Chapter 16: The Past (I)

Seven years have passed, but no matter how time passes, I can never forget that heartbreaking night.

In my memory, the moon that night was red, as red as blood. Although I checked the information afterwards and found that there was no total lunar eclipse that night.

But in my memory, the moon that night was as if it had been splashed with blood, and it was suffocatingly red.

I was sixteen that year, and like most children of my age, I had a whole home, a pair of loving parents, and I also had a loving grandmother.

My father's name is Wei Chiwei, 42 years old, former deputy head of the anti-narcotics brigade of the Biancheng City Public Security Bureau, who retired early due to injuries a year ago.

He was in the prime of life, and he should have ushered in the most glorious moment of his career, but he was paralyzed by injuries in an anti-drug operation, and finally tearfully took off his favorite police uniform.

An excellent policeman who won 1 second-class merit and 2 third-class merits has now become a disabled person who can only spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair, which makes everyone who knows his father feel extremely sorry.

But my father always told me that he did not regret it, because he was sorry for the police badge on his head and for his colleagues who sacrificed their lives on the front line of drug control.

After his father retired early due to injury, his mother, who worked in a border city trading company, took a leave of absence without pay, and then took care of his father's life wholeheartedly.

In just one year, my mother, who was originally only 39 years old and was well maintained on weekdays, suddenly seemed to be 20 years older.

I know that my mother is very hard, because she has to take care of my grandmother, who is almost old and has a heart condition, and my son, who is in the process of sprinting for the college entrance examination, at the same time.

In this family full of honor but extremely difficult, perhaps the only thing that makes my mother happy is my son, who is so good at learning that it makes people jealous.

Not only mothers, but also fathers and grandmothers.

Although life is very unsatisfactory, whenever they talk about me to their neighbors in the community, they always straighten their backs and say proudly:

My Xiaohui scored XXX points again this year, and he will definitely be admitted to XX University in the future.

Every time I see this scene, I feel sad and want to cry.

Because in this once happy family, what can make them feel happy now is so humble that they can only watch their children be admitted to college, which is an ordinary thing.

In order to fulfill their wishes, in order to ignite new hope in this family, I studied hard, often staying up until the second half of the night, no matter how much my family persuaded me.

I was in a hurry, so I turned off the lights and went to bed, and when my family was asleep, I secretly ran to the KFC 24-hour store across the road to continue studying.

However, what I didn't expect was that the little happiness and expectation they had turned into a lifelong regret after a loud bang. And I also survived by running away to review my homework.

That night, I studied again until the early hours of the morning, and at my grandmother's urging, I turned off the lights as usual, and then sneaked to the KFC across the road to do practice problems.

But less than 20 minutes after I sat down, I heard a series of loud noises, and the emergency was the shrill sirens of fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars.

I didn't know what was going on, and I was about to stand up and look through the window, when I heard a KFC clerk who had returned from a delivery and said to another clerk in horror:

"Oh my God, the gas pipeline in Building 7 of Hongyuan Community has exploded! It's so scary, half of the building collapsed! ”

Hongyuan Community...... Building 7...... Isn't this my home?

My head buzzed and I ran back in a hurry.

Along the way, I kept praying in my heart, praying to all the gods I could think of by name, begging for shelter and begging for the safety of my family.

I hurried to the gate of the community, and when I tried to rush in, I was stopped by the police who were evacuating the crowd at the scene.

How could I, who was already mad in a hurry, follow the dissuasion of the police? Again and again, I rushed inside against the crowd, and I was stopped again and again.

At this time, a middle-aged policeman who took the lead grabbed my clothes, and he shouted to me:

"Young man, you must not go in, it is full of poisonous gases, and it will explode at any time."

I was so anxious that I cried, and begged him hoarsely:

"Let me in, please, let me in, my family is all in there! My father's name is Wei Chiwei, he used to be in the anti-drug brigade, and he used to be a police officer like you, so let me in......"

The middle-aged policeman's face darkened, as if he remembered something, and he said "Wei Chi" to himself several times, and finally lowered his head again, no longer daring to look at my tearful face.

I didn't understand why he was like this, but I took the opportunity to break free from him, and ran in the direction of my house at the sound of his shouts.

The distance is getting closer, and the pungent smell of gas is getting stronger and stronger, but I can't care about it so much, I just want to see my family and see their safe appearance.

But what I saw in the end was a picture that I will never forget.

At this time, half of the unit building collapsed, and the remaining half was burning with red fire and billowing black smoke.

My home, which happened to be on the side that had collapsed, was now a ruin of masonry and rubble.

Looking at the devastated home, looking at the home that brought me countless memories, I suddenly sat down on the ground with weak legs.

I struggled to stand up, but found that my legs were as soft as boiled noodles, and no matter how much I beat or abused, it couldn't support myself to stand up.

I sat on the ground, wailing like a wounded lone wolf, calling out the names of my family.

The bleak voice had been heard far away on that sad night, but it had not summoned a single response, not even a groan of a serious injury.

Shouting and shouting, a force from nowhere made me climb up with difficulty, but I searched the whole scene, but I only found a bloodstained photo of my home in a pile of masonry and rubble.

I picked up the photo and looked at the happy smiling faces of my parents, grandmother and me in the photo, and I opened my mouth wide to cry, but I couldn't cry even a sound.

In the silent howl, I wept and frantically clutched at the rubble with my hands until my hands were covered with blood, until my hands were unconscious......

Grief-stricken, someone tapped me on the shoulder behind me, and when I looked back, it was a firefighter wearing an air breathing apparatus.

He waved his hand at me, motioned for me not to dig, then took out a fire mask, attached the air duct, and handed it to me.

I was stunned, instinctively trying to reach out to pick it up, but I lost consciousness in front of me.

In the midst of the confusion, I felt someone pick me up and then be lifted into the car. I don't know how long it took for me to hear someone whispering beside me.

"Dr. Wang, what should I do if this carbon monoxide poisoning patient has respiratory arrest?"

"Inject lobeline hydrochloride now, quick, fast!"

"Yes!"

"Dr. Wang, the patient's heart rate has dropped to 15!"

"Using a defibrillator, energy 300J, ready for 3...... 2…… 1…… Execute...... 3…… 2…… 1. Execution ......"