Time goes back four years ago.

Early winter, early morning in 2014.

The temperature in Hedong dropped below zero, cold and quiet, with only the deserted roads and dim street lights reminding people who are rushing in the dark, and this noisy city also has a lonely side.

Xiangbei was still sleeping, and suddenly a rapid phone call sounded.

"Da Xiang, get up quickly! There is an emergency! The situation is urgent!"

"Uh, I'm crazy, it's late at night."

The tone of the other end of the microphone was like sending an expedited telegram, a series of exclamation marks.

Xiangbei rubbed his eyes, his face full of sleepiness.

"Hey, you boy! It's me, Qu Changguo!"

"Mr. Qu? Sorry!" Hearing the three words Qu Changguo, he immediately turned to the north.

"At around 11 o'clock last night, a fire broke out in Luohe Village, Xincheng Street. The injured were sent to the Municipal People's Hospital. It is said that someone has died." The call was Changguo, deputy director of Beijiang Evening News. "What's strange is that this fire did not occur in a residential area, but in farmland!"

There is a rule in the journalist industry: No matter when and where, you must keep the phone open 24 hours a day. Once there is an emergency, the unit must find you as soon as possible!

A fire broke out in the farmland? People died? How did the two connect together? This is the first time Xiangbei has heard of such a rare thing in his eight years in the journalist industry.

"Luohe Village? Are you talking about which village in the suburbs of Hedong?"

"That's right."

"Have the cause of the fire been identified? Is it an accident or a man-made accident? Is there any other scene? Is there martial law?" Perhaps out of professional sensitivity, he heard the word "dead" and woke up a little bit. While asking Qu Changguo, he turned on the screen of his mobile phone. The time showed that it was 4:23 am and five hours had passed.

Listing a bunch of problems to the north and throwing them to Qu Changguo, caught the other party off guard.

"You boy, do you regard me as your interviewer? If I knew the answer, I wouldn't call you in the middle of the night. I also received the message in my sleep. This is a clue provided by a reliable informant. I have verified it and the news is conclusive. But I can't tell you what's going on. In my opinion, this matter is probably not simple. You also know that Luohe Village is an internet celebrity village this year, and the province has invested hundreds of billions of projects. I didn't expect this to happen at this critical moment."

Qu Changguo's words reminded him that according to Hedong City's plan last year, four or five suburban villages, including Luohe Village, were included in the plan of Hedong's "north-moving and eastward expansion" strategy, especially Luohe Village, which is the top priority of this plan. In the next five years, it is expected to be built into the city's new CBD-Central Business District, in order to drive the entire Hedong City's economy to take off again.

About half a year ago, Xiangbei also posted a manuscript: "The rise of Luohe CBD in Hedong is about to roar."

However, with the advancement of the plan, Luohe Village began to be restless from the second half of this year. Everyone's eyes are focused on this hot land. In people's eyes, the local religions and literacy of large business enterprises are full of business opportunities.

This is a game. Faced with temptation, all kinds of bulls, ghosts, gods and snakes appeared in their true colors. Xiangbei vaguely felt that if this continues, something big will happen sooner or later. Could it be that this time it will really break out?

Xiangbei looked at his wife Zhou Xuecen and son Nuoyi who were still sleeping. They were still asleep, lying in a row and had already squeezed themselves to the edge of the bed.

Since I had a child, my wife quit her job and became a full-time housewife. Now, the child is two years old. At this age, one-third of the day is spent making fun, one-third of the time laughing, and one-third of the time to sleep. This rhythm makes this little family full of every day.

Xiangbei quietly put on his slippers and walked out of the bedroom with a light move.

He turned on the hands-free button and placed his phone on the table. While listening to the phone, he recorded the address and interview requests provided by Qu Changguo.

"I understand, I will complete the task as soon as possible."

"Thank you for your hard work, I'm rushing to the unit now. Let's keep in touch and communicate with each other at any time if there is new progress. In addition," added Qu Changguo, "The situation in Luohe Village is too complicated, please pay attention to safety."

In the early morning of early winter, the rising sun was still struggling to poke his head out. The whole city was shrouded in darkness and haze, as if it was suffocating.

In order to save time, I chose the nearest route north and drove through several alleys. At this time, most people were still sleeping, with only a few vehicles on the street.

In this kind of day, Xiangbei and his colleagues always experience several times a year. Sometimes they finish the emergencies, return to the unit to write articles, and then sniff on the sofa in the office for a few hours before working on new work.

The silence of death in the cold winter

"Even if fate is displaced, even if fate is tortuous and bizarre, even if fate threatens you to be a person, don't cry and feel sad, and you should not give up. I wish to be with you forever."

A classic Cantonese song came from the car audio, with a cheerful rhythm and a drowsy head excited northward. He turned up the volume and his head shaking rhythmically with the music.

The road is lined with newly replaced city propaganda signs: "Civilization is the most beautiful scenery in the city" "Civilization makes the city shine"

These days, Hedong is experiencing the most important period of the year. The entire city is like magic, the facades on both sides of the streets suddenly become clean, there is less psoriasis on the billboards, and the vehicles parked randomly on the roadside have also disappeared.

Looking north at the beautiful scenery, thinking about this sudden errand, thinking about his wife and children's warm kang, he couldn't help but spit out a few dirty words. This emotion surprised and scared him. Could it be that he also became an angry young man? This is not a good sign. After all, any extreme is hidden danger.

Although anyone will complain about this kind of errand, since you have chosen this profession, you should stick to the bottom line. For this reason, Xiangbei has been silently reminding himself over the years, not losing himself, and not letting himself become a "little old tree" that stops growing.

Along the way, the fire in Luohe Village has been appearing in Xiangbei's brain. If it only happened elsewhere, if it was just an ordinary fire, the matter naturally became much more dull. However, if the keywords of death of rural villagers in Luohe Village were listed together, Xiangbei seemed to feel that things might not be as simple as imagined.

It is an hour and a half from the city to Luohe Village. There are fewer cars in the morning, and it only takes one hour to head north to the scene.

The sun has broken through the night, revealing the dark light of egg yellow

The fire scene was in a farmland at the north end of Luohe Village, all the way from the villagers' living area. When we arrived north, the scene was surrounded by villagers, three floors inside and three floors outside. This happened in the middle of the night, who still has the heart to sleep?

The police naturally arrived and set up a cordon. Every few meters, there was a fully armed policeman who could not get close to him.
Chapter completed!