Chapter 4 Encounter, Reunion (3)

But she had no spare clothes to change into. After finishing her water and thanking Grandma, she sat down to continue writing her article.

Looking around, she noticed everyone in the classroom was staring at her. She smiled, thinking of sharing the candy in her bag with them, but when she looked, they were all soaked. Her smile became a bit embarrassed.

Grandma also smiled, waving her hand dismissively, "We have food, don't worry, won't you eat?"

Tu Hengsha shook her head, realizing she hadn't eaten all day, with nowhere to eat in sight—no water, no electricity, all the restaurants on the street were closed.

An elderly gentleman brought over a steaming bowl of instant noodles, his expression full of dismay, and handed Grandma the fork, "I did the best I could under the circumstances. Make do for now, and when the water recedes, I'll cook you something delicious."

Tu Hengsha felt a warmth in her heart at this and glanced at the noodles. They were quite the luxurious version of instant noodles—with sausage, marinated egg, shredded pickled vegetables, filling the bowl to the brim, topped with a circle of red chili oil that made it look quite appetizing.

Grandma's eyes shone with satisfaction, "This is already quite good." She reached out to take the bowl.

But the elderly gentleman wouldn't let go, "I'll hold it for you; it's hot, you eat."

Grandma smiled, skewering a piece of sausage with the fork and bringing it to the gentleman's mouth, "You eat first."

For some reason, Tu Hengsha found her eyes welling up with tears. It was so lovely. Even when hair turns gray, one still tries every trick to make tasty food for the other, and if there's something to eat, one always thinks of letting the other taste it first...

She had grown up without a father in her life. If her dad hadn't been imprisoned years ago, would she be able to witness such scenes in her own family?

She picked up her camera and captured the moment, then focused back on her writing.

She planned to send two articles back to her newspaper agency: one reporting the overall situation of the flood disaster and the other highlighting the touching moments she had photographed, including the one just now, pulled together in a special feature.

This time, she wrote with total concentration, not even distracted by others moving tables around her. That is until a man's voice interrupted, "Hello, if your device is fully charged, could you spare me an outlet?"

"Oh, oh, sorry, of course!" She hurriedly replied. There was only one power strip with three outlets in the classroom. Since no one else was using it, she had plugged in her phone, laptop, and camera batteries.

Hearing his request, she immediately unplugged two of them and looked up at the newcomer with an apologetic smile.

Her chair was already wobbly, and as she looked up, she instinctively leaned back slightly. Just as the man's face came into her view, she let out a shrill scream, followed by a crash, and she, along with the chair, fell over backward. Her muddy shoe flew off, its whereabouts unknown.

When she scrambled up from the ground, she was met with roaring laughter from the classroom and the cold face of the man in front of her. To make matters worse, there was a muddy imprint on his clean face, and in one hand, he was holding her shoe...

"Um... ah... I... sorry... let me... wipe it off for you..." She tried to stay calm, but she just couldn't! Her voice was trembling! Her hands were trembling! Her whole body was trembling! Her heart was shaking so much it was a total mess; she was even breathing in tremors!

Still trembling, she fumbled in her bag for a packet of Tissue to hand to him. Though the tissues were damp, they were still usable, "Sorry... I didn't mean to..."

How could she be blamed? How could she, when a person who had been absent for over a dozen years suddenly appeared in front of her without warning?