug out.

"It’s Old Zhao, and he’s still breathing." Someone shouted next, and he was carried to a door plank, with Hua Sanshan rushing forward.

"Quick, we need clean water, the wounds need immediate treatment." Hua Sanshan shouted towards the onlookers.

"I’ll get it," Sun Tu shouted, turning and running home; the clay pot at home always had warm water.

"Water’s here."

Hua Sanshan hurriedly cleaned the muddy wound on Old Zhao’s forehead, which was bleeding profusely, and then took out a packet of medicine from his pocket and pressed it onto the wound. After searching Old Zhao’s body for a while and not finding anything clean, he was about to tear from his own clothes when Hua Laopozi handed over a roll of clean cloth.

"I have clean cloth here."

Hua Sanshan nodded silently, quickly taking it and wrapping the wound tightly, hoping to stop the bleeding.

Only then did Hua Jin understand why her grandmother had left and then returned to the house.

Old Zhao had just been bandaged when his eldest son, youngest son, eldest daughter-in-law, grandsons, granddaughter, youngest daughter-in-law, and a grandson who couldn’t walk yet, hugged tightly, were all dug out one by one.

It was evident the family had been together when the incident occurred.

Apart from Old Qian, who had stopped breathing, and the unconscious Old Zhao, the rest of the Zhao family were conscious.

Especially the children, who might have been protected by their parents below, aside from some scratches and being frightened, they looked okay.

"Wah wah..."

Suddenly, the child held by Zhao’s youngest daughter-in-law started to cry, and simultaneously the other Zhao children began crying too, releasing their fear.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief; it was good they could cry.

The child cried, and with mother-child bonds, Zhao’s two daughters-in-law also quickly woke up, despite their pain, instinctively hugging their children and sobbing silently.

This brush with death had terrified them.

Seeing the family in a sorry state made everyone sympathize with them and served as a wake-up call, especially for the similarly lazy families, as the scene so deeply moved them that they almost simultaneously went home to clean the snow off their roofs.

Zhao’s eldest and second sons also gradually regained their senses, and with the villagers’ help, opened eyes that were caked with mud. Before they could see their surroundings, they felt a sharp pain and couldn’t help but cry out and tried to move.

"Don’t move," Hua Sanshan said coldly, pressing down on Zhao Hu, who was trying to get up while treating his leg, "Do you want to keep this leg or not? Don’t you know it’s broken?"

"My leg... is broken?" Zhao Hu was stunned, no wonder his left leg felt numb. Suddenly frightened, he looked at Hua Sanshan nervously, "Uncle Hua, please, please save my leg."

Glancing at Zhao Hu, Hua Sanshan said, "I don’t have that skill. If you want to save the leg, you’ll have to go to the clinic in town; my amateur skills won’t work."

Despite his words, Hua Sanshan still carefully aligned the fracture in Zhao Hu’s lower leg, tightly wrapping it in cloth.

Zhao’s eldest daughter-in-law, upon hearing her husband’s leg was broken, cried out in grief.

"Alright, Zhao’s wife, stop crying. The accident’s happened, so you need to pull yourself together, saving a life is already a blessing. Clean up quickly, it’s freezing, and the kids shouldn’t be left out here in the cold; the family still depends on you. Quickly clean the wounds, life must go on, right?"

Some familiar women and aunts consoled her; it was so cold outside that even standing there was making them numb, let alone sitting with the whole family.

In fact, Zhao’s wife also felt cold; if she weren’t so despondent, she wouldn’t be able to sit still on the wooden plank.

Meanwhile, Hua Laohan and several villagers had already moved the breathing Old Zhao into the still-intact part of the Zhao house and quickly started a fire inside.

The person was already not doing well and wouldn’t survive being exposed to the cold.

As soon as he got out and heard the sobbing, Hua Laohan’s head started aching.