She had closed her eyes and she could feel death"s cold caress. She was taught to despise, hate and fear death. As the gravity was pulling her down towards the hard ground, she could only think of one person, Xie Yuansheng. She felt comforted in loving him even if that was for a brief period of time. As she wondered what was there beyond life, suddenly she felt a strong pair of arms around her tiny waist that had firmly grabbed her from behind and instead of going down, she was pulled up! Feng Xinying opened her eyes.
Within a matter of seconds, she was going higher away from the ground. The earth that was becoming larger and larger a few seconds earlier now became tinier. Was she dreaming? Had she hit the ground already? Were those the arms of death or her savior?
While her mind was fuzzy with those questions, she felt as though she was now suspended in the air. There was darkness all around and only a few dim lights of the hotel rooms were on. The person had held her so tightly, it seemed like a pair of strong and muscular iron arms. Quickly, she was pulled inside the balcony of a room on the floor right below the rooftop garden. They landed on a soft mattress and she was on top of his bare chest.
"Not even death can take you away from me without my permission," he whispered in her ears. She relaxed her stiff body on his warm one and closed her eyes with one hand. Tears started flowing out. The adrenalin that was rampaging her body was now rampaging her brain. They stayed in that position for a long time.
"Where were you all this time?" she complained through her sobs and shudders as he held her from behind. After a few minutes, she turned and buried her face in his strong muscular chest that was her home. He embraced her tightly as he also closed his eyes. She was shaking like a thin leaf on the ground. He would not leave those who tried to kill The Crocodile"s wife.
After about ten minutes, they heard commotion below in the hotel compound as people rushed to find her.
Feng Xinying lifted her head to look at him through her puffy eyes. He had saved her. He had brought her back from the apparent death. She moved forward to kiss his lips, as he tasted her tears. Slowly, they got up from there.
"I thought- I thought you had left me, betrayed me…" she said sitting up on his lap.
He picked up the s.h.i.+rt he was wearing earlier and had taken out before jumping to get her. He used it to wipe her tears. "Betray you? Only death can do us part Yinying, and I won"t allow death to come near you till I am alive." He embraced her tightly and said, "Don"t cry… this party has to end on a good note… We have to show your enemies that you are alive."
Feng Xinying sobbed a little more and her body shuddered thinking about what she had just faced. She buried her face in his neck.
"Cry as much as you want in front of me Yinying, but I don"t want my strong wife to cry like that in front of anyone else," his voice was steely.
"Xie Yuansheng, how did you manage to save me?"
"I will tell you everything darling but for now just remember one thing, you have to go back up there as a strong, resolute woman in front of the media and show them that you can"t be killed so easily," he replied.
The commotion below had increased.
They searched inside the bushes and around them but no one could find her body. Ru s.h.i.+s.h.i.+ was baffled. She wanted to see the body of that woman to make sure that she was dead and only then her soul would be satisfied. Along with others, she also started searching for it frantically. It was more than ten minutes but Feng Xinying couldn"t be found.
Exasperated, Lu Dao had rooted out a part of the bushes to look inside when suddenly his phone started buzzing. He was irritated and took the phone out to disconnect the call when he saw that it was Feng Xinying"s number. He looked at the phone, completely at a loss of words. How can this be? He picked the call.
"Good evening Mr. Lu Dao," said Feng Xinying. "I am waiting for you on the rooftop."
Lu Dao ran to the elevator excitedly. He reached the elevator and pressed the b.u.t.ton. As soon as the elevator"s door opened, he found Feng Xinying standing in front over there with her head held high, confidence oozing out of her. And right behind her was Xie Yuansheng who was holding her waist.
Determinedly, Lu Dao went to her and said, "I have no idea what happened Feng Xinying, but let us continue the ceremony. The show must go one." All his self-confidence that had shattered in the past half an hour returned, and he smiled with conviction.
Wu Bosun and Ru s.h.i.+s.h.i.+ also ran up when they heard that Feng Xinying was alive and waiting upstairs. Ru s.h.i.+s.h.i.+ couldn"t believe her ears. When they reached the rooftop, Wu Bosun was thrilled to see her and walked to her.
Ru s.h.i.+s.h.i.+"s stopped in her tracks as her face became white. She stared at Feng Xinying as if she was staring at a ghost. She saw her falling down with her eyes and yet how come she was back there alive and kicking. Her plans failed. As she stared at her, Xie Yuansheng stared her back, and his face darkened.
By now all the media people had again started clicking photos of the lead actress of the movie. "She is back!" the media channels started flas.h.i.+ng this message all across the country.
"She is back with a bang!
One of the reporters asked her, "Madam, we saw you falling with our own eyes. What happened?"
Feng Xinying looked at Lu Dao, who was feeling embarra.s.sed. She said, "It was a small stunt that I had pulled to show you all that I am going to be the perfect fit for the movie. Mr. Lu Dao was aware of it."
Lu Dao looked at her as his eyes smiled with his face. She had superbly handled it. The negative publicity that was threatening the movie"s launch, now became a successful campaign.
The media was in frenzy.
"This was just a stunt Feng Xinying had put up to show her skills."
"Feng Xinying is a superb actress."
"A new star has emerged."
"We are waiting for the movie to be released soon."
Everyone came and congratulated her. All the while she didn"t let Xie Yuansheng leave her.