018. Accident
Lin
Li hasn’t skinned An Ran yet, even though it’s as if she’s eaten the ocean, because
they also did not know that YouRan Restaurant, unexpectedly, belonged to Su Yi
Cheng’s little sister. As a result, with just a wave of a hand, Su Yi Jiao has
excused their bill, and, furthermore, gave out orders to the staff saying that the
next time An Ran comes, to excuse the bill. An Ran attempted to give the excuse
that it was inconvenient, but Su Yi Jiao laughed, simply saying that among
family, who would accept money to eat. An Ran laughed nervously, thinking to
herself that she won’t come the next time.
The
original plan, after they finished eating, was that she would go walk around
the block with Lin Li, but how can one help oneself when YouRan’s gourmet food
is just too delicious. One can only let Lin Li, this girl, eat enough to
support herself. Immediately after eating she calls Cheng Xiang, so he can come
pick her up.
Waiting
for the both girls to seat themselves in Cheng Xiang’s car, right after closing
the door, Lin Li begins to pull on An Ran’s hand and with a serious mood, says,
“An, you’ve snatched yourself a very wealthy person!”
An
Ran looks at her, and leans her head on the back of the seat, muttering a sigh,
“I also have that feeling……” She can already see that Su Yi Cheng’s qualifications are pretty good, yet she didn’t dare think it was this good. Just a while ago,
Su Yi Jiao had told her that Su Yi Cheng also involved in YouRan Restaurant. At
the time he had also pitched in when she was just starting up the funds. An Ran
did not ask any further. She doesn’t know why he had agreed to get married to
her. Perhaps it is what he had said. He needed a wife, and she just happened to
be suitable, that’s all.
Cheng
Xiang sent An Ran home first, then turned back to head home. When An Ran
returned home, only Lin Xiao Fen was at home, sitting on the sofa by herself.
Gu Heng Wen teaches high school, and is also in charge of the class for college
entrance exams. Even though it’s Saturday, they still want to attend class.
An
Ran leaves her bag at a table, and calls out to her mom. But her mom does not
respond, so she calls out again, and as before, she still does not respond. An
Ran frowns, and walks over to her, only to see Lin Xiao Fen sitting there,
dazed. In her hands, she holds a photograph, her eyes have no spirit as she
looks ahead.
“Mom?”
An Ran calls again, this time bringing Lin Xiao Fen back to earth. She sees
that An Ran seems worried, and hastily hides her hands behind her back, as if
she feared that she would see something.
“Ran—Ran
Ran, you—you’re back!” Lin Xiao Fen watches what she says, as if she’s
concealing something.
“Yeah.”
An Ran nods, seeing her mother like this worried her. “Mom, are you okay?”
“Fine,
I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be, hehe.” Lin Xiao Fen laughs, forcing a smile to
cover her mood. As if she feared that An Ran would ask more questions, she
hurriedly gets up and says, “You haven’t eaten yet, right Ran Ran? Mother will
go make something.”
An
Ran checks her watch. It’s almost 2 o clock. She pulls on her mother’s hands.
“Mom, I’ve already eaten. When I left this morning I told you that I’m going to
go out for lunch with Lin Li, did you forget?”
Lin
Xiao Fen blanked, immediately puts on a smile, and shakes her head. “Right, you
did say that you were going to go with Lin Li for lunch when you were heading
out. Look at me, mother is getting too old. Really useless.”
An
Ran hugs her mother. “Of course not. Mother is exactly the same as 20 years
ago, just as beautiful and just as young, not getting old at all.”
Lin
Xiao Fen pats her daughter, and laughs. “You ah, you really know how to comfort
me.”
An
Ran laughs. She holds her mother for a little longer, then lets her go. “Mom, I
will make something for you.”
Lin
Xiao Fen nods her head. Seeing her daughter head towards the kitchen, she looks
down at the picture in her hand. It’s an old picture that is losing its colour.
The man in the photo is wearing a white shirt and glasses, elegant and
graceful.
In
the midst of accompanying Lin Xiao Fen during her meal, the construction site
phoned in, saying that there was a situation. Someone on the construction site was
injured by a chunk of cement that fell from above, and the person is already on
his way to the hospital.
An
Ran hurriedly grabbed her bag and headed out, her heart rate in disorder. Only
when she went to the garage to get her car does she remember that it is at the
company and she hasn’t brought it back home. She urgently ran to the street and
blocked a car, and asked to go to the construction site. When she arrived at
the site of the accident, she saw that the company’s director Huang De Xing has
already arrived. He is an aged man, hair already balding, and with a beer
belly. Honestly speaking, An Ran considers Huang De Xing as a teacher. After An
Ran had graduated she interned at his company, so they have been working
together for 6 years. And of course, over the past 6 years he has taught An Ran
a lot.
An
Ran takes a safety helmet and walks over to the director. “Director.”
Huang
De Xing turns his head to see An Ran, then turns his body to face her. “I heard
that a chunk of cement had suddenly fallen from above, and at that time a
person had been passing by.”
An
Ran looks up, only to see that 10 meters above, the balcony of the window sill
is missing a big chunk. She looks at her feet, the ground crushed and in
disorder. You can still see the bright red bloodstain on the ground.
“How’s
the person?” An Ran asks. It really makes one dreadful, seeing how much blood
was left behind.
Huang
De Xing shakes his head, sighing. “Not good. The hospital just called now. They
couldn’t save him. He died before they entered the OR.”
An
Ran was speechless, the pit of her stomach has an indescribable sorrow.
“Whose
draft had a problem?” An Ran asks. The blueprint of this neighbourhood garden
was her best work. She had calculated each and every sector with precision.
According this there shouldn’t be any problem.
“We
will have to investigate the cause of this accident,” Huang De Xing says as he
turns. “Go. Everything will have to be suspended until we get to the root of
the accident.” After saying this, he doesn’t look at An Ran. He just walks
away.
An
Ran was the only person to remain at the site for a long time, until the sun had set. The horizon was gradually darkening. Only then does An Ran turn to leave the
site.
She
walks along the street alone, without purpose or direction, her mind
unceasingly replaying the scene. Broken high building, the earth below crushed
in, and the blood staining the earth. An Ran stood on the main road alone. She
never once thought that her draft would smash a person.
The
phone in her bag rings, but An Ran does not notice it. Apparently the other
person was quite patient, as the phone continues to ring. At the third loop of
the ringtone, An Ran finally answers.
“Where
are you?” The voice on the other line, as before, is strange yet familiar,
however this time the tone is somewhat impatient.
“Out.”
An Ran cried.
“What
happened?” Su Yi Cheng, keen, asks.
An
Ran doesn’t say anything, just absentmindedly looks ahead. The streetlights
flicker. The nights at Jiang city, compared to daytime, is absolutely
beautiful.
Seeing
that she doesn’t answer, Su Yi Cheng speaks again. “Give me the address, where
you are at right now.”
An
Ran scans the street, finally telling him the address.
Su Yi
Cheng has been driving for half an hour already. He seemed to be in a difficult
situation right now. The hair that is normally immaculately neat is now
somewhat messy. He also looks a bit exhausted. Only his dark eyes, as always,
has spirit.
“An
Ran?” Su Yi Cheng gently calls her.
An
Ran’s spirit returns. She looks at him, gets up, and replies, “Oh. You’re
here.”
Su Yi
Cheng nods. He leads her to the car, and politely buckles the seatbelt for her.
An
Ran looks out the window, her gaze erratic, unfocused.
“What
happened?” Su Yi Cheng asks worriedly, she looks like she isn’t in good
condition.
After
a while of silence, just as Su Yi Cheng gets the impression that she doesn’t
want to talk, does she begin to speak, “This afternoon, at the construction
site, a cement belonging to the balcony on the third floor suddenly fell, and crushed
a person to death.”
“Is
it a problem with the design?” Su Yi Cheng asks.
An
Ran shakes her head. “I don’t know.”
Su Yi
Cheng doesn’t ask any further, and simply starts the car to leave. He doesn’t
say anything. She doesn’t ask either.
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