Chapter 243: Fallen into the Water
This novel is translated and hosted on BCatranslation
“Hurry to the lakeside! Search quickly!”
Madam Xu could not wait for an answer. Trembling violently, she pushed herself up from the ground. Her voice was sharp, carrying a desperate edge, her entire body shaking uncontrollably.
“Yan Shu! Yan Shu!” Madam Xu frantically led the search party along the lake’s edge.
Jiang Yun Jin felt an icy chill seeping into her bones, freezing her to the core.
“Where is my second brother? Where is he?! Say something! Why are you just crying?!” The young Lu Zheng Yue wailed, demanding to know where his older brother was.
Jiang Yun Jin only trembled, unable to control her shaking. In her mind, all she could see was Madam Xu’s bloodshot, terror-filled eyes as she pleaded desperately.
“Young Master!” A blood-curdling cry suddenly broke through the night.
“The Young Master is in the lake! He’s in the lake!” A maid sobbed as she pointed toward the water.
There, on the once-calm lake, a figure floated motionless. No one knew when he had surfaced, but there he was.
Madam Xu only took a single glance.
At that moment, all the blood in her body rushed to her head, and her legs gave out beneath her. She collapsed, completely overcome by fear. Not a single word left her lips, only guttural cries as she crawled forward, utterly frantic.
When Lu Yan Shu was pulled from the water, his breathing was faint, his entire body deathly pale.
His stomach was bloated, his body limp on the ground.
His face was ashen, and a nasty wound marred his forehead.
Jiang Yun Jin stiffened. She had not seen that wound before. He must have hit his head when he pushed her ashore.
Terror gripped her heart even tighter.
Madam Xu, a noblewoman of distinguished background, had never lost her composure like this.
“Save Yan Shu! Save him! Where is the imperial physician?!” Madam Xu sobbed hysterically. A woman who had always been mindful of her dignity was now reduced to sheer panic, as though half her life had already been taken.
“The Young Master isn’t breathing…” A servant checked his nose, then fell to his knees, weeping.
“Just earlier, the Young Master was reading at the stone table in the grove! He wasn’t near the lake! I only stepped away for the time of one incense stick, and now he’s fallen into the water?!” His personal servant cried out in disbelief.
“Miss Jiang, why are your clothes wet as well?” someone questioned immediately.
Jiang Yun Jin shook with fear. Lu Yan Shu was dead. Lu Yan Shu was dead…
“There are signs of someone falling in, and there’s a handkerchief floating in the lake…” A guard inspected the scene and looked toward Jiang Yun Jin.
“It seems someone fell in, and Young Master Lu jumped in to save them.”
The moment those words fell, Jiang Yun Jin nearly jumped up in panic. “I didn’t! I didn’t!”
The young man she had once been so proud of had now become a burden too heavy to bear.
“Then why do you have moss on you? Why is there lakeweed in your hair? Why is your handkerchief in the water?!” Lu Zheng Yue screamed through his sobs.
“My brother! My brother saved you!”
“He saved you, so why didn’t you call for help?! Why did you hide?!” Lu Zheng Yue, overwhelmed with grief, charged at her like a wild beast.
He was younger than her by two or three years, but in his fury, he had the strength to tackle her, pinning her to the ground and hitting her with all his might.
Jiang Yun Jin burst into tears.
“I was just too scared! I was just too scared…”
“I didn’t mean to hurt him! I was just too afraid…” She sobbed, admitting fault. She was terrified.
That was her fiancé. The man she had once taken pride in.
He was a heaven’s chosen talent, admired by all, a young genius celebrated in the capital.
She never wanted to harm him.
But he had sunk into the water. He had died. She could not bear the weight of this responsibility.
Madam Jiang hurriedly pulled Lu Zheng Yue away.
Madam Xu’s face was drained of all color, her body trembling as she clutched her son.
“Quickly! Turn Yan Shu over! Get the water out of his lungs!”
“Press his stomach, make him cough up the water!”
“Please! Save my son! My Yan Shu… He is a good child, he is kind, he… he is just a child! His life has only just begun!” Madam Xu sobbed wretchedly.
Servants took turns carrying and shaking Lu Yan Shu, running in desperate circles.
Again and again. One after another, until they all collapsed in exhaustion.
By the time the imperial physician arrived, Lu Yan Shu’s face had turned a ghastly blue, his breathing completely still.
The physician sighed regretfully. “The Young Master has no breath or heartbeat.”
“Had we been just a few minutes earlier, he might have been saved.”
Jiang Yun Jin’s tear-filled eyes snapped toward the physician.
A few minutes earlier?
She looked in horror at Lu Yan Shu.
He… He…
“Why didn’t you call for help? My brother died saving you! Why didn’t you call for help?!”
“You killed my brother! You killed him!” Young Lu Zheng Yue clung to his brother’s lifeless body, sobbing uncontrollably.
“One word! One scream, and my brother wouldn’t have died!”
“I want my brother back! Give him back! Give him back to me!”
“He risked his life for you! How could you be so heartless?! Just because you were scared, my brother had to die?! He fought so hard to save you, and this is what he gets?!” Lu Zheng Yue muttered, dazed.
Jiang Yun Jin cowered behind her mother, terrified of everything before her.
Just now, Lu Yan Shu had been alive…
She wept silently.
She had just been too afraid…
Jiang Yun Jin looked around, panic filling her heart. The only thing she could not bear was meeting Madam Xu’s eyes.
Madam Xu had no daughters and had always treated her with deep affection…
Affection so great that now, Jiang Yun Jin could never face her again.
Countless guards took turns trying to revive Lu Yan Shu.
Madam Xu had cried herself hoarse. Kneeling on the ground, dazed and trembling, she clasped her hands together.
Her shoulders quivered, her eyes filled with tears as she whispered, “Please, Heavens, have mercy. Let the gods above spare my child. I am willing to pay any price.”
“He is not yet ten years old, his life has only just begun. I am willing to trade my life for his.”
“I will spend my next life, my next lifetime after that, and every lifetime beyond as a servant, as a beast, if only Yan Shu can be saved.”
“He is a kind child. He saved a life. He should not be taken like this…” Madam Xu choked on her tears.
“Please, save Yan Shu. I ask for nothing else. Just let him live…”
She bowed her head again and again, her jade pendant clinking against the stone floor.
Then, suddenly—
A gust of wind blew.
Jiang Yun Jin, her vision blurred with tears, looked up at the sky. For a moment, she thought she saw golden light… or perhaps, nothing at all.
And then, a cough shattered the silence.
“Cough… cough…”
Madam Xu, her forehead bloodied from bowing, staggered toward Lu Yan Shu.
The boy lay on the ground, his eyes shut tight, coughing violently.
Spewing mouthfuls of filthy water.
Madam Xu wept and laughed, her hands pressed together in prayer. “Thank you, Bodhisattva… Thank you for your mercy…”
She laughed and cried, as though she had gone mad.
Lu Yan Shu had survived.
But he did not wake for three days.
When he finally opened his eyes, he only remembered pushing Jiang Yun Jin onto the shore.
He did not remember the wound on his forehead.
He was paralyzed.
The young genius had fallen, left crippled for life.