Dragons Flies Phoenix Dances

Chapter 13

The Mrs. Long San Who Makes a Narrow Escape

 

Feng Ning’s survival instinct dominated, with her strength at its peak, her savior’s limbs were restricted, ironically unable to fully utilize them and so both of them, coiled together in this difficult situation, were flushed downwards by the river water. The two of them bobbed up and down, swallowing several mouthfuls of water.

Feng Ning was so scared her entire body went rigid, she screamed and shouted, causing that person to also be dragged down and submerged. With no other choice, he could only forcibly push her away, grasp her arm and place it on his back, pull her head out of the water, and loudly scream into her ear: “Calm down, don’t be afraid, it’s me, don’t be afraid, I’m here……”

Feng Ning shuddered and struggled to look at him, finally realizing that the person saving her was Long San. Her eyes started to warm up, and she loudly shouted: “Long San, Long San, don’t abandon me! Don’t abandon me……”

Long San propped her head up, looked into her eyes, and said: “Don’t be afraid, listen to me, and let’s get to the sh.o.r.e immediately, okay?”

Feng Ning wasn’t sure whether it was water or tears on her face, she only cried: “I’ll listen to you, I’ll listen to you, don’t abandon me, don’t abandon me, I’m afraid of water, I’m scared……”

Long San loudly said: “I’m going to loosen my hold, don’t struggle, don’t kick me, relax, I won’t let you sink, do you understand?” Feng Ning frantically nodded.

Long San, seeing that she had seemingly understood, released her arm, and held her against his chest: “Hold onto my shoulder, I’ll swim you onto the sh.o.r.e.” Feng Ning couldn’t stop trembling, she was like a child, tightly clinging onto his neck and shoulder, not daring to loosen her hold even a little bit.

Long San strove to keep both of them steady in the midst of the current, he had also swallowed a lot of water, he had one hand supporting Feng Ning, and the other wading through the water, his two feet treading hard, using both hands and feet simultaneously, he was finally able to drag the rigid, rock-like Feng Ning onto the sh.o.r.e.

The two of them, battered and exhausted, collapsed onto the sh.o.r.e, Long San coughed a few times, finally getting his breath back. Feng Ning’s fear of water was very serious, she hugged him tightly, unwilling to let go in the slightest. Long San seeing her trembling so wretchedly, could only half-drag-half-carry her somewhere far from the water, rubbing her back and her arms: “It’s alright now, we’re already on land, it’s alright……”

Feng Ning, seemingly unable to hear anything, had her head buried in his shoulder, continuously shaking, with both her arms and legs tightly wrapped around him. Long San had no other choice but to pat and coax her, patiently waiting for her to calm down.

After a while, Feng Ning was still unwilling to let go, two people who appeared to be bodyguards came running over, they said to Long San: “San Ye, we were unable to overtake him.” Feng Ning shivered, and lifted her head, Long San said to her: “The person who pushed you into the river, we didn’t catch him.” He turned around and asked the other person: “What about that servant?”

“Drowned. There’s no hope.” This answer frightened Feng Ning immensely, causing both her arms to tighten, once again holding tightly onto Long San.

Long San was left with no choice, he instructed one of the bodyguards: “Bring a carriage and two sets of clean clothes.” That person accepted the order and left, Long San then made the other bodyguard start a fire.

Feng Ning with her head still buried, very quietly said to Long San: “I remember now, it was that person.”

“Who?” Long San asked while attempting to pry her off so that they could both stand up. But the minute he moved, Feng Ning once again forcefully wrapped herself around him: “Don’t abandon me.”

Long San helplessly sat on the muddy floor, holding a wet, mud-ridden, disheveled Feng Ning. Not wanting to imagine in the least what he must look like at the moment.

Feng Ning nearly drowned to death twice, traumatizing her a great deal, Long San could only divert her attention and ask her again: “Who were you talking about?”

“The person who shouted that a woman fell into the river in order to draw me over; that person, he was the one who asked me where the thing was when I had injured my head that time. His voice, I remember it.”

“Did you see what he looked like?”

Feng Ning shook her head, when she remembered sinking into the water at that time, she would start panicking again.

Long San lifted his eyes and looked at the already darkened sky, the bodyguard on one side had already started a fire, Long San patted Feng Ning: “Let go of me first, let’s go warm ourselves by the fire, we don’t want to catch a cold.”

The moment Feng Ning heard this, she hurriedly tightened her arms, shaking her head over and over: “I’m not letting go, don’t leave, let the fire come over here.”

Long San inwardly grinded his teeth, she thinks the fire can walk. He forcefully pulled her off, scaring Feng Ning to the point she began to cry loudly: “You want to abandon me, you don’t care about me anymore……” Long San heartlessly struggled free of her bind, pried off her wrapped limbs, and harshly picked her up, moving next to the fire; all the while also laughing at her: “You’re usually so fearlessly brave, just like a mother tiger; but once you fall into the water, you become a useless person.”

“You’ve never been near death from injuring your head and falling into the water.” Feng Ning whispered, hugging Long San’s arm, and sitting next to the warm fire, finally feeling peace of mind.

“You’re just a pile of weird problems, you have amnesia, you’re scared of water, and your appet.i.te’s unusually large, when this is all over, how about I take you to Bai Qiao City and have you checked up.”

“What place is that?”

“It’s a city famous for its medicine, there are many good doctors there. My good friend Nie Cheng Yan lives there, he will definitely be able to find a cure for you.”

Feng Ning’s lips twitched: “You have so many good friends, there’s probably several close female friends there as well.”

“There actually are.”

“Hmph.” Feng Ning at this point had regained her energy, and started bickering with him: “Then how come that close friend of yours Nie Cheng Yan didn’t cure your philandering disorder.”

“I really shouldn’t have hauled you out.” Long San smacked her forehead: “I’m just asking for trouble.”

“Why did he want to kill me?” At the mention of hauling her out, Feng Ning’s heart was still in fear. “Shouldn’t he be my accomplice? I remember his voice, that day it was he who asked me where the thing was. If he didn’t find it, wouldn’t it be even harder to find after killing me?”

“This only goes to show that the threat of keeping you alive is worse than not finding it.”

“He’s probably afraid that I’ve defected to your side, right?” Feng Ning felt that this possibility was very likely: “I definitely have a secret he can’t let anyone know about in my grasp.”

Long San didn’t say anything, he poked the fire, making the fire burn brighter, that bodyguard had the sense to leave them some s.p.a.ce to talk, and had gone elsewhere to hide himself.

Feng Ning watched Long San’s movements, and asked: “How did you come to be here?”

“These last few days, you had been acting weird, naturally I sent people to watch your movements. You don’t have friends, but you suddenly received a letter, and said you were going to turn in early, clearly there was something wrong. But by the time I received news of this, you had already ran off; fortunately I asked the guard at the city gates, he recognized you, so I a.s.sumed that you probably ran here.”

Feng Ning chewed her lips, but still said it: “It was Xia Er who gave me the letter. The day she left, she secretly told me, I wasn’t Mrs. Long San. Today, in the letter she arranged for us to meet here, saying that it was to tell me the truth.”

“You’re not Mrs. Long San?” Long San was surprised.

Long San slightly narrowed his eyes and closely looked at her expression: “You believe it?”

“She said it so strangely, of course I had to find out exactly what was going on.” Recalling it, Feng Ning, still had some lingering fear. “Who would’ve thought it was this kind of situation.”

“You’re not Mrs. Long San?” Long San stared at Feng Ning as he said this.

Feng Ning touched her own face: “You guys couldn’t have gotten the wrong person, right?” Compared to that Xia Er, she was actually more willing to believe Long San, moreover, to have an entire household of people lie and not make a single mistake, wasn’t very possible.

Long San cast a sidelong glance at her: “Are you implying that I can’t even recognize my own wife?”

Feng Ning gave a “hmph”, and said: “What’s so strange about that? You don’t understand a single thing about your wife anyway, forgetting what she looked like is a possibility.”

“That is true.” He deliberately followed along. Provoking Feng Ning to glare at him. Her entire body was in a pitiful state, so her glare lost all of its intensity, and she even gave a loud sneeze to boot.

Long San couldn’t help but start laughing, Feng Ning flew into raged humiliation, she “hmph”ed and let go of him, sitting at a farther distance.

At this point, the weather turned cold, there was no moonlight, leaving the sh.o.r.e to depend on the burning heap for light. Feng Ning sat and sat, and finally couldn’t help shifting towards Long San again: “Say, those words that Xia Er said, they were to pique my curiosity, and draw me here, right? It wasn’t actually because she wanted to tell me that I’m not Mrs. Long San, right?”

Long San replied: “You’ve never changed your face, and at the same time in the same place, there’s someone asking you the whereabouts of the treasure, and also for that same reason used a maid to bait you, if you’re not Feng Ning, then who else could it be? If you’re not Feng Ning, why would he want to kill you?”

“That also makes sense.” Feng Ning wrung her fingers.

However, Long San continued to ask: “The matter of Xia Er, isn’t really what you were concealing from me, is it?”

Feng Ning lowered her head and did not speak, mentally whispering why is this wasteful squanderer this smart for, so annoying.

Long San spoke again: “Feng Ning, you’re isolated and alone here, if you don’t speak up when you have something on your mind, we can’t help you, if something were to happen again, what would you do?”

Feng Ning was silent for a long time, then finally replied in a low voice: “I won’t be so foolish again, as long as I am not near water, I should be able to defend myself.”

Long San’s expression turned grave: “So you stilldon’t want to say it?

Feng Ning started to feel sad: “I don’t want you to hate me.” Long San’s expression told Feng Ning that he loathed this kind of situation even more. Feng Ning brooded for a long time, then finally said: “Then promise me, the things I did in the past, no matter what it was, you cannot hold it against the me right now.”

Long San nodded, Feng Ning said: “Then after we return, I have something to show you.”

But Feng Ning never expected that the horrible happenings of today had not ended yet. She and Long San returned home, she took him to her room, grinded her teeth, and made up her mind to honestly confess: “I discovered a clue, perhaps the past me really had something to do with the attack on you.” She paused, looked at Long San, and emphasized again: “The past me, not the me right now.”

She opened the jewelry box as she spoke, but she didn’t expect to find that the s.p.a.ce between the two layers, was empty.

Feng Ning was stunned in an instant: “This… It was definitely in here. That night, I had searched for a long time, I had seen those silk ropes in here, just like the ones you showed me.”

Long San understood what she was trying to say: “You thought the a.s.sa.s.sin was related to you in some way? So you didn’t dare to tell me, and wanted to find out by yourself?”

Feng Ning nodded: “My dowry maid died at such an opportunely time, so I thought she must have known something, I noticed Xia Er was fl.u.s.tered when she saw me, so I tried to probe her, and it turned out that she really did have a problem, but I didn’t expect that I actually ended up harming her.”