Can't swim?
Can't swim?!
What kind of joke is that?!
"Jumping into the lake without knowing how to swim? Trying to kill herself?"
A ball of fire that had been choking Jiang Linyuan finally burst out of his chest and poured directly into his words.
"Why would I save soone attempting suicide?! We're complete strangers!"
What did he have to do with Zhang Xiaoxiao!
They'd t only two or three tis, strangers whose encounters hadn't left any good impressions.
People call Jiang Linyuan cold? This is a human life! A real living person!
Yes, yes, of course — you don't save soone trying to kill themselves, soone you've only t a few tis, and you deserve to be scolded.
Go ahead, do it, I admire you.
If you don't, nobody will bla you.
That's how it should be.
Besides, he was an inford party who had already contacted the school. What more did they want?
Was he supposed to throw himself in recklessly? Make himself half-dead and limp before anyone would accept it?
If it weren't for Crazy Little being at the scene and sending him a ssage asking for help, he wouldn't have co at all.
"I beg... I beg you, the golden ti for rescuing soone in the water... isn't much left."
Bai Yi kept crying, her pleading voice echoing by the roadside.
She understood better than anyone the best rescue window for a person who had fallen into the water.
Because when she herself fell into the water, she had calculated it the sa way.
"She jumped into the lake on purpose! This isn't an accidental fall! I respect her choice!"
Jiang Linyuan shouted, no longer running, almost walking slowly now.
What he cared about most at this mont was how Zhang Juntang was doing.
Bai Yi stared at him blankly, wiped her tears, fell silent, gritted her teeth and ran off again without looking back.
"Why did you stop?"
Shen Wanyu, who had arrived behind him, looked at Jiang Linyuan and frowned.
"Go rescue a person attempting suicide who's unrelated to you? Minister, I'm a selfish person," Jiang Linyuan said.
Shen Wanyu nodded.
"I like that about you, Deputy Minister Jiang."
"If you had watched her fall into the water, even if she died, I don't think you'd care."
"But you didn't see her fall, or rather, you weren't the first to know she jumped intentionally."
Jiang Linyuan paused for a second after hearing that, then instantly broke into a run, swearing under his breath:
"Fuck your mother, even when I'm trying to help I get blad."
After two steps he turned his head and called out:
"Minister! Bai Yi said Zhang Xiaoxiao can't—"
"She's not lying."
With mind reading confird, Jiang Linyuan had no more hesitation and dashed forward like a streak.
Shen Wanyu wanted to chase after him, but could only watch his back.
Would he make it in ti?
She didn't follow. Instead, she took out her phone and made a call.
"Hehe, rare to hear from you, you actually called ."
A voice full of amusent sounded on the other end.
...
From the campus lawn to the artificial lake was roughly a thousand ters.
If Jiang Linyuan sprinted full out, he could reach it in about three minutes.
If luck favored them, Zhang Juntang could call for others nearby, and that would make things easy.
No—could that even be called luck?
In the dead of night, no caras, soone who can't swim deliberately jumps into the lake?
And with people nearby!
If she died, how would Zhang Juntang explain?!
Could Bai Yi, who would turn the whole world against Zhang Xiaoxiao, just let it slide?
Even if the truth ca out later, how could fragile Zhang Juntang withstand those rumors in the anti?!
Should a good person be forced to point a gun at soone?
Zhang Xiaoxiao! If you really wanted to die, couldn't you have done it quietly by yourself? You had to drag others into it!
"Fuck!"
Jiang Linyuan cursed as he ran at full speed, wishing Zhang Xiaoxiao dead but not wanting her to drown.
What a pure troublemaker!
He ran so fast he soon reached the spot where Zhang Juntang had been.
Anxious shouts rang beside the cold lakeshore.
"Is anyone there?! Is anyone there?! Soone’s fallen in!"
This was the first ti Jiang Linyuan had heard Zhang Juntang raise her voice like that.
"Where is she?"
Panting, he ran up and asked as soon as he saw her.
Zhang Juntang's face, red from anxiety, relaxed a little on seeing him.
Without hesitation she grabbed Jiang Linyuan and pulled him to the lakeside, pointing toward where Zhang Xiaoxiao had dived:
"Senior! Here!"
Jiang Linyuan turned to warn her:
"I'm going in. Record a video! The whole process!"
Zhang Juntang blinked, hurriedly took out her phone and prepared to film.
...
The icy water flooded over her body, sounds around her dwindled bit by bit, and finally she could see no light at all.
Zhang Xiaoxiao had thought she had planned to finish everything, but now she felt an uncontrollable palpitation in her chest.
Panic surged over and over, emotions she couldn't suppress. Her survival instinct drove her to flail her arms, but in deep water that movent only brought wave after wave of helplessness and despair.
No sound, no light—she felt abandoned by the world.
In that mont, many images ca to mind.
Bai Yi, Zhang Juntang, her mother... faces flashing through her head.
Drowning is terrifying. Terrifying.
Near-death fear dredged up nightmares from her past.
This was her second ti drowning.
It should have been in high school: during a school trip, during free ti, Bai Yi suddenly fell into the lake.
The classmates around were panicked, herself included.
One second she had been thinking how to make Bai Yi look bad.
The next second, Bai Yi splashed into the lake.
At that mont Zhang Xiaoxiao did sothing she still couldn't understand now—she instinctively jumped in the instant Bai Yi fell.
She couldn't swim... so why? Why did she do that?
What happened after that? She seed to rember that when she woke up, Bai Yi said she had been saved by Zhang Xiaoxiao.
Was that true? She couldn't recall... but Bai Yi claid it... so that must be how it was.
Zhang Xiaoxiao's consciousness blurred, her mind too weak to think, the lake water crawling into her body like a parasite.
Even though she had chosen this herself, letting the lake drown her.
In a daze, her body felt weightless, and she unconsciously reached her hand out.
So light, so calm, like a dream.
She didn't know why she reached; perhaps drowning people always push through the surface in a fantasy that the sky will toss down a lifeline.
But in the next instant soone roughly yanked her out.
Rough, forceful, as if angry.
"Still breathing!"
Jiang Linyuan carried Zhang Xiaoxiao from the lake, soaking wet, shouting loudly.
By the shore a crowd had gathered without anyone noticing when, and upon seeing Jiang Linyuan erge they quickly rushed over to help.
"Be careful!"
"First aid! Quick, first aid! Don't just stand there! Anyone professional?"
"CPR! I'll do CPR!"
Bai Yi pushed through the crowd and rushed to Zhang Xiaoxiao's side, trembling slightly, her face streaked with tears.
Jiang Linyuan glanced at her, handed Zhang Xiaoxiao over to those people, and found a random stone to sit on.
Everyone gathered around Zhang Xiaoxiao, naturally nobody paid him any mind.
"Senior, wipe off your face."
A soft voice sounded by his ear. Turning his head he saw Zhang Juntang holding a shirt and carefully offering it.
"Use your shirt as a towel? You'll freeze to death. Put it on yourself."
Jiang Linyuan glanced at her and waved his hand away.
"Senior, don't act tough."
Zhang Juntang whispered, coming up behind him, using her shirt to begin wiping his hair.
Jiang Linyuan didn't resist further. He twitched his nose—Crazy Little's clothes slled nice, a childish milky scent.
Not the fresh scent of Xiao Su, but a kid-like milkiness.
He didn't want to think about where that hand had been...
"Did you finish recording?"
He forced his thoughts back and asked.
"I recorded the whole thing, until you handed Zhang Xiaoxiao to others, then I stopped," Zhang Juntang said as she carefully dried his hair.
Acting like a little wife.
"Save it. If anyone causes trouble later, use the video to fight back."
Jiang Linyuan turned to her and said.
"Huh?"
Zhang Juntang looked surprised, then lowered her head.
"Oh."
This is too easy to boss around, isn't it!?
"Don't you think I imagined her as being a bit worse than she is?"
Jiang Linyuan asked oddly.
"No..."
Zhang Juntang said earnestly as she finished drying his hair.
"Because Zhang Xiaoxiao is a bad person, Senior being cautious is fine."
After she said that, she glanced at his drenched clothes and blushed.
"Senior, maybe take off your clothes too?"
"I'm wearing thick layers today. I have extra clothes you can wear."
As she spoke, her small hand already reached for his clothes.
"No need. I'll change back at my dorm later."
Jiang Linyuan tapped her restless hand, and she imdiately withdrew it, blinking as if nothing had happened.
Didn't she politely decline
at the hot pot last ti—why's she like this again?
"I'll accompany you back to the dorm then, Senior. Zhang Xiaoxiao doesn't need us now."
Zhang Juntang looked at Zhang Xiaoxiao surrounded by people and tried to persuade him.
"No, I have sothing else to do later."
He said that, then looked at Zhang Juntang, hesitated a little, and added:
"Next ti you encounter sothing like this, stay farther away. Don't drag yourself into trouble."
Zhang Juntang wasn't offended by the lecture and just nodded.
"Okay, I'll be careful."
Now Jiang Linyuan felt a little awkward, as if he were teaching soone to be spoilt.
"She's awake! She's awake!"
"Wonderful! Wonderful!"
While they talked, cheers erupted from the crowd. Clearly Zhang Xiaoxiao had passed the danger zone.
Jiang Linyuan glanced over.
Bai Yi held her tightly, tears flowing uncontrollably.
"I'm sorry, Xiaoxiao. I don't know what I did wrong."
"Will you forgive ? I always thought you liked being surrounded by people, which is why I held your birthday celebration at the music festival!"
"I was wrong. You can take revenge on , like before. I won't mind!"
"But please, please don't leave ..."
Bai Yi's words ca out broken and jumbled, interrupted by hiccupped sobs that made them hard to follow.
Zhang Xiaoxiao sat up dazed and looked at the sobbing Bai Yi. The first thing she said was:
"When you drowned that ti, was it deliberate? You can swim, right?"
Bai Yi didn't answer. She only hugged her and cried:
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
Zhang Xiaoxiao smiled a little, then suddenly bowed her head and bit Bai Yi's shoulder hard enough to seem like she wanted to take a chunk of flesh, crying and laughing at once.
Sobbing sounds ca out in waves.
The two clung to each other tightly.
Like longti friends.
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