Chapter 12 The third cold night

Kang Hongwei stared at his "remnant soldiers and defeated generals" dumbfounded, wanting to cry without tears.The tragedy and horror of the scene at that time cannot be described in words.Kang Hongwei knows that they don't have time to grieve now. If everyone keeps grieving for the dead and injured, they will lose the courage to live.What Kang Hongwei thought of was the basic common sense of earthquakes - aftershocks may occur again at any time, and all personnel must be transferred to a safer location in the shortest possible time. After Kang Hongwei led everyone to deal with the wounded, night had fallen, and only then did he think of contacting the outside world for rescue.Reluctantly, all mobile phone signals were interrupted, and modern communication tools were useless at this time.In desperation, Kang Hongwei thought of the "beacon tower" that transmitted military information in the cold weapon era.He directed the walking workers to find some pine branches and light them. The blazing flames lit up half of the sky above their heads, which was particularly eye-catching in the night, giving hope to the living.

However, after a pile of pine branches burned out, darkness fell again, and they did not receive any message from rescuers. At that time, Kang Hongwei didn't know that since the disaster, life rescue has been carried out in the earthquake zone. The army and rescue teams rushed to the densely populated cities first. No one thought that there were still people in need of rescue in the deep mountains and old forests. Especially in this "deep mountain and wild land" that has just been opened up! After the fire alarm failed, pessimism quickly spread among the workforce. Everyone was extremely nervous and disturbed, and there was a commotion in the team.Kang Hongwei knows that the most effective way to calm people's hearts is to let everyone see hope and ways and actions to get rid of danger.In order to stabilize everyone's emotions, Kang Hongwei said: "I will go to explore alone first, to see if I can find the way down the mountain and if I can find rescuers. You just wait here, don't run around."

In fact, what he said was "nonsense". In such a dark night full of dangers, who would dare to run around?Who can run around? Kang Hongwei decided to explore the road in the dark to find life. This is an act of "pushing to the top", and a dangerous move when he has no other choice. The aftershocks continued, and the mountain collapsed very badly. The road in his memory was completely changed. Kang Hongwei walked for a while, but he couldn't find the road. In many places, there was no way to go. He could only crawl on the ground like a four-legged animal. .He was extra careful in the process of exploring the road, but inadvertently his mind slipped away, and his body slid down the hill along the soft soil slope, causing a sacral vertebra injury, which caused him to grit his teeth and stare in pain.In the dark, he called himself a bastard, and said to himself: "Why did you take everyone out for a trip? Why did you encounter an earthquake?"

All the regrets and complaints are useless, the darkness is still dark, the aftershocks are still continuing, and the boulders and cold on the mountain are still threatening everyone's life. After a long period of reconnaissance and road exploration, Kang Hongwei gradually realized that they could not find a way at all and had no way to go at night when the road conditions were poor and their vision was unclear.Without the help of rescuers, this seriously disabled and fragmented team would not be able to walk down the mountain no matter how hard they tried, let alone find a hospital.Even if they worked hard to reach the bottom of the mountain, the collapse of the mountain was so serious and there would be aftershocks at any time, it was impossible for rescuers to enter the mountain in the dark at night. It can be said that they can only save themselves on the mountain under the current situation.

Kang Hongwei thought, if he can no longer rush down the mountain, the wounded on the mountain don't know what happened. Are everyone still in anxiety and fear?Can a few employees who are in better condition take on the task of protecting disabled employees?If the team was still in a panic, he should have rushed back earlier, maybe the wounded were in need of his comfort and assistance, so he returned to the mountain with ambivalence and hesitation. Kang Hongwei ran back and forth non-stop for six hours, his physical strength was almost exhausted, he kept panting, his breathing was rapid and short, as if a stone was pressed against his chest.

Night, covering them like a bottomless black hole, made them lose the concept of time and space.There were constant aftershocks on the mountain, and from time to time there was the sound of "rumbling" rocks rolling down and flying stones hitting rocks and breaking branches. The tourist team was trapped in the mountains like this, with no water, no food, no medicine, and the cold was threatening.The male workers were naked from the upper body, and their clothes were torn into strips. They bandaged the wounds of the wounded, and covered the wounded women without tearing into strips.The female workers were all seriously injured and could not stand the torture of the cold.Under the attack of the cold wind, the shirtless men shivered from the cold; the severely injured people groaned in pain and despair.

After the firewood for the alarm was extinguished, the unburned fire still exuded some residual heat, and everyone gathered around the fire to keep warm.In the deep mountains and wilderness, only this pile of charcoal fire made them feel a little bit of warmth and hope in the dark night. Kang Hongwei has never been so helpless and hopeless in his life.When there was no earthquake, he was working at the unit, and the property staff cleaned the room every morning. It can be said that his room was always in a clean and bright state; the secretary made him a cup of tea every morning, and he felt very comfortable when he picked up the cup; The section chiefs and the staff all look up to his face. As long as his face is not good-looking, everyone will try to avoid his sight. When he looks happy, everyone will take the initiative to talk to him.Every year, representatives of advanced units are willing to take a photo with him after the commendation meeting.In order to save a few photos, he asked the photographer to take a group photo of him and their representatives. When the employees took pictures with him, all of them had happy smiles on their faces.He is the role of more than 100 people in the Wenchuan sub-branch, and everyone has to listen to him to give orders, but now in a critical moment, none of the employees took the initiative to ask him if he was injured, and took the initiative to do something instead of him.Judging from the expressions of the workers, every one of them was indifferent to him, which made Kang Hongwei's heart very heavy. He kept touching the seriously wounded and encouraged them, hoping that they would persevere.

In the middle of the night, an owl croaked from a tree in front of them. The sound was tragic and desolate. Kang Hongwei and the staff were shivering from the cold wind. Frightened", they didn't know what was going to happen again.There is a local saying that it is unlucky for an owl to hoot, especially in the middle of the night. It will either cause death or ruin a fortune.Everyone was tossed by the cold while thinking wildly. At this moment, Jiang Xuejun yelled, and there was no more sound.Everyone knows that Jiang Xuejun is gone. Many people think that the owl's arrival is the soul of Gou Jiang Xuejun. Maybe some things in the world are just such coincidences. Superstitions are often caused by many coincidences.If there were no earthquakes and many strange things encountered on the mountain, the employees would never believe in the theory of souls, and Kang Hongwei would not believe in such strange things. It can be said that this sudden earthquake changed them. attitude towards life.

After the owl croaked and flew away, the employees were no longer so nervous. They believed that the owl's hint had been verified, and Jiang Xuejun's departure meant that bad luck had also left them.Kang Hongwei is more complicated than the employees think. Every time an employee leaves, his heart will be hit hard, and the psychological burden will be even heavier. He is afraid that the family members, relatives and friends of the employees will find him for someone in the future, and he is afraid of death. The increase in the number of employees caused him to be punished more severely by the higher authorities.

When the workers were resisting the cold attack and most of them were in a state of numbness, Kang Hongwei called Jiang Xuejun's name continuously, calling out loudly. He mourned for Jiang Xuejun's short life, and also worried about his own future destiny. And roar.More importantly, he wanted the employees to understand a president's true feelings for an ordinary employee.Jiang Xuejun was silent forever, he did not answer the president's call.Kang Hongwei reached out and stroked Jiang Xuejun's face, trying to find out if he was still breathing, but Jiang Xuejun's face was helplessly tilted to one side, he could no longer hear the president's call, he was no longer breathing, and had already entered another world.

Kang Hongwei sobbed in grief, pulled his hair, and burst into tears. None of the employees stopped him, which made his sad mood even sadder. He couldn't restrain his emotions and wailed. When the earthquake hit, the female workers who survived under the protection of Fu Gongmin and Jiang Xuejun heard Kang Hongwei crying so sadly, which stimulated their traumatized nerves, and they suddenly cried and shouted.They cried for God to bless this good man who sacrificed himself to save others. They cried like hell, and one female worker even said that she couldn't live anymore and wanted to go with them. When Kang Hongwei heard this sentence, he stopped crying immediately. He knew that he had "performed" well, and he inadvertently contributed to everyone's sorrow.He thought that when he was in a crisis-ridden environment, he tried his best to help the employees. They didn't know how to be grateful, and they refused to even say a word of thanks. The departure of the staff has caused such great sorrow.Now the whole team urgently needs to protect the living instead of crying and mourning. Kang Hongwei regrets that he should not lead everyone in a sad atmosphere, and should not take the lead in crying on this occasion.He suddenly changed his countenance, and ordered a little arrogantly: "Can you cry him to death? Women know how to cry! Don't cry! Fu Gongmin and Jiang Xuejun should save you. Are you their mother-in-law or what? You're going to die like this Want to live? Even their mother-in-law is not the time to cry now, so hold on to me! Hold on until dawn!" In daily life, Fu Gongmin and Jiang Xuejun are very ordinary people, sometimes a little timid and selfish, and they are not Dong Cunrui and Huang Jiguang's characters in any way. Unexpectedly, in the critical moment of life and death, the two of them can be indifferent. They stood up without hesitation and defended their colleagues with their own lives. Their righteous deeds moved the people present, and everyone was immersed in sorrow. God seemed to know the sorrow of everyone, a gust of desolate wind blew by, and then "tears" fell.The endless rain made Kang Hongwei and the others even more sad. Human beings are often so ruthless and ungrateful consciously and unconsciously. When they live in the world, they don’t know how to cherish friendship, don’t know how to cherish life, and don’t know how to respect others; It's unreasonable, but it's too late!Why do some people say: When a person is about to die, his words are also good.That's the reason.Someone began to tell about the many benefits of Fu Minmin and Jiang Xuejun. Everyone listened quietly in the rain, forgetting the danger and the pain. In this silence and pain, Kang Hongwei suddenly realized the crisis: if someone falls asleep in such bad weather, they will sleep forever.Every death of an employee is equivalent to a knife inserted into Kang Hongwei's chest. He does not want any employee to leave him, whether it is out of selfishness (for fear of being dealt with by the superior) or out of love for the employees. The goal is The unanimity is to let the workers get out of the mountains alive.In order to take good care of every wounded person, Kang Hongwei asked everyone to take turns calling each person's name at intervals until the other person answered.Kang Hongwei was worried that the wounded's physical exertion would be too much, and that the calls of the wounded would affect everyone's determination to overcome difficulties. He was cruel to the point of inhumanity, and severely stopped the wounded who groaned loudly because of their pain. At midnight on the 13th, another owl came to a tree next to them and croaked. The owl had just hooted a few times, but Kang Hongwei accidentally contacted the outside world. He hurriedly called for help from his superiors and reported In the case of casualties, the signal was interrupted before the voice fell.This is a very exciting signal!The workers heard from outside for the first time after the earthquake.Those who were injured stopped moaning, and Fu Minmin and Jiang Xuejun also stopped crying. They thought that the first arrival of the owl brought bad luck, but this time it brought hope. Just when everyone was full of hope about getting out of the mountain, Liu Hong suddenly yelled and convulsed. Everyone hurriedly supported her and called her to wake up, but after the owl croaked and flew away, Liu Hong finally did not wake up, and she also left this world forever, and did not persist until dawn. Heavy rain rumbled again from the sky, and the rain mercilessly extinguished the fires for alarm and heating, making the disabled team trapped on the mountain worse.In order to survive, in the long dark night, Kang Hongwei and the remaining nine people encouraged each other, patted and called each other. They braved the severe cold in the rain and looked forward to the dawn with difficulty.