AFMWDX Chapter 13

TL: Hua

Chapter 13: Danger

Three days ago, after Xu Baizhang entered the no-signal zone, the two of them completely lost contact.

Yu Qingtang understood the demanding nature of rescue work, but being dispatched to such a dangerous place, worry was inevitable.

To conveniently look after the flowers and the fish, Yu Qingtang had moved into Xu Baizhang’s home.

Every day after work, he would first go to the balcony to look at the flowers and then spend most of his time in the study with the fish. When he got sleepy, he would sleep on the sofa, dreaming of someone opening the door and saying to him, “I’m home.”

Yu Qingtang held a handful of fish food. Perhaps out of preference, he always liked to feed the kissing fish before attending to the other “little friends.”

He tossed the carefully selected food pellets into the tank. For the first two days, the kissing fish, just like before, hid in the aquatic plants as if it hadn’t seen him, completely ignoring him.

Gradually, as Yu Qingtang appeared more and more often, the little fish started to notice him. Occasionally, it would swim out, wagging its broken tail. If he turned away, it would quickly dart back into hiding, secretly watching him through the aquatic plants, like a little thief.

Yu Qingtang pressed his advantage, consistently feeding the fish at a fixed time and chatting with it. He talked about his work that day, interesting things that happened on the road, his childhood, and also his worry and longing for Xu Baizhang.

As they talked, they finally became familiar with each other. The little fish no longer avoided him and would playfully flutter its fins at him.

Occasionally, when he worked late, the little fish would wait in advance near the spot where he fed it, wagging its tail. After feeding the fish, Yu Qingtang tried calling Xu Baizhang’s number. After several days apart, this had become his habit. Feed the fish once a day, and call once a day.

Yu Qingtang hung up the phone and pressed his fingertip against the glass tank, playing a “chasing game” with the fish.

The fish already recognized me; why aren’t you back yet?

*

That afternoon, the news center received the latest update.

During the rescue mission, two core doctors from the Provincial Hospital and thirteen members of the rescue team were caught in an avalanche and were temporarily missing, with their status unknown.

The next day, after the general meeting at the main broadcasting station, Yu Qingtang and Liu Siyan were eating lunch in the cafeteria.

Yu Qingtang poked at his plate, mutilating the eggplant without putting it in his mouth.

Liu Siyan finally couldn’t help it. “Given your current state, I seriously suspect you’re having relationship troubles.”

Liu Siyan had noticed during the general meeting that he was completely distracted, which was out of character for a workaholic.

But he would never let work affect him. Liu Siyan asked, “Did you have a spat with your doctor?”

Yu Qingtang propped his chin up and continued poking the eggplant. “No.”

“Then what is it?” Liu Siyan made a calculated guess: “Surely you’re not lovelorn just because you haven’t seen him for a few days, right?”

“What are you thinking?” Yu Qingtang put the mashed eggplant in his mouth. “He had an assignment abroad recently, and I’m a little worried.”

“Then call him more often. In the early stage of a relationship, eight hundred calls a day wouldn’t be excessive.”

Their conversation was interrupted by a disturbance. Seven or eight colleagues were gathered at the cafeteria entrance, their conversation interspersed with arguments.

Yu Qingtang: “What are they talking about?”

Liu Siyan grabbed a chicken wing from his plate and ate it. “What else? The external assignment to Shigatse.”

Yu Qingtang frowned. “Didn’t they already send people? Why again?”

Liu Siyan rubbed her chest. “Don’t even mention it; it makes me feel terrible.”

When the news from Shigatse came suddenly, the station immediately issued a notice, arranging for one reporter, two cameramen, and one technician to go there. They were still sending back reports to the station two days ago, but on the third day, all four went missing, as if they had vanished into thin air.

The station was frantic, trying various ways to contact the command center, but received no news about any of them.

With this situation, firstly, the station was worried about their safety, and secondly, the situation in Shigatse still needed continuous reporting. They planned to send another fourteen people.

But with the fate of the “first team” unknown and a “second team” needing to be dispatched, everyone was hesitant and unwilling to go.

Their excuses included having small children at home or elderly parents needing care—everyone had their own difficulties, and the required number of people simply couldn’t be filled.

With no other choice, the station changed its approach, calling it a volunteer recruitment and even pulling in interns. But one by one, they tearfully claimed to have a fear of heights or severe altitude sickness. After pleading, coaxing, and trickery for most of the day, they still couldn’t gather enough people.

With the personnel undecided, the leaders above grew anxious and demanded a decision by the afternoon; otherwise, the department heads would have to go.

Liu Siyan sighed, “To be honest, you can’t blame people for not wanting to go. Aside from the Overseas Department, which pays more for assignments, the other departments offer very little. Who wants to risk their life for so little?”

“Besides, those who truly aren’t afraid of death would have applied for high-paying overseas postings long ago. Everyone who stays in the domestic departments just wants a steady, secure life.”

Yu Qingtang asked, “How many people are they still short?”

“I don’t know. Our team wasn’t drawn this time, so I didn’t ask for specifics.” Liu Siyan said, “Such a harsh and dangerous environment—they’re all colleagues. It would bother me no matter who has to go.”

“But then again, those in journalism should have been aware long ago that taking risks is inevitable.” Liu Siyan ruffled her hair. “If my altitude sickness wasn’t so severe that I’d just be a liability, I would honestly volunteer to go.”

Yu Qingtang placed the remaining chicken wing on Liu Siyan’s plate, put down his chopsticks, and stood up.

Liu Siyan grabbed him. “You’ve barely eaten two bites; sit down.”

Yu Qingtang: “No time.”

Liu Siyan: “It’s not your shift today; what’s the rush?”

“The rush to volunteer.”

“Are you crazy?” Liu Siyan tugged hard on him. “They wouldn’t be short enough for them to need you.”

“Right, I almost forgot what you said.” Yu Qingtang took out his phone and sent a message to a colleague, requesting a shift swap for him to cover his shift for two days.

Liu Siyan suddenly realized, and her mind went blank. “It can’t be Doctor Xu…”

“Yes, he’s there.”

*

When Xu Baizhang woke up, he was hanging on a pine branch on the edge of a cliff, having miraculously survived the fall.

He climbed to a fault line in the cliff and quickly checked his injuries. He only had superficial abrasions, and all his organs and tissues were fine.

During the fall, the zipper on his backpack had been snagged open, and most of his supplies had rolled to the base of the mountain, leaving only a small amount of drinking water and compressed biscuits.

But the real trouble was that the tracking watch was gone.

It must have been knocked off by a hard object during the initial avalanche. In this vast area with extremely low air pressure and harsh conditions, the tracking watch was his only hope for rescue.

Xu Baizhang looked up the slope. The area he had slid down still bore the marks of his descent. Finding the watch was next to impossible. All he could do was try to get closer to the watch’s location. The closer he was, the greater his chance of being found by the rescue team.

But falling down the mountain was easy; going back up was incredibly difficult. He had to endure the harsh environment while fighting declining physical functions and a series of high-altitude reactions.

Xu Baizhang battled the wind and snow, struggling to climb a few hundred meters, enduring two small avalanches along the way, but the mountaintop remained unreachable.

As a doctor, he consulted and felt pulses day after day, meeting all sorts of people and listening to their stories of joy and sorrow. To him, birth, aging, sickness, and death were just a part of life; being alive or dead were merely two ways life expressed itself.

Before this, his life was as plain as water. Since he had someone to care about, it had condensed into a glass of strong liquor. He drank it down, searing his throat, and finally understood the meaning of “worldly affairs are impermanent; life is precious.”

But upon closer reflection, what was precious was never life itself, but the person whom he treasured in life. He wanted to live, desperately.

Xu Baizhang clung to the snowy mountain, climbing step by step. The ice and snow soaked through his gloves, and the bleeding fingertips stained the white snow. The thing he feared the most had finally happened.

After a long trek, Xu Baizhang was not only physically exhausted but also developed temporary snow blindness.

He had no choice but to give up climbing and rest where he was.

Because of the snow blindness, he couldn’t unlock his phone, enter the password, see photos, or listen to audio. He wasn’t even sure if the phone was dead or powered off.

Xu Baizhang thought of the blind fish at home and suddenly felt immensely envious.

Envious that they had no vision yet possessed acute sensory abilities, envious that they were carefree and could survive in lightless caves, and even more envious that, separated by a layer of glass, they could keep company with the person in his heart.

The snowflakes in the frigid, trembling air were cold like a murder weapon.

Xu Baizhang put his phone away, grabbed his left ring finger with his right hand, and kissed it hard.

Yu Qingtang.

Yu Qingtang.

Yu Qingtang.