Chapter Eighty-Four: Carrying the Weight Onward
When Lu Qian woke up again, it was the middle of the night, in a makeshift military tent, with cardboard on his pillow and covered with a torn quilt from nowhere.
The rain outside was still dripping, and the sky seemed to have been poked into a hole, and there would never be a day of stopping. She felt like a fish kept in an aquarium that sank to the bottom and couldn't breathe.
The deafening sound of the crane freed her from her suffocating condition, and it took seconds for her to remember where she was. The tent was a makeshift relief site for the medical team, and there was some saline in the tent.
The curtain of the tent was opened, and the captain of the naval medical team saw Lu Qian huddled in the corner, and his tone was surprised: "Are you awake?" ”
Lu Qian's ten fingers tightly grasped the quilt, like a drowning man grasping the last straw. Her face was as earthy as she gritted her teeth, and her eyes stared at one place vacantly, as if her soul had been pumped.
The captain did not dare to continue talking, for fear of scaring her. Took the injection and left quickly.
Outside, the soldiers are still at war with death. Lu Qian knew that she couldn't hide here like a turtle with a shrunken head, she was a soldier, she should stand up and fight side by side with everyone.
She's going to stand up!
She held on to the tent and walked to the exit. From the outside world, only a curtain remains. But the outstretched hand froze in place, and did not move.
Her trembling hands clenched into fists, white knuckles without a trace of blood.
The light outside swept over the tent, magnifying the figures passing by several times, and the shadow of the excavator was projected on the tent, like a huge monster, as if it was about to swallow the tent.
Lu Qian retracted into the corner, clutching the broken quilt tightly. It was as if we had returned to that rainy night 21 years ago......
In the dark room, my father's posthumous photo was placed in the mourning hall. Lonely photo, with only a bunch of white chrysanthemums and a set of orange and yellow firefighting uniforms in front of it. The mourning hall was very clean, and she was the only one.
Mother went to see off the guests, and I heard that the guests had come to see my father off for the last time. But they were all smiling so happily that it wasn't like they were going to a funeral.
She knelt on the ground in a white filial piety dress, and not a single tear was shed. The aunt who was cleaning the mourning hall passed by with a broom and thought: "This child really has no conscience, and his father doesn't cry when he dies." ”
Lu Qian gritted his teeth, and his teeth were about to be crushed. She doesn't cry, because Dad said that the daughter of a hero can't just shed tears.
But everyone said that her father was not a hero, but an arsonist.
I don't know how long I knelt down, but Ms. Lin finally came back. She came back with a tall man, who had a kind face and affectionately called her shallow.
Ms. Lin said that it was her husband from her second marriage, named Lei Tingsheng. In the future, Uncle Lei will be very good to her and treat her as his own.
That day, she moved into Lei's house.
After that day, no one ever spoke of her father again......
Her father seemed to have been forgotten, his comrades had forgotten him, and his wife had forgotten him, as if he had died young and had never been in this world. No one knew how lonely he was lying in the cold underground, and no one cared if he was really an arsonist.
Only Lu Qian knew that he was not an arsonist. He came out that day to celebrate his birthday, and if it weren't for her, his father wouldn't have died in the fire. If it weren't for her, Jiang Eryi wouldn't have been buried alive......
Lu Qian pulled the quilt to cover his head, and pulled his hair vigorously, as if he was back in the mourning hall, wanting to cry but couldn't......
Qiao Shen learned from the medical captain that Lu Qian had woken up, and pulled back to the tent, only to see her huddled in the corner and cover herself tightly in the quilt.
He sat down on the floor and tugged at the quilt.
Lu Qian was frightened, lifted the quilt, and looked at him tremblingly, like a frightened little elk. The long eyelashes covered the pupils, and the eyes showed terror and sadness that there was nowhere to put it.
She is not a fragile person, but she shows her vulnerable side in front of his eyes, and there is nowhere to hide.
Qiao Shen was stunned by her gaze for a moment, and his heart felt like someone had slashed his heart, and he throbbed in pain. He loved her flamboyance more than her fragile appearance.
He took out a carton of milk from his pocket and handed it to her casually: "Team Lin said that you donated too much blood in the morning, so eat something first." ”
Unconsciously remembered the two steamed buns that Jiang Eryi stuffed into her in the morning, and Lu Qian's throat choked terribly.
She had red eyes and shook her head: "I can't drink it." ”
Qiao Shen didn't force her, just sat closer and opened his arms to her.
Lu Qian raised her eyes and looked at him in confusion, she didn't know why he appeared here, except for volunteers, she really couldn't think of a better reason.
The second before she fainted, she seemed to see him, it turned out that it was not a hallucination, it turned out that he was really sitting in front of her eyes.
"Why come?" She roared in rage, her eyes red and bloody, but not a single tear could come out.
"Don't you know it's dangerous here?" She pushed him, "You go!" ”
Qiao Shen stood up, Lu Qian thought she was leaving, closed her eyes and didn't dare to send him.
After a moment, a warm embrace suddenly came to my back.
Qiao Shen walked up behind her and hugged her into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her short hair tenderly.
"I'm sorry I'm late." The magnetic voice seemed to carry electricity, Qiao Shen lowered her head, her lips brushed her moist earlobes, and whispered, "Let's go home." ”
A crystal clear tear flowed down Lu Qian's cheek, and then the tear smashed on the back of Qiao Shen's hand drop by drop like a bead with a broken thread.
I only heard her say softly: "Qiao Shen, the second aunt is gone......"
She said, "I killed him!" ”
Qiao Shen's calm gaze made waves, and when Lu Qian was unconscious, he heard Chen Qi talk about the accident. He broke Lu Qian's face and said firmly, "You didn't." He saved you, but you didn't kill him. ”
"It's the same."
"It's different." Qiao Shen held Lu Qian's face, wiped away the tears on her face, and told her with certainty, "Lu Qian, this is different. ”
"If you want to go home, I can always take you home," he said. But that's not the Lu Qian I know. The Lu Qian I know is the woman who can do 64 push-ups in a minute in a rainstorm. She loves her job and cherishes every life. Even if the arm is broken, it will not let go of the hand of the survivor. I know Lu Qian, she has the wisdom and kindness of a woman, as well as the integrity and belief of a soldier! ”
The woman in Qiao Shen's mouth is both familiar and unfamiliar. Lu Qian almost couldn't believe it, he was describing himself.
Qiao Shen held Lu Qian's face and told her: "Jiang Eryi is not dead, as long as you remember him, he is not dead." You are the only person in the world who can live for him! Lu Qian, don't be consumed by despair, it will eat away at all your life. ”
Qiao Shen stood up and stretched out his hand towards Lu Qian: "So do you want to continue to hide here, or go out with me?" ”
Qiao Shen's tall body cast a tall silhouette on the tent curtain, overlapping with the heroic image in Lu Qian's memory. She looked up into his eyes, and there was unconditional trust and support in those eyes. He waited patiently for her to reach out and kept the same position all the time.
Perhaps it was not a hand that stretched out, but the salvation of one soul to another, and the only parachute that rescued her from the abyss......
Lu Qian greedily wanted to grab this 'umbrella'.
She gave him her hand.
He clenched and pulled her up from the ground.
Under Qiao Shen's encouraging eyes, Lu Qian took a deep breath, finally lifted the curtain, and walked out with him.
The nearest comrades-in-arms stopped what they were doing and looked in the direction of Lu Qian.
The rain stopped at some point, and the dawn of dawn rose over the horizon. The sky, washed by heavy rain, was bluer than the sea.
Lu Qian took the milk handed by Qiao Shen, gobbled it all into her stomach, pinched the milk carton, and said to the soldiers: "Take turns to rest and continue to search and rescue." No one will stop until the hope of finding survivors is completely gone! ”
Qiao Shen looked at Lu Qian's departing back, and the corners of his lips were almost invisibly hooked.
This is the person he loves, who will fall and be injured like a child, but will also stand up strong and continue to carry the weight for the world.
……
The/real/death/is/that/no/one/in/the/orld/remembers/you. - "Dream Travel"