On My Way - Chapter 31

Chapter 31 - The Rainstorm Over the Grassland

The peak of summer on the grassland is a time of truly flourishing vegetation and vast, boundless seas of clouds.

But at the same time, it brings clouds of mosquitoes—the kind whose sheer numbers could truly bite a person to death—along with UV rays that make your head spin with dizziness.

Workers began to suffer from heatstroke one after another, and the construction schedule began to stretch out again. Zhao Yu grew so anxious that his mouth broke out in blisters.

I went to the cafeteria myself to supervise, pushing them to make the food more appetizing. I had them add mung bean jelly, cold noodles with sesame sauce, and spicy pickled cabbage to the existing menu of sour rice porridge, braised pickled vegetables, and boiled mutton.

Watermelons and popsicles were delivered to the site by the truckload.

I made sure we served whatever would stimulate their appetites or help them beat the heat. I was terrified that if the workers didn’t eat well and felt dizzy, they might fall from the scaffolding; if a safety accident occurred, we would be forced to stop work entirely.

But the project was delayed regardless.

The outsourced construction team was mediocre to begin with, and they always harbored thoughts of cutting corners. Their work failed inspections several times. As time went on, the face of the client’s supervisor grew as long as a donkey’s.

The deadline kept slipping.

Zhao Yu, who was already on edge, became even more irritable. He would patrol the site with a megaphone, cursing at people, saying directly: "If any grandson tries to slack off on me again, get out!"

The atmosphere at the site became scorched and tense; people even ran when they had to go to the restroom.

I was no exception. Zhao Yu and I held several meetings, and in the end, we could only resort to the previous method: a zoned responsibility system. Every area had a designated person in charge, and we had specific people tracking exactly how much work was completed by each person every day, reporting it layer by layer.

This put an end to slacking and laziness, but it also doubled our workload.

I was so busy that my vision went black.

The only person on the entire site who remained idle was Harina.

She and Qinglong had changed their meeting spot to our construction site. After Qinglong finished unloading his cargo, she would come over, and the two kids would dangle their feet while eating free watermelon.

In the midst of my hectic schedule, I still had to throw a wad of paper at Qinglong’s head whenever he reached his hand into Harina’s shirt.

"Listen to me! If you dare to mess around before Harina is an adult, I’ll castrate you!"

"Sis—"

Qinglong protested indignantly while Harina giggled beside him.

Whenever this happened, I would feel a bit of longing for Cheng Xia.

His treatment was going smoothly. His psychologist said he was very willing to open up, and his somatic symptoms were gradually decreasing.

Correspondingly, our contact had diminished.

At dinner yesterday, I called him and said, "The site is too busy this month; I might not be able to come back."

"It’s okay, I’ll go see Grandma for you."

I paused, then asked, "What are you doing?"

"Playing basketball!" He sounded out of breath. Someone called his name in the background, and he said, "Coming!"

Then he told me, "I’ll call you when I get home!"

Looking out from the cafeteria window, there was the endless grassland, topped with layers of golden, hazy clouds.

I watched for a long time, swallowing down a sudden moment of panic along with my mutton dumplings.

——

That night, I didn’t answer Cheng Xia’s call.

Because we had begun an overnight push to catch up on the schedule.

Twelve-hour shifts for workers and twenty-four-hour rotations for those in charge were not actually uncommon on construction sites, but we didn’t have enough workers, and given the weather, I didn’t really agree with it.

But Zhao Yu was insistent: "The weather here is fickle; there’s going to be a rainstorm in a couple of days. If we don’t push the progress through the night now, what’s the point of this project? If you block the door with an egg, everything is ruined."

I wanted to say that the tension on a construction site can’t be pulled too tight; if it’s too tight, a minor incident will cause the whole thing to snap.

But then I thought, how many projects has Zhao Yu done, and how many have I done? Who was I to command him?

So, I said nothing more.

After high-intensity supervision and overnight work, the progress of the project visibly caught up.

Zhao Yu followed through the whole time, able to endure more than anyone else. His eyes looked like two bright red lanterns.

I couldn't endure as well as he could. I always remembered what Cheng Xia said to me: the more restless and impetuous you feel, the more you need to live life well.

I squeezed in five or six hours of sleep whenever I could to keep my head clear.

That night, I was sleeping amidst the noise of the construction.

Perhaps it was because I was too exhausted, but when I woke up, I found over a dozen missed calls on my phone.

My heart sank heavily.

Just then, the phone rang again. It was Tyrannosaurus.

"What happened?" I asked, putting on my clothes.

"Boss." The background was noisy, but his voice was surprisingly calm. "If... if I don't make it, please help take care of my daughter."

——

At 4:50 AM, I arrived at the accident site.

It was a fractured bridge deck, the twisted jagged edges looking like the uneven fangs of a giant beast.

The wreckage of one vehicle was still hanging there; the two vehicles in front were already gone.

Cool liquid slowly ran down my face. Zhao Yu was right—it was raining.

The rain fell harder and harder. I stood in the rain, watching the rescue workers busying themselves in the water. Countless voices were shouting something, but I couldn’t hear anything at all.

I could only see them pull a person from the mud.

A young, strong boy—Qinglong.

He had never looked so pale, white as an infant made of jade, lying there silently. He would never again dash across the grassland on a white horse full of spirit, nor would he call me "sister" with a mischievous grin.

He was dead.

——

"Things like this happen often, don't keep crying," Zhao Yu said. "We still have to continue with the construction schedule."

We were at the city hospital, where Tyrannosaurus was currently in emergency surgery.

This was the first time I did not reply to my boss.

It was an old-fashioned stone arch bridge with an eight-ton load limit.

The trucks themselves weighed twenty tons, and with the severely overloaded cargo, the total was a full sixty tons. When three trucks from the transport fleet passed over the bridge at the same time, the deck collapsed violently.

Qinglong’s truck sank into the river on the spot. In the vertigo of the collapse, he hadn’t even had time to open the door to escape.

Tyrannosaurus had been in that vehicle as well. He was originally with the fleet to handle business, and the violent impact left him severely injured.

However, the driver was experienced and managed to jump from the vehicle with him.

The others called the police, and while bleeding profusely, Tyrannosaurus had made his last call to me.

He didn’t have many friends, was divorced, and his daughter was in middle school. He was working his life away to make money.

I couldn't stand outside his operating room and say that this didn't matter, that this was insignificant compared to a "great project."

While Zhao Yu was still chattering away, giving me instructions on how to handle the aftermath, Hai Lan, the other construction worker I had brought with me, suddenly said, "Director Zhao, do you even treat people as human beings?"

Zhao Yu stopped. "What did you say?"

"You big shots sit there strategizing, acting like any sacrifice is worth it for a project. Have you ever thought that we ants also have parents, need to sleep, and are living, breathing human beings!"

Hai Lan’s eyes were bloodshot. She roared, "I’m not doing this anymore!"

That string, in the end, had finally snapped.

——

Tyrannosaurus was eventually out of danger, but he was clearly unable to continue working.

Many others quit just like Hai Lan. This was the largest wave of resignations since the founding of S Construction; the entire project team had practically collapsed.

I wanted to collapse too, but I couldn't.

Zhao Yu gathered everyone for a meeting to review the accident and set a new timeline.

I spoke up: "There are two main issues with this incident. First, the Hoholu Bridge where the accident occurred is ancient and has a limited load capacity, which is why most fleets choose the new bridge, but the Weisheng fleet chose this one. Second, the cargo was severely overloaded, and with three trucks crossing at once, the collapse occurred..."

I hadn't even finished speaking when the conference room door was kicked open.

Qinglong's family members rushed in, grabbing Zhao Yu’s collar with emotional intensity, crying out Qinglong's name in Mongolian.

Zhao Yu couldn't dodge in time, and the entire conference room fell into chaos.

Harina, looking disheveled, walked to my side and whispered:

"They said, if you hadn't been pushing the schedule like it was a death warrant, Qinglong never would have gone onto that bridge."

"You are the ones who killed Qinglong. You have to pay with your lives."

I looked into her cold eyes and felt a chill run through me.

Looking past Harina, who stood as still as a wooden sculpture, I saw a Cullinan parked in the courtyard outside; it was clearly the vehicle that had brought these people here.

The young master from Beicang Transport was looking over in this direction, looking bored.

When our eyes met, a smile slowly bloomed on that handsome face.