In fact, Lu Yi should have made the call immediately. Yet, he realized that he did not have the courage to do so. He was too overwhelmed, and at the same time, he was too scared to dial the number.
He held the mobile phone before him. With his trembling fingers, he dialed Ye Shuyun’s number before he placed the phone beside his ear.
The call was picked up almost instantly.
“Lu Yi, Li Yi, have you seen your dad? Is he alright? Is he injured?”
Lu Jin’s felt faint discomfort at his throat. It felt slightly painful, itchy and burning simultaneously.
“Shuyun, it’s me.” It was as if he had spent all his energy to just speak these few words.
“Old Lu….”
On the other end of the line, Ye Shuyun had burst into tears.
“Yes, it’s me. It’s me.” Likewise, Lu Jin could not stop the tears from falling down his cheeks. Although he was facing away from everyone else, but Lu Yi could tell that his father was crying.
A man would always present only his smile and strength to others, and saved the sorrow and pain for himself.
Tears were meant to be kept to himself too.
Meanwhile, Yan Huan was taking care of the casualties outside the room. The supplies were constantly sent to the affected areas batch after batch. Yet, they hoped that the supplies would continue to come.
She poked Ye Xinyu’s leg.
“Doctor said that something’s wrong with your leg?”
“What?” Ye Xinyu yelled as he intended to sit. He consequently felt a sharp pain in his leg. Immediately, he curled up, held his leg and cried in agony. Huge droplets of tears fell onto the ground.
The pain was excruciating and tormenting. It was as though someone stabbed him in his heart, so painful to the extent that he thought he was dying.
Yan Huan’s expression was painted with sympathy.
“Sister, what’s wrong with my leg?”
He no longer addressed Yan Huan as sister-in-law. Instead, he called her sister, which made their relationship sounded closer. With that, he hoped that Yan Huan would be nicer to him.
“Your leg is not doing so great.” Again, Yan Huan poked his leg.
Her eyes that were filled with compassion, and together with her expression that explained how powerless she was, it seemed to have sentence Ye Xinyu to death.
Why? What exactly went wrong?
Ye Xinyu was crying, looking even more like a lady with his pretty face. As tears rolled down those refined cheeks, it made Yan Huan really, really want to…
Choke him.
“Your leg…” Yan Huan spoke as she pointed at Ye Xinyu’s leg, “I actually haven’t told you about it. They might need to amputate your leg.” She made a gesture of cutting, “Amputation. You understand the meaning of it, right?”
“Huh!”
Ye Xinyu hugged his leg and began to wail like a baby.
When the helicopter landed and they were ready to send the injured victims to the nearby hospital for subsequent treatment, Ye Xinyu appeared to be lethargic and spiritless.
“Brother, brother. Please save me. I don’t want them to cut off my leg. I don’t want to be a cripple for the rest of my life. I promise I’ll be obedient in the future and listen to your words. I’ll attend school and never play truant anymore. I won’t run away heedlessly…”
He pulled Lu Yi’s sleeve as he begged. Yet, Lu Yi was completely expressionless.
“Sister, sister…”
Seeing that he had failed to convince Lu Yi, Ye Xinyu tried to seek help from Yan Huan.
“Sister, please. Save me. Save my leg. Don’t let them amputate it!”
His tears burst forth like water from a dam. His face was drenched with tears and snot, appearing extremely pitiful.
How can a man wail and whine like this? He’s embarrassing the Ye family. Lu Jin quickly walked away, pretending to be a stranger to this moron.
Lu Yi pulled his sleeve away from Ye Xinyu’s grip.
“Brother, you can’t leave me to die.”
Ye Xinyu followed behind Lu Yi on his four limbs, almost crawling.
Yan Huan turned to look at him and heaved a discreet sigh.
She did not understand how Ye Xinyu, a boy from the Ye family, could be so foolish. Amputating a leg was nothing like cutting hair or nails. It was irreversible. It was compulsory to acquire a kin’s signature before one went through the surgery to amputate a leg. He was not using his brain to think but merely cried like an idiot, believing that he was getting his leg cut off.
“Brother, brother…”
Ye Xinyu intended to grab Lu Yi’s sleeve again. But, as Lu Yi threw him a cold menacing gaze, Ye Xinyu had no choice but to keep his hand. He wept, thinking that he was being treated wrongfully, as though he was being punished to death.
On the other hand, the doctors at the side were as foolish as Ye Xinyu.
Before Ye Xinyu boarded the place, all the doctors thought he was going to get his leg amputated.
“Is it alright to fool him? Look at how pitiful he is,” Yan Huan asked Lu Yi. The entire drama required her proficient acting skill, only to cheat a kid. Nonetheless, the kid was only four years younger than her.
“He deserves it.” This was to teach him a lesson.
Fine. There was nothing Yan Huan could do if his biological cousin said so. His uncle, father and grandfather could not be bothered too. Being only a sister-in-law, she would certainly take her husband’s side and listen to her husband.
Her husband’s words were the law. If her husband said that the leg needed to be amputated, then it was more than just a fractured femur.
Hmm. Forgive me for not staying true to my principles.
Meanwhile, lying in front of their eyes, was still the same havoc.
72 hours later, their help was no longer needed. They had saved those they could. To be able to save the remaining lives now was a complete miracle as the chance was the slimmest.
However, what they needed now was the miracle to guide them through this ordeal.
They got on the vehicle. Yan Huan leaned against the side of the car and stared out of the window. As the car drove away, the shoddy house gradually disappeared into the distance. However, their departure did not mark the end of the catastrophe. This was merely the beginning. The survivors had to continue to strive on this ruined land, accompanied only by their grief for their lost kin and their wrath toward the tragedy.
They had to persevere until the day they grew old, died and became one with the earth.
This was the life everyone had to go through.
From the day we were born, we were destined to die, either sooner or later. Before we pass on, we have to go through a journey that would eventually lead us to the end of our lives. To be frank, humans were a pathetic being.
All through their journey, none of them spoke a word. They did not know what to talk about. The atmosphere was exceptionally distressing, close to suffocating.
Only one who lived through this tragedy could understand the value of life. Not only because they survived, but also the blessings they had received.
Nonetheless, one should treasure his or her life.
On their way, the buildings and roads had all collapsed. It was as though only yesterday that they witnessed the beautiful and peaceful city. Yet, now, the scene had turned calamitous.
Yan Huan could not bear to take another look at the scene. She rested on Lu Yi’s shoulder as she hugged his arm as though that was her lifeboat when she was drowning in the vast ocean.
She was scared and horrified.
She was guilty and remorseful.
