They returned to the hotel that they stayed the previous night.“Jiaojiao~~” w.a.n.g Wei threw herself forward.
Sheng Jiaoyang was about to catch her when she was pulled aside by Shen Zhining, causing the excited w.a.n.g Wei to hit nothing but air.
“Be a bit more careful! Why are you still jumping around with a big belly like that.” Sheng Jiaoyang extended a hand to support her.
“Thank goodness you guys are okay! When I found out y"all were trapped on the mountain road, I was almost scared to death!” w.a.n.g Wei patted her chest as she spoke.
Sheng Jiaoyang took a glance at Shen Zhining.
While they were in the car, Sheng Jiaoyang found out how Shen Zhining had come from the sky to save them.
They were on the bus when Shen Zhining arrived at the county town. He was driving on the same mountain road. But because the rain was growing increasingly heavy, he was forced to drive slower and slower. By the time he had reached the sideroad"s entrance, Sheng Jiaoyang and company had already been stuck on the other side of the road for approximately two hours.
Shortly after, he told the car to turn around and started contacting people. In the aftermath of that, he boarded an emergency response helicopter to fly in and save them. Because he had already gone to that sideroad and discovered where Sheng Jiaoyang and company"s bus were, the helicopter was able to fly straight to their location.
That was to say, if it weren"t for Shen Zhining, who knows how long Sheng Jiaoyang and company would"ve been trapped there.
“Everyone must be hungry now, why don"t we head to my house for some food?” w.a.n.g Wei proposed.
“We don"t want to trouble your family, we"ll just go eat at a restaurant.” Sheng Jiaoyang declined her offer.
“Let"s just go eat at the same dinner location from last night. The dishes were pretty good,” the photographer suggested.
And so, everyone moved to the location, and w.a.n.g Wei followed along.
Since it was already two in the afternoon, the little restaurant didn"t have any customers. There was only an employee sweeping inside.
They entered one of the private rooms and quickly ordered their dishes.
“Mr. Shen, I have to thank you greatly for today.” Gu Zhou raised his teacup, “Let me first use this cup of tea in place of wine to give you a toast.”
“Here"s to Mr. Shen!” The others also raised their cups. Sheng Jiaoyang joined in the toast.
“Jiaojiao, you don"t need to do that. If you really want to express your grat.i.tude, then do it when you"re alone. That way, it truly feels sincere!” Cen Jin immediately blurted.
Shen Zhining looked towards her.
w.a.n.g Wei"s gaze kept going back and forth between the two of them, her plump face revealing a hint of excitement. Before, when she saw people on the internet saying that Jiaojiao had found a boyfriend, and even Jiaojiao herself admitted to having one, she had been very curious as to how this boyfriend of hers would look. She had felt that he had to be as handsome as Prince Charming Gu in order to be able to be on par with Jiaojiao. Upon seeing this scene today, she wasn"t even the slightest bit disappointed. In fact, it even far surpa.s.sed her expectations.
Ahhhhhhh! Jiaojiao"s boyfriend is so handsome! Just look at how deep his gaze is when he looks at her!!
Sheng Jiaoyang didn"t know how much of a daze w.a.n.g Wei was in. After noticing Shen Zhining"s gaze, she acted as if it had nothing to do with her as she drank a sip of tea. Then, she said, “I"ve already drank mine, you all give your own toasts now.”
The corner of Shen Zhining"s mouth curled up slightly. He raised up his cup of tea to return the respects everyone was giving him. “Today"s matter wasn"t that big of a deal. All is fine as long as you all are fine. As thanks for taking care of my Jiaojiao, using tea instead of wine, cheers!”
Oooooohh, my Jiaojiao…
Everyone looked towards Jiaojiao with teasing gazes. Then, they emptied out their tea cups.
w.a.n.g Wei was sitting to Sheng Jiaoyang"s left, her arm sneakily poked Sheng Jiaoyang"s leg from under the table. Her eyebrows were scrunched up as she let her excitement show on her face.
Sheng Jiaoyang gave w.a.n.g Wei a sideways glance.
Her face carried the smallest inkling of a smile, yet it wasn"t quite an intentional smile. Rather, it was a natural one. With Shen Zhining beside her, she felt her heart completely at ease; as if there was nothing in the world that she needed to worry about.
“Does everyone want to drink a little wine? The wine here is pretty good.” w.a.n.g Wei spoke.
“We can, everyone got quite a scare today, drinking some wine will help us relax a little. Tonight we"ll just stay here, we will return tomorrow.”
“Sure, then let"s order some wine.”
They called the restaurant"s employee and got them to bring over a bottle of one of their home-brewed wines. Other than the pregnant w.a.n.g Wei, everyone else was given a full cup.
“Today"s incident almost scared us to death! We heard some sounds, and then an entire landslide rushed right in front of us! It really felt like we were done for.”
“Yeah, yeah! Even bungee jumping wasn"t as scary as that!”
“After this, I"ll always be afraid of going up mountainous roads. Today was too terrifying!”
With the topic spilling onto the table, several people had expressions as if they had just gotten a new lease on life.
Sheng Jiaoyang took a sip of the wine and discovered that the flavor truly wasn"t bad at all. She started drinking with small sips. Before their dishes had even arrived, she had already consumed a cup.
“Today Jiaojiao"s reaction was really amazing. Even our cameraman, Xiao Liang, was crying out with fear. Whereas, Jiaojiao didn"t even shed a single tear and held on in a calm manner.” Cen Jin spoke out.
Seeing that the topic had strayed upon herself, Sheng Jiaoyang spoke up, “I had already accepted my death.” After all, she could be considered as someone who has already died once.
Behind her, Shen Zhining"s expression scrunched up.
“Jiaojiao was incredible! She"s so young yet she can see things so clearly. I thought I was dead for sure. In the video, I was crying and snot and tears were flying everywhere. Don"t even mention how ugly I looked in it, I"m going to go delete that video later! What a dark history!” Xiao Zhuang started talking about her own ugly matters.
“Why do you want to delete it? This is evidence of the time we survived this experience.”
“Hahaha, Xiao Zhuang, you should take out that video for us to take a gander at, so we can see how ugly you looked.”
Cen Jin added, “Yea! Xiao Zhuang, take out your video and let us all take a look, I"m very curious as to what kind of words you left for your family.”
“I"m also very curious.” Gu Zhou backed him up with a smile.
Xiao Zhuang"s face was hard to look at. “Since Prince Charming Gu wants to see, then I will let you guys take a look. Please don"t laugh at me.”
She took out her phone and found the video. Sitting beside her, Xiao Liang directly reached out with his hand and took it from her.
Xiao Zhuang"s choking voice transmitted from the phone.
“Mom, I won"t be able to come back and eat your Three Cup Chicken… Afterwards, when you make it, put some on my grave so I can smell it…. Mom, you have to live well! You have to continue living a good life! Don"t let me be unable to rest in peace even after death boohoo…”
“I didn"t want to die this early either, I still haven"t found a boyfriend, there are still so many things I haven"t done yet… I still want to make more money but I"m about to die, sob…”
As soon as she mentioned "die", Xiao Zhuang"s voice cracked.
When Xiao Zhuang heard her own voice, she couldn"t hold in a smile either. Then, she began to cry. However, they weren"t tears caused by pain or suffering. Instead, she was moved to tears from celebrating the fact that she was still alive.
“Alright, Xiao Zhuang, you should put away your phone now. We should all carefully store away our videos because this will remind us to truly treasure the time and all that we have,” Gu Zhou commented.
Sheng Jiaoyang was also deeply touched. She realized through this disaster that living on wasn"t that easy. Anything could happen and no one could prepare for the future. Just like what Gu Zhou said, the only thing they could do was treasure the present moment.
She couldn"t help but look at Shen Zhining, only to discover he was also looking at her. There was something she didn"t quite understand in his gaze, it was somewhat profound and complicated. However, she didn"t spend too much time pondering on it, she only felt that Shen Zhining"s handsome self seemed extremely enchanting. Earlier, her heart had nearly stopped when he jumped out of the helicopter.
In many novels, girls typically fall in love with the hero who rescues them because of the split second emotion of going from h.e.l.l to heaven. In turn, it causes the ladies to have a strong sense of dependence towards their savior.
Similarly, Sheng Jiaoyang was unable to avoid this emotion.
She wasn"t aware of this particular point, but she came to a realisation that her heart belonged to Shen Zhining. During the disaster, she had thought how great it would be if he had come to save her.
She didn"t realise she had so much trust and dependence towards Shen Zhining.
Once the dishes arrived, everyone focused on the food instead. They were starving so they all let loose and began to eat.
After the meal, everyone returned to the hotel. The fright they had received earlier was truly too great so everyone was prepared to rest a night here.
Sheng Jiaoyang once again chose the room she stayed in the night prior. The very first thing she did when she got into the room was to charge her phone.
Shen Zhining was standing behind her and saw her phone. He suddenly said, “Everyone left a video for people they cared about, did you leave any words for me in the video you recorded?”
Sheng Jiaoyang"s hand paused for a moment before she placed the phone down on the overhead shelf above the headboard. Only then did she turn around to look at Shen Zhining.
“I did, but… my phone ran out of battery…” She spoke very lightly.
“What did you want to say to me then?” Shen Zhining looked at her.
Sheng Jiaoyang pursed her lips, acting as if she had difficulties speaking up. What went through her mind at the time was no longer the same as her current thoughts.
“Did you not have anything to say to me?” Shen Zhining"s voice was extremely calm and flat.
“I…” Sheng Jiaoyang opened her mouth, but she didn"t know where to start.
“I understand, you go rest.” Shen Zhining took a deep look at her before turning around and leaving her room.
Sheng Jiaoyang raised her hand, wanting to stop him, yet she hesitated and was still at a loss at what to say.
She let out a sigh and then flopped onto the bed. She took off her gla.s.ses and covered her face with both hands.
Her brain couldn"t help but replay that disappointed look in his eyes when he exited the room.
“…Think carefully about what you truly need in your future, and then think about which side would be easier to reject. The one you find harder to reject is the one that you care about more.” Gu Zhou"s words seemed to be echoing in her ear.
She tried to picture what Gu Zhou was saying and discovered that she had no reason to refuse Shen Zhining. On the other hand, she felt "I"ve already rejected you once so even if I refuse you in the future, it"ll still be the same" towards Lin Yan.
As soon as she recalled the disappointed look in Shen Zhining"s eyes, she felt suffocated and uncomfortable in her heart.
“So who do you care about the most?” She mumbled to herself.
She calmly laid there for a while, before suddenly jumping up from the bed and das.h.i.+ng out.
Standing in front of Shen Zhining"s door, she took in a deep breath before knocking.
“Who is it?” An inquiring voice was transmitted through the door.
“Zhining, it"s me.”
Shen Zhining immediately opened the door and looked at her with his burning gaze.Previous ChapterNext Chapter