Chapter 242
The snow was gradually lightening, but the wind grew stronger. The river wind was bone-chilling, as if it could freeze the blood in one’s body at any moment—a cold that penetrated to the deepest depths of the heart. Xie Wendong felt his feet going numb, losing sensation. This couldn’t continue! He gripped his knife tightly; fighting head-on was still better than freezing to death here. Before he could act, the other man struck first. A burly man with a beard covered in frost trembled violently, his fingers gripping the knife stiff with cold. Suddenly, he let out a loud scream and charged at Xie Wendong, swinging his knife at his head. The brute’s ferocity didn’t scare Xie Wendong at all. Calmly, he waited until the knife was right in front of him before preparing to dodge to the side.
He shifted his shoulder, but didn’t move aside. Suddenly, he realized he had made a fatal mistake—his shoes had frozen to the ice surface. When a person stays still on ice for a long time, the heat from their feet melts the ice beneath them, only for the cold weather to quickly re-freeze it. Xie Wendong had overlooked this basic fact. Anyone else would have panicked at this point, but he felt like laughing. Everything in this world has its limits, and luck is no exception. Once it’s exhausted, misfortune sets in. Xie Wendong smiled self-mockingly. His smile frightened the burly man, who was now close by, making him even more terrified. He wondered if Xie Wendong had some hidden trick up his sleeve. Out of caution, the man’s downward swing slowed down. As he hesitated, Xie Wendong didn’t delay. He gathered all his strength in his arms and swung his knife horizontally. It was probably the fastest swing Xie Wendong had ever made. The over-two-inch-wide axe moved so swiftly that not even a flash of light was visible; it just flashed by, with only a shrill “whooshing” sound from friction between the blade and the fierce wind. The burly man’s raised knife never came down again. A gap of more than a foot appeared in his chest, and blood gushed out as his sternum and heart were split in two. Xie Wendong retracted his knife as the man collapsed. Without even looking at the corpse, he remained calm, his sharp gaze sweeping over the faces of the dozen or so men before him.
The cold of the weather was tolerable, but Xie Wendong’s frigid intensity, which seemed to freeze one’s nerves, could drive people mad. Almost simultaneously, five burly men screamed and charged at Xie Wendong like madmen, without any coordination. Five knives—all aimed at his head. Xie Wendong feigned a strike and effortlessly killed one of them, but inwardly he sighed. He couldn’t dodge; he gritted his teeth, grabbed the handle of the knife with one hand and pressed the blade with the other, raising it to meet the attacks. With several sharp clangs, the five knives hit his axe at nearly the same time. Xie Wendong’s arms went numb, and he fell backward, sitting on the ground. But that wasn’t the worst—what was more terrifying was that he heard the ice beneath his feet cracking loudly.
Seeing Xie Wendong’s face change and his expression turn fearful, the others thought he was at his limit. One of them, seemingly the leader, shouted, “Brothers, go! He’s about to give up!” He was right—while the others rushed forward, he remained motionless. The dozen men surrounded Xie Wendong, attacking from all sides. If he could move freely, he might have held out a while longer, but now, with his feet trapped, he was at a severe disadvantage. His body, arms, and legs were covered in wounds of various sizes. The ice beneath him was stained blood-red. Seeing him struggling, the leader grew emboldened. He gripped the handle of his knife and yelled, “You idiots! A dozen men can’t even take down one guy! Get out of the way!”
Damn it, he’s almost dead and he’s still full of energy! The men cursed inwardly but dared not show it on their faces. Smart people knew never to compete with their superiors for credit. The leader rushed at Xie Wendong at top speed, leaped into the air, gripped his knife, and swung down like a storm, shouting at the struggling Xie Wendong, “Die!” Xie Wendong was indeed exhausted, but he wasn’t unconscious. Seeing the excited man, he sighed and muttered, “Bad luck for you!” He took a deep breath, raised his knife to block, and heard a metallic clang followed by a sharp crack. “Ah…” The man’s scream was cut short as both he and Xie Wendong disappeared into the ice, leaving a hole about half a meter in diameter. The dozen men were stunned for a moment before slowly approaching and staring at the hole for a long time. Someone finally said, “It’s over. The ‘squad leader’ and Xie Wendong are both dead!” Another couldn’t help but ask, “Can’t we save them?” The man glared at him and snapped, “Sure! Go save them then!” “No, no… if I go down, I’ll die too!”
Xie Wendong and the leader both fell into the ice hole. Those who have never experienced such an ice hole cannot understand its horror—it’s not as simple as falling in and then crawling out again. The icy water was bone-chilling, causing his clear mind to swell with confusion. All Xie Wendong could see was utter darkness, complete absence of light, as if light had never existed there. The darkness was terrifying, and combined with the freezing water, the leader couldn’t bear it any longer. In panic, he opened his mouth to shout, but all that came out was a gurgle. In just a moment, his body slowly sank downward. Xie Wendong couldn’t see any of this; he held his breath and struggled upstream, hoping to find the hole he had fallen into. It was still dark around him, so he simply closed his eyes, which helped minimize his sense of terror. When his head hit the ice, he began to fumble around with his hands. Within five seconds, he realized he was wrong. The ice on the surface was frozen, but the water beneath was flowing. After all this turmoil, he didn’t know how far he had been carried away by the current. Searching upstream for the ice hole was like trying to find a sword by marking the boat’s position—useless. Two bubbles emerged from Xie Wendong’s nostrils as he laughed at himself for using the idiom “trying to find a sword by marking the boat” so aptly in this situation. He gave up on searching for the ice hole. Fortunately, he had taken a deep breath before falling, which would last him for a while. He tried to relax as much as possible and let himself drift with the current. What bad luck! he thought. First, he was killed for no reason, then chased by a group of people with great strength and determination, and now he ended up falling into an ice hole with a fool. This was premeditated! He knew it clearly, but he didn’t have time to think about it. He felt the oxygen in his body decreasing, his lungs becoming empty as carbon dioxide rushed in, threatening to burst them. Yet he dared not exhale the waste air—he knew that doing so would bring him closer to death. Time passed by second by second, and Xie Wendong’s consciousness gradually blurred. Slowly, he felt as if he were sinking into an endless abyss—a boundless darkness from which he couldn’t resist, with no strength left in his body. Was this how he would die? He refused to accept it. He had overcome countless storms, but now he was failing right where he thought he was safest. He had many people he cared about and many things unfinished. He couldn’t die like this! Using all his strength, Xie Wendong forced himself to open his eyes.
“He’s awake! He’s awake!” A crowd of fishermen gathered by the riverbank, cheering loudly. In the center lay a young man, who, with the help of several strong fishermen, spat out two mouthfuls of water. His eyes slowly opened as he glanced around at the crowd, then closed again, his lips curling slightly as if in a faint smile.
“This kid is really lucky! He didn’t even die after falling into an ice hole!” said an older fisherman with dark skin, smiling.
“He’s lucky, but I’m doomed! I thought I caught a big salmon, only to find it was a ‘dead man’—all that excitement for nothing!” The speaker was in his twenties, but his weathered face made him look much older. “What should we do with him? I don’t have money to take him to the hospital!” With that, he turned to leave. The other fishermen quickly stopped him, saying, “How can you just leave? You caught him—you should take responsibility! Besides, if you rescue him and leave him here, and he dies, won’t the police arrest you?” “Yeah! They might even accuse you of murder!” The young fisherman scratched his head, confused by their chatter. He stepped back, cursing, “I must have brought bad luck upon myself for eight lifetimes!” He grabbed the young man’s collar and belt, lifted him onto his shoulder with a bit of effort. As he did this, the young man puffed out his cheeks and spat out more water—every drop landing on the young fisherman. “Damn…” The young man cursed all the way home amidst laughter. Needless to say, this young man was Xie Wendong. Of those who fell into the ice hole, perhaps only one in a thousand would survive, and Xie Wendong was that one!
When he opened his eyes again, he was lying on a warm bed, covered with two layers of quilts. It was the first time he had felt such warmth and comfort. Xie Wendong tried to move, but a sharp pain rushed through his arms as soon as he raised them. It turned out he was wrapped in no less than twenty bandages, big and small.
He sighed and turned to look around the room. It was very simple, or rather shabby—the only electrical appliance was an old, worn-out TV, with two empty cans hanging from its antenna. Many sections of the room’s walls had peeled off, revealing the red bricks underneath, while the ceiling was covered in newspapers. The floor was uneven, even more bumpy than a mountain stream path. Xie Wendong closed his eyes, wondering what kind of person owned this room and how he had been rescued from an ice cave by such a person. As he thought this, the door curtain was pulled aside, and a young man with a weathered face and dark skin stepped in. Seeing Xie Wendong staring at him with open eyes on the bed, he grew annoyed and said in a deep voice, “You’re awake. Can you walk? If so, get the hell out! By the way, I’m the one who saved you. And since I bandaged your wounds, you owe me two or three hundred yuan or so as payment.”
Xie Wendong blinked, speechless. His expression appeared foolish in the young man’s eyes. Seeing that he didn’t respond and continued to stare, the young man couldn’t help but ask, “Did you understand what I said?” Xie Wendong sighed inwardly but remained silent. The young man stepped back angrily and cursed, “I never thought I’d save an idiot!”
If it weren’t for his rescue and his injuries, Xie Wendong really would have wanted to get up from the bed and beat him. At that moment, the door curtain was pulled aside again, and another person entered—a young woman. She was under twenty, with big eyes whose dark pupils resembled shining gems or stars in the night—bright and full of vitality. Her long black hair was tied back like black satin. Her skin was slightly tanned, giving her a healthy appearance. The girl was lively; seeing him awake, she jumped around and exclaimed, “He’s awake! He’s back to consciousness!”
The young man rolled his eyes and said, “I’m not blind. Do I need you to tell me? Be quiet!” “Tch!” The girl pouted but stopped making noise. The young man looked at Xie Wendong thoughtfully and said seriously, “It seems like he might be an idiot!”
Xie Wendong could take it no longer. He opened his mouth to speak but found his throat as if on fire, allowing him to produce only a faint sound. The girl noticed this, stepped forward, and asked with wide eyes, “What do you want to say?” Xie Wendong used all his strength, but all that came out was a sound like a mosquito’s buzz. He pursed his lips, sighed, and stopped wasting energy.
The young man had never been overwhelmed by anyone, so he naturally wasn’t aware of Xie Wendong’s weakness. Pulling the girl along, he muttered, “Idiots are just idiots—why waste words on them? I’ve wasted enough time this time! Come on, let’s go eat!” The girl asked, “What about him?” “Him?” the young man said. “What a hassle!” With that, he muttered under his breath and left the room. A moment later, he brought a bowl of rice and placed it beside Xie Wendong, too lazy to say much more, only saying, “Eat!”
Xie Wendong smiled bitterly. His body felt as if it were falling apart; he didn’t even have the strength to lift his arms, let alone eat. Seeing him unmoving, the young man looked at the girl and said, “See? I told you he’s not hungry!” Then, under Xie Wendong’s eager gaze, he took the rice away. It was the girl who finally thought of him, snatching the rice back and feeding him bite by bite. A sense of warmth rose in Xie Wendong’s heart. After eating, he managed to force out a “thank you,” but his voice was so low that even he couldn’t hear it. The girl seemed to understand his feelings; she smiled slightly and turned to leave. She wasn’t the prettiest person Xie Wendong had ever seen, but her pure smile was by far the brightest.
In this way, Xie Wendong stayed in this household of hot and cold emotions for three days, gaining a general understanding of them. It was a small village by the river not far from the city of H. The young man and the girl were siblings; their parents had died, and they made a living by fishing. During the day, the young man went to the river to fish, while the girl took them to the city to sell. Although they didn’t earn much, it was enough for the two siblings to survive. In the blink of an eye, three days passed. Xie Wendong could now lean on the wall to move slowly and speak freely, but he still remained silent. He felt like he belonged to a different world from these siblings and didn’t want to interfere with them, bringing darkness and trouble to their peaceful home. He learned that the young man’s name was Li Gensheng and the girl’s name was Li Yingnan—two names with a strong Chinese rural flavor. The young man had a bad temper but was simple-hearted, though a bit petty. He kept calling Xie Wendong an idiot, while the girl disagreed with her brother’s way of addressing him, and the two often argued fiercely. Xie Wendong watched them quietly, quite amused.