Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“You’re injured?”
Su Qingsang looked at his arm and quickly realized this.
“Minor injury.”
As Zhang Yichen spoke, he tried to move his back. Things kept falling from the top of the door.
It didn’t shake anymore. He continued to set up the door and held it steadily.
After doing all this, he relaxed and sat on the ground.
Since the area was very small and he was very tall, sitting like this, he was even closer to Su Qingsang.
However, Su Qingsang wasn’t in the mood to care about the nuances between the men and women. She looked at the bleeding wound on him.
“Let me help you bandage it.”
“No need. It’s just a small wound.”
“I still need to bandage it. What if it gets infected?”
As Su Qingsang spoke, she went to check her bag again. There were tissues inside.
She found them and wiped the blood stains off Zhang Yichen’s hands.
She also saw the wound clearly. It was a little deep and looked a little serious. Yet he actually said that he was fine just now.
Su Qingsang couldn’t help but look at him again, and she moved her body forward.
“Don’t refuse. Although it’s a small injury, you still have to pay attention to it at this time.”
She was a doctor, so it was easy for her to do such things. There were no other tools there.
She first used a tissue to clean his wound. Just looking at the piece of red meat that was swollen, she felt pained herself.
There was no gauze there either, but the clothes that she had brought in earlier seemed to be made of cotton.
It was dirty now. After thinking about it for a while, she tore the lower hem of the clothes into strips, then wrapped the wound with a tissue and tied it up with a strip of cloth.
“I’m sorry. The resources here are limited, so I can only treat it like this. When we get out, I’ll bandage it again.”
She said this as she tied up the wound for him. The two of them were very close.
There was dust around them, but Zhang Yichen felt as if he could see through her dusty face and into her insides.
For some reason, his heart was beating a little faster. He tried to turn his face away.
“It’s done.” Su Qingsang withdrew her hand, and her body instinctively retreated. However, she accidentally bumped into the chair, and she winced.
“Be careful.” Zhang Yichen used his uninjured hand to help her.
“Thank you.”
Su Qingsang thanked him in a low voice. Zhang Yichen withdrew his hand, and his expression was calm. “I thank you.”
“It’s nothing. It’s my duty.”
Su Qingsang actually wanted to thank him. If he wasn’t here and used the door to block more than half of the falling cement blocks, she would have been smashed to death long ago.
The space was very small, so Su Qingsang and Zhang Yichen didn’t have much space to move around.
This scene undoubtedly made her uncomfortable. She couldn’t help but take out her phone and try to call Huo Jinyao again.
This time, there was no signal at all. Su Qingsang couldn’t get through the phone, and she felt a wave of frustration.
She realized that it might not be suitable for her to go out on a learning exchange again next time.
She had only gone out twice in total. In the end, she encountered a mudslide and an earthquake.
Why did she keep attracting disasters?
“When there’s an earthquake, the earth’s crust will move violently and the magnetic field will be chaotic. It will affect the phone’s signal.”
Zhang Yichen’s voice brought her back to her senses. She lowered her head and realized that she had been calling Huo Jinyao.
She shook her head and put her phone back into her bag. “Forget it, use it as a light source. Use mine when your phone runs out of battery.”
Zhang Yichen didn’t object. The surroundings were very quiet, and Su Qingsang couldn’t hear a single sound. She thought of the shop assistant who had brought her clothes when she came in to try them on.
“Oh, right. There seems to be a shop assistant outside. Did you see her when you came in just now?”
In fact, there were two of them. There was also another shop assistant who went to get the clothes that she had set her eyes on earlier because there were no small sizes left. Therefore, there was only one left.
“I saw her.”
Zhang Yichen’s voice was very soft. He glanced at Su Qingsang, and that gaze made Su Qingsang’s heart tighten.
“She, she –”
“When I came to look for you just now, she already wasn’t breathing.”
She must have been hit. The earthquake was too sudden. They didn’t have time to react.
Su Qingsang bit her lip. She didn’t know what to say.
Life was so fragile. She had seen so many things, but she still couldn’t help but feel distressed.
The salesgirl was happily recommending new summer styles moments before. She was still talking to her moments before, but now, she stopped breathing not that far from her.
Su Qingsang’s eyes were a little red. She blinked her eyes to suppress her emotions.
The light in the narrow space was very dim, but Zhang Yichen didn’t miss her expression. His hand tightened, then finally let go. He turned his face away as if nothing had happened.
Su Qingsang didn’t have much time to be sad. She soon began to think about the problem in front of her.
“Will we stay here for a long time?”
“Not necessarily.” Zhang Yichen looked in the direction of the fitting room’s entrance.
It was shaking so badly just now, so he didn’t know what the situation outside was like.
The door was blocked, and there were crushed stones outside. He could try to move the crushed stones away, but if there was an aftershock, it would be dangerous to dig from the inside out.
“Do we have to wait for them to save us?”
Zhang Yichen glanced at her and put the phone in her hand. He turned around and to see if he could move the rubble.
But when he moved, he could feel dust and debris falling from the top of his head.
“Stop. Stop.” Su Qingsang was frightened and quickly stopped him. “We, we should wait for them to save us.”
Zhang Yichen glanced at her. That was the only way now.
He placed the door panel above the two of them again. At this moment, he was even glad that the door panel in the fitting room was made of good quality wood.
There was another period of silence. Su Qingsang didn’t know what to say to him, nor did she know what she could say.
In such an enclosed space, there was only one man and one woman. Su Qingsang felt a little helpless. If only Huo Jinyao was the one who was trapped with her.
At the thought of this, Su Qingsang suddenly shook off the thought. She didn’t want Huo Jinyao to be trapped here too.
The thought of Huo Jinyao made Su Qingsang’s heart clench. She didn’t know when those people would come to save her, nor did she know when she would be able to get out.
If she died here, she would never be able to see Huo Jinyao again.
As Su Qingsang thought of this, she suddenly couldn’t sit still.
She hadn’t officially confessed her love to Huo Jinyao, and she hadn’t told Huo Jinyao that this year of marriage had made her fall in love with him.
He was no longer the man she had casually married.
Everything about him had made her feel in love, infatuated, and enamored with him.
However, she had yet to let Huo Jinyao know about it. And most importantly, she had yet to give birth to Huo Jinyao’s child.
If she really died here, then this would become her greatest regret.
As Su Qingsang thought of this, she took out her phone apologetically.
She tried calling Huo Jinyao again, but still couldn’t get through. Instead, she sent a message.
Zhang Yichen watched her movements. He sat opposite her and couldn’t see what message she was going to send, but he knew that it was to Huo Jinyao.
His heart felt a little bitter. He turned his face away and didn’t look at her.
“Without a signal, your message can’t be sent.”
“I know.”
Su Qingsang nodded and said without raising her head, “I’m thinking that, if I die here, it’ll be my last words.”
She said it casually. After all, she had been in the hospital for so many years and had seen all the good and the bad.
Death was inevitable and her turn would come. It was only a matter of time.
Her hand that was sending the message was grabbed by Zhang Yichen. She froze for a moment and found that he had taken her phone.
He didn’t look at her phone but stared at her face. “You won’t die here.”
“…” He was quite confident. “Who knows? The earthquake came so suddenly, who knows how many people will die. If we don’t get someone to save us –”
“Someone will definitely come to save us.” Zhang Yichen’s voice was especially firm.
Su Qingsang looked at him and inexplicably believed his words, but —
“Give me the phone.”
“I told you, you won’t die here. Someone will save us.”
“I believe you.” Su Qingsang nodded. “I believe I won’t die here, but that doesn’t stop me from leaving a message for Huo Jinyao.”
Zhang Yichen understood what she meant. He reached out again and returned the phone to her.
Su Qingsang took the phone and said casually, “People die sooner or later. Although I believe we will be saved, I’m prepared for the worst.”
Zhang Yichen looked at her lowered eyes. Her long eyelashes cast a dark shadow on her eyelids because of the light from the phone.
She appeared very focused when she sent the message. She bit her lip and seemed to be thinking about what words to leave behind.
She was prepared to die. Before she died, she would leave the words she wanted to leave behind for the person she loved the most in the world.
Feeling inexplicably sad, he blinked his eyes. Looking at Su Qingsang, he made up his mind. He wouldn’t let her die here, even if it cost him his life.
Su Qingsang not only sent messages to Huo Jinyao, but also to Li Qianxue, Su Yuxin, Su Chenghui, Xiang Caiping, and Shi Mengwan.
She didn’t know when the signal would be restored. She didn’t even know if they would be able to see her message in the end.
However, there was a record on her phone. If she really died, she hoped that they would be able to see it.
She sent a message to everyone she cared about. Finally, she looked at the screen in her hand. It was on her phone with Huo Jinyao.
There was only one sentence on it.
Huo Jinyao, when I go back this time, can we have a child?
In the thirty-one years of Huo Jinyao’s life, he had lived a lonely and companionless life.
He was hated by his biological mother and neglected by his father. Although he had Old Master Huo’s care, it couldn’t replace his parents’ love.
If he had a child, then even if she was no longer around, the child would still be with him.
Su Qingsang clenched her phone tightly and sent out the last six words.
Huo Jinyao, I love you.
Looking at the message waiting to be sent, she calmly put her phone back into her bag. When she looked up, she realized that Zhang Yichen was still staring at her.
She cleared her throat uncomfortably.
“Don’t you have anyone you want to talk to?”
For example, your girlfriend, or your family.
Zhang Yichen looked at her but did’t say anything. He did. How could he not?
He had lived for more than thirty years. The first time his heart was moved, it was by a married woman. And it was his nephew’s wife.
This was too ironic.
Those words of his were destined not to come out.
“No.”
“How could that be?” Did he not have anything to say to his parents and family?
Zhang Yichen’s gaze was fixed on an unknown spot behind Su Qingsang. His voice was very soft.
“From the day I put on the military uniform, I was already prepared to sacrifice myself.”
Since it had been decided from the first day, there might be a day when he would die on the battlefield. There might even be a day when he would die by accident.
His family naturally knew about it, so there were no so-called last words.
Everyone in the Zhang family, whether it was him or his father, had made such preparations.
If there was a real regret, it was that he didn’t die on the battlefield. And —
His gaze fell on Su Qingsang’s face, and he found that she looked a little touched.
He suddenly felt awkward and cleared his throat. “You should rest for a while. Save your strength. I wonder how long we’ll have to wait.”
Su Qingsang was indeed very touched. She didn’t have much contact with soldiers, but in her impression, they all seemed so mighty.
And Zhang Yichen’s words made her feel awestruck. She couldn’t help but glance at him several more times.
Now, she would listen to his words and rest first to conserve her energy. After all, they didn’t know how long the rescuers would take.
Su Qingsang’s head was smashed just now. She sat down and couldn’t help but fall asleep.
Zhang Yichen didn’t sleep. He couldn’t sleep. He looked at Su Qingsang. It had been about three hours since the earthquake.
The golden rescue time was seventy-two hours. Three days. They had to think of a way to get out of this place within three days, or someone would come to save them within three days.
There was no phone signal, and the passage was blocked. The enclosed space was completely unable to communicate with the outside world…
Zhang Yichen’s brows were tightly knitted together. He wasn’t in the mood to think too much. He dimmed the light on the phone and put it in his pocket. This way, he had a light source and could save electricity.
Feeling that there was no more shakig outside, he closed his eyes and let himself rest for a while.
However, this kind of rest didn’t last long. A huge aftershock started again.
Zhang Yichen opened his eyes immediately. He first looked at the door panel above. It was shaking, but the shaking wasn’t intense.
He was stuck at a good angle. The door panel perfectly covered him and Su Qingsang without suffocating them.
However, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to hold on for long. He could feel that the air here was getting thinner and thinner.
“Su Qingsang? Su Qingsang?”
He called Su Qingsang twice, but she didn’t respond. Zhang Yichen’s expression suddenly became anxious.
“Su Qingsang? Su Qingsang, wake up, wake up.”
Su Qingsang didn’t wake up. She was woken up by Zhang Yichen just now, but in fact, the injury on the back of her head still had some effect.
In addition, the air here was getting thinner and thinner. Zhang Yichen was anxious and reached out to shake her arm.
However, Su Qingsang didn’t react at all. Her eyes were closed tightly and she seemed to be in a deep sleep.
Zhang Yichen was anxious. He looked left and right. There were so many rocks outside. Could they really last for three days?
“Su Qingsang?”
Time passed bit by bit. Su Qingsang didn’t show any signs of waking up. Zhang Yichen called out a few times but didn’t hear any response.
He knew that in the face of such a catastrophe, the higher-ups would definitely organize rescue at the first opportunity. But now that there were endless aftershocks, even if they wanted to come to rescue, they would need time.
Moreover, how could theyescape these aftershocks first?
“Su Qingsang?”
He called out again, but Su Qingsang still didn’t respond. He raised his hand and looked at the time.
It had been twelve hours since the earthquake had happened. In other words, it was already night, but Su Qingsang hadn’t woken up yet.
Zhang Yichen tried a few more times, then touched Su Qingsang’s forehead, and found that her forehead was burning.
She actually had a fever at such a time?
“Su Qingsang? Su Qingsang?”
Zhang Yichen called out her name, but Su Qingsang didn’t respond at all. Their surroundings were still shaking, and Zhang Yichen couldn’t help but help her up to make her sit more comfortably against the chair.
He turned around and looked at the exit. It was now full of boulders, cement blocks, and walls.
He tried to push a rock outside, but just like before, stones started to fall from the top.
It didn’t work. If he really did that, he would probably be smashed to death before he could get out.
Zhang Yichen closed the door again and sat back in his original position. His gaze fell on Su Qingsang’s face. Her forehead was burning hot, and she wasn’t conscious at all.
Zhang Yichen patted her shoulder, but Su Qingsang was still unconscious. Her face was pale, and her lips were starting to turn white and dry.
Su Qingsang needed to drink water now, but where would the water come from?
Zhang Yichen stared at Su Qingsang’s face for a long time. As time passed, her breathing became heavier, and her face became paler and paler.
This discovery made his brows furrow deeper. It was as if he could squeeze a mosquito to death.
Especially when Su Qingsang was unconsciously licking her lips and frowning.
After staring at Su Qingsang’s face for a while, he suddenly took out a Swiss army knife from his pocket.
His gaze didn’t leave Su Qingsang’s face, but he used the knife swiftly.
Bright red blood flowed out.
..
Su Qingsang woke up in a temporary tent set up in the hospital. The moment she opened her eyes, she thought that she was hallucinating.
She actually saw Huo Jinyao? This didn’t make sense.
She closed her eyes again. Her consciousness was still a little fuzzy. But what she remembered was that there was an earthquake.
There was an earthquake. She and Zhang Yichen were locked together in that small fitting room. Then what happened?
She remembered that she seemed to have fallen asleep. When she was in a daze, she felt very uncomfortable, very hot, and very thirsty.
But later, someone gave her water to drink. After she drank the water, she felt much better and fell asleep again. Then what happened?
And, where was Zhang Yichen? Why did she remember that she seemed to be with Zhang Yichen?
She opened her eyes again. This time, the person she saw was still Huo Jinyao.
“Huo Jinyao?”
“Qingsang, you’re awake. You’re awake?”
Huo Jinyao hugged her tightly and forcefully. He used almost all of his strength on her.
Su Qingsang was in pain from his grip, and she felt a little uncomfortable. She blinked her eyes and motioned for Huo Jinyao to let go of her.
But how could Huo Jinyao let go of her?
“You’re awake. That’s great. You’re awake. That’s great.”
“I –”
She was awake. Su Qingsang wanted to speak, but she realized that her throat was terribly hoarse.
Huo Jinyao let go of her hand and took a cup from the side, then placed it next to her lips.
“Don’t talk for a while. You must be feeling terrible right now. Drink some water first.”
Su Qingsang didn’t speak. She did feel very thirsty. She finished the water in the cup and felt much better. Only then did she look at Huo Jinyao.
With one look, she realized that Huo Jinyao didn’t look well. His eyes were bloodshot, and his face didn’t look good either. His chin and cheeks were covered with dark stubble, and he looked dispirited.
“You.” Su Qingsang raised her hand to touch Huo Jinyao’s face. “How did you become like this?”
“Have I become ugly?”
“Yes. So Ugly.” Su Qingsang nodded, but there wasn’t the slightest hint of disgust in her eyes. Instead, there was a hint of naguish.
Huo Jinyao smiled. He held Su Qingsang’s hand and kissed it. “Yes, I’m so ugly now. Do you dislike me?”
“No.” Su Qingsang shook her head. “You’re the most handsome person in my eyes.”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
Su Qingsang nodded, but realized that this action made her feel a little dizzy.
“Don’t talk anymore. Rest well first.”
Huo Jinyao held her and let her continue to lie down. Su Qingsang wanted to lie down, but she didn’t forget to ask him, “By the way, why are you here? How long has it been? How is it outside? And –”
“Don’t talk, rest. I’ll tell you what you want to know slowly.”
Su Qingsang fell silent. She looked around and realized that she was the only one in the tent.
“You –”
“I received your call the other day, but you hung up.”
Huo Jinyao initially thought that Su Qingsang had accidentally pressed the wrong button, but he kept feeling uneasy about it.
He immediately called Su Qingsang back. However, Su Qingsang didn’t pick up the phone.
Not only did she not pick up the phone, but her phone was also not working.
He became more and more worried. Before he could continue to call back, Yang Wenchang brought him a piece of bad news that shocked him.
An earthquake had happened in C City. He was completely stunned.
He originally thought that something might have happened to Su Qingsang, but he didn’t expect it to be an earthquake.
He didn’t care about anything else. He kept trying to contact them, but it was all to no avail.
After Huo Jinyao found out about the earthquake, he couldn’t sit still. He wanted to rush to City C, but they didn’t allow anyone to come.
Besides the rescuers, there were also volunteers. Others coming there would cause trouble.
Huo Jinyao wasn’t there to cause trouble. He was there to look for someone.
He immediately donated a large amount of resources to the disaster area. Then, he used the resources to followed them to City C.
After he arrived, he began to ask the relevant rescue workers to look for Su Qingsang.
The hospital where Su Qingsang was at was the largest hospital in C City. It should be easy to find her.
He finally managed to contact the hospital and Sun Huiya. However, she told him that Su Qingsang had gone out early in the morning. She didn’t know where she was now.
Sun Huiya was in the outpatient clinic when the earthquake struck. The clinic that she was in was on the first floor, so when the earthquake hit, she immediately ran outside.
Sun Huiya was fine, but Su Qingsang wasn’t in the hospital. The doctors that had come with her were all fine. She was the only one that wasn’t.
