Chapter 42
Xiang Wan still didn't open her eyes until she felt a gust of wind rushing towards her head, and then she was tightly embraced by Chen Yan, who was sliding down the well wall.
She was still somewhat dazed until she felt the other person's warm body temperature, at which point she opened her eyes in surprise.
Seeing someone fall from the sky, Xiang Wan instinctively hugged him tightly, her body trembling slightly: "Are you crazy? Do you know what's down there..."
The reason she didn't tell Chen Yan about the giant python in the dry well was that she didn't want to frighten him. People are prone to losing their composure when they are overly frightened, which is why she didn't tell him.
But to my surprise, this clever idiot actually jumped down!
Xiang Wan instinctively pushed the person away and shielded them behind her, then looked at the spot where the giant python had been coiled, only to be surprised to find that the python had disappeared...
"!"
She cautiously searched for traces of the giant python, whose body was so thick and large that it had nowhere to hide inside the dry well.
However, there was truly no trace of it, as if it had never existed.
Xiang Wan clenched her fists unconsciously, then, as if remembering something, she brought her left hand to her nose and sniffed it lightly. Besides the sticky smell, there was a fishy, foul odor, exactly the same as the smell when the giant python was there.
Her mind was in a mess, and she couldn't think straight, so she simply stopped thinking about why the giant python had disappeared.
However, she didn't delve into it, but Chen Yan, who was standing to the side, wouldn't let her off the hook.
"What did you just say? What's down there?" he asked cautiously, but Xiang Wan only replied perfunctorily, "I mean, you don't even know how deep this well is, how could you jump in so rashly?"
She wasn't really blaming him when she said that; she just wanted him to forget what she had just said.
Chen Yan remained silent for a while, and after a while, he said, as if mocking himself and as if testing the waters, "Before I jumped down, I looked out of the well and thought there was a giant python coiled inside."
"..." Xiang Wan's back stiffened instantly as she turned around, cupped his face in her hands, and looked him in the eye with unprecedented seriousness. "You're mistaken. This is just a dry well."
She didn't know if the giant python's sudden disappearance was a bug, nor did she know what would happen to the person who discovered the bug, but she only wanted to do everything she could to protect Chen Yan.
He didn't speak, but Xiang Wan unusually pressed him, asking, "Do you understand now?"
Chen Yan opened his mouth several times, remained silent for a long time, and finally changed his mind: "I must have misread it."
Xiang Wan closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. After calming down, she realized that she might have scared him with her aggressive words. When she opened her eyes again, she deliberately softened her tone: "Don't be afraid."
"……good."
Inside the dry well, the two stood back to back, each on guard.
Xiang Wan thought of something and pulled a satellite phone from the inner pocket of her mountaineering suit. Carrying a satellite phone was a habit she had developed after her rebirth, and she hadn't forgotten it even while mountaineering.
However, just as she took out her satellite phone to call Li Xia, the phone vanished into thin air, just like the giant python from before.
This feeling of powerlessness, of being manipulated at will, drove Xiang Wan to the brink of madness several times. She clenched her fists, trying to pretend she hadn't noticed anything, but she couldn't help breaking down and punched the well wall several times.
The other party wanted to end her life completely, but for some reason changed their mind at the last minute. Now they want to trap her and prevent her from leaving.
What is this? Are we watching a battle between trapped beasts in the arena?
Even someone as composed as Xiang Wan experienced a mental breakdown when she was manipulated in a life-or-death situation.
She frantically pounded on the wall, smashing it until her hands were bloody and mangled, but she didn't stop until Chen Yan grabbed her from behind and restrained her hands.
Xiang Wan was furious but couldn't break free from him, so she turned to pound his chest to vent her anger. She hit him hard, and Chen Yan, who was already injured when he jumped down, only groaned silently as she hit his wound.
Xiang Wan only calmed down after hearing his muffled groan.
She let him hold her, as if she had no strength left. She rested her head on his shoulder, feeling utterly powerless, like a punch landing on cotton.
Inside the dry well, after both of them had calmed down, Xiang Wan gently pushed Chen Yan away and leaned against the well wall alone.
Looking at Chen Yan, who was holding a wooden stick in his left hand, she regained her senses and, combining what he had just said, realized that Chen Yan had jumped down without hesitation even though he knew there was a giant python below.
That giant python was thicker than the body of a strong adult man. If Chen Yan had any self-awareness, he would know that he would surely die if he jumped down.
But he still jumped. He picked up a stick and dared to jump down from the sky, saying that he wanted to protect her despite his overestimation of his abilities.
Xiang Wan's expression was somewhat mocking, but her eyes were a little moist. She was desperate to survive, and he was so stupid as to want to die with her.
She came from a business family and was taught by her grandfather from a young age not to do unprofitable business. She couldn't understand why Chen Yan, who was clearly a smart man, would do something so foolish.
Although she didn't understand, she was somewhat moved. The choices people make in the face of life and death don't lie; Chen Yan cared about her more than his own life.
Until someone tried to lighten the mood by making a joke: "Sister, you have a really strong grip."
"..." Suddenly, I wasn't so moved anymore.
Xiang Wan wiped the stickiness from her palms with a wet wipe from her pocket, looked at Chen Yan, and asked with a deep look in her eyes, "What did you call me when you jumped down just now?"
"..."
The term "xiao" (小) is traditionally reserved for peers and elders; Chen Yan's use of it to address her as Xiang Shuhan was an overstepping of his bounds.
Xiang Wan raised an eyebrow. Seeing that he didn't answer for a long time, she walked up to him, squatted down, and stared into his eyes. Seeing his evasive gaze, she found it amusing and pressed on, "Chen Yan, what did you just call me?"
Xiang Wan pressed closer and closer until there was no way to avoid it. Chen Yan's back pressed against the cold well wall, as if some kind of bloodlust had been aroused. He also met her eyes: "Xiang Shuhan, I don't want to be your younger brother anymore."
"..."
As their eyes met, Xiang Wan caught a glimpse of Chen Yan's Adam's apple bobbing out of the corner of her eye, and subconsciously felt her mouth go dry as well.
It wasn't until birdsong came from above the dry well that the two regained some of their senses.
She was staring blankly with her eyes down when Chen Yan suddenly stood up. Xiang Wan was caught off guard and bumped her chin with his hand.
"ah--"
Xiang Wan bumped her chin and cried out in surprise. In his panic, Chen Yan pressed his hands on her shoulders, his voice anxious yet tender: "Is something wrong?"
She slapped his hand away with the back of her hand, got up and sat back in her original seat, refusing to look at him.
Chen Yan breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that she was alright. Knowing that she didn't want to talk to him, he went to the well by himself to figure out how to climb out.
Behind him, Xiang Wan watched his retreating figure and silently curled her lips into a smile.
'The kid's grown up.'
'How dare they covet her!'
What surprised her even more was that, despite knowing he coveted her, she didn't feel particularly repulsed...
*
The two remained trapped in the dry well until evening.
The ladder that used to be at the well opening had also disappeared, and the well walls were slippery and covered with moss. The two tried dozens of times, but each time they ended up falling down.
Although it is only early autumn in Beiyi, the temperature difference between day and night is large, and since this is a dry well on the mountain, the temperature is even lower.
Xiang Wan had been climbing the mountain all day, and due to the cold and excessive fright, she developed a high fever that night.
Her lips were white from the cold, but her body remained high in temperature. However, the extreme contrast between the cold and the heat did not alleviate her fever much; in fact, it made it worse.
She leaned against the well wall, her mind somewhat hazy. She guessed she probably had a fever, but there was no point in saying it, so she remained silent.
Chen Yan thought she was asleep, and worried that she would catch a cold, so he took off his coat and put it on her, but unexpectedly touched her forehead, which was unusually hot.
He paused for a moment, then reached out to touch her forehead. Xiang Wan didn't want him to know she had a fever, so she pulled her hand away from his.
Chen Yan pressed his forehead against hers without giving her a chance to resist, his tone for the first time somewhat forceful: "Xiang Shuhan, don't move."
The moment their foreheads touched, Xiang Wan glanced at him but said nothing and did not stop him.
Xiang Wan's forehead was burning hot. Chen Yan only touched it lightly with his forehead and was absolutely certain that she had a fever.
Chen Yan straightened her body, then put his coat over her arms and draped it over her shoulders. He wrapped her up tightly, then hugged her through the coat.
Are you still cold?
Xiang Wan shook her head. Although she was so cold that she couldn't feel Chen Yan's body temperature, she still lied to him: "I'm not cold anymore."
Chen Yan didn't say anything, but he tightened his grip on her arm.
However, after a while, Xiang Wan's body temperature did not drop at all; on the contrary, it seemed to be getting hotter.
If she doesn't take fever-reducing medicine soon, her high fever won't go down. But they are trapped in the dry well, and there is nothing around them except for the occasional chirping of birds.
Looking at Xiang Wan, who was on the verge of collapse, Chen Yan felt despair for the first time. He talked to her to keep her from falling asleep while shouting loudly in the hope that tourists passing by would hear his cries for help.
"Shuhan, you can't sleep yet." His tone was still gentle, but a hint of anxiety could be heard.
Xiang Wan didn't open her eyes, but simply responded with a low, nasal sound: "Mmm."
Although she promised him she wouldn't sleep, her reactions became increasingly weak. Even when he pinched the back of her hand, she only frowned slightly, her eyes still not opening.
Chen Yan was also extremely exhausted, and drowsiness kept washing over him, but he dared not fall asleep. He was afraid that if he fell asleep, neither of them would ever wake up again.
He would prick up his ears at the slightest sound to see if the rescue team was coming to save them.
Several more hours passed before Chen Yan finally heard people passing by, and many people calling his and Xiang Wan's names.
They must have been members of the mountaineering club. Seeing that they hadn't gathered for a while, they joined forces with the search and rescue team to rescue them. Chen Yan even heard the barking of search and rescue dogs inside.
Thinking there was hope, he responded to them from the bottom of the well, but they seemed not to hear him at all. They called his and Xiang Wan's names for a long time before their voices gradually faded away.
"We're here—"
Chen Yan's voice was so loud that Xiang Wan was awakened by his noise and could feel the vibrations in his chest.
But even such loud cries for help couldn't stop them, perhaps not because Chen Yan wasn't shouting loud enough, but because they simply couldn't hear him.
It must be that the person who pushed the door did something, which is why Xiang Wan clearly heard the voices of the four-person team and the rescue team right above her head, but no one heard Chen Yan's response.
Xiang Wan glanced at Chen Yan's profile, looking at his jawline with a calm expression. Perhaps they really would die here today.
"Do you regret jumping down just now?" Her voice was soft, and her eyes held a certain pity as she looked at him.
Upon hearing this, Chen Yan looked down into her eyes and replied without hesitation, "No."
Not only did he not regret it, he was also somewhat relieved.
He couldn't imagine how devastated Xiang Wan would be if she faced all of this alone.
Xiang Wan chuckled softly, but her nose stung with tears. Knowing that she might die here, she became less hesitant and her expression became calm and gentle.
She fought off sleepiness and didn't close her eyes: "Chen Yan, do you have a small character?"
"No."
If you were to give yourself a nickname, what would it be?
Upon hearing this, Chen Yan actually thought about it for a moment: "Ruilin."
Upon hearing the name Chen Ruilin again, Xiang Wan couldn't help but smile silently as her eyebrows curved into a smile.
Thinking that she hadn't spoken to President Si Rong in her previous life, she suddenly felt a little regretful. She looked up into Chen Yan's eyes, as if looking through his eyes at her rival from her previous life: "Chen Ruilin, I've heard so much about you. My name is Xiang Shuhan."
Exchanging courtesy names is a very intimate act. Even in her previous life, Xiang Wan never asked Zhou Chengze about his courtesy name.
"I've long admired you" was said to Chen Ruilin in the previous life, while the self-introduction was said to Chen Yan in this life.
Chen Yan was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, as if he had been struck somewhere deep in his heart. It was as if, in a past life, he had been waiting for this self-introduction for a very long time…
*
Just when the two thought they were about to die, a rustling sound came from above the dry well, followed by a male voice.
"Senior sister—Senior sister—"
As Xiang Wan's consciousness sank, she still recognized the owner of the voice—Zhou Chengze.
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