Once the congee was ready, he turned off the fire. She and he then carried the congee back to the teaching building. There wasn’t much, and it had to be given to patients and the wounded first.
Just as she was holding the congee, preparing to enter the clinic, Wang’s sneaky figure appeared again. Tu Hengsha simply didn’t want to see him. He brazenly stood at the stairway, smiling, "Oh, there’s hot congee to drink?"
Tu Hengsha ignored him, yet he blocked the way.
"Look, my wife just had a baby, and there’s nothing warm for her to drink." Wang grinned.
"What’s that got to do with ? Didn’t they say those who pollute should clean up? Whoever had the child should handle her als! Why co to ? Besides, your wife is a postpartum woman, quite particular. What if my congee isn’t sanitary and makes her sick? I can’t take that responsibility!" She was always straightforward, adding a bit of gunpowder to Wang’s words and throwing them back at him.
Wang had a big chubby son, and at that mont wasn’t overbearing. He chuckled, "Aren’t you good people?" Then, probably finding Tu Hengsha difficult to deal with, he switched his target to Ronggui, calling out, "Big brother, didn’t we just have a disaster? Where can I find sothing warm to eat?"
Seeing this, Tu Hengsha knew Ronggui would definitely give, so she blocked him, "It’s not that we can’t give you congee! You have to show so attitude!" At the very least, express so gratitude and say thank you?
A savvy person like Wang understood imdiately, nodding his head, "Thank you! Thank you! And big brother, I haven’t thanked you yet for saving our family!"
Tu Hengsha thought of Ah Gua again, the boy swept away by the raging flood. He wouldn’t co back with a re thank you, nor would he ever hear another thank you...
Filled with grief and anger, she turned away and left.
Wang got two bowls of congee from Ronggui. When Ronggui took the rest to the clinic, he t Tu Hengsha’s teary, glaring eyes at the door, "You’re such a misguided good person!"
"Yes!" He agreed readily.
"Yes, what?" Did he take being called a misguided good person as a complint?
He didn’t reply, only handed over the congee and then prepared to consciously find a place to munch on dry bread. Tu Hengsha chased after him, angrily shoving the last bowl of congee into his hands.
Holding the congee, he said, "I won’t..."
"I’m not competing with the patients for food!" She glared at him again, "If you feel guilty, treat to hot pot when we get back!"
"..." Ronggui had never seen anyone invite themselves to a treat like that.
Her mood suddenly improved, "That’s settled!"
Dusk was deepening. She skipped down the stairs to look for so dry food. The evening glow in the sky left a last glimr of gold and red, burning brightly and dazzling the eye. Tomorrow would be a bright and sunny day again.
From then on, the water level receded day by day. People taking refuge at the school returned ho batch by batch, and Liu Dawei and the others quickly recovered their health, joining their comrades who had stood firm on the frontline in the post-disaster work.
The small town first restored electricity, then water supply, and everything returned to normal.
When Tu Hengsha and Ronggui left the town, the streets were already swept clean. The river had returned to its normal level; the tranquil river surface flowed eastward with gentle green waves, as if those days of wild, ferocious roaring had never happened. The life swallowed by the waters, like a drop, beca an inseparable part of this river, never to be found again. The wheels of life rolled on relentlessly. Perhaps long after, or perhaps soon, his na would gradually fade from people’s mories, or maybe many never knew his na. But his smile was always in her cara, fortunately, still in her cara.
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