Chapter 123: Older Sister, I Want To Live
The surroundings were silent and pitch black.
The cable car went down and never came back up.
Jiang Yan looked at the pitch-black valley, like a bottomless giant beast about to swallow him.
He was soaked through, cold to the point where even his fingertips were numb.
Under the cold rainwater’s wash, Jiang Yan’s eyes slowly focused.
He still came to rescue Su Wanyuan?
Why couldn’t he remember the process clearly?
It was as if someone was guiding him, inexplicably leading him to this place.
Jiang Yan moved his hand, reaching into his pocket, finding it empty, then feeling inside his jacket.
Where was that jar of paper cranes?
After carefully groping around, he found one in another pocket.
Holding it in his palm, he couldn’t see it clearly in the darkness, but it strangely gave him warmth, granting him brief mobility.
He took out his mobile phone: 12:10.
He trembled as he began to dial the emergency number.
After pressing just two 1s, the mobile phone shut down automatically.
Jiang Yan thought it was because water had gotten into the mobile phone.
He breathed on his fingertips, feeling a bit of warmth, then turned the mobile phone back on.
Preparing to dial 120.
As long as rescue personnel came, he could be rescued.
Jiang Yan didn’t want to die.
At least not in this way.
He occasionally looked up at the solitary cable car ropeway, hoping Su Wanyuan would settle Gu Lanli and come pick him up.
But ahead was pitch black, without even a hint of light.
Jiang Yan’s finger just touched the screen, entering a 1, when a large water droplet fell on the screen, and the mobile phone shut down again.
He kept turning it on and off repeatedly, forced to shut down each time, until finally there was no signal left, and he couldn’t even make an emergency call.
In the end, the mobile phone had only one percent battery.
Time had reached 12:30.
Su Wanyuan had been gone for half an hour without returning.
Endless despair surged in Jiang Yan’s heart.
Rainwater dripped from the edge of the tent onto his face, sliding to the corner of his mouth.
He tasted the rainwater, and it was actually salty.
Jiang Yan blinked, the rainwater on his face seeming even more torrential, drowning his emotions and tormenting his remaining sanity.
He could no longer feel the cold, his consciousness gradually blurring.
His whole body stiff.
He looked down at the upper right corner, where one bar of signal lit up.
This time Jiang Yan didn’t call for help again, scrolling through the few contacts in his list to the very bottom, dialing the number he had never called before.
Time passed slowly, and Jiang Yan thought no one would answer this call.
In the last second, Jiang Ning’s voice rang out: “Jiang Yan, where are you?”
“Pho, Phoenix Mountain.” His teeth chattered, lips dark purple: “I, I don’t have time, you, you listen to me, the paper cranes I promised you seem to be lost by me, sorry.”
There was silence for a second on the other end, then the voice softened: “Jiang Yan, you said you would give me a thousand paper cranes, which can make a wish come true, right?”
“Mm.” His voice thick with nasal tones: “I, I’m so sleepy, I’m going to sleep.”
“Jiang Yan!” Jiang Ning’s voice suddenly rose sharply, sobering him a bit more. She spoke rapidly: “Don’t sleep. Although I didn’t see the meteor at Phoenix Mountain, I’ll give you the paper crane wish. Jiang Yan, make a wish.”
Make a wish…
Jiang Yan had never celebrated his birthday from childhood to now.
He and Jiang Ning shared the same birthday, but at the table surrounded by father, mother, and cake, there was no place for him.
On that day, he would be locked in the room; mother didn’t like him, so she never celebrated his birthday.
Father, afraid of angering mother, would only buy him a small cake afterward and tell him to eat it quickly.
But Jiang Yan didn’t want to eat cake.
What he wanted was to close his eyes in front of the cake and make a wish like Jiang Ning.
Jiang Yan had many wishes.
When he was little, he hoped father and mother would love him.
A bit older, he hoped his older sister would be nicer to him and stop bullying him.
Later, his wish was to escape.
And now.
Jiang Yan’s eyes stung, his eyelashes trembling lightly, throat dry: “Ji, Jiang Ning… older sister, I want to live.”
The last bar of battery depleted.
The mobile phone went completely black; he didn’t even hear Jiang Ning’s response.
He gripped the paper crane tightly, finally placing it together with the mobile phone over his chest, then curled up on the ground, unable to hold on any longer and falling into a deep sleep.
Jiang Ning looked at the hung-up call.
She still responded: “Got it.”
The car was parked fifty meters outside the Phoenix Mountain Scenic Area gate.
Xie Jingyan glanced at Jiang Ning’s grave expression, his dark eyes profound.
This seemed to be the first time he had seen her care so much about someone’s life or death.
Staying up late into the night, braving the rain to rush to save her younger brother whom she had hated for over a decade.
Jiang Ning, is this still you?
Jiang Ning took out the computer from the back seat and started operating it in the car.
Xie Jingyan shook his mobile phone: “120 has been called, they’re on the way. Phoenix Mountain is so big, Jiang Yan only said two sentences before going silent, we don’t know his location—can you mount a rescue?”
Xie Jingyan even suspected that Jiang Yan would die before the rescue team arrived.
Jiang Ning was a bit unsure, feeling anxious inside but calm on the surface.
She glanced at Xie Jingyan: “Don’t we have to rely on you right now?”
Xie Jingyan: “?”
Male lead halo can be activated.
“You find a way to get the scenic area staff here. I’ll locate Jiang Yan’s position and see if there’s a cable car closest to that place. If I walk there slowly, he’ll probably be frozen stiff by then.”
They had to race against every second now.
Jiang Ning wasn’t arrogant enough to handle everything alone.
She needed help.
Xie Jingyan: “…”
Jiang Ning saw he wasn’t moving.
She reached out and held Xie Jingyan’s hand, very solemnly: “Please, you’re the only one I can trust right now. Locating him will take ten minutes. During that time, you must find a way to restart the cable car.”
Xie Jingyan’s gaze fell on Jiang Ning’s tender white fingertips.
His ears felt a bit hot, slightly uncomfortably turning his head, tone a bit stiff: “Got it.”
Jiang Ning handed him the umbrella: “Here, hold the umbrella, stay warm, don’t catch a cold. Put on your jacket.”
Xie Jingyan: “…”
This might be the first time in the past two years that Jiang Ning had spoken to him so kindly.
He hurriedly got out of the car.
The cold rain couldn’t dampen the heat rising in his body.
Still wear a furry jacket? He was burning up.
He shook his head and got to business.
Turning back, through the car window, he saw Jiang Ning seriously operating the computer.
Locating based on an incoming call—impossible without real skill.
She was truly becoming more and more astonishing.
Always bringing fresh surprises to others.
So that’s why Wei Jin was so infatuated with her?
Why Gu Lanli’s muddled brain suddenly cleared, turning his heart back to her.
Because they had all discovered Jiang Ning’s unique beauty.
It was the charm unique to Jiang Ning.
Putting aside these thoughts, Xie Jingyan walked to the scenic area entrance.
The security booth light was off; Xie Jingyan knocked but no one answered—probably empty.
Voting tickets, monthly tickets—these days are double, please vote for me.
