[[2] I Am Not a College Student]
Liang Youyun hadn’t experienced the sensation of tumbling in a long time.
She remembered playing with friends as a child, holding onto each other and tumbling down soft earthen slopes in the countryside, their bodies rolling freely amidst endless laughter… She missed those days of unfettered, instinctive joy dearly.
But now!
She had crashed into this man’s embrace, grabbing onto who-knows-what part of him, and tumbled rapidly twice. In an instant, the world spun upside down. It was the same act of holding onto another person, but the outcome was utterly disastrous—forget about unleashing her inner child; she had nearly unleashed something else entirely!
The living being on top of her was caked in mud. Apart from a pair of gleaming eyes, everything else was black.
Her mind went completely blank.
What happened? Had she fallen down too?
How absurd!
Her mouth agape and eyes wide, she exhaled her shock and terror right into his face.
She didn’t even realize that a large hand was gripping her waist tightly.
After a long moment, Liang Youyun sat up, settling into the muck. There wasn’t a single part of her body that felt okay, but the most agonizing was the heart-piercing sense of defeat. Shame and anger burned within her like a raging fire, making her want to curse someone out.
Just moments ago, she had felt quite capable. Now, what difference was there between her and the college students beside her?
She blamed all her frustration, humiliation, and anger on these clear-eyed yet foolish male college students. Ignoring the ache in her right leg and the man’s flustered apologies, she let loose a torrent of abuse.
“Are you all out of your minds?!”
As soon as the words left her mouth, her chest heaved violently. She was just too angry, too aggrieved, and a little shaken by the close call.
“You college students, shouldn’t you be studying hard at school instead of wandering around outside all the time? And if you do go out, can’t you stop being so arrogant and going to these remote, off-the-beaten-path places? You ignore the proper routes and insist on taking these treacherous paths. Do you think that makes you cool? Is being unconventional and edgy so impressive? Do you even want to carve a heart into a tree or something? I’m speechless! So childish!”
She didn’t care one bit about what they thought of her. She just needed to vent, to make him hear it. It was a good thing she hadn’t resorted to physically beating him up.
But as she ranted, tears and snot began to flow uncontrollably.
The man, who had been silent all along, handed her a tissue—neatly folded, clean and white.
In this filthy, pitch-black pit, it stood out glaringly.
Youyun sniffled, her face stern as she took it.
After wiping her face, she stuffed the tissue into her windbreaker pocket and finally took a proper look at the person beside her.
He sat facing her, covered head to toe in mud. His sweatshirt and pants had turned the color of earth. The mud on his face had been smeared haphazardly, making it even dirtier and obscuring his natural skin tone.
His hair was a tangled mess, adorned with mud-caked dead leaves. There was a large red bump at the corner of his eye—probably from hitting something hard during the fall, or maybe a nasty mosquito bite?
He looked rather pitiful.
A flicker of sympathy passed through Youyun’s heart.
In a deep pit like this, it was fortunate there were no deadly traps, just muck. Otherwise, he’d likely be half-dead by now.
Liang Youyun lowered her head, avoiding his gaze.
The man finally spoke, his voice slightly hoarse: “Um… let me explain something. I’m not a college student.”
Youyun looked up. Perhaps her earlier rage had addled her hearing, because she naturally assumed the emphasis in his sentence was on the word “college.”
Since morning, all the notifications she’d received were about analyzing the route of the college students. At this moment in the rainforest, the only ones in danger were three college students. No one else.
So, she hadn’t taken him for anyone else at all.
Naturally, she assumed this guy was going to argue about academic qualifications?
She looked at his bright, clear eyes and smiled in surprise, “Oh, not a college student… then a graduate student?”
In the darkness, the man blinked rapidly.
That was it.
“Hah, a graduate student… how impressive! So what, graduate students can just go wherever they want without anyone caring? Let me tell you, don’t start with all that nonsense about youth or freedom. Open your eyes and look at the world, buddy. Not everywhere is an ivory tower—this is the Xishuangbanna rainforest, a wildlife habitat…”
“Alright, talking about this is useless. Let’s just discuss the social issue. Do you have any idea how many departments and people you’ve dragged into this mess by getting lost? Forest rangers, village cadres, police officers—they’ve all been mobilized just to find you! Today’s Friday, right? They could’ve been off work enjoying the weekend, but instead, they’re more exhausted than if they’d worked overtime!”
“Even worse, tomorrow’s social news will probably report this. None of us, including you three, will come off looking good. You’ll face criticism from your school when you get back, and we’ll have it even worse. Come Monday, we’ll have to write self-criticisms about why this happened right under our noses, figure out where the problem lies, and be ordered to make corrections!”
She paused to catch her breath, then muttered sarcastically, “A graduate student, huh? Do you really think you’re a model citizen and a pillar of society? Who isn’t a graduate student these days?”
She was sharp-tongued and aggressive.
Sure enough, the man fell silent, lowered his head, sighed, and smiled as if utterly speechless.
Then he looked up again and said to Youyun, “I’m sorry for the trouble. Thank you for coming to rescue me.”
Youyun wasn’t ready to let it go. Following his words, she retorted coldly, “Do you think ‘sorry for the trouble’ is enough? Our village almost got screwed over because of you.”
After venting, she always felt drained. Liang Youyun was parched. She opened her bag, took out a bottle of lime water, and unscrewed the cap. Her hand paused as she caught sight of the person beside her out of the corner of her eye, sitting there with his knees hugged to his chest, head bowed.
Youyun sighed and handed him the water.
He took it hesitantly, said “thank you,” and with his long, strong hands covered in mud, gripped the bottle. Tilting his head back, he avoided letting the bottle touch his lips and poured a mouthful directly into his mouth.
The sweet and sour liquid moistened his throat. Without bothering to wipe the water trickling from the corner of his mouth, he asked her, “Do you want to step on my shoulders and climb up first?”
“Tch.” Youyun scoffed dismissively, cutting him off as she pulled out her phone from her backpack. “Let’s call for backup!”
She had just parted ways with her colleagues, so they couldn’t have gone far. The signal was still there—she could just call them and have them turn back. After all, finding a college student was a big achievement.
Just as she was about to dial, her colleague Xiao Sun called.
Youyun answered and froze at the first sentence.
“Hey, Youyun-jie, where are you now? Some good news—the students have been found!”
“Ah? Really? That’s great!” Youyun was instantly excited. “How many did you find?”
“All three! They’re together!”
“Huh?” Youyun’s eyes widened in shock as she turned sharply to look at the mud-covered man beside her. “Then who is he?”
“Who? Oh, the signal’s bad. Let me get to the point. We’ve run into some trouble here. Xiao Sun, Da Liu, and the three students are all trapped below a landslide. I’ll send you the location. Hurry and contact the police to come rescue us!”
After a series of beeps, the signal vanished, and Xiao Sun’s voice abruptly cut off.
Liang Youyun looked down at her phone—her own signal was flickering in and out. She quickly sent her location to the local police officer assigned to the search mission, but a small circle kept spinning in the message box, only to be replaced by a glaring red exclamation mark!
She tried calling, but the call wouldn’t go through either. As if fate were deliberately opposing her, the signal icon on her phone turned into a dashed line.
Still, she had to get out first. Knowing the three children were safe was enough for now.
But she needed to hurry over quickly. If it started raining, things would turn dire—landslides could loosen, putting those inside in mortal danger.
The man beside her repeated his words once more: “Don’t hesitate. Step on my shoulders and climb up first.”
“…Alright.”
There was no time to confirm who he was, let alone explain the earlier misunderstanding. As Youyun stuffed the rope into her backpack, the man had already half-crouched, palms resting on his knees, waiting for her to step on him.
“…Sorry about this.” Youyun couldn’t afford to overthink it now—saving lives came first.
Though she had never stepped on a man’s back or shoulders before, there was a first time for everything, especially under such extraordinary circumstances.
She bravely stepped onto this unfamiliar terrain, only to find it surprisingly steady! You never knew until you tried—his shoulders were so broad, his back thick and solid, like a sturdy wall.
Was this guy made of iron?
“Steady? I’m going to stand up now,” the man said.
Youyun gripped the earthen slope with both hands, relying on the tangled vines—some hidden, some exposed—as her temporary lifelines.
She could feel the man beneath her feet slowly rising, subtly adjusting his posture to lift her upward as evenly as possible.
This silent strength gave her an inexplicable sense of calm. Like a wild grass breaking through the soil, she followed the traces of rainwater and sunlight, driven by the will to survive, climbing upward with all her might.
Unfortunately, the pit was deep. Even though the man was tall, when he stood up fully, their combined height only allowed Youyun’s hands to barely reach the ground.
What now? Climbing up was too difficult!
Youyun stretched out her arms, straining to search for any rocks or tree roots she could use for leverage.
Just then, the man’s large hands gently wrapped around her calves.
The warmth of his palms seeped through her pant legs and onto her skin—hot, firm, like a dry fire in the damp rainforest, warming her body and causing her to sway slightly.
“Stay steady. Don’t look down. Push your body forward with force!” the man said.
Before she could react, the upward lifting force from her calves propelled her skyward in an instant! With just a slight push against the slope, she scrambled onto the ground.
Everything happened so fast that Youyun couldn’t help but turn back and look down at him in disbelief.
The man’s face wore a relieved expression.
She was even more astonished—where did he get such strength? Liang Youyun weighed 108 jin now. Before coming to Banna, she was only 90 jin—she’d gained nearly 20 jin since!
So stunned that she forgot to thank him, she only heard the man say, “Throw me the Dai Blade!”
She complied, and in her daze, remembered the rope in her bag. Hurriedly finding the same tree, she crouched down, tying the rope while saying, “Don’t worry, this time I’ll tie it tight…”
It was only then that she suddenly realized—the hook on the rope had broken. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have fallen in.
But it didn’t matter—she still remembered how to tie a dead knot. At worst, she could just ruin it; saving a life was worth it anyway!
As she was busy working, rustling sounds came from behind. When she turned around, her jaw nearly dropped—the man who had just been at the bottom of the pit was now climbing out!
Panting heavily, he sat on the edge of the pit, then swiftly stood up. He wiped the remaining mud off the Dai Blade with his sleeve, glanced down at it, sheathed it, and slowly walked over to her, looking somewhat embarrassed. “The blade is a bit worn—it scraped against a rock earlier. I’ll get you a new one later, sorry about that.”
Youyun also stood up, staring at him in disbelief, still stuck in her earlier shock. “Wait, brother, you could have climbed out on your own all along?”
The man was momentarily taken aback and explained, “Well, I had a tool this time, so I could use it for a bit of leverage.”
“Leverage? With this blade?” Youyun’s eyes nearly popped out of her head.
“Yeah,” he handed the blade to Youyun. “Time’s tight. Let’s go!”
Youyun finally snapped out of it. “No need. You go ahead. It’s so late—head back to the village and stay the night. If anything comes up, you can go to the village committee; someone’s on night duty.”
“I meant you and I should go together,” the man said earnestly. “To find your colleagues and… the university students.”
“Oh…” Youyun patted her forehead, forcing herself to think rationally and not dwell on the earlier surprises. “Right, you seem to have some skills. Then come with me—I really need a helper! Later… I’ll thank you properly!”
At that moment, a blazing sunset gradually sank toward the horizon, about to end its glorious day. Above the sunset were colorful clouds, like the iridescent feathers of a peacock, stretching and swaying.
Liang Youyun couldn’t help but pause, capturing the beautiful scene through the gaps between the trees.
Just then, she heard the click of a shutter. Turning around, she saw the man had taken out a small, retro camera from somewhere and captured her in the frame along with the scenery.
After taking the photo, he lowered his head without saying a word.
Liang Youyun also remained silent. The lingering glow of the sunset spread across his face and body, revealing a beautifully defined and deeply striking silhouette.