Volume 11: The Lingering Warmth of Melting Snow
Chapter 22: The Falling Snowflakes
When Zhu Xi woke up again, she saw Lu Li whittling half a piece of firewood with that frayed down jacket on. Lu Li rarely did this kind of physical labor and had no skill in his hands. He whittled with great effort, often only managing to curl up a thin sliver of wood with a forceful scrape. Outside, for the first time in a long while, a few rays of sunlight scattered through. This was probably the first sunlight Zhu Xi had seen in these past few days.
“What are you doing?”
“Making a splint for you.”
“What, you still think I’m not proactive enough?” Zhu Xi mocked.
Lu Li had become accustomed to Zhu Xi’s taunts and didn’t mind them as much as before. He felt that Zhu Xi and Hupo could form a “Sarcasm and Satire” duo; Hupo was the cold sarcasm, and Zhu Xi was the hot satire.
“I’m going to scout the path ahead. I might die out there, so I’m making a splint for you so you can regain some mobility, at least be able to boil water and grill meat yourself,” Lu Li said calmly, his hands not stopping.
Zhu Xi suddenly fell silent.
Lu Li continued, “The best-case scenario is that I make contact with the outside world and come back with people to save you. The worst-case scenario is just that I freeze to death in the wild.” He let out a long breath. “Alright, my craftsmanship is not very good. This is the best I can do. Try it.”
Zhu Xi ignored the splint and bandages Lu Li handed over. “You’ll surely die if you go scouting. You’ll surely die if you stay here. Why not enjoy yourself? At least this room is still warm, isn’t it?”
“I’d rather die on the road than in a shelter.” Lu Li didn’t elaborate, just said, “I only brought a day’s worth of food for one person. If I can’t find the main road, I’ll try my best to come back within a day.”
“Take me with you.”
“?”
“Take me with you.” Zhu Xi tied the splint to her injured leg. Lu Li’s handiwork was truly terrible. “I can walk now. I won’t be a burden to you.”
“…”
“…”
“Fine.” Lu Li knew he couldn’t persuade Zhu Xi; this woman was a stubborn donkey too. “Try to wrap the wolf skins around you. We’ll wrap ourselves in the windbreak cloth together when we go out.” He felt they weren’t being rational at all. In this extreme situation, the best course of action should have been to conserve energy and wait for rescue. But when a pitiful person trapped in a desperate situation caught a glimpse of a ray of light, they would pursue that faint hope without a care for anything else.
…
The two of them took all the warm gear, food, and water they could. Before leaving, Zhu Xi even asked him, “Lu Li, are you sure you want to do this?” Lu Li looked back at the wooden cabin that had sheltered them through their most difficult time and nodded. “Let’s go. Can you walk?”
“Don’t underestimate me.” Zhu Xi never admitted defeat.
The moment they pushed open the door, a strong wind rushed in, and the snow flew about chaotically. Lu Li’s vision was blurred, as if he had returned to the day he had just fallen to the bottom of the mountain. Lu Li determined the direction of the road by the density of the trees and moved forward. He didn’t walk fast, in order to accommodate Zhu Xi. The two of them walked for about half an hour and paid the price for their rashness and recklessness—the bottled water they had brought out had already frozen into a block of ice, and Zhu Xi had no choice but to discard it.
Lu Li grabbed a handful of snow. The accumulated snow was already thick enough to cover half his calf. Every step in this snowy terrain was extremely difficult: one foot would step down, the person would shiver, and then that leg would suddenly sink. Only then could the other leg be slowly lifted.
Perhaps the cold had numbed Zhu Xi’s pain. She had been silently following Lu Li, and her speed was not slow. Lu Li was worried that Zhu Xi’s mood would sink, so he took the initiative to start a conversation. “Your Royal Highness, why were you willing to come out with me? Did you fall in love with me? Are you afraid I’ll die out there and you’ll really become a widow?”
Sure enough, these words immediately “mobilized” Zhu Xi’s emotions. “You with the surname Lu, you’re not comfortable unless you’re looking for a scolding for a minute, are you? I only did it with you because I had no choice, just to vent my desires.”
Although Lu Li already knew this in his heart, he still felt a little disappointed when he actually heard Zhu Xi say it. Men always take the number of women they attract as a mark of great achievement. This tradition dated all the way back to the primitive days of living off raw meat and drinking blood, and Lu Li couldn’t completely escape it. He let out a hot breath. “I’m quite disappointed.”
“Disappointed about what? Did you really expect me to fall in love with you?” Zhu Xi laughed. “There are not a few people who are willing to die for me. Many of them see my life as higher than anything else. Lu Li, you are not special.”
“…Your words are quite discouraging.”
“I’m just telling the truth.”
Lu Li looked back at Zhu Xi, and Zhu Xi met his gaze without any shyness. Lu Li sighed. “If you can’t hold on, you can still turn back now. Otherwise, you’ll probably be heading to the underworld with a man who is neither special nor one you love.”
“…You with the surname Lu, you’re really so petty,” Zhu Xi blurted out for some reason.
The two of them walked for about an hour more. Zhu Xi’s injured leg was already completely numb. She suspected she wouldn’t be able to save this leg, but this princess didn’t utter a single sound. Zhu Xi raised her head slightly and saw that Lu Li’s fingers, exposed to the air, were red and swollen. He was struggling to carry the increasingly heavy supplies, and his breathing was also becoming weaker.
To spend the last moments of my life with a scumbag man… Zhu Xi thought for no reason. She actually hadn’t told Lu Li that the reason those people were willing to die for her was not because she was Zhu Xi, but simply because she was the heir of the Yan family. Lu Li, on the contrary, was different.
The scumbag man seemed very generous, but deep down, he was both protective of his own and petty. Zhu Xi smiled slightly.
If I die, I die. If she died, she wouldn’t have to bear such a heavy mission. If she died, she wouldn’t have to suffer the torment of longing for Qiao’er. When a person dies, all their troubles are light. Zhu Xi found all sorts of reasons for herself. She had never lived for herself in this life, but to be able to die for herself—was this unfortunate or fortunate?
Lu Li’s voice trembled. “It’s the main road. I see the main road.”
Ahead, surrounded by withered trees, a blurry road vaguely appeared in the wind and snow. Lu Li’s guess was not wrong; the hunter’s cabin wouldn’t be too far from the main road. But he also knew that this road was probably very remote, and still incredibly far from any town.
Zhu Xi gave a bitter smile. “You go.”
Lu Li turned back in astonishment. “Let’s go together.”
“My leg has lost all feeling. It’s already all I can do to stand.” Zhu Xi handed the unloaded gun in her coat to Lu Li. “It’s yours. Use it to put on a show. At least it can be used for self-defense.”
Lu Li glanced at Zhu Xi, then at the not-so-distant road. He could almost see the girls waving at him on the road, see the hot food, see the warm sofa, see the sweet smiles. He gritted his teeth and turned his back to Zhu Xi. “Zhu Xi, you’re quite dramatic. You almost moved me!”
Zhu Xi let Lu Li carry her, watching as he unyieldingly moved closer and closer to the road, and suddenly smiled. “Yes, I’m so dramatic. I’m even disgusted with myself.” She lay quietly on Lu Li’s back, saying no more.
…
If willpower could overcome hardship, then there shouldn’t be any hardship in the world. A biting cold wind blew past, and Lu Li’s foot softened. He fell directly onto the snow, carrying Zhu Xi with him. He was like a taut balloon that had suddenly deflated. His hands and feet could no longer exert any strength, and he couldn’t even turn over.
He had a ridiculous thought: a triathlon isn’t tough enough. If you put a person in this extreme weather and have them hike for two hours with a load, the one who can hold on without falling is a real iron man.
He could feel Zhu Xi crawling toward him. “Are you okay?”
Zhu Xi’s answer was irrelevant. “It’s warmer over here.” As she spoke, she crawled to his side and curled up into a ball. “We’re really going to die this time. How long do you think we can lie here?”
“I don’t know. Ten minutes?”
“I think even five minutes is a stretch.” Lu Li gave a self-deprecating laugh. His lips were already purple, a very unsightly sight. “If our bodies are found, will they think we’re idiots? Instead of staying in a perfectly good cabin, we ran outside to die?”
Zhu Xi looked at his purple lips, her eyes flickering. She stiffly kissed him. “One more time, in this world of ice and snow.”
You’re so romantic. Lu Li didn’t even have the strength to tease her this time. His throat felt like it had frozen over, and he couldn’t squeeze out another word. The cold crawled from his limbs up his body, extending toward his heart. This wasn’t the first time he had been so close to death, but he still wasn’t used to this terrifying feeling.
Zhu Xi had also gone still.
The snowflakes fell, and the world was quiet. As if it were the end of everything.
