TWOT Chapter 3
Song Ran was still jet lagged and had yet to adjust to the time difference. She was not feeling sleepy at all even though it was three o'clock in the morning.
Outside the window, the night was shrouded in endless darkness, the rain pitter pattering.
She documented these experiences using flashbacks. When she started writing about the man named ‘Azan’, her pen paused.
In the quiet night, she lifted her head and looked out the window.
The window was old-fashioned and made of wood. It was divided into rows of neat small squares. White plaster and nails were used to embed them into the frame.
The night rain was currently pounding on it, leaving winding water marks on the glass.
She wanted to use some words to describe his appearance, but she only wrote one sentence:
"He has a pair of dark eyes.”
She tried her best to recollect, wanting to write something else for him, when the sound of breaking glass came from downstairs.
She went downstairs to have a look. After returning home, she had opened the window for ventilation and had forgotten to slide it shut before the heavy night rain. It had knocked over a pot of water-growing gold coin grass that was on the side. She closed the window, then placed the grass into another bowl filled with water, and cleaned the mess on the floor.
The several months that she had spent in Dongguo were too dry. When she returned to Liangcheng, it happened to be the plum rainy season. The air was so humid that it felt like she was being immersed into a pool of water.
Due to the damp weather, everything including the floors, walls and furniture were all wet.
Once the rainy season ended, Song Ran planned to find a renovation company to add a moisture-proof layer to the old house.
The architecture of the old house was designed with local characteristics that were typically seen in Liangcheng. It was a two-story building built with red bricks and cement. The bricks were exposed on the exterior, while the interior walls were whitewashed with green skirtings that were about one metre high at the corners. The contrasting colours made everything look clean and fresh. The house faced the south and it had large windows and doors, which were used for ventilation. There was also a stove in the backyard, while the front yard was planted full of flowers, plants and trees. On the second floor there was an open-air staircase, and a large balcony that divided the space in half.
This was her grandmother's house. The elderly woman had passed away a few months earlier, and Song Ran had moved in here from her father's place
Her father lived in an apartment unit that had two bedrooms and one living room. It was old and small. She and her younger step sister, Song Yang, had shared a cramped, ten metre squared bedroom for more than 20 years.
Her family background was very ordinary, Her father's working income was used to support the family of four. Later, their financial situation slightly improved, but Liangcheng's economy had already developed rapidly and housing prices rose. The average price exceeded 30,000, which was beyond the reach of ordinary families.
When Song Ran went to bed, the wind and rain outside the window had gotten stronger. If this weather continued, the flowers in the yard would break and fall.
She slept until noon the next day. Outside the window, the sun was shining brightly and the leaves on the orange trees were drenched with water. It was a landscape full of greenery. When she opened the windows, she could smell the fresh scent of petrichor; however the rain seemed to have left no trace on the treetops and rafters.
In a bluestone alley outside the wall, several women who had just gotten off work were passing by, chatting while carrying vegetables. Children from the schools nearby had also finished school. They were walking with their heads down playing mobile games
Song Ran was leaning against the window side, as she read the news on her phone. The Dongguo rebels had captured two-thirds of Haru City, while the government troops had retreated back to the south of the city.
Since the day before yesterday, over 25000 Chinese citizens had successfully returned home through various transportation channels such as the sea, land and air. The officers and sergeants responsible for the evacuation mission were also expected to return home in the near future.
She looked at the rows of camouflage uniforms in the news photos and sighed sadly.
It was said that the chance of two people encountering each other was one in seven billion.
She wondered if they still had the fate to meet again, however small that may be.
She was in no mood to make lunch, so she filled her stomach with a bowl of instant noodles and went to the television station.
After graduating from university, Song Ran joined the news department of Liangcheng Satellite television and worked there as a reporter. This year in September would mark the two full years that she had been working there
She had just returned from overseas and was supposed to rest until tomorrow. But the current period was special; the war in Dongguo had become a hot topic.
Prior to the war, Liangcheng Satellite television had assigned the most reporters to work in Dongguo in the entire country. The reports were timely, detailed and diverse in their range of topics. At present, the show "War On The Frontlines", was jointly broadcasted live by television stations and online platforms. It had achieved the highest ratings in the country during its screening on weekdays.
In the studio, the hosts, experts, guests, and front-line reporters all carried out their work in an orderly manner. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the directors, editors and copywriters were bustling around, busily working.
Just as Song Ran arrived at the television station, she received a notification. It mentioned that the program team needed to make a post-credits overview of Dongguo's cities before the war, and wanted her to provide some content material. This was not difficult for her. She quickly cropped out several 20 second videos from her filming collection, and submitted them to the director for selection.
Many of the stories recorded would be lost in the files of her computer, remaining unknown to the world.
When it was almost time to get off work, their supervisor, Liu Yufei called everyone for a meeting. The ratings for "War On The Frontlines" continued to rise, and the ministry wanted to add a small subsidiary program after the show to draw in more ratings and advertisements.
If it wasn't for this special period, Song Ran and the other new reporters wouldn't have had the right to speak up during the program planning process. As a result, everyone greatly valued this opportunity.
Her colleague Shen Bei suggested that they include some future predictions on the turn out of the war. She majored in international relations and excelled in this area. Shen Bei's father was the leader of the Provincial Publicity Department. The instant she spoke up, none of the other co-workers would dare speak another word.
Liu Yufei thought the idea was good, but also not quite enough and asked, "Are there any other suggestions?”
Song Ran thought for a while and said, "I think we could talk about the common people of Dong Guo, and the lives they led before the war.”
Liu Yufei and Shen Bei both looked over.
Song Ran said, "When most people see war on the news, they feel a sense of distance and that it's happening in a place far away from them. If they see the lives of ordinary people, it may bring them closer to the story.”
Liu Yufei thought her idea was more interesting and said, "I'm just afraid it would make the show too depressing and painful .”
"It won't be depressing, or stimulating. It'll be like a short documentary. A record of their daily lives along with their moments of laughter and happiness.”
Her colleague Xiaodong praised, "If this is the case, then the idea is very exceptional.”
Shen Bei said, "The amount of content material required would be very high. It's considered in-depth interviewing. The reports you did outside have all been used by the earlier broadcasts. You have to consider the issues of originality and perspective. It's also difficult to meet the requirements of the content material.”
Song Ran said, "I have 837 hours of filming material here, among which include 269 hours of interviews. There are also more than 4,000 photographs, and 70,000 to 80,000 words of written material.”
All the people in the room paused.
Her colleague Xiaoqiu said, "Oh my god, Ran Ran, are you still human? You've only been there for less than three months, right?”
Her colleague Xiaoxia said, "The nickname 'Recording Maniac' really isn't just for show.”
Liu Yufei laughed, "Alright, I'll discuss it with the higher ups for a moment.”
Just as she packed her things and left the conference room, Shen Bei passed by her and said, "Congratulations.”
Song Ran said: "It's not guaranteed to be approved by the higher ups."
Shen Bei smiled and walked away on her high heels.
Her colleague Xiaochun asked, "Hey, if there wasn't a new program, what would you have done with the material?”
Song Ran smiled and said, "I planned to write it into a book, and record it into images. It won't go to waste.”
Her colleagues Chun, Xia, Qiu, and Dong, "...”
This was probably the difference between true passion and work.
When the results came out that night, Liu Yufei informed her to write a detailed plan for the project.
Song Ran hunched over her desk working late into the night. It rained heavily again that evening. The air was so humid that even the paper had become soft and damp. She meticulously wrote down her thoughts and opinions on the program's design, length, style and narrative, also outlining a series of memorable stories about ordinary people. All of this filled up ten pages. Upon completion, she titled the program plan: ‘The Life Records of Dong Guo’.
The next afternoon, Song Ran still had dark circles under her eyes. She received news that her plan had been approved. However, her leader felt the title was too literary and not straight forward enough, so it was replaced with ‘Dong Guo Pre-War Records’.
Well, Song Ran thought to herself, it's certainly straightforward enough now, you can't get any more straightforward than that.
Two weeks later, Liangcheng Satellite television's ‘Dong Guo Pre-War Records’ was released and was broadcasted as a side program to 'War On The Frontlines’. No one expected its explosive popularity, including Song Ran.
Amidst the war, countless refugees had been displaced from their homes and news of civilian casualties were being continuously reported. Against this backdrop, television news media across the country started a barrage of reports on the war in Dong Guo. Liangcheng Satellite television's ‘Dong Guo Pre- War Records’ became a breath of fresh air——
The show featured short stories of Dong Guo before the war. Showcasing the country's peaceful and quiet life, its underlying turmoil as well as the choices made by its common people in the face of the future. The series attracted widespread attention and discussion. Less than two weeks after its release, the number of ratings and word-of-mouth topics continued to rise.
Similar to a documentary, the show had an objective and calm narrative style, and it was also widely praised.
Among the series of short stories, the videos about the bell-ringing performers, and the bickering couple selling barbecue meat on the streets had made it onto the hot search lists of various website forums.
Song Ran's name has also appeared on various news media platforms. She had accepted several interviews and even received an invitation from a best-selling book editor.
But compared to the success at work, Song Ran was more concerned about the fact that it had rained for a whole month in June. She wondered if it was because of the long rainy season that her mood had been unusually low recently. She felt okay during working hours, but once she got off work, she couldn't seem to muster the energy to do anything else. Especially at night, when she would sit alone by the front of the window and stare dazedly at the rain outside for a long time.
Fortunately, due to the show's popularity the amount of overtime work had increased and she had no time to care too much about her suffocating mood.
Despite being a supplementary program, the show had unexpectedly brought forth such effective results that ‘Song Ran’ became a name frequently mentioned by the television station leaders. It was so successful that her colleagues encouraged Song Ran to treat them to dinner.
Song Ran didn't get any substantial benefits at work, but she still decided to splurge just this once and treat everyone to to eat spicy crayfish by the riverside
It was after seven o'clock when the ten colleagues got off work, and crowded into the two cars.
Halfway through the journey, it started to rain again. It was dense and heavy at the beginning, with bead-like raindrops pattering on the roof of the car.
Xiaodong, who was from the North, complained, "Really impressive. There hasn't been a single day this month where it hasn't rained at all. The clothes and quilts at my place are all wet.”
Xiaoqiu sighed, "The main issue here is that the temperature hasn't dropped. It's been hot as hell during the day.”
At first, there were still some remarks being made in the car, but it soon quietened down. This was due to the rain being too heavy. Sitting in the car was like sitting in a tin box that was being constantly pounded on by someone. It was so deafening that it muffled out the sounds of conversation.
Song Ran felt that such a world was actually very quiet, even the harsh honking of the other vehicles was drowned out by the sound of the rain.
The car drove up to an intersection and was blocked by traffic. Car horns beeped in the background.
They were held up by the traffic for a long time and were unable to move. Song Ran lay slumped on the steering wheel, watching the wipers sweep the rain back and forth. The rain was dense and heavy on the windshield. She felt like a fish in an aquarium.
While staring, she suddenly thought of him.
It seemed as if she had sunk to the bottom of the ocean, while sitting in the car. Inexplicably, she felt depressed and short of breath. Her body feeling damp all over.
It was very strange.
It clearly wasn't raining the day that she met him
The climate that day was definitely dry and arid, the sun beating down strongly, with no trace of wind.
The author has something to say:
2. This will be a plain and ordinary story.
I originally created this story three years ago, along with the first few drafts of the chapters. However, aside from the leads’ occupations, everything in the story has changed. After going through several huge revisions in characterisations (male protagonist: wild and domineering - cold and callous - gentle and kind; female protagonist: sexy and wild - scheming - gentle and quiet), they finally became what they are now - two very ordinary people with ordinary personalities. Once thrown into the crowd, they don't appear to attract much attention
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