Chapter 67

Chapter 67: Huo Zheng, never see you again

“Do not come closer!” Chun Zhi stepped back to the very edge of the bow. Her hand shook, and the bamboo pole slipped into the river with a splash.

The gale rocked the black-canopy boat. Her dress whipped about, and her dark hair flew loose. Huo Zheng had not expected Chun Zhi to fear him so much. A sharp pain pricked his heart.

“All right… I will not come closer,” he said. “Be careful and stand steady.”

He stopped several steps away at the front of the little cabin. He did not dare move again, afraid he would startle her into falling into the river.

Chun Zhi watched the dozens of fast boats closing in. Soon they would be right beside her. If Huo Zheng took her back now, she would never be able to leave again. The child in her belly would not be allowed to live. She stepped back another half step.

Now she stood almost entirely on the rim of the boat. The whole craft swayed in the wind.

A downpour was on the way. The waves grew higher. [Old Heaven always bullies people.] It had not rained earlier, nor later, but now, right when she was leaving Linshui Town, the wind turned fierce.

Chun Zhi was an excellent swimmer. On a clear day she would not fear to swim across any river. But the weather had turned. With a storm about to break, if she went into the water now, whether she lived or died was uncertain. Even so, she could not go back with Huo Zheng. To take her child would be to take her life.

She glanced over her shoulder at the wind and waves.

“Chun Zhi,” Huo Zheng called, voice taut, “come here. Do not step back again.”

The normally calm Prince Chang’an had lost all his ease.

“Huo Qi,” Chun Zhi said, standing in the teeth of the wind and waves as she stared at him, “I only saved you. I did not wipe out your whole family. Why are you driving me this far?”

Chun Zhi wanted to live a good life. For years she had been like a tough blade of grass. No matter how hard the seasons, when spring came she could grow again. Whether it was being failed by Lu Jing Yun or leaving Huo Zheng, she could still live well. If he had not chased her, she would have gone far away alone, given birth to her child, and raised the baby with care. She could keep selling tofu or start a small trade. She would not let the child suffer. But Huo Zheng had come after her. [If only I had not saved him.] There was no medicine for regret.

“I am not forcing you,” Huo Zheng said. “I fear Huo Yu will try to harm you. Chun Zhi, please be good. The wind and waves are too strong. Do not stand on the rim.”

As he spoke, he tried to come closer so he could grab her and pull her back.

“Do not move!” Chun Zhi saw what he meant to do and retreated again. She wobbled.

Huo Zheng pressed one hand to the cabin and used his Inner Force to steady the whole boat: “All right, I will not move. You must not move either.”

A wave slapped over the bow and soaked her dress. She was very afraid. The river was wide without end, and in wind and waves she did not know if she could make it. But the fast boats were almost upon her. Once they surrounded her, she could not escape.

Chun Zhi bit down and made up her mind. “Huo Zheng, never see you again,” she said, then turned and leaped into the roaring river.

“Chun Zhi!” Huo Zheng lunged. He caught only a strip of her sleeve. The cloth tore with a rip. She hit the water, spray flying, and vanished.

Without a second thought, Huo Zheng jumped after her.

“Prince!” The Shadow Guards raced up in the wind and saw with their own eyes as the prince leaped into the river after Chun Zhi. Jiang He turned pale and shouted: “Those who can swim, follow me!” He dove in headfirst. Half the Shadow Guards followed and plunged into the water.

Lightning split the sky. Thunder boomed. Fat drops of rain hammered down.

After the time it takes two sticks of incense to burn, about half an hour, Jiang He and the others dragged Huo Zheng back onto a boat. He was soaked and in a sorry state.

“Where is Chun Zhi?” he asked in a hoarse voice.

“Prince,” Jiang He said, forcing the words out, “Miss Chun Zhi has not been found.”

“If you have not found her, then keep looking,” Huo Zheng said. “She will be fine. She will definitely be fine.” He did not know if he was trying to persuade himself or the others. The storm raged. Waves rolled over the river. Even boats could barely stay upright, much less people in the water.

He moved to dive in again, but Jiang He grabbed him and begged: “Prince, your life is precious. You must not take another risk.” Jiang He tied ropes to the strongest swimmers and told the men on deck to hold the lines. Then one by one, the Shadow Guards jumped in again to search for Chun Zhi.

Huo Zheng could not bear to stay on the boat. He rose and went into the water again. Seeing he could not be stopped, Jiang He made him tie a rope as well, so if things went wrong they could haul him back at once. Huo Zheng’s face went blank with shock, and he let Jiang He knot the rope. Then he dove again.

He searched again and again. Each time, when he was near collapse, Jiang He pulled him back aboard. They repeated this many times.

Two hours passed. Four hours passed. Six hours passed. The rain did not stop. Night was as black as ink. Huo Zheng and the Shadow Guards searched the river the whole night and still did not find Chun Zhi. Two boats had even been flipped by the wind.

A Shadow Guard said in a low voice: “Prince, we have searched so long and found nothing. I fear Miss Chun Zhi may have…” “Silence,” Huo Zheng rasped, and the guard fell quiet at once.

Huo Zheng was nearly spent, yet he did not believe Chun Zhi would die. He moved to go into the water yet again. Jiang He dared not allow it. He blocked him with his life and pleaded: “Let the men keep searching. You must not go again. If something happens to you here, everything in Nanzhou will be ruined.”

Huo Zheng closed his eyes. Tears fell, washed away by the rain. When he opened them again, they were bloodshot. He struggled to stand and suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood.

“Prince!” Jiang He cried out and grabbed him before he fell.

Huo Zheng forced himself upright, wiped the blood from his lips, and said in a broken voice: “Chun Zhi grew up in a water town. She swims very well. She will not be hurt so easily. She… she must not want to see me. She is hiding from me.”

“Prince…” Jiang He wanted to urge him to accept what the storm might mean, but he did not dare.

“Keep searching,” Huo Zheng said, his voice raw. “Alive, we see the person. Dead, we see the body.”