She suddenly heard a faint whimper coming from the pile of rubble.
She paused, listening intently again. The cry for help was mixed with the sound of the rain, making it indistinct.
"There's someone under here!"
Ji Qingwu rushed forward first. The burnt bricks were still scalding, and she flinched as her fingertips touched them. A few soldiers came over to help her dig.
Pushing aside the charred bricks, they found a young soldier buried underneath, his face blackened with soot. He was clutching a sack to his chest.
The young soldier's unfocused eyes reflected the face of the woman before him.
"These millet seeds... must be saved... The Northern Border can't go without grain..."
A falling brick from the fire had smashed a hole in the young soldier's head. 'This is bad,' Ji Qingwu thought.
She immediately knelt, tore her skirt into strips of cloth, and began to bandage his wound.
