Although the lanterns in front of her were lifelike and bright, Cheng Yujin couldn't concentrate. Guessing lantern riddles was indeed lively. Her ears were filled with the laughter of couples, friends, and children. However, Cheng Yujin always felt that it had nothing to do with her.
She was distracted again. When she came back to her senses, Cheng Yujin found that she had been looking at the lantern riddles for a long time.
A couple came to look at the lanterns with their children. When they saw Cheng Yujin standing in front of the lanterns for a long time, they laughed and said, "Miss, this lantern riddles are a bit difficult! We guessed a few just now, but they were all wrong. "
They thought that Cheng Yujin had been thinking about the lantern riddles, so their voices were full of good-natured teasing. Cheng Yujin nodded and smiled at them without saying anything.
Lin Qingyuan heard the sound and turned around to ask, "Miss Cheng, what's wrong?"
"Nothing." Cheng Yujin shook her head. This place was safe and lively. Lian Qiao and Dugeaux rarely went out, so they couldn't take their eyes off the lanterns. They had served Cheng Yujin for a year and had almost no time to relax. Cheng Yujin wanted to give them a break, so she didn't call them and quietly walked to the river.
This lantern shed was set up by the river. At this time, the river was already frozen, so there was no need to worry about customers falling into the water. The size of each stall was fixed. The stall owner wanted to put more lanterns, so he simply extended the stall from the river bank to the ice and secretly expanded the shop.
Not only did the stall owner think so, but other people also thought so. Looking around, the ice river was like a silver belt winding in the city. The two sides were dotted with flower lanterns, like the nine heavens of the stars falling on the earth. It was beautiful.
The stall wanted to do business, so the beautiful flower lanterns were hung in the center. There were also the most people around. On the ice, there were only a few scattered small lanterns, and the number of people suddenly decreased. Cheng Yujin walked along the line to the river bank. It was much quieter around her, and she quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Shopping with a heavy heart, even if she saw something good, she couldn't blend in. Cheng Yujin was just like that. She just felt like she was accompanying someone shopping, but she didn't participate in it.
She stared at the reflection of the fire on the surface of the river, slightly lost in thought. In comparison, when she went out to see the shop that Marquis Cheng had left for her in the summer, she was much more invested than she was now. Perhaps the mentality of inspecting one's own things was different, or perhaps it was because the person was different.
Thinking of this, Cheng Yujin suddenly felt irritated. She took a deep breath and wanted to let the cold air stimulate her brain. However, when she looked up, Cheng Yujin suddenly saw a child holding a tiger lantern and playing in the middle of the river.
His parents probably didn't keep an eye on him for a while, or perhaps they thought that the river was frozen solid and nothing would happen, so they let the child run on the ice alone. But the child gradually ran to the middle of the river, far away from the river bank, where the ice was very thin. Not to mention, there hadn't been much snow this winter, and during the New Year, the weather had become much warmer.
Cheng Yujin suddenly had a bad premonition, and at this time, she seemed to vaguely see a thin crack meandering through the ice.
Cheng Yujin was startled and subconsciously called out for someone. However, the surroundings were noisy, and everyone was guessing riddles around the lantern, so no one heard her voice. But the child didn't have any sense of danger and was still running to the middle of the river.
The middle of the river was far away from the river bank, so the ice had no adhesion and was often the thinnest. The child didn't have any sense of danger and fell into the ice water at this time of the year, and such a big child at that, there was almost no chance of survival.
Cheng Yujin was good at calculating, so she had to consider three steps before doing anything, but she made a decision very quickly at a critical moment. In the blink of an eye, Cheng Yujin had already made up her mind. She immediately stepped on the ice and quickly ran to the middle of the river. At the same time, she tried to remind the child that the river was dangerous, so don't go too far and quickly come back.
However, the people on the river bank didn't notice Cheng Yujin's words during the Lantern Festival, and the child in the middle of the river couldn't hear them either. Cheng Yujin watched as the child ran a few more steps and jumped on the ice. Cheng Yujin watched in horror and hurriedly shouted, "Don't move!"
At this time, the pedestrians on both sides had already noticed that something was wrong. They saw a woman in a white cloak, who looked very noble, running on the ice. Cheng Yujin's strange behavior attracted the attention of many people, and then someone noticed that something was wrong with the river.
"Oh, the ice in the middle of the river isn't frozen, it's going to break!"
More and more people stopped and pointed at the river, and the child finally realized that something was wrong. He lowered his head and saw the fine and dangerous cracks on the ice. He was so scared that he immediately cried and ran back.
Even if it was a child, the impact of stepping on the ice with all his strength was not low, let alone when he was panicking and stumbling. Cheng Yujin watched the ice crack like a spider web. With the child's movements, the ice became more and more fragile.
Cheng Yujin's heart tightened, and she realized that she had made a mistake. She ran down in a moment of desperation, but rescuing people who fell into the water in winter was completely different from rescuing people in summer. It was best not to come down, but to find a long bamboo pole to rescue people. Otherwise, if they stepped on more ice, it was likely that both of them would be in trouble.
But now that things had come to this, she had no way to retreat. If she went back the way she came, the ice that she stepped on once would bear the weight of gravity a second time, and who knew if it would break faster. Most importantly, if she retreated in front of so many people, the onlookers wouldn't care if it was for the sake of a better rescue. They would only think that Cheng Yujin was greedy for life and afraid of death.
At this time, there was a faint cracking sound in her ears. The fragile ice was broken under the child's strong step. The child instantly fell into the ice cave, and the cold river water made him shiver violently.
Cheng Yujin made up her mind and jumped into the water almost at the same time. The temperature of the river water in winter was extremely low. The moment her body sank into the ice water, Cheng Yujin trembled and lost control of her body for a moment. She tried to pull the child, but found that her cloak was too resistant after absorbing the water. She untied the cloak with trembling hands and struggled to float in the direction of the child.
Fortunately, the cracked ice cave was not very big at this time. The child was stimulated by the ice water and almost lost his ability to respond. Cheng Yujin pulled him and wanted to find a solid ice surface to go ashore. However, the ice in the center of the river was thin. Cheng Yujin couldn't find a layer of ice that could bear the weight of two people, and she also had to drag a child, so her strength was quickly draining.
Cheng Yujin immediately realized that she couldn't do this. Falling into the water in winter was different from falling into the water in summer. If it was summer, as long as there were many people, they could always save her. However, the water temperature in winter was low. Once her strength was exhausted and she couldn't float on the water and fell, it would be over. The ice covered the entire river. If she fell and couldn't find a gap to float on, she would be frozen to death. The people on the river were separated by a layer of ice. Even if they wanted to save her, there was nothing they could do.
Cheng Yujin had to try to put the child down first. The child was lighter than her and could be stably lying on the ice. Cheng Yujin found a piece of ice that was not so transparent. She let the child put his arms on the ice and tried to climb up. She also helped to put him on the ice.
However, with just this movement, the ice already showed faint cracks. The two of them were exhausted. At this time, the people on the riverside were attracted by this unforeseen event. Dugeaux and Lian Qiao wanted to rush down to save Cheng Yujin, but they were stopped by Lin Qingyuan. Lin Qingyuan's ancestral home was Jinan. He had seen the tragedy of falling into the water in winter. He knew how to save people, so he stopped the two maidservants from getting on the ice. Then he took a long bamboo pole from the stall and directed the people to pull the two people in the middle of the river.
The child's family also rushed over. When the boy's mother saw the scene in front of her, her legs went soft and she almost knelt on the river. The relatives and neighbors hurriedly followed Lin Qingyuan's example. They took a long pole from the lantern stall and pulled the child up so that he could climb back up. When they reached a solid place, the adults swarmed down and hurriedly picked up the child.
In contrast, Cheng Yujin's situation was much more dangerous. Cheng Yujin had used half of her strength to push the child onto the ice. She was already half safe, so the other family's rescue went smoothly. However, she had lost a lot of her strength. When she first entered the water, her hands and feet were stinging under the stimulation of the ice water. But gradually, she found that her hands and feet were stiff and she began to lose consciousness.
Dugeaux and the others tried to stretch the pole and even risked standing on the ice. However, Cheng Yujin's strength was greatly lost. She couldn't swim over such a short distance no matter how hard she tried. Lin Qingyuan saw that the situation wasn't right and said, "She just used too much strength. Now she has no strength. Help me hold my coat. I'll go into the water to save her. "
Lin Qingyuan took off his coat and suddenly shivered from the cold. The Lin family's page boy strongly objected. Lin Qingyuan also hesitated for a moment because of the cold. In this moment of pause, the sound of water entering the water suddenly came from the other side of the river. It seemed that someone had shouted something, followed by the sound of several people diving into the water.
Lin Qingyuan looked back in surprise. Through the shadows of the lights, he saw a familiar person on the other side of the river.
It was Cheng Yuanjing's attendant, who seemed to be called Liu Yi. Lin Qingyuan had been in and out of the Cheng Family during this time, so he was very familiar with Liu Yi. However, at this moment, Liu Yi was like an ant on a hot pan. He was anxious and scared, running in circles in panic.
The two maids Dugeaux and Lian Qiao screamed regardless of their image. They almost jumped up, "It's the Ninth Masters! The girl is saved! "
The two of them shouted and hurriedly ran to the other side of the river. The people on this side also stretched out their necks and pointed at the accident just now. The Lin family's page boy was still holding Lin Qingyuan's arm tightly. When he saw Lin Qingyuan staring at the center of the river motionlessly, he was afraid that the young master would want to jump in again. He hurriedly said, "Young master, it's too dangerous to go into the water in winter. You're not a good swimmer. You can't take the risk!"
Lin Qingyuan's face showed a wry smile, which was dimmer than the light behind him. "No need."
"Young master?"
"This is the difference. I really had no choice but to go into the water. But the moment he saw the girl, he would jump in to save her. "
"… Young master, what are you talking about?"
Lin Qingyuan shook his head, took his coat from the page boy, and stopped talking.
Cheng Yujin gradually felt that the world was far away from her. The lights and noise on the other side of the river seemed to become a distant shadow. She didn't know if she was hallucinating because her body temperature was too low. She actually saw Cheng Yuanjing.
Cheng Yujin herself felt ridiculous. She could even imagine gods coming to save her. Why did she think of Cheng Yuanjing? However, the next second, her arm was held by a person, and then her whole body was firmly held by a strong force. It was as if she finally stepped on the ground from the void.
The other party's hand had become cold, but compared with Cheng Yujin, it was still like a source of heat, and the heat continued to flow into her body.
Cheng Yujin stared for a long time, not sure whether it was her hallucination in the extreme cold or real. "Ninth Uncle?"
"Don't talk. Keep your strength."
After Cheng Yuanjing jumped into the water, several other bodyguards immediately followed. At this moment, the broken ice had been cleared, and at the end was a big solid ice lump. There was already someone on the ice. Liu Yi saw Cheng Yuanjing was obviously relieved, and he looked as if his head had grown back. However, Cheng Yuanjing didn't come up first. Instead, he put Cheng Yujin in a safe place, and then he jumped out of the water.
Cheng Yujin felt the ice water recede from her body, and at the same time, the cold wind blew on her body, bringing an obvious chill. Cheng Yujin then realized that it was really Cheng Yuanjing. She was out of danger.
The Dugeaux and Lian Qiao knelt on the ice. When they saw Cheng Yujin, they hurriedly pulled her back. They were crying and scared, and couldn't even speak. The Dugeaux was still busy looking for a cloak. At this time, a black cloak fell from the sky. It was thick and warm, and it wrapped Cheng Yujin tightly.
The Dugeaux was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but stop. At this time, Cheng Yuanjing said, "Hurry up and find a hot water bottle for her. She caught a cold and was exposed to the wind. She won't be able to hold on until we get back."
The Dugeaux quickly looked up and didn't dare to say anything. She did as Cheng Yuanjing said. Cheng Yujin's mind was still not clear, but the warm clothes on her gave her a great sense of security. She didn't know who stuffed a hot water bottle into her hand, but under the heat from both inside and outside, Cheng Yujin finally felt alive.
As soon as Cheng Yujin came out of the water, she was covered by the cloak. Cheng Yuanjing's body was much bigger than her, and the cloak wrapped her tightly, not even a corner of her clothes could be seen.
When Cheng Yuanjing came over, this area had been cordoned off, and the onlookers were driven far away. They only saw the young master who went into the water first to save someone come up with another person. Then, their line of sight was blocked by a wall of people, and they couldn't see anything.
Winter clothes were thick, and Cheng Yujin was wrapped in them. Her clothes were wet, and although they stuck to her body, she wasn't exposed. In addition, Cheng Yuanjing cleared the area, so no one saw her sorry state when she fell into the water.
With her worries solved, Cheng Yujin's remaining worries were gone, and she couldn't hold on any longer. She was originally thinking about how she would explain to Princess Qingfu if she went back because the Marquis of Yichun's carriage was parked a little far away. Before she could finish her thoughts, she suddenly felt weightless. She was carried by Cheng Yuanjing, who was carrying her oversized cloak.
Cheng Yujin couldn't react, and subconsciously called out Cheng Yuanjing's name, "Ninth Uncle?"
Cheng Yujin fell into the water and was frozen for a long time. At this moment, her voice was as soft as a mosquito's, and was as weak as a gust of wind in the noisy background. However, Cheng Yuanjing heard her. His voice was low, and his words were clear and calm, "Hold on for a while. Liu Yi has already called for a doctor. Hot water and ginger tea are ready."
Cheng Yujin didn't speak for a long time. Her body was quiet and motionless. After a while, she asked in a hoarse voice, "Where are we going?"
"Zhengyang Gate and Chongwen Gate are blocked. It's too slow to return to the Marquis of Yichun. I'll take you to another residence." Cheng Yuanjing thought that Cheng Yujin was afraid. He tightened the cloak around her and said, "Don't be afraid. There are no outsiders in this residence. It won't affect your reputation."
Without outsiders, Cheng Yujin understood that this was a private residence under Cheng Yuanjing's name. And it was obvious that he had more private residences than this one. This was just the closest one.
Cheng Yujin's energy was weak, and her head hurt a little. Because she was weak, her sense of time was blurry. She didn't know if she had really closed her eyes for a moment, or if a long time had passed.
The lights on both sides intertwined, and the voices of people were noisy and distant. The blurry light and shadow reflected in Cheng Yujin's eyes gave her a chaotic feeling of reality and illusion. Only the breathing of the people beside her was real and stable.
Cheng Yujin paused for a long time and asked, "Why?"
His body seemed to pause for a moment, and then the hands that were hugging her back and legs tightened. "Yujin, you've always been smart. Why do you think?"
Cheng Yujin was dizzy. Finally, she couldn't hold on any longer. She leaned on his body and closed her eyes. Her voice was weak and almost inaudible. "I can't do it, so I never believe that others can do it for me."
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