The 70s Novel: The Supporting Character Just Wants to Lie Down-Chapter 207: Within One’s Capability

Wang Miaomiao found that the only people left unscathed were some women, elderly, and children, scattered and panicked, all at a loss for what to do.

The men, except for the injured ones, had all gone out for rescue efforts.

She had no choice but to stand up and organize everyone to do something.

Upon hearing her words, a pale woman holding a little girl slowly emerged from the crowd, saying, "I’m the women’s director from Liu Family Village. If you have any instructions, you can tell me."

The woman looked very haggard, with a pale face and swollen eyes, seeming to have suffered a great shock. The veins in the hand holding the child were bulging, showing she was terribly frightened and anxious about the child in her arms.

Wang Miaomiao didn’t know what this woman had gone through, but for her to bravely stand up now, she must be someone with a sense of responsibility. "Sister, as you can see, it’s getting late. Shouldn’t we organize some people to cook lunch? After all, there are so many of us—elderly, children, the injured, and those rescuing at the front line—all need to eat."

Wu Liuhong agreed wholeheartedly. Indeed, the dead were already gone, but the living still needed to carry on...

"You’re right. Now we... there’s a kitchen here, but I doubt we have much rice or flour... not sure if it’s enough." Wu Liuhong pointed to a distant side room.

The school had a kitchen, but there wasn’t much inside. After checking, Wang Miaomiao asked, "Sister, do you know where the nearby village granaries are? Do they have stored grain? We could fetch some and use it for now."

"This? Would that be alright?" It belonged to the collective, would they take it without permission...?

"It’s fine, special times call for special measures." Wang Miaomiao had no concerns of that sort. She knew the rescue would last a long time, with lots of support on the way, but they couldn’t just rely on those resources; whatever they could solve by themselves should be a priority.

"We also need to send people to search every household, gather any usable resources, the houses need to be rebuilt. Who knows when they’ll truly settle down; leaving resources in the ruins would be a waste. Ah... there’s still so much to do..." Wang Miaomiao thought to herself that they needed to make a plan.

Wu Liuhong nodded heavily. "Alright, I’ll have them go look right away."

She basically knew everyone from these villages, delegating tasks efficiently, much more conveniently and skillfully than Wang Miaomiao, who was unfamiliar with the area. This was why Wang Miaomiao had called her out to take the lead.

Soon, the tasks were allocated: some went to find grain, some to cook lunch, and two elderly people stayed in a room to look after the children.

They couldn’t just sit and wait for death. Now, energized, they began to do whatever they could.

Seeing them all spring into action, Wang Miaomiao was relieved to let go and allow them to get busy.

Once lunch was ready and everyone at the makeshift shelter had eaten,

Wang Miaomiao arranged for several carts to be pulled, each carrying food containers, scattered among the surrounding villages to deliver hot meals to the rescue workers.

"One, two, three, one, two, three..."

When Wang Miaomiao saw Jiang Yan, five soldiers and three villagers were jointly working to move a cement slab.

Seeing the usually clean and orderly man now dusty and dirty, Wang Miaomiao felt a pang of heartache.

"Chunru, Chunru, can you hear Daddy’s voice? Respond to Daddy. Chunru, are you okay? You’re Daddy’s only one. Please answer Daddy..." a man kneeled on the ground, anxiously calling out.

Hearing his words, Wang Miaomiao instinctively glanced around, then was startled by a scene not far away.

Four people lay in a straight line on the ground, covered by a tattered mat, with only four pairs of feet showing.

No need to think; it was clear they hadn’t escaped this disaster.

Fortunately, there was a response from the rubble—the sound of lightly tapping on metal.

The man was overjoyed and cried out loudly, "Quick, she’s alive, she’s alive, save her quickly."

In fact, Jiang Yan and his group had never stopped searching. Upon hearing the sound, they concentrated their efforts on clearing that spot.

Strength in numbers—it didn’t take long before they indeed rescued the person. However, the young girl didn’t look good...

"Hurry, take her to the assembly point at the elementary school, there’s a doctor there," Jiang Yan instructed as a soldier carried the person away, and the man followed step by step.

Seeing they had finished their busyness for a moment, Wang Miaomiao seized the opportunity, "Brother Jiang, quickly, have them come over for a meal, so they’ll have the strength to continue the search. Otherwise, even a body of iron wouldn’t hold up."

Jiang Yan didn’t dispute; he knew very well that only by eating would they have the strength to work. So, without hesitation, he called everyone over to quickly eat and take a short break to better aid the rescue efforts.

"Eat more, everyone, make sure to eat enough so you’re not working on an empty stomach." Wang Miaomiao said as she distributed the meals, "If it’s not enough, I’ll go get more; the kitchen at the assembly point is still cooking."

"Alright, thank you, sister." The young soldiers thanked her, devouring the cornbread eagerly, not complaining one bit. They must be truly hungry; everything tasted good.

Jiang Yan sat down on the ground, looking disheveled but exuding an innate calm and dignity.

"Tired? Come here and chat for a bit." Jiang Yan patted the empty spot next to him.

Wang Miaomiao obediently walked over and sat next to him, "I’m not tired, just doing some errands."

Even as she said this, Jiang Yan didn’t believe it. She was not the lazy type, and even light chores could be quite taxing.

"Tell me, what have you been doing?" Jiang Yan casually asked.

Wang Miaomiao leaned against him, shoulder to shoulder, lightly dressed in the summer, so they could feel each other’s warmth through the fabric, filling their hearts with an inexplicable sense of peace and warmth.

Wang Miaomiao nonchalantly talked about the day’s events and asked Jiang Yan whether what she did was right or good...

"Yes, that’s right, very good. My wife is really capable." Jiang Yan said with tender pride, patting her head affectionately, earning a protest from her.

She retaliated by patting his head, only to find it soaked with sweat, as if he just washed his hair and needed to air dry it.

How much sweat had he shed...

Feeling heartache, she asked, "Is there still water in the canteen?"

Jiang Yan shook his head, "It’s too hot; there’s no moving without sweating."

"Hmm..." Wang Miaomiao stood up, "You should hurry and eat. I need to go back."

Not waiting for his reaction, she pushed the cart and left.

She had to go back and have the villagers boil water, then bring it back, because having people work this hard in the heat without water could lead to dehydration.