Chapter 47 Life's Journey
After exiting the Tingzhuang Expressway, passing through Fushi, a large truck overturned. Song Ting was driving at high speed in the leftmost lane. The truck suddenly bore down on him, and at this distance, he knew he couldn't escape. As the truck slammed down, he swerved left, slamming his car into the median. The crushing impact felt like a bullet to his head. His last thought was of Old Man Nan, waiting for him at home. If he left, his children wouldn't abandon him.
He also thought of Xiao Jiu. She was getting married and finally had a home in Feng City. Perhaps she would be sad, after all, they had been entangled on and off for so many years.
But it seems that without him, everyone's life will move forward.
He accepted his fate and faced death calmly.
After hovering on the brink of death, fate played a cruel joke on him. The right side of the car completely collapsed. In a split second, a single turn pulled him back to life. His body was trapped between the airbag and the door, his right arm deeply gashes from the shattered car body. A fraction of a second and his entire arm, and perhaps even his entire body, would have been gone.
When rushed to the hospital by the ambulance, Song Ting suffered a concussion that briefly knocked him unconscious. After emergency treatment, he gradually regained consciousness. He was taken to the emergency department in the early morning hours for sutures. Just before dawn, he was moved to a ward.
He felt dizzy and endured the discomfort. He borrowed a cell phone from the nurse and reluctantly reported to Mr. Nan that he was safe.
He then contacted a nearby business partner with whom he had a good relationship. The friend arrived the next day and told him that his car was nearly totaled, his phone was missing, and he had only a battered cardholder.
On the third day, Song Ting's condition improved. He rushed to deal with the traffic accident, met with the insurance company, and dealt with the nearly scrapped car. Then he returned to the hospital to complete the discharge procedures, picked up his medicine, and left the strange city.
After finishing everything, he didn't delay any longer and didn't even go back to Maoer Lane, but rushed directly to the tea mountain.
When he had finally arrived after a life-or-death struggle, the figure that should not have appeared suddenly caught his eye. His pupils constricted instantly, as if pricked by a sharp needle.
Nan Jiu looked at him anxiously. He was completely intact, wrapped in long sleeves and long pants. She felt relieved when he stood before her.
Jiang Qing rushed over from the dormitory with messy hair: "Boss Song, you finally showed up."
Song Ting didn't respond to Jiang Qing. The brief shock in his eyes gave way to a surge of anger. He'd said they didn't want to meet again, and he'd finally made up his mind to never have anything to do with her again in his life. But she suddenly appeared before him, ignoring the boundaries he'd rebuilt.
His eyes suddenly turned cold: "What are you doing here?"
As he asked this question, he saw the bloodshot under Nan Jiu's eyes. He looked thinner than when he saw him last month, and even his hair had lost its luster.
The villagers who were talking all around fell silent in an instant amid the questioning that suppressed the storm.
Jiang Qing quickly tried to smooth things over: "Boss Song, you really don't know. Your sister-in-law has been very busy these past few days while you're away."
Song Ting's expression suddenly changed: "Who are you calling sister-in-law?"
Nan Jiu's eyes gradually turned red. She couldn't hear what Song Ting was saying, couldn't sense his emotions. She only knew that he was back, finally back safe and sound, and she could return this tea mountain to him. All her worries and anxieties turned into a bitter pain that rushed to the tip of her nose. Her breathing became more and more rapid, like someone standing at a high altitude, lacking oxygen, unable to absorb enough air.
Several days and nights of intense exercise had already drained her strength and willpower. At this moment, the string, stretched to the limit, snapped, and wave after wave of dizziness washed over her.
There was no explanation, and she didn't have the energy to explain anymore. The exhaustion of being on the verge of sudden death instantly took away her consciousness. She turned around and walked back with weak steps.
Zhen Min rushed forward anxiously: "Oh, why did you make her cry?" She lowered her voice and said to Song Ting, "There are so many people watching, go back and say what you want to say."
Song Ting's eyes hesitated for a moment. Nan Jiu wasn't the type to burst into tears after just a few words, and he hadn't said anything before. He glanced at the tea farmers around him and said to Jiang Qing, "Organize a meeting. I'll come over later."
Nan Jiu returned to the cabin and took off her dirty coat. She had just lifted half of her undershirt when Song Ting pushed the door open. She paused, revealing a sliver of her narrow waist. She neither continued to remove it nor pulled it back up.
"Did you not understand what I said to you last time?"
Nan Jiu didn't have the energy to argue, nor did she want to quarrel with him. Her voice was so soft that it was almost inaudible: "I want to take a shower." She was waiting for him to leave.
"What part of you haven't I seen before?"
Nanjiu withdrew his gaze, lifted up his shirt and began to take off his pants.
The door was open, and not far away, tea pickers were busy moving between the tea rows. Just by looking up, she could see the scene inside the house. Before she could take off her pants, Song Ting walked out of the house and slammed the door.
After taking a shower, Nan Jiu opened Song Ting's wardrobe naked and pulled out a T-shirt to put on.
The door was opened again. Song Ting saw her putting on his clothes and pulled her over: "Did I let you touch my things?"
Nan Jiu's body was completely exhausted, and he gently pulled her down. Song Ting subconsciously caught her and said impatiently, "Aren't you getting married soon?"
Nan Jiu didn't answer her. He turned around and walked straight to the bed, lay down, curled up beside the bed, and closed his eyes.
Song Ting walked over and pulled her off. Nan Jiu's body was limp, and he pulled her straight down. When her body was about to touch the ground, he squatted down and hugged her, and the wound was torn with pain.
He put her back on the bed and looked at her again. She was completely unaware and sleeping as if she had fainted.
Song Ting stood up, stared at her for a while with a frown, pulled the quilt over her and threw it on her, then turned and walked out.
Song Ting came back once during the process, and Nan Jiu was still in the same position as when he left. After all these years, he always slept close to the edge of the bed, and it was a miracle that he didn't fall off.
He returned with a hair dryer, plugged it in, and tilted her head to rest on his lap. The hot air whipped through her hair, bringing bursts of warmth. He'd been out for a while, and her thick, long hair was still damp. No wonder she hadn't had the patience to blow-dry it. She'd wanted to cut it short. Now, for some reason, it was growing long again. Just like the weather in the mountains, sometimes sunny, sometimes rainy.
He ran his fingers through her soft hair, stared at her slightly furrowed brows, and raised his hand to gently smooth them.
Nanjiu slept soundly, a sleep so profound that even the end of the world couldn't awaken her. Her dreams were filled with chaotic scenes: rolling machines twisting tea leaves, transporters sweating profusely, smoke rising from large stoves, Da Huang barking, and tea farmers' straw hats blown into the air by the wind. Then, dark clouds descended, and the rain poured down. She ran and ran, running through the tea rows, the ends stretching endlessly, as if... there was no end. She wanted to avoid the rain, but she couldn't see where the path ended. What lay beyond it?
Da Huang appeared out of nowhere and ran ahead. She got up and chased after him. Suddenly, he stopped and turned around, staring at her with his eyes that had long since lost their ability to see clearly.
Da Huang leaped up and disappeared ahead. At that moment, she saw the end of the tea ridge—Song Ting was trapped in the car, the frame was burning, emitting billowing black smoke, and it burned into a raging fire before her eyes. With a loud bang, it was completely reduced to ashes.
The soil beneath her feet began to collapse, and the weightlessness and fear pushed her to despair.
The dream disappeared, and the dream fell into endless darkness, and the heavy rain still did not stop.
Nanjiu's eyes snapped open, and a wave of sadness washed over her, as if she had reached the end of her life. She stared blankly at the rooftop, her consciousness slowly returning. Outside, a crisp, splashing sound pounded against the window, and the pounding of heavy rain, sweeping in from all directions, hammered at her eardrums.
Nan Jiu stood up, ran barefoot to the door, and opened it. Dense raindrops lashed the thousands of tea leaves, forming countless torrents that surged through the gullies between the tea ridges. The mist hit his face, so thick he could almost taste the sweetness amidst the bitterness.
Nanjiu stretched out her hand, her heart beating violently with the rhythm of the raindrops hitting her palm. At this moment, she felt the significance of her presence here - to save this season's life.
Song Ting sat slumped in a rattan chair in the room, his notebook recording the traces of the fierce battle for the harvest. One page was blank, with only a single name written across the entire page: Song Ting.
The tip of the pen carved like a knife, each stroke carrying a helpless ruthlessness, splitting the paper with each stroke. He stared at the paper for a long time, imagining the emotions she had in writing his name.
Until she stood up and rushed out the door. His eyes followed her figure to the door. He watched her freeze in front of the door, watched her reach out her hand, watched her eyes turn red the moment she turned around: "Did I bet right?"
He was all too familiar with the excitement and heat in her eyes.
In his first two years on the mountain, his inexperience and misjudgment wiped out the harvest he'd been anticipating for a whole year, only to be wiped out by a flood. That night, a torrential downpour washed away a year's worth of hard work. He gazed upon the battered tea trees, uprooted along with his hopes and pride. Faced with the devastating loss, he felt too embarrassed to return to see Old Man Nan. The first time he truly outran the ravages of the weather, a scorching torrent surged from the depths of utter exhaustion and emptiness. It was the thrill of survival, the thrill of finally taking fate into his own hands.
He stared at her, the lust and warmth that had consumed him peeling away layer by layer. He no longer saw her, but something that penetrated her skin and gender, colliding with her soul.
Song Ting stood up, put the slippers at her feet, pulled her into the house, and closed the door again, blocking the raging weather outside.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
