Translator: RandomAlex
Editor: Makoto
Nowadays, most people use mobile phones to transfer money, and the younger generation seldom brought money with them. Luckily for Wei Jin, as he dug around in his pockets, he found exactly 100 yuan and handed it to his father.
“Dad, are you leaving for the night?”
“Hmm.”
Wei Mingyan replied lightly, took the hundred yuan, opened the ward door, and left.
It was already very late, but the hospital was bustling as a wanted criminal had almost gone on a rampage and was caught, and the family members of the patients all ran out into the hallway to watch. Even several police officers stood around to gossip. Yet, no one noticed the handsome man in robes leaving this place unhurriedly.
When he got downstairs, Wei Mingyan suddenly stopped close by as his unfeeling eyes narrowed slightly and gazed towards the northwest. There, black smoke, the kind people couldn’t see, was constantly rising, as if a huge black net was being formed, enveloping the whole city.
It was really rare to see so many people die at once.
The handsome Daoist master pulled out the hundred yuan from his sleeve and slightly raised it. A moment later, the red bill started burning. The fire started from the top, and as it burned to his slender white fingertips, the bill was carried away by the wind, and turned to cinders midair.
In Wei Mingyan’s eyes, the floating ashes seemed to become plumes of light smoke, which drifted rapidly towards the northwest along the night sky.
Towards the northwest was the city center, where high-rise buildings were everywhere, with most of them being office buildings and several residential buildings.
At the moment, firefighters were busy at work at the bottom floor of a residential building that had flames blazing from the middle. It was slowly spreading upwards floor by floor.
“Hurry up, hurry up over there!!” the onlookers shouted as the residents at the bottom floors ran out, as first responders were busy shuttling back and forth. The building grounds were simply in chaos. Ladders were being erected for rescue, but they were almost useless. The fire was too fierce and strange, and it didn’t give the rescuers a chance to respond. As if being accelerated, it burned all the way to the top floor.
While everyone had their eyes glued onto the smoky building, a handsome man in robes came up unhurriedly as he looked at the building with calm eyes. The light smoke from burning the 100 yuan earlier had slowly drifted into the building. Clearly, only one bill was burnt, but the light smoke was enough to surround the whole building. Wei Mingyan watched quietly, looking for a big tree, and watched the smoke from the building gradually decrease.
Someone noticed it and shouted excitedly, “The fire is getting smaller!”
Everyone on scene was excited for this godsend. Then, in Wei Mingyan’s eyes, he saw a firefighter begin climbing into a smoke-filled window using a ladder.
Inside, there was a pair of hands belonging to a child waving for help.
Pan Gang is the most senior person in the firefighter squad. At the beginning of this year, their previous captain retired and expressed that he hoped Pan Gang would take over the position of captain.
In truth, the position of captain was really nothing good. In China, although the salary of firefighters weren’t high, there would be a lot of bonus for every attendance, and the captain receives a thousand yuan more than other team members. Yet, without mentioning the extra labor and paperwork, if they encounter a disastrous scene, and nothing could be saved from the fire, as captain, he also has to take blame and face the brunt of the grief and loss of the family of the victims.
However, after considering it for a while, Pan Gang still obliged.
Pan Gang has had a strong sense of justice since he was a child. Every time he saves a life, he would feel immense satisfaction, and he felt pride in his work. Pan Gang is also the most selfless individual in their team. Sometimes, in order to save a person in need, he wouldn’t care about letting himself fall into danger. Therefore, when he saw the child struggling to climb out of the window, he didn’t even hesitate to rush in and climb into the burning building.
Lucky for him, although this is a high-rise, there were no security nets blocking his way. Thus, Pan Gang easily entered the room and picked up the boy and handed him over to the firefighter on standby behind him on the ladder. In order to facilitate rescue missions, the ladder, which was designed by an old expert, couldn’t be made too wide. Furthermore, the ladder was made so that for every two personnel up on the ladder, five people could be rescued and hold on to the ladder.
After Pan Gang handed over the little boy, who had been crying in fear, to his teammates outside, who were clearing the way, suddenly, he heard a dog’s bark.
Pan Gang froze in shock. Not a moment later, along with the dog’s bark, he could hear a baby crying. The baby cried a few times softly, but as if it started choking, it no longer made a sound. With no more sounds coming from the baby, Pan Gang couldn’t judge where it was coming from. All around, thick smoke was enveloping the air and it was almost impossible to distinguish his left from his right.
Just when he was about to panic, the dog barked sharply again, and this time, there was the sound of scratching at the door on the left. Following the rapid and anxious barks, Pan Gang quickly ran to the locked door. Then, he used a tool to pry it open to see a view inside that he will never forget.
The baby, so small and so frail, was crying alone in its cot as it was surrounded in smoke, with no one or no dog around with her.
Strange, he thought. He clearly heard a dog barking. Furthermore, since the door was locked, how can no one be watching it at home?
Perhaps, he was hallucinating from inhaling too much smoke. After picking up the baby into his arms, he began to search the house. However, not only did he not find anyone else, but he didn’t even see any traces of a dog living there.
What was going on?
Stunned, Pan Gang was at a loss until the voice of his teammates calling him in through his walkie talkie jerked him back to reality. “Pan Gang, are you ready?”
“Coming.”
As Pan Gang went out, he vaguely saw a family picture on the table through the smoke.
It was a photo of a good-looking man who was holding a girl who smiled happily, with the two posing intimately. Next to the girl, there was a dog sitting obediently.
After the firefighters endlessly worked hard through the night, the fire in the building finally stopped, leaving the people there to cope with the aftermath. As expected, most of the people who died in the fire were not burned to death, but either suffocated from the smoke or fell to their deaths as they tried to escape the flames.
After the fire alarm went off, the firefighters laid life-saving inflatable cushions on the ground as soon as they could. Still, some people who jumped onto it from the upper floors survived the fall with broken arms and legs. The more unlucky ones, however, died from the impact despite the life-saving inflatable cushions.
With such a conspicuous building in the city center catching fire, news spread like wildfire, and people with family members in the building quickly rushed over, crying and cursing constantly.
Staying a good distance away from the crowd, Wei Mingyan leaned idly by the tree and watched a man carrying a big bag squeeze desperately through the crowd.
“My child, my child is still inside. Let me in, let me in!!!”
He may not be the most emotional among the people present, but he definitely looked the saddest. Furthermore, his good looks were tainted with red eyes to save his child, causing most of the onlookers to sympathize with him.
Such a young father just lost his child ah…
In the midst of his throes of grief, a woman with a pale face and weak footsteps looked at the burning direction of the tall building in disbelief, and turned towards the same man.
“Bai Yumu, where’s my baby? Weren’t you taking care of my baby?”
She rushed forward like crazy and grabbed the man’s collar, “Where’s my baby? Where’s my baby??”
“The baby, the baby is up there…”
Bai Yumu’s face was equally lost in thought. He looked down desolately at the supermarket bag he was holding. “I just left for a moment to buy snacks for Quan Quan, thinking that it would be okay if I came back quickly, but when I come back…”
“Is Quanquan up there?!?!”
If the girl was still in doubt earlier, right now, her face was almost pale white and bloodless. She stumbled and took a step back, and then, without saying a word, she ran straight through the police line and rushed inside the building. The girl moved too fast, and the police were caught off guard when it happened. Seeing that she was rushing to the door, they rushed to catch her, she narrowly escaped being dragged back by them.
“Lady! It’s too dangerous inside right now…”
“Let me go!!! My baby is still in there, let go of me! I want to save him!!!”
As she kept struggling, a boy called out tearfully, “Sister…,” as a baby’s cry resounded.
“Quan Quan… Quan Quan…”
The woman stiffly turned towards the voice. After seeing the baby and the boy being held by the rescuer, she rushed over, her hands trembling as she touched her little boy’s face over and over.
“You’re okay, everything is okay…”
She could recognize her baby’s cry anywhere. With her hands shaking, she took her baby from Pan Gang’s hands.
“Baby, my baby…”
Bai Yumu’s face, which was full of pain earlier, sank slightly after seeing that the child was saved. He grabbed the supermarket bag and clenched his hand. As his eyes turned darker, and he stood there in confusion, a clear and crisp barked resounded.
“Woof woof!!”
Bai Yumu stiffened. His eyes followed the barking sound, and his eyes met with a handsome man in robes, whose slender white hand was gently stroking the head of the big dog beside him. Wei Mingyan crouched half-way, and there was a smile on his face, which was many times better than Bai Yumu.
He opened his mouth and said something that Bai Yumu couldn’t hear clearly.
–You’re in debt.
As he spoke, the big dog sitting beside him disappeared little by little.
In the hospital ward, Wei Jin, who didn’t know what was happening outside, was sleeping on the couch when he started scratching all over.
He wondered why he felt so itchy and uncomfortable today.
Yet, invisible to human eyes was a golden thread that floated along from the northwest and circled around Wei Jin, ultimately burrowing into his body. The merits of these dozens of human lives saved were counted towards the owner of the hundred yuan bill burnt tonight.
With all this merit, all his bad luck retreated.
From now on, Wei Jin was the crab that walked sideways.
(TNote: the crab that walked sideways = very domineering.)
Translator: RandomAlex
Editor: Makoto
Nowadays, most people use mobile phones to transfer money, and the younger generation seldom brought money with them. Luckily for Wei Jin, as he dug around in his pockets, he found exactly 100 yuan and handed it to his father.
“Dad, are you leaving for the night?”
“Hmm.”
Wei Mingyan replied lightly, took the hundred yuan, opened the ward door, and left.
It was already very late, but the hospital was bustling as a wanted criminal had almost gone on a rampage and was caught, and the family members of the patients all ran out into the hallway to watch. Even several police officers stood around to gossip. Yet, no one noticed the handsome man in robes leaving this place unhurriedly.
When he got downstairs, Wei Mingyan suddenly stopped close by as his unfeeling eyes narrowed slightly and gazed towards the northwest. There, black smoke, the kind people couldn’t see, was constantly rising, as if a huge black net was being formed, enveloping the whole city.
It was really rare to see so many people die at once.
The handsome Daoist master pulled out the hundred yuan from his sleeve and slightly raised it. A moment later, the red bill started burning. The fire started from the top, and as it burned to his slender white fingertips, the bill was carried away by the wind, and turned to cinders midair.
In Wei Mingyan’s eyes, the floating ashes seemed to become plumes of light smoke, which drifted rapidly towards the northwest along the night sky.
Towards the northwest was the city center, where high-rise buildings were everywhere, with most of them being office buildings and several residential buildings.
At the moment, firefighters were busy at work at the bottom floor of a residential building that had flames blazing from the middle. It was slowly spreading upwards floor by floor.
“Hurry up, hurry up over there!!” the onlookers shouted as the residents at the bottom floors ran out, as first responders were busy shuttling back and forth. The building grounds were simply in chaos. Ladders were being erected for rescue, but they were almost useless. The fire was too fierce and strange, and it didn’t give the rescuers a chance to respond. As if being accelerated, it burned all the way to the top floor.
While everyone had their eyes glued onto the smoky building, a handsome man in robes came up unhurriedly as he looked at the building with calm eyes. The light smoke from burning the 100 yuan earlier had slowly drifted into the building. Clearly, only one bill was burnt, but the light smoke was enough to surround the whole building. Wei Mingyan watched quietly, looking for a big tree, and watched the smoke from the building gradually decrease.
Someone noticed it and shouted excitedly, “The fire is getting smaller!”
Everyone on scene was excited for this godsend. Then, in Wei Mingyan’s eyes, he saw a firefighter begin climbing into a smoke-filled window using a ladder.
Inside, there was a pair of hands belonging to a child waving for help.
Pan Gang is the most senior person in the firefighter squad. At the beginning of this year, their previous captain retired and expressed that he hoped Pan Gang would take over the position of captain.
In truth, the position of captain was really nothing good. In China, although the salary of firefighters weren’t high, there would be a lot of bonus for every attendance, and the captain receives a thousand yuan more than other team members. Yet, without mentioning the extra labor and paperwork, if they encounter a disastrous scene, and nothing could be saved from the fire, as captain, he also has to take blame and face the brunt of the grief and loss of the family of the victims.
However, after considering it for a while, Pan Gang still obliged.
Pan Gang has had a strong sense of justice since he was a child. Every time he saves a life, he would feel immense satisfaction, and he felt pride in his work. Pan Gang is also the most selfless individual in their team. Sometimes, in order to save a person in need, he wouldn’t care about letting himself fall into danger. Therefore, when he saw the child struggling to climb out of the window, he didn’t even hesitate to rush in and climb into the burning building.
Lucky for him, although this is a high-rise, there were no security nets blocking his way. Thus, Pan Gang easily entered the room and picked up the boy and handed him over to the firefighter on standby behind him on the ladder. In order to facilitate rescue missions, the ladder, which was designed by an old expert, couldn’t be made too wide. Furthermore, the ladder was made so that for every two personnel up on the ladder, five people could be rescued and hold on to the ladder.
After Pan Gang handed over the little boy, who had been crying in fear, to his teammates outside, who were clearing the way, suddenly, he heard a dog’s bark.
Pan Gang froze in shock. Not a moment later, along with the dog’s bark, he could hear a baby crying. The baby cried a few times softly, but as if it started choking, it no longer made a sound. With no more sounds coming from the baby, Pan Gang couldn’t judge where it was coming from. All around, thick smoke was enveloping the air and it was almost impossible to distinguish his left from his right.
Just when he was about to panic, the dog barked sharply again, and this time, there was the sound of scratching at the door on the left. Following the rapid and anxious barks, Pan Gang quickly ran to the locked door. Then, he used a tool to pry it open to see a view inside that he will never forget.
The baby, so small and so frail, was crying alone in its cot as it was surrounded in smoke, with no one or no dog around with her.
Strange, he thought. He clearly heard a dog barking. Furthermore, since the door was locked, how can no one be watching it at home?
Perhaps, he was hallucinating from inhaling too much smoke. After picking up the baby into his arms, he began to search the house. However, not only did he not find anyone else, but he didn’t even see any traces of a dog living there.
What was going on?
Stunned, Pan Gang was at a loss until the voice of his teammates calling him in through his walkie talkie jerked him back to reality. “Pan Gang, are you ready?”
“Coming.”
As Pan Gang went out, he vaguely saw a family picture on the table through the smoke.
It was a photo of a good-looking man who was holding a girl who smiled happily, with the two posing intimately. Next to the girl, there was a dog sitting obediently.
After the firefighters endlessly worked hard through the night, the fire in the building finally stopped, leaving the people there to cope with the aftermath. As expected, most of the people who died in the fire were not burned to death, but either suffocated from the smoke or fell to their deaths as they tried to escape the flames.
After the fire alarm went off, the firefighters laid life-saving inflatable cushions on the ground as soon as they could. Still, some people who jumped onto it from the upper floors survived the fall with broken arms and legs. The more unlucky ones, however, died from the impact despite the life-saving inflatable cushions.
With such a conspicuous building in the city center catching fire, news spread like wildfire, and people with family members in the building quickly rushed over, crying and cursing constantly.
Staying a good distance away from the crowd, Wei Mingyan leaned idly by the tree and watched a man carrying a big bag squeeze desperately through the crowd.
“My child, my child is still inside. Let me in, let me in!!!”
He may not be the most emotional among the people present, but he definitely looked the saddest. Furthermore, his good looks were tainted with red eyes to save his child, causing most of the onlookers to sympathize with him.
Such a young father just lost his child ah…
In the midst of his throes of grief, a woman with a pale face and weak footsteps looked at the burning direction of the tall building in disbelief, and turned towards the same man.
“Bai Yumu, where’s my baby? Weren’t you taking care of my baby?”
She rushed forward like crazy and grabbed the man’s collar, “Where’s my baby? Where’s my baby??”
“The baby, the baby is up there…”
Bai Yumu’s face was equally lost in thought. He looked down desolately at the supermarket bag he was holding. “I just left for a moment to buy snacks for Quan Quan, thinking that it would be okay if I came back quickly, but when I come back…”
“Is Quanquan up there?!?!”
If the girl was still in doubt earlier, right now, her face was almost pale white and bloodless. She stumbled and took a step back, and then, without saying a word, she ran straight through the police line and rushed inside the building. The girl moved too fast, and the police were caught off guard when it happened. Seeing that she was rushing to the door, they rushed to catch her, she narrowly escaped being dragged back by them.
“Lady! It’s too dangerous inside right now…”
“Let me go!!! My baby is still in there, let go of me! I want to save him!!!”
As she kept struggling, a boy called out tearfully, “Sister…,” as a baby’s cry resounded.
“Quan Quan… Quan Quan…”
The woman stiffly turned towards the voice. After seeing the baby and the boy being held by the rescuer, she rushed over, her hands trembling as she touched her little boy’s face over and over.
“You’re okay, everything is okay…”
She could recognize her baby’s cry anywhere. With her hands shaking, she took her baby from Pan Gang’s hands.
“Baby, my baby…”
Bai Yumu’s face, which was full of pain earlier, sank slightly after seeing that the child was saved. He grabbed the supermarket bag and clenched his hand. As his eyes turned darker, and he stood there in confusion, a clear and crisp barked resounded.
“Woof woof!!”
Bai Yumu stiffened. His eyes followed the barking sound, and his eyes met with a handsome man in robes, whose slender white hand was gently stroking the head of the big dog beside him. Wei Mingyan crouched half-way, and there was a smile on his face, which was many times better than Bai Yumu.
He opened his mouth and said something that Bai Yumu couldn’t hear clearly.
–You’re in debt.
As he spoke, the big dog sitting beside him disappeared little by little.
In the hospital ward, Wei Jin, who didn’t know what was happening outside, was sleeping on the couch when he started scratching all over.
He wondered why he felt so itchy and uncomfortable today.
Yet, invisible to human eyes was a golden thread that floated along from the northwest and circled around Wei Jin, ultimately burrowing into his body. The merits of these dozens of human lives saved were counted towards the owner of the hundred yuan bill burnt tonight.
With all this merit, all his bad luck retreated.
From now on, Wei Jin was the crab that walked sideways.
(TNote: the crab that walked sideways = very domineering.)
