It was the same for Chu Lui. Even though he appeared calm, his eyes were red; and his heart was palpitating. He clenched the hand that was in his pocket.
“Ruoxin…”
It was as if he had something stuck in his throat.
He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
At this point, someone walked by. Xia Ruoxin shook at him. He understood. He finally moved his gaze away from her and went to pan gold like the others.
Moreover, Xia Ruoxin did the same. She stepped into the river but quickly came out with her cup as she returned nonchalantly.
She knew that she could not and must not rush, and neither could the man.
But why is he here? How could he have gotten here? Did I make a mistake? Was I dreaming?
“What’s wrong?” Shen Wei patted Xia Ruoxin’s shoulders. “See a ghost?”
“Maybe.” Xia Ruoxin smiled bitterly. “I think I must have been seeing things.
She grabbed the tools and went into the river. The water was still freezing, but she did not react much today. Her eyes glanced forward furtively, trying to find a specific individual.
Just as her gaze landed on a tall man, the man looked over as well as if telepathic. Their eyes met, and something in the air made Xia Ruoxin quickly look away. Tears, something she had not experienced for a long time, fell from her eyes and landed in the river.
She had shed a lot of bitter tears into the river, but these were a little different today. They were of excitement, worry, and fear.
She glanced furtively at the man again, and he shook his head at her. ‘Don’t be afraid.’ He mouthed.
She cleaned her face with her sleeves. Strangely, the river did not even feel cold today.
By sundown, she had not found a single grain of gold, and neither had Shen Wei. Chu Lui had to hold his anger in when the stick landed on her.
Now was not the time. Not yet.
At least, he had found them. He found that aside from Xia Ruoxin, there was someone else he was familiar with: Shen Wei.
There was no one keeping watch here at night. Perhaps because of the cold weather, they did not pay much attention to their workers. They did not think anyone was capable of escaping from there, unless they flew or swam. Given the current climate, one would freeze in the river even before they made it out.
Chu Lui woke up the later half of the night. This was when everyone was in deep sleep.
…
Xia Ruoxin sat up hurriedly when she heard the commotion outside. Seeing that the others were still asleep, she slipped outside. Someone picked her up when she was right at the door. She sniffled when she felt the familiar warmth.
“Why are you here?”
“I’m here to find you.” Chu Lui dared not touch the woman that was skinny to her bones. She was already very skinny, but now she looked rather terrible. Her skin was tanned and sunburnt but still rather pale, and her lips were cracked.
Moreover, her hair. He knew that she treasured her hair the most, just like Rainy did, because they had both been bald before. Rainy would cry if she lost a single strand of hair now, not to mention getting it cut short.
Aside from being skinny, Xia Ruoxin had lost almost all her hair. He lowered his head and stared at her feet. Like the others, she was barefoot. Her feet were badly frostbitten as was her calf.
Xia Ruoxin touched her hair awkwardly and tried to hide her feet when she caught Chu Lui staring, but he had already seen it all.
It would take her months to recover from this.
Chu Lui picked up her hands. They were covered in scars. Aside from frostbites, there were cuts and scratches.
“Does it hurt?” The man smiled warmly, but there was moisture in his eyes that he tried to hold back.
“It’s okay.” Xia Ruoxin tried to take her hands back but found that she could not. The man’s hands were warm, a warmth that she had not felt in a long time. She felt tears well up, but she did not cry.
“Don’t be scared.” Chu Lui went up and wrapped her in his embrace. “Believe me, we’ll be out of here soon. Just a few days; just bear with this for a few more days.”
“Okay.” Xia Ruoxin choked. She believed anything the man said right now—even if he said that the sun rose in the west, just for the fact that he traveled across the world to find her.
Her hand grazed across his arm and felt an unusual bulge.
“How did these come about?” She rolled up his sleeves to find blood trace. She knew exactly what caused these. She had been through the same thing. She had a few of her own as well, and the scars still remained. Until now, she dared not let the man know of them.
“You mean these?” Chu Lui rolled his sleeves up nonchalantly. “An ugly woman tried to sleep with your man. I kicked her, and she did this.”
Xia Ruoxin thought of the plump supervisor who would call men to her room sometimes. Every time a man went, she would be in a good mood the next day; and the man would get nice things the next day.
She had thought of it, and it turned out to be true.
“Did Puff do this?”
“Puff?” Chu Lui raised his eyebrows. “What Puff? Who came up with this?”
“Shen Wei did.”
“She does look like a puff, but her fillings are black—not cream-colored, given her black heart.”
Black puff… that was an accurate description.
He laughed coldly. He rarely wanted to raise his hand against women, but this woman was nothing but a black-hearted swine.
