Qiao Xi wasn’t prepared.
She swallowed a big mouthful of seawater without warning.
She flailed and struggled in the water.
“Qin Wang… glub glub… you bastard… glub glub…”
Qin Wang knew she could swim, so he wasn’t worried. He sat on the shore and leisurely peeled off his wet clothes one by one.
When he finished what he was doing and looked up again, he realized Qiao Xi was nowhere to be seen on the surface of the sea.
He waited two minutes, but she still didn’t surface.
He was sitting right there—if anyone approached, he would sense it immediately.
But there was nothing.
Qiao Xi hadn’t come ashore, and she hadn’t surfaced for air either.
It suddenly occurred to him that Qiao Xi might have genuinely lost her memory.
When a person loses their memory, do they forget the skills they learned before too?
He wasn’t sure.
“Qiao Xi!”
He called out a few times. No response.
Qin Wang’s expression immediately turned grim.
He dove back into the sea.
Visibility underwater was very low. Qin Wang held his breath and searched nearby again and again, his heart churning with anxiety and worry that left him at a loss.
He began to regret kicking her into the sea just now. He had finally found her after so long.
And she had lost her memory.
Why did he have to be petty with her?
Qin Wang’s heart clenched tight. His chest felt like it was about to explode from holding his breath.
But he didn’t want to go up. He was afraid that if he went up, he would never find her again.
Until a white figure appeared up ahead, and he hurriedly swam over.
A familiar profile. Closed eyes.
Qiao Xi’s eyes were tightly shut, her entire body sunk to the bottom.
Qin Wang grabbed her, his heart burning with desperation as he dragged her ashore.
He kept silently repeating: Don’t let anything happen.
He didn’t even take time to catch his breath. He leaned in to listen for her heartbeat, then checked her pulse.
“Qiao Xi, Qiao Xiaoxi! Wake up!”
No breath. No pulse. No heartbeat.
In that instant, Qin Wang felt like the sky was falling.
For the first time, he felt that his supernatural ability was utterly useless.
He pressed his hands together and pumped her chest again and again, calling her name nonstop.
He knelt beside her, the corners of his eyes red with panic, his voice trembling. “You can’t die! Qiao Xiaoxi!”
“Wake up! Please!”
Qiao Xi didn’t move at all.
He leaned in to give her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
He blew a breath into her mouth, then pulled back to breathe in, and when he leaned in again—
Qiao Xi suddenly opened her eyes.
Her clear, bright eyes were filled with laughter, and they reflected his own frantic face.
Qin Wang froze.
“You…”
Qiao Xi opened her mouth and bit him on the lip.
“I’m not dead. Are you happy?”
Qin Wang looked at her as the fear and unease in his heart slowly dissolved, transforming into anger amidst Qiao Xi’s unrestrained laughter.
“You tricked me?!”
“Hahahahaha…”
Qiao Xi laughed wildly, laughing until tears came out.
Qin Wang stared at her, his eyes filled with complicated emotions—whether it was anger at being fooled or relief at surviving a brush with death, he couldn’t say.
Just now, he had truly thought he was going to lose her.
“You lunatic!”
Qin Wang cursed, but his voice came out hoarse.
He frowned at this crazy woman.
He pulled a cigarette from his pocket, wanting to smoke one, only to find the pack was already soaked through.
He threw the pack away in frustration.
Then, as if something occurred to him, he turned to look at her. “What did Li Chuan say to you that day?”
Qiao Xi wiped the dampness from the corner of her eyes and asked in return, “You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you, so why ask?”
She looked at him with a careless expression and a hint of nonchalance in her tone, but deep down, she couldn’t help but feel a flicker of expectation.
Qin Wang stared at her for a few seconds, then replied flatly, “It’s windy by the sea. Let’s go back.”
Knowing he was avoiding the question again, Qiao Xi said nothing.
But just as she tried to stand, her legs gave out and she collapsed back onto the sand.
She tried to move her foot and found it wouldn’t obey her.
She looked up at Qin Wang. “I think my foot is hurt.”
“When I fell into the sea earlier, I must have hit something…”
“Still trying to trick me.”
Qin Wang thought she was pulling the same stunt again.
He reached out and pulled her up.
Qiao Xi obediently stood.
Qin Wang gave her a look that said, I knew you were faking it.
He turned and walked ahead.
She followed behind him without a word, stumbling with every step.
After walking a stretch, Qin Wang noticed she hadn’t caught up. He turned around to urge her on—
His gaze suddenly landed on the trail of bloody footprints behind her. He froze. Then he looked at her pant leg, soaked through with blood. Qin Wang’s composure shattered.
“You…”
He rushed over and scooped her up, carefully carrying her to a rock in a sheltered spot and setting her down. He crouched to examine her.
Beneath her pant leg was a mess of flesh and blood. Her ankle had been pierced through by something.
He didn’t know if the bone was damaged.
And she had endured the pain in silence the entire way.
Qin Wang’s Adam’s apple bobbed. If you looked closely, you’d see his hands trembling slightly, afraid of hurting her.
Only now did he understand why Qiao Xi had sunk to the bottom of the sea.
Guilt and self-reproach gnawed at him, and he wished he could slap himself several times right then and there.
Qiao Xi sat quietly on the rock, looking at the back of his head as she spoke softly.
“I didn’t lie to you.”
Her expression was unusually earnest.
Even she herself didn’t know how much of her heart was in those words.
Qin Wang stood up and met her eyes, which shimmered with a faint light.
In them were expectation and caution. She was waiting for him to say those three words: I believe you.
But Qin Wang didn’t.
He merely turned his face, scanning the surroundings. Only after confirming there was no danger did he speak: “I’m going back to get dry clothes and the medical kit. Don’t wander off.”
The light in Qiao Xi’s eyes dimmed. She lowered her gaze and gave a soft reply.
“Mm.”
…
Just as Qin Wang entered the first-floor lobby, Li Chuan happened to be coming down the stairs.
“Your wounds healed?” he asked.
“Mm.”
Qin Wang didn’t pause his steps, heading upstairs.
“I happen to have something to discuss with you.”
As they passed each other, Li Chuan suddenly called out to stop him.
“Whatever it is, we’ll talk later.”
Qin Wang didn’t want to waste time here.
“I think there are some things that need to be made clear.”
Li Chuan’s voice sounded from behind him. “That woman by your side—she has a problem.”
Qin Wang’s steps halted. He turned to look at him. “What do you mean?”
“I suspect that woman might be a monster in disguise.”
Li Chuan finished speaking and watched Qin Wang’s reaction, only to find his expression had darkened.
“Do you have proof?” he asked.
“If I had proof, it wouldn’t be called suspicion.”
Qin Wang gave him a cold look. “Without proof, that’s slander. I don’t want to hear this kind of talk again.”
He stepped up the stairs.
Li Chuan spoke again: “Did she say something bad about me to you?”
Qin Wang’s sudden coldness toward him must be because Qiao Xi had exaggerated something to him.
Definitely.
“Did she tell you I wanted her to follow me? Or that I stopped her from saving you?”
“Those are all slanders. She’s trying to drive a wedge between us.
Qin Wang, we’ve known each other for so long. Don’t you know what kind of person I am? Are you really going to distance yourself from me over a woman?”
Qin Wang stood on the stairs, looking down at him from above: “I asked Qiao Xi. She didn’t say anything.”
Li Chuan was stunned.
“And besides,” Qin Wang’s gaze at him was icy and carried a warning, “in the car, I wasn’t completely unconscious. I heard everything you two said.”
Li Chuan was completely dumbfounded.