TN: Those not familiar with what has been going on in chinese TV pls go to the bottom of the page to gather information.
"I"m going to be late! I won"t manage it in time."
"Let me through, please"
"Let me through, please"
On a small road within the market of Jian An, Su Lin (苏林) dashed through the street, avoiding the human crowd shuffling around. It was already 7:50 am, which means he only had 10 more minutes until cla.s.s begins.
"If I had known that the vegetable market was this big, I wouldn"t have tried to cut corners…"
The vendors of the market were bargaining about all kind of vegetables. The commotion of the crowd filled the whole market. Su Li was extremely annoyed as he shouted and shoved to squeeze through the crowd.
"I"m doomed! Yesterday cla.s.s teacher Lin already warned me that she"ll call my parents if I"m late again this week! But I ignored the alarm today and it turned out like this.
It won"t work, it won"t work. Today teacher Lin is supposed to be on guard duty, If she catches me after the bell, then…"
He was already late two times this week even though Su Lin tried to be on time.
Who made this May"s weather so excellent for sleeping? In fact, Su Lin was certain, that anybody who doesn"t sleep in this weather is like a pig without a heart or soul.
"Whatever, I still have 10 minutes. As long as I pa.s.s through this market and turn a corner, then walk through a trail, I"ll be able to see Jian An"s gate. Afterwards, if I sprint from there on I should be in school on time, just as the school bell rings." Surin hurriedly figured out after looking at his cheap 10 Yen watch on his hand.
Finally, after three long minutes, Su Lin managed to emerge from the battlefield full of mothers. (苏林总算是在大妈当中杀出了一条血路。)
"There are still six to seven minutes left — better run — I"ll certainly make it in time!"
He took another glance at the watch and sighed in relief. With newfound motivation he prepared himself to run all the way to the school. However at the exit of the market he noticed a bunch of people twittering about something they were gawking at, which he couldn"t see because the crowd was in the way.
"Why are there so many people hanging around? What happened over there? Is it a car accident? No, that can"t be, this market prohibits vehicles from driving inside…"
Peeking quickly to satisfy his curiosity won"t take much time. Generally chinese people like to entertain themselves with commotion, anyway. Su Lin also joined the crowd and stuck his head out to look inside.
In the center of the onlookers, a white haired grandma was clutching her chest and groaning painfully. It looked like she felt ill. The spectators were tweeting and discussing, somebody ought to send the grandmother to a hospital. But although many people were talking n.o.body actually stepped out to help her.
"Ai ya! This old woman fell ill, somebody quickly take her to a hospital. You strong young men over there, how can you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds not help her?
"I want to, but if I take her to the hospital and get tricked, what am I then supposed to do?
"Quickly, think up something, or else the old woman won"t make it"
"Just call an ambulance then, why won"t anybody call one?"
"Somebody else had fallen here once as well.. However even though the ambulance arrived, it had been all for naught. It was because this market doesn"t even allow the ambulance to drive in…"
"Grandma…"
After listening to the crowd Su Lin understood the situation. The people feared that once they sent the sick grandmother to the hospital they might shamelessly get duped by the grandmother. Lately such events have been reported quite often on the television, so now people hesitate before helping anyone in need.
As he watched the grandmother laying on the ground twitching in pain, Su Lin"s heart began to ache as he remembered his own grandmother. It struck the core of his heart. He didn"t dwell on his thoughts anymore but instead bolted out of the crowd to rescue her. Charging forward he carried grandma in his arms to the direction of the market"s exit. As long as she exits the market she can always take a taxi to the city hospital.
"Youngster, you did well."
"Isn"t he afraid of being swindled?"
"You helped her even though she might bite you, ai"
Su Lin ignored the crowd because he only wanted to save her, regardless of the opinion of society, no matter whether there is blackmail or not. A person shouldn"t ignore their conscience because of these things.
"Hold on grandma, I"ll send you to a hospital quickly."
Su Lin had already been delayed by the crowd for long enough. Both of his feet were flying away, knowing that every second counted for grandmother. The only thought on Su Lin"s mind was to take her to the hospital as soon as possible.
"Faster… Faster… A little bit faster"
Su Lin was 1.7 meters high and a little bit slim, because he already had carried grandmother for quite some distance he was already panting heavily. Nonetheless, he struggled to hold on because Su Lin could already hear the sirens of an ambulance. He only needed to race around the corner to be able to see the road.
"Young man, thank you."
Struck by her sickness the grandmother struggled to keep her eyes open. After witnessing the sweating Su Lin, she was grateful to him.
"Grandma, you don"t need to thank me, just hold on until we reach the ambulance. It is only down the road , you"ll be in the hospital soon.
Huu~
With his remaining strength Su Lin finally emerged out of the alley. The ambulance parked at the entrance of the market and the doctors were unloading the stretcher at that time, ready to save the sick grandma.
"Hurry— Doctor— Help— grandma—"
Before long the grandmother was boarded into the ambulance with extremely care by the doctors.. Su Lin was already gasping for breath so deeply that he couldn"t form complete words anymore.
"Young man, fortunately you have managed it in time, you can be a.s.sured! Leave the rest to us."
He saw the doctor examining grandma with ease, not talking to Su Rin anymore, instead entering the ambulance van and driving towards the hospital as they kept a lookout to help even more people.
Looking at the ambulance driving away Su Lin let a breath loose. He cast a glance at his watch, remembering that he himself still had to rush to his school, and right now it was already 7:57 with only three minutes remaining until cla.s.s.
"I"m doomed! There"s no time-" Su Lin shouted anxiously. Though unknown to him the G.o.d of time watched how he had saved the grandma through the infinitive time and s.p.a.ce amidst the nothingness of somewhere.
The Time G.o.d heard the shout of Su Lin and waved his wand. Suddenly a blue hue flew across the myriad of s.p.a.ce and time, finally inserting itself into Su Lin"s body.
"Since you don"t have time, this G.o.d will give you time. "
Shortly after the blue hue entered Su Lin"s body, his whole body shook and he almost fell to the ground.
"What happened? Why do I suddenly feel so cold—"
After a while, the cold seemed to have disappeared. Su Lin bolted to the school once more. Saving the grandma had delayed his time, but luckily it had been in the same direction as he had to go. From here on to Jian"an he only needed around 1000 meters.
da da da (SFX: running)
500 meters, 300 meters
He only had one more minute, if he runs a little bit faster then he"ll be on time.
Su Lin could already see teacher Lin Qingxue guarding the gate from the distance. At the same time she also saw Su Lin bolting to the gate with his bag in his hands, just as the bell rang.
"Oh! No—"
Dang Dang Dang—!
The bells were ringing, signaling the start of the cla.s.ses . For Su Lin it sounded like they were announcing his death, grave bells.
"Just a little bit more, just a tiny little bit more… Ah, if only time would stop, then everything would be alright, I wouldn"t be late.
Because he helped the grandmother he was late, but Su Rin didn"t regret it once, he just wished he could have a little bit more time or even better stop time. That way he wouldn"t get caught being late by teacher Lin Qingxue.
Who could have known that as Su Rin was thinking the whole world suddenly halted. Su Rin couldn"t believe what was happening in front of his eyes. Up ahead Su Lin"s teacher was about to call him to her while the willow trees were swaying with the wind at the sides of the school.
Quiet. Everything was quiet.
No! Su Rin found out, that everything except him was quiet, but he himself could still move.
Su Rin was still running, just as, strangely, everything around him became quiet. Su Rin however didn"t stop running to the campus.
He ran in front of his teacher. She was wearing a black suit, a slightly transparent white shirt underneath it, together with a small leather skirt and black stockings, not making a single movement while he looked at her. Su Rin found this quite weird and went in front of her. But she was still ignoring him. Even her hair was frozen mid air.
"What happened? Why…Why isn"t anything moving at all?"
Su Rin was frightened, but still ran into the school first, taking 10 seconds. After he looked at the watch on his hand, he noticed that the hands of the watch weren"t moving at all. He thought it was broken, the clock standing still at 8.01, the pointer not moving at all.
But after looking around again Su Rin was confident that time really stopped, literally everything around him, except himself, everything around him was quiet.
Quietness! The quietness was scary, there were no traces of sound, it was deathstill.
Frightening, too frightening, this feeling, a dead silence, without a trace of anything living.
Scary!
Su Rin was really scared, what if he had to live in this static time and s.p.a.ce forever? This was simply unimaginable.
"Move! Just move! Come on watch, just move already一"
Su Rin was filled with endless fear, shouting at his watch. As the thoughts came everything around him suddenly revived again.
The quietness caused by Time reverted back to before.
The wind blew again, the willow trees swayed again, the sound of the students chattering early in the morning filled the campus again and Su Rin heard the surprised Lin Qingxue standing at the entrance.
"Yi? Strange… Just now I saw that little brat Su Rin outside of the school, running. I warned him just yesterday, but today he was late again. This is weird, how can people suddenly disappear? Did I just imagine it?"
After listening to Lin Qingxue"s surprised muttering, Su Rin understood that time started to flow again after he entered the school.
Since she didn"t find him yet he hurriedly tried to enter the third year cla.s.srooms.
Just as Su Rin was about to slip away Lin Qingxue turned around and spotted him, quickly shouting: "Stop right there, Su Rin!!"
Extra Info for comprehension. The tricked part referred by the people inside the chapter goes as follows.
One person is poor and can’t afford health insurance.
He collapses/is in need of advanced help.
Somebody else saves him.
They go to the hopsital and that person gets treated.
That person can’t pay for the bills.
He sues his rescuer, saying that the one saving him has to be the one who e.g. pushed him down, because why else would you be so nice?