White Olive Tree

Chapter 25

Chen Feng immediately pushed open the door and went in, took out the medicine from his bag and gave it to him.
Li Zan coughed until his face was red. He forced himself to drink a few mouthfuls of syrup and swallowed a few pills before he could restrain himself a little.
From the moment Chen Feng came in, his expression became much calmer and calmer, but he was so tired that he had no strength left, so he fell on the bed and closed his eyes.
Chen Feng originally wanted to comfort him with a few words, but he knew that Li Zan would not listen.
He actually wanted to know what happened that day.  He didn't understand how a professional bomb disposal soldier like Li Zan could be injured by a human bomb at close range in that situation.
He glanced at Li Zan on the hospital bed. His sleeping face was silent and his hearing aid had been removed.
Chen Feng sighed slightly and closed his mouth.
……
That day, Song Ran washed her hair and rinsed the foam out of her hair. As soon as she combed her hair, a large ball of messy hair fell on the floor.  When I combed it again, there was another lump.
She later realized that she had suffered severe hair loss during this period.
At noon, she went to the barber shop to get her hair cut.
The barber confirmed again and again: "Are you sure you want to cut your hair short?"
"Yeah. If you don't cut it, all your hair will fall out."
"Cut it to the base of the ears?"
   "Um."
The barber made a few gestures and said: "The base of the ears is too short. It doesn't suit you. Make it a little longer. To the middle of the neck?"
   "also."
After cutting my hair and going to work, I immediately attracted onlookers.
"Ran Ran cut her hair short? How brave you are." Xiaochun has waist-length hair, which she cherishes so much that she is reluctant to cut it no matter how busy she is at work.
"Does it look good?" Song Ran touched his hair.
"It looks good." Xiaoqiu said, "Short hair is very elegant... However, when others cut their hair short and look mature, you look smaller."
Song Ran didn't quite adapt to it. She inadvertently scratched the ends of her hair several times while working, thinking she still had long hair.  After touching it, I realized that it was really cut off.
She has been back to work for more than two months, but her working condition has not been good.
She suffered from insomnia more and more often. At first she thought her body had not recovered, but after a few months, her insomnia did not get better.  This left her a little exhausted during the day.  She could barely cope with domestic news on weekdays, but whenever news about the war situation in the Eastern Kingdom came up, she felt very uncomfortable.  But now she has become a star in this field, and any news and programs related to Dongguo cannot avoid her.
As soon as I got to work today, I came across news that government troops had recaptured the northeastern suburbs of Hapo City.
Song Ran saw the familiar scene of the suburbs of Hapo in the video, and the scene on September 26th rushed to her like a flood.
She lowered her head and rubbed her eyes.  At this time, Liu Yufei hung up an internal call and came over, saying that the Minister of Information was looking for her.
Song Ran washed his face and went upstairs.
The minister smiled when he saw her: "Reporter Song, did you get a haircut?"
Song Ran touched her head sheepishly: "Yeah. It's convenient to wash your hair."
"Very good. I called you here to tell you that for this year's Dutch International Press Prize and the Pulitzer Prize, two of your photos will be sent to the competition. One is a carry, and the other has not been named yet. Wait.  Get up."
He turned the computer screen around. It was the one where the children were waiting for candy.
Song Ran saw the face of the extremist and the smoke coming out of his clothes at a glance.

A child's soft voice sounded in her ears:
"Madam, do you have candy"
If she didn’t bring candy that day, and if all the reporters before her didn’t bring candy, would the suicide attacker’s candy easily attract those children?  Or is the result the same?
"Have you thought about it?" the minister asked with a smile.
Song Ran came back to her senses and reflexively said: "Candy."
"CANDY?" The minister praised, "This is a good name. It fits perfectly. By the way, Candy or Carry, which photo do you think is more likely to win the prize?"
Song Ran said nothing.
"I think it's candy. Regardless of the composition, color tone, characters, hidden story events, and just the right timing...it's wonderful." After the minister finished speaking, he looked at her, "Reporter Song, do your best, we will be here  You should be a big news reporter and focus on training.”
Song Ran was stunned.
What a big news reporter means is that she will be given the greatest support and freedom to choose the hot social events she wants to interview and expose, and she will also be given the greatest recognition and authoritative support for her remarks and records.
"Thank you, Minister." She was short-circuited and couldn't say anything else, "Thank you."
"You deserve it all. But being a reporter is not easy. You have to continue to work hard, continue to pursue and explore the truth, and continue to maintain a rigorous and sincere heart."
"I will." She said.
Song Ran walked out of the office and stood there for a while, her thoughts a little blank.
She saw her own shadow on the glass window. As she looked at it, she felt inexplicably ashamed and ashamed. She didn't dare to face it. She turned around and walked quickly to the elevator.
"Ding!" The elevator door opened.
The moment they stepped forward, Song Ran and Shen Bei inside were stunned at the same time, and then put on polite smiles at the same time.
After not seeing each other for several months, Shen Bei has changed a lot.  When she went to the entertainment department, she looked more fashionable and sophisticated than when she worked in the news department.
Song Ran walked in and the elevator door closed.  The two stood side by side.
"Long time no see." Shen Bei said.
   "haven't seen you for a long time."
"The new hair style is great."
   "Thanks."
Silence fell in the space, and the snow-white light shone on the two of them.
One second, another second,
The awkwardness that both of us could clearly feel was finally broken - the floor was here.
The two immediately smiled at the same time,
Shen Bei: "Come up and play when you have time."
Song Ran: "Okay. Goodbye."
Song Ran got out of the elevator and quickly walked into the office area. As soon as she sat down, she flipped through the information and finally found the phone number of the Security Department, which she left when she contacted Chen Feng for an interview a few months ago.
She pressed the number in one breath and dialed it.
The person who answered the phone was not Chen Feng.
As for the whereabouts of Chen Feng and Li Zan, the answer was that they were military secrets and there was no answer.
Song Ran put down the phone and looked out the window at the bleak and gloomy winter, feeling dazed for a long time.
She actually checked the Hapo bombing incident, but could not find any information about Li Zan.
She couldn't contact Luo Zhan either - a group of troops had been replaced at the peacekeeping station, and they didn't respond at all to the incidents involving the previous troops.
It’s been three months.
She never thought that in this era, it would be so easy to completely lose contact with someone.
After get off work that day, Song Ran ran to Luoyu Mountain without giving up.
In winter, the mountains are cold and desolate, and they are all covered with fallen leaves.  Soldiers were standing guard outside the security department, and she went up to ask about Li Zan.  The response was silence.
She was so stubborn that she squatted at the door and waited for a long time, hoping to catch Li Zan coming in and out.
Of course it’s fruitless.
December is over and the new year is here in a blink of an eye.
The temperature in Liangcheng has dropped sharply again, and the cold wind blowing from the river can blow the cold moisture into the cracks of the bones.
In the humid and cold south, air conditioning cannot do anything.
Song Ran had to turn on the electric stove when working at home, but even so, her fingers typing on the keyboard were so cold that her bones became stiff.
The writing of "The Floating World of the Eastern Kingdom" was not going smoothly. When she opened the manuscript, she just couldn't write a decent sentence.
During this time, her condition was getting worse and worse.  I can still hold on while working during the day.  When she was alone at night, she would often sit by the window for hours without realizing it, unable to fall asleep even if she was lying in bed.
In the dead of night, she felt like an isolated island in the dark night.
And Li Zan on the other island seemed to have disappeared.  His comb, his apples, his red rope, his dance in the moonlight... everything disappeared without a trace like the white olive grove in the desert that day.
Disappearing with him were all the joys and sorrows of the Eastern Kingdom, and everything that happened on September 26th.
That tragic past was tightly sealed before it could be cleared up and resolved, and she could not mention it to anyone.  Because they have no experience or witness, they don't understand - it's just a war, there's nothing that can't be overcome.
The joys and sorrows of human beings are not the same.  Therefore, she was the only one who was locked on an isolated island, watching people singing, dancing and playing the flute every night on the passing cruise ships.
On the first weekend of January, Yang Huilun asked her to go home for dinner.
It was a cold and rainy day, and the traffic was jammed.
Song Ran sat in the car, listening to the sharp sirens that sounded frequently around her. At first she was just uneasy, but gradually she became bored and had a headache. Those sounds were like knives, cutting into people's nerves.
She was depressed for no reason and wanted to scratch the windshield with her bare hands.
Song Yang called and asked her where she was. She said there was a traffic jam.
Ten minutes later, Song Zhicheng called her and asked her where she was. She said there was a traffic jam.
Twenty minutes later, Yang Huilun called and asked her where she was. She said there was a traffic jam.
Half an hour later, Yang Huilun called again.
Song Ran lost control for a moment: "I told you countless times that there is a traffic jam, why are you urging me! Don't call me next time if you are so impatient!"
She hung up the phone, shaking with anger.  But after getting angry, he regretted being too rude and unable to regulate his emotions, but vented his bad temper on his relatives.
When I got home, it was half past seven in the evening.
Song Ran's steps were heavy as she went up the stairs, feeling uneasy.  When I walked to the door of my house, I opened the door and went in. The house was quiet.  Song Zhicheng was sitting on the sofa reading news on his mobile phone, Huilun Yang was heating food in the kitchen, and Song Yang was video chatting with her boyfriend Lu Tao in the room.
Everyone is waiting for her to eat.
Song Ran's eyes wet and she felt even more guilty.
   "I'm back."
Song Zhicheng put down his cell phone and went to the kitchen to help serve the dishes. Song Yang also hung up the phone and slipped out and called her affectionately: "Sister, are you not motion sick?"
   "……kind of."
"Let's drink a cup of hot water first."
   "Um."
The four of them sat around the table to eat. Song Ran was a little embarrassed and remained silent.  Song Yang, on the other hand, kept chattering when talking about his work.  She works as a clerk in a small company, and her salary is not high. Her monthly salary cannot cover her expenses.
But she was willing to go to work with peace of mind. Yang Huilun was very satisfied and said that as long as she worked well, she would be rewarded 500 yuan a month.
Song Yang snorted: "What can you do with five hundred?"
Yang Huilun said: "You only have a little over two thousand a month, why do you still dislike it?"
Song Zhicheng asked Song Ran: "I read on the news that your station is going to send the photos you took for the competition?"
Song Ran said vaguely "Hmm".
"Don't tell me such an important thing, just to make me happy."
"I was busy and forgot." Song Ran said, "There are so many photos competing from all over the world, so you may not win the prize."
She couldn't imagine the kind of attacks and abuse she would suffer if she really won the award.
And she couldn’t tell whether that photo was anti-human or not.
"I think I will definitely win the award." Song Zhicheng said.
"I think so too," Song Yang said, "Foreign media are publishing pictures taken by my sister."

"What kind of prize?" Yang Huilun didn't understand.
Song Yang said: "It's amazing. The Nobel Prize in journalism."
"I knew Ran Ran would be promising. You, learn from your sister. If you mess around day by day, I think you'll get better in the future."
"My sister will become a famous person in the future. Am I still afraid that she will not have a good life?"
"I know how to talk."
Song Ran ate the meal without saying a word.
After dinner, Song Zhicheng found CANDY's photos on his mobile phone and wanted to analyze them with Song Ran.  But Song Ran said she was a little tired and didn't want to talk about work.
Song Zhicheng didn't force it, he just kept saying that she was promising and was sure that she would win a prize.
In the kitchen, Yang Huilun and Song Yang quarreled again, still about the marriage.  Yang Huilun felt that Lu Tao could not afford a house, and that the betrothal gift given by Lu Tao's family was too small, so he scolded Song Yang for being unfair.  Song Yang thought that there was no need for betrothal gifts now, so Yang Huilun was selling his daughter.
There was a lot of quarrel.
Song Ran saw this and left early.
On the way home, the phone rang.  It’s book planner Luo Junfeng.
Song Ran rubbed his forehead, took a deep breath, and hung up his headphones: "Hello?"
In the past few months, Luo Junfeng has been paying attention to various reports that Song Ran was involved in, such as peacekeepers, refugee camps, and border lines. At the same time, he also paid attention to Song Ran's own news, knowing all about her injuries, fame, and controversies. 
Because of his understanding, he was even more looking forward to the completion of "The Floating World of the East". Based on his intuition, he believed that it would be a good book that would cause huge repercussions in society.
But Song Ran told him the truth. She was in a bad state and couldn't write anything.
Luo Junfeng asked: "Can't you write the manuscripts you usually work on?"
"I'm not very focused. But if I work hard, I can write it."
"Can't you write this book?"
   "Um."
"How about looking back at the text and video materials recorded in Dongguo?"
Song Ran was silent.
"You didn't look?"
"...Hmm." She never touched that memory again.
Luo Junfeng was silent for a while and asked, "Song Ran."
   "Um?"
"Do you feel that you have failed this country, especially the people in your photos?"
Song Ran drove the car and didn't answer.
"Have you seen a psychiatrist since you returned to China?"
"I'm fine."
"I stayed in the battlefield for two months, witnessed several battles and civilian casualties, and a massacre, was injured by explosions, and suffered public attacks. Which one of them is not 'nothing'. I think it is 'nothing.'  Like this." He said: "In your current state, you must see a psychiatrist. If you delay it any longer, I'm afraid something will happen."