Chapter 295: The Right Course of Action

Chapter 295: The Right Course of Action

The incident occurred so suddenly that everyone was stunned.

Qian Feng and Ping'an exchanged a glance and jumped down without hesitation. However, unlike He Qingxiao who leaped directly down, they used the grass, trees, and protruding rocks on the steep cliff to break their fall.

"Quick, go find Lord He!" Huang Cheng shouted, and like Qian Feng and Ping'an, he took action.

Watching those people risking their lives, one by one going down, Sixth Boss was at a loss.

What am I supposed to do?

They’ve all gone down, and I’m the only one left!

He glanced at Xiao Ba, who was equally at a loss, and gritted his teeth. "I’ll go down and check it out too."

Xiao Ba panicked. "What should I do?"

"You stay here for now. If something happens, we’ll still need someone to handle things." Sixth Boss said this with tears welling up in his eyes.

If he died on this trip, there had to be someone to handle his funeral.

Who would have thought that just as he was about to attain unimaginable wealth, his life would hang in the balance?

After a short while, a cry for help from below, Sixth Boss’s voice tinged with sobs. "Help!"

Xiao Ba peeked over and saw Sixth Boss clinging to a protruding rock on the cliff, his clothes caught on the branches above. His upper garment was half-flipped, covering his head, leaving his upper body bare.

Magistrate Zhao promptly arranged for a capable attendant to rescue Sixth Boss and selected two attendants skilled in martial arts to descend and search for the others. Though anxious, he didn't dare waste time and continued organizing the villagers' evacuation.

As time passed, the rain finally stopped, and the villagers from the two villages reached a safe place to rest.

The villagers at the front didn’t know what had happened and listened as those who had witnessed Xin You’s fall discussed among themselves.

"Young Master Xin and Lord He are both good people. How did this happen to them?"

"Exactly, I thought Lord He was one of those oppressive officials who would threaten us with a sword, but when the flood really came..." The person who said this was one of the villagers who had stubbornly refused to leave at first, and the more he thought about it, the more frightened he became.

"You’ve said so much, but what actually happened to Young Master Xin and Lord He?"

"It was about saving Third Girl." The woman holding the girl wiped her tears and sniffled. "Third Girl fell, and just at that moment, a boulder flew down from the mountain. Young Master Xin warned about the falling rocks, and Lord He carried Third Girl out of harm's way, but the boulder landed exactly where she had been sitting."

The listeners gasped and quickly asked, "And then?"

The woman looked somewhat dazed. "The boulder cracked the ground, and Young Master Xin suddenly fell. It all happened so fast, too fast..."

The incident happened in an instant, and only later, when they saw the cracked road, did everyone understand what had occurred.

"What can we do now..."

The villagers were concerned for the safety of the two and feared that if something happened to these noble figures, they would be held accountable.

"Young Master Xin is going to be fine." The person who said this was an old woman.

The old woman was usually a bit eccentric and was the kind of person villagers would approach with strange problems, bringing two eggs to seek her advice.

"Young Master Xin can foresee the future and is a reincarnated immortal, nothing can happen to him!" The old woman’s voice was loud, and even Magistrate Zhao heard her.

Although Magistrate Zhao didn’t believe in the concept of reincarnated immortals, he remained silent.

The villagers believed in the existence of gods and deities, which gave them the courage and confidence to face hardships.

However—how did Xin You foresee the flood?

The thought flashed through Magistrate Zhao's mind but was quickly overshadowed by worry.

After settling the villagers down, Magistrate Zhao gathered the entire government office. Some were tasked with patrolling the town, others were sent to survey the disaster situation in various villages, and a team was specifically dispatched to search for Miss Xin and Lord He.

At the foot of the steep slope, the rapid river rolled forward, merging with another river that had been flooded.

In the depths of a hidden cave, there was a deep pool, its dark waters concealing the path to the bottom. Suddenly, the calm surface burst, and a person's head emerged.

He Qingxiao held Xin You and, with all his strength, pushed her to the edge of the pool, but he was half in and half out of the water, too exhausted to climb out.

Almost no light penetrated the cave, and the ink-black pool water held the snow-pale man.

His eyes were tightly closed, and he didn't move, with only his mouth and nose above the surface, as if he were dead.

It was impossible to tell how long it had been before the man in the pool finally gathered enough strength and opened his eyes abruptly.

He tried moving his fingertips.

As his fingers stretched and then curled, he felt the return of control over his body. He Qingxiao immediately swam toward the edge of the pool.

The sound of the water echoed loudly in the silent cave.

Even clearer was the panic in He Qingxiao's heart.

"Xin Denzhao!" he called out as he lifted the upper body of the person lying on the ground, lifting her into his arms.

The person in his arms had loosened hair, and even though her water-resistant makeup had washed off from the constant flow of water, she had revealed some of her original appearance.

In the darkness, he couldn't see her face clearly, but his feelings were unmistakable.

After calling out "Xin Denzhao" several times without receiving a response, He Qingxiao's hands trembled uncontrollably as he carefully laid her on the ground, pressing her abdomen again and again, trying to expel the water.

Water droplets slowly condensed on the cave ceiling and fell into the deep pool one by one. The monotonous and rhythmic dripping blurred one's senses, making time seem to slow down, or even come to a standstill in He Qingxiao's perception.

"Miss Xin, wake up!"

"Miss Xin—"

The man's voice was hoarse and restrained, hiding despair.

He dared not let this emotion grow, calling out the name he had once not dared to speak.

Finally, the tightly closed eyes of the girl opened as she expelled a mouthful of water and coughed.

In that instant, He Qingxiao's eyes lit up astonishingly as he quickly lifted her upper body.

"Miss Xin, are you alright?"

Xin You fluttered her eyelashes.

She heard someone calling her Miss Xin.

Her mother liked to call her A You, and others in the valley called her Young Miss You, but when traveling, outsiders called her Mr. Xin.

Indeed, she had become Miss Kou, but no one had ever called Xin Dai Zhao "Miss Xin."

No, there was one person she had allowed to call her Miss Xin.

Lord He!

At this thought, Xin You finally opened her eyes.

She was surrounded by darkness.

"Miss Xin!" Already accustomed to the dimness of the cave, He Qingxiao could vaguely see Xin You open her eyes, his eyes filled with surprise and joy.

After a brief silence, the young girl's voice, laced with panic, came, "Lord He, I can't see."

"Don't worry, it's just too dark here." He Qingxiao unconsciously tightened his grip on her hand.

"Cough, cough," Xin You coughed a few times, rubbing her aching abdomen, "Lord He, how did we end up here?"

Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could barely see him.

"We fell into the river below a steep slope. There's an undercurrent vortex at the riverbed. Once we were pulled in, we ended up here, in this cave."

After listening quietly, Xin You suddenly asked, "Lord He, were you pushing on my stomach to get the water out?"

He Qingxiao wasn't sure if he should nod.

Whether he was imagining it or not, he thought he detected a hint of reproach in her tone.

Was she upset because he had been too hasty?

"Do you know the correct way to save a drowning person?"

He Qingxiao hesitated, then shook his head.

"Isn't the method to press on the stomach to get the water out?"

"It should be like this," the girl said, her soft, cool lips pressing against his.