NOVPUBOn May 7, the Olympic torch relay arrived in Hong Kong, and the entire city was abuzz with excitement. Everywhere was decked out with lights and decorations, and everyone was immersed in a sea of joy.
Eager citizens gathered early on Yanjing Road, the route for the torch relay, waiting to welcome the arrival of the Olympic torchbearers.
Above the green belts, in the trees, and even on the tops of buses, wherever the eye could see, there were people, their emotions running almost out of control as they vented their joy about the upcoming successful hosting of the Olympics.
Since it wasn’t the weekend, Xu Qingfan and the others could only watch the live broadcast on the television in the school cafeteria.
In the cafeteria, every student’s face was filled with pride, unaware that a natural disaster was silently approaching...
...
May 12.
"Xu Qingfan, let me see your test paper!" After the lunch break, Xia Xiaoxiao, having not finished her practice paper in the morning, reached out to Xu Qingfan.
However, Xu Qingfan did not respond to her, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on the water cup on his desk.
"Xu Qingfan!" Xia Xiaoxiao reached out and tapped his shoulder.
"Ah?" He jumped with a start, and coming back to his senses, he replied irritably, "What’s the matter? You’ll scare someone to death like that!"
"What about you? You’ve been distracted since this morning. I asked you for your test paper!" Xia Xiaoxiao said equally irritably.
"Oh, wait a second." Xu Qingfan used his foot to push his chair back, creating enough space to rummage in his drawer.
But before he could find it, the water in the cup on the table shook slightly, then returned to stillness.
"You look for it yourself, I have a stomachache. Ask the teacher for leave for me!" Xu Qingfan grabbed his cell phone and rushed out of the classroom.
"You didn’t bring paper, hey! Hey!!" Xia Xiaoxiao wanted to remind him, but Xu Qingfan had already run off without a trace.
He ran to the corner of the staircase between the sixth and seventh floors and took out his cell phone to start searching on the browser.
"No... not there... still not there..." He only remembered the earthquake occurred on the twelfth in the afternoon, but the exact time had slipped his mind.
Xu Qingfan searched with the keywords ’Wen City’ and ’earthquake,’ sorting by the latest posts and kept refreshing the page.
However, the small screen did not display any related news, he kept retrying without giving up.
Soon, he was attracted to a post made at 14:32:08.
[An earthquake has occurred in Wen City, many buildings have collapsed, help, someone come quickly...]
Xu Qingfan did not hesitate to dial Zhong Wenqing’s personal number on his phone, and the call was quickly connected.
"No need for class..."
"Listen to me first, an earthquake has just occurred in Wen City, it’s serious. Quickly load the leftover relief materials from last time and send them over!" Xu Qingfan interrupted preemptively.
"Don’t joke around, okay? Pranks are not fun at all. Xiao Fan, have you been playing truth or dare with them again..."
"I’m not joking. I just read the news on my phone, there must be thousands of posts by now. If you don’t believe me, go check on the computer yourself!" Xu Qingfan interrupted again.
"Ah?"
"Just wait..." Zhong Wenqing rushed to the office computer and input the keywords, and indeed, the screen was flooded with countless earthquake messages.
Zhong Wenqing clicked on a few at random, and after reading the content, he couldn’t sit still any longer. He spoke to Xu Qingfan on the phone, "I’m going to make arrangements right now!"
"Remember to ask the Licheng government for help!" Xu Qingfan said before hanging up the phone in a rush, then he turned to call Zhang Chunxue.
The call was answered after not too long.
"Xiao Fan, why are you calling Auntie at this time?" 𝒏𝒐𝙫𝙥𝙪𝙗.𝒄𝙤𝙢
"Auntie, there’s just been an earthquake in Wen City, the online reports say it’s very serious, probably around 7 or 8 on the Richter scale. Our supplies purchased at the beginning of the year..."
"Ah?" Zhang Chunxue was taken aback for two seconds on the phone and then without hesitation believed Xu Qingfan’s words, "Got it, Auntie is going to make arrangements right away!"
After the two phone calls, Xu Qingfan finally breathed a sigh of relief. That was all he could do for the moment.
At the beginning of the year, during a cold spell, as they were purchasing relief supplies from abroad, Xu Qingfan asked Zhang Chunxue to buy extra, stating they would be needed later. Although purchasing painkillers, disinfectants, and anti-inflammatory drugs during a cold spell seemed ridiculous, Zhang Chunxue followed Xu Qingfan’s instructions anyway.
In the relief efforts at the beginning of the year, aside from winter jackets and food being entirely donated to the disaster victims as a promotional move, items like tents and sleeping bags were all collected and disinfected.
In a warehouse in the suburbs, there were tens of thousands of tents and sleeping bags, as well as disinfectants and medicines worth millions.
Along with the distilled water and food already produced by Good-Taste Duck Necks, these were the supplies most needed at the disaster site and also the most urgently in short supply.
Xu Qingfan sat on the stairs to catch his breath for a few minutes before he dreamily returned to the classroom.
"Brother Qing Fan, are you okay?" Once he was back in his seat, Lin Wanning leaned over and whispered to him.
Xu Qingfan shook his head, and after some thought, he decided not to tell her about the earthquake.
Delaying the knowledge of it was better; otherwise, it would just turn one person’s unhappiness into two.
He wrote on a piece of paper: I was halfway there when my stomach stopped hurting. Weird.
[Could it be because of the banana you ate at noon? I told you not to eat it if it turned black, but Brother Qing Fan never listens!] Lin Wanning thought of the banana they got at the cafeteria at noon, which had black spots on the skin, and wrote on the paper.
Lin Wanning’s huffy demeanor amused Xu Qingfan, and he pinched her little face, which immediately lifted his spirits.
[Got it, next time I’ll definitely listen to our Big Ningning!]
