Ling Chengyan responded with a nod, and while cleaning the shrimp, she asked, "Should I marinate the shrimp in advance?"

Previously, the shrimp was always boiled. A while back, Wang Liansheng made garlic butterflied shrimp, and the kids loved it, so it became a staple dish at home.

Wang Liansheng was flipping a spoon in his hand and turned back with a smile, saying, "Just leave it there, I’ll handle it."

"Alright."

Ling Chengyan glanced around the kitchen, realizing there wasn’t much she could do. She quickly washed her hands and returned to the main room.

Little Xing and Shi Tou had already returned home from school; Ling Chengyan entered the room when Shi Tou was just playing chess with his uncle.

Ling Chengyan studied Go, not so much of chess, but it’s all the same in terms of understanding the strategies and moves.

She walked over for a glance and then smiled as she walked away: Well, the two of them are quite the pair of amateur players, evenly matched.

She made tea with boiled water and washed the grapes and peaches clean, placed them in a fruit basket, and put them on the table.

On the other side, Wang Liansheng had efficiently cooked several dishes, and Little Xing thoughtfully helped with serving and setting the table.

Once all the food was served, Wang Lianqi just happened to put down the chess pieces and admitted defeat: "No more games, time for dinner, time for dinner."

Shi Tou furrowed his brows, clearly unhappy: "Uncle, you’re cheating, I was about to win."

Wang Lianqi laughed heartily, reached out and ruffled his nephew’s short hair, saying, "You little rascal!"

Shi Tou furrowed his brows again, looking at his uncle, then his parents, realizing that the adults had already sat down at the table, no one was paying attention to him.

Just as he picked up his chopsticks, Wang Lianqi’s big brother phone on the table rang, and he quickly got up to answer it.

The signal was poor in the room, so he walked to the yard to take the call, speaking loudly: "...Make sure to send people to the hospital first, do whatever treatment is needed, spend whatever money is necessary..."

Ling Chengyan raised her eyes and just happened to meet Wang Liansheng’s gaze, both seeing the sigh in each other’s eyes: Big Brother’s circumstances are different now, his confidence in speaking has changed.

Wang Lianqi had matters to attend to and had to leave after dinner.

Wang Liansheng and Ling Chengyan saw him off, watched him get into the car, Wang Liansheng walked a few steps forward, leaned close to the car window and whispered something, Wang Lianqi also slightly adjusted his expression, nodding solemnly at him: "Don’t worry, Old Fourth, Big Brother knows the importance and the balance."

The couple turned around to head back, Wang Liansheng chuckled and shook his head: "Even Big Brother, who was once so honest, has become refined now."

Ling Chengyan’s face also showed a faint smile: "Environment shapes energy, nurturing changes the body."

The next day, Ling Chengyan received a mission and left without having the chance to say goodbye to her family.

The day after that, just as Ling Chengyan arrived at the special training team, she received a call from the higher-ups.

Without any pleasantries, the higher-ups directly inquired about her autumn training plan, Ling Chengyan reported her intention to go south for water training, and the higher-ups immediately issued orders: Head to Hui Province for flood defense, risk mitigation, and rescue missions.

Ling Chengyan paused for a moment, then responded loudly: "Yes, I guarantee to complete the mission."

The regions along the riverbanks, in the middle and lower reaches, had been experiencing continuous heavy rains with severe autumn floods. Multiple rivers had already reported dangerous situations, and a large number of civilians needed to be relocated and resettled. Some even needed rescuing in flood zones.

Dangerous situations are orders, the safety of civilian lives and property cannot be compromised. Upon receiving the call, Ling Chengyan did not go home to pack, she simply packed two sets of uniforms from her dormitory and set off with the team, heading to Hui Province.

Two days earlier, they had traveled by train through this area during the deep night, and a theft incident occurred on the train, so Ling Chengyan didn’t pay much attention to the situation outside the train. Later on, watching TV news and reading newspapers yielded merely news briefs, which were quite different from the firsthand experience.

They hadn’t reached the severely affected area yet, but there was already waterlogging on the roads -- some road sections were flooded, connecting seamlessly with the ditches on either side.

On road sections with trees, it’s better, at least there’s a marker. On stretches without trees, the driver dared not speed, only slowly moving forward for fear of accidentally driving into a ditch.

Once they got off the military truck, the torrential rain continued to pour down. Even though the special training team members wore thick military raincoats, their faces were still inevitably soaked by rainwater, which flowed down their necks into their raincoats. Their shoes were completely soaked as soon as they stepped off the vehicle.

Ling Chengyan got off the vehicle, rolled up her pant legs, and she didn’t wear the water shoes Fu Qiang prepared for her. In deep water, those shoes would flood; in shallow water, movement was inconvenient and impractical.

Upon getting off, Ling Chengyan greeted and shook hands with the local personnel who were there to connect, confirming that one of the big river tributaries had overflowed its banks the previous night. They were organizing the evacuation and relocation of civilians from nearby ten-plus villages.

Ling Chengyan and the special training team members had just arrived at their destination, hadn’t had the chance to eat or drink, nor had a moment to catch their breath, they immediately rushed to each village with the local personnel who came to assist.

Those villages were either located in low-lying areas or had roads submerged in water, impeding travel, so they had to walk to their destinations.

The mountains were different from the plains.

In the plains, as long as the rivers don’t break their banks causing great floods, water rises gradually.

Mountain floods, however, come roaring down rapidly through ravines and low-lying areas. Moreover, heavy rain and flooding in the mountains can lead to landslides and mudslides, geological disasters much more destructive than floods.

Although the current danger arose from river overflow without large-scale dyke failure, the continuous heavy rain had already overloaded rivers and lakes, loosening soil and geology. If a large volume of water overflowed, erosion by floodwater was inevitable, and landslides and mudslides occurred.

Despite having lived in the North for two lifetimes, thanks to her experience in leading teams for local training nationwide, Ling Chengyan was well aware of the differences in climate, geography, etc. between the North and South. Leading her team, she avoided ravines and low-lying areas while advancing along hillsides, paying special attention to observing geological conditions on hilltops and slopes.

This cautiousness quickly bore fruit. The reconnaissance squad Ling Chengyan dispatched, ah, modern term is reconnaissance squad, habitually exploring routes, they’re here for flood mitigation rescue, conditions such as floodwaters, dangers, potential landslides, mudslides are like enemy situations, ambushes, traps in this context. Only by overcoming these ambushes and traps can they reach the primary battleground to rescue more civilians from danger, ensuring their safety and wealth.

Their agility is unmatched by ordinary troops, not to mention regular rescue teams, thus, while highly cautious, their pace was quick. The connecting personnel anticipated a three-hour journey to the destination, they arrived in just two.

The connecting personnel were carried over, taking turns by two members to reach there, wheezing like old bellows, rasping loudly, with trembling fingers pointing at the slope ahead: "There, there it is."