Chapter 9 Autumn of Many Events

  The closure of the school has greatly ensured our safety. The poetry creation competition was postponed indefinitely due to the collision of Yihua University's school bus, and the venue we carefully arranged also lost its effect, so we once again worked hard to restore it.

  Du Yifei asked for leave and went back to his hometown. It seems like something happened at home, but when he left, he still had that lecturing tone with me.

  Li Chang's family also took him back home due to concerns about his safety, and so my life suddenly became much quieter.

  Neither of them left school because they all thought the current school was much safer than other places.

  The four of us can no longer go to restaurants outside the school for meals, so we accompany each other every day in the school cafeteria and occupy a whole table.

  Xiao Li and A Qiang both have money, they take turns inviting me and Da Zhang to eat big meals, each time ordering a lot of dishes, letting me and Da Zhang enjoy a great feast.

  In the blink of an eye, a month has passed. We have been either attending classes or slightly active within the school grounds, without ever going out once. During this time, many major events occurred outside the campus, leaving us astonished and fearful, yet also made us cherish the carefree life inside the school even more.

  In October, six major events occurred. The first five incidents made the people of the entire city almost fall into despair, many people did not dare to leave their homes, and the streets were almost empty, it was like a "deserted street".

  On the first Sunday of October, a massive explosion occurred at Jinxing Shopping Center, the largest supermarket in the city center. After three hours of clearing up, more than 100 people were found dead or injured, with 23 deaths confirmed. According to the Public Security Bureau's report, the explosion was carried out by an organization calling itself "Hanmei", and the perpetrator died on the spot, leaving no clues behind.

  On the second Monday of October, less than twelve hours after the explosion at the Venus Shopping Center, a high-ranking city official was kidnapped. The kidnapper sent a letter to the city government demanding a ransom of 100 million yuan. After careful consideration, the city government refused the kidnapper's demand, and as a result, the ten fingers of the kidnapped official were delivered to the mayor's office desk.

  On the same Thursday of that week, at almost the same time, around 8-9 pm, the Public Security Bureau received over a dozen reports of injuries. Within that one hour, more than thirty people were intentionally harmed, although no one died, the impact was enormous, causing many citizens to dare not go out at night.

  The next day of the malicious injury incident, thousands of citizens surrounded the municipal government. They demanded that the municipal government stop the recent illegal and criminal activities as soon as possible, while also looting several shopping malls opposite the municipal government.

  The third week of October was still calm, with sporadic criminal incidents, but under the all-out crackdown by the municipal government, criminal incidents showed a downward trend.

  But just when many people thought the danger had passed, on the first day of the last week of October, a water plant that supplied water to about 100,000 people in the eastern part of the city was poisoned. This poisoning incident caused tens of thousands of people to be hospitalized at the same time, and the hospital beds became extremely tight, leading to a series of fights, intentional injuries and other vicious incidents. Fortunately, this poisoning incident did not result in any deaths. The poison thrown by the criminals was only a low-toxic drug that made people feel weak all over, dizzy and nauseous, but would not kill anyone.

  The last big thing that happened in October was a good thing. Given the frequent occurrence of criminal cases throughout the city in October, social security could not be guaranteed, making all citizens anxious and uneasy, the municipal government requested the province to dispatch troops, armed police forces, and police officers to patrol the streets and perform peacekeeping missions, cracking down on illegal criminal activities and rescuing victims in a timely manner.

  Under the strong enforcement of this policy, the social atmosphere has slowly changed, and there are more people on the streets. People still believe that the power of the government is greater than the power of dark forces, after all, it is a peaceful era now, and malicious events like those that have occurred recently are rare.

  After a long time has passed, people will sigh and say with sadness: "That period of time was really a season of misfortune!"

  Some families who have had someone die or become disabled due to the malicious events of this period often do not want to mention it again, for fear of getting hurt once more. Those who were lucky enough to escape unscathed feel very happy and think themselves fortunate, thinking they are favored by heaven.

  Our school's students are very fortunate, after all we spent the darkest period under the strict protection of our school. Although the police haven't caught many **** yet, but as time goes on, ****'s initial arrogance has slowly shown signs of decline. Evil can never overcome justice, it is an eternal truth.

  Today is the last day of October, which means that Black October has passed. Our school's faculty and students have finally made it through this Black October with bated breath, almost everyone is delighted and feels very lucky.

  So Xiao Li decided to celebrate in the school cafeteria, and Da Zhang and A Qiang also expressed their agreement at the first time.

  I have a different opinion because Miko borrowed all my living expenses and now I'm short on cash and can't afford to celebrate.

  Xiao Lizi, after all, is the child of a wealthy family. With a wave of his hand, he said: "Don't spend your money, I'll treat you to this meal." After a pause, he continued: "Although our supermarket has had some trouble, our family's wealth hasn't decreased much. You guys, go ahead and eat and drink to your heart's content."

  Dazhang looked at me and spoke on my behalf, "Isn't this not good? Although your family is wealthy, it's always you treating me and Jinkang to meals, which isn't right..."

  I also nodded in agreement, always having free meals at Xiao Li's place is getting a bit embarrassing.

  Xiao Li frowned: "How did you become so petty? Are we still brothers or not? You're being so calculating over such a small matter, what if I need your help with something in the future? Just like last time when I was injured, are you all going to abandon me and refuse to help?"

  I knew he was referring to that time I saved him, so I smiled and said: "Stop bringing up the past all the time, let's go to the school cafeteria right now and have you treat me."

  Xiao Lizi immediately laughed loudly: "Then let's go, what are we waiting for?"

  Then we came to the school cafeteria together, found an empty table, ordered food, chatted and bragged while waiting for the dishes to be served.

  Next to them was a couple sitting at a table, who had already finished eating and were now whispering sweet nothings to each other.

  I didn't intend to eavesdrop on their conversation, but suddenly that old classmate's voice rose: "What? How did you know?!"

  At the sound of his astonished and amazed voice, everyone in the cafeteria immediately turned their heads to look at him, all with very serious expressions.

  The boy's face turned red for a moment, probably thinking his voice was too loud and disturbing others, feeling embarrassed. But immediately he raised his head, and with an air of nonchalance, said: "What are you looking at? Isn't it just that carefree internet cafe outside the school being smashed or something? What's so special about that?"

  My heart skipped a beat as I hastily asked: "Carefree? How did you know that? Weren't we not allowed to leave the school gate?"

  That male classmate looked at me with some surprise: "You and the owner of Worry-Free Internet Cafe are relatives?" He paused for a moment, seeing that I didn't say anything, before continuing: "My girlfriend just mentioned it, but I don't know what's going on either."

  I and the others turned our heads to look at that female classmate, who said without hesitation: "Just now a friend of mine called me and told me that the internet cafe outside the school called Worry-Free was smashed last night, with heavy losses. The boss of the internet cafe was also beaten and hospitalized. As for the rest, I don't know..."

  She hadn't even finished speaking when the entire cafeteria erupted into a chorus of murmurs and discussions.

  I couldn't help but say after hearing that: "Isn't it said that recently, under the strong suppression of the government army, it has been peaceful? How could such a thing happen again?"

  A'Qiang gently pulled me and said in a low voice, "I'll call my dad to ask, don't worry, it shouldn't be anything big, otherwise my dad would have told me already."

  I nodded and said quietly, "I hope you're all okay..." The carefree boss and network administrator were my acquaintances, and could also be considered friends. I didn't want anything to happen to them. Ah Qiang knew my concerns, which was why he spoke to me like that.

  Soon after Ah Qiang finished talking on the phone with his father and hung up, I saw that Ah Qiang's face didn't look too good, so I asked him: "What's wrong?"

  A Qiang hesitated for a moment, as if there was something he couldn't say.

  I got anxious and my voice rose a little: "You're telling me!"

  A Qiang gritted his teeth and said in a low voice: "My dad said that the internet cafe owner was seriously injured and could not be cured..."

  "What?!" I was shocked and jumped up, almost shouting: "Didn't they say that knowledge was injured?"

  A Qiang pulled me down: "His injury was very serious, he lost too much blood, after arriving at the hospital, before even getting on the operating table, he had already died..."

  My mind went blank, and I didn't hear a word of what Ah Qiang said afterwards. It wasn't until much later that I came back to my senses and saw Ah Qiang and Da Zhang still talking about something, while Xiao Li Zi was standing beside me, just about to slap my face.

  I reached out and stopped Little Li, taking a few deep breaths: "I'm fine, you guys ask again, how's the webmaster doing?"

  A Qiang and Da Zhang stopped talking, and immediately called his father again. A while later, A Qiang hung up the phone: "Jin Cang, that internet manager is not a big deal, it's just..."

  I furrowed my brow, a sense of foreboding rising in my heart: "You say, can I bear it..."

  A'Qiang glanced at Da Zhang and Xiao Lizi, then lowered his voice to ask me: "Who are you in the network management room? You're not really their relative, are you?"

  I glared at him and said impatiently: "Come on, say it!"

  A Qiang no longer hesitated: "I heard that the internet cafe manager was injured in the head, and has not woken up yet. The doctor said it's possible... he might become a vegetable..."

  My brain suddenly shook violently, as if it had been heavily struck by something, and I completely lost consciousness.

  I don't know how long the time had passed, when I woke up, I was a bit dizzy and felt tired, but immediately felt a wave of panic in my heart, almost jumping up, scaring a nurse next to me who shouted out loud, knocking over a medicine bottle.

  The nurse's shout brought me back to my senses. I looked around in a daze, confirming that I had returned to the school hospital and was lying in a hospital bed.

  In addition to me and the nurse I scared, there was another patient in the ward.

  The patient was also startled by me and stared at me with a look of surprise.

  I took a deep breath and said to him: "Younger brother, did I scare you? Sorry about that, I just had a nightmare."

  That classmate laughed: "It's okay, you've been sleeping soundly and suddenly jumped up, which really scared me."

  I couldn't help but smile, I just nodded and asked the nurse who was still in a daze: "How long have I been here?"

  The nurse reached out to touch her own chest, took a deep breath and said: "You scared me to death! I thought you were possessed or something. Anyway, you've been out for almost an hour now, if you didn't wake up soon, we would have had to take other measures to wake you up."

  I let out an "oh" and only then did I realize that there were quite a few instruments and tubes on my body, with an IV tube still connected to the back of my right hand.

  At this time, the door of the ward was opened and Zhou Hui walked in. Seeing me, she smiled: "How did you come again? Won't you be thinking of me and pretending to be sick to see me?"

  "For her joke, I couldn't laugh at all: 'Sister Zhou, can I go now?'"

  "What's so urgent that you need to attend to?"

  I knew she was a very clever person, so I didn't hide it: "One of my friends had an accident and is now in the city central hospital. I want to go see him."

  "No way! You're still sick yourself, how can you rush to the city center hospital to see a friend now? Just stay put, it's not easy to find a bed now."

  I was originally going to insist on leaving, but as soon as I saw Zhou Hui's eyes, I couldn't say anything else. Her eyes were filled with concern and worry, which is something that only happens when someone considers you a friend. I don't know when she started considering me her friend, at least I didn't feel it before.

  Zhou Hui saw that I was no longer insisting on leaving, seemingly relieved, and came forward to check the instruments, saying: "Your current physical condition is not good, anemia, and old injuries have not fully recovered. Adding that you fainted from anxiety earlier, it's likely that you'll need to rest for a period of time to recover. You can just relax and stay here for a few days, and when your body recovers, it won't be too late to go see your place."

  I nodded, feeling a bit moved: "Thank you, Sister Zhou, for your concern. I will take good care of myself and strive to recover as soon as possible so that I can visit my friends sooner."

  Zhou Hui's eyes flashed with a hint of unusual expression: "That friend of yours... is your girlfriend, right?"

  I was stunned, my face turned a bit red. This Zhou Hui, always saying this is my girlfriend, that is my girlfriend's... really has the potential to be a matchmaker: "No... it's not like that, just a friend from usual hangouts..."

  Zhou Hui stared at me for a while: "If it's not, then it's not. Is there a need to explain so much? You're guilty... Alright, I'll get you takeout later, tell me what you want to eat, and I'll treat you today."

  I feel really bad, although I didn't eat earlier and now I'm feeling a bit hungry: "No need, I... I'll go to the hospital cafeteria myself later, you're so busy..."

  Zhou Hui interrupted me: "Those people who just sent you over said that you haven't had lunch yet. It's almost 2 pm now, and the hospital cafeteria has been closed for a long time. I can either go home to cook for you or order takeout. You should know it's not easy to order takeout now, everyone is anxious, who still has the mind to do business? So, I have no choice but to suffer a bit and cook for our Golden Great Master."

  She walked out while talking, and surprisingly didn't listen to me anymore. I was moved in my heart, and also admired Zhou Hui's meticulous thoughts, this Zhou Hui is really the smartest and most considerate woman I have ever met. Although she can't be considered a rare beauty goddess, due to her beautiful appearance, gentle personality, enthusiastic treatment of others, delicate thoughts, wise and dignified, she is also an angel in white, almost like many people's goddess-like beauty.

  I also had a good impression of this white-robed angel, and at one point I thought she was the perfect goddess in my heart, wanting to get in touch with her more. But after getting in touch with her more, I found that she liked to joke with me too much, and was too smart, so I felt that I should keep a distance from her, after all, women who are too smart are very scary.

  It seems that my experience is still too little, I have put too much emphasis on a person's external appearance, and ignored the inner soul, which makes me biased in seeing things. In fact, Zhou Hui has been very good to me, whether it was when I was hospitalized for the first time and she took care of me, or every time we met afterwards and she made jokes with me, or when I was injured and she did therapy for me, all of which seemed to contain some friendship. It wasn't until now that I suddenly realized this.

  So when she walked out of the ward, I said a heartfelt "thank you".

  Zhou Hui turned back and smiled, but didn't say much, then went out to cook for me.

  The recent chaos has caused many businesses to close down, making it difficult to eat out now. After all, compared to making money, many people would rather live a peaceful life.

  In these troubled times, many Chinese people choose to prioritize self-preservation and avoid trouble, even if it means financial loss, rather than risking physical harm. Most people think this way.

  I lay quietly in bed, suddenly thought of my parents at home, so I took out my phone and called my parents at home, knowing that my hometown was not affected, and my heart was slightly relieved.

  Because of school regulations, Da Zhang and the others sent me to the hospital and then returned to school. I was left alone in the hospital, which was actually quite boring.

  The classmate in the same ward was discharged and returned to school on the second day after I arrived at the hospital. Although new patients moved into this ward immediately, without exception, they all left after staying for only one night. The hospital beds are now very tight, and as long as the patient's condition does not require hospitalization, the hospital will generally let them go back to recover, in order to free up beds for those who really need them.

  I was originally going to leave the hospital and return to school for rest, but Zhou Hui said that my physical condition must be observed in the hospital for a week, so I stayed.

  These days, it's been Zhou Hui who has been taking care of me. Despite her busy schedule, she has cooked and sent over several delicious meals for me, each one a culinary delight that not only satisfies my appetite but also fills me with gratitude towards her.

  The hospital informed me that my discharge time is today, so I have already packed up my things in advance and just need to complete the discharge procedures before returning to school. This period of rest has allowed my body to fully recover, and I am full of energy from head to toe, as if I have replenished all the energy lost due to injury and blood donation during this time.

  The person in charge of handling discharge procedures at the hospital quickly gave me a discharge certificate, so after saying goodbye to Zhou Hui, I walked alone towards school.

  The school hospital is not located within the school itself, but rather exists independently outside of it. Although it was also funded by the school for construction, the specific operation is independently managed by the hospital.

  It took less than two minutes to get from the hospital to school, so I quickly arrived at the school gate. The security guards at the gate were still on high alert and as soon as they saw me, one of them immediately came forward and shouted loudly: "What are you doing here?"

  I knew that the security guards didn't know every student in the school, so I cooperated and took out my student ID: "I'm a student of this school, a junior, just back from the hospital."

  The security guard carefully checked my student ID and then opened the gate to let me into the school. At the same time, he took out his walkie-talkie and said: "Captain, captain, a student who went out to the hospital has returned."

  The opposing team's captain said "got it", and I took big strides towards the dormitory, planning to put down my things before heading to class.

  In college, attending classes is quite casual. Even if you occasionally skip class, the teacher won't criticize you too harshly as long as you can earn enough credits. So when I went to the hospital and returned now, no one called me to ask what happened.