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Chapter 30 — A Close Call with Drowning
When Zhou Ziyi was diving, his foot suddenly cramped.
Instinctively, he tried to swim upwards, but his foot was no longer under his control. As he surged to the water’s surface, he only managed to take in a gulp of air before seawater rushed into his mouth. He didn’t even cough much, only unconsciously moving his hands under the water. After floating on the sea for nearly twenty seconds, two waves hit his head and he slowly sank.
Silent and without a trace.
Zhou Ziyi had imagined that if he ever cramped in the water, he would struggle desperately with his uncramped limbs; if faced with a drowning crisis, he would find a way to float on the water’s surface. However, no matter how much he imagined, when the situation actually occurred, he was completely helpless.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to save himself, but at that moment, his brain no longer obeyed.
There were no thoughts of “call for help quickly! Struggle! Float up!” His brain couldn’t give orders; there was only the instinctive behavior of “breathing is more important than calling for help.” As the last few seconds passed, his body couldn’t hold on any longer, and he had to give up the final struggle.
Even though this struggle was silent.
Zhou Ziyi had fallen into a stupor, with seawater rushing into his mouth and nose, but he showed no response. He was still in shallow water, yet it felt like he was sinking into an endless abyss, everything was chaotic, and he was unconscious.
Until an arm embraced him and forcefully pulled him up!
*
Yan Xiuzhi brought Zhou Ziyi to the sea surface, expending a great deal of energy.
Fortunately, a lifeguard was nearby and immediately took over. The lifeguard’s handling of the situation was much more professional and efficient than Yan Xiuzhi’s, and he quickly carried Zhou Ziyi to the beach.
As soon as Zhou Ziyi was placed on the sand, the lifeguard glanced back at Yan Xiuzhi. Once he confirmed that Yan Xiuzhi had started heading to the shore, the lifeguard’s hand pressed down firmly on Zhou Ziyi’s chest!
“…Hic! Cough!”
After a few presses, Zhou Ziyi violently spat out a large amount of water and then started coughing intensely: “Cough, cough, cough…!”
By the time Yan Xiuzhi hurried over, Zhou Ziyi was still curled up on the beach, coughing in pain. The lifeguard next to him breathed a sigh of relief and exclaimed excitedly, “Great, he’s coming around! Thank God!”
Yan Xiuzhi crouched down and looked at Zhou Ziyi.
“I’ll have the hotel send a car to take him to the hospital!” The lifeguard said as he turned and ran back to his lookout chair.
Yan Xiuzhi didn’t get up, despite his neatly dressed body being soaked at the moment. He had no intention of changing.
He brushed aside Zhou Ziyi’s forehead hair and gazed at the young man’s face.
Zhou Ziyi’s face was pale, with his entire face was wrinkled and coughing until there was no sound, as if his heart was being torn apart but it was much better than when Yan Xiuzhi had just lifted him.
No matter how ugly it is, as long as he is still moving and alive, that’s good enough.
Yan Xiuzhi’s usually composed expression softened slightly.
*
It’s often said that the most fearful thing for a rescuer is the lack of cooperation from the person being rescued. When Yan Xiuzhi was holding onto Zhou Ziyi in the water and Zhou Ziyi didn’t struggle at all, Yan Xiuzhi’s emotions reached an extreme level of tension. No struggle meant unconsciousness. Was it temporary unconsciousness, or… Yan Xiuzhi didn’t dare to think too much.
Even after bringing the person to the surface of the sea, not hearing any signs of breathing from the other person made Yan Xiuzhi’s heart sink even further, as if most of his strength had also been lost. He followed behind, watching the lifeguard quickly reach the beach, as if all he could see were the outstretched arm.
A thought arose in Yan Xiuzhi’s heart: “Why didn’t I notice earlier?”
He even felt that most of his ten seconds on the shore were utterly unnecessary.
If it had been ten seconds earlier, Zhou Ziyi might not have ended up drowning; if it had been ten seconds later… he might have died.
If a living, breathing person were to disappear right before Yan Xiuzhi’s eyes, he would probably never be able to forgive himself.
While Yan Xiuzhi remained silent, Zhou Ziyi finally began to recover slightly. He coughed from time to time, taking deep breaths in between. His eyes opened a little, looking at Yan Xiuzhi in front of him. It was unclear whether he recognized him, but he reached out his hand, lightly moving his fingertips.
Yan Xiuzhi held his hand.
“The hotel will send a car immediately. I’ll take him to the beach first!”
The lifeguard hurried back with a towel, without saying a word, wrapped Zhou Ziyi up and carried him. Yan Xiuzhi let go of him. The lifeguard glanced at him, “Are you coming too, sir?”
Yan Xiuzhi, with wet hair, said, “I’m coming.”
“Then don’t forget your phone at least,” the lifeguard reminded as he turned around, “and also grab a towel, you might not have time to change clothes.”
Yan Xiuzhi quickly ran back under the umbrella to grab important items and a towel, and didn’t care about the rest, then turned and followed the lifeguard.
Zhou Ziyi underwent a full examination at the hospital.
Halfway through, he was fully awake. Remembering the faint memory before losing consciousness, he had to admit that he had really pushed his luck too far.
If he hadn’t been lucky enough to be rescued, he would have gone straight to the afterlife. Even jumping into the river would have been a more heroic end than this.
He had no idea how he was rescued, or even how he was found drowning. His last conscious thoughts were “unable to call for help” and “it’s over.” Now he was miraculously conscious, receiving an examination at the hospital, which was simply unbelievable.
As his hospital bed was moved between different departments, Zhou Ziyi also saw Yan Xiuzhi waiting outside.
Yan Xiuzhi hadn’t changed clothes yet. He was just wrapped in a bath towel, holding his phone with an expressionless face. Zhou Ziyi felt that he was angry and speculated that he would definitely be criticized when he turned around, so he couldn’t help but be afraid in advance.
In addition, Zhou Ziyi felt that he was already fine. Even the culprit of drowning, leg cramps, was gone.
He even had the leisure to sigh during the examination: I haven’t had a full-body checkup recently.
To be honest, medical care abroad is really expensive.
But when the money is there, the service will definitely be there.
After a complete check-up, the doctor came to give Zhou Ziyi and Yan Xiuzhi a guarantee, indicating that there were no major issues. A certain degree of chest tightness and breathing discomfort in the short term are normal and can be adjusted by resting on their own. If it’s not better by tomorrow, or even if the symptoms worsen, then come back for a follow-up visit. It could be due to seawater entering the lungs.
In short, they can leave now.
*
Zhou Ziyi came in lying down and left standing. The hotel sent over two sets of clothes. Zhou Ziyi and Yan Xiuzhi both changed, so both of them were wearing the local special floral shirts and loose trousers. Yan Xiuzhi had always despised this kind of flashy clothes, but somehow he didn’t escape it.
From the hospital to the villa, neither of them said a word.
Here’s the translation of the provided text into English:
Zhou Ziyi didn’t dare to speak, didn’t know what to say, but also didn’t know why Yan Xiuzhi was silent. He guessed that Yan Xiuzhi was angry, so he chose to cold-shoulder him. Therefore, he obediently kept quiet all the way, like a quail.
It wasn’t until he took a shower and changed into dry clothes at the villa that Zhou Ziyi gathered the courage to knock on Yan Xiuzhi’s door.
Yan Xiuzhi opened the door expressionlessly.
He had also showered and changed clothes. After changing back into dark clothing, that imposing feeling of not being angry but still formidable became even stronger. At first glance, Zhou Ziyi felt a tremor in his heart, and he forgot the lines he had prepared after knocking on the door.
But Yan Xiuzhi spoke first, “What’s the matter?”
“Um, I’ve ordered lunch, it’s arriving soon!” Zhou Ziyi said, “You can come out later to eat.”
Yan Xiuzhi responded with a simple “Hmm.”
Zhou Ziyi hesitated for two seconds, then made up his mind and said the words that had been lingering in his mind, “Um, I’m sorry.”
Yan Xiuzhi looked at him, “Sorry for what?”
“Just… everything.” Zhou Ziyi, who had always been eloquent, faltered, trying to recall his prepared lines, “I’ve caused you a lot of trouble, made you worry, I… I’m sorry.”
Yan Xiuzhi was originally feeling both depressed and agitated, and it was indeed related to Zhou Ziyi. But now that Zhou Ziyi has come to apologize sincerely, Yan Xiuzhi not only does not feel relieved, but instead feels even more stifled. He looked at the young man in front of him expressionlessly and replied, “You didn’t do it on purpose, so there’s no need to apologize.”
“But I did cause you trouble,” Zhou Ziyi scratched his head and said, “I was being reckless. The doctor said it might be because my body was tired, but I didn’t feel it mentally, so that’s why I cramped up in the water. I won’t wander around anymore. I’ll stay quietly with you and not cause you any trouble.”
“Whatever,” Yan Xiuzhi responded stiffly at first, then felt it was too harsh and added, “The doctor said you can resume normal activities after resting. There’s no need to stop doing what you enjoy because of this.”
“Okay, I’ll make sure to rest well first and not cause you any more trouble,” Zhou Ziyi paused for a moment and asked a question that had been on his mind, “By the way, do you know who found me drowning?”
“…” Yan Xiuzhi didn’t understand how the conversation had turned to this and asked in return, “Why do you ask?”
“Um, because I remember when I was drowning, I couldn’t call for help at all,” Zhou Ziyi said, “If someone hadn’t found me drowning and come to rescue me on their own, I would have been done for. But drowning only takes a minute or two, so realizing I was in trouble in time isn’t that simple, right?”
After a pause, he added, “When we came back, didn’t the hotel staff bring a notebook to register information? There were several recent drowning cases marked in it, and I saw there were several cases of people missing, which is terrifying. If I had also gone missing, it would have been very ominous. So I want to know, which angel noticed that something was wrong?”
Yan Xiuzhi fell silent.
He was originally planning to admit it, but when Zhou Ziyi blurted out the word “angel,” President Yan didn’t want to admit it anymore.
But Zhou Ziyi is now awake, intelligent, and has the upper hand in understanding the whole situation. With everything that happened, how could he not understand?
“Ge, I saw that your clothes were all wet when I was at the hospital,” Zhou Ziyi blinked, “You were the one who found me drowning, right?”
Yan Xiuzhi: “…”
This made Zhou Ziyi even more certain: “This is a good deed, President Yan. Why are you keeping it from me? Are you afraid I’ll give myself to you in gratitude?”
“I just don’t want to hear your nonsense,” CEO Yan finally admitted, “It’s just common sense, nothing special.”
“For you, it’s common sense, but for me, it’s a lifesaving grace.”
Zhou Ziyi smiled, then took a step forward and suddenly hugged Yan Xiuzhi.
Yan Xiuzhi: !!!
In fact, Zhou Ziyi didn’t know how to thank him. Even if he gave money, people would look down on those few coins, and for other things… Zhou Ziyi didn’t have them. So, he could only use his actions to express his gratitude first.
“…Thank you.” Zhou Ziyi couldn’t even think of the right words to express his gratitude, hugging Yan Xiuzhi tightly, “Ge, you saved me twice.”
The words sounded a bit strange, but Yan Xiuzhi understood.
He did indeed help Zhou Ziyi a lot, but he also didn’t want to hear the young man thanking him in this way.
“You don’t need to do this,” Yan Xiuzhi patted Zhou Ziyi’s backs stiffly. In this moment, all the inexplicable frustration in his heart miraculously dissipated.
“It’s your own life, just live it well.”
Avrora[Translator]
Hello, I'm Avrora (≧▽≦) Thank you very much for your support. Your support will help me buy the raw novel from the official site (Jjwxc/GongziCp/Others) to support the Author. It's also given me more motivation to translate more novels for our happy future! My lovely readers, I hope you enjoy the story as much as I do.(≧▽≦) Ps: Feel free to point out if there is any wrong grammar or anything else in my translation! (≧▽≦) Thank you