Song Ran was still jet lagged and was still not sleepy at three o'clock in the morning.
The night outside the window is endless and the rain is gurgling.
She sat by the wooden window, turned on a desk lamp, and sorted out the notes, diaries and photo journals she had written while out under the lamp. She supplemented her diary entry on June 3rd: that day she took a flight from Gamma to Guangzhou, and then transferred back to Liangcheng. When we landed at Tianhe Airport, everyone on the plane cheered.
She recorded that experience in flashback and stopped writing when she came to the man named "azan".
In the quiet night, she looked up out of the window.
The windows are old-fashioned rows of wooden windows. The wooden edges cut the windows into neat small squares, and white plaster and nails are used to insert the square glass.
At this moment, the night rain knocked on the wooden window, leaving winding water marks on the glass.
She wanted to use some words to describe his appearance, but she only wrote one sentence:
"He had dark eyes."
She tried hard to remember and wanted to write something else for him, but there was a sound of breaking glass downstairs.
She went downstairs to see. After she returned home, she opened the window for ventilation. Before the heavy rain at night, a window leaked and was left open. The wind and rain caused a glass of aquatic moneywort beside the window to fall. She closed the window, took another bowl, filled it with water, threw the grass in, and cleaned up the mess on the floor.
Those months in Dongguo were too dry. When I returned to Liangcheng, it happened to be the plum rainy season, and the air was so humid that it felt like it was soaked in water.
Due to the return of moisture, the floors, walls, furniture, and everything were wet.
Song Ran thought that after the rainy season, he would have to find a decoration company to add a moisture-proof layer to the old house.
This is a typical old house with local characteristics in Liangcheng. It is a two-story building built with red bricks and cement. The red bricks are exposed on the exterior walls. The interior walls are whitewashed, with green skirtings about one meter high at the corners. The white and green contrasting colors are clean and fresh. The house faces south, has large windows and doors, and is ventilated front and back. There is a stove in the backyard, and the front yard is full of flowers, plants, and trees; the second floor has an open-air staircase and a large balcony that cuts out half of the space.
This is grandma's house. The old man passed away a few months ago, and Song Ran moved here from his father's house.
My father lived in the Tongzi Building of his work unit, with two bedrooms and one living room. The house was old and small. She and her half-sister Song Yang lived in a room of more than 10 square meters for more than 20 years.
Her family was from an ordinary family, and her father used his salary to support a family of four. Later, when he became richer, Liangcheng's economy developed rapidly and housing prices rose. The average price exceeded 30,000 yuan, which was beyond the reach of ordinary families.
When Song Ran went to bed, the wind and rain outside the window became stronger. If this continues, the flowers in the yard will fall down.
She slept until noon the next day and woke up. The sun was shining brightly outside the window, and the orange leaves had been washed by water and turned green. When I opened the window, the fragrance of earth after the rain hit my face; but there was no trace of rain stains on the treetops on the beams.
In a bluestone alley outside the wall, several women who had just gotten off work walked by carrying vegetables and chatting. Children from nearby schools had also finished school, playing mobile games with their heads down while walking.
Song Ran leaned against the window and read the news on his mobile phone. The Dongguo rebels had captured two-thirds of Haru City, and the government troops retreated back to the south of the city.
From the day before yesterday to now, 24,376 Chinese have successfully returned home through various channels by sea, land and air. The officers and sergeants responsible for the evacuation mission will also return home in the near future.
She looked at the rows of camouflage uniforms in the news photos and sighed sadly.
The book says that the encounter between people is one in seven billion.
I don’t know if she and he will meet again by that subtle fate.
She had no intention of making lunch, so she filled her belly with a bowl of instant noodles and went to the TV station.
After graduating from university, Song Ran worked as a reporter in the news department of Liangcheng Satellite TV. It will be two years in September this year.
She had just returned from abroad and was supposed to rest until tomorrow. But now is a special period, and the Eastern War is a hot topic at the moment.
Liangcheng Satellite TV has previously invested the largest number of reporters in Dongguo in the country. The reports are timely, detailed and cover a wide range of topics. At this time, "The Frontline", which is jointly broadcast live by TV stations and online channels, has the highest ratings in the country during the daytime period on weekdays.
In the studio, the hosts, experts, guests, and front-line reporters all carried out their work in an orderly manner; behind the scenes, the directors, editors, editors, and copywriters were busy.
As soon as Song Ran arrived at the station, she was told that the program team needed to make a post-credits overview of the pre-war cities in the East and asked her to provide information. It was not difficult. She quickly cut a few short films of about 20 seconds from the material and submitted them to the director for selection.
When I was editing the material, I saw the scenery and faces flashing across the computer screen, and the faint melancholy I felt when I stood at the window overlooking the city of Alara that morning came back to me.
Many of the stories stored in her computer are being lost and unknown to the world.
When it was almost time to get off work, supervisor Liu Yufei called everyone for a meeting. The ratings of "Frontline" continue to rise, and the ministry wants to add a small subsidiary program after the program to attract ratings and advertising.
If it weren't for a special period, Song Ran and the other new reporters would not have the right to speak at the program planning level. Therefore, everyone attaches great importance to this opportunity.
Colleague Shen Bei suggested adding some predictions about future wars. She majored in international relations and this is her strength. Shen Bei's father is the leader of the Provincial Propaganda Department. As soon as she opened her mouth, no one at the same level spoke.
Although Liu Yufei thought it was good, he felt it was not enough and asked, "Are there any other suggestions?"
Song Ran thought for a while and said, "I think we can talk about the life of ordinary people in the Eastern Kingdom before the war."
Liu Yufei and Shen Bei both looked over.
Song Ran said: "When most people see war in the news, they feel that they are far away from us. If we see the lives of ordinary people, we may be closer to each other."
Liu Yufei thought her idea was more interesting and said, "I'm just afraid it would be too painful."
"It's neither bitter nor sensational. It's just like a short documentary, recording their daily lives and their moments of laughter and laughter."
Colleague Xiaodong praised: "If this is the case, it is very advanced."
Shen Bei said: "The requirements for the material are very high, and they have to be in-depth interviews. The reports you did outside have all been used in the early broadcast. You have to consider the freshness and perspective issues. The amount of material is also difficult to meet the standard. "
Song Ran said: "I have 837 hours of video materials here, including 269 hours of interviews, more than 4,000 photos, and 70,000 to 80,000 words of written materials."
Everyone in the room was stuck.
Colleague Xiaoqiu: "Oh my god, Ran Ran, are you still a human? You've only been there for less than three months, right?"
Colleague Xiaoxia: "The nickname 'Recording Madman' is really not justified."
Liu Yufei laughed: "Okay, I'll discuss it with you."
When packing her things and leaving the conference room, Shen Bei passed by her and said, "Congratulations."
Song Ran said: "It may not be approved by the superiors."
Shen Bei smiled and walked away on high heels.
Colleague Xiaochun asked: "Hey, if there was no new program, what would you do with these materials?"
Song Ran smiled and said: "I plan to write a book myself and record it as a video. It will not be wasted."
Colleagues in spring, summer, autumn and winter: “…”
This is the difference between true love and work.
When the results came out that night, Qiao Yufei informed her to write a detailed planning case.
Song Ran worked at his desk until late at night. It rained heavily again at night, and the air was so humid that even the paper was soft. She wrote in detail her design ideas and opinions on the program's setting, duration, style, and character stories, and listed a series of vivid stories about small characters, which filled ten pages. Finally, a title was added to the program in the planning plan: "The Floating World of the East".
The next afternoon, Song Ran still had dark circles under her eyes. The news came and her plan was approved. But the leader felt that the title "Eastern Kingdom Floating Century" was too literary and artistic and not intuitive enough, so he changed it to "Pre-War Dongguoji".
Well, Song Ran thought to himself, it is indeed intuitive enough, it cannot be more intuitive.
Two weeks later, Liangcheng Satellite TV's "Before the War: Eastern Kingdom" program was launched and was broadcast as an auxiliary program to "The Frontline of the War". No one expected its subsequent popularity, including Song Ran.
At that time, the Dongguo government troops announced the loss of two important towns in the north-central part, Su Rui City and Haru City. The city of Ararat is also in danger. Once the rebels occupy Aare and divide the country into two, the military-weak areas in the north will be in crisis.
News of civilian casualties in the fighting continued to come, and countless refugees were displaced from their homes. It is against this background that TV news media across the country are bombarding reports on the war in the East Kingdom. Liangcheng Satellite TV's "Before the War: Dongguo Ji" became a breath of fresh air -
The peaceful life in the East Kingdom before the war, the surging undercurrents, the choices of the little people facing the future... a series of short stories attracted widespread attention and discussion. Less than two weeks after its launch, the number of ratings and word-of-mouth topics continues to rise.
The objective and calm narrative style, which is similar to a documentary, has also been widely praised.
Several of the short videos about street bell-ringing artists and bickering barbecue couples have been on the hot search lists of various forum websites.
Song Ran's name has also appeared in new media and she has received several interviews; she even had an invitation from a best-selling book planner.
But compared to the success at work, Song Ran was more concerned about the fact that it rained for a whole month in June. I wonder if it is because of the long rainy season that she has been in an unusually low mood recently. It's okay when I'm working, but I can't get enough of it after work. Especially when I sit alone in front of the window at night and stare at the rain outside the window, I can be in a daze for a long time.
Fortunately, the popularity of the show has increased the amount of overtime work so much that she doesn't have much time to manage her suffocating mood like the rainy season.
A spin-off program that focused on guests brought such an effect that "Song Ran" became a name frequently mentioned by TV station leaders. The show was so successful that colleagues encouraged Song Ran to treat her to dinner.
Song Ran didn't get any substantial benefits at work, but she still spent money to treat everyone to the riverside to eat spicy crayfish.
It was after seven o'clock when I got off work, and ten colleagues crowded into two cars.
Halfway through the journey, it started to rain again. It was densely packed at the beginning, with heavy raindrops pattering on the roof of the car.
Xiaodong, who is from the north, complained: "I'm convinced. It hasn't rained even a day this month. My clothes and quilts are all wet."
Xiaoqiu sighed: "The key is that if the temperature does not drop, it will be hot to death during the day."
There were a few comments in the car at first, but then they stopped. Because the rain was so heavy, sitting in the car was like sitting in a tin box that was being beaten constantly. It was so deafening that I couldn't even hear people talking.
Song Ran felt that such a world was very quiet, even the harsh honking of other vehicles was drowned out by the sound of rain.
The car drove to an intersection and was blocked. Trumpets roared.
After being stuck in traffic for a long time, Song Ran lay on the steering wheel and watched the wipers sweep the rain back and forth. With the rain on the windshield, she was a fish in an aquarium.
As she looked at it, she suddenly thought of him.
Sitting in the car, she seemed to be sinking to the bottom of the sea. For no apparent reason, she felt sluggish, damp, and breathless.
Very strange.
The day I met him, it was obviously not raining.
Obviously, the climate is so dry. The sun was strong and there was no wind.