"Lan, what's wrong?" Jia Zhenzhen took a new diaper bag from the bedroom and planned to put it beside the couch for the twins to use later. However, just as she walked out of the bedroom, she suddenly saw Jiang Ruolan's pale face.
"Lan."
"Auntie Jia, can I bother you to take care of Chiahao and An Na for me for these two days? I'm going to take a long trip!" Jiang Ruolan didn't even look up as she packed her clothes. She walked around the living room a few times, afraid she would leave something important behind.
Jia Zhenzhen's gaze was also diverted by the screen on the TV. Seeing the subtitles on TV, she frowned, "There's an earthquake in Imperial City? No wonder the vibration was so strong here today, I didn't think it would be serious."
Jiang Ruolan didn't say anything, she just packed her things and turned around to hug her children. She kissed them a few times on the cheek. "Chiahao and An Na, be good. Momny will be out for two days. Be good, don't make mommy worry, ok?"
The two little things instinctively kissed back at her. Jiang Ruolan comforted herself in her heart and got up to leave.
"Lan! Imperial City is the source of earthquakes! It is the focal point! It's too dangerous, you can't go!" Jia Zhenzhen called her with a serious expression.
Jiang Ruolan merely paused her steps and walked out without looking back. She quickly caught a taxi and rushed to the airport.
She didn't know if the plane would be able to go directly to Imperial City or if she would have to transfer to a nearby city. No matter what, she had to go!
****
Jiang Ruolan was holding the recorder in her hand as she listened to the provincial leader's speech.
If she didn't have the status of a commercial media reporter, she would not be able to enter the disaster area smoothly.
Now she was sitting in one of the provincial leader's cars, going with them to the only main road leading to Imperial City.
"The earthquakes are still not stopping and the magnitude of the earthquake is also not low. I don't think this road will be able to last for another day." The provincial leader looked at the road conditions outside the car and sighed.
"Did you send a helicopter?" Jiang Ruolan asked.
"We've sent a few, but for now, we're still able to go through this route. We don't have a lot of planes, so we'll check them first. If there's anything we need, I'll contact another city and ask for their help."
"It's said that Xian Company's current CEO, Xian Zihao, also rushed there because he owns the branch at the epicenter of the earthquake!" Someone said.
"Xian Zihao?" The provincial leader frowned, "This is bad. If anything happened to him, the old general Xian Tingfeng would probably make a fuss in Beijing!"
"Has President Xian already entered the disaster area?" Seeing that they had brought the topic to this point, Jiang Ruolan finally got down to business.
The provincial leader immediately frowned. Suddenly, he looked at the person next to him, "Have you contacted President Xian?"
"We couldn't get through to him and we could only contact the person in charge of Xian Company. It was said that President Xian rushed to the epicenter half an hour after the earthquake struck. The place is very dangerous now. The people who were there said that they had not seen President Xian for over an hour!"
Right now, only a small fraction of the rescue team had arrived. By the time the national rescue team and volunteers arrive, it will take at least five to six days due to inconvenient transportation. Xian Zihao had gone directly to the epicenter.
Jiang Ruolan's hands were sweating when she heard the words. She knew that this was not the time to do the interview, so she put down the recorder and sat silently to the side, waiting for the car to arrive at the place.
"Right now, it's the rainy season in Imperial City. I heard that a few years ago, a mudslide occurred in that town. It's still raining and the aftershocks are still unending. I think …"
The provincial leader raised his hand and stopped his subordinate from continuing. He merely glanced at the time and asked, "How much longer until we arrived?"
"The road ahead is split, we can't get there!"
"What should we do!"
"Quick, call the helicopter right now!"
Jiang Ruolan was so anxious. She got out of the car in a hurry and circled around the road a few times, looking at the crack in front of her.
Rescue teams and helicopters would take at least half a day to arrive, so she had no choice but to follow the provincial leader to a nearby village. Because of the strong earthquake, some weak houses suffered cracks, and some houses collapsed, leaving some residents injured, but no one died.
After distributing some relief materials, they had to set up their tents here as it was already dark and the helicopters had not yet arrived.
The sky was pitch black, and the ground was sometimes calm, occasionally shaking.
"Miss Jiang, why are you standing outside in the rain? Quickly get into the tent, we've already contacted them. The helicopter will arrive early in the morning. Lie down and relax, if not, how can you have the energy to record the situation in a disaster area tomorrow?"
Jiang Ruolan picked up an umbrella given to her by some villagers. She stood outside the tent and looked at the dark sky. She heard them calling to her. She couldn't calm down and was worried about the casualties in Imperial City.
"Miss Jiang, you came a long way from H City to here. After all, President Xian used to be in H City and even though he was just a businessman and didn't get into politics, he still had a great reputation there and was very liked by the people. You must be worried about him, right?"
After she came inside the tent, a man suddenly handed her a bottle of mineral water and asked casually.
Jiang Ruolan lowered her head, twisted open the bottle of mineral water in her hand, and looked outside through the open curtains of the tent.
At this moment, lightning struck, and thunder rumbled. Her heart was in great pain.
A different face suddenly appeared in her line of thought.
It's Shi Zheng.
Shi Zheng, the daughter of the Disciplinary Committee, had come to see her at the company during her business trip to H City.
Shi Zheng asked her confusedly, "Jiang Ruolan, what is your worth to Xian Zihao? Even after he gets divorced, he still won't be able to banish you from his heart."
At that time, Shi Zheng was sitting in front of her desk. Her (Shi Zheng) face was filled with pride, sharpness, and a deep sense of loss and defeat.
Jiang Ruolan didn't want to think too much and didn't want to argue with people like Shi Zheng, who are too arrogant. She just smiled and said, "Maybe it's because he and I had children together."
Shi Zheng, on the other hand, shook her head. "I've tried everything, and in terms of appearance, I'm no worse than you. From the point of view of family background, you don't even deserve to carry my shoes. Don't think I didn't investigate it. Before I moved to Imperial City, I hire a personal investigator to investigate the reason for your divorce. Originally, the news of your divorce was not spread to the public, but I found out."
"That's right, those baseless rumors were on me. I used several methods to tell everyone that Xian Zihao had divorced. Only then can I approach him! You must understand that I am, after all, the daughters of the Shi Family. If I want to chase a man, I certainly can not embarrass my father! Therefore, your divorce news must be spread!"
