Li Yuren’s group walked over the edge with grim expressions on their faces. They tried to find the two, but with the strong current, Li Yuren and Lu Xinyi were easily swept away. The darkness of the night wouldn’t make it possible to rescue the two at the moment. They had no choice but to see where this river would lead.
The current was running at fast speed taking the unconscious Lu Xinyi into the distance. Li Yuren kept his head above the water and swam towards the direction that Lu Xinyi was swept towards. His eyes swept around him and realized that he was being swept at an alarming speed. He needed to get Lu Xinyi as soon as possible, or else they might be in danger if they stayed in the water for too long.
He swam fast, trying to reach Lu Xinyi and making sure he wasn’t wasting his energy. He didn’t know how long it had been since they fell from the cliff. His eyes couldn’t see the woman anywhere. Just when he thought that Lu Xinyi sank below the water, he saw her figure floating several meters ahead of him.
A glimmer of hope rose within him as he saw Lu Xinyi. The closer he got, the less anxious he was. He was worried that she had hurt herself, and only when did he finally see that she was okay with a small bump on her forehead did he release a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
Li Yuren grabbed her arm and lifted her torso, keeping her face away from the water. Wave after wave rushed towards them, and he hurried to reach the banks. Swimming against the strong currents was making his whole body ache; staying any further could harm the woman in his arms.
His pair of strong arms held her tight, making sure he wouldn’t lose her again. Everything happened so fast that he didn’t understand why he jumped after her. He grunted as his back slammed against a huge boulder. If it was Lu Xinyi, she would surely suffer some broken bones from the impact. Thankfully, Li Yuren’s body could tolerate some pain.
He took a glance at Lu Xinyi before swimming downwards. He dared not to swim against the current, or else they would be swept farther. When they reached the shore, he dragged Lu Xinyi’s body away from the raging waves of the river. He immediately started giving her CPR, forcing the water out of her lungs.
Lu Xinyi coughed thrice, spitting out the water before taking a deep breath. She stayed unconscious, but her breathing returned to normal much to Li Yuren’s relief. He laid beside her and looked up at the darkened sky. He had no idea what time it was, but he was sure it wasn’t past midnight.
With a last glance on the woman beside him, Li Yuren lost his consciousness.
—
The first ray of sunlight woke up Lu Xinyi, making her aware of the splitting headache that she had. She sat up, held her head with both hands, and groaned. What happened to her? Her whole body was sore and aching.
She stiffened when the last night’s memories came rushing to her mind. She remembered leaving the Weeping Willow Village with the Su family, the pursuits of the bandits in the forest, and how she fell down the cliff.
Lu Xinyi shifted her body. She hissed in pain when she touched her right arm. She wasn’t severely injured, but her bruises started to darken to a purplish mark on her pale skin. The moment she tried to stand up, she felt a sharp pain coming from her left leg.
Her ears picked up murmuring near her, and it was only then she realized that there was someone beside her.
She froze and stared at the man’s face with wide eyes. She finally knew who had saved her from drowning. It was none other than General Li himself.
Lu Xinyi’s first impression of him was that he was a private guy, so one couldn’t tell much at first glance. He got that tanned skin common to the men working on his profession and dark eyes that make any woman weak at the knees. He had the heart of a lion and a fierceness of a dragon. His men deeply respected him.
He was a fair few inches taller than her. He was slim, muscular, with an almost perfectly symmetrical face. He had tousled dark brown hair, which was thick and lustrous. His eyes were a mesmerizing deep brown, flecks of silvery light performed ballets throughout. His face was strong and defined; his features molded from granite. He had dark eyebrows which sloped downwards in a serious expression.
Compared to Shen Yi’s devilish beauty that could charm any woman, Li Yuren’s face gave off a mysterious vibe that made women flock around him.
A moment later, Lu Xinyi noticed that there was something wrong with General Li. His breath was uneven, and his face was beet-red. She reached out a hand and touched his forehead. He was burning with fever. She started to check if he had any wounds on his body. Aside from a long laceration on his arm which wasn’t too deep, Lu Xinyi didn’t find any serious injuries.
Li Yuren woke up and found Lu Xinyi checking on him. He could feel his world spinning from his dizziness. His arm was aching, but he forced himself to sit and checked on Lu Xinyi.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
Biting her lower lip, Lu Xinyi replied softly, “I’m fine.” ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
She then looked around their surroundings. “Where are we?”
“I don’t know,” Li Yuren replied honestly. He wasn’t sure which part of the river did they end up. “Let’s go and find temporary shelter. It will rain soon,” he added.
Although the sun was still visible in the sky, dark clouds started to loom over them. Li Yuren sat up and started walking towards the forest. He was aware that both of them were still soaking wet and needed to dry.
They both remained silent as they walked with no direction in their minds. Lu Xinyi stared at Li Yuren who was walking before her, deep in her thoughts. With his presence, it meant that he purposely jumped off the cliff to save her, but as to why he did it, Lu Xinyi couldn’t think of a reason.
Li Yuren halted his steps and looked over his shoulder. “Walk faster.” He signaled her to walk beside him.
“I can’t.” Lu Xinyi looked away. She was aware she was slowing down their movements. If it wasn’t for the sharp, stinging pain in her leg, she would have walked faster.
His eyes caught the dry blood on her trousers which he hadn’t seen earlier. He frowned to himself. She must have caught her injury from one of the sharp rocks on the river. She was limping as she followed behind him. Her sweat started to form behind her neck as she endured the pain and walked faster beside Li Yuren.
They’d been walking for half an hour when lightning pierce the sky before a loud thunder sound followed. It was about to rain again, and the two needed to find a shelter to protect them from the changing weather and to treat her wound.
Li Yuren almost tripped on a rock he hadn’t noticed, but thankfully, Lu Xinyi stepped forward and helped him to hold his balance.
“You’re burning.” Lu Xinyi frowned, but the man ignored her.
“There’s a cave ahead,” the man replied nonchalantly and pushed Lu Xinyi’s hand from his arm.
“How do you know?” she asked incredulously. She couldn’t understand this man at all.
Li Yuren pointed a finger on the rock formations ahead which she hadn’t noticed earlier.
“There should be one,” he said, “Also, there are footprints left on this trail. They aren’t new. Probably someone was here a day or two before us.”
Lu Xinyi kept her mouth shut and didn’t argue any further. She followed the man closely until they reached the cave. Another unexpected happened again, Li Yuren’s prediction was wrong once more as they found themselves not alone within the cave.
Just as soon as they stepped inside, two people showed themselves and blocked their way. One man and the other was a woman. Both were clothed weirdly which reminded Lu Xinyi of the ninjas she’d seen on films and televisions shows. Her thoughts ran a thousand miles, thinking of the possibilities of what they are and why they were here.
The man had long unruly hair that was kept on a low ponytail. His eyes reminded Lu Xinyi of almonds with its shape and its color. His chest was half revealed to them. His torso was wrapped in a bandage with a hint of blood showing on his side.
Guns appeared on both hands of the two strangers, pointing towards Li Yuren and Lu Xinyi.
“Who the hell are you?!” The man sneered impatiently.
Li Yuren motioned Lu Xinyi to hide behind him. If he was correct, these two were members of the notorious mercenary group called ‘Children of the Wolves’. The man had a tattoo of a head of a wolf on his left chest indicating his affiliation to the group.
Oblivious to the danger they stepped in, Lu Xinyi answered.
“We are hikers who encountered a sudden accident and fell on the rivers. Please… can you help us?”
Her whole body was trembling. It was as though she was freezing where she was standing.
“She’s injured. We just need to treat her wound. We will leave soon if you don’t like us to be here.” Li Yuren tried to reason out. If Lu Xinyi wasn’t with him, he didn’t mind spending time outside while raining than stay with these people.
The man was obviously hurt with the way he stood, but the woman beside him was in better condition. Li Yuren didn’t dare to underestimate the woman. Who knew what kind of tricks she had on her sleeves?
