Chapter 22: A New Beginning
Blood stained Mu Guangcheng's shirt, leaving his chest warm.
Mu Guangcheng looked down at Gu Yuanyuan with disbelief in his eyes. Gu Yuanyuan seemed unable to stand any longer. He looked at Mu Guangcheng's face and then fell down.
Mu Guangcheng's trembling hand grabbed Gu Yuanyuan and supported her, as if he were terrified.
Su Heng aimed at Mu Yang's hand and fired, causing another oil tank to explode. This time, Mu Yang seemed to be injured by the explosion, and the flames inside the cabin grew larger and larger.
The bodyguard rushed over and helped Mu Yang up. "Young Master Mu, let's get out of here quickly. It's going to explode. It's very dangerous."
Mu Yang seemed to curse something, and with blood still on his face, he turned back to look at Mu Guangcheng. Su Hengyi had already gone over there.
"Walk."
Mu Yang is not a man who is fond of fighting. As long as he is alive, he will have the opportunity to kill Mu Guangcheng again.
As Mu Yang was about to walk out of that door, he suddenly sensed something shooting from behind. He jerked to the side, but it was too late; the bullet pierced his chest.
The bodyguards helped Mu Yang up, dragged the still-uncertain Mu Yang away, put him on a speedboat, and then drove off in the wind and waves at full speed.
Amidst the flames, Su Hengyi crouched down.
Gu Yuanyuan was wearing a white shirt, and at this moment there was a large patch of dark red blood on his chest. It was so thick that no matter how much Mu Guangcheng pressed on it, he couldn't stop it.
Mu Guangcheng didn't understand. His eyes were red as he asked Gu Yuanyuan, "Wouldn't it be better if I died? Didn't you want me to die?! Why did you save me?"
Mu Guangcheng couldn't understand why Gu Yuanyuan, who clearly regarded him as a mortal enemy, would risk her life to save him at such a dangerous moment.
Twice.
Once, he saw him fall on a very dangerous ground and ran over to help him up; another time, he shielded him from a bullet.
Gu Yuanyuan felt as if his eyes were covered by a layer of fog, and he couldn't see anything clearly. He was lying in the cabin, which was very warm, but he felt very cold. His limbs and body were icy cold.
Then he saw Su Hengyi's cold face, his blood-stained hand outstretched as if he wanted to touch his lover one last time.
But he couldn't reach it.
It was Mu Guangcheng again who grabbed Su Hengyi's hand and placed it in Gu Yuanyuan's palm.
Gu Yuanyuan gently grasped it, his lips moved, and he said in a very soft voice, "If you die, he will be sad."
Mu Guangcheng is dead. Su Heng will be heartbroken and devastated, and may very well die with him.
But if Gu Yuanyuan were to die, it would seem so insignificant.
Gu Yuanyuan released Su Hengyi's hand. "You guys should leave. This place is about to explode. I can't leave..."
Gu Yuanyuan's gaze fell on Su Hengyi's abdomen, where he had been shot. He closed his eyes and smiled slightly.
Su Heng looked around and saw that the flames were indeed growing stronger. If the temperature reached a certain level and all the oil tanks exploded, all three of them would perish in the fire.
Mu Guangcheng's leg was injured, so he couldn't walk unless Su Heng carried him away.
If Su Hengyi were to carry Mu Guangcheng on his back, he wouldn't be able to bring Gu Yuanyuan along, which would be impractical for someone with an abdominal injury like him.
Bringing Mu Guangcheng along was already his limit.
Moreover, Gu Yuanyuan was shot in the chest, so her chances of survival are very slim.
In the blink of an eye, Su Hengyi went to Beimu Guangcheng.
Mu Guangcheng refused to leave; he stubbornly insisted on staying with Gu Yuanyuan.
Every second that he stayed was a second more dangerous. Su Hengyi reached out with the gun in his hand and hit Mu Guangcheng hard on the back of the head.
After knocking Mu Guangcheng unconscious, he carried Mu Guangcheng on his back, his brows furrowed and his face cold and gloomy as he darted away in the firelight.
Gu Yuanyuan watched as Su Hengyi really left with Mu Guangcheng, and he started to panic again.
Gu Yuanyuan didn't know where the strength came from. He crawled on the ground, raised his head slightly, and reached out towards the place where Su Hengyi had left. Even though his vision had become somewhat dark, he desperately wanted to take one last look at Su Hengyi.
He murmured softly, "Brother Su, Brother Su..."
Su Heng turned around as he stood at the door, looking at Gu Yuanyuan through the heavy firelight.
Gu Yuanyuan was still reaching out to him, as if begging him to save him. He was muttering something, even though they were so far apart.
Su Hengyi, however, understood Gu Yuanyuan's lip movements.
Gu Yuanyuan said, "Brother Su, don't go..."
Su Hengyi's pupils trembled violently, and his heart clenched with a sharp pain.
In the end, Su Hengyi still kicked down the burning door and left without looking back, carrying Mu Guangcheng on his back.
Gu Yuanyuan lay in the sea of fire, the surroundings growing hotter and hotter, as if the fire had already burned him, but he could no longer feel it. This feeling was wonderful; there was no pain, as if he no longer knew what pain was.
He just felt it was so dark and so cold.
I really want to...
Su Hengyi.
Gu Yuanyuan closed her eyes, as if she were thinking of the time when she was young, leaning on the railing of the teaching building corridor, watching Su Hengyi walk past the building indifferently.
He would slightly raise the corners of his lips, thinking to himself that he would strip him bare one day and see this rigid old man lose control, his eyes red and burning as he called him far away.
She recalled the faint fragrance emanating from Su Hengyi when they first got married, which made her so infatuated with him and his embrace.
Then came that spontaneous kiss when he had a fever, the indulgence at the fireworks festival, and those two months when he promised to try things out with him—two different months.
And that time I got drunk...
I wonder if Su Hengyi still remembers.
But Gu Yuanyuan remembered it all, remembered it so clearly, but it was no use, soon no one would remember it anymore.
Su Heng put Mu Guangcheng on the police boat, and despite the danger and obstruction, he went to the boat to rescue Gu Yuanyuan.
"boom----"
The large ships exploded one after another before his eyes, with flames and thick smoke shooting into the sky, the scene of the explosions comparable to a blockbuster movie.
The shockwave caused Su Hengyi and the others to lie prone on the boat.
Su Hengyi finally couldn't hold on any longer. A metallic taste welled up in his throat, and he couldn't help but vomit on the ground, spraying bright red blood onto the ship's deck.
Su Heng coughed, his mouth filled with the taste of blood, and then his vision blurred before he fainted.
Three months later.
Despite being under his uncle's heavy surveillance, Gu Yuanyuan still managed to escape from the hospital.
Indeed, he did not die.
Zhou He, who had said he would never love her again, led Shi Nianzhi and Lu Jiunian's fleet and rushed onto the ship at the last moment, risking fire and their lives to rescue Gu Yuanyuan.
As a result, Shi Nianzhi suffered burns to his right hand, Lu Jiunian lost half of his hair, and Zhou He's leg was injured and he needed to be hospitalized for six months to recover.
Fortunately, Zhou He was there. He endured the pain and performed emergency first aid on Gu Yuanyuan, and also gave her a blood transfusion, which saved Gu Yuanyuan's life.
When Zhou He limped over to check on the patients, he found that Gu Yuanyuan had already escaped, leaving only a note on the bed.
Zhou He's first thought was that Gu Yuanyuan was going to ruin Su Hengyi's wedding, but he didn't expect that wasn't the case.
"Zhou He, thank you so much for saving me. I've thought about it for so many days, even considered repaying you with my body, but I'm sorry, I still can't do it. Please tell my uncle not to be angry. The world is so big, I want to see it. —Gu Yuanyuan"
Zhou He saw the note, took a deep breath, and then exhaled heavily.
He sat on the hospital bed where Gu Yuanyuan had lain, his trouser legs rolled up, revealing a gruesome burn scar on his skin.
He cursed, "It's not worth it!"
He then shook his head and placed the note left by Gu Yuanyuan on the hospital bed.
Perhaps feelings cannot be forced. Just as Gu Yuanyuan could not force Su Hengyi, he could not force Gu Yuanyuan either.
When Shi Nianzhi received Gu Yuanyuan's note, he was so angry that he grabbed his belt and whipped it twice in the air, as if he were hitting the little brat Gu Yuanyuan himself.
Lu Jiunian comforted him, "Forget it, as long as he doesn't go looking for Su Hengyi, why should you care about him?"
"Watch me keep knocking out his card!"
"I can tell you're reluctant to let him suffer."
Shi Nianzhi slammed the belt onto the bed. He closed his eyes and remembered Gu Yuanyuan lying alone in the sea of fire, covered in blood.
Shi Nianzhi sighed, "Yes, he's so afraid of pain, let him eat more candy. I'll go and increase his credit card limit again, so he can see the world properly. We can't let him suffer."
Ping'an County is a small, dirty, chaotic, and poor county.
Gu Yuanyuan was traveling nearby when her wallet and phone were stolen, so she temporarily ended up in this place.
There was only one rural credit cooperative in the entire county, not even a decent bank, which Gu Yuanyuan found unacceptable.
He had no money; he had nothing on him except his ID card. The hundred-yuan bill he had was stolen by an unlicensed taxi driver.
He wanted to borrow a phone to contact his uncle. Even if he might get beaten to death, it was better than starving to death in this godforsaken place.
But the people here are very wary, probably because the area is too chaotic, and they simply won't lend him their phones.
Gu Yuanyuan smoothed her hair.
Desperate, he saw a dilapidated school with a red sign that read "Hiring" in large characters.
We are hiring a Chinese language teacher. Room and board are provided. The monthly salary is 3,000 RMB plus commission.
Gu Yuanyuan walked in without thinking.
Perhaps it was because of his outstanding demeanor that the principal hired him without even checking his graduation certificate, as if he were afraid the principal would run away.
Later, Gu Yuanyuan learned that this was a county town with a large number of left-behind children and elderly people living alone. Young people like Gu Yuanyuan were extremely rare.
What a terrible place.
And so, Gu Yuanyuan settled down here for the time being.
He wanted to ask the principal for an advance on half a month's salary. He suggested that he take a taxi to get a replacement bank card. The principal was afraid that he would run away, so he tried to persuade him to stay at the convenience store and get his daily necessities from there, but refused to give him an advance.
Gu Yuanyuan had no choice but to wait for his salary to be paid on the 15th of next month, since he had food and lodging provided.
So the next day, he got up early, took a Chinese textbook, and walked into the classroom, which didn't even have multimedia equipment. Looking around, he saw only a few students.
Gu Yuanyuan picked up the list, counted the names, and frowned. "There are 52 people in your class, how come only five came?"
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