A staff member came from outside the entrance of the studio and pushed the door with a loud noise. His hair was all over his sweaty face as he leaned forward and put his hands on his knees to take a long gasp of breath.
Seeing the crowd gathered at the director's tent, the staff member pointed at them while breathlessly asking, "Eve...everyone, this is really bad! Wheeze... Zhilan had an accident!"
The other crew members, Director Qing and Chief Producer Li, stared at the sweaty staff member with dull eyes.
One of the crew members near him patted his back and comforted him, "We know... did you just get in here and find out about it? The harness wire Zhilan used this morning turned out to be replaced with faulty equipment. We're currently looking for the assistant prop master who checked it earlier."
The staff member wiped his thick, sweaty arms across his drenched perspiration forehead and smacked the hand away from his back and shook his head. "No, you idiot! That's not what I was talking about!" After shouting angrily, he paused before he continued to speak with great difficulty: "Just now, the ambulance truck that took Zhilan to the hospital was hit by another car. Currently, she's being transported to another ambulance and hospital. However, from what I heard, there were some other people who got injured because of this traffic accident and Zhilan's condition is still unsure!"
In the next second, the whole set was suddenly embroiled in another kind of chaos. Everyone's mind exploded upon hearing the alarming words of the staff members and initially wanted to reject this.
However, the moment Director Qing received a call from Zhilan's manager, frantically reporting what had happened to his artist, everyone confirmed that the staff member hadn't told a lie and was really telling the truth.
Ran Xueyi was the first one to respond and told Director Qing to ask Zhilan's manager how Zhilan was doing. After relaying the message to the manager, they received a reply from him:
"Zhilan has been taken to the emergency operating room. The doctors said that they will try their best... Director Qing, what do you think they mean by this?"
...
Inside a hospital, Silver City.
That late morning, two ambulances came rushing into the emergency ward of the hospital. Several nurses and doctors in their white gowns, looking like the angel of death, also ran towards the incoming patients being pushed around on several hospital beds.
Following the rushing flow of white attired people, several family members of the patients desperately tried to chase their family members who were being taken away.
Zhilan's manager, Jack Chu, was among these people.
His face has gotten pale white as he watched two nurses and a doctor drag the bed where Zhlan was lying unconsciously with her forehead stained and still pouring out blood gradually smearing the white hospital bed in red.
And as much as he wanted to follow the doctor and nurses to the Emergency Room, he knew that he would be blocked before he could get in and so, he stood weakly next to where she was pushed in and awaited for any kind of news; good or bad.
Looking down at his shaking and bloodless hands, Jack Chu wondered why this was happening.
Last night, Zhilan was happily telling him that she found a new method to improve her acting. She was gleeful and even ordered an extra bowl of serving of her meal to celebrate this historical event in her life.
This morning, she even woke up early in the morning and got ready before he even got to knock on her door and drag her sleepy-head self out of her room. And while she was acting in a dangerous scene that day, she didn't want to use an extra to shoot her scene, resulting in her almost falling from a high place.
Thankfully, she only scraped her knees and nothing else happened.
But who knew that because he was worried about her, called an ambulance to further check her status in the hospital, a much more horrible accident would happen to her.
Jack Chu was remorseful.
If he hadn't forced Zhilan to go with the ambulance and check her current condition and listen to her, would this even happen to her?
It was his fault. That's right... he should be blamed for what happened. He was the one who drove her to death.
A single tear induced several drops of sour tears to follow. They kept on dripping from his eyes to his cheeks and chin before falling without a sound on the white tiled floor of the hospital.
Several footsteps could be heard running towards his directions and Manager Chu didn't raise his head as he continued crying, assuming that it was some other patient's family going to the wrong operation room.
"Manager Chu!"
Hearing someone calling him, the manager raised his head and saw a group advancing towards him. He quickly recognized them as Director Qing, Chief Producer Li, and Ran Xueyi. There were a few other people who came with them.
Director Qing stopped in front of the crying manager and saw the red rectangular light above the door was still on, signifying that the operation was still going on.
"What happened? I thought she's just on her way for a brief check up?" The other side was silent for a while.
Then, Manager Chu's shoulder trembled as the tears resumed to flow down his face. He sniffed his clogged nose and his voice shook: "I had my assistant go with Xiao Zhi to the hospital and took my own car to follow them to the hospital. I was just behind them and watching them drive forward. The next second, I saw a black car speeding towards them and before I knew it, I heard the loud collision of metals and wheels screeching."
"I was in terror and felt my soul escaping my body. When I opened my eyes, I saw the ambulance where my assistant and Xiao Zhi were being carried turning upside down in the middle of the road."
Nove l B(in).C OM
The event of the accident was still very clear inside his mind and Manager Chu could recount every little detail he saw the moment the accident happened and after it occured. He continued to tremble while also thinking of how much blood was spilled as there were some bystanders who were standing on the sidewalk who couldn't get away in time.
Everything happened so quickly. In mere seconds, terrible things happened to many people.
However, to Manager Chu, what he saw turned into a slow-mo and he felt like time stopped for him.
N0 v el Next. CoM
Seeing the manager almost choking himself with his tears, Ran Xueyi looked around and found a water dispenser against the wall. She poured a cup of water on a paper cup and handed it to him.
Ran Xueyi watched him take the cup from her and said softly, "Manager Chu, drink this first."
She didn't offer any other comforting words to him. She had never been in this kind of situation, she didn't know what to tell the other person. For her, it was best to wait for the doctors to announce the result of the operation.
Manager Chu accepted the cup and took a large gulp from it. Then he weakly said, "Thank you..."