After Gu Qingcheng came ashore and confirmed that the river would not rise further and she was safe, she began to anxiously search for her parents.
She walked along the same side of the riverbank but found no trace of them, which made her anxious and panicked.
This was the first time their family had been separated since arriving here.
She prayed that nothing had happened to her parents.
Gu Qingcheng suddenly felt the whistle in her pocket and became excited.
That's right, they had agreed on a whistle communication method with the family, and it had proven useful sooner than expected.
Gu Qingcheng quickly picked up the whistle and blew it forcefully.
As she blew the whistle, her heart was filled with trepidation.
But soon, a similarly clear whistle blew from the opposite bank of the river. Then another.
Gu Qingcheng was overjoyed and relieved.
One whistle meant safety. The two separate whistles must have been from her father and mother, signaling their safety.
Gu Qingcheng quickly blew three whistles, meaning "I'll wait for you here."
Another whistle sounded from the opposite side, presumably an acknowledgment: "Received."
Gu Qingcheng couldn't help but chuckle. Her father must regret not designing more whistle codes earlier.
She signaled "I'll wait for you here," and her father didn't even know how to reply.
Gu Qingcheng could tell that her parents' whistles were coming from across the river.
She never expected that the two groups would have gone in different directions. Fortunately, they had the whistle communication, otherwise, in the darkness, she wouldn't have known where to look. If she had waited until morning, she would have been even more worried.
With the whistle communication, Gu Qingcheng felt at ease.
She found a sheltered spot at the base of a large tree and squatted down.
She had run fast and hadn't gotten wet, so she was still warm.
She put on an anti-hypothermia suit she had bought from the Mountain Cat Supermarket's sports equipment section.
The anti-hypothermia suit was thin and soft like plastic film. Just wearing it under her clothes would prevent heat loss.
It was ironic, but after being so anxious she couldn't sleep, Gu Qingcheng now felt relaxed and quickly fell asleep.
She wasn't worried about her safety because many other villagers had also fled and were gathered around, some leaning against trees, others anxiously searching for relatives. It was quite lively.
Gu Qingcheng slept soundly, without a care in the world, until morning.
Gu Chaobei and Hu Lanfang had waded across the river and found her. They saw their daughter leaning against the tree roots, asleep and even drooling.
The couple found it both funny and exasperating. They had been worried sick on the other side all night, while their daughter had slept so soundly.
Hu Lanfang stepped forward and gently touched Gu Qingcheng's forehead, a maternal habit to check her temperature.
However, the touch woke Gu Qingcheng. She opened her eyes, rubbed them, and mumbled sleepily:
"Dad, Mom, you came over so quickly?"
"Yes, we were worried about you on the other side. But when we saw the river in the morning, it hadn't risen much. It must have surged suddenly last night and subsided after the floodgates were opened overnight," Gu Chaobei analyzed.
Gu Qingcheng listened and got up to check the riverbank.
Indeed, the river was as they described, perhaps only risen by a meter. The riverbed had been more than half exposed before, which was why everyone had been caught off guard by camping on it.
Now, with the water rise, a part of the riverbed was submerged, but at least a third of it was still exposed.
Because of this, despite the shock, by morning and after an inventory, the villagers had only lost one three-year-old child, one elderly person was injured in the stampede, and an unknown number of villagers had sustained minor injuries. There were no further casualties.
The greater loss was to their belongings. Some people's handcarts carrying grain had been washed away, as had some of their luggage.
Of course, more elderly people and children were injured, all from the stampede.
Compared to the sudden terror in the middle of the night, these losses were considered acceptable.
"Village Chief, what happened? Why did the river suddenly rise in the middle of the night?" the villagers asked, still shaken, surrounding Gu Cunzhang.
Looking at the river, which had been raging the night before and was now as gentle as a lamb, Gu Cunzhang stroked his beard and said:
"It's estimated that it rained heavily upstream last night, causing a rapid rise in water levels, which in turn caused the downstream water levels to surge.
We should camp less on the riverbed in the future. It's too dangerous!" Gu Cunzhang shook his head.
He was fortunate that his family had been brought out last night; otherwise, he didn't know how he would have regretted it.
"Village Chief, what should we do? Half of my grain cart was washed away by the water. More than half of the 200 catties of rice we planned to eat on the road is gone," a villager said with a mournful face to Gu Cunzhang.
Gu Cunzhang was speechless for a moment.
He had underestimated the villagers' foresight.
"Alas, you are fortunate. You still have some grain left. Some families have even lost their lives." Gu Cunzhang could only offer general comfort.
Alas, even the landlord's house has no surplus grain!
Who doesn't lack grain these days?
It's not as if you can complain to the village chief about the flood washing away your grain and expect compensation.
Moreover, before the flood, you had 200 catties of grain. When others were starving, why didn't you help them? Gu Cunzhang grumbled inwardly.
The villager was very disappointed and overwhelmed by a sense of immense regret, sighing, "If I had known that more than half of the grain would be washed away by the flood, I might as well have cooked and eaten it a few meals ago. At least it would have been in my stomach and not a loss."
Hearing the villager say this, Gu Cunzhang's heart skipped a beat. He thought, this saying sounded so familiar!
Hmm, it was similar to what the Gu Laoliu family said. No wonder it sounded familiar.
Thinking this, Gu Cunzhang suddenly felt no regret about the wild pheasant and jerky he had eaten.
If he hadn't eaten them decisively, he would probably be regretting it now.
Just then, someone exclaimed:
"Village Chief, my grandpa has fainted!"
Gu Cunzhang was the villagers' universal comforter. When villagers encountered accidents, they instinctively sought him out because he was the pillar of the village.
Although Gu Cunzhang did not hold the granary keys, nor was he a doctor, everyone habitually turned to the village chief with their problems, always believing he could solve everything.
Gu Cunzhang was currently thinking about the famous saying of the Gu Laoliu family. Hearing the villager's cry for help, he blurted out:
"Gu Laoliu, where are you?"
"Village Chief, what is it?" Gu Chaobei emerged at the sound.
Gu Cunzhang then realized that he had unconsciously called out Gu Laoliu's name.
"Mm, take a look at what's wrong with the old man. You've been hunting for many years; you should know something about medicine, shouldn't you?" Gu Cunzhang forced an explanation.
Gu Chaobei rubbed his nose, thinking: Not to mention, being a doctor is his original profession. The village chief really has good eyesight.
Gu Chaobei went to examine the old man lying on the ground. He saw that the old man's eyes were tightly closed, his body trembling slightly, and he was semi-conscious.