White Olive Tree

Chapter 6

Chapter 6
The moment the mask was pulled off, Song Ran was startled suddenly, and was taken aback by his abruptness and recklessness.
Facing his strange yet familiar face, she was at a loss, flustered and dazed, unable to say a word.  He let go of his hands in fear, and the mask fell off.
He was very focused, his eyes drooped, and he raised his hand to catch the falling mask.
He didn't have any extra emotions. He just kept frowning seriously because of the chaotic situation around him. He didn't stop in front of Song Ran, and turned around to escort the perpetrators.
"You don't remember me?" Song Ran shouted and pushed forward, grabbing his sleeve again through the human wall.  It turns out that the special police and combat uniforms have such a texture, rough and frosted.
He turned his head again, not knowing if he heard her murmur, he looked at her tightly gripping fingers on his arm with some puzzlement.
The surrounding special police were too busy fighting off the crowds to take care of her.  But the crowd was surging, and she couldn't catch it any longer. She said anxiously: "You saved me! Don't you remember? In Su Rui City. You saved me!"
He doesn't seem to remember, and the perpetrator in his hands is still struggling.
After all, he was a patient and polite person, and he said to her persuasively, "Ma'am, I am on official duty."
She froze for a moment, knowing that she was being rude.  She suddenly lost strength in her hands, and the momentary loss on her face looked very pitiful.
He glanced at her twice, but he really had no time to take care of her, so he turned to leave.  She was about to let go, but held on tightly again.
"What's your name?" She looked at him, fearing that he wouldn't answer, so anxious that she almost choked up, and asked, "What's your name?!"
He hesitated for a moment, then quickly said, "Li Zan."
After speaking, he brushed away her hand on his arm.
"Back! Don't squeeze! Back!" The wall formed by the special police resisted the crowd, Song Ran was pushed back violently by the force, and the distance between her and him was completely opened.
He escorted the group of people away, and soon disappeared.
After nearly half an hour, the rioting crowd gradually dispersed.  A pile of confetti plastic garbage on the ground.  Song Ran's white boarding case was trampled into big holes, full of footprints.
She left the airport with her suitcase in a state of embarrassment, and waited in the queue for nearly an hour before getting on the bus.
It was raining heavily outside the car window, and the rain water flooded into a sea, and the waves beat on the glass.  Liangcheng was almost submerged.  Countless cars were soaked in the water and were on the verge of being scrapped.  But the bus driver was very brave and drove fast like a ship.
heavy rain upside down, let the city be paralyzed, and the people in the car are moaning and complaining.
Song Ran leaned against the car door, her eyes were clear, her face was peaceful, and her mood was like a breeze blowing slowly across the journey.
It's such a strange fate. Every time we meet, there will be chaos, city after city fall.
When she left the airport, she found out that Li Zan and the others belonged to the Jiangcheng Military Region, but they were always stationed in Liangcheng.
After arriving home, she called Ran Yuwei and the book curator of Dicheng respectively, saying that there was heavy rain in Liangcheng and the flight was cancelled.  The weather is too bad recently, it is estimated that it will be a day or two late.
Then she hung up the phone to the editorial department. As she expected, someone had already gone to interview about the incident at the airport.
Shen Bei learned that she was at the airport at the time, and said, "Great, you must have recorded first-hand information. Send it over quickly."
Song Ran said: "I recorded a bit at the beginning, but the part that was typed later..."
She forgot.
After seeing Li Zan, she didn't have the energy to take care of her phone.
Shen Bei said, "Didn't write it down?"
"Hmm. It's too crowded."
"It's okay. I'll look online later, and I should be able to buy clues. Send me the ones you took first."
"Okay." Song Ran thought about it, and then said, "Have you found all the materials?"
   "Um."
"...Did the police interview you?"
Shen Bei froze: "Oh, it's over, and now I have to catch up on the manuscript."
Song Ran recommended himself: "Let me help you with the interview."
Shen Bei was stunned for a moment: "That's so embarrassing. Besides, aren't you on vacation?"
"The flight was cancelled, so there's nothing to do anyway."
"Thank you so much. I'll treat you to dinner next time."
After four o'clock in the afternoon, the rain did not slow down at all.  Song Ran drove on the ring road, with black clouds overwhelming the top, and the sky was dim like night; the rain fell on the car like sand and gravel.  There was a vast chaos between heaven and earth, and the whole city sank into the water.  Passing through a section of national highway, all the vehicles passing by for a long distance stopped on the side of the road and flashed double flashes.  In the distance, the turbid river waves in the Yangtze River rushed to the shore, as if they were about to overflow the embankment and pour in in the next second.
Song Ran took a shortcut and arrived near Xiguang Road. When she got off the elevated road, she drove through a depression. The whole car sank in, and she was startled.  The wheels rolled up the stagnant water all over the sky, and the engine almost didn't turn off.  Luckily she drove fast enough to escape.
   Today is the weekend.  Due to the torrential rain, almost no one went out.  The street was empty, so she drove to the security zone single-handedly, entered the gate smoothly, and arrived in front of an open office building similar to a school building.
She didn't put an umbrella in the car, and the parking lot was about 50 meters away from the office building.  She gritted her teeth and ran into the wind and rain, and was drenched by the cold rain.  He had just rushed up the steps, and before he could stand still, he bumped into a man in a black combat uniform and quickly came down the stairs.
Seeing that he was about to hit him, the man stopped in time and took a small step back to avoid it; Song Ran also immediately stopped and stood firm, his heart almost rushed out of his throat.
"I'm sorry." She raised her head in embarrassment, the strands of hair on her forehead were tangled and trembling on her wet forehead.  When she looked up, she met Li Zan's slightly surprised eyes.
He was holding a black umbrella.  He just saw her driving upstairs and was going to come downstairs to pick her up.  Unexpectedly, she rushed over directly.
The two of them stared blankly and didn't speak for a second.
Outside the edge of the building, water vapor filled the air, and the raindrops drifted in disorder, soaking his short hair in an instant.  He casually wiped the rain from his forehead, and said with a slight smile, "Reporter Song?"
"En." She nodded earnestly.
He raised the umbrella in his hand and said, "I'm sorry for being late."
When he said this, he smiled at her again, the corners of his mouth raised slightly, and his eyes also curved.
Her heart was beating fast, and her face was very red: "I forgot to bring my umbrella." After saying that, she was speechless: Song Ran, you are really good at such a heavy rain.
So he lowered his eyes and stared at his umbrella, a very simple big black umbrella with a wooden handle, pitch black without any decoration.  His fingers tapped unconsciously on the handle of the umbrella, and his knuckles were calloused from holding the gun.
"Let's go." He turned around and led her upstairs.
Sure enough, he was a soldier, and his back was straight when he went up the stairs.
She looked at his back, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "Officer Li?"
"Huh?" He turned around.
"Which word is zan?"
"Beside the word Wang."
   "oh."
Zan.
She happens to like this word very much, Song Ran thought to herself.
Entering the conference room, there is also a special police officer.  He stood up and greeted Song Ran, and introduced himself as Chen Feng, who was the instructor in charge of this interview.
"It's raining?"
"I forgot to bring my umbrella." Song Ran's hair was covered with water, and her clothes were soaked.  Fortunately, she was wearing a dark T-shirt and jeans for the convenience of traveling.  Not too embarrassing.
Just as he was talking, there was a sound in the room.
Li Zan squatted by the side of the cabinet and opened the drawer, took out a box of paper drawers from inside, he got up and walked to the table, and pushed it lightly.  The paper slipped along the smooth tabletop in front of Song Ran, with just the right force and an unbiased angle, hitting Song Ran's palm.
"Thank you." Song Ran took out a tissue to wipe her hair, and then simply wiped her bag and mobile phone.

Look at the man across the table again. He didn't sit up, but leaned against the wall with his arms folded and his legs crossed.  He was wearing a dark blue and almost black short-sleeved combat uniform, with a high and tight belt that matched his height and leg length.  People are quiet and peaceful, and don't seem to get too involved.
Chen Feng is sitting here, at right angles to Song Ran.
Song Ran turned on the recording pen, opened the notebook, and wiped his hands again with a paper towel.  In this rainy weather, the paper of the notebook is all limp.
"Hello, Director Chen. Our news department would like to interview you about the small-scale violent incident at the airport this morning. Thank you for your cooperation and help."
"You're welcome. If you have any questions, feel free to ask."
During the interview, I learned that airport security is not under their control.  However, the large number of people stranded in these two days has caused a huge security risk.  The airport was understaffed, so they applied for police support, and they went to help.
Chen Feng said with a smile: "You should go to the Public Security Detachment to interview the police. There are many people there. We only transferred a small group of people."
Song Ran felt guilty and smiled apologetically: "It's because I don't have enough experience, I'm sorry."
"It's okay, it's okay." Chen Feng said generously, "Go on and ask."
Song Ran's questions were all prepared by Shen Bei, and everything was carried out step by step.  Because video interviews are not accepted here, Song Ran only used a voice recorder, and the operation was relatively simple.  Chen Feng is the instructor in charge of publicity in their team, he is familiar with it and cooperates very well. The questions and answers between the two sides are very tacit.  The low voices of the two were caught in the storm, making the room even quieter.
Halfway through, Song Ran accidentally glanced in the direction of the window again.
The sky outside the window was dim, but the fluorescent lights were on inside, and the light was faint.
Li Zan leaned against the wall and looked at the two of them, listening carefully to their conversation.  Because she was talking at the time, he looked straight into her eyes.
In the afternoon of heavy rain, there was a damp atmosphere like the old days.  Like the smell of damp paper in an old library.
When she caught sight of his eyes, her mind went blank. Fortunately, the next second Chen Feng spoke, his eyes naturally moved to the latter.  Fluttering like a feather.
About half an hour later, the interview was completed.
"Are there any other questions?"
"I've finished all the questions. Thank you so much." Song Ran said, and from the corner of his eye, he saw Li Zan standing up from the wall and walking towards the door.
"Should be. In the future, we will need your help. Keep in touch frequently."
   "OK."
Song Ran got up, and Li Zan was standing in the corridor outside the door with his hands in his pockets, looking at the two people in the room.
Chen Feng walked up the corridor, glanced at the rainstorm outside the corridor, and said, "Take this umbrella."
Song Ran took the heavy black umbrella and said, "Thank you. Come back sometime."
Chen Feng didn't expect her to return the umbrella, he waved his hand and said, "You're welcome. There are plenty of umbrellas."
The rain was getting deeper and deeper downstairs, Li Zan suddenly turned to her and asked, "Where do you live?"
Song Ran was taken aback, and said, "Beimen Street. What's wrong?"
Li Zan said: "I'm afraid you won't be able to go back with this car. The chassis is too low."
The waterlogging in the city is probably getting worse now. The Beimen Street area is low-lying, close to the river, and there are more waterlogged places.  Song Ran's car was driving back now, either it was flooded and turned off, or it was just drifting away.
Song Ran hesitated for a moment, then asked in a low voice, "Then what should I do?"
Instructor Chen Feng patted Li Zan on the shoulder heartily, and said to her, "It's okay, let him drive you back in a military car."