Chapter 16

Cheng Lang returned to his office and opened Shuangyun's WeChat dialog again.
The last conversation was when he'd asked her to come to his place to look at the model.
After that, Shuangyun hadn't sent him a single message.
Cheng Lang thought, perhaps her hitting on him didn't have much to do with liking. She'd already said it was because she lost a game, so she had to come.
That lizard-related hug was also just out of politeness, thanking him for giving her a ride home.
Everything was very clear, so when her calf fractured, there was completely no need to tell him.
Perfectly reasonable, perfectly reasonable.
At 9 PM, Cheng Lang left the company. After returning to the apartment, he opened his computer and somewhat distractedly handled some trivial matters when suddenly an alarm sounded, and then the apartment broadcast began loudly announcing:
"Emergency, evacuate now! Emergency, evacuate now! Emergency, evacuate now!"
"紧急！请立刻撤离！紧急！请立刻撤离！紧急！请立刻撤离！"
Cheng Lang realized the apartment fire alarm had gone off.
Fire alarms in apartments weren't rare. Most were small fires or even just smoke from ovens. Firefighters usually came to check, and residents could go back up soon.
But evacuation was still necessary.
Cheng Lang only took his phone, turned off the lights at home, and headed toward the fire stairs.
He'd been somewhat distracted while working just now anyway, so he left early to get some air downstairs. Most residents in the building hadn't come out yet. Everyone was familiar with fire alarms, so evacuations were mostly quite lazy.
The fire stairs were still empty. Cheng Lang went down two floors when he suddenly realized something.
The elevators had stopped. How would Shuangyun get down the stairs with her fractured calf?
Thinking about this, Cheng Lang turned around and strode upstairs. He remembered Shuangyun had mentioned before that she lived on the 26th floor.
Fortunately, Cheng Lang had come out very early, so the fire stairs were still empty. He took the stairs two at a time, quickly going up.
Cheng Lang heard someone slowly hopping down on a floor before reaching the 26th. Turning the corner, he saw Shuangyun leaning on a crutch.
She was wearing a light yellow nightgown, one foot in a cast, one foot in slippers. Left hand holding the crutch, right hand gripping the stair railing, struggling to hop down.
"What are you doing here?" Shuangyun saw Cheng Lang and immediately felt overjoyed. "Quick, save me!"
Without a word, Cheng Lang walked forward and picked Shuangyun up horizontally, heading downstairs.
Shuangyun tightly held Cheng Lang's neck with one hand, the other hand holding the crutch.
He walked very fast. Her body swayed up and down with his steps.
Unlike the last time when she'd deliberately hugged him, Shuangyun was really somewhat scared this time. She was always the first person to rush downstairs when hearing fire alarms, but this time with her left calf fractured, Shuangyun was helpless.
She hadn't expected Cheng Lang to come up looking for her. She hadn't told him about her fracture. How did he know?
The further down they went, the more people were in the fire stairs.
With more people, the downward pace slowed.
Shuangyun completely pressed herself against Cheng Lang.
Her cheek against his shoulder, her nose lightly brushing against his jaw.
Shuangyun had deliberately not contacted him.
Ambiguous hugs needed some time and distance for speculation to ferment.
Her hug hovered at the edge of crossing boundaries. How to define it depended entirely on the other person's thoughts and feelings.
Shuangyun thought, at this moment she perhaps already knew Cheng Lang's answer.
He could of course define this coming up to save her as doing the right thing, something anyone would do, but Shuangyun knew the scales in his heart had quietly tilted at this moment.
Pushing open the fire stairs exit door, Cheng Lang brought Shuangyun outside.
Taking advantage of the pitch-black night, Shuangyun aimed at a patch of grass and forcefully threw her crutch away.