A large dark cloud was floating in the skies, rain started to pour suddenly and Nan Zhi was drenched very quickly.
She stared at the thin figure in the seas with blurry eyes.
Her heart clenched painfully.
Without caring for any danger, Nan Zhi rushed towards the sea.
…
Qiao Yanze did not seem to hear Nan Zhi’s shouts behind him.
He stared at the strong and unending sea, his tears mixing with the rain as they covered his face.
His feelings were undeniably low and despair.
He did not have the urge to live anymore. Once he was dead, he would be able to go seek forgiveness from his mother.
Within a while, it was high-tide, waves after waves crashing at him.
He closed his eyes, his expression completely lacking any signs of life.
Nan Zhi kept chasing after Qiao Yanze. However, the rain and the strong waves made it very hard for her to catch up to him. If she walked any further out, it would become more dangerous.
However, Nan Zhi was not afraid at all. There was only one thought in her mind.
She could not let anything happen to her uncle!
Bearing the crazy storm and strong waves, she held onto her breath and kept swimming towards where Qiao Yanze was.
The storm was beginning to go crazy while the waves were a turbulent frency of rushing water!
Holding onto her breath for too long, her lungs were starting to lack oxygen, so she reached her head out to catch her breath, before she submerged her head again. She did not dare to drag this on much longer, any second longer and her uncle would be in danger.
The freezing sea water, the crazy storm, and the dangerous situation they were in were tested each and every one of Nan Zhi’s senses. It was a good thing that she finally saw Qiao Yanze, who was sinking in the water. She swam next to him, pulling his hand as she tried to drag him up onto the surface.
Qiao Yanze, who only wanted to die, had his mouth and nose filled with quite a bit of water, already feeling the effects of the lack of oxygen. However, he had yet to lose consciousness. Feeling someone pull him, he opened his eyes, though he could not see who was saving him in the dark water. Instinctively, he used all of his strength to push that person’s hand away.
Nan Zhi could feel Qiao Yanze’s rejection against her, as she furrowed her eyebrows, feeling both sad and angry!
However, regardless of her anger, she could not watch Qiao Yanze drown to death like that! If he died, everything she had done would be pointless!
Swimming back to Qiao Yanze’s side, she pulled his hand with a death hold, doing all she could to pull him up to the surface.
The two of them pushed and pulled for a while, before Qiao Yanze felt like he was almost suffocating and lost all strength to fight against Nan Zhi, letting her pull him to the surface.
Cough, cough, cough…
Once he could breathe in fresh air, Qiao Yanze started to cough unconsciously, throwing up mouthfuls of seawater.
In the past two months, he had been depressed and demoralized, handling his sorrows through alcohol everyday. He had lost so much weight he was only left with skin and bones.
The area around his eyes sank down, his face completely pale as stubble had grown all over his chin, making him look like an extreme mess.
He lay on the beach, his breathing unstable as water beads fell from his eyes. No one knew if they were raindrops or his tears.
For a charming and happy man to become so depressed and give up on himself, it was easy to tell how big and strong of an impact it had had on him!
If Xiao Ying was still alive, Nan Zhi really wanted to stab her a million times! Her perfect uncle was caught into such a terrible situation because of her!
She had gotten someone to investigate her uncle’s cigarettes before. There was a very small amount of DIE drug placed in every cigarette, making it extremely hard to detect.
Xiao Ying must have changed her uncle’s cigarettes, making her uncle become more dependent on her as a result. Once her uncle had consumed a certain amount, it was extremely difficult for him to leave her already.
The DIE drug was able to make people hallucinate. If there wasn’t such a thing, her uncle probably wouldn’t have been so head over heels for Xiao Ying!
After all, he had seen all sorts of women before! Xiao Ying was really too ruthless and heartless!
Nan Zhi sat on the beach, completely drenched as she stared at Qiao Yanze, who had almost died in the sea.
She didn’t comfort him like he did in the past. Instead, she did not say anything, merely raising his hand to slap her face ruthlessly.
As his niece, and really shouldn’t have hit him. But she really had no other way to deal with this situation anymore.
If her slap was able to wake him up, it was fine if he hated or blamed her for it.
In the last few days, her mother and her had been completely helpless because of him!
They had said everything they could, to the point that their lips were dried up, but he still didn’t listen to them.
He even wanted to commit suicide!
Staring at Qiao Yanze, who remained unmoved after receiving the slap, the angry fire within Nan Zhi burst out.
“Uncle, do you think you can solve everything by dying? If you did, Grandma wouldn’t forgive you if she met you in the Underworld!
“If you died, you will only make Xiao Ying happier. What she wanted was for our Qiao family to be broken, for you to not be able to stand the blow and leave our world to accompany her!”
Nan Zhi’s emotions burst out uncontrollably. “If you think that dying can solve everything, have you ever thought about Mom and I? For you, we came to this unknown country. I can’t go back to see Mu Sihan, and I’m separated from my son. Why did I have to do that? I did it because of you! I want to see you stand back up again, to find the mysterious person behind Xiao Ying, to see you rebuild the Qiao family and let Grandma not die in vain!
“If you die, the taint on the Qiao family can never be washed away again! In the future, when people talk about the Qiao family, they would say that the family dealt in drugs and that we’re horrible and not respectable!
“I know you faced a very strong blow, that you cannot get over the fact that Grandma has died. But, the sadder you are, the more you have to stay strong and stand back up!”
Nan Zhi’s words touched Qiao Yanze’s emotions, the vein on his forehead popping up. “What else can I do by living in this world? Death is the best relief! It’s the only thing I can do! What’s the point in living in this state?!”
Relieved to hear him speak at last, Nan Zhi nodded. “Alright, you want to die, right? Then I’ll do it with you! Anyway, I have nothing now. By the time we die, my Mom would definitely not be able to live as well. Our whole family can go down to the Underworld and reunite there!”
Nan Zhi ran towards sea.
Watching as Nan Zhi really started to run towards the sea, his numbed emotions slowly went away as he started to become nervous and panicked.
Pushing his exhausted body up from the beach, he chased after Nan Zhi and grabbed her with his last remaining strength. By now, her abdomen was almost covered by the sea water. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry… I was the one who caused Older Sister and you to suffer with me, it’s my fault, it’s all my fault!”
Nan Zhi turned around, staring at the frail and thin Qiao Yanze. She shook her head. “It’s okay, Uncle. There’s still time. As long as you can stand back up, our family will become better again. I know it!”
The moment Nan Zhi finished speaking, her stomach started to churn and cramp. It hurt! She stared at Qiao Yanze, suddenly blacking out as she lost consciousness.
“Zhizhi!”
…
Four years later.
During spring, the town felt refreshing, flowers blooming everywhere as life filled the whole area.
Ji Chuan had just gotten the Jiteng Award’s latest Best Actor award. After the award ceremony, he accepted a role in another romance movie.
To shoot the film, he happened to come across this quaint town in Europe for filming.
The moment he got off the flight, Ji Chuan took out his sunglasses. Staring at the warm and pretty town, he felt his mood soaring nicely.
“After being in the flight for more than ten hours, I feel like my bones are about to fall apart. Check quickly to see what’s nice to eat here?”
His assistant took out his phone. “Young Master Ji, there’s a private kitchen with very good reviews.”
