Chapter 19 He Zhao had examined that work permit very carefully for a long time, given her limited knowledge…
He Zhao had examined the work permit carefully for a long time. Based on her limited knowledge, the work permit was indeed genuine, and it even had a QR code that could be scanned with a mobile phone to access relevant details, including a government website ending in .gov.
However, Qiao Yanyu is an official staff member, so it's not surprising that she has this.
The person inside thought for a while, and seeing that the two girls were kind-looking young women, finally opened the door. The person who opened the door was a middle-aged woman. Her hair was a bit long and covered her face, and she looked somewhat gloomy, but she didn't seem like an unapproachable person.
Qiao Yanyu bowed slightly and handed over the milk with both hands: "Hello, this is something our community brought for you. It's not much, but it represents a small token of our appreciation."
"Oh, I can't accept this."
After some back and forth, the middle-aged woman finally accepted the milk and invited He Zhao and Qiao Yanyu inside. He Zhao moved the glass bottle in his pocket, revealing a large portion of it so that Gossian could see it clearly.
Qiao Yanyu then took out shoe covers from her pocket and gave one to He Zhao.
He Zhao's eyes widened in disbelief. At that moment, she truly felt that Qiao Yanyu's pocket was a treasure chest. She hadn't noticed any shoe covers when she had checked before, so where did these shoe covers come from?
Seeing that He Zhao didn't take it, Qiao Yanyu nudged He Zhao with the hand holding the shoe covers. Only then did He Zhao take them and put them on.
After the two men put on shoe covers, the middle-aged woman invited them to sit in the living room. She also brought them disposable cups and made them some tea. Once all three were seated, the woman expressed her gratitude: "Thank you so much. I didn't expect the community to think of us."
Qiao Yanyu started talking to the middle-aged woman.
Qiao Yanyu wasn't particularly eloquent, but she was quite adept at chatting with middle-aged women, subtly steer the conversation towards the July 15th fire she had mentioned earlier. It was clear that Qiao Yanyu's skill came from practice; she must have visited countless homes and asked countless people the same questions to be able to so skillfully guide others to answer her questions.
As expected of a professional.
And he's super handsome.
Women at work are definitely the coolest!
He Zhao sighed inwardly. Without saying a word, she held the disposable cup, blew on it, and drank some tea.
The sound of two people chatting could be heard, muttering to themselves, seemingly discussing everyday matters, but their words carried a certain heaviness. Under Qiao Yanyu's guidance, the middle-aged woman began to slowly recount what had happened back then. He Zhao and Qiao Yanyu knew the specifics, but her emotional journey had remained unknown to anyone for so long.
“I am truly, truly grateful to Gossian.”
With that opening line, she sighed deeply: "I'm much stronger than the little girl, but when the fire broke out, I was only scared. Faced with such a huge fire, my legs went weak and I couldn't even walk. It was she who suddenly rushed out, pulled me up, and led me all the way outside."
She still remembers how excited she was when she fell to the ground in fear and saw Gossian rushing out of the stairwell with a handkerchief covering his mouth and nose. Gossian was like a ray of light to her; she couldn't help but reach out to him and say, "Save me."
Without hesitation, Gossian reached out to her, pulled her up, and used his soft shoulder to support her as he led her out of the stairwell.
“We both escaped outside, but Gossian rushed back in because she knew there were still people inside.” The middle-aged woman sighed deeply as she recounted her story: “I didn’t dare go in with her. When I got to the outside of the building, my legs were trembling. I had to be helped by others to get to a safe place to rest.”
"Later, I learned that she saved one person after another, but I also learned that Gossian ultimately did not recover."
“I really regret it. When she brought me out, I should have stopped her from going back in. She was so young, she was such a good person, she wasn’t even married or had children, she…” The middle-aged woman started crying at this point.
He Zhao didn't actually think that marriage and childbirth were stages a woman had to go through; she was certain she would never go through that stage in her life. But she couldn't bring herself to say that to this middle-aged woman at this moment, because in her heart, it was probably a very important matter.
At this moment, she should have comforted the woman, but Qiao Yanyu was embarrassed and at a loss for what to do.
She could use her past experience and fixed phrases to guide her to talk about the past, but it was difficult to comfort her when she was genuinely crying. He Zhao understood this, so as a substitute, He Zhao stepped in.
She not only had to comfort the middle-aged woman, but also had to refute what she found unpleasant: "Perhaps she thinks saving you is more important than getting married and having children herself."
He Zhao's words startled the middle-aged woman. For a moment, she didn't know what to say. Perhaps at that moment, she also realized that it wasn't good to speak of her benefactor in this way. He Zhao continued, "Her life was a complete one. There's no reason why it has to be complete to get married and have children. Even if she doesn't have any bloodline to continue the family line, as long as you, the lives she saved, survive, then she will exist forever."
“A person dies twice: once physically, and once when they are forgotten by everyone. You will remember her, won’t you?”
The middle-aged woman's tears flowed incessantly as He Zhao spoke. When she heard He Zhao ask her a question, she raised her hand to cover her mouth, then nodded: "I will never forget her, absolutely not. Even if I die, I will tell my children and grandchildren that I am alive because of her."
Having said all he could, He Zhao didn't say anything more.
While she was speaking, Qiao Yanyu sat beside her watching, occasionally picking up a disposable teacup and taking a sip of tea. Their positions were reversed when He Zhao spoke.
In Qiao Yanyu's eyes, He Zhao was a very strange person. When they first met, she just thought He Zhao was a bit shameless. After all, who in this world would cling to someone they had just met and whine for help? But as she got to know her, Qiao Yanyu felt that He Zhao was somewhat different from her first impression.
She is warm-hearted, and most of the time, she has a warm heart.
The middle-aged women had stayed long enough; it was time for them to get up and leave. Qiao Yanyu seized the opportunity, stood up, and said, "We still have to visit other community residents, so we'll be going now."
The middle-aged woman wiped away her tears and stood up: "No, please have dinner here. Sit a little longer. I'll go to the market later and buy some groceries for you."
"No, no, really, it's not necessary." Qiao Yanyu adopted an official tone again, and after a few rounds of back-and-forth with the middle-aged woman, she finally left with He Zhao amidst the woman's regretful attempts to persuade her to stay.
Stepping out of the building, Qiao Yanyu breathed a sigh of relief. Clearly, while she appeared experienced, she wasn't actually adept at handling such situations; she had struggled to refuse others' enthusiastic invitations to stay. Qiao Yanyu was decisive and efficient in her work, but often found herself in a passive position when interacting with others.
Seeing her like this, He Zhao couldn't help but laugh: "Sister Qiao's reaction is so strong. That auntie wasn't going to eat us, but Sister Qiao seemed to be running away in panic."
Qiao Yanyu waved her hand: "There's really nothing I can do, she's just too enthusiastic."
After making a couple of jokes, He Zhao didn't continue talking about Qiao Yanyu, otherwise, this sophisticated and mature woman might have blushed deeply later. He Zhao took the glass bottle out of his pocket. It turned out that it wasn't just the middle-aged woman who needed comforting.
The glass bottle was tiny, and the Gossian inside was also miniature, but now it was sitting on the ground, and just by looking at its expression you could tell it desperately needed comfort.
He Zhao looked at Qiao Yanyu, and Qiao Yanyu looked at her in return. Then, following her gaze, she looked at Ge Sinian, started the car, and after leaving the residential area and finding a secluded corner, she took the glass bottle from He Zhao and released Ge Sinian in a dark corner with little light.
After being released, the already cold winter day dropped even further, by one or two degrees. He Zhao couldn't help but rub her arms and shiver. Seeing this, Qiao Yanyu shrank back behind her.
Gossian was crying, but ghosts don't seem to have tears, so Gossian was just howling. And its howling seemed far more sincere than He Zhao's.
"Waaaaah, boss, what you said is so true, and that auntie is so kind too. I'm so grateful that she said that, and just thinking about how she said she'd always remember me makes me so happy. If she could also remember my mom and dad, that would be even better...waaaaah..."
He Zhao thought for a moment, then leaned out from behind Qiao Yanyu, reached out, and touched Gosinian's head. The touch was truly chilling; it was so cold that even the strands of its hair felt like icicles. Compared to Gosinian, she preferred to stay close to Qiao Yanyu—it was warmer.
"You're asking for too much. It's good enough that people remember you. Just imagine how badly you'd cry if someone started cursing at you later."
Gossian shook his head: "I won't cry. And even if some people resent me, there are still people who remember me. Knowing that Auntie is especially grateful to me makes me very happy."
"Stop rambling and hurry up, or it'll get dark and you won't be able to come out at all."
Gossian's dry howling gradually stopped, and he obediently went into the glass bottle under Qiao Yanyu's guidance. Afterwards, they set off for the second house.
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