Chapter 14 They Trust You
As the convoy drove away from the checkpoint, the sun had already begun to set. The orange-red light painted the ruins of the dilapidated buildings, creating a poignant beauty.
Laila sat down next to Song Zhiyi and finally burst into tears. She spoke haltingly about her mother, how she was all alone in the family, and how she studied medicine to save lives.
Song Zhiyi didn't speak, but gently patted her back. After Leila had finished crying, she said, "If you'd like, you can stay with the medical team for now. Dr. Ian needs an assistant, and you can learn something from him."
Leila nodded vigorously, indicating that she would definitely study hard.
Back in the safe zone, the children had already gathered at the entrance of the makeshift school—it was just a yard with a roof and a few rows of salvaged tables and chairs. Seeing Song Zhiyi get out of the car, several children surrounded her.
"Sister Song!" A little boy of seven or eight years old tugged at her clothes, looked up at her, and said in broken Chinese, "Are we going to learn new words today...?"
Song Zhiyi squatted down and took out a small notebook and a pencil from her backpack—these were what she always carried with her to teach the children to write simple Chinese characters.
“Today we’re learning about ‘peace’,” she said in Arabic, then wrote two neat Chinese characters in her notebook. “It’s pronounced ‘hé píng.’ It means… no war, and everyone living safely. That’s what we all yearn for.”
The children repeated after them, their pronunciation strange, but they were very serious.
Ian walked over, looked at the scene, and said softly, "You know, these children, they all trust you. In this place, trust is more precious than gold."
Song Zhiyi patted the little boy's head and stood up. Her white shirt gleamed warmly in the setting sun, despite the stains on it, despite having worked for more than eighteen hours straight, and despite having just escaped unscathed from a hostage crisis.
But she stood ramrod straight.
"Sister Song," another little girl timidly handed her something wrapped in a dirty cloth, "This is for you...candy."
It was a piece of fruit hard candy that had melted and then solidified, covered in dust.
Song Zhiyi took it and said earnestly, "Thank you. I like it very much."
The little girl smiled, revealing her missing front tooth. She then skipped and hopped away.
Night gradually fell. Sporadic gunshots could be heard in the distance again, but a campfire was lit in the safe zone, and the medical team's cook began to cook porridge—that would be everyone's dinner that night.
Song Zhiyi sat on the stone steps in the corner of the courtyard, finally having time to open her pocket watch. Inside the watch case, her parents' smiles were blurred in the twilight.
She gently closed the watch cover and looked up at the first few stars to appear in the sky.
There is no Mrs. Huo here, no glitz and glamour of the capital, and no five-year agreement.
Only war, ruins, wounded soldiers in need of treatment, children eager to learn, and her small but determined efforts—using language and negotiation to carve out crevices in the chaos that allow more people to survive.
That's enough for her.
She really didn't have the energy or the desire to think about anything else.
She was actually satisfied with the five-year agreement proposed by Huo Yanli. She just hoped that everyone would maintain the current state, not interfere with each other, and end the marriage when the five-year period was up, so that she could do what she wanted in peace.
However, some things, some destinies, cannot be avoided.
The story of Song Zhiyi and Huo Yanli has only just begun.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com