White Olive Tree

Chapter 5

The encounter between people is one in seven billion fate.
In the past, Song Ran didn't take it seriously, thinking that this statement was hypocritical, but now he fully experienced the insignificance and helplessness of the number one in seven billion.
The man named Azan, she didn't know his name, nor his appearance, but only saw his eyebrows and eyes on the black mask.
That's all.
With such a superficial fate, she might not be able to recognize him when he passed by on the street one day.
She hid her disappointment, and interviewed Luo Zhan with a set of rhetoric that she had made up before.  She has a certain understanding of the background, so she won't be exposed.
At first she was hesitant that perhaps azan was Luo Zhan.  But hearing his voice, she was sure, no.
Luo Zhan misunderstood her inattention as nervousness, and said with a smile, "Are you a new reporter?"
"No." Song Ran concealed his panic and said, "...I have never interviewed soldiers before."
"Don't be nervous, I'm not a scary person either."
Song Ran smiled shyly and asked, "I read in Shen Bei's interview that you encountered an explosion during the evacuation of overseas Chinese and saved a female compatriot?"
"Well. She got into a car with a bomb by mistake..."
Song Ran still didn't give up, and asked if there were any similar thrilling incidents in their team, related to the explosion.
Luo Zhan said no more.
Azan is not on their team.
It took more than four hours to drive back to Liangcheng.
In the morning, when cars came and went on the highway, Song Ran got in the car, drove quietly, give way occasionally, and overtake in an orderly manner.
On both sides of the road, green rice fields and blue rivers are spread out, and the summer sun is overwhelming.
She felt that she should never meet him again.
It was twelve o'clock at noon when we returned to Liangcheng. Song Ran was hungry and tired, and the sun made her almost collapse.  It was rare for her to have a good rest on a weekend, but she drove for more than eight hours.
She leaned back in the chair in a daze, thinking about what she did that night, which was absurd and futile.
She got the wrong wiring in her mind.
Just as she was about to get off the car, her stepmother Yang Huilun called and told her to go home for lunch.
They drove into the family courtyard of the Municipal Archives Bureau, where the sky was covered by sycamore trees.  There was an olive plant in the middle, and Song Ran looked back.  There has been plenty of rain recently, and the olive tree has grown luxuriantly, shiny and slippery.  Unlike the olive groves in Dongguo, they are dusty and listless.
She parked the car in the large open space in front of the tube building, and she heard Yang Huilun scolding Song Yang when she went to the corridor on the third floor:
"What time is it? It's the end of June. The graduation certificates have been issued, and you haven't found a job yet. I told you to work harder, and you only know how to fall in love."
Song Yang retorted: "I didn't look for it anywhere, I didn't find anything good."
"Isn't the unit that Aunt Li introduced to you pretty good?"
Song Yang muttered: "What's the matter? I'm exhausted, and it's only two thousand and five a month. I won't do it."
"I think you have high eyesight and low abilities. You want to be free after reading three books? Your sister is from a prestigious university. Didn't she only pay 3,000 when she first graduated? She worked overtime every day and went on business trips every day. She was so squeamish with you. Born by a father, you  Why don't you learn a little bit?"
Song Yang said: "I think there is something wrong with my mother's genes."
   Snapped.
Yang Huilun hit Song Yang on the bottom with a broom.
Song Ran walked into the room, and Song Yang ran up to hide behind her: "Sister! She abused children again!"
"Ran Ran is back?" Yang Huilun smiled, and looked at Song Yang with a sudden look of fierceness, "You quickly find me a job and move out. You make me angry all day long, and I get annoyed watching it."
Song Yang said: "Where should I move? My sister's mother has a house for her, but my mother doesn't."
Song Ran turned her head and gave her a light look.  Dad Song Zhicheng, who was sitting on the small sofa reading the newspaper, also looked over.
Knowing that the joke was over, Song Yang hurried up and hugged Yang Huilun's arm and shook it.  Yang Huilun ignored her and went to the kitchen to serve food, Song Yang followed behind to beg for mercy.
Only the father and daughter were left in the small living room.
Song Zhicheng greeted his eldest daughter to sit down and said that he had recently followed "The Story of the Eastern Kingdom before the War" and liked it very much.  For Song Ran, this is a very high evaluation.  My father has always been fond of collecting newspapers and magazines, specifically picking out reports compiled by Song Ran, looking for mistakes sentence by sentence, studying grammar, and supplementing evidence.
But this time he didn't find fault with his daughter. He just told some of the cultural background and historical issues of the Eastern Kingdom based on a few of the short stories.
Yang Huilun was setting the dining table. She couldn't understand the conversation between the father and daughter, but she wanted Song Yang to follow suit. When she turned her head, she saw that Song Yang was eating chicken gizzards in front of the stove.  Yang Huilun sighed and went into the kitchen.
Song Zhicheng glanced at the direction in which his current wife left, and asked in a low voice, "What did your mother say?"
What he asked was her own mother.
Song Ran: "Tell me not to go to the Eastern Kingdom in the future."
Song Zhicheng didn't speak anymore.
Song Ran knew that he regarded her as pride, and more or less wanted to prove to his superior ex-wife that the daughter he raised by himself was excellent.  But Song Ran felt that in the eyes of her mother, who was used to seeing the big world, her level in a small town was nothing.
"Are you still going to the Imperial City this summer?"
"I'll go. I'll take a good vacation." When she was studying, Song Ran went to the Imperial City to accompany her mother every winter and summer vacation.  Take annual leave as usual after work.  But this time there are other things, she is going to meet a bestseller planner.
Yang Huilun cooked a table of dishes, all of which were Song Ran's favorites.  But she was tired from staying up all night, her appetite was not good, and she couldn't bear to waste her kindness, so she ate some.
When she was drowsy after eating a meal, Yang Huilun woke her up with one sentence:
"Is it time for Ran Ran to talk about her boyfriend?"
Before Song Ran could speak, Song Yang blocked her: "Oh my god, why don't you rush me when you're only too old?"
"You girl, you've been in love since you were in junior high school, but you still have the nerve to speak up!" Yang Huilun glared at her, and then softened her tone, "Besides, I'll remind you, lest Ran Ran just focus on work and forget about it year after year. By the way, Ran Ran, you  What do you like?"
Song Ran was stopped by the question, and she couldn't answer.
Growing up so big, she has never been in love once.  Emotional experience is a pale piece of paper.