CHAPTER 262: CHAPTER 262 ORIGINAL SIN 71

The helicopter constantly flew back and forth, but the supplies it brought were still a drop in the bucket. The roads outside were blocked by landslides, and to let a large number of rescue teams enter the disaster-stricken county, they had to wait for the military rescuers to clear the roads submerged by the mudslides.

Song Lian was a company commander, and this time he led all his soldiers under his command, responsible for clearing the way and search and rescue work in the disaster areas. And now, his first task was to clear roads blocked by mudslides.

But before the road was cleared, another big problem appeared. The disaster in the county was too severe, requiring a large number of boats to transport victims, and for this, Song Lian was so worried that he scratched his head.

So many people affected by the disaster needed so many boats, one didn’t have to think to know that there must be a lot. Although the province was crisscrossed with water networks, it was all streams and small rivers, making boats useless. Where could one find decent boats to settle disaster victims?

Song Lian was so anxious that he almost pulled out all his hair, about to pluck out all three thousand trouble-making strands of a handsome soldier! Finally, it was Song Lian’s journalist fiancée who felt sorry for her future husband and inserted an ad on television, appealing for private boat owners to temporarily donate their boats for lifesaving purposes.

The province was full of water networks, and there were many people living by the water. It’s possible many households living along the water might have boats. Not to mention far away, just the villages and towns around the provincial capital of F City had many families living by the water with boats. Although not many, if every household was willing to donate, it could be a great help.

Yet Song Lian didn’t hold out much hope for this. Not to mention whether private owners even had boats, and whether they were willing to donate; even if they were willing, how many could they collect? And what impact could it have?

So after thanking his girlfriend for her kind help, Song Lian continued to pull out his hair day after day, determined to completely remove all his three thousand strands of trouble.

But before Song Lian could pull out all his hair, a savior finally came. It was one evening when a large truck was heading towards the camp where Song Lian and his men were stationed.

When the truck’s shadow was just visible, Song Lian received a report from his subordinate. He wasn’t sure if the truck didn’t know the roads were blocked and was just passing by.

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But this was not important. The mountains on both sides of this road were extremely unstable and could erupt into a mudslide at any time. Even when they were clearing the roads here, they encountered two small-scale mudslides, injuring several people, luckily no one died.

Such a dangerous road segment could certainly not be allowed for other vehicles to pass. So upon hearing the report, Song Lian immediately dispatched someone to stop the truck and have it turn around quickly, not allowed to enter the road.

The soldier sent to stop the truck jogged over and ran back, with a face full of joy. Before Song Lian could get angry at his loss of composure, the soldier eagerly reported first: "Company commander, it’s not a freight truck, it’s bringing us boats! A whole truckload! More than enough!"

The anger on Song Lian’s face paused for a moment, then turned into the same expression of wild joy! He was just fretting over the boat issue, but as if a pillow was provided right when he was about to doze off, someone brought boats!

Song Lian could no longer maintain his composure and ran out directly without concern for his image. From afar, he saw a girl in sportswear standing in front of the large truck. Only when he got closer did he realize that the girl looked so young, not even twenty years old.

Standing in front of the girl, Song Lian scrutinized again, finding no adults, he frowned a bit and asked Shuangshuang, "Young lady, are you here to donate the boats?"

Looking at the puzzled expression on the face of this young officer in front of her, Shuangshuang nodded affirmatively, "That’s right, it’s me, but I’m not donating boats, it’s a truckload of bamboo rafts!" She corrected Song Lian one last time.

Song Lian’s frown deepened. "Little sister, while it’s good to have a kind heart to want to help others, donating so many items is no trivial matter. Surely you haven’t spoken to the adults at home? Donations should also be made within one’s means."

Shuangshuang was a bit surprised by Song Lian’s reaction, wondering who would push away what was brought to them. He should be in need of those; without boats, delayed rescue could result in punishment.

However, looking at the green military outfit on Song Lian, Shuangshuang also felt that it was normal for a soldier to have such a mindset. Though a bit rigid and not adaptable, it was indeed respectable.

Shuangshuang smiled and said, "Officer, you misunderstood. These bamboo rafts, while partly from my donation, are also contributed by villagers from nearby villages. This entire truck of bamboo rafts is not just my personal goodwill, but the goodwill of everyone. We are all concerned about the disaster victims and want to do our best. I insist that you kindly accept them."

What Shuangshuang said was true. She thought of donating bamboo rafts after seeing a public service advertisement on television. The advertisement was simple, just a journalist calling for boat-owning households to donate their boats to save disaster victims.

Shuangshuang happened to know the journalist, who was the beautiful reporter Li Qian, previously interviewing Shuangshuang as the provincial top scorer in the college entrance examination.

Conveniently, in anticipation of floods, the nearby villagers had all built several bamboo rafts in every household. Shuangshuang decided to buy all the surplus bamboo rafts and donate them.

The bamboo rafts could not only be used as boats but also connected to each other, laid out to form a water-based platform. Shuangshuang remembered there was a foreign country that had such a water town made of interconnected bamboo rafts, attracting curious tourists from around the world.

Previously, fearing major floods, Shuangshuang had hired people to build a batch of bamboo rafts, planning to set up a water-based platform like that if necessary. Unexpectedly, her preparations were adequate, but she didn’t need them. Instead, they were needed at another disaster-stricken place.

Although there were many bamboo rafts that Shuangshuang had built, they were designed to accommodate the population of nearby villages. The rafts could support several villages but were far from enough for the disaster-stricken county’s population.

With Shuangshuang’s rafts running short, however, the villagers had many surplus rafts previously constructed, which was a perfect situation. Shuangshuang immediately went to ask the villagers if they could sell their rafts to her.

Of course, Shuangshuang didn’t plan to buy them all, but only the surplus rafts except for keeping one raft at home, just in case. Although it had stopped raining, who could predict if the heavens might whimsically start raining again? It was better not to lack a raft at home.

However, as soon as Shuangshuang mentioned buying the rafts, the villagers fell back into their old habits, firmly refusing payment, no matter how much Shuangshuang tried to persuade them.