After Gong Yingxian had calmed down, Ren Yi couldn’t resist teasing him. “I’ve noticed you’re quite the crybaby.”
Gong Yingxian muttered, “That’s nonsense. How could that be true?”
Ren Yi smiled faintly. “It’s getting late. We should head back.”
Gong Yingxian kept stealing glances at him, but he neither moved nor said anything.
“Come on.”
“Are we back together now?” Gong Yingxian asked quietly.
Ren Yi hesitated, feeling a little awkward, then gave a soft “Mm.”
Gong Yingxian raised a hand to Ren Yi’s face, his breathing restrained. “Then can I kiss you?”
Before Ren Yi could answer, Gong Yingxian’s hand had already moved to the back of his neck. Leaning forward, he pulled Ren Yi closer and pressed his lips forcefully against the lips he had longed for day and night.
Ren Yi’s heart pounded wildly. The kiss was somewhat rough, yet brimming with passion, leaving him dizzy and intoxicated. What they exchanged through their kiss was the unguarded tenderness they felt for each other, the beautiful feelings blooming within them, and the immense desire they had been forced to suppress, yet which was always poised to erupt.
Their kisses grew more passionate, their breathing increasingly ragged. In their intimacy, with barely any space between them, their oxygen-starved brains began to deprive them of reason. Instinct took over completely, leaving them wanting nothing more than to press even closer together.
Suddenly, the shrill ring of a phone alarm exploded like thunder out of a clear sky, jolting them both back to their senses.
Ren Yi abruptly pushed Gong Yingxian away and wiped his face, which felt as though it were about to catch fire. “T-There’s an emergency!” He had set a special ringtone for calls from his fire station. The station staff only used that number to call him when there was an emergency.
Gong Yingxian was still dazed, unable to recover from the lingering sensations of their kiss. Ren Yi, however, had already composed himself and answered the phone. “Go ahead.”
“Captain Ren, there’s a fire at a residence in Anjia Residential Community. Where are you?”
“Is it a big fire?” Ren Yi asked as he ran toward the parking lot.
“Not too big at the moment, but today’s been unusually busy. We’ve already responded to two calls this morning, and neither of the two crews that went out has returned. Squad Leader Cui is about to lead a crew to this one, but the instructor is worried. He said you should be somewhere near the station, so he wants you to head over.”
“I’m nearby. I’ll be there right away.”
After hanging up, Ren Yi turned to Gong Yingxian. “Take me to Anjia Road right away. Actually, just give me the keys. I know this area well.”
Gong Yingxian tossed him the keys. Ren Yi caught them, got into the car, shut the door, and started the engine in one fluid motion. He quickly drove out of the parking lot.
“What’s the situation?” Gong Yingxian asked.
“Residential fire. There have been a lot of emergencies today, and we’re a bit short on manpower,” Ren Yi replied. “Good thing I chose this nursing home close to my station.”
He checked his watch and estimated that it would take at least twenty minutes to get there.
When he reached Anjia Residential Community as quickly as he could, Ren Yi saw flames shooting out of the windows of an apartment upstairs. Judging by the color and shape of the smoke, the fire inside had already become quite severe.
He spotted the fire engine from his station. He also saw two young firefighters struggling with a man, and it looked as though they were about to come to blows.
The others were nowhere to be seen. They had probably gone upstairs to force the door open.
Ren Yi jumped out of the car and ran over. “What’s going on?”
“Captain Ren!” one of the young firefighters said anxiously. “This man is a family member—”
“Why did you take so long to get here? Fifteen whole minutes!” the man wailed. “My wife is going to die! You take taxpayers’ money and sit around doing nothing! What kind of people are you? You can’t even save someone!”
Ren Yi grabbed the man’s arm to restrain him. “Sir, calm down! We responded as quickly as we could, but it’s midday, and we can’t control the traffic!”
The man struggled. “Stop making excuses! My wife was about to burn to death before you even got here, and now you still can’t get anyone out! This is a matter of life and death! What the hell are you doing for a living? Y-You’re the captain? Why are you only showing up now? You abandoned your post! I’m going to sue you!”
Nearly everyone watching had their phones out, recording.
Gong Yingxian stood to one side, silently asking Ren Yi with his eyes whether he needed help.
Ren Yi shook his head, then turned to the young firefighter. “What’s the situation with the apartment?”
The young firefighter looked extremely anxious. “Their door is warped. It’s an electronic smart lock with nine locking bolts at the top, bottom, and sides. It’s incredibly difficult to break open.”
The man shouted, “Don’t you have ladders? Why aren’t you using a ladder? How long is it going to take you to break down the door?”
Whether intentionally or not, he drove an elbow into Ren Yi’s chest.
Ren Yi’s face twisted with pain. He twisted the man’s arm behind his back and, together with the young firefighter, held him down.
“Sir, I understand how you feel! We want to save them just as much as you do! The flames in front of the windows are so intense that no one can get through. Our only option is to force the front door! Please calm down!”
Gong Yingxian pulled out his police identification and waved it in front of the man. Furious, he said, “Police. If you keep causing trouble, I’ll arrest you for assaulting a public official and obstructing official duties.”
The man froze for a moment, then became even angrier. “You’re all in this together! You’re treating human lives like they’re worthless! I’m going to sue you all!”
Ren Yi unclipped the young firefighter’s radio and held it to his ear. “Yisheng, is the door open? Do you need me to come up?”
Cui Yisheng’s voice came through amid a cacophony of noise. “No need. We just got it open. We’re already inside.”
A few minutes later, Dr. Cui and the others carried a woman downstairs. The emergency medical personnel, who had been waiting nearby, rushed over with a stretcher.
She had burns over multiple parts of her body and appeared lifeless. It looked as though she was already beyond saving.
Ren Yi watched Shi Xiaoqian perform CPR. Then he saw her shoulders slump in defeat. She turned toward him and shook her head before finally announcing the time of death.
The man threw himself onto the deceased woman and burst into heart-wrenching sobs.
Cui Yisheng removed his helmet. Looking utterly dejected, he glanced at Ren Yi and lowered his head.
Of all the squad leaders, Cui Yisheng had the least experience. It was only the previous year that he had been allowed to lead a crew on his own, and usually, he wasn’t assigned to handle fires independently. Today was an exceptionally rare day when multiple emergencies had occurred at once, leaving the station short-handed.
Ren Yi could already see doubt and self-blame in his eyes. He walked over and patted him on the shoulder. “Even if I’d been here, the outcome would have been the same under these circumstances. Don’t take everything upon yourself.”
“I…”
Cui Yisheng had barely begun to speak when the man from earlier suddenly pointed at them and shouted through his tears, “You killed my wife! You took fifteen minutes to get here, and the captain took half an hour! You didn’t even use a ladder! If you’re afraid of dying, why become firefighters? My wife died because you wasted time!”
Indignation and humiliation filled the soot-blackened faces of the firefighters, but not one of them said a word.
“You killed my wife! You did this!” the man continued shouting. “Everyone, record this! I’m going to expose you! I’m going to sue you!”
Ren Yi’s expression darkened. “If you have any complaints, you can call the police or file a complaint with the emergency management department. But please don’t make baseless accusations against our firefighters.”
“You’re all in cahoots with the police! The police even wanted to arrest me! What law did I break? You killed my wife, and now you want to arrest me too!”
Without hesitation, Gong Yingxian said, “I’ll explain exactly why I can legally arrest you. You’ve violated public security regulations—”
Ren Yi stopped him and said quietly, “Forget it. You two, finish clearing the scene and report to the fire investigation department. Everyone else, let’s head back.”
After packing up the equipment, Ren Yi prepared to return with the fire engine.
Gong Yingxian looked at him intently. “Feilan and Uncle Sheng have been asking about you lately. They say it’s been ages since they last saw you. When will you come over to my place for a meal?”
“Maybe in a little while. I can’t keep taking so much time off work lately.”
Ren Yi looked back at Gong Yingxian. The longer he looked, the happier he felt to have even that little extra time with him.
“All right,” Gong Yingxian said softly. “Ren Yi, thank you.”
Ren Yi smiled faintly.
On the way back, Ren Yi kept comforting his despondent and indignant firefighters, especially the younger ones. Over his ten years of service, he had witnessed far too many family members acting impulsively when overcome by emotion. Some would calm down and let the matter go, while others would cause them trouble. Such incidents were unavoidable, and learning to cope with them was part of every firefighter’s psychological growth.
At least to Ren Yi, this incident was just another ordinary emergency call, with an ordinary confrontation occurring along the way. At the time, he could never have imagined that the enormous storm stirred up by this incident would drag everyone into a deep abyss.
Two days later, Qu Yangbo suddenly pulled Ren Yi into his office. His expression was grim.
“Something’s happened.”
Ren Yi rarely saw Qu Yangbo this serious, this grave. Most of the time, Qu Yangbo handled the station’s internal and external affairs with ease, thanks to the exceptional political awareness he had been taught to cultivate from childhood.
Ren Yi couldn’t help feeling nervous. “What happened?”
“The incident at Anjia Residential Community the other day—the one you responded to—has been posted online. The public opinion is strongly against us because the station took fifteen minutes to arrive, and you took half an hour.”
“There was a traffic jam in the middle of the day! Given the congestion, fifteen minutes from Fenghuang Road to Anjia Road was actually fast. I’d taken the day off, too.”
“Mm. But do you think your explanation will win more public sympathy than the story of a young mother whose two-year-old daughter was left behind and burned to death because you failed to arrive sooner?”
Ren Yi froze.