Chapter 2: Chapter Two

Li Yuanxi’s ears were filled with the constant roar of crashing waves. The body’s primal survival instinct sent urgent commands to her unconscious mind. The sound of the waves woke her.

Li Yuanxi lay face down on the sand, completely still. At first glance, she looked like a corpse. After a long, long wait, her curled eyelashes fluttered a few times, and she slowly opened her eyes.

“Ahhh—”

A weak groan escaped her lips. Her body felt numb, disconnected from her consciousness. Her brain sent signals to move, but her body refused to respond.

The sun was blazing hot. Her eyes felt shrouded in white light. Instinctively, she closed her eyes to shield them from the harsh sunlight. Tears streamed down from the corners of her eyes.

The waves rolled in, coating the sand with white foam, then slowly receded, leaving only the dissolving foam.

After resting for what felt like an eternity, Li Yuanxi managed to roll over onto her back with great effort. She lay on the sand, smelling the salty, fishy, pungent mud.

The blinding sun and the heat baking her body sent waves of dizziness through her. Her stomach cramped, and she was hit by a wave of nausea. She gagged dryly. She slowly and painfully turned onto her side, curling up to avoid choking on her own vomit.

I survived?

Heh.

Li Yuanxi grinned at the sun, but tears began to fall on their own. “Surviving a disaster… hahahahaha…” She laughed until she started vomiting.

She was lucky this time. She hadn’t been sent straight to reincarnation. Life, huh, you just need a little more luck. She was quite satisfied with her current life (plane crash excluded).

First, she wiggled her fingers. Feeling returned. She slowly moved her arms, bending them back and forth to test them. She found she could still bend them, but the shoulder joints were terribly sore and weak.

Ten minutes later, Li Yuanxi sat slumped on the beach, dejected, staring at her nemesis, who was lying nearby on the sand. Her brows were furrowed deeply.

She never imagined she’d actually managed to pull Wei Shu out of the water.

Tsk, tsk, tsk. It’s the good who die young, and the wicked who live long, isn’t it?

Li Yuanxi looked at the crystal-clear sea, and then at the island, where the only sound was the crashing waves. “Sigh.”

A deep, innate loneliness and fear welled up from the bottom of her heart. At this moment, Li Yuanxi was a little glad that Wei Shu was here with her.

Li Yuanxi sat there recovering for a while. Once she felt she had a bit of strength, she crawled over to Wei Shu. She shakily reached out her right hand and placed it under Wei Shu’s nose. A faint wisp of warm air brushed against her fingers.

Li Yuanxi sighed in relief. She pointed her finger above Wei Shu’s cheek. “All glamorous President Wei, reduced to such a miserable state, hahahaha.”

Li Yuanxi laughed loudly for a while. The empty beach echoed with only her voice. After laughing for a bit, she found it boring. She started mumbling to herself as she checked Wei Shu’s body for wounds or internal injuries from the impact.

Wei Shu’s eyes were tightly closed, her black hair covering her face. Her hair and skin were covered in white sand. Her little black off-shoulder dress was torn, revealing a fair, firm shoulder.

The sun had been beating down on her exposed skin, burning it. Huffing with effort, Li Yuanxi took off her own jacket and draped it over Wei Shu. She couldn’t let her stay in the sun any longer; she would get dehydrated.

Gritting her teeth, Li Yuanxi bent over with a grimace. Her hands trembled as she hooked them under Wei Shu’s armpits. Grunting, she started dragging Wei Shu towards a shaded spot on the beach.

God knows how much it hurts to have weak, aching arms after extreme exercise! Luckily, no ligaments were torn.

Finally reaching the shade, Li Yuanxi plopped down on the ground, leaving Wei Shu to her own devices. She took off her own wet clothes, leaving only a quick-dry t-shirt, and untied her shoulder-length hair.

Feeling dizzy, Li Yuanxi leaned against a coconut tree that had no coconuts. She stared longingly at the next tree over, her eyes full of desperate desire.

God, did she ever want a drink! Her throat was on fire, dry and itchy.

Licking her chapped lips, the desire to drink overcame the pain in her body. She stood up, shielding her eyes with her hand, and scanned the surrounding coconut trees.

Finally, she spotted a tree growing almost parallel to the ground. Her eyes lit up at the sight.

That coconut tree looked so cute, so beautiful, and most importantly, so kind! Why else would it grow in a way that was easy for her to climb?

A tree like that probably encountered strong sea winds or some other force during its growth, preventing its roots from gripping the soil tightly, causing it to grow in a shape resembling the Enter key.

Li Yuanxi crouched under the tree, pulling down a few green coconuts with effort and tossing them onto the sand. With each fallen coconut, more saliva filled her mouth. She swallowed hard, feeling even thirstier now.

“Whew, this is exhausting.” Li Yuanxi’s lips were parted, her face covered in sweat. The deep blue sky made her eyes blurry.

With two-thirds of her energy spent, she leaned down and hugged the tree trunk, tentatively reaching her feet toward the ground. When her feet were about to touch the sand, she let go. She landed and stumbled forward several times before coming to a halt.

Next up was opening the coconuts. Li Yuanxi found a sharp rock near a reef on the beach. She gripped the coconut with both hands and smashed it hard against the rock.

Biting her lip, her eyes were anxious and desperate. After dehydration, her physical strength and functions had dropped significantly. Even her usual patience was waning under the scorching sun.

She nearly dropped the coconut several times. With one final, forceful smash, the green coconut finally cracked open. Sweet coconut water flowed out, and Li Yuanxi quickly tilted her head and lifted the coconut to her mouth.

One coconut wasn’t enough to quench her thirst, but it made her feel much better. She hadn’t had any food or drink for a long time. Since the crash, she had been expending energy. All the tossing in the plane and dragging Wei Shu from the sea had drained all her strength.

If Li Yuanxi weren’t an Alpha, blessed with quick energy recovery, and if she and Wei Shu hadn’t had that once-in-a-century luck, they probably would have died right there.

After drinking her fill of coconut water, Li Yuanxi smashed open three more coconuts, carefully placing each one on the ground. This was Wei Shu’s life-saving water.

Li Yuanxi lifted Wei Shu’s upper body somewhat unceremoniously. She pinched the flesh of Wei Shu’s jaw with her right hand, forcing her pale, cracked lips apart, and poured coconut water into her mouth.

Li Yuanxi held her, feeding her the fresh, sweet liquid for a while before Wei Shu started swallowing with some consciousness. Seeing her swallow, Li Yuanxi breathed a sigh of relief.

She didn’t want the person she had worked so hard to save to die. Besides, on an isolated island, having company was a very good thing.

Li Yuanxi fed the remaining two coconuts to Wei Shu. Wei Shu began to swallow actively, her lips cooperating with Li Yuanxi’s movements.

Gradually, Wei Shu’s curled eyelashes began to flutter, and her fingers started to move. This was the prelude to regaining consciousness.

So tired… so tired…

Wei Shu walked barefoot in the darkness. A suffocating fatigue urged her forward. Her mind held only one thought: so tired, so tired.

Her beautiful, slightly phoenix-shaped eyes held boundless indifference beneath them. She looked up, her eyes wide, and saw a monstrous wave of black seawater, nearly a hundred meters high, surging forward silently and ferociously towards her.

Her perpetually elegant and composed face was instantly filled with panicked terror. Faced with a massive disaster, no one could remain unafraid. She was no exception. Wei Shu’s pupils contracted, then dilated.

Survival instinct forced her to turn and run back. Her off-shoulder black fitted dress flew behind her like a fluttering black butterfly – beautiful, fragile, and mysterious.

But how could she outrun a tsunami? When the sky-filling wave crashed down…

Wei Shu’s body jerked violently, trembling all over. Li Yuanxi, startled, thought she was having a seizure and quickly hugged her, trying to lay her flat.

But then Wei Shu’s eyes snapped open. Her expression was one of terror as she grabbed Li Yuanxi’s hands, her eyes full of fear and lingering dread.

Li Yuanxi hugged her and patted her back. “It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s all over.”

Wei Shu leaned weakly into Li Yuanxi’s arms. Her face was flushed from spending too long in the sun, making her look almost bashful. They stared at each other, neither speaking for a moment.

On the quiet island, there was only the sound of the waves…

Wei Shu’s gaze was fixed on Li Yuanxi. She was dazed for a moment, then relaxed, gently resting her head against Li Yuanxi’s collarbone.

Li Yuanxi froze. Was she really that scared? She thought for a moment but didn’t push Wei Shu away.

When Wei Shu finally came to her senses, she immediately pushed Li Yuanxi away, scrambling to her feet. Shoved back abruptly, Li Yuanxi blinked at her in a bit of a daze.

Wei Shu’s face was cold. She looked around at the environment. It was similar to any other small island.

Seeing that Wei Shu didn’t even say thank you, Li Yuanxi pursed her lips and turned her head away with a “Hmph! I don’t need your thanks anyway!”

She thought Wei Shu hadn’t heard, but Wei Shu had, clearly. Wei Shu remembered how Li Yuanxi had pulled her back when her seatbelt had come loose.

Just the thought of the crash made Wei Shu’s face pale, her legs unsteady. She watched Li Yuanxi, who had her head turned away and was still smashing coconuts with more force than necessary. Wei Shu pursed her lips. She wanted to say a sincere thank you, but the words just wouldn’t come out.

Wei Shu licked her lips unconsciously. The soft sand beneath her feet made it hard to snap back to reality. Never mind. Once I get back, I can cooperate with the Li family to improve Li Yuanxi’s position within the family core.

Thankfully, Li Yuanxi had no idea. If she did, she would definitely say, “You’re repaying kindness with enmity!” She had worked so hard for years just to be a proper “slacker.” No one was allowed to help her turn over a new leaf!

“I’ll smash you! Smash you!” Li Yuanxi’s eyes flashed, and with one final effort, the coconut cracked open.

After eating the coconuts, they recovered some strength. Li Yuanxi watched the sun moving steadily westward and frowned. That meant it would be dark soon.

They couldn’t just spend the night on the beach. Neither of them knew what dangers lurked on this unfamiliar island.

“We need to find a place sheltered from the wind, or build a temporary shelter.” Li Yuanxi looked at Wei Shu, who was standing silently with a cold face. Hmph. When you were hugging me just now, you weren’t being so tsundere!

Feeling Li Yuanxi’s stare, Wei Shu’s face grew even colder. She nodded stiffly, trying to ignore the warmth creeping up her ears.

Li Yuanxi looked around the area, then assessed the surroundings. There were almost no signs of humans, but she couldn’t be completely sure without walking the entire island.

The situation now was, they couldn’t go too far from the beach. Otherwise, the rescue helicopter wouldn’t be able to spot them.

Their beach was an arc-shaped inner bay. The shore and the beach weren’t too far apart. To prevent the tide from coming in, Li Yuanxi decided to place their temporary shelter on the left side of the arc. This was a bare rock face, so they didn’t have to worry about falling rocks or animal attacks.

The main thing was to watch out for snakes at night.

The spot for the shelter was chosen. But how were they going to get palm leaves down from the trees and weave them together?

Wei Shu watched bewildered as Li Yuanxi bent over, rummaging and picking through the woods. She was looking for a stone suitable for making a stone axe.

After searching for a while, Li Yuanxi finally found a hard stone, flat on one side and thick on the other, from a pile of rocks.

Li Yuanxi stood up happily, showing it off to Wei Shu proudly. Wei Shu finally understood what Li Yuanxi was doing with the stone.

Seeing Li Yuanxi’s triumphant look, Wei Shu gritted her teeth. She sighed and turned her head. Li Yuanxi had an axe head, but she needed a handle. She also bent down and searched the sparse woods for a suitable stick.

Li Yuanxi watched Wei Shu voluntarily enter the small thicket, which clashed so completely with her refined image. She watched Wei Shu’s slender waist as she bent over, struggling to find a stick in the sparse woods.

She also noticed that Wei Shu had lost her shoes a long time ago. Walking on the sand and stones with those delicate, snow-white soles must hurt a lot.

Li Yuanxi lowered her tea-brown eyes and spoke in a tone of barely veiled disgust. “Hey, President Wei, go back to the beach. The bright color of your clothes can attract attention.”

Wei Shu looked up at Li Yuanxi, who was waving at her. Li Yuanxi’s black hair was tied up, revealing a clean, generous, and energetic face. Her loving, smiling eyes were always full of a warmth that Wei Shu couldn’t understand.

She wore a black quick-dry t-shirt on top, wilderness hiking cargo pants, and a pair of hiking boots. She looked clean, sharp, and full of spirit.

Wei Shu’s mind wandered for a second under Li Yuanxi’s bright gaze, but she quickly recovered. She nodded expressionlessly and went to sit on the beach by herself.