165: Chapter 165 Barbecue Stall Owner and Former Team Leader

"I still didn't manage to do it."

As these words from Cheng Songyan landed, the barbecue stall fell silent.

Shen Jue held a chicken wing, not daring to take a bite.

Ji Shen's chopsticks hung in mid-air.

He Manzhou had just finished shouting about the pork kidney, but now, no one was urging for it.

Gu Zeyan sat ramrod straight; the professional smile he had worn earlier had completely vanished.

Su Nianzhi placed her water cup back on the table, her movements much softer.

Li Li glanced at the beer in Cheng Songyan's hand.

Then he looked at the slightly stiff left arm of Former Captain Meng Yancheng.

The atmosphere of this midnight snack was all wrong.

Former Captain Meng Yancheng did not take the bottle of beer.

He set down the tongs and wiped his right hand with a towel.

"Sit back down."

Cheng Songyan didn't move.

"Captain, all these years I..."

"I told you to sit back down."

Former Captain Meng Yancheng raised his hand and pointed at a plastic stool.

His tone was very flat.

But no one at the table dared to interject.

Cheng Songyan's Adam's apple bobbed, and the beer bottle in his grip made a faint sound.

"I'm not sitting."

The proprietress came out from behind the cash register, carrying a plate of grilled eggplant.

She stopped at the table, not attempting to persuade them.

Garlic oil dripped down the edge of the aluminum foil.

Li Li saw it.

Fine.

The barbecue stall wasn't selling barbecue right now.

It was settling a ten-year-old debt.

Shen Jue leaned over to Qin Xiaoshan and whispered.

"What's the situation here?"

Qin Xiaoshan's mouth was still stuffed with a steamed bun.

"I don't know either."

Zhong Ji lowered his voice.

"Don't ask. Captain Cheng calling the owner 'Captain'—isn't that clear enough?"

Shen Jue immediately shut his mouth.

Understood.

Former Captain.

Now a barbecue chef.

Quite a career pivot.

Former Captain Meng Yancheng picked up the tongs again and flipped a skewer of lamb.

"Cheng Songyan, you brought guests to eat today; don't make a scene here."

Cheng Songyan placed the beer bottle on the table.

The base of the bottle clinked against the surface.

"I'm not making a scene."

He took a step forward.

"Yesterday at Wutong Mountain, I was coordinating the transport line, and I went up the mountain too."

Former Captain Meng Yancheng didn't respond.

"When the north side counterattacked, I still didn't dare to push forward."

Cheng Songyan pressed his hand against his own knee.

"Station Chief Chen told me to stay at Point No. 2, so I stayed."

"The water hose broke once, and Han Su and the others charged up."

"I stood exactly where I was."

"I wanted to go up."

"But my feet wouldn't move."

He looked down at his own legs.

"Ten years, and it's still the same."

Han Su couldn't sit still anymore.

Just as he was about to stand up, Zhong Ji grabbed him and pulled him back.

"Don't go over there and add fuel to the fire."

Qin Xiaoshan put down his bun and wiped his hands on his pant legs.

"I only ever heard that Captain Cheng was afraid of fire."

No one at the table replied.

Li Li pushed his half-finished bottle of beer further away.

He couldn't drink any more tonight.

If he kept drinking, Cheng Songyan might easily turn himself into an internal accident case for the Fire Department.

Former Captain Meng Yancheng put the grilled skewers onto a plate and handed it to the proprietress.

"Take this over."

The proprietress didn't take it.

"Yancheng."

Former Captain Meng Yancheng paused for two seconds.

Only then did the proprietress take the plate and set it on the table.

"Eat first. It won't taste good if it gets cold."

Shen Jue picked up a skewer, then set it back down.

This skewer was under a lot of pressure right now.

Former Captain Meng Yancheng wiped the grill and finally turned to Cheng Songyan.

"What do you want to hear?"

Cheng Songyan looked up.

"Scold me."

"No time."

"Hit me, then."

"My left hand isn't convenient, and my right hand still has to grill skewers."

Li Li almost choked on his water.

This former captain was something else.

Even without drawing his sword, he could still prick people.

Cheng Songyan didn't smile.

He stood very straight.

"If it weren't for me back then, you wouldn't have retired."

Former Captain Meng Yancheng draped the towel back over his shoulder.

"If it weren't for me back then, you would already be dead."

Cheng Songyan froze.

The table fell quiet along with him.

Han Su wanted to stand up again.

This time, Zhong Ji pressed down firmly on his shoulder.

"Don't add to it."

Li Li looked at Former Captain Meng Yancheng.

This sentence didn't sound right.

The version circulating outside was that Cheng Songyan had made a mistake in the fire, and Former Captain Meng Yancheng had retired due to severe injuries.

Cheng Songyan had carried that burden for ten years.

But what Former Captain Meng Yancheng had just said clearly hid the other half of the story.

Half-truths were the most troublesome.

They could completely ruin a person.

Former Captain Meng Yancheng took a bottle of mineral water from the freezer, twisted it open, and took a sip.

"It is a fact that you were scared when the third floor had a flashover that day."

Cheng Songyan lowered his head.

"Yes."

"It is also a fact that I told you to retreat, and you didn't."

"Yes."

"But the reason you got stuck at the door was because you still had a child on your back."

Cheng Songyan jerked his head up.

"Captain!"

Former Captain Meng Yancheng twisted the cap back on.

"What are you shouting for? My ears aren't broken."

Cheng Songyan took half a step back.

He could take a scolding.

But he couldn't listen to this.

Former Captain Meng Yancheng continued.

"You had just joined the team back then, had little experience in fires, and misjudged the exit."

"When we reached the lower half, smoke blocked the stairs."

"I told you to ditch your gear and crawl through."

"You didn't crawl."

Cheng Songyan opened his mouth.

Former Captain Meng Yancheng didn't let him interrupt.

"You took off your breathing apparatus and put it on that child."

He raised his left arm slightly, his movement a bit slow.

"I rushed in, not just to save you, but to save him too."

No one at the table spoke at all.

Han Su sat there, the urge to charge in having dissipated for the most part.

Qin Xiaoshan kept his head down, no longer eating his bun.

Zhong Ji rested his hand on the edge of the table, not moving for a long time.

Gu Zeyan pushed the bottle of beer he had just opened back into the crate.

Li Li saw this action.

Not bad.

The oil temperature had dropped.

It could still be saved.

Cheng Songyan stood before the grill, completely stuck.

"Why didn't you say anything before?"

Former Captain Meng Yancheng placed oysters on the grill.

"Would it have been useful to say it?"

"It would have been useful!"

Cheng Songyan took a step forward.

"They all say I caused your retirement."

"I think so too."

"I think that every single day."

"I can't enter the fire scene, and others say I'm a coward; I accept that."

"The station transferred me to guide guests, and I accept that too."

"But why didn't you say anything?"

He raised his hand and struck his own chest.

"You made me carry this for ten years."

The charcoal fire flared up.

The proprietress immediately grabbed a spray bottle to suppress the flames.

"Don't bother the stove."

Li Li: "..."

Sister-in-law is consistent as always.

She brought the Fire Department's internal drama back to food safety in one second.

Former Captain Meng Yancheng moved the oysters aside and walked out from behind the grill.

His left arm hung limp, and his right hand still held the tongs.

"Because if you didn't carry this burden, you would have left long ago."

Cheng Songyan was stunned.

"What?"

"The first thing you said when you woke up was that you wanted to quit."

Former Captain Meng Yancheng stood in front of him.

"I called you a loser, called you a coward, and told you that you owed me an arm."

"And so you stayed."

"Because you felt you owed me, you trained every day, wrote reviews every day, and watched every emergency call until the very end."

"You can't enter the fire scene, but you can lead the newcomers."

He used the tongs to point at Han Su's table.

"Those little brats, who hasn't been scolded by you? Who hasn't been saved by you?"

Han Su immediately stood up.

"Me!"

Zhong Ji kicked him in the shin.

Han Su quickly corrected himself.

"No, I mean, I have been scolded, but I've also been saved!"

Qin Xiaoshan raised his hand.

"I've been scolded too, but Captain Cheng also bought me midnight snacks and didn't make me pay him back."

Zhong Ji looked at him.

"Your priorities are very poor."

The people at the table who had been holding it in for so long finally laughed a few times.

Cheng Songyan, however, couldn't laugh.

He looked at Former Captain Meng Yancheng.

"So you were doing it on purpose the whole time?"

"Yes."

Former Captain Meng Yancheng answered quickly.

"I'm not a good person."

"I just couldn't stand to see you retire."

"The Fire Department needs one less person who can work, and I need one less person I can scold."

"You staying is useful to the station, and it's useful to you."

Cheng Songyan raised his hand and wiped his face.

"But I still can't enter the fire scene."

Former Captain Meng Yancheng slammed the tongs back down by the grill.

"Who said a Firefighter is only a Firefighter if they enter the fire scene?"

"Is coordination not work?"

"Is training not work?"

"Who watched that transport line at Wutong Mountain yesterday?"

Cheng Songyan didn't answer.

Former Captain Meng Yancheng turned his head.

"Li Li, you tell him."

Suddenly called out by name.

Li Li put down his cup.

Damn.

Eating snacks and ended up being dragged to the table.

This move was uncalled for.

He stood up and patted the dust off his pants.

"If no one had controlled the cargo at Point No. 2 yesterday, the vehicles heading up the mountain would have been blocked."

"During the north side counterattack, Captain Cheng raised the priority of the water hoses, saving at least ten minutes."

"In a wildfire, ten minutes is very expensive."

He paused for a moment.

"Expensive enough that Boss Zhang Xue can repair two fewer vehicles."

Shen Jue immediately chimed in.

"Boss Zhang would cry if she heard that."

The atmosphere finally loosened a little.

But Cheng Songyan was still standing.

"But my feet still won't move."

Li Li walked to the grill, picked up a chicken wing without seasoning to look at it, and then put it down.

"Captain Cheng, you've miscategorized the problem."

Cheng Songyan turned around.

"What do you mean?"

"You think this is a matter of courage."

Li Li pointed at his knee.

"But it's closer to muscle memory."

"High temperature, lack of oxygen, flashover, being trapped—these things were all bound together back then."

"Whenever you get close to a similar scene, your body hits the brakes for you first."

"This is a protective mechanism."

Shen Jue slapped the table.

"Brother Li is back to speaking in riddles again!"

Jiang Shiyu looked at him.

"That didn't sound like a compliment."

Shen Jue scratched his head.

"Then let me rephrase: Brother Li's logic is very expensive, I can't afford to listen to it."

Li Li ignored him.

"If you want to solve it, don't rely on drinking."

"And don't rely on repenting in front of a grill."

"Do desensitization training."

"Controlled smoke and heat environments."

"Ten minutes at a time."

"Have someone with you, and keep an exit route at the door."

"Record your heart rate before going in, and review it after coming out."

"Wherever you get stuck, start over from that step."

"Don't challenge a real fire scene right from the start."

He put the chicken wing back on the plate.

"That's not called being brave."

"That's called increasing the annual work-related injury quota for Station Chief Chen."

Chen Tao wasn't present.

But Han Su, Zhong Ji, and Qin Xiaoshan all sat up a little straighter at the same time.

That sounded just like Station Chief Chen.

Cheng Songyan stared at Li Li.

"How do you know this?"

Li Li picked up the plate of skewers.

"Worked a lot of odd jobs in the past."

Former Captain Meng Yancheng sneered.

"Your range of odd jobs is quite wide."

Li Li wasn't intimidated.

"Life forced me to, my skill tree grew sideways."

Former Captain Meng Yancheng looked at him for two seconds and picked up the seasoning jar.

"You're right."

When those four words came out, Han Su almost applauded.

Cheng Songyan wasn't useless.

And Former Captain Meng Yancheng didn't hate him.

This ten-year-old debt had been dismantled into a path that could be walked by a few words from Li Li.

Shen Jue whispered.

"Can Brother Li even fix emotional disputes like a chiropractor?"

Ji Shen answered quickly.

"Don't say that, he really can."

He Manzhou glanced at Qi Wanyin, then looked away.

Qi Wanyin held her cup and didn't respond.

Tao Qianzhi lowered his head and gnawed on his steamed bun, doing so even more diligently.

Li Li immediately suppressed the topic.

The gossip in the entertainment industry was too deep.

Even the Fire Station's water hoses couldn't necessarily drain it dry.

Former Captain Meng Yancheng pushed a plate of grilled chicken wings toward Cheng Songyan.

"Eat."

Cheng Songyan didn't take it.

"Captain."

"Come to the shop tomorrow after you finish eating."

"What for?"

"There's an abandoned warehouse in the backyard, I used to have a small setup for smoke and heat training."

Former Captain Meng Yancheng patted his own left arm.

"I can't join the team now."

"But I can still scold you."

Cheng Songyan stood there for a few seconds, then nodded.

"Okay."

With these words from the two of them, people at the table finally dared to pick up their chopsticks.

Cheng Songyan picked up that bottle of beer.

He didn't drink it.

He put the beer back into the crate.

"I won't drink anymore."

Former Captain Meng Yancheng nodded.

"Should have been like this a long time ago."

Cheng Songyan sat back at the table, picked up a chicken wing, and took a bite.

It had just come off the grill.

It was so hot he almost spat it out.

Former Captain Meng Yancheng started scolding him from by the grill.

"Stuffing it into your mouth the second it's grilled, your brain is the same as it was ten years ago!"

Cheng Songyan covered his mouth and nodded.

"Yes."

Han Su watched, stunned.

"Captain Cheng is nodding even while being scolded?"

Zhong Ji patted his shoulder.

"Learn from it, this is called high-level obedience."

Qin Xiaoshan nodded earnestly.

"From now on, when Captain Cheng scolds me, I'll nod too."

Zhong Ji looked at him.

"You don't need to learn, you've always been like that."

The laughter at the table finally drowned out the sound of the grill.

Li Li sat back in his original seat, just as he was about to pick up his cup, his phone vibrated.

The screen lit up.

Jiang Rumu sent a message.

Jiang Rumu: [Is the barbecue good?]

Li Li lowered his head to reply.

Li Li: [It's good. By the way, I took on a ten-year after-sales psychological service for the Fire Department.]

The reply from the other side came quickly.

Jiang Rumu: [Drink less.]

Li Li: [Half a bottle.]

Jiang Rumu: [Are your 'half a bottle' and a normal person's 'half a bottle' the same unit of measurement?]

Li Li stared at the screen for two seconds.

This woman was getting harder and harder to fool.

The next message popped up.

Jiang Rumu: [Don't be late tomorrow.]