From midnight onwards, reports of collapse accidents kept coming in one after another.

  Not only did the county continuously call to inquire about the disaster, but also the municipal disaster prevention system was activated, requiring the towns with the most severe snow cover to report on the disaster situation at regular intervals - Shen Huai and others also vaguely guessed that the severity of this problem might be far beyond imagination.

  The sky is bright and the snow has just started to let up, Mei Creek Town received reports from various villages that a total of 113 houses have been crushed, including livestock sheds.

  The color steel shed of the vegetable market was too large in area and could not be cleared of snow. At 2 o'clock in the morning, it collapsed under the weight.

  Starting from yesterday afternoon, Meixi Town has relocated over 800 people; including the initial fracture and a family of three who were crushed under the house. The town health hospital had accepted eleven injured people by dawn, fortunately, no one died.

  Contact the county, Shen Huai is not familiar with He Qing She; Shen Huai asked He Qing She to stay in the town government and sit in town, he and Li Feng divided into four pieces of east, west, south and north, can't drive a car, riding a bicycle to lead the team to investigate the situation in each village.

  By noon, Shen Hua, who was almost exhausted, returned to the town. The number of people injured in the disaster and sent to the hospital for treatment increased to 12, and one seriously injured person was rushed to the city's People's Hospital for rescue.

  Shen Huai returned to the town and saw He Qing She and others with solemn expressions. He asked: "What's the situation in other towns?"

  "This blizzard has covered the entire province, and due to the influence of air currents, the center of the blizzard just so happens to cover Tángzhān, Xiápǔ, and Xīnjīn counties. The snowfall in one day and night will exceed the highest record in previous years by a large margin. Currently, according to the summary of the disaster situation, Tángzhān District is slightly better off, after all, it's an urban area, and the quality of buildings is generally better than that of rural counties. The entire Dōnghuá City has had over 3,000 houses collapse, with 70% concentrated in Xiápǔ and Xīnjīn counties. The data on personnel casualties will not be reported to the townships, but it's said that Hètáng Town alone has had six people crushed to death..."

  "It's so serious..." Shen Huai was startled.

  "Our town also owes it to Secretary Shen that you started deploying disaster prevention this afternoon," He Qing thought about it and said, "The special danger houses checked in the town, almost half of them collapsed. If these families hadn't moved out a step earlier, the situation would be even worse than Hetang Town..."

  This is also the arrears of Meixi Town's economic development stagnation in recent years, with many dangerous houses and extremely dangerous houses that cannot withstand wind and snow.

  Shen Huai didn't even have the energy to care about how Su Kaiwen, Zhou Ming and the Xiong sisters, Tan Jingjing and the others left Meixi Town in the morning.

  Xiao Li caught a chill at night and started running a fever in the morning. The hospital beds were all filled with wounded people, so Chen Dan could only arrange for Xiao Li to stay in a hotel room with an IV drip. Shen Hua was also too busy to find time to visit him.

  After eating a boxed meal in the office, Shen Hua sat on the sofa and his eyelids were fighting to stay open, but he felt that as soon as he closed his eyes, Huang Xinliang pushed him awake again: "County Mayor Ge is leading a team to inspect the disaster situation..."

  Shen Hua ran to the faucet and splashed some icy water on his face, then followed Huang Xinliang downstairs.

  Three cars in the county just stopped in the government compound, one of which was a reporting vehicle from the county TV station.

  Ge Yongqiu probably hadn't slept all night either, and emerged from the car with deep black eye bags. A beautiful woman in a beige coat, holding a microphone, followed Ge Yongqiu out of the car. Shen Huai found her face very familiar, but only realized who she was when they were walking down the corridor - she was the hostess of the county TV station. Perhaps it was because he had seen the real person, but she seemed even more vivid and beautiful than on TV.

  Everything is in short supply domestically, except for beautiful women. Shen Hua couldn't think of this woman's name for the moment; nor did he know where Li Feng met Ge Yongqiu and got off together.

  Shen Huai only then realized that Ge Yongqiu had not contacted anyone on the Mei Xi Town side before coming, but instead launched a surprise attack on Mei Xi Town. Li Feng should have met Ge Yongqiu at the disaster relief site.

  Shen Huai walked over to Ge Yongqiu without a word and shook hands with him, saying: "The disaster situation in Meixi Town is very severe. It's great that County Mayor Ge can personally come to direct the rescue work..."

  Ge Yongqiu knew that Shen Huai was saying this to get more disaster relief funds, and he naturally hoped that the situation in Meixi Town would be truly serious, so that he could not only scold Shen Huai but also blame some people for letting such a young cadre become the head of the township as an irresponsible act.

  Unfortunately, Meixi Town's disaster prevention and post-disaster rescue work are much better than other towns.

  The collapse of a large number of houses is an unavoidable thing, it's a historical legacy that needs time to digest, and can't be blamed on Shen Huai who has just taken office as the party secretary for only a few days. The county government received reports from Meixi Town that there were only 14 people injured before and after the disaster, with two seriously injured and no deaths, but Ge Yongqiu doesn't believe it.

  He Village received the disaster prevention notice from the county at night and slowly gathered manpower to start disaster prevention work. At that time, it was already past 8:30, and the heavy snow had blocked the roads. It was also difficult to mobilize and persuade villagers to evacuate from dangerous old houses. In addition, the township officials were not adequately prepared for the snow disaster, resulting in over 130 people injured and six deaths overnight, making this area the most severely affected by the disaster.

  Mei Creek Town is adjacent to He Tang Town, with no deaths and only one-tenth of the injured in He Tang Town. When this data was reported to the county, Tao Ji Xing, Ge Yong Qiu and other county leaders had doubts from the bottom of their hearts: it's not a new thing for lower-level towns to conceal and falsify information.

  County leaders were divided into districts to investigate the situation and organize disaster relief work. Ge Yongqiu was in charge of the southwest district. Originally, the plan was to rush to the severely affected area of He Tang Town first, but without notice, he suddenly changed his itinerary and inserted himself into Mei Xi Town, wanting to launch a surprise attack, so that Mei Xi Town would not have time to make false reports.

  Before arriving at the town government's courtyard, Ge Yongqiu first went to the health clinic and temporary settlement point for disaster victims in the town, also took a look at several collapsed houses and the scene of town officials organizing the masses to clear debris. He had to admit that the situation in Meixi Town was much better than the two towns he passed through in the morning, and the organization of relief efforts was also very effective...

  "The situation in Meixi Town is better than I imagined, which shows that since the new Party Secretary took office, the whole team has not stopped working. When I go back, I will report to Secretary Tao about the work of Meixi Town and ask other towns to learn from Meixi Town." Ge Yongqiu and others from the TV station carried over their cameras before he started speaking, "However, after the disaster relief and treatment work, you town leaders must pay attention to it, the first in command must personally grasp the overall situation..."

  The camera shook in front of Shen Hua's face for a couple of times, but before Shen Hua could say anything, the camera was turned off.

  Shen Huai blinked, and couldn't kick the guy carrying the camera a couple of times. The beautiful female host from the county station seemed to care more about her red high heels being ruined in the snow, and didn't even come over to interview Shen Huai.

  Please ask Ge Yongqiu to go to the conference room to deploy disaster relief, and see He Qingshe and the county civil affairs bureau director rush back from behind. Shen Huai falls behind and asks: "When can the disaster relief funds come down? By the end of the year, I didn't expect to encounter this situation...the town doesn't have any surplus grain..."

  "Collapsed houses, one is compensated with 500 yuan first; one death or injury, compensation of 1,000 yuan — loans are given first and then verified afterwards, the money should arrive at each township's account this afternoon," said the director of the Civil Affairs Bureau.

  Shen Huai and He Qing exchanged a glance, but neither of them said anything.

  In the conference room, Shen Hua reported to Ge Yongqiu about the latest disaster relief efforts. Ge Yongqiu glanced around the room at Shen Hua, Li Feng and He Qing She, then got up and left without saying much, heading straight to Hetang Town in his car.

  "Damn it, Huanqin Meixi Town did the best in disaster prevention and mitigation work, but when it comes to the head, they are the ones who suffer the most! Not even 100,000 yuan of relief funds were allocated, what's the use of that!" After sending Ge Yongqiu off, He Qingshe returned to the conference room and couldn't help but vent his frustrations.

  "Director Shen, look at us, we've done the best job, but when it's time for the TV station to broadcast, they'll definitely show footage of other towns' disaster relief efforts. The secretary of Hetang Town was seriously injured while rescuing people at night and was sent to a big hospital by a special car arranged by the county government, but he still insisted on staying in Hetang to preside over the work. This morning, the county TV station spent an hour reporting his 'heroic' deeds..." Li Feng said with a sullen tone, very dissatisfied that the county TV station didn't even give him two shots of footage. "In previous years when Meixi River flooded, it was the same situation. Some towns did a good job in flood control and nothing happened, while some towns did a poor job, the dike collapsed, houses were washed away, and people died. As a result, at the commendation meeting, the towns that did a good job in flood control didn't even show their faces, but instead, the towns that had problems and made achievements in disaster relief received commendations from the county government - this is purely bullying honest people!"

  Shen Huai knew about the impractical and showy atmosphere in the government, but didn't want to follow He Qing She and Li Feng's lead in complaining. Smiling, he said: "Compared to being seriously injured and accepting interviews, I think we're doing pretty well..."

  He Qing thought that Shen Huai's grievances would be heavier than theirs, but he didn't expect his attitude to be so good, and secretly admired him for being able to keep a level head.

  Looking back on the events of this day and night, He Qing She was also filled with fear. To be honest, Shen Huai returned to the town yesterday afternoon and started deploying disaster prevention work without any notification from his superiors. At that time, He Qing She felt that Shen Huai was making a big fuss over nothing. This year's snowfall shouldn't cause any problems; it's said that a heavy snowfall before the Spring Festival is a sign of a good harvest for the town's agriculture next year.

  He Qing She respected him as secretary and just took office to establish authority, so he did not oppose it and unfolded the disaster prevention work without discount.

  He Qing knew that he was not the only one who was complacent, many cadres in the town had grievances, it was a big New Year's festival, and on snowy days, who would want to go to the countryside to toss around?

  At half past eight in the evening, I received a notice from the county to prevent and respond to disasters, and learned that other towns had already had collapse accidents. It was only then that He Qing knew how cautious Shen Hua was. After half past eight in the evening, it was again a heavy snowstorm, and wanting to deploy disaster prevention work was already beyond one's power. Meixi Town happened to have done a good job of disaster prevention in the afternoon, and by nightfall, only needed to ensure the town area, and even if the scattered villages were not taken care of, there was no need to worry about big problems.

  Of course, until this morning, the total loss of the disaster came out, and the severity of the snow disaster was far beyond He Qing's imagination. Only then did they know how lucky Meixi Town was.

  The house collapse in Meixi Town was more severe than that in Hetang Town. If Shen Huai hadn't made a decisive deployment for disaster prevention yesterday afternoon, the casualties in Meixi Town would be unimaginable.

  Less relief funds may make people feel dissatisfied, but it is much better than the result of hundreds of deaths and injuries.

  It can be said that the disaster prevention and relief work in Meixi Town is so outstanding, thanks to Shen Hua's timely judgment of the disaster situation and decisive deployment. If the county government really ignores the achievements of Meixi Town, it should be Shen Hua who feels most wronged.

  Shen Hua didn't seem to take it seriously, but He Qing suddenly realized that after thinking he had been cultivating at the grassroots level for 20 years, his fire was still somewhat inferior to a young man who was only 25 years old after the new year. The position of party secretary should be taken by him, and this is when he truly conceded from the bottom of his heart.