In late autumn, October, winter is approaching, and in another month or so, the lake will slowly begin to freeze.
Imagine falling into the lake at that moment—how bone-chillingly cold the water must have been!
As soon as Wei Shuwan fell into the water, she felt a chill wash over her head, quickly enveloping her entire body! The surrounding water pierced her skin like needles, the cold penetrating deep into her bones.
She choked on some water and finally managed to get her head above water, struggling and calling for help.
Princess Yun'an, standing about two arm's lengths away, was even more pitiful. Lacking Wei Shuwan's experience of falling into the water, she was utterly panicked, frantically thrashing about with her hands and feet, only managing to drag her head underwater even faster. With each breath, she choked on several mouthfuls of water!
However, compared to the palace maid who was pulled down with her, the two of them were lucky; at least they didn't hit their heads on the various strange rocks on the mountain.
When the palace maid fell, she hit the rocks several times, drawing blood from her forehead and the back of her head. The only one of the three who could swim was rendered unconscious in the water.
Fortunately, the water was calm at the time, and apart from the small area where the three fell into the water, there were no waves elsewhere. This allowed the unconscious palace maid to float steadily on the surface of the water, making her safer than the two who were struggling desperately.
Wei Shuwan also noticed this. The more she struggled to rise above the surface, the deeper she sank. On the contrary, when she didn't move around, her body became much lighter and she was able to slowly float to the surface.
But people have instinctive reactions in a crisis. Unlike the palace maid who fainted, she restrained herself for a while, but still couldn't resist the urge to scoop up water and find a foothold. After doing this several times, Wei Shuwan gave up on her self-control and began scooping water towards the palace maid as much as possible.
She clung to the palace maid's arm, climbed onto her waist, and the two of them floated on the water in a cross shape. Wei Shuwan finally felt safe and began to absorb the pure energy to her heart's content.
After catching her breath, she had the strength to shout for help: "Help—"
"Here—"
...
Because Princess Yun'an was present, several eunuchs and palace maids who knew how to swim jumped into the water early in the morning to try to rescue her. However, the person had fallen from the mountain into the middle of the lake, while they had to swim slowly from the shore. In addition, the water was cold in late autumn, and some of them got cramps as soon as they entered the water, needing help from others instead.
As time ticked by, everyone held their breath, wondering if they could bring the person back to life.
Wei Shuwan was fine lying on top of the palace maid, since she felt at ease and guessed that it was this girl who had tripped her up. But Princess Yun'an seemed to be struggling to hold on.
Seeing Wei Shuwan comfortably lying on that person, Yun An originally wanted to swim over, but for some reason, the harder she tried to swim, the more her body moved in the opposite direction, eventually getting further and further away from them, and she could only struggle and float on her own.
Looking at the eunuchs and palace maids still swimming near the shore, Yun'an knew that distant water could not quench an immediate fire, and felt a sense of despair.
Just when Yun An was feeling utterly hopeless, she saw a figure suddenly descend from the sky and land precisely beside them! The person sank into the water and quickly surfaced, then swam resolutely towards them!
Upon seeing the person's face clearly, Yun An was so moved that tears streamed down her face:
"Young Prince...Young Prince, save me...I'm here..."
Yun An shouted for help to Li Qingchen with all her might. She choked on water after every few words she shouted, but she was no longer afraid. She knew that Li Qingchen would definitely be able to save her!
Princess Yun'an was closest to Li Qingchen, but instead of immediately helping her up, Li Qingchen went straight to the relatively safe Wei Shuwan. He grabbed the palace maid's arm, and Wei Shuwan was dragged to his side as if on a boat.
"Young Prince, it's you?" Wei Shuwan looked at Li Qingchen with alarm in her eyes.
"What, you're picky about who you get rescued?"
Wei Shuwan shook her head like a rattle-drum: "I'm not picky, as long as you can save me!"
After saying that, he got off the palace maid, swam into the water, and clung to Li Qingchen's neck.
Li Qingchen frowned. He had thought he could just drag her ashore, but she was so determined! He raised his hand to pry Wei Shuwan's hands off his neck, but found her trembling violently. Looking at her face, it was deathly pale, clearly showing not only cold but also fear.
Wei Shuwan shrank back beside Li Qingchen, glancing timidly at the palace maid: "Is she already dead?"
She had been lying on top of the palace maid, which looked pleasant to outsiders, but she was terrified. She watched as the maid's blood seeped into the water, turning a small patch of the lake red. If she weren't unable to swim and certain death if she left the maid, she certainly wouldn't have dared to stay on her.
Now that Li Qingchen has arrived, she would rather hold him than hold a dead person again.
Li Qingchen raised his hand and touched Wei Shuwan's hand, but then withdrew it. Let her hold him if she wants.
"Let's get ashore first," he said calmly.
Then, he took off the shawl from Wei Shuwan's body, tied one end to the palace maid's arm, and threw the other end to Princess Yun'an, who had been waiting for a long time. Then he pulled the three of them together and swam to the shore.
Even though Li Qingchen was strong, dragging three people at once was still quite difficult. Fortunately, there were several eunuchs who were good swimmers who were already very close to them. Li Qingchen handed over the shawl he was holding to them and led Wei Shu ashore that evening.
All three were successfully rescued, and the people on the shore finally breathed a sigh of relief. Since Princess Yun'an was among them, no one dared to laugh at her; their faces were filled with worry and concern.
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