The bamboo craft industry of Songlin Village established a cooperative in its early development.
Every household could set up a small workshop to produce bamboo products, but these products had to be sold exclusively by the cooperative, which also allocated the orders.
Over the years,
the scale of the cooperative continued to expand.
It had reached an annual sales volume of tens of millions of yuan.
Next to the main road leading in and out of Fuguang Town, the cooperative built a large warehouse.
This warehouse served as a transit station for the bamboo products.
The processed goods from Songlin Village were transported to the warehouse and then distributed uniformly from there.
By the time Chen Fang arrived at the scene,
the chairman of the People's Congress, Luo Yide, had already coordinated with the police station and the village officials for the rescue operation.
Since it would take time for the fire department to arrive, everyone could only use limited resources to suppress the fire, but it seemed to have little effect.
"Xiao Guo, do we have a water truck in our town?"
"Yes, the sanitation station has one,"
said Guo Zheng.
Chen Fang said, "Go notify the sanitation station to bring the water truck over here now!"
"Alright!"
Guo Zheng immediately ran off.
The situation on-site was a mess.
People kept arriving, but since the rescue equipment was limited, their presence was of no use.
"My husband, my husband is still inside,"
suddenly, an old lady began beating her chest and stamping her feet in desperation.
Seeing this, Chen Fang quickly ran over and asked, "Granny, where is your husband?"
The old lady pointed towards the right side of the warehouse and said, "Inside, right inside, he should be in the security room."
The security room?
Chen Fang nodded.
He said, "Don't worry, Granny, I'll make sure to rescue him."
After saying that,
he went straight to a policeman and asked him to douse him thoroughly with a hose.
Then, without looking back, he charged through the main entrance into the building.
This move startled everyone at the scene.
Witnessing Chen Fang's bravery, they all started screaming.
Meanwhile, a young man hurried to the road opposite the warehouse and knocked on a car window.
The window rolled down,
revealing a stern face.
Clearly, he was in his sixties.
"What's the matter?"
the man asked.
The young man pointed towards the warehouse and said, "Ah Ping's dad hasn't made it out of there."
"What?"
The man's expression turned even more severe.
Slightly angry, he asked, "What did I tell you?"
The young man appeared somewhat guilty as he said, "Ah Ping's dad was sleeping in the security room; nobody noticed at the time."
The man was seething with rage.
After a pause, he said, "Alright, then, let it be. After it's all over, just give a bit more condolence money."
"But the new town chief, Chen Fang, has run in to rescue people."
No sooner had the young man finished speaking,
the man told the young man, "What did you say? Come closer and say it again."
The young man, thinking he hadn't been heard clearly, was just about to lean in closer,
when the older man extended his hand and slapped the young man's face two or three times, shouting, "You're good for nothing but screw-ups! If anything goes wrong with this, I'll kill you!"
After that,
the car window was rolled up.
"Old Yuan, this is getting complicated. If Chen Fang dies in there, it's going to be difficult for all of us to explain,"
said the man in the administrative jacket beside the elder.
If you looked closely, you would find that this man was none other than Xu Ming, the Party Committee Secretary of Fuguang Town.
And the man in his sixties was the former town mayor, Yuan Zhenting.
Xu Ming had a point.
Xu Lianyun had just announced the support for the tea industry.
It was clear to any discerning observer that this was a signal to start a fight with Yuan Zhenting. Barely a day had passed and Chen Fang was burnt to death; even if it was just an accident, people's attention would inevitably turn to Yuan Zhenting.
It gave off the distinct impression of burying three hundred taels of silver, murdering to silence.
Yuan Zhenting was all too aware of this reasoning.
Otherwise, he wouldn't be this furious.
After a moment's thought, his eyes suddenly filled with ruthless determination, and he said, "Dying in there is a problem, but if he comes out alive, that's an even bigger problem, isn't it?"
Upon hearing this, Xu Ming shivered.
"What are you going to do?"
His voice was tinged with anxiousness as he asked.
Yuan Zhenting smiled and said, "If he really manages to save everyone, then he'll be hailed as a hero. Xu Lianyun will surely use this chance to promote him widely. Once this kid wins over the public's heart, you won't be able to hold him down anymore."
"But you can't just—"
Xu Ming was about to speak.
But Yuan Zhenting cut him off.
He said, "Old Xu, what does what I do have to do with you? You don't know anything, do you?"
That was enough to give Xu Ming some peace of mind.
He immediately opened the car door, got out, and walked away without looking back.
"Scoundrel, truly despicable!"
Yuan Zhenting muttered under his breath.
The car window rolled down once more.
He beckoned over a young man standing outside.
Then he whispered a few instructions into his ear.
The young man nodded, then vanished into the crowd.
Inside the warehouse.
The heat wave was intense.
Because it was all made of bamboo, the fire had become unstoppable.
Fortunately, the security office had not yet caught fire, but it wouldn't hold out for long.
"Uncle... cough cough cough... Uncle... where are you?"
Amidst the suffocating smoke,
Chen Fang searched while calling out loudly.
The warehouse was huge.
The multitude of goods obscured his vision.
It was very difficult for Chen Fang to find his way around.
Still, he didn't give up and kept weaving through the crates and goods.
Bang bang!
Suddenly, there came a knocking sound from nearby.
Chen Fang's heart skipped a beat.
He hurriedly ran toward the direction of the sound.
In the corner of the warehouse, he saw a simple prefabricated hut.
On the door of the hut hung a sign that read „Security Office".
He found it.
Chen Fang pushed the door open with one hand.
Inside, an old man was cowering in fear in a corner of the makeshift office. Seeing Chen Fang, he looked as if he'd seen a ray of hope.
"Uncle, are you alright?"
Chen Fang asked.
"I'm fine,"
the old man said in a panic.
Chen Fang's eyes caught sight of a towel hanging on the wall and a bottle of mineral water on the table.
He opened the bottle of mineral water,
wet the towel with it, and tied it around the old man's ears to cover his mouth and nose. He said, "Uncle, we both need to stay as low as possible while we move, understand?"
After ensuring the old man understood,
Chen Fang began to make his way back.
By this time, the fire had grown even more fierce, with flames starting to lick their way toward the goods in this part of the warehouse. The shelves that had been intact before his arrival were now spewing flames.
If they didn't leave soon, they were likely to become part of the ashes.
As Chen Fang rounded a row of shelves, he suddenly sensed movement from the side.
He instinctively shrugged his shoulder.
The sound of a clang resounded as a metal water pipe smashed hard onto the bamboo goods, shattering them to pieces.
Drawing in a sharp breath,
Chen Fang was inwardly relieved; had his reaction been just a bit slower, that pipe might have come crashing down on his head instead.
On closer inspection,
he suddenly saw four people appear before him.
All four looked young, dressed in sportswear, each of them holding a metal water pipe.
They all were wearing gas masks.
Clearly, they were here for Chen Fang.