A car accident?
As if a nerve ending had been pricked, Su Cui was the first to rush out through the door. The crowd behind her also began to move, the Madonna statue looking down from above at the people below.
Li Guizhi shouted tensely before the painting: "Amen! How could such a thing happen!"
As the crowd moved outward, the Christmas music in the church gradually faded.
There was no moon tonight.
About twenty meters from the crosswalk where Su Cui's group had just walked, a car accident had occurred. The scene was horrifying: a small car had crashed into the wall of a nearby residential compound. The wall was broken open, the entire front of the car was smashed, and the windows were shattered. The car door was open. A man covered in blood was shouting heart-wrenchingly in the middle of the road: "120! Please, help me call 120! I can't find my phone in the car... Please!"
"My wife is about to give birth!"
"My wife is about to give birth!" the man shouted helplessly. His wife lay in his arms, blood pooling beneath her. Not far away was the肇事车辆 (the vehicle that caused the accident). A middle-aged fat man had been pulled out of the driver's seat. The fat man was unsteady on his feet, but he clearly knew what he had done, his eyes wide with fear.
"It wasn't me... I... it wasn't me... I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" the fat man said, his face pale.
"So tragic!" Li Guizhi turned her head away, unable to bear watching.
Su Cui stepped forward, took off her down jacket, and covered the pregnant woman. People from the church came out one after another. Seeing Su Cui take off her jacket at her age, several young men quickly took off their own down jackets, replaced hers, and urged Su Cui to put hers back on.
"Is there a doctor? Anyone who knows how to deliver a baby?" Su Cui looked around and shouted to the crowd in her aged voice.
No one answered.
The pregnant woman's husband was already in tears, holding his wife.
There were no parking spaces near the church. At this hour, those coming to the church lived nearby. The place was remote, and it was inconvenient to hail a taxi. While waiting for the ambulance, some passersby suggested stopping a car to take the pregnant woman to the hospital, but someone noticed the woman had hit the back of her head and was bleeding, so they advised against moving her.
Su Cui put her down jacket back on, her face ashen.
Then she noticed Su Baixue seemed to be trembling slightly, so she said, "Baixue, don't be afraid. There's a hospital near here. The ambulance should be here soon."
Su Baixue hesitated and shook her head, staring straight at the person who had caused the accident, who was now walking out from a distance.
Su Cui sensed that Su Baixue's gaze at the肇事者 (the person responsible) was very strange, so she asked, "Baixue, what are you looking at? Is there something wrong with that person?"
Su Baixue glanced at Su Cui and said worriedly, "Grandma, when I came out, there weren't many people... but before, the driver's seat—who was sitting in it—didn't seem to be that middle-aged man."
"Not that person?"
"Mm, I remember when I first saw it, the driver's seat had a very young person..."
Su Baixue didn't dare say it with certainty. "But when I came out, I was the only one on the whole road. I don't know... if I saw clearly."
Su Baixue clenched her fists. "But I remember the person in the driver's seat was very thin... This person is kind of stocky."
Su Cui's heart tightened.
She walked quickly through the crowd to the肇事车辆 (vehicle that caused the accident). The passenger door was open. If someone had left through that door, it was possible. The community next to the church had excellent greenery; in the darkness, one could slip through the trees and disappear from sight.
Even from the direction on Su Cui's right, there was a path through the small woods leading to the square!
A luxury car?
A scapegoat?
Everything before her felt familiar...
Su Cui returned to Su Baixue's side and pulled her toward Li Guizhi. She said to Li Guizhi, "Guizhi, I have something to do now. I need to leave for a bit. Can you take Baixue home for me?"
"At this hour? Where are you going, Cuihua?" Li Guizhi took Su Baixue's hand.
"I'll be back soon!" Su Cui urged. "Baixue! Go home with Grandma Li first. Grandma is going to buy something and will be home soon. Before I come back, stay with the crowd. When you get home, don't go out and go to bed early, understand?"
Su Cui pulled out her phone. "Call Grandma if anything happens. It's 10:21 now. Grandma will be back soon!"
"Grandma!" Su Baixue looked at Su Cui in confusion. She tried to pull her hand away, but Grandma Li held it tightly, and she couldn't get free.
"You go back first!" Su Cui was in a hurry. Tonight, she felt inexplicably restless and instinctively wanted to leave quickly.
Amid Su Baixue's calls, she ran toward the small woods without looking back. The woods were now empty, the shadows of trees swaying in the wind.
Once Su Cui left the crowd, she began to pick up speed.
...
Soon, firefighters, traffic police, and an ambulance arrived.
Li Guizhi's group prepared to go home.
"Guizhi, where is Cuihua?" an elderly companion asked.
Li Guizhi held Su Baixue's hand. "Cuihua said she wanted to buy something and told us to go on ahead."
"What can you buy at this hour?" the old folks wondered.
"Grandma..." Su Baixue lowered her head, clutching her phone.
As time passed, the wind grew stronger, carrying a damp, rainy scent.
By the time the group reached the old neighborhood, it was raining.
Su Baixue closed the door of her home and looked out the window, restless.
Thinking about the day's events, she felt uneasy.
"Dong dong dong!" Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.