DFLB – Chapter 26

“I can’t swim, but I can plug the hole.” After saying so, Qian Wei heroically went to do just that. She looked at Lu Xun and said, “Let me do it.”

Then she sat down near the hole in the raft. “It might be hard to block with a palm but it shouldn’t be a problem as long as I sit still and don’t move.”

“Qian Wei, you really are a talented person. How did you come up with this idea?”

In the face of Liu Shiyun’s question, Qian Wei waved her free hand: “Haven’t you ever done your primary school reading before? In the frozen winter, although there were many empty seats on the bus, there was a man in an army coat who stubbornly stood by a window. Everyone thought that he must be a fool, why would he stand when there were seats to sit in? But then when he left, the rest of the bus suddenly felt an unbearably cold wind and they looked around for the source. Soon they found it: There was a hole in the window glass where the man in the army coat had been standing. It turned out that he had been using his body to shield everyone from the cold wind.” She patted her chest. “I am also that kind of noble person.”

Everyone seemed very grateful when she said that, but Lu Xun did not. The corner of his mouth tugged upward: “You just want to be able to sit around in a daze without doing any paddling.”

After he said that, everyone looked at the yawning Qian Wei again and, sure enough, things seemed to be as Lu Xun said.

Qian Wei glared at him. Lu Xun, even if you didn’t speak, no one would think you were a mute!

But as a result, the problem of the leak was solved. Before everyone could take it easy though, the other raft caught up with them. The people on the other raft were obviously feeling very lively and high on the atmosphere so when they passed Qian Wei’s raft, they began to splash water at Qian Wei’s raft with their oars. This was simply a naked declaration of war and when Qian Chuan saw Mo Zixin being splashed with water, he was the first to stand up and fight back. The two sides passionately swung their oars and fought back and forth. More and more people joined in until the two rafts were in a huge water fight.

While this fierce battle went on, the raft, which had been steady until now, began to shake under all of the people throwing their weight around. Making matters even worse, the raft had finally reached a more fast-moving section of the river. The river suddenly widened and the current became very fast. They rapidly went into a large dip in the river and Qian Wei’s raft was finally overwhelmed and capsized directly, causing everyone to neatly fall into the water.

Qian Wei had been sitting at the bow of the raft in front of the hole in the raft and plugging was the leak. Most of the other people were gathered behind her and fighting fiercely with the other raft. Qian Wei had not been affected too much by the water fight behind her and she had just started to feel drowsy in the warmth of the sun when, in the blink of an eye, she was dumped into the river with a splash. Unfortunately for her, most of the people who fell into the water were at the stern of the raft while Qian Wei fell in near the bow. The result was that she was swept up by the fast current and separated from the others. 

She didn’t know what was going on but she was pretty sure that having this broken life jacket was the same as not having it. It was probably a fake product. It not only had no buoyancy, it also seemed to sink when it fell into the water! The other people who fell into the water were obviously also aware of the problem and began to scramble desperately in the water.

“Help! I can’t swim! Qian Chuan! Help me! Qian Chuan–“

As soon as Qian Wei started shouting, the overturned raft hit some stones in the river and kicked up a big spray that poured straight into Qian Wei’s mouth. Qian Wei choked and coughed and finally began to panic and struggle desperately. She was carried away by the swift current in seconds. She tried to catch one of the stones in the river but all that happened was that she bruised her arm. The current was just too fast.

“Oh, help…” Mo Zixin’s soft voice called out.

Even at this moment while she was crying out for help again and again, Qian Wei had to admit that this cry for help was very impressive. Mo Zixin’s voice was weak and helpless but could still be distinguished very clearly in the chaos. It seemed that even when everyone fell into the water, Mo Zixin would panic in a way that was just a little more elegant than anyone else, meanwhile, Qian Wei could only awkwardly swing her limbs wildly. While she was paddling at the water helplessly, Qian Wei even had the inappropriate thought that Mo Zixin probably even took a shit more elegantly than anyone else.

“Lu Xun! Lu Xun!” At the moment, Mo Zixin was in a mess, shouting Lu Xun’s name. Coincidentally, when Lu Xun fell into the water he was only a few feet away from Mo Zixin. Lu Xun obviously knew how to swim and it only took him a few seconds to adjust himself to be able to breathe in the water*.

“Qian Chuan! Come and save me!” Qian Wei took the opportunity to shout in a moment when her head popped out of the water.

But unfortunately, Qian Chuan could not help her. Although he was a strong athlete and good swimmer, right now Liu Shiyun was clinging tightly to his neck, and he could barely even keep his head above the water. Because he was busy taking care of Liu Shiyun, he could not save the nearby Mo Zixin or swim to Qian Wei’s side to save her.

Qian Wei thought to herself, was she going to die here after being reborn? The heavens really were fucking jealous of her talent! The only thing that pleased her was that Qian Chuan finally showed the strength of their family bond when faced with the dilemma of saving the girl he loved or his sister. Although he hesitated for a moment, he ultimately ended up firmly swimming towards Qian Wei. But unfortunately, because he couldn’t let Liu Shiyun, who was still clinging to him, be washed away by the river, his swimming speed wasn’t very fast. He couldn’t catch up with the speed Qian Wei was being carried down the river at all.

And just when Qian Wei thought that her life was really over, she suddenly noticed that Lu Xun had not swum towards Mo Zixin. Even though he could have reached Mo Zixin very quickly, he just ignored Mo Zixin’s cries for help and swam straight past her. Qian Wei’s mind was full of question marks. What was Lu Xun trying to do? Had he been overwhelmed by his fear of death immediately after he fell into the water and decided to run for his life no matter what and swim ashore first? You can’t do that, Lu Xun! You and Mo Zixin are not together yet, how could you show her this sort of selfishness by running away in the face of disaster? Do you even want to date her?!

Qian Wei’s thoughts were a mess and she was choking on a few mouthfuls of water. She could barely move her arms. But just when she thought that she was about to sink to the bottom, she suddenly saw Lu Xun swimming past one person after another. But instead of swimming towards the shore, he was swimming towards her.

Qian Wei felt like time was moving in slow motion as she watched Lu Xun swim to her side and then grab her hand.

“Do you have the strength to grab me?” He spoke quickly while trying to keep steady in the water. “Don’t be afraid, it will be alright.”

Qian Wei almost subconsciously followed his instructions and quickly hugged Lu Xun.

“Hold on tight.”

Qian Wei decided to take this good advice and clung on even more tightly.

“I’ll take you to the shore.” Even in this awkward and dangerous situation, Lu Xun’s voice was as calm as ever.

At this moment, Qian Wei only felt that as long as Lu Xun was here, there was nothing to be afraid of. She vaguely felt that perhaps she had developed this subconscious impression way back when she was still a rookie lawyer. Back then whenever she screwed up a case she would then subconsciously seek Lu Xun’s help, and as long as Lu Xun was there, no matter how bad the case was, she would think that no matter what he should be able to turn things around.

Qian Wei had always had a clear picture of her own abilities and ambitions. She had never wanted to make partner with her firm. She knew she was not Lu Xun. She had always been enthusiastic, with a deep passion for handling cases, and an ability to introduce new ideas into a case at critical moments. But she had also always been somewhat lax and careless, even though her heart sympathized with the weak and strove for justice. She loved her job and she loved eating good food and using her professional skills to solve problems for her clients. But she was never calm enough. She was not as meticulous as Lu Xun. Because her temper was not as steady as Lu Xun’s, she knew she wouldn’t be able to stand the pressure of being a partner in the law firm. She knew she was not good at management or coordination, and she didn’t have the ability to run a firm. In life, some people were born to stand out but she had always known she was not one of them. She had only ever wanted to be an ordinary person who worked ordinarily. But at this moment, she began to reflect on whether she had been subconsciously relying on Lu Xun all along. Even though she had never thought of becoming a partner but she had been fine with being Lu Xun’s subordinate? After all, no matter how much Lu Xun abused her at work, she had never thought of finding a new job.

She had to admit that Lu Xun’s ability was just too strong, so strong that people felt absolutely suppressed and did not even want to challenge his authority. It made people automatically want to accept his words and just want to follow his leadership. In that way, Lu Xun actually could be considered a little charismatic. But if you put it another way, Lu Xun seemed to be very poisonous. After all, he had the power to brainwash his employees to the point that they enjoyed being abused and would never think of job-hopping.

Qian Wei clung tightly to Lu Xun and her mind raced the whole time he took her to shore. When she dazedly came ashore and felt the chilly wind, she found that she was already shivering with cold.

“Qian Wei. Qian Wei.” Lu Xun patted her shoulder gently. “Don’t be afraid, you’re already ashore.”

With his words, Qian Wei snapped out of her daze and realized that she was still hugging Lu Xun. Since they had both just come out of the water they were wet and their clothes were plastered to their bodies, so when they hugged they could clearly feel the lines of each other’s bodies. One of Qian Wei’s hands had fallen on Lu Xun’s waist at some point, which seemed rather ambiguous, and when she realized she quickly jerked away from Lu Xun as if she had touched something hot.

“Thank you, thank you…”

She was somewhat embarrassed to face Lu Xun because he was drenched. It made Lu Xun’s wet hair hang down his forehead, and even when he tried to wipe the water off his face the water did not disappear from his face at all as if it were covetous for his body temperature. His thick eyelashes were damp with water, and now when he blinked as he stared at Qian Wei, it caused water droplets to roll mischievously down from his face to his neck and then all the way to his body that was hidden under his clothes.

Although it was out of place, Qian Wei only had one sentence going through her mind at the moment.

He was so fucking sexy.

“You stay here.” Lu Xun said as he took off his drenched shirt, which let Qian Wei finally clearly see his beautiful abs and mermaid line. Qian Wei suddenly thought back to that time she had touched his body that day and her whole face turned red.

When Lu Xun finished taking his shirt off, he immediately turned and walked towards the river. Then he jumped into the water again and began to rescue the rest of the people who were still struggling in the water. Qian Wei could only watch as he walked away and, at this moment, she felt from the bottom of her heart that Lu Xun was just really fucking handsome sometimes.

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*I assume this means breathing in the water how swimmers do? Like periodically turning their faces up to take a breath. As opposed to… growing gills or something lol