The snow fell harder and harder, blanketing the entire world in an icy white.
Snowflakes slipped down the back of her neck. The moment they touched her warm skin, they melted into icy droplets, leaving her shivering from the cold.
By the time she got back into the car, her fingers were already numb with cold.
Qiao Yimian cupped her hands around her mouth and gently breathed into them, then dialed the number that had automatically disconnected earlier.
“Nanxing, what’s up?”
Her colleague, Song Nanxing, sounded barely able to contain his excitement. “Sister Yimian! The editor-in-chief is sending the two of us to Linchuan Television Station for a training exchange!”
Linchuan City bordered Chucheng and was one of the larger cities in the Beijiang region.
To strengthen its news team, the Chucheng Evening News sent two reporters to Linchuan Television Station every year for study and professional exchange.
Qiao Yimian had only been working for a year, while Song Nanxing was fresh out of school. Both were still newcomers, so the fact that the editor-in-chief had chosen them for the training showed just how much he valued them.
The pent-up emotions that had weighed on her for so long eased considerably. Qiao Yimian curved her lips into a smile.
“Okay. I’ll get everything ready when I get back.”
The call ended, and a WeChat message immediately popped up.
【Shi Yan: Yimian, my mom’s just blunt by nature. She has a way of saying things that sounds harsh, but I’m apologizing to you on her behalf. If you’re angry, take it out on me, but please don’t let it upset you!
It’s all my fault, every bit of it. I’ll make everything clear to them when I get home tonight. I’m not going to marry her. You’re the only one I want! I’ll come see you tomorrow. We’ll talk face-to-face!】
Qiao Yimian stared at the message silently for two seconds.
She didn’t reply.
She exited the chat, blocked him, then opened her contacts and blocked his phone number as well.
Early the next morning, Qiao Yimian drove to the entrance of the residential complex where Song Nanxing lived.
The young man had only just graduated from college. With his youthful face, slightly wavy chestnut-brown hair, and clear, bright eyes, he looked sunny and innocent.
When he saw Qiao Yimian roll down the window, Song Nanxing waved at her happily.
“Sister Yimian!”
Qiao Yimian smiled in response and unlocked the car door.
Song Nanxing stuffed his suitcase into the trunk, then opened the front passenger door and ducked inside.
“Sis, why aren’t we taking the high-speed train? The ticket can be reimbursed too. It’ll take three or four hours to drive on the expressway! Won’t you be tired driving all that way by yourself?”
“I’m fine. It’s not that far, and driving is more convenient.”
Qiao Yimian took out the receipt from when she had just filled up the tank and waved it at him. “The road expenses are reimbursed too.”
“Nice! As long as we don’t end up paying out of pocket.” Song Nanxing grinned as he put his camera bag on the back seat. While fastening his seat belt, he casually asked, “Sis, you just got back from a work trip, and now you’re heading off for training again. Will Brother Yan get mad?”
Qiao Yimian turned the steering wheel and merged onto the main road. She gave him an absent-minded response, not wanting to share her personal affairs with him.
Song Nanxing continued musing to himself.
“I heard some of the senior reporters at the office say Brother Yan treats you incredibly well! He chased after you for two whole years before you finally got together. That’s some serious persistence. He must really love you!”
Qiao Yimian pressed her lips together and didn’t answer for a moment.
It was true. Shi Yan had genuinely treated her well.
She had never denied that.
Not during the two years he pursued her, nor during the year they had been together.
He had been attentive to her in every possible way, caring for her down to the smallest detail. He was practically the “model boyfriend” everyone talked about.
But from the moment he got engaged to another woman behind her back, the scales in his heart had already tipped.
He had abandoned everything they once had.
And he had abandoned her, too.
The car entered the expressway, and snow began drifting down once more.
Parts of the road had iced over, so Qiao Yimian slowed down and kept a safe distance from the vehicle ahead.
They had driven more than halfway. As they neared the boundary of Linchuan City, traffic gradually became heavier.
Suddenly, a tractor-trailer came hurtling from the adjacent lane. Moving at terrifying speed, it cut diagonally in front of them and slammed straight into the central guardrail.
Qiao Yimian stomped on the brakes, her heart pounding violently.
The shriek of the brakes mingled with the buzzing in her head, sending a wave of fear through her.
Within a matter of seconds, the tractor-trailer overturned. Its cargo spilled across the road, while the cab smashed into the guardrail and crumpled badly.
Song Nanxing, who had been dozing in the passenger seat, was jerked awake when his seat belt tightened violently across his body.
“What happened?!”
His eyes locked onto the scene ahead, and he sucked in a breath.
“Holy crap…”
Before he could finish, a car door slammed open.
Qiao Yimian had already grabbed a reflective safety vest and jumped out of the car.
The tractor-trailer had crushed through the central guardrail, with its body blocking all three lanes in both directions. Vehicles behind them began slowing down and stopping one after another.
Watermelons had spilled all over the cargo area, scattering emerald-green rinds and blood-red juice across the road.
Snowflakes fluttered down over the wreckage, like roses blooming silently beneath a veil of pure white.
Qiao Yimian stepped over the debris and hurried toward the truck’s cab. The icy wind, mixed with snow, slapped against her body, and only then did she realize she’d forgotten to put on her down jacket.
There was no time to go back for it. She ran toward the cab while dialing 120 and the expressway emergency rescue line.
After quickly reporting their location and the situation, she hung up.
A burst of hurried footsteps sounded behind her.
Qiao Yimian quickly stepped aside to let them pass, but her foot landed on a piece of watermelon rind. The road was already slippery from the snow, and her body lurched sideways.
“Careful.”
A hand caught her by the arm from behind, preventing her from taking an intimate dive into the mess scattered across the road.
The man’s fingers were long and lean, yet surprisingly strong. His voice was equally deep and steady.
Qiao Yimian hurriedly thanked him without even looking up. Several more young men came running over behind them, all talking at once.
“How’s the driver? Is he hurt?”
“The cab’s too high. We can’t see inside.”
While everyone was debating whether they should climb up onto the cab to check on the driver, the man had already moved.
With remarkable agility, he jumped onto the cab first and climbed to the window in just a few quick movements.
Only then did Qiao Yimian get a clear look at him.
He wore a black business jacket and dark trousers. Standing above them on the cab, he looked even taller, his long legs accentuated by his elevated position, his entire bearing striking and commanding.
Qiao Yimian’s eyelids twitched slightly.
She watched as he deftly smashed open the window and called inside twice.
Apparently receiving a response, he straightened and shouted down from the cab, “The driver’s trapped inside! Two of you, come up and give me a hand. We need to pull them out!”
Several young men immediately climbed up to help.
Qiao Yimian knew there wasn’t much she could do there, so she found a suitable position and raised her phone to take pictures.
When Song Nanxing arrived with his camera to take over for her, she returned to the car and retrieved the first-aid kit.
Within a little over ten minutes, a rescue team spontaneously organized by bystanders had pulled the driver from the passenger side out of the wreckage.
Qiao Yimian hurried over with the first-aid kit and checked on him.
She had learned some basic first-aid skills in the past. After confirming that the driver had suffered only external injuries, she quickly bandaged the wound on his head.
Just as she finished treating him, police cars and fire engines began arriving one after another, followed by the increasingly loud sound of an approaching ambulance.
Only then did Qiao Yimian finally breathe a sigh of relief. She removed her medical gloves and briefly explained the injured man’s condition to the medical personnel.
She then showed her press credentials and greeted the traffic police at the scene before rejoining Song Nanxing to begin their report.
“It is currently 10:20 a.m. on February 9, at kilometer 685 of the Lin-Chu Expressway in the Linchuan section. Twenty minutes ago, a serious traffic accident occurred here. A tractor-trailer carrying watermelons suddenly swerved into the fast lane and crashed through the central guardrail, blocking all three lanes in both directions.
“Following the accident, bystanders at the scene spontaneously organized a rescue effort and managed to pull the two drivers from the cab before emergency personnel arrived. Traffic police, firefighters, and medical teams have now arrived and are carrying out further rescue operations…”
Qiao Yimian sent the footage and interview material back to the newspaper office in real time.
Noticing that Song Nanxing’s face had gone pale, she asked with concern, “Scared you pretty badly, huh?”
Song Nanxing patted his chest, still shaken. “This is my first time seeing an accident scene. It was terrifying! Thank goodness you were driving. If I’d been behind the wheel, I might’ve crashed straight into it!”
Qiao Yimian pursed her lips and comforted him softly. “The important thing is that nothing happened.”
Judging by the extent of the tractor-trailer’s damage, both drivers had suffered injuries of varying severity. The fact that they had survived was truly a blessing in disguise.
With the combined efforts of the rescue teams and the bystanders, one lane was cleared in no time, allowing vehicles to pass through slowly and orderly.
Qiao Yimian called out to Song Nanxing to get back into the car. But after only a couple of steps, a motorcycle suddenly shot out from the side.
It passed within inches of her, speeding through the accident scene before disappearing into the distance.
Qiao Yimian instinctively dodged and took two steps backward, barely avoiding it.
But her right foot landed on a piece of watermelon rind.
Her foot slipped, and she twisted her ankle hard.
She sucked in a sharp breath from the pain.
Song Nanxing quickly caught her. “Are you hurt?”
“I twisted it.”
Qiao Yimian’s brows drew tightly together as she bent down and touched her ankle. A sharp, piercing pain shot through it.
“I’ll go find the medical team!”
Song Nanxing craned his neck to look, only to realize that the ambulance had already left with the injured.
“It’s fine.”
Qiao Yimian braced herself against her knee and slowly stood up. Her ankle still hurt terribly.
“I don’t think I broke anything. I can probably walk if I take it slowly, but I don’t think I can drive.”
“Then what do we do?” Song Nanxing paced anxiously, then tentatively suggested, “How about… I drive?”
Qiao Yimian thought it over before finally nodding.
“Okay. Just drive slowly. Don’t panic.”
Song Nanxing had only gotten his license recently and wasn’t legally allowed to drive alone on the expressway.
Fortunately, Qiao Yimian had held her license for more than three years, so she could sit in the passenger seat and accompany him.
Under normal circumstances, she would never have trusted him to drive.
But this was an unusual situation.
She had told him not to panic, but Song Nanxing rarely drove, and even with Qiao Yimian beside him in the passenger seat, he couldn’t help feeling nervous.
The car crawled out of the accident zone.
The vehicles behind them quickly grew impatient and began honking repeatedly.
Song Nanxing instinctively pressed the accelerator, but misjudged the pressure.
The car suddenly shot forward.
Up ahead was another sedan traveling at the same slow speed.
The following distance was too short, and with the road slick from the snow, the front of their car headed straight for the sedan’s rear.