To be Saved (1)

“Ruan Ruan, this place… looks so familiar.” He stared blankly at the top of the cave above his head, his voice both soft and weak at the same time.

Ruan Qingmu’s heart throbbed and beat frantically in his chest.

Yes, ah. This place was so familiar. There was a vague memory of the past transmigrating through this sorrowful time.

“It must be in the dream,” he whispered and silently put his dirty jacket over Qin Yuan’s upper body before taking off his warm fleece trousers, quietly wrapping them around Qin Yuan’s legs and feet.

Qin Yuan called out softly after a long time, “Ruan Ruan, this… seems to be just like in a dream I’ve had before.”

Ruan Qingmu sat on the floor, crossed his legs, and put Qin Yuan’s head in his lap to make him more comfortable. “Is that so? What did you dream of?”

Qin Yuan’s voice became softer. “… I dreamt of you and me in this kind of place. At first, you shouted at me, but you were nice to me later.”

Ruan Qingmu’s hand gently held him. “Qin-shaoxia, you’re talking nonsense. I’ve always been nice to you.”

Qin Yuan seemed to smile. “Mm… I also dreamt of you calling me Qin-shaoxia like this.”

“Qin-shaoxia, you can believe in whatever you hear. With you being so muddleheaded, why don’t you become the Martial Arts Alliance’s leader?”

“Qin-shaoxia, we meet again. I trust you have been well since we last met.”

“Qin-shaoxia, I’ll wait for your relentless chase.”

The young man’s voice in the dream was clear and unrestrained, at first with teasing and contempt, but later, with increasing familiarity and intimacy. He shared an identical face with Ruan Qingmu.

Ruan Qingmu smiled, but tears fell silently from the corners of his eyes. “Is that so? Then, what else can you think of?”

Qin Yuan coughed a few times lightly, blood slowly spilling out of the corners of his lips.

He endured the tremendous pain of broken bones poking in his chest, not allowing himself to groan, but his energy was slowly depleting.

In a daze, he finally couldn’t hold on any longer. The moment before he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, he suddenly said again dazedly, “Ruan Ruan… be careful of snakes.”

Ruan Qingmu felt as if someone had gripped his heart hard by hand, and he closed his eyes as hot tears dripped down and landed on Qin Yuan’s face beneath him.

It turned out that he wasn’t the only one who remembered these things.

These little bits and pieces, the past events belonging to both of them, were also buried deep in this man’s heart and would burst through the dusty seal and quietly emerge from the ground at a specific moment by an opportunity…

The night was getting deeper and the temperature in the surrounding area had already reached below zero. Ruan Qingmu turned his back on the cave entrance and used his body to try his best to block the wind.

Both the outer jacket and the warm trousers were used on Qin Yuan, and his own body was getting colder. He didn’t know how long it took before he actually would become an icicle and would fall head-first to the ground.

Sometime later, the winter sunrise gently made its way out of the mountains. The first rays of the morning sun shone into the valley, slanting into the tiny cave and shining on the sides of the two teenagers’ faces as they clung to each other.

It also brought the faint sounds of people in the distance, anxious and chaotic, accompanied by the rumble of an aerial rescue helicopter…

The doctor on duty at a private hospital in the city had already been informed and was waiting in the lobby early. As soon as the ambulance outside arrived, someone took over and wheeled the two injured children into the emergency room.

Outside, Qin Zhufeng and Mu Wanli were seated side by side on the waiting sofa, both with ugly faces.

Mu Wanli stared blankly at the emergency room door and could no longer hold back her tears. Her son was still alive and well when he left yesterday. How could it be that only one day had passed, and when she saw him again, his face was as white as a sheet of paper as if he had lost half his life?

Qin Zhufeng gathered his spirits and forced out a smile. “Mu-jie, don’t worry about it. Your Xiao-Ruan will be all right.”

Mu Wanli wiped her tears from her face. “How is your Xiao-Quan doing?”

Qin Zhufeng shook his head. “There’s no serious problem. She’s currently undergoing various examinations. Qinglian is by her side.”

After the little mute ran back, the rescue crew immediately followed him to the incident site. According to Siquan’s description, they hurriedly sent another team around to look for Miao Miao, who fortunately was still conscious after realizing she was lost and didn’t dare to run around again, hiding in a small patch of woods. When the rescue team swept around with their lights, they found her just over a mile away.

The two girls were not seriously injured but both were physically exhausted. Xiao-Siquan had suffered many bruises from falling down the mountain and climbing out again. In addition to being frightened, she struggled to talk about the general situation down there and then fell unconscious, so they took her to the hospital first, with Wei Qinglian by her side.

The rescue of the two boys was much more difficult as the mountain was steep. There was no road at all and ordinary people had no way to go down at night.

They had to find professional rescuers to go up the mountain and contact a helicopter, considering that someone must have been seriously injured and there was no way to carry them out after they went down.

Mu Wanli looked at Qin Zhufeng’s face, which had aged overnight, and felt slightly uncomfortable. “Your Xiao-Yuan will be all right too. Don’t worry. His body is strong. He has gotten many sports awards in the past.”

Qin Zhufeng clutched his head in agony as tears finally fell one by one from his eyes. “If something happens to him, how can I be worthy of his late mother…”