Chapter 54 Sister, will I die?
Gu Nan kept shouting and searching, but he couldn't find Lin Jingzhe after searching the whole house.
After she got up, she didn't hear any movement in the room. Lin Jingzhe should have gone out before she got up, but it was raining so heavily now, why didn't he come back?
Did he really walk out on his own?
Did he go to visit someone, or did he fall down somewhere and can’t come back?
Gu Nan picked up his umbrella, opened the door and rushed into the rain.
Summer rainstorms are always accompanied by strong winds. The bean-sized raindrops are blown around by the strong wind. After just a few steps, the hem of my skirt is soaked and sticks to my calves.
She first went to Lin Shoucai's house not far away. Lin Jingzhe had difficulty walking, so if he was visiting, he probably wouldn't walk too far.
The wind and rain were so loud that she banged on the Lin family's door and called out several times before Lin Shoucai heard her.
He opened the door and was hit by the cold rain. He was surprised to see Gu Nan coming in the rain. "Why are you here in such heavy rain?"
"Uncle Shoucai, is Jingzhe at your house? I couldn't find him when I woke up. I searched everywhere inside and outside."
When Lin Shoucai heard this, his expression changed. "He hasn't come here. When did he disappear? Have you looked for him in the vegetable garden?"
Gu Nan's heart sank. "I went to the kitchen as soon as I woke up. It was more than ten minutes later that I realized he was gone."
The rain wasn't heavy when she went to the kitchen. If Lin Jingzhe was picking vegetables in the vegetable garden at that time, she should have walked back in more than ten minutes.
Either he went somewhere farther away, or he was trapped somewhere.
Lin Shoucai also realized the seriousness of the situation and hurried back to his room to get his raincoat and put it on. "I'll go ask him if he went to someone else's house. You go look for him nearby. It's not convenient for him to go too far."
The two of them split up. Lin Shoucai went to the neighbor's house to ask, while Gu Nan searched around the house.
Many of the large rice fields in front of the square were blown down by the wind, and the waves of rice were undulating. There was no place to hide anywhere within sight.
The chickens and ducks in the fence had all hidden in the chicken coop, and the rest of the place was empty, with only a walnut tree still standing.
The vegetables in the vegetable garden were wilted by the heavy rain, but there were no indentations in the surrounding bushes, so Lin Jingzhe probably didn't fall into them.
There is a small reservoir at the end of the vegetable garden. The water level is very low and cannot drown an adult.
There is also a small path that stretches upwards next to it. There are traces of artificial digging, but it is very steep. Judging from its direction, it should lead to the mountain. Below it is an abandoned canal, which is full of dead branches and leaves and cannot accommodate people.
Gu Nan walked up the steep path.
If it were a sunny day, Lin Jingzhe's unique footsteps might have left some traces along the way, but after the heavy rain in the afternoon, nothing could be seen now.
The umbrella in my hand was blown around and could no longer provide any shelter from the rain. My dress was soaked by the rain and stuck tightly to my body. Now the only dry part of my body was probably my head.
She climbed up with difficulty and found that the road did not lead directly into the mountain. There was a forked path next to it, and at the end was an abandoned reservoir surrounding the mountain.
The path is very narrow, and some places collapse as soon as you step on them. If you are not careful, you will roll into the thorny bushes nearby.
Gu Nan walked slowly and carefully, searching for Lin Jingzhe and calling his name.
Halfway through the journey, she suddenly heard a faint response.
Gu Nan paused, overjoyed, "Jingzhe, is that you?"
There was another thin sound, different from the sound of rain.
Gu Nan identified it carefully, then quickened his pace towards the reservoir.
There were no mountains or forests blocking the way in front of me, and I could see a figure lying on the edge of the reservoir from afar. The trouser leg under his left leg was empty. It was Lin Jingzhe.
He lay prone on the steep wall of the reservoir, one hand clinging to the smooth concrete surface, the other holding onto a shrub growing out of a crevice, barely managing to keep himself steady and avoid slipping into the water.
Gu Nan hurried over and lay on the edge to try to catch him, but he was too far away and could not reach him.
Gu Nan wanted to find a wooden stick to pull him up, but her crutch was missing. The mountains were planted with tall and straight fir trees, and she couldn't climb up. There were no branches strong enough to support an adult's weight.
She was so anxious that she turned around in circles, and then suddenly remembered that she could use the umbrella to pull him.
She folded the umbrella and handed it over. Lin Jingzhe let go of the hand that was clinging to it and grabbed it.
Gu Nan pulled back hard, and Lin Jingzhe also kicked his feet to move upwards.
But as soon as his shoulder cleared the bushes, the parasol fell apart.
Gu Nan fell to the ground, and Lin Jingzhe slid back again.
At this moment, the bush he was holding on to loosened.
Gu Nan crawled back to the edge of the reservoir and shouted to Lin Jingzhe, "Hold on a little longer, I'll find something to pull you out!"
Lin Jingzhe looked up at the wet Gu Nan above him, smiled bitterly, and said in a hoarse and weak voice, "Sister, I don't have the strength anymore..."
He fell down before it started raining. After maintaining this posture for a long time, his limbs were sore.
The cold rain beat against his body, and his strength was gradually drained away in the icy downpour.
He knew that he could not wait for Gu Nan to come back with the things.
He was soaked all over, his hands trembling from fear and hypothermia, his sickly face grew paler in the dim sky, filled with despair.
Gu Nan looked at his purple face from the cold and became even more anxious, but he still said calmly: "Don't be afraid, can you swim?"
The walls of the reservoir are built steeply, but people who know how to swim can temporarily avoid drowning.
Lin Jingzhe's face turned even uglier, and he trembled even more violently. "No."
He tried to smile at her, but his stiff muscles couldn't support the movement at all. His voice was trembling unnaturally, "Sister, will I die?"
"No." Gu Nan said firmly, "I came here specifically to take you into the city. How could I let you die here? How would I explain to your brother if that happened?"
She spoke with conviction, but her voice was trembling.
She knew that Lin Jingzhe in the original novel should have died tonight, in this overwhelming rain.
His voice couldn't be heard, and it would be tomorrow at the earliest before anyone would notice he was missing.
His body will sink to the bottom of the water for the first two days, and then float to the surface after rotting and fermenting.
When Lin Layue learned the news of Lin Jingzhe's death, he had been dead for three days.
Lin Jingzhe thought of Lin Layue, and her eyes suddenly turned red. Tears and rain mixed together and flowed all over her face. "Sister, I miss brother so much. I regret that I shouldn't have let him go to the city..."
"I don't really want prosthetic limbs, I just don't want him to be around me all the time. He should do his own thing."
Lin Jingzhe burst into sobs, "He didn't go to college because of me. He shouldn't be locked up in the village. He should go outside, to the city, but I, I can't bear to leave him..."
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