Returning to the entrance of the supermarket, Shen Changan found his bicycle, saddle scorching hot from the sun. He entered the supermarket and bought some fruits-vegetables and meat, staring at the bike for a long time in agony, before gritting his teeth and sitting on it.
After working in the department for over a week, he found the workload very light and the job itself was not particularly dangerous. He clocked in and out on time every day, and there was even a two-hour break at noon. Shen Changan began to understand why his colleagues referred to it as the pension department.
Back in the community where he lived, Shen Changan noticed an old man attempting to carry a bag of rice up the stairs. He was about to offer his help when the old man beat him to it and said, "I'm physically strong."
Alright alright, you're old but vigorous.
Shen Changan followed behind the old man, slowly ascending the stairs. After they reached the fourth floor, the old man set down the bag of rice and asked him, "Are you new here?"
"Yes, I moved here just a week ago, living upstairs from you. If there's anything you..."
"Only you live upstairs. Be careful about your safety." The old man glanced at him, then single-handedly dragged the bag of rice into his apartment and closed the door right in front of Shen Changan.
This old man is quite cool.
Shen Changan neatly arranged the groceries he had bought into the refrigerator. He quickly prepared his meal and then indulged in his bad habit of eating while watching TV.
In order to better understand the local customs and traditions, he had been watching the local TV station of Wuming City for the past few days. Surprisingly, the daily program at noon, which focused on family stories, was quite interesting.
Today's episode featured a primary school student causing a stir by claiming that there were ghosts in their house, which frightened the adults. After thorough investigation, it turned out the new school session was about to start in two weeks and the bear child hadn't completed a single word of summer homework, so he resorted to lying. He made this big plan to dispose of his summer homework notebook, leaving no evidence behind.
In the final interview segment, the child, whose face was mosaiced, persistently insisted that there were ghosts in their home. Sitting next to him, the child's father wore a look of forbearance that seemed to say "this is my own flesh and blood, and cannot be beaten to death" all over his face.
After finishing his meal and tidying up the kitchen, Shen Changan received a call from Director Du informing that there was someone in Shen Changan's residential area attempting to commit suicide by jumping off a building, and asked him to hurriedly go and take a look.
Shen Changan quickly put on his work badge and hurried downstairs. As soon as he got out of the building where he lived, he could see firefighters and police gathered around the building on the opposite side of his own building. Perhaps due to the scorching sun, there weren't many people drawn to watch the commotion.
When they saw him approaching, a dark-skinned firefighter extended his hand to stop him. "On such a hot day, don't come to watch the spectacle. The person involved is emotionally unstable, and having too many people around might affect their state of mind. It's alright for you to watch the spectacle, but what if it leads to someone's death?"
Shen Changan handed over his work badge to the firefighter, not paying much attention to the other party's tone. "What happened here?"
"So, you're from the Department of Social Welfare." A young policeman who had just gotten out of the patrol car approached, glancing at Shen Changan's work badge with a subtle expression. "Leave this to us to handle. You can take a few pictures of the scene to report to the superiors and then go back to enjoy your tea and beat the heat."
Young man, with such strong contempt in your tone, do you know how easy it is to offend people?
Shen Changan adjusted his glasses and saw a firefighter on the top floor securing himself with a safety rope, preparing to approach the person involved while the person was distracted. Behind the person, he faintly spotted the figures of two police officers in the room, presumably trying to persuade the person.
The inflatable cushion on the ground wasn't fully inflated yet. If the person jumped at this moment, even if they didn't die, they would be half-crippled. However, the person was highly agitated, with their upper body frequently leaning outward, posing great danger.
"Why do I feel like... someone is pulling that person outward?"
Shen Changan looked back and found that the person speaking was a child whose forehead was wet with sweat.
The child shrank back when he noticed Shen Changan looking at him.
"Little handsome, tell Uncle why you think that." Shen Changan squatted in front of the child, smiling warmly at him.
The child looked at him suspiciously, and couldn't help but take two steps back. The mother said that the adults who were bafflingly cheerful outside and randomly address themselves as uncles or aunts might not only be kind-hearted people, they could also be swindlers.
"Ah!"
A woman who had been watching the spectacle from under the shade of a tree screamed, and Shen Changan quickly looked up. The person who was about to jump off the building was already halfway outside the window. The two policemen trying to persuade them were desperately holding onto one of their legs, with half of their bodies leaning out as well.
Upon seeing this, Shen Changan rushed into the building, and the two policemen waiting downstairs also quickly followed him as they raced upstairs. The young policeman, who had previously regarded Shen Changan with contempt, couldn't help but doubt what exactly the other person had been fed. In just a few seconds, he had left them trailing far behind.
Inside the person's apartment, Shen Changan noticed that not only were two policemen trying to hold onto the man attempting to jump, but also a woman and a child were also pulling him back. The child's face was flushed red, and he kept shouting, "Dad, don't jump! I promise, I will definitely do my homework in the future.”
Shen Changan reached out to lift the child aside. Then, he extended his hand to pull the man. However, as he exerted force, he couldn't help but furrow his brows. Why is this person so heavy? Is he pulling a person or a load of steel?
The policeman next to him, desperately trying to hold onto the person, had blood seeping from his gums and veins popping on his neck and forehead. Shen Changan took a deep breath and pulled the man up with all his might!
Failed to pull him up...
"Hey!" Shen Changan peeked out and looked at the man hanging outside. He furrowed his eyebrows. Taking a deep breath, he again pulled with all his might, and this time he effortlessly pulled the man back in, as if the heaviness that made it hard to breathe earlier was just his imagination.
After being dragged back into the room, the man's body kept convulsing, his eyes filled with fear.
"Now you know to be afraid?" Shen Changan leaned against the wall, gasping for breath. The other two exhausted policemen simply sat on the ground.
The air conditioner in the room was not turned on, and it felt like being inside a steamer. The policeman who had followed Shen Changan upstairs, huffing and puffing, saw that everyone was fine and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Comrade, thank you for lending a hand just now. Otherwise, the two of us wouldn't have been able to hold on much longer." The older police ofiicer, who was slumped on the ground with bleeding gums, smiled gratefully at Shen Changan, his voice uneven. "In all my years on the force, I rarely had to pull someone so heavy."
Shen Changan glanced at the man lying on the ground. He wasn't fat, just sturdy-looking, and seemed somewhat familiar. Isn't this the father from that Small Household Affairs program on the noon TV show, the one who refrained from hitting his bear child?
Is being a parent so difficult now, huh? Was the child so unwilling to do their homework that the father ended up as far as being driven to jump off the building in anger?
Shen Changan looked at the child, who was crying with snot and tears. He felt that this child would definitely finish his homework earnestly in the future.
The young policeman who had mocked Shen Changan earlier approached him with a blushed face, whispering his thanks towards him.
"What?" Shen Changan looked at him innocently, as if he didn't hear what he was saying clearly.
"Thank you for helping our Officer Li, and I'm sorry." The young policeman knew that Shen Changan was being pretentious, but he still repeated, "I offended you just now downstairs."
Seeing the other person blushing with embarrassment, Shen Changan smiled sweetly and said, "It's okay, I've always been magnanimous. I won't take such a small matter to heart." After all, he was accustomed to addressing such trivial matters on the spot.
The hostess of the house finally snapped out of her fear and repeatedly thanked them.
Medical personnel arrived and carried the delirious man downstairs. The hostess and the child also followed the medical staff as they left.
As Shen Changan was about to leave, the man known as Officer Li called out to him.
"Comrade, is this your business card?" Officer Li picked up a black and gold business card from the ground. Perhaps because the balcony outside was too bright, and the light reflected on the business card so he couldn't see clearly what was printed on it.
"Thank you." Unexpectedly, this business card had fallen out. Shen Changan reached out and took it. Passing by the master bedroom's bathroom, he heard water gushing loudly. He casually helped the homeowner turn off the faucet.
Conserving water is a noble virtue, isn't it?
After taking just a couple of steps, the faucet started to rattle again. He turned around and saw the water flowing out again.
"Is the faucet broken?" He tapped the faucet a few times, and it finally stopped leaking. To prevent it from leaking again after he left, he found a thin rope in the living room and tied it around the faucet handle.
"What are you doing?" The young policeman, who was preparing to leave, noticed his actions and curiously asked, "Are you also a part-time plumber?"
"The homeowner isn't coming back anytime soon, so I'm temporarily securing the faucet for them." Shen Changan found a piece of paper, took out a pen, and left a note asking the homeowner to have the faucet replaced. He casually placed the paper on the bathroom sink.
Unsure whether it was his imagination, the young policeman felt that the faucet trembled slightly, as if it was afraid.
He rubbed his eyes. Had he been so exhausted from catching the criminals these past few days that he was feeling dizzy?
"I'm Yao Huailin. Shall we exchange contact information?" Seeing that Shen Changan even wiped away the water marks on the bathroom sink for him, the young policeman spoke up.
"I'm Shen Changan." Shen Changan handed his phone to Yao Huailin.
"What's this for?"
"Don't you want to exchange contact information with me? Scan my WeChat QR code."
"Oh." Yao Huailin silently took out his phone and added Shen Changan on WeChat.
"Changan... you have a good name." Thinking about his own actions downstairs earlier, Yao Huailin deliberately boasted, "It sounds very auspicious."
"Yes, I think so too." Shen Changan looked up at the mirror above the sink, which reflected his smiling face.
"Let's go." Yao Huailin glanced at the messy house. "You're not going to help them clean up, are you?"
"Why would you think that?" Shen Changan pointed to the paper with a message on the sink. "I just wanted to remind them that a broken faucet is useless. If they don't replace it, it will waste more water resources."
"Why do you think so?" Shen Changan pointed to the paper on the sink where the message was written, "I just want to remind them that broken faucets are useless, and more water resources will be wasted if they are not replaced."
Yao Huailin: "..."
It turns out that this buddy is still a good baby who saves water.
The two of them went downstairs. The ambulance had already left, and the fire brigade was also tidying up the fire truck, packing the rescue equipment at the scene. Yao Huailin took the initiative and said to Shen Changan, "How about I give you a ride to your workplace?"
"No, I'm afraid people might misunderstand and think I did something wrong, so the police have arrested me." Shen Changan immediately shook his head in refusal. "You know, rumors spread like wildfire, but clarifications are like running a marathon with a broken leg. I cherish my reputation very much."
Yao Huailin scoffed, "Alright, I'll mind my own business."
"Here, take this." Shen Changan pulled out a stack of low-quality leaflets from his pocket and handed it to Yao Huailin.
"What is this?" Yao Huailin opened the leaflet, which had a layout lacking any sense of aesthetics and featured simple and straightforward slogans.
"Both boys and girls are equal."
“Don’t pray to gods when you are sick, go to the hospital to see a doctor…”
Facing Yao Huailin's bewildered expression, Shen Changan spoke slowly, "Take it back and have a look. This is just a small part of the work in our department, promoting the mental well-being of the people. It's urgent."
Facing Yao Huailin's perplexed expression, Shen Changan spoke slowly, "Take it back and have a look. This is just a small part of the work our department is doing—promoting the mental well-being of the people. It's an urgent matter."
Yao Huailin: "..."
Still holding a grudge against his sarcastic remarks from earlier, and yet he had the audacity to call himself magnanimous? 🙄