Cangmang Asks the Way 1: Guardian of the Lamp

At six o'clock in the morning, the sky over the southern part of the city was just beginning to brighten.

Cang Lifeng sat at his desk, organizing the completion documents for the Chengnan Farmers' Market. He had been sleeping in his office for the past three days, with an unmade bed still lying on the folding cot behind him. His shirt was from yesterday, the collar slightly wrinkled, but he didn't care. The Chengnan Farmers' Market project had just passed inspection, the quality assurance deposit hadn't been refunded, and the mining machinery factory was pressing for progress payments—a mountain of things awaited him.

The phone on the table suddenly rang, its shrill ringing particularly loud in the quiet of the early morning.

He answered the call.

"Excuse me, is this Comrade Cang Lifeng?" The voice on the other end was unfamiliar.

"I am."

"We are from the Chengnan Branch of the Nancheng Public Security Bureau. Your younger brother, Cang Xiangrong, was injured while stopping a robbery on a long-distance bus and is currently receiving emergency treatment at the Nancheng Military General Hospital. Please come as soon as possible."

Cang Xiangrong, Xiangrong from his third uncle's family, was his younger brother who learned boxing from him for a year and later joined the army.

He gripped the microphone tightly, his voice trembling as he asked, "Where are you hurt? How are you?"

"Stab wound to the chest, currently undergoing surgery."

He didn't ask any more questions, hung up the phone, grabbed his car keys from the table, rushed to the door, only to realize he couldn't drive. He returned to the table, picked up the landline receiver, and dialed the construction site duty room number. After three rings, it was answered; it was Mr. Chen's sleepy voice.

"Old Chen, it's me. Drive the car downstairs right away and head to the military hospital."

Master Chen didn't ask why, he just replied "okay" and hung up the phone.

Cang Lifeng rushed out of the office and ran down the stairs in a few quick steps. He stood at the entrance of the construction site, his hands in his pockets, fists clenched.

Less than five minutes later, the Zhongzhi Construction van came around from behind and stopped in front of him. He opened the door and got in.

"Military General Hospital, quick!" he said urgently.

The van drove out of the construction site gate. There weren't many cars on the streets in the early morning, so Mr. Chen pressed the accelerator hard.

Cang Lifeng sat in the back seat, his hands gripping the back of the front seat. He didn't speak, his eyes fixed on the road ahead, as if trying to see through it. The street scene outside the window rushed past, and his brows furrowed deeper and deeper.

The car drove through the empty streets in the early morning and turned into the hospital gate. Through the car window, Cang Lifeng saw a sign on the roadside that read "Emergency →".

As soon as the car came to a stop, he opened the door, jumped out, and strode towards the emergency room.

Master Chen opened the car door, jumped out, and followed.

Upon arriving at the emergency room, his gaze quickly scanned the entire area, locking onto the nurses' station. He rushed over and asked, "Which operating room is Cang Xiangrong in?"

The nurse looked up and asked, "Who are you...?"

"His brother."

"The operating room on the third floor..." the nurse pointed to the end of the corridor.

Before he finished speaking, Cang Lifeng had already turned and rushed towards the stairs. He took two steps at a time, rushing up to the third floor in one breath, and pushed open the fire door. He saw that the operating room door was tightly closed, and the red light above the door was on.

Cang Lifeng stood at the door, panting. Master Chen also caught up, panting as well. He didn't say anything, just stood by his side, keeping him company.

Cang Lifeng stood motionless in front of the door. He remembered standing like this last year when Tianci was lying in the operating room. He also thought of the bank robbery; hadn't he been like this then? Now Xiang Rong was lying inside too. One after another, like an inescapable curse.

What will happen to Uncle San if something happens to Xiang Rong? Can that man, who has just crawled out of injustice and alcoholism and finally straightened his back, bear it?

He dared not think any further.

The corridor was quiet. Only the faint sounds of voices coming from the nurses' station in the distance, and his own heavy breathing could be heard.

After an unknown amount of time, footsteps came from the end of the corridor.

Cang Lifeng turned around and saw a middle-aged man in military uniform striding towards him. He was in his forties, with two bars and three stars on his shoulders, the rank of colonel. He was tall and strong, and walked with an upright posture. His face was very serious, his brows were tightly furrowed, and his steps were fast and steady, his military boots making a dull sound on the terrazzo floor.

Behind him followed a pretty girl in her early twenties. This girl was Shen Jingyi.

It turned out that Shen Jingyi had come to her mother's office at the head nurse's urging. After cleaning the blood off her body and changing into clean clothes, she prepared to go back to wait outside the operating room. Just as she stepped out of the office, she bumped into her father, Shen Weiguo, who had rushed over from the army.

The two arrived at the emergency room together. That's when they ran into Cang Lifeng, who had only been there a short time ago.

Shen Weiguo noticed that Cang Lifeng was well-built and had a somewhat familiar face. After thinking for a moment, he realized that this young man looked a lot like the hero Cang Lifeng he had read about in the newspaper. They shared the same surname, Cang, and he was also at the operating room door—he quickly guessed that this Cang Lifeng must be a relative of his daughter's savior.

He stepped forward and asked, "Sir, are you Cang Lifeng?"

Cang Lifeng looked at the tall, dignified middle-aged military officer and the girl behind him, and said, "Yes. May I ask who you are?"

"Mr. Cang, I've heard so much about you. My name is Shen Weiguo. May I ask if Cang Xiangrong is your younger brother?"

"I'm his cousin."

Shen Weiguo nodded and pointed to Shen Jingyi beside him: "This is my daughter, Shen Jingyi. Your brother was seriously injured while saving her. As her father, I am deeply grateful!"

After saying that, he stretched out his hand.

Cang Lifeng grasped the hand, opened his mouth, but said nothing. His younger brother was still lying in the operating room, his life hanging in the balance. At this moment, he couldn't accept any words of gratitude on behalf of his brother.

Just then, the red light on the operating room door went out.

The door was pushed open. Li Xiuzhi came out first, took off her mask, and the red marks left by the mask on her face were clearly visible.

Cang Lifeng rushed forward and asked anxiously, "Doctor, how is my brother?"

Li Xiuzhi glanced at him and said, "The surgery went smoothly, and there is no danger to his life. However, he lost a lot of blood and needs close observation after the operation."

She paused, then asked, "And you are?"

Shen Weiguo stepped forward and introduced, "Xiuzhi, this is Cang Xiangrong's cousin, Cang Lifeng."

Li Xiuzhi paused for a moment, her gaze lingering on Cang Lifeng's face, before asking softly, "You're the one... Cang Lifeng who saved people at the bank?"

Cang Lifeng waved his hand and said, "That's all in the past, not worth mentioning. Doctor, when will my brother wake up?"

"The anesthesia hasn't worn off yet; it'll probably take another hour or two," Li Xiuzhi replied.

At that moment, a nurse pushed a stretcher out of the operating room. Cang Xiangrong lay on it, his face as white as paper, his lips devoid of any color. His chest was wrapped in thick gauze, his left arm was exposed, and there was an indwelling needle on the back of his hand, with a transparent tube connected to a bag of blood plasma.

Cang Lifeng stood up and walked to the stretcher bed.

He recalled the times he and Tianci were injured, and couldn't help but marvel at the favor fate had bestowed upon the Cang family. Every time the Cang family faced a life-or-death situation, fate would always give them a glimmer of hope.

The stretcher was wheeled into the ward. Cang Lifeng followed and stood beside the bed.

The nurses were adjusting the IV lines, checking the monitors, and measuring blood pressure. Cang Lifeng watched the numbers jump around on the screen, unsure which were normal and which were abnormal. He only knew that the fluctuating numbers meant the person was still alive.

The nurses left. The ward fell silent, save for the beeping of the monitors, their rhythmic beeping sounds filling the room.

That voice reminded him of Tianci again. It was the same voice he heard last year when Tianci was lying in the South City People's Hospital. He sat by the bed, holding his brother's hand, waiting for the hand to move.

Now he's waiting again. Waiting for his other younger brother to wake up.

The ward door was gently pushed open. Shen Jingyi walked in, carrying a glass of warm water. She placed the water on the bedside table, took two steps back, stood at the foot of the bed, and looked at the pale face on the bed.

Cang Lifeng looked up at her and said, "Thank you!" Then he turned back to look at his younger brother.

Shen Jingyi sat down on the chair beside the bed. She looked at Cang Lifeng's profile; she had seen that face in the newspaper. Back then, she only thought of him as a distant hero. She never imagined that one day, his younger brother would be lying here, having taken a knife for her.

"Brother Cang... Brother Cang," Shen Jingyi suddenly spoke.

Cang Lifeng turned to look at her and asked, "What is it?"

"You...you can take care of things if you need to. I...I'm on leave, I can take care of Xiangrong."

"Thank you! Let's wait until Xiang Rong wakes up before we talk about it."