Chapter 206 - 155: Scapegoat Fee

Fang Huai didn’t bother with room inspections for the training team tonight, mainly because there was still evening exercise after lights-out, and he was too lazy to endure those disdainful looks.

Those guys had just been rattled again, and the crazy talk he’d spouted off earlier was probably spreading through the training team by now.

Getting up at night, that was Cao Yi’s job; as a new recruit, he should sleep soundly, waiting for the instructor to come over and tuck him in.

Yeah, new recruit.

Fang Huai fell asleep with that satisfying thought.

...

Morning arrived with a clear sky and a gentle breeze.

At seven in the morning, after a light rain had fallen, breathing in the air felt as refreshing as biting into a cold orange during a shower.

And it was a rapid refreshment, one breath after another.

Because the new recruits were all running.

Hao Chengbin was leading Fang Huai and three others for a morning exercise outside, bravely charging up the final slope back to the squadron.

Squad Leader Hao pulled out his phone and took a call.

Then he yelled loudly, "Police dispatch! Run faster!"

The lead runner, Fang Huai, heard this and immediately felt like his butt was on fire. Seeing there was still over 100 meters to the big gate of the squadron, he wished he could take off on the spot.

At this moment, Fang Huai fully empathized with a young man he had just passed at the intersection, who had woken up late and was chasing after a public bus.

Damn, if it’s any later I won’t make it to work on time!

Fang Huai arrived first, followed by Song Lin.

The fire truck had already pulled up to the front of the squadron.

"Squad leader! Wait for me!" Fang Huai bellowed.

Ye Jiahong was the first to respond to the police dispatch, and upon seeing Fang Huai, stuck his head out with disdain and shouted:

"You didn’t even wear your combat uniform, what can you do there, rub wool?"

Fang Huai glanced down at his bare, hairy legs under his workout shorts and quickly raised his hand in appeal:

"Captain! I can be on crowd control!"

Damn it, there were so few police calls during this time, even a mosquito’s leg was meat!

Ye Jiahong didn’t have time to think and motioned with his hand:

"There’s no time, get on the truck!"

"Hey!" Fang Huai’s face broke into a grin.

Unexpectedly, Song Lin also got on.

Car 1 was originally filled with people.

With the two of them boarding, the space immediately became cramped.

"Sit next to me!" Zhao Jinchen squeezed over to make room for Fang Huai.

Judging from previous dispatches, Fang Huai was quick-witted and experienced. Even with the Special Duty Team having few dispatches, Zhao Jinchen was quite pleased to have Fang Huai come along.

But Song Lin didn’t receive the same treatment.

At that moment, sitting on the legs of two squad leaders, he looked a bit uncomfortable.

A grown man, wearing only a thin layer of exercise uniform, sitting on squad leaders decked out with plenty of small, iron-fitted combat gear made his rear feel rather imperiled.

"What, are you on a rocking car here?" Kong Xiangzhong from the Northeast, getting almost motion sick from the shaking, immediately barked:

"Otherwise, toss a coin, and I’ll sing ’Grandma’s Mom is Great-Grandma’ for you?"

Song Lin instantly froze in awkwardness.

Fang Huai stifled a laugh and asked, "Captain, what’s the emergency?"

Ye Jiahong, hearing Fang Huai’s voice, looked down at the dispatch sheet in his hand.

"A fried rice cake shop, caught fire."

"Oh..." Fang Huai had an idea.

A breakfast shop, and especially one that sells fast meals, wouldn’t be very big. Usually, it was just half a storefront, with the main danger being the gas cans inside.

But Guizhou’s fried rice cakes are irresistibly delicious; too bad Han Yong wasn’t here to savor them.

...

Upon arrival.

Wow.

At least several dozen people.

This was definitely the smallest scale dispatch with the largest crowd of onlookers to date.

Our common people are good in every way, but they have one fault — they love to watch the excitement.

This doesn’t depend on the size of the fuss; just someone getting something in their eye on the main street, tilting their head back to look, could draw a sizable crowd wondering what on earth was up there.

Outside the already bustling breakfast shop in the morning, with a few articulate elders analyzing the situation, the conversation could go from a breakfast shop fire to AFH Warfare.

Some took the opportunity in the crowd to vent their dissatisfaction, pointing at the neighboring fruit shop, complaining about several recent disappointing purchases: too expensive, not tasty, and no refunds. They rallied support for a collective boycott.

In comparison, the thick smoke billowing out of "Wang Er Niang’s Fried Rice Cake" shop didn’t seem quite so magnificent.

The shop wasn’t big, but it was deep, and the fire had started inside.

Outside, a young policeman in his twenties was trying his best to maintain order, begging people not to make a racket.

As soon as the fire truck stopped, everyone immediately turned to look.

"Yo, the firefighters finally arrived!"

"These young kids fighting the fire, losing so many every year, it’s a pity yo~"

"That’s right! My ’Old Three’ went to firefighting, he came back and told me..."

A bunch of local Guiyang dialects started to chatter.

Ye Jiahong, taking advantage of the fact he hadn’t gotten off the truck yet, frowned and addressed Fang Huai and Song Lin in the back, "You two, figure out a way to clear these people out!"

"Yes, Captain!"

Song Lin, full of zeal, was the first to get off the truck, grabbed the police tape, and while recalling his previous scolding, he started planning how to lay it out.

Fang Huai got off the truck without rushing; seeing the impressive crowd, the first thing that came to mind was "Rampage."

Police officer An Xin was imposingly driving people back with the police tape.

But after a fleeting thought, he dismissed the idea.

Forget it, these elders wouldn’t fall for that.

They didn’t care about saving face; once the police tape approached, they would collectively bend down and crawl underneath.

If you put the tape too low, it was even easier: they’d just lift their feet and step over.

To hell with whoever cared.

Sure enough, Song Lin shouted at the door, "Excuse me, everyone, let us through! Let us through!"

It was utterly ineffective.

Another auntie yelled, "Lad, mind your own business! Hurry up and put out the fire!"

Song Lin, a new recruit, didn’t dare to shout back, and his flustered actions immediately made him stand out.

Ye Jiahong was more down-to-earth, shouting at the store owner in a white apron at the entrance:

"Ma’am, what’s caught fire?"

"Toilet paper! Wrapping paper! And some other odds and ends! Plastic bags, flour! There’s also a freezer!"

"Did you turn off the electrical breaker?" Ye Jiahong followed up.

"Yes, yes! All the shops around here are out of electricity!" The store owner, seeing that the fire was about to break out, immediately prepared to move the deep-fried rice cake stall outside.

But there was a small step at the door, and with the hot oil in the pan, she couldn’t move it.

Several soldiers immediately went to help her carry it down.

With that move, a gas can appeared next to it.

Upon seeing it, Fang Huai immediately blocked it with his body and walked it further inside.

It seemed quite light, probably almost empty.

There was a compartment inside that stored flour - this stuff, once wet, would expand and was quite dangerous. Under certain conditions, when exposed to fire, it could explode.

Ye Jiahong on the other side had decisively shouted for water, and the firefighting squad began to unroll the hose.

But the crowd by the door only retreated half a meter.

Fang Huai looked around and still went to the door to call over the police officer standing there.

The police officer had the courage to walk into the shop against the dense smoke and open flames, where Fang Huai quickly whispered to him.

In no time, the police officer came out holding a gas can, which was still stubbornly sprouting a small flame.

"Make way, make way! The gas can is leaking!"

As the police officer spoke, he walked toward the crowd.

"Damn!"

"Fuck!"

A flood of profanities.

The crowd instantly scattered in all directions.

Now, the gas can became the center of a natural cordon.

The locals were still cursing around, blaming the officer for his ignorance and mishandling by placing the gas can among the people.

With the entrance cleared, Fang Huai finally emerged, and the firefighting squad, now equipped with oxygen masks, rushed in with connected hoses.

The police officer came up, his face beaming with joy: "Brother, you really know what you’re doing! It’s my first time being part of putting out a fire!"

Fang Huai smiled, "It’s what we should do. But we wouldn’t dare to play like that if the Firefighting team wasn’t around."

As he spoke, he turned off the gas can.

The fire had been lit by him using the police officer’s lighter.

It was indeed empty; it took two or three tries to light it.

The gas can was also carried out at his instruction.

The fire inside was quickly extinguished. The flour wasn’t in sight, probably turned to charcoal. The main problem was the large amount of toxic gases produced by the burning plastic bags and lunch boxes, and the black smoke that had been billowing was indeed harmful.

There is a saying that burning polyvinyl chloride, used to make plastic bags, can produce "dioxins," and if inhaled in excess, these cannot be expelled by the human body and can cause cancer.

After bustling around for more than 20 minutes, the main effort was just to spray open the water and cool down the top panel and interior environment of the store.

When everyone was finishing up, the store owner handed a large bag of freshly fried rice cakes and meat patties, sealed for warmth, to Ye Jiahong.

"Here, I fried these up earlier, and they’re still very warm. You’ve worked hard, take these to eat!"

"Oh, no need, putting out fires is our job."

"Take them! I’m closing up shop now anyway, who’s going to buy them? They won’t taste good once they’re cold!"

A back-and-forth ensued at the door, reminiscent of the new year’s red packet exchange.

"No, no!"

"It’s for the boys, take it!"

After the Communication Officer had the store owner fill out the police dispatch form, Ye Jiahong finally took a large bag of fragrant fried cakes to share with everyone.

Fang Huai, grinning, snatched two large meat patties and chased after the police officer who was about to leave, stuffing one into his hands.

The police officer thanked Fang Huai profusely and happily ate the meat patty as he departed.

...

On the way back, Ye Jiahong began to compliment Fang Huai:

"You’re quite clever, using the gas can to set up a cordon! And giving the police officer a patty to eat, you’ve got a knack for both police work and social niceties!"

Song Lin, not wanting to be outdone, said: "Captain, it was the police officer who brought out the gas can, of course we had to give him a patty! If it was me, I would’ve done the same!"

"What?"

Ye Jiahong turned to look at Fang Huai.

He’d been too busy coordinating from beside the fire truck earlier and hadn’t seen clearly. Hearing this, he immediately reprimanded: "Moving the gas can is our job, why did you let the police officer do it?"

Fang Huai chuckled, "Captain, I was the one who lit that gas can, and it was out of gas, completely harmless!

Didn’t you hear all the cursing just now? It was all directed at him!

We are firefighters who rescue the people from danger, how could we commit such a vile act that frightens them?

To make that poor man the scapegoat for such a big mess, it would harm our Fire Brigade’s shining image!

The big meat patty I gave him, it wasn’t a hardship fee, that was his scapegoating fee!"

If today’s incident had occurred in the era of social media frenzy, one video posted online could have meant Uncle Hat getting a good scolding again.

At the end of Fang Huai’s words, everyone was stunned.

This kid, he was too damn good at scheming.

Then, laughter burst out in the vehicle.

Ye Jiahong couldn’t resist turning back, smacking Fang Huai on the head, and laughing:

"Damn, your heart is as black as tar! So damn sly!

But you’ve got potential!

Did you all hear that? Don’t mess with him, or else you won’t even realize how he’s done you in!"

"Hahahaha..."

...