Su Qingluan looked back again without giving up - there was still no movement behind her, only a desolate and bleak scene.
She looked around again. The oldest child was about her own age, about thirteen or fourteen. But the child himself was terrified, squatting on the shore, sobbing quietly in the company of his friends.
It was obvious that there was no hope in this situation. Su Qingluan gritted her teeth, looked in the direction of her brother and sister, and shouted loudly: "Chen Jiabao, hold on! Don't move!"
Then she quickly ran to her brother and sister and said, "You two continue to stay here. Sister is going to save someone." As she spoke, she took the spiked shoes that were still covered with ice and was about to walk towards the river, but was stopped by two pairs of small hands.
"Sister, will you be in danger?" The little girl's eyes were filled with tears.
"Don't worry, sister won't put yourself in danger." Su Qingluan squatted down and touched the top of her sister's head with a smile.
"You're lying!" Su Xuanhe said anxiously, "Are you going to wear spiked shoes to save that pesky kid? Sister, don't go. You'll fall into the water and freeze to death!"
"But what if the child froze to death?" Su Qingluan looked at her brother.
Su Xuanhe turned his head to the side: "Anyway, nothing can happen to you!"
"I promise you, sister will be fine. Let's make a pinky promise. Whoever lies is a puppy." Su Qingluan stretched out her little finger - even though the situation was critical, she knew it was important to comfort her brother and sister.
Otherwise, if the two of them were worried and followed him rashly, it would put everyone in danger.
"Okay, let's make a pinky promise," Su Xuanhe said reluctantly. "But sister, you have to promise me that if your shoes accidentally slip off, you'll come back quickly, okay?"
Su Qingluan nodded, but her heart suddenly moved - although her brother's words were unintentional, they gave her a hint.
After thinking about it, Su Qingluan went to the shore and broke off a few thicker branches, then returned to the shore.
In fact, according to the actual distance, Chen Jiabao is only a dozen steps away from the shore, about six or seven meters, which is not particularly far.
But even this small distance seems like an insurmountable chasm when it comes to life and death.
Moreover, Su Qingluan did not dare to act rashly. She first roughly estimated the "safe range" near the shore.
In fact, although Su Qingluan had not been to this area of water very often, she was still quite familiar with it.
Because the water in this area is fast-flowing but narrow, she once did some "fence fishing" in an even narrower section of water upstream, and stayed here to play with her younger brothers and sisters.
But it was already summer by then.
Su Qingluan knew that the water level in this part of the river near the shore was relatively shallow, and below were stones with rounded edges washed by the river water.
But if you walk only four or five steps toward the center of the river, you'll reach a muddy channel. The water level here suddenly deepens and remains turbulent, and it's even said that some people have drowned after accidentally stepping into the mud.
The place where Chen Jiabao was lying was obviously four or five steps away from the "safe zone".
Su Qingluan carefully crawled on the ice, allowing her entire center of gravity to exceed the edge of the "safe zone" and stretched her hand as far as possible in the direction of Chen Jiabao - of course, she didn't think that she could reach Chen Jiabao's position by just doing this, after all, there was still a distance of more than ten steps, right?
"Chen Jiabao, listen to me!" Su Qingluan lay prone on the ice. As long as she put her ear close to the ice, she could hear a subtle "crunching" sound coming from it. "I'm sliding the branch towards you to test whether I have the strength to pass it over. You have to try to catch the branch with both hands - but don't stand up, understand?"
"Are you going to save me?" Chen Jiabao's voice was trembling.
"I'm trying to save you!" Su Qingluan shouted, "But I want to try whether it is possible before I officially give it to you!" What she really wanted to give Chen Jiabao was the pair of spiked shoes.
"Slide the thing over here, I'll definitely catch it!" Chen Jiabao shouted in a trembling voice, "If you save me, my family will definitely not treat you unfairly!"
"..." Su Qingluan was speechless: what should she say? In such a dangerous moment, he hadn't even forgotten to "promise a huge profit" - although Su Qingluan estimated that with her current ability to make money, what Chen Jiabao's parents could offer was not really a huge profit.
As a result of being speechless, Su Qingluan simply ignored Chen Jiabao's words and began to concentrate on sliding the branch across the ice.
However, things didn't go smoothly. Although the vertical distance was indeed enough to reach Chen Jiabao's position, the horizontal accuracy was very difficult to control. To put it bluntly, Su Qingluan slid two branches in a row, either sliding past Chen Jiabao from the left or from the right.
"You, you are not doing this on purpose, are you?" Chen Jiabao was so anxious that he was about to cry again.
Su Qingluan's face darkened: This is even more insulting than directly calling her a poor athlete!
However, Su Qingluan was neither a lucky guy nor a loser. After two failed attempts, the branch finally slid into Chen Jiabao's "reception range" on the third try.
In an instant, not only was Su Qingluan delighted, but even the children who were watching nervously on the shore cheered.
Chen Jiabao probably thought that the branch was a tool for him, so he quickly raised it and asked with his neck stretched: "What should I do now?" Although he tried his best, Su Qingluan found that his voice was getting weaker - she had to go faster.
So, without saying a word, she slid another branch over and said, "I'm going to slide a pair of spiked shoes over to you later! If I slip off the track like I did at the beginning, you have to find a way to get it back with the branch, okay?" She slid the branch over to increase the "tolerance rate" for both parties.
After all, there was only one pair of spikes, and his younger brother and sister didn't wear them because they were ice skating. If he failed this time, the consequences could be fatal. Even if Su Qingluan didn't have a perfect strategy, she had to try her best to increase the possibility of success.
Chen Jiabao understood Su Qingluan's meaning. He held the two branches in his hands, one on the left and one on the right, and pressed them against the ice as extended "arms".
As expected, Su Qingluan's worries were not unfounded - one of the spiked shoes had slipped. Fortunately, Chen Jiabao's will to survive made him desperately try to reach for it, and after a narrow escape, he got both shoes.
"Now listen to me!" Su Qingluan continued to lie on the ice, supporting her upper body with her forearms and palms. With her lower body still sprawled on the ice, she looked up and shouted at Chen Jiabao, "Use your spiked shoes as claws and put them on your hands—aren't you wearing gloves? Putting the spiked shoes on your gloves will make them more secure! Then use both hands to grab the front edge of the shoes!"
Su Qingluan is now very glad that these spiked shoes were modified from straw sandals!
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