Witty Wife, Better Life-Chapter 802 - 792: Cinema Terror (Three)

Shen Yunfang didn’t know if anyone heard her, but having issued her reminder, she felt reassured and didn’t bother with others. She covered her mouth and nose, and pulling her children along, she continued to search for a window.

The fire had started from the middle of the back row, so as they clung to the wall, they moved away from the flames.

Soon enough, Shen Yunfang spotted a window overhead.

The cinema was not a high-rise building but a large auditorium. The entire ceiling was seven or eight meters high, and the windows were built high up, certainly out of reach for an ordinary person.

Looking at the window situated about two and a half meters high, Shen Yunfang cursed the cinema’s designer in her heart. "Are you an idiot?" she thought. "Why would you install a window so high? What if there’s a fire? And a perfectly good window, why would you cover it up tightly with curtains?"

Shen Yunfang really didn’t have time to curse those mindless people. What mattered most now was figuring out how to get out.

She took a labored breath, as the air in the cinema was getting thinner due to the fire, and she felt like she could barely breathe. Turning to her two children crouching behind her, she said, "Stay crouched here. Mom will try to break the window."

Both children were obedient and, despite their fear, behaved well and didn’t hold their mother back.

Shen Yunfang stepped back a couple of steps, creating some distance between her and the window above, then rummaged around and pulled out a brick.

Fortunately, when the farm was under construction, she felt it was a pity to see the discarded bricks by the roadside, so she collected some in her storage space. Otherwise, she really wouldn’t have found a suitable tool at this moment.

She weighed the brick in her hand, took a deep breath, and despite the urge to cough, she put some force into her arm and hurled the brick toward the window’s glass.

With a loud crash, the glass shattered. But there was still a layer of curtain covering the hole on this side of the window.

Shen Yunfang took out two more bricks and smashed them against the window, trying to enlarge the hole to let more air in.

She was grateful that the windows at this time were single-layered. If it were later, with double or triple-layered glass, breaking them through the curtains would not be easy at all.

"Mommy is amazing," the two children said, eyes glittering as they watched their mother.

"Yes, watch this. Mommy is going to make you a ladder," Shen Yunfang replied before turning and forcefully pulling at the cinema chairs.

She had noticed before: the cinema, probably due to neglect over the years, had many chairs in disrepair, some already unstable. With her current strength, she could pull them down forcefully.

And so, she chose a few chairs and, after putting in a lot of effort, indeed managed to pull them down.

"Go mommy, you can do it," Manman cheered from the side.

"Okay, mommy will do her best." With another burst of effort, Shen Yunfang pulled down another chair.

She glanced at the flames behind her and started piling the pulled-down chairs under the window.

"Wait here. Mommy will climb up and open the window up there," Shen Yunfang instructed before scaling up, using all four limbs.

The chairs were unsteady, and she nearly fell several times. Fortunately, it wasn’t very high, and falling would only result in a bit of pain.

Shhh...

When Shen Yunfang was within reach, she quickly pulled down the thick curtain obstructing the window. She then climbed up a bit more and grabbed the window handle, trying to open it.

The window was designed with a grid pattern, and they couldn’t crawl out without opening it.

Perhaps because the window hadn’t been opened in a long time, the handle was rusted in place. Shen Yunfang used all her strength, pulling the handle off, but the window didn’t budge.

Shen Yunfang felt that relying on arm strength alone might not be enough.

She took out a brick from her space, knocked off the glass shards on the grid frame, and then grabbed the window frame with both hands, exerting her arm strength, she hoisted herself up onto the window.

Once she was on her feet, she bent over and grabbed the window frame with one hand to stabilize herself, then lifted a foot and started kicking against the frame.

One kick, two kicks, she didn’t know how many times she kicked, only that her foot must have swollen up, but at last, she managed to kick the window open.

She used her hands to quickly clear away the broken glass on the window, worried that the children might accidentally get cut when they come up. Then she leaned out to look outside.

Because the cinema was on fire, a large crowd had already gathered outside. Shen Yunfang shouted at the top of her lungs, "Help, help!"

"Hey, look, someone’s coming out over there."

At her shout, people immediately took notice of her at the small window.

A bunch of people rushed over, and some below even shouted, "Miss, jump down; we’ll catch you, there’s no way we’ll let you get hurt."

Shen Yunfang was reassured, "Thank you, everyone. My children are still inside, I will let them come up in a bit, please help me catch them."

"Don’t worry, big sister."

After saying this, Shen Yunfang climbed down from the window onto the stack of chairs.

"Pangpang, Manman, can you climb up yourselves?" Shen Yunfang assessed the situation and asked the two children who were still crouching down below.

If the children could climb up themselves, then she could stand there and lift them onto the window; that would be simple. If the children couldn’t, she might have to go down and drag up a few more chairs to make the pile high enough for the children to reach the window.

"We can," both children said in unison.

"Then give it a try," Shen Yunfang said with a smile to the children.

The flames were about to reach them, but at this moment, she had to avoid putting pressure on the children.

"Sister, come." Pangpang, holding his sister’s hand, helped her stand up and pushed her up the chairs first.

Manman didn’t object and started to climb up, using both hands and feet.

Thankfully, a few years’ experience of climbing trees with peers in the military compound had paid off, and Manman climbed up like a little monkey, quickly reaching her mother’s side.

Shen Yunfang held the child’s waist and lifted her up with a strong effort.

"Hold on tight," Shen Yunfang instructed. "Stand firm and see if there are people outside; tell them you’re going down, so they catch you." After instructing Manman, she turned to Pangpang below, "Hurry up and come up."

Pangpang also clambered up swiftly, even more agilely than Manman.

As Shen Yunfang held Pangpang’s waist, she heard a burst of exclamation from outside. Her heart skipped a beat, reassuring herself that the crowd must have caught Manman.

"You go up too," Shen Yunfang lifted Pangpang up as well.

Before she even had a chance to instruct him on what to do next, Pangpang had already jumped down, and another wave of exclamations sounded from the people outside.

Shen Yunfang sighed with relief; the children were safe, so she could breathe easy now.

But she had relaxed too soon. Just as she was about to grab the window frame and pull herself up as before, suddenly, a huge pulling force came from her legs, and without warning, she was yanked harshly down from the height.