MQSP - Chapter 85

Chapter 85

"Wh-what's happening?" Baiye felt a wave of dizziness, unable to even stand steady. She started to panic. She had never experienced anything like this before. An earthquake? The ground was shaking, the mountains were swaying—it was terrifying!

Fortunately, the manor where they were was in an open area, with no large mountains or tall buildings nearby, which saved them from the danger of collapsing structures.

"It's an earthquake. They happen often here. Don't panic, let's get away from here first." The Flower Witch was relatively calm, leading everyone away from the half-dismantled stage. Just as they cleared the area, the stage collapsed with a thunderous crash.

"Mother, are you okay?" Baiye turned her head and saw the fallen stage kick up a cloud of dust. The Flower Witch had been walking at the very back, protecting everyone, and Baiye had no idea if she'd been hit.

"I'm fine," the Flower Witch and Xia Nan replied at the same time.

At that moment, no one was dwelling on the Flower Witch's identity. They were all rattled by the sudden natural disaster.

The small group that had been cooking in the kitchen also rushed out of the house to take shelter, and the two groups quickly converged.

"Oh my god, what's going on? How can there be an earthquake?"

After a few dozen seconds, the earth stopped shaking, but no one dared to let their guard down.

"Has it stopped? Why do I feel like it's still shaking?"

"It's stopped."

"The tremors were so strong, the magnitude must be high. We're not at the epicenter, are we?" The group was still shaken with lingering fear.

"Oh my god, over there…" Baiye suddenly cried out, pointing to the mountain not far away where she and Auntie Lin had been living in seclusion. A large number of rocks were tumbling down the slope.

"It's a landslide."

"Damn it, aren't there houses down there?!"

Startled, everyone exchanged a look and, without a word, ran toward the foot of the mountain.

"Don't go. Stay here." Lin Yuqing grabbed the little one, who was running the fastest, feeling extremely worried about her.

"Auntie Lin, saving people is what's important!"

Seeing that she couldn't stop her, Lin Yuqing decisively followed close behind.

When they reached the foot of the mountain, rocks were still rolling down.

There had originally been a residential village at the base of the mountain, but now, most of the houses had collapsed, turning it into a field of ruins. Even the village road was blocked by giant boulders. The villagers were fleeing in all directions, focused on dodging the falling rocks, with no time to spare for the victims buried under planks or stones.

Baiye took one look from a distance and felt her heart tremble. She saw someone with half their body pinned by a wooden plank, unable to move. She saw someone crushed beneath a massive boulder. She saw blood flowing through the rubble and a severed limb sticking out from a gap in the debris.

Baiye squeezed her eyes shut and instinctively hid behind Lin Yuqing, clutching her clothes tightly. She couldn't stand the sight of blood; even killing a fish could scare her half to death, let alone witnessing such a gory scene so suddenly.

Seeing such a sight, the others were also deeply shaken. The Flower Witch stood in front of them all. Rocks were still falling from the mountain, so they couldn't get any closer.

Watching countless tourists scrambling to find cover and fleeing in disarray, Baiye had a flash of inspiration. "Mother, open up the manor. Let everyone take shelter inside. It's better than staying here and looking at all this…"

The Flower Witch nodded. "Fang Yi, Su Yu, go open the manor gates and let everyone settle there," she ordered without hesitation.

"Okay." Fang Yi nodded and pulled Su Yu away. The latter still hadn't processed what was happening. What… what's with the 'Mother'? And how does she know me?

"Everyone, first get the people you can save away from here. Don't go near the foot of the mountain, and watch out for falling rocks."

"Okay!" everyone responded, spontaneously splitting into pairs to take action.

Lin Yuqing and Baiye pulled the nearby uninjured or lightly injured people aside, pointing them toward the manor for temporary shelter.

Lin Yuqing spotted a little girl kneeling by the ruins, crying out. She quickly ran over and picked her up. "Mommy—Mommy—" the little girl pointed at the rubble, wailing helplessly. Hearing her cries, Lin Yuqing's heart ached.

Baiye followed the little girl's gaze and saw a hand sticking out from beneath the debris. The person was very close to her, covered by a layer of wooden planks, their leg pinned by a rock, unable to move. If she could just move that rock, she should be able to save them!

With that thought, Baiye stopped hesitating and went over to try and push the boulder.

Baiye tried for a long time before squatting down, using her shoulder to push the plank upward. Just as the rock shifted slightly, before she could exert more force, she was suddenly pulled away. In a flash, she heard the sound of more rubble tumbling down. Several more stones of varying sizes crashed onto the wooden plank. Baiye's heart sank. Those few rocks had completely cut off any chance of survival for the person below. The faint cries for help she had heard just moments ago instantly vanished.

"D… Dead?" Baiye trembled uncontrollably, feeling the oppressive weight of death for the first time. A living person had perished right in front of her, so close, so very close.

The Flower Witch glanced at the dazed little one, then looked around and saw Lin Yuqing walking toward them.

"Take her back. It's too dangerous here." She pushed Baiye toward Lin Yuqing, who didn't dare delay, wrapping an arm around Baiye and turning to leave.

"Mo… Mother… Mother, she…" Baiye came back to her senses and turned to look at the Flower Witch, watching her stooped figure move through the ruins, searching for survivors. She was filled with worry.

"It's fine. She knows what she's doing. Don't stay here and distract her."

---

About ten minutes later, the rocks stopped falling from the mountain. The group immediately organized people to rescue the survivors trapped under the rubble.

After the initial shock and panic subsided, everyone gradually calmed down. They persuaded the tourists to join them in rescuing the survivors. None of them had ever seen a scene like this before; they were all trembling with fear but had to force themselves to remain calm and give directions. After all, they were people who had seen a bit of the world, and if they, the organizers, fell into disarray, the tourists would have no one to rely on.

Baiye and Xia Nan were forced to stay at the manor to help settle the victims. Baiye only knew how to treat simple wounds; the sight of profusely bleeding injuries made her panic. Fortunately, Xia Nan knew some first aid, and there were also some medically knowledgeable people among the tourists. They formed a temporary medical team to help the injured with basic hemostasis and first aid.

"Fang Yi? Fang Yi!" the Flower Witch called out loudly.

"She took some injured people back to the manor. Tell me what you need," Lu Qing, who happened to be beside her, said quickly.

"It's getting dark. The manor has no emergency supplies. Go to a nearby town, check the disaster situation there, and see if they can provide any material support." After giving the instructions, the Flower Witch added, "Don't go alone. Take Lin Yuqing with you."

"Lin Yuqing took people to get water. I'll go with her," Jiang Boyan said quickly.

The Flower Witch glanced at her. "Mm."

As dusk settled in, a cold wind howled, making it freezing. Baiye gathered enough firewood and started several bonfires in the manor for everyone to warm themselves by.

Everyone had been busy the entire afternoon with no time to rest. It wasn't until the sky was completely dark and the search and rescue work became difficult to continue that they returned to the manor for a short break.

"Auntie Lin, where's Mother?" Baiye stood at the entrance, looking at each person as they returned.

"Hm?" Lin Yuqing looked around, then tilted her head toward something.

Baiye followed her gaze. The Flower Witch was standing in front of the flowerbeds, staring blankly. Her beloved orchids had almost all been trampled, and some people had even tossed them into the bonfires as fuel.

"Mother…" Baiye knew she was heartbroken. She loved those orchids so much, cultivating and planting them with such painstaking effort, only to see them trampled like this now.

"Mother, in a few days, how about I help you plant a new sea of flowers?"

Hearing this, Gu Xinran turned to look at her and smiled. "I'm not heartbroken over these flowers."

"Eh?"

"I was just thinking about…"

"What?"

Gu Xinran pressed her lips together. A moment ago, when she saw those tourists helping the people trapped in the ruins without a second thought, a wave of sorrow had washed over her. She remembered when Yilan had her accident. She had carried her to the hospital, knowing it was too late, but still unwilling to accept that she would just leave like that.

Back then, she had held Yilan, standing at the hospital entrance, so close to the doors, only to be surrounded by a crowd of gawkers. They accused her, cursed her, blocking Yilan's path to survival and completely destroying her own courage to live.

If she had met a group of kind people like this back then—even if they hadn't offered a helping hand, if only they hadn't treated her with such cold indifference—she wouldn't have lost all hope of living.

She wouldn't have thrown herself into the river with Yilan's body, wouldn't have been accidentally saved, wouldn't have lived in seclusion here, wouldn't have been disfigured in a wildfire, ending up looking like this.

She had told herself countless times that kindness doesn't lead to a good end, yet when something like this happened, she still rushed out to help without a second thought.

"Mother?"

"You're hurt?" Baiye grabbed the Flower Witch's hand and only then noticed that her fingertips were scraped raw. She quickly ran back to get the first-aid kit.

"What's wrong?" Lin Yuqing also came over to take a look. All ten of her fingers were bloody. This old fellow had really given it her all. She quickly scooped up a ladle of clean water to help her wash the wounds on her hands.

The little one carefully cleaned her wounds, occasionally bringing them to her lips to blow on them gently, looking up at her to ask if it hurt. The sight warmed Gu Xinran's heart, and the exhaustion from the entire day seemed to melt away. Having a daughter was truly wonderful.

After finishing with Xinran, Baiye pulled Lin Yuqing aside and had her spin around several times, inspecting her carefully from top to bottom, afraid that her Auntie Lin had also been injured. After a thorough check, she found only a few scrapes on her arm and no serious wounds, which finally put her mind at ease.

After a day of frantic activity, everyone finally gathered around the bonfires to rest. After experiencing something like this, no one was in a good mood, and they all sat in silence. Moreover, through this incident, they had all become tacitly aware of the Flower Witch's identity. No one dared to ask, unable to bring themselves to open that door, afraid of touching upon her painful past.

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