Waiting for You in a City

As Spring Festival was getting closer, Xu Qin was busy commuting as usual. At first, she didn’t feel much about the New Year, thinking that the appeal of the New Year was getting weaker, but she didn’t expect that the festive atmosphere on Wu Fang Street would be so strong.

When commuting through the streets and alleys, every family was happy.

Uncle was busy clearing all kinds of final payments, and Aunt also began to buy New Year goods and started cutting window decorations.

窗花 chuāng huā – literally window flowers but means paper cutting

Zhai Miao followed and tried a few cuts, she was able to cut the duck into a goose.

As for Xu Qin, she played quietly for a while and made a beautiful butterfly on a peony. She had always been good at handicrafts since she was a child, and she could make three-dimensional sculptures, not to mention two-dimensional paintings.

Zhai Miao could only sigh: “I can’t compare to you with a scalpel. I’d better boil the glue paste.”

Aunt pulled Xu Qin aside and gave her a card.

Xu Qin wondered: “What is this?”

“Yan Yan’s father had a house, after he moved in with us, the house was rented out. The rent is all in the card, this money, was touched once when Yan Yan was twenty years old. After eight years, the card was given to me, he said it was to show filial respect to us. Uncle and I didn’t want any money from him, so we saved it. You young couple have plenty of places to spend money, take it.”

Xu Qin shook her head: “I don’t want it.”

Aunt frowned: “Why don’t you want it? This money was kept by his uncle and I for his future wife.”

Xu Qin still shook her head: “Song Yan said that it was for you, then it is for you. I don’t want it.”

“This child, how can you be as stubborn as him? Even if you don’t need the money now, take it first.” She said and shoved it into her hand.

Xu Qin dodged, got up and ran: “I’m going to work.”

“Hey—”

Her figure flashed out of the house.

On the way to work, Xu Qin looked out through the taxi window.

At the beginning of February, the coldest season in Di City had passed. In another month, spring would bloom.

On the way, she received a call from Meng Huaijin, asking if she would go home on Chinese New Year’s Eve. There was an elder, grandfather, in the Meng family, and the whole family gathered together during Chinese New Year.

Xu Qin said that she couldn’t go back, she had to be on duty that day.

Meng Huaijin sighed and told her to remember to take time to pay New Year’s greetings to her grandfather.

Putting down the phone, Xu Qin was also speechless for a long time, glad that she was on duty for Chinese New Year’s Eve and did not have to make a choice. Because if she were to live joyously and harmoniously with uncle’s family at this moment, it would also be a little awkward.

The hospital was the calmest place to go.

Song Yan couldn’t be home that day.

Chinese New Year’s Eve had the custom of setting off fireworks, which was when firefighting tasks were the heaviest.

Song Yan’s transfer order had come down, and after the festival, he would report to the Nan Cheng District Fire Detachment. Before the holiday, he had to guard his last shift in the squadron.

On the day of Chinese New Year’s Eve, the whole city was empty. The foreigners who worked part-time all returned to their hometowns, there were almost no cars and pedestrians on the road, it was extremely quiet, and even a little depressing.

Spending the festival with Xu Qin were the colleagues on duty at the hospital, each of whom brought a few dishes from home, put them together, had fun while eating, also very happy.

Because of the holiday, everyone was tolerant and easygoing, the families of the patients getting their intravenous infusion in the infusion room were particularly polite and said good wishes to the medical staff. The nurses prepared candy oranges and distributed them to patients and their families to celebrate the festive season.

Everyone gathered in the infusion room to watch the party, laughing and having a different kind of warmth.

Xu Qin leaned against the wall, unintentionally watched TV, and looked down at her phone from time to time.

Song Yan hadn’t contacted her yet, so he should be busy.

Since the last one-day trip to the fire brigade, the two hadn’t seen each other for half a month. She missed him so much, missed him even more during the holidays.

Why hadn’t he called yet?

Xu Qin watched the TV with her hands hanging in her pockets, tapping her phone regularly with her fingertips, beat by beat, as if tapping her own heart.

Suddenly, the phone shook, and the feeling of numbness spread from her finger to her heart. She raised her eyebrows with joy and pulled out her vibrating phone, the name on the screen was exactly who she had in mind.

She quickly walked to the hallway and picked up the phone: “Hello?”

He laughed: “Not busy?”

“The citizens are very well-behaved today.”

She imitated what he said, and he couldn’t help laughing out loud, asking, “Have you had dinner with your colleagues?”

“En.”

“Is it delicious?”

“Not bad. What about you?”

“Just finished my Chinese New Year’s Eve meal in the cafeteria.”

“Lively?”

“Lively, just kept thinking of you.”

Xu Qin took a breath, her heart was burning hot, since being with him, this feeling of security and happiness had never stopped.

The clear cold wind blew in through an open window, unable to dissipate the scalding heat on her face.

She saw a red light shining outside the window, and walked over to lean against the windowsill and look out.

At night, the colorful lights on the opposite CBD building formed a pattern of red Chinese knots, and the words “Happy Chinese New Year” flashed one after another.

She smiled: “Song Yan, I wish you a happy Chinese New Year.”

“Have fun.”

“When do you come home from work?”

“Six o’clock tomorrow morning. What about you?”

“Same. ……This time after work, it’s a layoff. What’s the mood?”

He sighed: “Can’t tell.”

“It doesn’t matter if you’re lost. I’ll comfort you when I go home.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” He laughed.

“Captain Song, I wish you a successful mission.”

Xu Qin slowly walked back to the infusion room with a smile on her lips.

It seemed that she suddenly understood why people in love were called “cooking phone porridge”1, ordinary white rice in clear water, slow simmering, the rice soup gurgling, a fragrant bowl of sweet white rice porridge drank into the stomach, warmed the body and nourished the stomach.

What could be a more appropriate metaphor?

She continued to lean against the wall to watch the party.

At twelve o’clock at night, the New Year’s bell struck, and brilliant fireworks were set off over the city, they came from all directions.

She lay on her stomach at the window to watch the fireworks, wondering if Song Yan in the fire brigade was also looking up at the night sky at this moment.

She slowly waited for time to pass, waiting for the dawn of a new year to end her days in the emergency room and to open a new chapter in her life.

However, less than half an hour after midnight, the emergency center bell shook, and the shrill sound broke the joyful atmosphere of the festival.

Without warning, without any preparation.

Xiao Nan rushed over from the duty room: “Doctor Xu, Doctor Zhang, Doctor Liu, and you guys, hurry up and follow the ambulance car. A factory in Ba Yan Qiao is on fire.”

Several medical staff immediately set off to go out, and some people wondered: “Ba Yan Qiao does not belong to our area.”

“Eighth and Ninth Hospitals are short of manpower, so they asked for help.”

Xu Qin felt a chill in her heart, this meant that the situation was serious, but how could it be at this juncture.

Shi Li Tai received an order from their superiors for the first time, a factory building in Ba Yan Qiao caught fire, the fire was severe, and all the surrounding fire brigades were summoned.

On Chinese New Year’s Eve, the lights of every house building were like stars, and every window was full of laughter.

The streets were empty.

The road leading into the night was clear, and the fire trucks flashed their red lights and went straight to the scene of the incident.

When Song Yan and them arrived, they were shocked. This was the southernmost combination of urban and rural areas in Ba Yan Qiao, the factory area was probably the size of two football fields. The perimeter was all on fire, like a huge fire beast roaring in the night.

Behind this fire beast was an urban village with a dense residence.

The first few groups of fire brigades who arrived first were spraying water jets inward with water cannons, but the fire showed no signs of abating.

This was a paper mill. The factory covered a wide area and the structure was very complex. What divided the factory area from the outside world was not the wall, but a circle of two-story shops, surrounded on all sides.

The current fires that could be seen were these clusters of shops.

The interior of the factory was divided into several large areas: workshop area, warehouse area, living dormitory area.

As soon as the two fire squadrons of Shi Li Tai and Qi Feng Road arrived to familiarize themselves with the terrain, they received orders to enter the living dormitory area first to fight the fire. The police had learned from the head of the factory that although most of the workers had gone home for Chinese New Year, many had remained in the dormitory, some had run out, and the rest were trapped.

Immediately, the firefighters quickly entered the factory under the cover of water guns.

There was fire on all sides, the grass and concrete floor were all charred, the black soot was swept around the building by the heat wave, like purgatory on earth.

Song Yan and the others went straight to the dormitory building and rushed into the corridor, only to see tongues of fire wrapped around the entire building, leaving elsewhere in pitch black everywhere they passed.

Firefighters quickly dispersed, kicking open the burning door panels, black smoke billowed, beds and wardrobes in the dormitory burned to ash. Searching layer by layer, they constantly found workers who were either burned to death, suffocated to death, or unrecognizable, miserable.

But Song Yan and the others no longer had the ability to care about the corpses of these poor people, so they could only continue to move forward and look for surviving traces of life.

When Song Yan and Yang Chi found the fifth floor, they heard a woman’s cry for help from a certain dormitory.

The two hurried to the scene, the window panels had burned out, the bed and wardrobe were on fire, blocking the position near the door. The woman was trapped inside, covering her mouth and nose with a handkerchief, coughing violently, when she saw their figures, she immediately cried: “Help!”

There was also a call for help from the dormitory next door, and Song Yan ordered Yang Chi: “You go over there.”

“Yes.”

Song Yan glanced at the fire, sprayed the door with the fire extinguisher, and extinguished a black pathway. He rushed in, picked up the woman and walked out, as soon as he left, black ash shook from above his head.

Song Yan looked up and saw a beam break from the flame-covered ceiling.

Song Yan immediately pushed the woman towards the door and quickly retreated.

The woman threw herself outside the door, and the burning beam fell to the ground, sparks splashed everywhere.

Song Yan gasped, coughing from the smoke, and was trying to get out, but saw sparks ignite the paint layer on the surface of the gas tank in the corner of the room.

The woman screamed: “Behind you! Gas canisters! Quickly run out!”

Song Yan wanted to run instinctively, he almost took a step in a second but stopped. There were comrades-in-arms looking for people everywhere. If there was an explosion and a small collapse, the consequences would be disastrous.

Song Yan’s heart fluttered, he strode forward to pick up the burning gas tank, and took a step or two back. The woman saw what he was going to do, and ran away in fright. Song Yan accelerated forward, jumped up, jumped over the burning beam in the center of the room, rushed out of the dormitory, and threw the gas tank into the open space in front of the building with all his might.

The gas tank was released and flew into the air. Before it landed, there was a loud noise, and the tank exploded into a firework. Huge clusters of fire fell to the ground and merged with other fires.

Song Yan was so shocked by the loud noise that his heart beated wildly in his chest, and he felt pain. He braced his hands against the wall, panting for a full ten seconds before he regained his strength.

The thick and sealed protective clothing pressed against his body, completely soaked, as if several kilograms of sweat had flowed. He took a break and quickly gritted his teeth to continue.

Braving the fire and heat, the two teams found dozens of trapped workers and rescued them.

When he came out of the fire, Song Yan found that the fire was even bigger.

Several other teams of firefighters extinguished fires outside the warehouse and workshop, but the fire in the outer shops was still burning, the fire trucks could not enter, whether it was pulling pipes or spraying water inward from the high-altitude ladder, they all faced the limitation of radiation range.

The factory building at this moment was like a siege with copper and iron walls. White water sprayed in from all directions, but it was difficult to touch its center.

The area was too big!

Song Yan had an ominous premonition in his heart.

Every member of the team with him had a grim face, and everyone realized that something big had happened this time.

Xu Qin stood outside the factory, looking at the huge fire that burned half of the sky, and couldn’t believe that there would be a disaster movie scene in real life.

She did not have time to be shocked, injured civilians, firefighters were constantly being delivered. Seriously injured people were rushed to the hospital.

Xu Qin forcibly put Song Yan’s matter behind her and worked seriously. But no matter how calm and restrained, whenever an injured firefighter was carried over, she still couldn’t control her heartbeat.

In the face of disaster, everyone’s psychological defense line faced an impact.

Her heart hung until a certain moment she saw a group of people coming out of the flames. She saw Xiao Ge first, her heart instantly lifted, and her eyes immediately searched beside him. A bunch of pitch-black faces, she still immediately found Song Yan.

She stared for a moment, and saw that his clothes were full of soot and blood, at this moment he was alive, over there, but her heart could not be stable, instead was more panicked.

Because,

The fire was getting bigger and bigger.

Sure enough, Song Yan didn’t see her at all, and as soon as he got out of the fire, he quickly took the water bottle handed over by someone beside him, poured a few sips into his mouth, splashed some onto his face, then walked quickly to the headquarters.

Her view was quickly blocked, a firefighter rushed over with an injured firefighter on his back: “Doctor!”

Xu Qin retracted her thoughts: “Xiao Bei!”

“Yes!”

Quickly picking up the wounded, he was smashed in the neck by a collapsed wall, the back of his neck was burned to a bloody blur, and a large chunk of his hair fell out.

Even the nurses were horrified.

With so many burns picked up tonight, every paramedic was on the verge of collapse.

Xu Qin calmly dealt with him, and after he was quickly bandaged, she handed over the follow-up work to the nurse, and got out of the ambulance to find the next injured person.

At this moment, two police officers hurried past and shouted towards the headquarters: “There are several workshops in the factory illegally producing fireworks! The factory manager just surrendered himself! There are explosives inside!”

Before the words fell, there was a sudden ear-shattering bang in the fire, the explosion resounded in the sky, a black mushroom cloud soared from the firelight.

The shock wave shook the dust and black smoke in the air, and pounced on Xu Qin’s face.

Several towering ladders shook violently, and the firefighters above the fire scene were instantly engulfed in smoke and flames.

The survivors, medical staff, the public, and everyone present were stunned, and there was a deathly silence. There was only the sound of fire burning bricks and cement crackling and exploding. The whole world was burning, the whole world was exploding.

But in the distant night sky, there were still brilliant fireworks, reminding everyone that tonight was Chinese New Year’s Eve.

Uncontrollable.

It was going to crash.

Someone in the crowd cried: “Stop burning. Please, stop burning!”

But who was she begging?

Everyone was still in shock, and there was movement on the side of the headquarters.

The team of firefighters who had just returned from the fire put on their helmets and fire extinguishers on their backs, ready to go inside again. Some took advantage of the gap to drench themselves from head to toe with the tap, completely forgetting that it was winter.

A firefighter had just run to the factory gate when there was another explosion and a black mushroom cloud burst into the sky again.

The shock wave shook, and the shops in the outer circle collapsed one after another in an instant, flames, soot, and dust, splashed all over the sky.

The police ordered ambulances and medical teams to quickly withdraw and pulled out the security line.

The dust cleared, there was a sea of fire, the workshop buildings were full of flames, and several buildings were blown into ruins.

It could not be stopped, in the face of disaster, human flesh and blood were so fragile.

Xu Qin looked at the flaming building in the distance, fear bounded her whole body like seaweed in the deep sea.

It felt familiar, a sea of fire and a building like this in a nightmare.

She was like someone standing alone on the edge of hell, unable to move.

“Doctor! Help me!”

The first firefighter to rush in was hit in the head by a collapsed wall, and his teammates cried and carried him to the ambulance.

But the doctor in the advent group found that he was not breathing.

His teammates refused to give up, crying and knelt on the ground to give him CPR. It was a young face, reddened by the fire, with countless bloodshot eyes.

Their comrades rushed in quickly, as if their lives were not their lives.

“Don’t go in! Let it burn! Don’t go, you’ll die!” Xiao Nan collapsed and cried loudly.

At this shout, more people shouted at the firefighters: “Don’t go! Let it burn, don’t go!”

The firefighters turned a deaf ear.

Everyone’s face was heavy, they knew that there would be bad luck,

But no one could help them, there was no way, the fire had been burning, if it did not stop, someone must stop it.

What could be done?

Their comrades had been trapped in the fire, dying, waiting to be rescued;

And behind it was a wider residential area, the consequences unimaginable.

If they didn’t go, who would?

The yellow warning line on the dark blue fire suit stung Xu Qin’s eyes, and she suddenly rushed towards him:

“Song Yan!”

Song Yan was about to enter the fire scene, when he heard Xu Qin’s voice, he was surprised when he turned around.

Her hair was covered with soot, her white coat full of blood and dust, looking at him, her expression stubborn and panicked, her speech was extremely fast,

“Do you remember that I told you I had a dream and it exploded, this is the building!” She pointed at the building with hatred, but her eyes were fixed on him, hating to death, “This is the building! This is the building! Song Yan! I…”

She opened her mouth, unable to speak, and opened her mouth again, “I…”

Please don’t go.

You’re going to die!

Please don’t go!

Please don’t leave me.

Crystal tears welled up in her eyes, she held them in her mouth, shaking her head, unable to say anything.

Song Yan’s eyes were red, his face was scarred, and his cheeks and lips were chapped and dry: “Xu Qin…”

He had nothing to say.

Xu Qin looked at him, didn’t say a word, she gritted her teeth, and in the next second, tears raged like crazy.

I’ll be with you when you die, absolutely!

She looked at him hard: “Song Yan, take me to die with you. If you die, take me to die with you!”

He was shocked violently, and tears came out of his eyes, but they were quickly evaporated by the hot air:

“I’ll come back for you.”

Time was urgent, he didn’t offer comfort, quickly turned and left: “I need to go.”

It turned out to be so, in a hurry.

Xu Qin stood in place and burst into tears.

After standing still for a few seconds, she suddenly realized that he was no longer in her sight. She hurriedly turned her head to search, only to see the warning line on his fire suit flash in the flames and disappear.

At that moment, Xu Qin suddenly stopped crying.

She quickly wiped the tears from her face and strode back to her position.

Fear, dread, worry, sadness, all personal emotions were no longer worth mentioning in the face of this mighty fire, and nothing could be done to help.

The moment she shouted that sentence in her heart, she was not afraid.

No matter what the outcome of this fire was, her and his end were already predetermined, only together, there was no other option.

When dawn came, whether it be life or death, she would be with him.

With this understanding, there was nothing to fear.

She quickly collected her mind and got to work with her colleagues.

As time passed, more fire trucks rolled over the ruins and drove into the factory area. There were still explosions from time to time, and the wounded were still being sent out.

Xu Qin forgot how these hours were spent, her brain seemed to be numb, and the contents of the textbooks she read mechanically appeared, as if she wanted to exhaust what she had learned in her life’s study of medicine in one night.

The nightmare lasted all night.

When it was almost dawn, the fire was finally suppressed and gradually became smaller.

Gradually, large expanses of black ruins emerged, filled with black smoke. It was a sign of victory finally.

Finally, groups of firefighters came out of the ruins, returned to the fire truck, and collapsed to the ground one by one like fallen seedlings, not even caring about drinking water to flush their faces, and directly slept in the dust and mud.

One by one, waves of firefighters emerged from the smoking fire.

At that time, the work of the medical staff was also nearing completion, Xu Qin was busy finishing what she was doing and immediately ran to find Song Yan.

Lying sideways on the ground were all firefighters, covered in mud, even the harsh yellow warning strips were covered in dust, everyone seemed to be buried in the soil, sleeping deeply.

All the faces were unfamiliar. Xu Qin walked through one car after another, searched for a long time, and finally saw a face from Shi Li Tai, the one she called on the training ground that time.

She ran over like a relative, washed his face with water, and washed his eyes.

The child opened his eyes, saw her, and smiled wearily: “Sister-in-law.”

Xu Qin’s tears welled up in her eyes and held back: “You sleep for a while.”

“En.”

A voice came from the side: “Sister-in-law…”

When Xu Qin turned around, Xiao Ge was lying on the ground with a hoarse voice: “Help…take names…”

“If you forget, I’ll tell you.”

Xu Qin nodded: “Okay.”

The air was still pungent, smokey and sulfurous. She stood up, looked around, cleared her throat, and said loudly, “Yang Chi!”

“Here.” A weak response came from behind her. Yang Chi raised his hand, the person who was so heroic on the playground half a month ago was in a panic at the moment, closed his eyes and fell asleep after answering.

Xu Qin sniffed, shivering in the cold wind of the winter morning, but her voice became clearer: “Ge Yi!”

“Here.” Xiao Ge replied, half-closed his eyes, waiting for her to read all the members’ names before he could rest at ease.

Xu Qin had a good memory and clearly remembered the order on that table:

“Li Cheng!”

No one responded, Xu Qin was startled, her heart beated wildly, she looked around and became nervous, “Li Cheng!”

“Here.” He was woken up from his sleep and answered.

Took a breath and continued,

“Zou Xing!”

“Here.”

One by one, the soldiers who were named went to sleep peacefully one after another.

Point to the end, not one less.

Xu Qin exhaled slightly,

Can……

She looked around, at the soldiers at her feet, another fear enveloped her, she trembled slightly:

“Song Yan!”

No one responded.

“Song Yan!”

Everyone slowly opened their eyes.

“Song Yan!”

Xu Qin panicked, looked around, and tried her best to shout in every direction, but no one responded.

Xiao Ge slowly sat up,

“What about Song Yan?!” Xu Qin asked sharply, “What about your company commander?!”

She trembled inhumanly, her hands tightly tugging at the white coat on her body, the fear in her heart was like a bow that was stretched full, about to break her whole person. She shouted bitterly:

“Song Yan!”

“Here.” A tired and hoarse answer came from behind.

Xu Qin was stunned for a second and immediately turned around.

The first rays of the New Year had risen, softly sprinkling on the vast winter earth,

He stood in front of the black ruins and the bright red fire truck, covered in scars and dust, and looked at her:

“Here.”

She was stunned, staggered like a child and rushed to hug him. He caught her and hugged her tightly in his arms. The man lowered his head, tears rolling down his face.

In an instant, all the grief, fear, resentment, and pain found an outlet,

She was in his arms, crying.

1煲电话粥 bāo diàn huà zhōu – literally cook phone porridge, meaning talking on the phone as long as it takes to cook porridge