Who's To Blame?

"Zhi Luan!"

Zhi Luan looked up to see Yan Qincheng running toward him.

"You… what are you doing here?"

"I live just a few blocks away. I saw the fire and came running over here. What happened?"

Zhi Luan sighed,

"I have no idea. I was asleep when the old man's voice woke me up. But I woke up to smoke everywhere that I could barely see. And the rest is history…"

There honestly wasn't much Zhi Luan could explain because he too was at a loss for what happened.

Yan Qincheng could only sigh before asking again,

"And you… are you okay? That was a brutal fall you had there…"

"Yeah, I'm alright," replied Zhi Luan bluntly.

As Zhi Luan was answering, a paramedic came to him with a medical kit. She first checked his vital signs by monitoring his heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure. She then checked for fractures, head traumas, and internal bleeding. This was important given that Zhi Luan had just fallen roughly ten feet from the ground. When she was done checking, she looked at Zhi Luan's hands which were covered in blood and pieces of glass.

The paramedic was visibly stunned at the gruesome sight of the injury as she said,

"You did something very reckless, you know."

"I did what I had to do."

"I didn't say it wasn't brave but it's reckless regardless…" replied the paramedic.

She then proceeded to carefully remove the bits and pieces of glass that stuck to Zhi Luan's hands, washed them with clean water, and applied the necessary treatment, before covering them with bandages.

Zhi Luan didn't flinch or twitch the slightest. Also, from her exam, there was no sign of trauma, fracture, or internal bleeding, only a few scratches on his body. Nonetheless, Zhi Luan was advised to go to the hospital to confirm if everything was in order.

Old man Shen was carried off by the ambulance to the hospital. Zhi Luan might have shown no sign of a heavy injury, but the same couldn't be confirmed for old man Shen. Given that he was already unconscious, it was better to take him to the hospital to better monitor his condition.

At this time, the fire was completely extinguished. The firemen took another look through the building to make sure everything was under control before they started packing up. Yan Qincheng was a distance away talking to the chief, when a fireman came up to Zhi Luan.

"Do you work here?" the fireman asked.

"I do."

"I am deeply sorry for your loss, but you should be careful next time. The cause of the fire appears to be a gas leak that wasn't detected on time, or maybe the stove wasn't turned off properly. I'm guessing you were the one who placed those wet blankets all over the place. Thanks to that, the fire didn't spread to the living area and it only sustained minor damages…"

Then, the fireman became serious,

 "Look, your restaurant isn't the first to have an accident like this, and it definitely won't be the last. Accidents like this are common with restaurants, so you mustn't overlook any safety detail, especially when it concerns the kitchen…"

The fireman made his point and was about to leave when he turned around again and said,

"One more thing, it's not safe to leave your doors unlocked after work."

Zhi Luan had listened attentively to what the fireman said, but when he spoke about the door, Zhi Luan couldn't help but crease his brows,

"What happened to which door?"

"The back door was unlocked when I went there. It might have helped us in this situation but it's not safe to leave it unlocked after work… you could get burgled."

This fireman was the one who had led his colleagues to go through the back door. They had narrowly escaped a gas explosion, so he had quite a lot to say. In the end, he had nothing else to say and left. Little time passed and Yan Qincheng concluded her conversation with the chief, and they drove off.

Zhi Luan stood in front of the building with a serious expression. A lot was on his mind, but he didn't know where to begin.

Yan Qincheng walked up to him from behind,

"It looks terrible…"

"They said it was an accident," Zhi Luan stated.

"Accidents like this happen all the time… it's just had to believe when you're the victim. I can't imagine how he'll feel when he wakes up to his restaurant being turned to ashes."

"The Living area didn't sustain much damage…"

"He doesn't care for the living area as much as he does for the restaurant. It's a part of him that reminds him of the blissful life he once had…"

Zhi Luan turned to look at Yan Qincheng,

"Don't look at me like that. Even people as mean and grumpy as him can have blissful lives. I don't think there ever was a time he wasn't like that, only that he had someone to share those feelings with, and that person is deeply tied to the restaurant…"

Yan Qincheng felt a lot of emotions at once. She, more than Zhi Luan knew everything about old man Shen and the history behind him. She knew how highly he valued the restaurant and how much he had sacrificed for it over the years. To suffer such a terrible loss overnight was simply unfair, she thought.

Zhi Luan said nothing and just stood where he was, looking at what remained of the restaurant. He had a thought he wanted to share but he wasn't certain how it would be received. Being the other person living here, it was his responsibility to make sure that the restaurant was completely secure before going to sleep. In other words, though no one except the fireman had said it, it felt like he was indirectly to blame for the accident due to his suspected carelessness, as it had been in other cases similar to this.