“I won’t jump. I’ll go down straight ahead – it’s quicker. You take the side path down, and we’ll meet at the bottom of the slope,” Zhou Cheng shook off Kang Wei’s hand.
Yuan Yujun was worried about exactly what Zhou Cheng feared. Zhou Cheng used to think Jiang Yan had good character. But back then, even Jiang Wu had only shown his good side, and he hadn’t interacted with Jiang Yan for two years – who knew how she might have changed? Right now, he even suspected that Jiang Yan following them was part of a trap, that this whole thing from start to finish was a setup just to lure them to this godforsaken place so Jiang Yan could harm Xiaolan. If anything happened, it could easily be dismissed as an accident.
Using his bayonet as support, Zhou Cheng ran down the slope, gripping onto trees as he descended. Going uphill was easy but downhill was treacherous. Anyone lacking agility would lose control – even Zhou Cheng was stumbling as he ran. While Kang Wei and Shao Guangrong could manage the descent, Yuan Yujun and Little You couldn’t.
Little You’s face had turned pale with fear. If she hadn’t screamed, the wild boars wouldn’t have been startled, and Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t have lost her footing. Shao Guangrong wanted to scold her but instead stood there and slapped himself twice. There was no point in scolding Little You – it was his stupid idea to bring an unfamiliar woman along. Kang Wei also wanted to curse, but with Yuan Yujun watching, he maintained his composure. Still, he couldn’t help kicking Shao Guangrong:
“Save the self-flagellation until we find Sister-in-law Xiaolan. Hurry up, let’s go around the side.”
Dead wild boars lay scattered throughout the forest, with some piglets still grunting about. Several large boars had been killed by Zhou Cheng and Jiang Yan, but now no one cared about the precious pork. Yuan Yujun helped Little You up, saying, “Come on, let’s help search. We can at least do something useful.”
This wasn’t Little You’s fault. Yuan Yujun was still examining her own conscience – because she wanted to see what game Jiang Yan was playing, she had followed along step by step, leading to this accident. She didn’t dare imagine the consequences if something happened to Xia Xiaolan.
Everyone quickly sought out flatter ground to descend. Zhou Cheng’s heart was racing. Though their hunting mountain wasn’t particularly high, he was taking the direct route down. Xia Xiaolan and Jiang Yan had tumbled down into the ravine, leaving obvious trails of flattened grass and broken branches – Zhou Cheng couldn’t miss their direction.
He needed to maintain his balance and descend carefully, but he hadn’t wasted any time – it couldn’t have been more than five minutes. Though the slope wasn’t extremely steep, Zhou Cheng mainly worried about branches and tree stumps injuring Xiaolan’s eyes, or protruding rocks causing injuries.
His heart was in his throat, and he berated himself countless times. He and the Jiang family must have been cosmically mismatched – he shouldn’t have been moved by Jiang Yan’s documents and shouldn’t have renewed their friendship. Then even if they came hunting, it would have just been friends having fun. Jiang Yan was too competitive, stirring everyone up to hunt wild boars, which led to this accident – what Zhou Cheng feared most was that this wasn’t an accident at all, but deliberately planned!
If it was Jiang Wu… Until he saw Xia Xiaolan safe and sound, Zhou Cheng had imagined every worst-case scenario. His eyes could only focus on the path down, with no room for other thoughts.
Finally, he spotted figures ahead. Xia Xiaolan sat on the ground, one hand holding her head. But Jiang Yan lay motionless – both had rolled into the ravine’s buffer zone. This scene indeed surprised Zhou Cheng.
He had imagined many terrible scenarios – if anything happened to Xiaolan, he would have taken revenge on the Jiang siblings. He wouldn’t accept any excuses about accidents – most accidents were man-made! But now looking at the scene…
“Zhou Cheng! I’m fine!”
Xia Xiaolan truly was alright. When she fell, she thought she was done for, tumbling into the ravine. But she discovered she only had torn clothes, slight dizziness, and maybe some back pain – no other injuries. Xia Xiaolan wondered if she was some protagonist with plot armor – but no, it was clearly because Jiang Yan had protected her as they fell. Thinking of this, Xia Xiaolan’s expression turned strange even as she lay in Zhou Cheng’s arms.
Having almost lost her, Zhou Cheng checked her multiple times to confirm she was unharmed, refusing to let her stand up and simply holding her. “Don’t rush to get up. Sit here for a while.”
Xia Xiaolan pointed at Jiang Yan, “Check on her – she seems to have passed out. When we fell, she actively grabbed me. I suspected she had bad intentions, but who knew she would be kind enough to cushion my fall?”
If Jiang Yan’s gun stock hadn’t hit Xia Xiaolan’s knee, she could have regained her balance after wobbling a bit. That one hit had made her knee go numb. Jiang Yan had seized that opportunity, but instead of letting her die, she had protected her firmly.
Even Xia Xiaolan might not have done something so magnanimous. She wouldn’t ignore someone in mortal danger, but she wouldn’t sacrifice herself to save others either. Xia Xiaolan had never hidden that she was selfish… So conversely, was Jiang Yan selfless?
Xia Xiaolan’s feelings were very complicated.
Zhou Cheng crouched down to check Jiang Yan’s breathing, noticed her lower leg bent at an odd angle, and felt it carefully.
“She’s unconscious, and it looks like her lower leg is broken. Did she save you?”
The fact was right before their eyes, yet Zhou Cheng still needed Xia Xiaolan’s confirmation – showing just how deeply Jiang Wu had traumatized him.
Xia Xiaolan nodded, “I was being cynical, but Jiang Yan did save me. She’s had training, while I’m just an ordinary person. If she hadn’t cushioned me and reduced the impact, I would have been hurt much worse than her.”
So Jiang Yan had saved her. But why would Jiang Yan save her?
If she hadn’t protected her so thoroughly, Xia Xiaolan breaking an arm or having her face disfigured would have seemed perfectly normal – no one could deny it would have been an accident.
Seeing Zhou Cheng’s confused expression, Xia Xiaolan quickly grabbed his hand: “I don’t want a repeat of the Wei Juanhong incident. I’m grateful to Jiang Yan for saving me, but my gratitude doesn’t mean I have to give you up – you’re not some object I can offer in thanks.”
Zhou Cheng rubbed her head, “What are you thinking? Let me check Jiang Yan’s leg first. We need to stabilize the injury and make a stretcher. When Kang Wei and Shao Guangrong come down the other way, we can carry her back.”
This might have been an accident. Hearing directly from Xiaolan that Jiang Yan had strived to save her, Zhou Cheng also breathed a sigh of relief. If it had been Jiang Wu’s plot, Xiaolan wouldn’t have had a chance to survive – he had been a bit paranoid.
The shape of Jiang Yan’s lower leg looked strange, but when he felt it, it didn’t seem like a comminuted fracture – the injury wasn’t particularly severe. He broke some branches to stabilize Jiang Yan’s injured leg, but touching the injured foot made her frown and wake up.
Seeing Zhou Cheng providing first aid, Jiang Yan was still dizzy. Noticing Xia Xiaolan sitting nearby staring at her with wide eyes, Jiang Yan grunted and turned her head away.
Xia Xiaolan cleared her throat, “Thank you, Jiang Yan!”
Jiang Yan finally looked at her, “You’re weak. I couldn’t just watch you die.”
Xia Xiaolan didn’t argue with Jiang Yan. The woman had just broken her leg – if Xia Xiaolan was too sharp-tongued, the next time she fell to her death no one would save her, and it would serve her right. She was clear-headed enough to understand this.
Zhou Cheng treated Jiang Yan’s injury, and together with Xia Xiaolan, they tore their clothes into strips to make a stretcher. Only then did Kang Wei and the other four make their way down.
Seeing Xia Xiaolan completely unharmed while Jiang Yan had broken her leg, Kang Wei couldn’t hide his shock – this was opposite to what they had imagined!