He walked for an unknown amount of time until he heard the sound of flowing water. It wasn't the gurgling of muddy water, but a clear, murmuring sound. His heart leaped with joy, and he quickened his pace. Where there is flowing water, there is usually a way out.
Sure enough, after turning a corner, he saw a stream. The water was clear, and he could see the pebbles at the bottom. Ah Yu placed Zhong Hua on a flat rock, then knelt by the stream and drank a few mouthfuls of water. The water was cold, making him shiver, but it cleared his mind considerably.
He washed his face with the stream water and wrung out a towel to wipe Zhong Hua's face. When he wiped her hair, he carefully picked off the ginkgo leaf and rinsed it clean with the stream water. The wormholes on the edge of the leaf were clearly visible, and it shimmered with a faint yellow hue in the water.
"It's quite sturdy." He smiled at the ginkgo leaf, put it in his shirt pocket, and tucked it away close to his body.
Just as she was about to get up, she heard the sound of a helicopter in the distance. Ah Yu jumped up, waving her arms and shouting, "Here! We're here!"
The helicopter drew closer, its searchlights sweeping across their location. Ah Yu saw the rescue markings on the fuselage, his legs went weak, and he almost knelt down. He helped Zhong Hua up, and in the beam of the searchlight, he saw the empty space in her hair, and suddenly felt a sense of peace.
As the rescuers lowered the stretcher, Ayu insisted on going up with Zhonghua. The paramedics examined Zhonghua's injuries and said she might have intracranial hemorrhage and needed to be taken to the hospital as soon as possible. Ayu held her hand and felt her fingertips twitch slightly.
As the helicopter took off, Ah Yu looked down through the porthole. The ravine was completely filled with mudslides, like a giant python devouring everything. He touched the ginkgo leaves in his shirt pocket; they were still there, hard.
“It’s alright now.” He looked down at Zhong Hua and pressed her hand against his face. “Look, we’re out.”
She was still unconscious, but the corners of her mouth seemed to turn up slightly. Ah Yu didn't know if it was just his imagination, but he knew that as long as this ginkgo leaf remained, as long as he was still alive, he would definitely be able to wait for the day she woke up.
The helicopter pierced through the clouds, revealing a city washed clean by the rain, its lights twinkling like scattered diamonds on black velvet. Ah Yu looked at Zhong Hua, sleeping soundly in her arms, and a thought suddenly occurred to her: once she recovered, she would take her to see the ginkgo leaves. Not the one on the outskirts of the city, but Kyoto, to see the entire city ablaze with golden hues.
He buried his face in her hair, smelling the faint scent of blood and rain, and whispered, "It's a deal."
The ginkgo leaf in his shirt pocket seemed to tremble slightly with his heartbeat.
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