Waiting for You in a City

Soon, more than half of January had passed, only the last extremely cold days of winter remained.

As soon as the temperature in Di City dropped again and again, people who stayed outside for a while would have frozen bones. There were many places on the road where there was ice, you had to be vigilant when walking, if you were not careful, you would fall and gnaw mud.

More middle-aged and elderly people came to the emergency room, many fell and suffered from fractures or serious injuries.

When Xu Qin was eating at home that day, she especially told uncle and aunt to pay attention when walking. The two elders were happy, saying that she was filial and caring, but it made her a little embarrassed.

Uncle and aunt also knew about Song Yan’s preparation, and they wanted him to be transferred from the squadron to the brigade. Not to mention promotion and salary increase, you could also work and rest on weekends and holidays, the most important thing was safety. The two were happier than Xu Qin, and sighed that this man, sure enough, still wanted to start a family before he planned everything.

Xu Qin didn’t ask Song Yan about this when she talked to him on the phone, but she also learned from just a few words that everything was going well on his side. She wasn’t surprised. He was already outstanding and has strong leadership skills. The exam, don’t have to mention it, one could get a high score after reading a few days of books, everything was handy.

On the contrary, on her side, she came back from the last earthquake and made a contribution, it stood to reason that everything should go smoothly. Some time ago, a colleague in the personnel department also asked her to re-ask for a resume and examination transcript, as if for the evaluation of professional titles.

But recently there had been no news.

Xu Qin was not an acute child, but thinking that Song Yan’s side was going well, and her side had stopped, it was inevitably brought to mind, at noon that day, she took time to go to the Burn Surgery Department, wanted to know the specific time she would return to the outpatient clinic after completing the Emergency Department rotation, and incidentally asked the attending physician.

The director was very kind and said, “The rotation work of the Emergency Department has been hard on you, and your performance during the period of work was excellent, everyone could see it. After the Spring Festival holiday, you can go back to the Outpatient Department.”

Xu Qin nodded, thinking that when she returned to the clinic, she could work normally most of the time, and have a weekend holiday, she couldn’t help but purse her lower lip.

But in the next second, the director said: “But the matter of title selection, we have to wait for the leaders of the academy to discuss it.”

Xu Qin was a little surprised, and asked: “The selection was presided over by the head of the department and the professor, why should the leaders of the academy discuss it?”

“Oh, then to put it bluntly, in fact, I was going to choose you, but at that time the doctors made some noise, some of the words you said to the patient on the rooftop, the words were inappropriate, and the leader thought that it damaged the image of the hospital. This was on the cusp of a storm, and could be properly avoided. Don’t be discouraged, there will be a chance next time.”

Xu Qin stared at the director, and saw that the latter was a little weak-hearted. He secretly felt in his heart that Xiao Xu was also usually not warm with colleagues, but even if she was not warm, she wouldn’t even bow down in front of her superiors, so dim-witted.

Xu Qin: “I searched on the internet, the medical trouble has long been resolved peacefully, without the slightest rumor.”

The director was stunned.

Xu Qin continued: “Why did the hospital leader suddenly have the leisure to care about a little doctor like me? Even if I have to take care of it, what I did that day, in a way, did it not solve the problem for the hospital?”

The director was speechless, and after a while, he simply diverted the conflict and put the pressure on his superiors: “Xiao Xu, I can’t help if you pressure me. If you don’t agree with it, you can go to the hospital leader.”

Xu Qin asked seriously: “The problems in the department are solved in the department, you are my leader, why do I have to go beyond that level?”

The director was another in another branch, and she didn’t know if he really was talking about principles or deliberately blocking her.

She said: “Let me first make my attitude clear: if you don’t choose me, please give a more appropriate reason, you could give what major mistake I made, what rules I violated, whether my test scores were not as high as other doctors, or my actual work was not as good as other doctors. As for the absurd reason just now, I do not accept it.”

What Xu Qin wanted to say had been clarified, she didn’t talk anymore nonsense with him, bowed her head politely, and left.

She walked quickly to the corridor, slammed the safety door behind her, took a deep breath, saying that she was not angry would be a lie.

After all, growing up, everywhere she walked was a smooth road, when did she suffer this kind of suppression?

But she quickly calmed down. It wasn’t the last moment yet, everything was still undecided, so she wasn’t angry with herself. Let’s see what Professor Xu had to say.

Before she reached the door, she heard the professor who had always been calm, being angry:

“I don’t agree and won’t sign!”

Director: “Professor—”

“You don’t have to grind with me, among these people, Dr. Xu is the most qualified. Whichever one you chose, I won’t agree to the rest, and don’t be underhanded.”

Xu Qin slowly leaned against the wall.

“Didn’t you hate Xiao Xu before?”

“Whether I hate her or not is my business, whether she can do it or not is her business. I will ask you, the most qualified doctor in this group is her, why did you suppress her.”

“I say why are you so stubborn, the higher ups said that Dr. Xu would not be promoted—”

Xu Qin’s mind was confused and did not react.

“I think the higher ups have been too long at the top, the heart can’t tell the difference between left and right. This is a hospital, not bureaucracy! It’s a matter of human life which you all are messing with! You don’t need to persuade me again, it’s rare for me to find a good successor. As long as I am in the Burn Surgery Department for one more day, I will protect her. If you don’t choose her, don’t choose the other one, our department will be fine.”

“Eh why are you so stubborn and insist on competing with the leader?”

Xu Qin turned to leave and walked into the stairwell again.

Today was cloudy, the corridor was dark and gloomy.

She took out her mobile phone, looked up Fu Wenying’s phone and dialed it, it rang a few times, and was hung up.

She didn’t know if it was because of anger or because of the panic that fate was controlled again, she trembled slightly, but quickly suppressed it and quickly typed:

“Mom, are you interfering with my work? Please don’t do this.”

She pinched her phone and waited in the corridor for a long time.

The corridor on this side was a safe escape passage, there was no heating, the chill outside the window invaded, gradually freezing her teeth, rattling.

The other end never replied.

The cold weakened the defense of the human heart, she clearly felt the anger and frustration in her body that could no longer be suppressed, her lips and fingers trembled together, and she quickly typed again:

“When I entered the hospital, I didn’t ask my family for help, I came in on my own! Please don’t do such a thing!”

This time, she returned: “Then you can be promoted according to your own ability.”

Xu Qin stayed in place, all her feelings faded in an instant, she didn’t know whether it was disappointment or powerlessness.

This person so easily wiped out all these years of hard work. And this person is the person she considers her mother, the person she wants to save even if she was treated like that.

She quickly typed out a few words: “Good. I will.”

When she was ready to send, she stopped for a second.

Intensifying the conflict was not good for her.

She stood in the dim corridor, her heart also obscured, she suddenly felt a little funny, laughing at her inferiority engraved into her bones.

The phone rang, it was Xiao Bei. She had to go back to work.

She covered her face hard, quickly collected her emotions, so as not to affect her work. Otherwise, her confidence when she said those words in front of the director would be wiped out.

She was not that stupid.

In subsequent work, Professor Xu did not have a kind face for her as usual, and made all kinds of criticisms and reprimands. There was gossip among colleagues that the professor did not like her and that she could not be promoted.

As a doctor, one couldn’t see the human heart clearly. Whether this person was good or bad to you, one couldn’t just look at the surface, even if you cut it open and looked inside, you wouldn’t be able to judge whether it was good or bad.

Xu Qin focused on her work as always, which was the foundation of her life, and she knew it clearly. But when she stopped to rest, it was inevitable she felt sad about the promotion.

When she went to boil water, her mind drifted, the boiling water overflowed, and almost burnt her feet.

She sighed helplessly, walked out of the water room, saw the fire hydrant on the wall, and remembered Song Yan.

She stood with her head down for a while, took out her mobile phone to text him, just typed out “what are you doing”, thought about it, deleted word by word, and slowly typed out a new one:

“I missed you.”

Less than ten seconds later, he called.

She immediately picked up: “Hello?”

“What are you doing?” he asked, with a faint smile in his tone.

Her heart suddenly soothed down a lot, and she also smiled: “I’m thinking about you.”

He laughed, but soon asked, “Was there something unhappy?”

She looked down at the mist in the water cup: “En. …. Today I was lectured by the professor again.”

“Why were you lectured?”

“He’s strict with me.”

“It’s a good thing,” he said.

“Then, you’re going to discipline me too.”

“Have I?” he laughed.

She snorted softly, leaned her back against the wall, and asked, “What about you, are you tired from work?”

“It’s fine,” Song Yan said, “There’s less attendance these days, and the citizens are relatively well-behaved.”

She couldn’t help but laugh: “How well-behaved? ”

“Not as good as you,” he said.

Holding the phone and raising her head, she smiled even wider.

During the short break between each other’s work, the call was less than a minute before hanging up.

Xu Qin put down the phone, breathed a long sigh of relief, and quickly went back to work.

Song Yan put down the phone, smiled faintly, and continued to train the search and rescue dog.

At eleven o’clock at night, an hour before the change of guard, Song Yan received an order from his superiors that a bar in Liu Ye Tan was on fire and asked them to come to support.

The firefighting troop rushed to the scene of the incident, three fire trucks rushed to the scene of the incident.

The famous bar street of Liu Ye Tan. It was late at night, the neighborhood was full of traffic and phantom neon lights.

Fire sirens pierced through the night sky, and private car owners gave way one after another. However, there were too many vehicles and the traffic was not smooth. Two or three fire squadrons failed to reach the scene of the accident immediately.

The fire trucks drove outside the block for another five or six minutes before slowly crossing the already not-so-spacious bar street and gathered back together.

At this time, thick smoke billowed from the entrance of the bar where the accident occurred, and open flames could be seen from a long distance away.

Fortunately, in the few minutes when the fire truck arrived, most of the people in the bar escaped and gathered around to watch.

Song Yan jumped out of the car: “Li Cheng, Jiang Yi, evacuate with the people of the fifth team; Xiao Ge, pull the cordon; Yang Chi, lay the water belt, add water pressure.”

After speaking, several instructors and squadron leaders quickly gathered, and the captain of the Liu Ye Tan Squadron brought a schematic diagram of the building of the burning bar.

The bar had a “concave” shape, with the bottom end facing the street, one floor above ground and one floor below. The upper floor consisted of a stage, bar and sofa booths around it, while the lower floor was entirely private compartment booths.

There was only a narrow staircase passage between the floors, and there was no other way out.

There were still trapped people in the bar, and it was important to save them. The firefighters did not have much time to delay, they soon deployed manpower and entered the fire scene in groups.

Song Yan put on a protective mask, led the team together, and entered the fire against the firelight.

The interior was originally intricately decorated, with wallpaper wooden windows, carved tables and chairs, but now it had been burned black by the fire and its shape was distorted.

The fire has passed its initial stage, with a raging heat wave and suspended black ash.

The four walls and ceilings were filled with fire, the ornaments hanging overhead burned into fireballs, which split and fell down, falling to the ground; The wall partitions burned to the ground, and the floor caught fire, piles of grass like flames.

The people were almost all gone, only the tongue of fire stirred wildly.

It didn’t take long for Song Yan to enter the scene of the fire, and he felt unwell all over his body, sweating crazily, and exhausted within a few minutes. Logically speaking, that shouldn’t be. Although he had been injured for a while before, his training has not fallen behind in recent weeks. Although the protective clothing weighed more than ten pounds, it was not so heavy.

Firefighters entered the scene mainly to find people, they found two injured people trapped in the booth on the first floor, who fell into a coma due to the thick smoke and high temperature, and were quickly carried out by Li Cheng and Lao Dong.

On the stairs leading to the basement lay several people, one by one, there was no sign of survival, they were trampled to death by the crowd in the process of escaping.

Jiang Yi and several other firefighters rushed through the flame corridor, down the stairs, and to the basement.

“There’s not much fire down there,” Jiang Yi turned around and shouted, “The smoke is thick.”

Xiao Ge walked down the stairs, suddenly sat down on his butt, and almost rolled down.

Song Yan grabbed him by the collar: “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I can’t breathe, my legs are soft.” Xiao Ge said, standing up while leaning against the wall, his gloves sizzled and crackled when they touched the hot wall.

Song Yan was stunned.

It was not that he alone found it unbearable, but the temperature in this room was already dangerously high.

He immediately turned his head to look at the basement, where black smoke settled in large quantities and poured into the doorway, drowning the waists and legs of the firefighters.

Tongues of fire sprang up from the bottom up, jumped from the ground to the ceiling, and the air seemed to be quiet for a moment, as if some bad luck was brewing.

A sense of foreboding hit his heart,

This was……

An explosion?

Firefighters’ trouser legs were slowly disappearing into the door frame.

Song Yan pulled back Xiao Ge, who had already gone downstairs, and roared downstairs: “Retreat!! All of you! Fall back!!”

A flash of orange flame suddenly flashed at the top of the door, accompanied by sporadic and strange crackling sounds,

Song Yan dragged Xiao Ge back and roared like crazy: “Everyone! Retreat immediately!”

The orange flame suddenly spread out like ink dripping into clear water.

In an instant, the fire filled the room like a cracking lightning pattern, everywhere it went, everything exploded in an instant.

With a loud bang, the entire basement exploded.

The fire broke through everything.