Ning Zhe squatted by the door and chatted with grandfather for a while, gaining a general understanding of what had happened yesterday from his perspective.
At around seven this morning, grandfather had returned from a night of fishing at the reservoir. From far away, he had seen a huge crowd gathered around Bishu Bay. Bright yellow police tape had been strung along the shore, with officers and reporters already on the scene. Ambulances were parked around the perimeter, while many family members who had come to claim bodies gathered on the stone steps by the bank. Staff were processing paperwork for them. Quite a few people had come in such a rush that they had forgotten to bring their household registration books and ID documents, forcing them to run back home to get them.
After asking around, grandfather learned that an underground cable at the Manor had leaked electricity, killing quite a few people.
Ning Zhe's grandfather was a very traditional Chinese patriarch. His ancestors had suffered plenty at the hands of landlords, so he had always harbored an instinctive hostility toward the extravagant project built on the edge of town. He especially believed that such a massive project would affect the water quality of the Tao River and leave him coming up empty-handed when fishing.
Thus, grandfather had taken a certain amount of delight in this safety incident. He had been waiting to see the Boss behind the Manor investigated, and it would have been even better if he could see him fined and thrown in prison on the news... until a familiar neighbor came over and said, "Old man, quit laughing. Doesn't that one inside look like your grandson?" Only then did the smile freeze on his face.
There was not much to say about what happened afterward.