How many tillers of the soil, who face the yellow earth and turn their backs to the sky, could ever abandon the land they have guarded all their lives, or forsake the homes they built brick by brick? Cheng Nuo understood their reluctance.
But she remembered what was written in the original book: the flooding that followed the blizzard came faster and more violently than the authorities had anticipated. They had no more time for preparation or hesitation; fleeing into the mountains was an urgent necessity.
The reality turned out just as Mother Cheng had feared. When Father Cheng brought the news back to the village, the neighbors' first reaction upon hearing they were to abandon their homes and hide in the mountains was a flat refusal.
Chapter 170