White Olive Tree

Chapter 27

Chapter 27
Song Ran watched Li Zan disappear at the boarding gate. Behind her, the crew members of the flight she took were all getting off the plane.
The stewardess asked in surprise: "Why are you still standing here? Let's go."
"Sorry." Song Ran pulled up the suitcase and trotted away.  She had just stepped out of the corridor when her cell phone rang. It was an unfamiliar number, Liang Cheng's.
She picked up immediately: "Hello? How are you?"
Over there, Li Zan probably didn't expect her to move so quickly. He paused and then whispered: "It's me."
She stopped by the floor-to-ceiling window and looked out at the tarmac. Her heart was beating lightly and she said, "I know it's you."
"Oh." He said, "Let me try and see if I remember the number correctly."
"I remember correctly." She said, "You have a really good memory."
After saying this, I realized that this was nonsense. If you don’t have concentration and memory that are higher than ordinary people, how can you become one of the best bomb disposal elites?
He asked: "Are you back from vacation?"
"Well, I went to see my mother." She said.  After saying this, he thought to himself that he would definitely wonder why his mother was not in Liangcheng.  But she didn't explain it either, thinking there would be another chance in the future.
She asked: "What about you?"

He paused and said, "On a business trip."
She asked: "Is it something related to bombs again?"
There was only background noise, but he didn't answer.
At this time, the voice of the in-flight announcement came from the other end of the phone, and he said: "Hang up first."
"Okay. Have a safe journey."
   "Um."
Song Ran put down the phone and looked out the glass window. She saw a thin layer of indoor scenery reflected on the glass, and her face with pursed lips floating on it.
It was not too late when we came out of the airport, but it got dark early in winter and was still a bit cold.
On the way home, Song Ran sat in the taxi, the coldness still lingering on her body, holding her mobile phone tightly in her hand like an important reassurance.
The next day at work, Song Rang just entered the TV station, and all the colleagues she passed along the way smiled at her.
Song Ran didn't know why. When she arrived on the floor of the Information Department, she walked into the office area and saw a large bouquet of flowers on her seat, and her colleagues were all smiling at her.
Song Ran became more and more puzzled. She pulled out the card above and opened it. It read: "Congratulations to reporter Song Ran for winning the gold medal of the Dutch International Photography Award for her photo CANDY. - Liangcheng Satellite TV News Department"
A miniature version of the photo was also attached to the card.  -Think-Rabbit-on-line-read-
CANDY——SONG RAN
"Congratulations!!!" Colleagues burst into cheers.
Xiao Qiu came up and gave her a big hug: "Ran Ran, you are so awesome, I knew you would win the prize! The Pulitzer has not been announced yet, but it will definitely be yours too!"
Song Ran closed the card and smiled: "Thank you."
Everyone came to congratulate:
"Song Ran, congratulations."
"This time you are famous."
"Why are you so anxious? This is just a warm-up. The Pulitzer in April is the real bombshell."
Song Ran thanked everyone. She put the flowers aside and stuffed the card into the drawer.
Since receiving treatment, she is not as prone to mood swings as before.
Compared with psychological counseling, she thinks it is mainly due to taking medicine.  But the pills also have some side effects. Sometimes she feels like she is on drugs. She feels calm and positive after taking the pills, but after a while she falls into depression and self-doubt.
It was as if she was no longer Song Ran, but a jar of pill complex.
But the doctor told her not to examine herself or put pressure on her, and to take her time in treating the disease.
But now, having just taken medicine in the morning, she was very indifferent to winning the award. She was not excited, nor was she disgusted or afraid.
However, before she could sit down, Liu Yufei came to find her.
After winning the award, a group of leaders came to show their condolences, asking if she had any difficulties at work, and promising to provide her with various loose policies and support in the future.
After meeting all the leaders, the morning has almost passed.
Song Ran had nothing urgent to do when she returned to the office. After pondering for a while, she unconsciously climbed over the wall and went to the external network.  At first she just checked private messages, and Sahin and many foreign journalist friends sent her congratulations.
She read it absent-mindedly and looked through other comments.  This time, critical voices took over a large part of the force.
A French newspaper even published an editorial specifically for CANDY's award, criticizing the professional nature of the Netherlands International Photography Award, denouncing the award for profiting from human disasters for a long time, pushing a group of reporters to take pride in hunting for novels and misfortunes, and distorted the situation.  Human nature is to pursue fame and fortune.
Song Ran didn't read the tens of thousands of comments under that article and turned off the Internet.
When she was about to get off work in the evening, Song Zhicheng called her and asked her to go home for dinner.  He knew from the news that she won the award.
The father's excitement almost penetrated the microphone.  Before he got off work, Song Ran heard the praises from the group of people at the other end.  They should be uncles and aunts from my father's workplace.
Song Ran didn't really want to go home, but she didn't want to disappoint Song Zhicheng, so she agreed.