Chapter 20

The next morning, Xue Miaoyun woke up early as usual. She prepared both breakfast and lunch, then delivered the meals to Yu Xiaohua. After lunch, it was nearly time for her to head to the train station.

“Comrade Xue!”

“Brother Yan?” Xue Miaoyun was surprised to see him. “Why are you here?”

“The County Chief asked me to escort you to the train station,” he replied.

“That’s really not necessary—it’s too much trouble for you,” Xue Miaoyun declined politely. It truly wasn’t needed. If they had a car, then maybe it made sense to give her a ride. But in this case, he’d have to walk with her the whole way. She didn’t even have much luggage—barely enough to need a bicycle.

She could walk perfectly fine on her own.

But Xiao Yan was nothing if not persistent. Since the County Chief told him to escort her, he was determined to follow through.

Xue Miaoyun was speechless but had no choice other than to accept.

Thankfully, the Yu residence wasn’t far from the train station—just about a twenty-minute walk.

Xiao Yan, being thoughtful, immediately took the only parcel she had. To avoid awkward silence, Xue Miaoyun softly asked him to help look after some matters for Yu Xiaohua while she was gone. Xiao Yan readily agreed, inwardly marveling at how Comrade Miaoyun was even more filial than the County Chief’s own two sons.

“Someone fell into the water! Over there, over there—!”

“A PLA^[1]T/N: People’s Liberation Army soldier went in to save them! He’s already pulled out several children!”

“Where? Where?!”

The moment Xue Miaoyun heard the words “PLA soldier,” her heart gave a jolt. She had a bad feeling.

She quickly turned toward the commotion.

She saw a large stone bridge crowded with people.

Hurrying to the bridge, she pushed through the onlookers and leaned over the railing to peer down. The river’s current was indeed swift and turbulent.

“They’ve already rescued three, but one’s still missing. Why is it taking so long? Something bad must’ve happened.”

“That soldier’s been underwater for a while now. What if he’s exhausted?”

“Such a tragedy…”

“That soldier’s so tall and handsome. What a shame…”

“With water this fast, who dares go in?”

“There’s been heavy rain upstream for days—the current’s bound to be dangerous…”

“It’s been too long… maybe it’s over.”

For reasons she couldn’t explain, Xue Miaoyun just knew—the soldier who had gone in to save people had to be Cang Ling. Her face turned pale, and her mind went blank with panic. Seeing no sign of movement on the water’s surface, she couldn’t hold back.

She sprinted to the riverbank and dove headfirst into the water.

“Comrade Xue!” Xiao Yan was horrified. His soul nearly left his body as he witnessed her jump.

“Who was that? Someone else went in?!”

“It was a young woman!”

“My god, is she trying to die?!”

“Maybe she’s a strong swimmer.”

“It’s always the good swimmers who drown…”

“Now we’ve lost another one…”

Xiao Yan stood helplessly on the shore, burning with anxiety. But he couldn’t swim. All he could do was worry.

Meanwhile, in the water, Xue Miaoyun moved like a fish. Although the river was murky and visibility was practically zero, she could still catch a faint trace of Cang Ling’s scent to guide her direction.

She knew that with such a rapid current, anyone caught in it would have been swept downstream.

So she swam that way.

At first, to avoid suspicion, she occasionally surfaced so people wouldn’t find her strange. But once she was far enough downstream and out of sight, she stayed completely underwater to search.

The golden finger worked wonders—as expected—Xue Miaoyun quickly found her target tangled in a patch of underwater weeds. Sure enough, it was Cang Ling. He was already unconscious, one hand gripping a child, while the other was caught in the water weeds.

Xue Miaoyun swam over quickly, not daring to waste a second. She immediately tore the weeds from his wrist. But dragging both an adult and a child to the surface was no small feat.

Just then, perhaps due to exhaustion, Cang Ling’s hand slipped—and the child drifted away in the current.

Xue Miaoyun’s heart nearly stopped. She immediately surged forward to grab the child, only to find his vital signs dangerously faint. Without hesitation, she stuffed several Life’s Blue pills into his mouth. Only then did his condition slightly improve.

She returned to Cang Ling’s side, only to discover his feet were tightly wrapped in more weeds. She tried pulling him up, but he wouldn’t budge.

Xue Miaoyun grimaced. She had no Life’s Blue left.

Feeling his life force growing fainter by the second, Xue Miaoyun clenched her jaw and moved closer. Tilting her head, she pressed her lips against his.

In the sea, she could absorb life force from Life’s Blue directly. Compared to forming it outside, transferring it from within herself was easier.

She breathed into him a mouthful of pure, vibrant life energy—then quickly pulled away.

But Cang Ling remained unconscious.

What’s going on? she thought. Was it not enough?

She looked down at the child in her arms. If she swam him back to shore first, it might be too late to save Cang Ling.

Shutting her eyes tightly, Xue Miaoyun leaned in again.

The moment their lips touched, she sensed something was wrong. Instinctively, she opened her eyes—only to find herself locked in a gaze with a pair of dark, smoldering eyes.

Xue Miaoyun nearly choked on river water.

She immediately tried to pull away.

But a firm arm wrapped around her waist, and suddenly, she was pulled into the man’s embrace—then propelled upward with a powerful kick.

Cough, cough.

Breaking the surface, Xue Miaoyun knew what Cang Ling intended. She didn’t argue and swam swiftly toward the riverbank, the child still in tow.

Thanks to her enhanced strength, dragging a six- or seven-year-old wasn’t difficult at all. She pulled the boy onto the shore and immediately began resuscitation efforts. The Life’s Blue pills had worked—after a while of CPR, the child began to cough and spit water.

Seeing him come to, Xue Miaoyun turned back toward the river, scanning anxiously for any sign of Cang Ling. When he didn’t appear, panic gripped her again. She was just about to dive back in—

Splash.

“There!” someone cried, pointing.

Seeing him surface, Xue Miaoyun let out a huge sigh of relief.

Cang Ling swam toward the shore the moment he spotted her.

Afraid he’d be too exhausted, Xue Miaoyun hurried to the water’s edge to help him up.

Cang Ling saw her outstretched hand and didn’t hesitate—he placed his hand in hers. Xue Miaoyun, assuming he was too weak to climb out himself, pulled with all her strength.

At the same time, Cang Ling braced his other hand against a rock. He hadn’t meant to rely on her strength—but they both applied too much force.

With a sudden surge, Cang Ling was yanked out of the water entirely—and toppled forward.

Xue Miaoyun was thrown backward in turn.

“Ah!” she yelped, already imagining the sharp rocks and weeds behind her.

Cang Ling was caught off guard too—but he reacted in a flash. Agile as ever, he wrapped an arm around the girl’s waist and twisted midair, using himself as her cushion.

Thud.

They both hit the ground.

Xue Miaoyun remained unharmed—completely shielded.

Feeling the strong chest and solid muscles beneath her, she froze. Then, flustered, she scrambled to get up.

“Ahem.”

“Are you hurt?” Xue Miaoyun knelt beside Cang Ling, reaching to check his pulse.

Cang Ling held her wrist. “I’m fine.”

“How’s the child?” He sat up, glancing over.

“He’s stable now. But we should get him to a hospital. He was in the water for too long, and there’s a risk of infection from aspirated water.” Though in truth, Xue Miaoyun felt confident the Life’s Blue had already done its job—still, it wasn’t worth the gamble.