Chapter 83 Fire
The next morning, Qi Lang leaned on the smart chair by the floor-to-ceiling window as usual, looking at the stock trends on the pad, with a lazy and indifferent expression.
Yan Yi, wearing a warm floral apron, was cooking breakfast in the semi-open kitchen.
Seeing Bai He walking down the stairs, rubbing her fluffy hair and yawning, the two men looked at each other guiltily.
Yan Yi brought the ham sandwich to the counter: "Sister, come and eat."
"Oh, okay."
Bai He was about to open the dark grey built-in refrigerator when she saw the little fox cartoon sticker on it. She felt something was wrong but couldn't put her finger on what.
She took the milk out of the refrigerator, and suddenly seemed to think of something. She took off the little fox cartoon sticker and gently broke it. The little fox broke into two halves, and was glued together in the middle with double-sided tape. No wonder there was a crack.
“Who did this!!!”
"The Little Prince" refrigerator magnet, the gift Su Xiaojing gave her when she started working.
Qi Lang turned around silently and faced the floor-to-ceiling window without saying a word.
Yan Yi coughed lightly and said, "Come and eat."
"Who did this?" She walked up to Yan Yi with a refrigerator magnet in her hand. "Was it you?"
Yan Yi: "What is this? I didn't even notice it."
Bai He asked Qi Lang again: "What do you say?"
Qi Lang winked at Yan Yi and said, "His acting is so fake, can't you see it?"
"Do you want to adjust the surveillance?"
“There’s no surveillance at home.”
"That's why you can frame me so blatantly, right?"
"Who is framing whom?"
The two started arguing again after a disagreement, and Bai He was speechless.
Of course, the real murderer wouldn't confess on his own, and she didn't bother to argue with them. She just said, "If you don't admit it, I'll treat it as a conspiracy between you two to break my little fox. You have half an hour to fix it for me!"
So, while Bai He was leisurely enjoying her delicious breakfast, the two men were trying various methods to glue the little fox with half of its body back together.
Qi Lang took out 502 glue from his toolbox and focused on gluing it with glass glue. Yan Yi said disdainfully, "The gap is too big."
"If the amount is too small, it won't stick."
"Why not try a different kind of glue?"
"What do you want to change?"
"Glass glue, try it."
The two of them fiddled with it for a while, and they actually glued it on. Qi Lang carefully placed the little fox by the window in a ventilated place, as if holding a treasure, to let it dry naturally. Yan Yi reminded him: "Don't expose it to the sun, otherwise it will be useless."
Qi Lang said in a contemptuous tone: "I know, you have to tell me."
"It seems that I have learned a lot of life skills in the past two years."
"I survived alone in the primeval rainforest for ten days." Qi Lang glanced at him, "When it comes to survival skills, I'm better than you."
"I think this is called the evildoers live ten thousand years."
Qi Lang turned to look at Bai He: "He is so mean."
Yan Yi walked over to Bai He and peeled a boiled egg for her. His voice softened considerably: "He's just too mean."
Whenever the three of them get together, bickering like this happens all the time. Bai He is no longer surprised by it. "Can you two go a day without a quarrel?"
Yan Yi turned around and said to Qi Lang, "Did you hear that? Can you not be a jerk for one day?"
Qi Lang walked over with his cane and sat next to her: "Xiao Baihe, look, who is bullying whom now."
Bai He had no choice but to say to Yan Yi: "Be more tolerant of him."
Yan Yi peeled the eggs and put them into Bai He's bowl, then said a little aggrievedly, "Why did I let him do that?"
"Because you are more mature than him."
"Do you think I'm more mature?"
"yes."
"I remember you always liked mature ones."
"Are you sick? She is my girlfriend now, and you are my brother-in-law. Can you please stop flirting with her?" Qi Lang brought a chair and sat between the two of them, separating them.
"Sister Jian Ni and I are not in a relationship. She just couldn't stand what happened yesterday and wanted to help me." He said to Bai He honestly, "She wanted you to see your heart clearly. So, did you feel uncomfortable yesterday?"
Qi Lang: “…”
Fucking straight ball!
He grabbed Yan Yi by the collar and threw him out: "Bai He is my girlfriend now, please be careful with your words. If you can't be a quiet younger brother, then get out of my house."
Yan Yi held onto the chair to steady himself and smiled coldly, "Wherever she is, I'll be there. I'm determined to follow her. Don't even think about getting rid of me."
"Yan Yi, look at how shameless you are now."
"Some people even resorted to playing the victim. Who are they shameless about?"
Early in the morning, Bai He was so annoyed by the two male parrots' chirping that her head ached. She stood up and said, "I have to go to work. Who of you wants to take me there?"
Yan Yi walked over first and said, "Let's go. It's on our way."
"Is it on the way?"
"I'm not going to the plastic surgery hospital today. I'm going to the Affiliated Hospital of Kitasato Medical University for a consultation."
"Oh... okay..."
Qi Lang looked at her and said, "I'll pick you up in the evening and take you to a private restaurant."
Bai He nodded, and Yan Yi said, "Come pick me up by the way."
Qi Lang: "Could you please stop being so haunting?"
"You don't want your legs anymore?"
Bai He really couldn't stand it anymore, so she quickened her pace and walked towards the villa gate. Yan Yi caught up with her, holding her coat, and opened the car door to greet her.
"Translation."
"I know what you want to say." Yan Yi started the engine and interrupted her. "Before you reject me, ask yourself, aren't you being with him out of a sense of indebtedness?"
Bai He exhaled softly: "I'm back after playing the good brother role for so long, and I'm finally done pretending."
"At first, I wanted to keep you hanging, to let you experience the feeling of wanting something but not getting it. Otherwise... you will never learn to cherish me."
Yan Yi drove out, leaving the leafy Peninsula Residential Area and heading onto the highway. "Who would have thought that he would come back halfway and catch me off guard?"
"I've already promised Xiao Qi." Bai He didn't dare look at him at all. She lowered her head and picked at the buttons of her shirt. "I'm sorry."
Yan Yi suppressed the bitterness rising in his throat: "You are always like this. At first, you took my feelings into consideration and wanted to be in love with me even though you didn't love me. Now you feel sorry for his loss and want to compensate him with yourself. Bai He, when will you live for yourself?"
"I'm not..." Bai He still said stubbornly, "It's not entirely because of this. I like Qi Lang, I have always liked him."
"But you fell in love with me." Yan Yi tilted his head and looked at her with his eyes as deep as black jade. "You fell in love with me, Bai He."
She evaded the question, saying only, "Just look at the road and stop talking nonsense."
Yan Yi took a deep breath and tilted his head: "Sister, it's still the same thing you said before, you can lie to me, but don't lie to your own heart."
…
In the afternoon, Bai He had just finished his work when he received a video call from Qi Lang.
She walked to the empty tea room and answered the call.
On the screen, a man wearing a well-tailored high-end suit stood in the cloakroom of the living room, holding a casual shirt in his hand.
"Busy?"
"I just sent the press release to the editor-in-chief. I'm not busy right now. What's up?"
"Do I look better in this outfit or this one?"
"Let me help you choose?"
"right."
"What occasion do you wear it for?"
"Dating."
"You can wear anything for a date. I thought you had an important meeting with a client."
"I only wear casual clothes when meeting clients. Please help me choose one. Men dress to please themselves."
Bai He smiled faintly: "Then let me ask one more question, what kind of girl do you want to date?"
"She's an ordinary girl, at least, she always thinks so. Perhaps because the scar affects her appearance, she feels low in self-worth. I regret not praising her more when we were young. From now on, I want her to understand that she deserves everything, so every time we go on a date, I will dress myself up carefully to let her feel how important she is to me."
Bai He looked at the man in the mirror, who was meticulously adjusting his collar, and her heart was filled with emotions. "Have you and Yan Yi made an appointment? You've been playing the sincerity card lately?"
Qi Lang unbuttoned his shirt slowly and calmly: "Maybe it's because... we're in the final round."
"There's no such thing as a finals round. Didn't I already promise you?"
"You promised me." Qi Lang hid the bitterness in his eyes and smiled at her, "Just think of it as me trying to earn performance points. Choose quickly."
"Then try this one on your hand and let me appreciate it."
"good."
In the video, the man unbuttoned his clothes one by one, revealing his beautiful and straight eight-pack abs. Bai He raised an eyebrow: "What are you doing?"
"Change clothes."
"You're changing clothes while you're video chatting with me?"
"It's indeed not very convenient." Qi Lang put his mobile phone on the coffee table opposite, with the camera lens facing him, and showed his body in front of her frankly and generously. Not only did he take off his clothes, he also took off his pants.
"I'll change a few more, you choose."
Bai He's face flushed red as she carefully avoided the colleagues who came in to get water, as if she was watching some pornographic live broadcast: "You could have changed and taken a photo and sent it to me!"
"I'm your boyfriend, am I afraid of you watching?"
"You did it on purpose."
"What on purpose?" He put on his shirt but left it unbuttoned. He picked up his phone and gave her a lustful and seductive look. "On purpose... to seduce you?"
"Well, it's work time now."
"Then keep thinking about me until you get off work."
The doorbell rang, and the assistant said to him through the voice transmission device at the door: "Mr. Qi, the meeting is about to begin."
"Okay." Qi Lang buttoned up his clothes calmly one by one. "How about this one?"
"Relax a little more than before. White shirts always look good on you. Don't wear dress pants underneath. Just wear casual pants."
"I'll do as you say."
"Hurry up and get busy! I have to work too. I can't slack off for too long. I'm hanging up!"
"Wait a minute." Qi Lang looked at the girl in the video, whose cell phone camera was pointed directly at her chin at a deadly angle, and said with a smile, "Kiss me."
"Why are you kissing? There are people here."
"You kissed him like this when you were in love with him."
"No!"
"I've seen it, and I want it too."
Bai He reluctantly picked up the phone, quickly kissed the man on the screen, and looked around carefully, "Okay."
"I love you too." Qi Lang tapped the phone screen with his fingertips, as if touching her forehead. "See you tonight. I will always think of you during this time. Always think of you."
Bai He's heart was filled with tenderness at his sweet words: "Xiao Qi is so clingy."
"Only you."
“I’m almost dead!”
"You first."
Bai He hung up the video call. At that moment, the editor-in-chief hurried out of the office and said to everyone in a hurry, "There's a fire in the hospital. The casualties are unknown. We need reporters on the scene! Who can go?"
Several colleagues volunteered to go and do the on-site reporting, and Bai He also raised his hand.
"Then Xiao Qin will go, along with two trainee reporters, to do the on-site reporting."
Bai He said, "Editor-in-chief, I want to go too."
The editor shook his head and said, "Bai He, I remember you're afraid of fire, so I won't let you go to the scene this time."
"It's okay, I've gotten over it." Bai He still wanted to fight for it: "I can go to the scene and help behind the scenes."
"Okay then, let Xiao Qin appear in the scene, and you can go to the scene to shoot the footage."
Bai He quickly dug out a DV camera from a drawer and followed the reporters and photographers to the fire scene. After getting in the car, she finally remembered to ask, "Which hospital is on fire?"
"Medical University Affiliated Hospital." The intern reporter scrolled through the short video footage recorded by onlookers on the platform. "The fire is so huge!"
Bai He's heart sank suddenly. Remembering that Yan Yi said he would go to the affiliated hospital for a consultation today, he quickly took out his phone to search for related videos.
The video was very chaotic. Amidst the billowing smoke, several fire trucks arrived and stopped at the hospital gate.
She was so frightened that she quickly took out her cell phone and called him.
There was a busy tone in the receiver and no one answered.
Bai He had fine beads of cold sweat on his forehead and his lips were trembling. He kept making voice and video calls to Yan Yi's WeChat account, but no one answered.
"Sister Bai He, are you okay?" The intern reporter noticed that she looked a little off and asked her worriedly, "Are you feeling unwell?"
"It's okay." Bai He waved his hand, his voice slightly hoarse.
Bai He noticed the car had stopped and quickly leaned forward to ask, "Master Liu, why did it stop?"
"There's a fire control ahead, and the car may not be able to get through."
Reporter Xiao Qin said in surprise, "They've called a fire control order! How big must the fire be?"
"Look at the thick smoke in the video, it must be burning badly. Master Liu, please give us another route. Be sure to drive the car to the nearest place, otherwise we won't be able to collect first-hand materials." Several people were discussing how to take a detour.
"Let me go first." Bai He couldn't wait to take a detour. She saw shared bicycles on the side of the road and thought it might be faster to ride over. "I'll go to the scene first to check the situation."
"That's fine. This traffic jam... I don't know when it will end. It might be faster if you ride your bikes."
As they were talking, the car had already stopped by the roadside. Bai He didn't have time to wait for them, so he picked up a bicycle, got on it, pedaled hard, and rushed towards the hospital.
Several fire trucks were parked at the entrance of the affiliated hospital, and firefighters had set up a cordon at the entrance. Many passersby on the other side of the street were watching, taking photos and videos...
Thick smoke billowed out of the windows on the third and fourth floors of the outpatient building. The entire outpatient building was ten stories high. The smoke rose into the sky and the fire spread upwards towards the upper floors, almost covering the entire building.
I heard that many patients and doctors were trapped in the fire and their lives were in danger. Firefighters used ladders and pull ladders to build escape routes and continuously rescued patients from the burning floors.
Bai He's fear of this scene was almost written into her genetic sequence. She knew very well that if the fire broke out on a lower floor, the elevator could not go there, and the stairs were blocked by the fire, then even if there was no fire on the upper floors, people would not be able to get down, and even worse, they would be choked to death by the thick smoke.
She trembled all over and asked a firefighter who was evacuating the crowd: "Is there anyone else? Is there anyone else inside? I... I... My brother is in there. He's a doctor. I can't contact him..."
"Please don't worry." The firefighter comforted her. "We will do our best to rescue her. Don't worry."
Bai He stared at the raging fire, his face as pale as paper, and his eyes were filled with endless fear and despair.
Her world was like that burning building, crumbling bit by bit.
Whenever a firefighter brought a patient out of the building, Bai He would rush forward, but she did not see that familiar face, those black eyes that had left an imprint in the depths of her soul.
She wanted to call out his name, but her throat couldn't make a sound and her whole body was so exhausted that she could hardly stand.
Just then, she saw a figure in a white coat running out of the building, carrying a little girl who had fainted on his shoulders. Doctors and nurses immediately came to take over.
The man wore silver-rimmed frameless glasses. His elegant face was marred by black marks, and his white coat was stained. He leaned forward on his knees, coughing profusely. He gasped for breath and said to the firefighter, "Fourth floor, turn left on the fourth floor, there are two more..."
"Leave it to us."
“Yan Yi!” she finally shouted, “Yan Yi!!!”
The man looked up and saw her. She was so scared that her face turned pale. The DV camera in her hand fell to her feet and she was shaking like a sieve.
She ran towards him, but fell hard after only two steps. Yan Yi rushed over and squatted down to check her knee, which was slightly scratched. "Why are you running? I'll give you some medicine later."
Bai He held his face and looked at it nervously, checking if he was injured.
"I'm fine..."
Before he could finish his words, the girl pressed the back of his head, pressed his face into the crook of her neck, and hugged him tightly, and then he choked out a hoarse sound.
Yan Yi's heart was broken by her: "Don't cry, I'm fine, really."
The next second, he felt a sharp pain on his shoulder. He frowned slightly and turned his head to see her biting the skin on his shoulder and neck hard, just like the time when he bullied her when they were children, and blood was visible.
Yan Yi did not struggle and let her bite him fiercely and hard, because he was extremely sad and scared and needed to vent his anger.
She wanted to leave something on him.
After Bai He bit him, his trembling emotions finally calmed down a little, but he was still sobbing and unable to speak.
Yan Yi hugged her tightly and whispered in her ear to comfort her: "Okay, don't cry, I'm fine, right?"
"You can't leave me."
"Of course I won't leave you."
The girl hugged him capriciously, closed her eyes, and her hot tears soaked through her clothes and soaked her skin. She was like a helpless child: "Promise."
"I promise to always be by your side, okay?"
Bai He let go of him slightly, gently wiped the dust off his face with her wrist, held his face and looked at it again and again, unable to see enough.
Yan Yi also wiped her tearful eyes with his hands: "Why are you here?"
"The news agency received the information and I rushed over. I found out it was the affiliated hospital, but no one answered your call... I was scared to death..." Bai He held his hand tightly with lingering fear, not wanting to be separated from him for even a minute.
"My phone was charging in the office, and when the fire broke out, I was busy evacuating the patients."
"So you're not trapped, you're helping..."
"With so many patients, I can't just run away for my own life."
Bai He pinched his palm hard, and immediately became furious: "You are not a firefighter, and you don't have professional knowledge, why are you trying so hard! Don't you know that even if the fire is not strong enough to burn you, the smoke is highly toxic and you will faint and die if you inhale too much!"
She was so angry that she pushed him and couldn't hold back her tears. "Do you want to be a hero? Do you want to be a hero like your dad?"
Yan Yi finally managed to coax her, but seeing her tears, his heart softened again, and he quickly hugged her: "No, never again. I promise you, if I encounter danger in the future, I will run for my life first, and run faster than a dog, okay."
"I… don't quite believe your promise."
"Then I swear, if I try to be a hero again, I will..."
"Don't swear by yourself, swear by me. If you continue to act like a hero, I will become a short-lived ghost."
Yan Yi smiled faintly: "This is too cruel."
"hurry up."
"Okay, then I swear on my sister that if I don't cherish myself, I will become a little mouse in my next life, okay?"
Bai He reluctantly agreed: "Please remember your oath."
"I'll remember it forever."
Just as the two were talking, a Rolls-Royce came rushing from the intersection, failed to brake, and rushed into the roadside flower bed.
The car stopped and Qi Lang pushed open the door. Even though he was leaning on his cane, he walked over as fast as he could, anxiously asking, "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"fine."
He pinched his jaw, looked around, and tried his best to appear calm and normal, but his eyes were filled with uncontrollable concern. "I saw the video and rushed over as soon as I saw it. Damn it, why didn't you answer the phone!"
Yan Yi had no choice but to explain it again. Qi Lang's reaction was the same as Bai He's. He pushed his head with his hand and said, "Are you sick? Why are you showing off? You're a doctor, not a firefighter!"
"I've already taught him a lesson." Bai He said quickly, "Fortunately, nothing happened."
"Why are you here?" Qi Lang looked at Bai He.
"Same as you, I just received the news as well."
Qi Lang noticed that the corners of her eyes were red and there were teardrops on her eyelashes. It was obvious that she had just burst into tears, otherwise her eyes would not be so swollen.
The man lowered his dark hazel eyes slightly and saw her and his hands clasped together.
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