Weak Heartbeat

June 19th, Sunday - 5th day

Location: unknown.

Lily looked at Zhuo Jingren's luminous watch. It had been more than three hours since Zhuo Jingren lost consciousness and Lily was getting worried. She stuck out her hands to catch some rainwater, then brought it towards Zhuo Jingren's lips, trying to get him to drink some water. Rainwater was not ideal, but it was their only source of water to hydrate themselves for now.

She then tightened the coat around him before feeling his forehead for his temperature. Zhuo Jingren was too cold and his face was pale. From time to time, his brows would furrow as if he was in a lot of pain. Lily bit her lower lip as she wreck her brain for a way to transfer heat to his body.

Lily knew that stripping them both naked and huddling together for warmth was not be an option since they didn't have enough clothing on them or a blanket to cover the both of them. This would only expose the both of them to the cold and Zhuo Jingren would also lose more body heat in the process.

With these considerations in mind, she first removed the coat from Zhuo Jingren. Then she positioned herself behind Zhuo Jingren and straddled his waist, hugging him from the back. She started rubbing her hands together before blowing at them, transferring some heat over to her hands before covering them both with the coat and wrapping her arms around him. 

This was something that Lily learned while reading a study about hypothermia. 'Keeping Zhuo Jingren warm is the most important thing right now.' She didn't mind that his shirt was damp and stained with blood from the wounds on his back or how her shirt might be stained in the process.

Lily then leaned her head at his nape, inhaling his scent that was already mixed with blood. All she could do now is to pray that they survive this. Then she could start a new life, give this marriage a chance and maybe… just maybe fall in love in the process.

"Hey, don't you dare die right now," she said in a low voice.Then, her hands then made their way to his broad chest to feel his weak heartbeat. "You can't leave me now."

Once again, tears started to stream on Lily's cheeks. If her estimate was right, they had been stranded in this place for more than four hours now. She believed that Secretary Go would have already launched a search party by now and it was only a matter of time before they are found. As Lily thought about the incident, she furrowed her brows. She literally did not know what had happened.

What could have caused a landslide in a perfect night? Moreover, if she didn't remember wrongly, there was a loud sound, like an explosion, before the landslide happened. Lily did not remember seeing any tall mountain where landslides might naturally occur. Moreover, there weren't any buildings or infrastructure around that an explosion might have happened, resulting in a landslide.

Was this really an accident?

Or… Realization dawned on Lily when she remembered how the driver had insisted on only driving Lily back while Zhuo Jingren asking to stay behind to wait for Riku who was coming to meet with him. Was that also a coincidence? Or… was someone trying to hurt her?

But who could it be?

Liam? Sofia? Or her enemies abroad? But that shouldn't be possible. This trip was not planned and the only people who knew that she had gone on a trip was Yang Mi and Li Shanshan. Moreover, Lily had not given the two her exact location. They only knew that she was in Japan.

So was it Zhuo Jingren's enemies? But Zhuo Jingren said he wasn't involved with the Yakuza anymore. Moreover, he would not be that stupid to bring her to this place without a bodyguard if he knew that his enemies were currently after his life. But then again, if their target was Zhuo Jingren, then why was there a need to separate them and only attack her? Were they trying to use her to make Zhuo Jingren sad?

That doesn't seem like the style of the Yakuza.

Lily searched her memory as she tried to analyze the situation. Though Lily could not speak Japanese well, she understood the language perfectly. This was because she had learned the language on her own and had some practice with the language whenever she had to meet her Japanese investors. However, she was still not fluent with the language as she seldom converse with it. 

Understanding the language and speaking the language were two different things.

Once again, Lily tried to rewind every conversation that they had. But she ended up with nothing. In this trip, the only people that Zhuo Jingren had introduced her to were Riku and his sister. Since they were working for him, they was no motive for them to hurt her right?

Then, the thought of Akane as the culprit came into mind but she quickly shook off the thought. According to Riku, Zhuo Jingren seemed to have spent some considerable efforts searching for her in the past. Surely the siblings wouldn't have the guts to hurt Lily and earn Zhuo Jingren's ire right?

When Lily still ended up with nothing. She decided to just stop thinking about it.

She looked at the darkness before them. The rain seemed to have stopped, but there were still some occasional flashes of lighting that lit up the sky from time to time.

Lily let out a sigh before she closed her eyes. She needed to conserve her energy for now. Suddenly, she heard some footsteps and she immediately jolted up. "Hello?"

"Hello? Is anyone out there?" she tried her best to make her voice a little louder. "Help! Someone is down here!"

The footsteps seemed to have stopped and soon she could hear some faint voices and they were getting louder by the minute. Lily's heart leaped with joy when she began to see flashes of lights coming towards them.

"Hey!" she yelled. "Help! We're here!"

"Miss Qin!"

Relief washed over Lily when she heard someone familiar - Secretary Go's voice.

"Secretary Go! We're here!" she shouted before she gently moved to the side of Zhuo Jingren, and waved her hand at the people approaching them.

"Miss Qin… Thank god that you are fine! Boss Zhuo, he…"

"He is here… have your men transport him carefully. He is wounded," she answered. As soon as she said that, she heard someone sobbing. Then Akane came into view. Akane slowly approached Zhuo Jingren with tears streaming down her cheeks. Lily instantly frowned at her.

…

Editor: Swaning