To get to the village, Blair and Miller took the tour bus that his company had hired. There were more than ten people on it, and they ranged from executives to common employees.
They were going to stay in a guesthouse run by the local villagers. Due to limited resources and number of rooms, the employee in charge of accommodations made Blair stay in a room with a young woman, while Miller stayed in another room with a man.
It was the beginning of July, but the weather was still cold in the South Mountain. People had to wear thick coats in the morning and in the evening.
The guesthouse itself was nested in the mountain. The scenery was spectacular—mountains, valleys, plants, and sunshine. Every now and then, a few clouds floated across the range.
Various kinds of blossoms filled the air with their fragrance, and all the way around a small stream, birds chirped pleasantly, jumping here and there among the boughs. The flora was marked mostly by willows.
The woman sharing the room with Blair got up early in the morning. The moment she got out of her bed, Blair, who hadn't slept well last night because of the cold and damp air, woke up as well, springing out of an uneasy sleep with a tired yawn.
After that, when the woman went to the bathroom and began to clean herself, the sound of running water was too loud for Blair to fall asleep again, so she had to get out of bed as well.
By the time they were ready and went downstairs to have breakfast, it was 7 a.m. and the sun was long out. Many of Miller's colleagues were already in the canteen.
Miller was sitting at a table nearby with someone from the company. When he saw Blair, he waved at her and called out, "Blair, over here!"
Blair walked over to his table. To her pleasant surprise, Miller had already brought breakfast for her—two boiled eggs, two small dishes of different flavors of pickles, two deep-fried dough sticks, and a bowl of congee.
When the man sitting opposite Miller saw Blair, his eyes lit up. Green with envy, he teased Miller, "Dude, it's quite a stroke of luck for you. You've got yourself such a pretty girlfriend."
The man had been busy last night; he hadn't taken the bus here with the others, and had arrived there by himself. So this was the first time he and Blair had met.
Blair smiled politely at the man. Miller felt proud and told him with a smug smile, "Dude! She's not my girlfriend; she's my fiance."
The man gave him a thumbs-up and then turned towards Blair, assuring her of a happy life. "Miller is a good guy. Although he's not that young, he will take good care of you. You'll be a happy wife."
Blair took a sip of her congee and gave the man a smile. "I know."
Actually, ever since she and Miller had gotten engaged, they had been pretty busy, and this was the first time they had been together for such a long while.
'I'll stay in Y City from now on. I think we'll spend more time together in the future, ' she thought to herself.
She had stayed in England long enough to change her taste in food. Congee and pickles, the traditional Chinese breakfast, suddenly tasted a bit alien to her. She might need some time to get used to it.
Therefore, she only ate a little before putting down her chopsticks.
Miller, however, was busy talking about work with his colleague and didn't notice that Blair had eaten a very small portion of her breakfast.
Afraid that she might get hungry later, Blair put the two eggs Miller had ordered into a clean, disposable food bag and put it into her backpack. Most of the guests had already finished eating and were starting to walk outside.
An old granny, who was clearing away the bowls and chopsticks, raised her head and looked at the sky with a deep, lungful sigh. Out of kindness, she then reminded the guests, "You better take some umbrellas with you, dears. I'm afraid it's going to rain."
Miller, Blair and the man they had been with were about to follow their companions when they heard the granny's prophecy. The man waved his phone and replied, "I just checked the weather forecast. It's a sunny day. No need to take umbrellas."
Blair had left her umbrella in her room. Looking back and forth between the man and the old granny, she chose to believe the latter. Age is wiser than technology. She stopped walking and told Miller, "I'm going to fetch my umbrella."
Miller frowned as he was a little unhappy. But he didn't turn her down. "I'll be right here waiting for you. Hurry up!"
Blair accelerated and hurried upstairs. She opened her suitcase, took out her umbrella, and then hurried back down.
When she joined Miller and they were about to leave, she heard the old granny ask her son, "I think something is not right. Son, is there a rainstorm?"
Her son was busy cooking in the kitchen as they still had some guests. He was too busy prodding the fire with a poker to notice his mother's mumbles.
After some hesitation, Blair suggested, "Miller, the old granny said there might be a rainstorm. This is the mountain area. How about we—"
Before she could finish speaking, Miller cut her off. He was slightly annoyed by her and the granny's superstitious nature. "You have an umbrella, don't you? If there really is a rainstorm, we can take shelter from rain." He grabbed her wrist and led her to catch up to his colleagues.
"All right." Despite her reluctance, she chose to listen to him.
Together, they were a group of more than ten people and followed a small path up the hill. After dozens of minutes, they saw a clear stream. The water was so clear that they could see fishes swimming in it.
They jogged and chatted with each other cheerfully. Soon the sun rose even brighter than before. Miller's male colleague said with a smug smile, "I told you. The weather forecast said clearly that there would be no rain today. The old granny is too old to keep her mind clear."
"The weather forecast is not always correct. The granny has lived in the mountain area for so many years. I think she can tell more about the weather than the weather department just by looking at the sky. We should be careful," Blair replied politely with a smile.
The man cast a scornful glance at her and snorted inwardly, 'It's true what they say—the prettier a woman is, the dumber she is!'
However, just a few moments afterwards, either karma or nature itself gave him a tight slap in his face. Several dark clouds soon blocked the sun and threatened to release a big storm. The wind began to howl.
People raised their heads and cried inwardly, 'Oh, no!'
Blair took her umbrella out of her backpack with a calm smile.
Spots of rain began to fall, beating on their faces hard. Not a single person from the men had brought an umbrella, and only some of the women were carrying umbrellas with them. They had only four umbrellas in total.
What was worse, they were unable to find shelter from the rain.
Holding Blair's shoulders with one arm, Miller held her umbrella with the other, guiding her forward in his protective embrace. Not accustomed to being in his arms, Blair struggled at first, but soon gave up and let Miller take her forward.
They had all underestimated the rain. They had thought it was going to stop soon. But after a while, the sudden rainstorm brought the mountain torrents rushing down. The rain had turned into a flood.
As time went by, even the torrential flood didn't get weaker. Instead, it became more and more fierce, annihilating everything in the mountain and bringing down more and more trouble in their path.
Everyone panicked. They screamed and cursed in distress, a bit the weather but mostly their own stupidity. As the saying went, "Calamities come in succession." They not only failed to get under cover, but also had to face the torrents.
They were not the only ones trapped there. Apart from them, there were several dozen other tourists too.
Also, a group of soldiers had been stationed in the vicinity of South Mountain, to ensure the safety of people in the surrounding villages. They were unprepared for the downpour, which had occurred almost instantly without the slightest warning. They had to ask for support from their superiors.
Two hours passed, but the torrential flood kept rushing down with a terrifying force, showing no intentions of stopping.
The soldiers had lost no time evacuating the villagers. So, luckily, there were no human lives lost. But their houses were completely destroyed and their livestock and grains were all gone.
Several hundred tourists who had just entered the scenic spot were lucky enough. They were found by the soldiers and left in time. Those who had entered a long time ago were not so lucky. The soldiers were still searching for them, but they were too far in.
The rainstorm was getting heavier and heavier, causing great difficulties for the soldiers in their rescue mission. Visibility was already down to three or four meters.
Miller and Blair had gotten separated due to the torrential flood. The umbrella had been in his hand, and he was nowhere to be found.
Even people who could swim perfectly might have lost their lives in the face of such a powerful flood. Blair didn't even know how to swim. She could only walk up the mountain in the heavy rain.
