Chapter 6: Saving Someone

There was no firewood in the house, no water, and the torch was about to burn out. They couldn’t wash up and had to make do with just going to sleep.

The wooden planks were cold and hard. When Lin Qi woke up, the soreness all over her body had worsened. Her thin little face was pale, completely drained of color.

Outside, the sky was just beginning to lighten, and the sound of a rooster crowing could be heard not far away. Lin Qi slowly got up, ran her fingers messily through her hair, and cautiously walked outside.

As soon as she stepped out the door, she heard the sound of water splashing. Turning her head, she saw Ming Kangjian pouring water from a bucket into a large water vat.

“Good morning,” Ming Kangjian greeted her.

“Good morning,” Lin Qi walked over and asked, “Water, tank?”

“Are you asking about the water or the tank?” Ming Kangjian replied, not showing any impatience. Faced with this pitiful and beautiful little fool, though he resented her as a burden to the group, he couldn’t bring himself to truly dislike her.

Perhaps it was because men are visual creatures, and naturally inclined to pity the weak.

“Both,” Lin Qi answered.

“The water is fetched from the river — it’s said to be spring water flowing down from the mountain. The tank was bought from the brigade leader’s house. They had just bought it two days ago and hadn’t used it yet. Seeing we didn’t have one, they lent it to us for now. The bucket is also from the brigade leader’s house, we’re just borrowing it and will have to return it. The water is here — you can use it as you like.” After finishing, Ming Kangjian picked up the bucket and headed out again.

The water tank was quite large. Even after five trips back and forth, Ming Kangjian had only filled it halfway. After he finished his fifth run, Jian Tongyi and the other two male educated youths finally came out of their room.

“Nice work,” Jian Tongyi patted Ming Kangjian on the shoulder and took the bucket from him. “Where did you get the water? Take us there — we’ll do the rest. But before we fetch more water, I want to take a bath in the river. You guys in?”

“Yes, I’ll go back and grab my clothes.”

“Bring your toothbrush and toothpaste too — we can brush our teeth while we’re there.”

The four of them headed back to their rooms.

Lin Qi, standing to the side, was tempted — she wanted to bathe too.

Afraid of being left behind due to her slow movements, she activated her ability to circulate energy through her body, loosening her blocked limbs. Then, using the fastest pace she could manage, she speed-walked back to the room. The process caused her immense pain, but she gritted her teeth and bore it — all for the sake of getting to bathe.

Bang!

Lin Qi’s body slammed into the door with a loud crash, startling Ma Guizhi and Gan Tian from their sleep.

“So noisy!” Gan Tian rubbed her eyes and looked toward Lin Qi at the door. “Hey, little fool, what are you doing?”

“They’re… going… river… bathe!” Lin Qi was so eager to bathe that her speech came out a bit more smoothly than usual.

Before Ma Guizhi and Gan Tian could react, Lin Qi had already grabbed her backpack from the wooden plank and rushed out in a fluster.

Half an hour later, Ma Guizhi and Gan Tian each had a firm grip on one of Lin Qi’s arms as the three of them followed Ming Kangjian and the others to the river.

By now, the sky was fully bright. At the riverside, besides people fetching water, some had come to do laundry as well.

“That area over there is where our village folks bathe. The men bathe there — the water’s deeper. Women and children go over there — it’s shallower. The riverbed in both spots is full of stones, slippery, so watch your step,” a villager explained.

Without another word, Ming Kangjian, Jian Tongyi, and the other two men headed straight for the men’s bathing area. Ma Guizhi and Gan Tian exchanged a glance, then made their way toward the shallow end.

Ma Guizhi: “Did you bring a swimsuit?”

Gan Tian: “Nope. I’ll just go in with my clothes on and wash them at the same time.”

Ma Guizhi: “That works. Let’s move quickly while there aren’t many people on the road yet.”

Gan Tian: “We could go fast, but isn’t someone here still slow as a snail?”

Lin Qi, who had been staring blankly at the river: “……”

The water wasn’t deep — only up to Lin Qi’s waist or so, not enough to drown her. Seeing this, Ma Guizhi and Gan Tian didn’t bother with her anymore and began washing up on their own.

It was August or September — the peak of summer heat. Even in the morning, the river water was cool, but it didn’t feel cold at all. In fact, washing away a night’s sweat and stickiness felt incredibly refreshing.

Lin Qi found a stone and sat down, letting most of her body soak in the water as the current flowed gently over her. With one hand, she clutched a bar of soap and began rubbing it into her shoulder-length hair. Only when she’d worked up a good lather did she set the soap back on the riverbank and begin carefully washing her hair.

Her mother had once warned her that hair had to be washed thoroughly — otherwise, she’d get lice.

Lin Qi had never seen lice herself, but she suspected the original host of her body had probably had them before. Otherwise, why would her mother act like lice were such a mortal threat?

Bending over, she clumsily scrubbed her hair with both hands, completely focused. After years of struggling to survive in the post-apocalyptic world, she let her guard down at this moment — and didn’t notice the small boy flailing desperately in the middle of the river…

“Someone fell in the water!”

An auntie who had been doing laundry stood up, ready to head home, but happened to catch sight of a small figure struggling in the river’s center. She immediately screamed, “Help! Someone’s drowning!”

In the next second, everyone at the riverside turned to look toward the middle of the river.

“The center is three to four meters deep — anyone good at swimming, go save him. I’ll go get a bamboo pole!”

“I can’t — I’ll try paddling over on a bamboo raft instead.”

“There’s waterweed down there. Could the kid be tangled up in it?”

“There’s waterweed? Then I’m not going. I can’t save him in that case.”

“…”

People on shore were all talking at once, but no one jumped in to help.

Just as the villagers were hesitating, Ming Kangjian and the others had already started swimming toward the child.

Seeing this, the villagers let out a sigh of relief — but still didn’t forget to shout a warning:
“There’s waterweed at the bottom! Be careful!”

The villagers’ warning wasn’t late, but Ming Kangjian and the others were focused only on saving lives. With their bodies submerged in water and the sound of rushing water in their ears, they didn’t hear the shouts from the shore at all. Just as they approached the child, they were entangled by the long grass.

It’s over!

Seeing the four male educated youths trapped and unable to move in the water, the villagers turned pale.

These were educated youths from the city—four of them dying on just the second day after arriving in their production brigade—how were they supposed to explain this to the commune?

“I brought a hemp rope! I’ll go down to save them. You all grab the rope!”

A thin, small boy, with rough hemp rope tied around his waist, had appeared at the riverside at some point.

Upon seeing the boy, the villagers’ expressions became complicated.

“Alright, we’ll hold the rope. You go save them!”

When Lin Qi looked up, the boy had already swum to the center of the river with the rope in hand. He moved just like a nimble fish, gliding effortlessly.

“Don’t just stand there, get to the shore, quick!” Ma Guizhi, pale-faced, reminded the dazed Gan Tian.

Gan Tian snapped back to her senses, looking like she was about to cry. “My legs are weak—I can’t walk.”

Ma Guizhi was furious, “Is that all the courage you’ve got?!”

The two of them supported each other as they made their way to the shore. No one spared a thought for Lin Qi, who stood to the side.

“He’s too small—he doesn’t have the strength to pull those people up.”

“Tell him to tie the rope around them!”

“What if he gets tangled in the weeds too?”

“……”

The people on the riverbank were full of worry.

The boy couldn’t hear their discussion. He didn’t go to the four educated youths—instead, he swam first toward the boy who had fallen in earliest. The boy, who had been too weak to struggle any longer, was suddenly invigorated by the strong will to live when he saw someone approaching. He didn’t know where the strength came from, but he suddenly lunged at the boy and wrapped his arms tightly around him.

“Not good! He’s sinking too!”

“Don’t just stand there—pull the rope!”

“Everyone, pull together!”

The hemp rope was tied around the boy’s waist, and with the drowning boy clinging tightly to him, the people on the shore pulled with all their strength. The boy’s brow furrowed instantly in pain, his face contorted.

Meanwhile, Ming Kangjian and the others also saw the rope and each grabbed onto it.

But the rough and worn hemp rope, under the combined effort of the people on shore, gave a loud snap—and broke.