Director Mao's words left me too stunned to react.
"Taken away in an ambulance? Was it some kind of sudden illness, or..." I said instinctively, then immediately remembered what had happened at the end of the workday.
"I don't know. I didn't see it either. Auntie Zhang said Xu Guangzong's face was blue when they carried him out." Director Mao's voice trembled, though she spoke loudly. "Do you think it could be... Oh, this is... If it was because of..."
She was getting flustered and incoherent.
I started to feel nervous too.
"What about Xu Tie and Xu Gang?" I asked hastily.
"I don't know when Xu Gang left. Xu Tie went with him in the ambulance." Director Mao said, "I just can't stop worrying... Tell me, if it was because of what happened this afternoon... we... this whole situation..."
Director Mao was a gossip, and she'd even seemed a little pleased when talking about the Xu family. But if something had really happened to them, she would surely feel guilty and uneasy.
I was worried too.
Still, most of my concern was work-related.
When our demolition office dealt with the Xu family, we'd followed the rules. The dispute that had followed had nothing to do with us, objectively speaking, but I was afraid the Xu family or the media would use the incident to make trouble.
I reassured Director Mao, asked her for more details, then called my former supervisor.
My former supervisor had always been kind, so I could call him directly without worrying too much about imposing at this hour.
Our team was summoned that night for a video training session by a junior employee from the Publicity Office.
We'd already been trained on how to deal with the various situations that might arise during a demolition,