Although the lantern in front of her is vivid and bright, Cheng Yujin can't concentrate. It is true that guessing lantern riddles is lively, and her ears are full of chatter and laughter between husband and wife, friends, parents and children, but Cheng Yujin always felt that these liveliness had nothing to do with her.
She lost her mind again, and when she came back to her senses, Cheng Yujin found that she had been looking at the lantern riddle in front of her for a long time.
A couple next to them brought their children to look at the lantern. Seeing Cheng Yujin standing in front of the lantern for a long time, he smiled and said, "This girl, this riddle is a bit difficult! We just guessed several times, and they were all wrong."
They thought that Cheng Yujin had been thinking about lantern riddles just now, and her voice was full of good-natured ridicule. Cheng Yujin nodded and smiled at them and didn't say much.
Lin Qingyuan heard the voice, turned around and asked, "Miss Cheng, what's the matter?"
"It's okay." Cheng Yujin shook his head. This place is safe and lively. Forsythia and Du Ruo rarely go out, and they can't take their eyes off of them. They have served Cheng Yujin for a year. .
This lantern is tied to the river, and the river has frozen at this time, so I am not afraid that the guests will fall into the water. The size of each stall is certain. The stall owner wanted to put more lights, so he simply extended the stall from the river bank to the ice surface and secretly expanded the pavilion.
Not only this stall owner thinks this way, but everyone else does too. Looking around, the glacier is like a silver belt winding through the city, and the two sides are dotted with lanterns.
The stall is doing business, so the beautiful lanterns are hung in the center, and there are the most people around. On the ice surface, there are some scattered small lanterns, and the number of people suddenly decreases. Cheng Yujin walked along the line to the river, and the surroundings were much cleaner, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
When I go shopping with things in my heart, even if I see good things, I always can't get in. This is the case with Cheng Yujin, she just felt that she was shopping with others, and she did not participate in it.
She stared at the reflection of the fire on the river, and she was a little lost. In contrast, in the summer, she went out to see the shop that Cheng Laohou had left for her, and walked all the way, she invested more than now. Maybe, the mentality of inspecting one's own things is different, or it may be because people are different.
Cheng Yujin suddenly felt irritable when she thought of this, she took a deep breath, wanting the cold air to stir her mind. However, when he looked up, Cheng Yujin suddenly found that a child was holding a tiger lantern and playing in the middle of the river.
His parents probably didn't watch it for a while, or felt that the river was frozen and nothing would happen, so they left the child to run on the ice alone. But the boy gradually ran to the middle of the river, far from the bank, where the ice was very thin. Not to mention, there hasn't been a few snowfalls this winter, and the weather has gotten a lot warmer in the past few days of the Chinese New Year.
Cheng Yujin suddenly had an ominous premonition, but at this moment, she seemed to see a thin crack in the ice.
Cheng Yujin was startled and called out subconsciously. However, there was a lot of noise around, and everyone was guessing lantern riddles around the lanterns. Where could they hear her voice. And the child had no sense of crisis and was still running towards the center of the river.
The center of the river is far from the bank, and the ice layer has no adhesion and is often the thinnest. That child is ignorant, falling into ice water at this season, and still such an old child, there is almost no possibility of surviving.
Cheng Yujin is good at calculating, she has to count three steps in everything, but she is very fast when making decisions at critical moments. In the blink of an eye, Cheng Yujin had already made up her mind. She immediately stepped on the ice and ran quickly towards the center of the river. At the same time, she tried to remind the child that the river was dangerous, don't go far, come back quickly.
However, with the hustle and bustle of the Shangyuan Festival, the people on the riverbank didn't notice Cheng Yujin's words, and the children in the center of the river couldn't even hear it. Cheng Yujin saw that the child ran a few more steps and jumped on the ice layer. Cheng Yujin was shocked and shouted again: "Don't move!"
At this time, the pedestrians on both sides had already noticed that something was wrong. They saw a woman wearing a white cloak and looking very extravagantly dressed running on the ice. Cheng Yujin's strangeness attracted many people's attention.
"Oops, the ice in the heart of the river hasn't frozen, it's about to shatter!"
More and more people stopped and pointed at the river, and the little boy finally realized that something was wrong. He looked down and saw the tiny and dangerous cracks on the ice. He was so frightened that he cried and ran back.
Even as a child, the impulse to step on the ice with all his strength is not low, not to mention that he stumbled and stumbled in panic. Cheng Yujin watched as the ice pattern cracked like a spider web. With the child's movements, the ice surface became more and more fragile to the naked eye.
Cheng Yujin's heart tightened and she realized that she had made a mistake. She ran down just now in a hurry, but rescuing people who fell into the water in winter is completely different from that in summer. It is best for the rescuers not to come down, but to look for long bamboo poles to catch people. Otherwise, stepping on more ice layers is likely to cause accidents to both of them.
But as of now, she has no way to go back. If she went back the same way, and the ice she stepped on once would bear the second gravity, who knows if it would shatter faster. The most important thing is that if she retreats under the watchful eyes of the public, the audience will not care whether it is for better rescue or not, they will only think that Cheng Yujin is greedy for life and afraid of death.
At this moment, there was a faint click in the ear, and the fragile ice layer shattered under the child's hard stepping. The child fell into the ice cave in an instant, and was terribly frozen by the icy river water.
Cheng Yujin was heartbroken and jumped into the water almost at the same time. The temperature of the river water in winter was extremely low, and the moment her body submerged in the ice water, Cheng Yujin shuddered and lost control of her body for a moment. She tried to pull the child, but found that her cloak had too much resistance after absorbing water. She untied the straps with trembling hands and struggled to float towards the child.
Fortunately, the cracked ice hole was not very big at this time, and the child almost lost his ability to react when he was shocked by the ice water. Cheng Yujin pulled him and wanted to find a solid ice surface, but the ice surface in the center of the river was all thin ice. Cheng Yujin was unable to find an ice layer that could carry the weight of two people, and she had to drag a child, and her physical strength was fast. churn.
Cheng Yujin immediately realized that this could not be the case. Falling into the water in winter is different from summer. If it is summer, as long as there are many people, she can always be rescued. But in winter, the water temperature is low, and once she runs out of energy and cannot float on the water and falls, it will be over. The ice layer covered the whole surface of the river. If she fell and couldn't find a gap to float up, she would freeze to death. The people on the river were separated by a layer of ice. Even if she wanted to save her, there was nothing they could do.
Cheng Yujin had to try to put down the child first. The child was lighter than her and could stay steady on the ice. Cheng Yujin found a piece of ice that was not so transparent, and let the child put his arms on the ice and try to climb up. She also helped him put him on the ice.
However, just this action, this piece of ice has exposed faint cracks. Both of them were exhausted. At this time, all the people by the river were attracted by this change. Du Ruo and Forsythia wanted to rush down to save Cheng Yujin, but were pulled by Lin Qingyuan. Lin Qingyuan, whose ancestral home is in Jinan, has seen the tragedy of falling into the water in winter. He knows how to save people, so he pulled two maids to prevent them from going on the ice, then took a long bamboo pole from the stall and directed everyone to pick up the two girls in the heart of the river. personal.
The child's family also rushed over. The boy's mother saw the scene in front of her and was so frightened that she almost knelt on the river. Relatives, friends and neighbors hurriedly imitated Lin Qingyuan, took off the long pole from the lamp stand on the spot, and pulled the child to let him crawl back. When they climbed to a solid place, the adults swarmed down and picked up the child with all hands and feet.
In contrast, Cheng Yujin's situation here is much more dangerous. The child just now was pushed onto the ice by Cheng Yujin with half of her physical strength. It was already half safe, and the rescue of the other's relatives went smoothly. However, she lost her physical strength seriously. When she first entered the water, her hands and feet tingled under the stimulation of the ice water, but gradually, she found that her hands and feet were stiff and began to lose consciousness.
Du Ruo and the others tried their best to extend the pole, and even risked standing on the ice. But Cheng Yujin lost her stamina so much that she couldn't swim for a short distance. Lin Qingyuan saw that the situation was wrong and said: "She spent too much energy just now, and now she is tired. Help me hold the coat, and I will go into the water to save her."
Lin Qingyuan took off his coat and shivered from the cold. The Lin family's book boy strongly objected, and Lin Qingyuan hesitated for a moment because of the cold. It was just this moment of pause, when the sound of entering the water suddenly came from the other side of the river. It seemed that someone shouted something, and then there were several diving sounds.
Lin Qingyuan turned around in amazement, and saw a familiar person on the other side through the shadowy lights.
It was Cheng Yuanjing's attendant, who seemed to be called Liu Yi. Lin Qingyuan had been in and out of Cheng's house during this time, and was very familiar with Liu Yi. But at this moment, Liu Yi was like an ant on a hot pan, anxious and frightened, panicking in circles.
The two maids, Du Ruo and Forsythia, screamed disregarding their image, and almost jumped up: "It's Jiu Ye! The girl is saved!"
The two of them shouted and hurried to the other side of the river. The people here also probed their necks and pointed at the unexpected variables just now. Lin's book boy was still holding Lin Qingyuan's arm tightly, he saw Lin Qingyuan staring at the center of the river motionless, for fear that the young master would still want to jump, he quickly said: "Master, going into the water in winter is too dangerous. !"
A wry smile appeared on Lin Qingyuan's face, paler than the light behind him: "No need."
"Master?"
"That's the difference. I went into the water when I really had no choice, and the moment he saw the big girl, he would jump down to save her."
"…Master, what did you say?"
Lin Qingyuan shook his head, took the coat from the book boy, and stopped talking.
Cheng Yujin gradually felt that the world was far away from her, and the lights and noises on the other side seemed to be ghosts in the distance. She didn't know if it was because her body temperature was too low that she had an illusion, but she actually saw Cheng Yuanjing.
Cheng Yujin thought it was absurd, and it would be fine to imagine immortals coming to save her, why would she think of Cheng Yuanjing? However, the next second, her arm was held by one person, and then the whole person was firmly grasped by a solid force, as if she had finally stepped on the ground from the void.
The opponent's hand has become cold, but compared with Cheng Yujin, it is still like a heat source, and the heat keeps flowing into her body.
Cheng Yujin stared at it for a long time, not sure if it was an hallucination in the extreme cold or the truth: "Ninth uncle?"
"Don't talk, keep your strength."
After Cheng Yuanjing jumped into the water, the other guards immediately followed. At this moment, the broken ice has been cleared, and at the end is a large enough ice lump. Someone on the ice had already responded, and Liu Yi saw that Cheng Yuanjing was obviously relieved, with an expression that his head had grown back. However, Cheng Yuanjing did not come up first, but put Cheng Yujin in a safe place before jumping out of the water.
Cheng Yujin felt the ice water recede from her body, and at the same time the cold wind was blowing on her body, bringing an obvious cold feeling. Only then did Cheng Yujin realize that it was really Cheng Yuanjing, and she escaped.
Du Ruo and Forsythia were kneeling on the ice, and when they saw Cheng Yujin, they hurriedly grabbed her. They were crying and scared, and couldn't even speak. Du Ruo was still busy looking for a cloak, when a black cloak fell from the sky, thick and warm, wrapping Cheng Yujin tightly.
Du Ruo was stunned for a moment, and his movements couldn't help but stop. At this time, Cheng Yuanjing said, "Don't hurry to find Mrs. Tang for her. She suffers from the cold and then blows the wind. If she can't make it back, she will become ill."
Du Ruo quickly looked up and didn't dare to say anything, just did as Cheng Yuanjing said. Cheng Yujin still can't make up her mind now, but the warm clothes on her body give her a great sense of security. She doesn't know who is stuffing a mother-in-law in her hand. come to life.
Cheng Yujin was covered by the cloak as soon as she emerged from the water. Cheng Yuanjing's figure was much larger than hers.
This place was circled when Cheng Yuanjing came over, and the idlers watching the fun were all driven away from a distance. They only saw that the son who first went into the water to save people brought a person up, and then his line of sight was blocked by a wall of people. , see nothing.
The winter clothes were already thick, so Cheng Yujin was wrapped, and her clothes were soaked with water. Although they were attached to her body, they did not disappear. In addition, with Cheng Yuanjing clearing the field, she was not even seen in a state of embarrassment when she fell into the water.
All her worries were resolved, Cheng Yujin's only worries were gone, and her spirit was suddenly unsupported. She was originally thinking that the carriage of the Houfu of Yichun was parked a little far. If she went back, how should she explain it to the Lord of Qingfu County. Before she could finish thinking, her body suddenly lost weight, she was attached to the large cloak, and was hugged by Cheng Yuanjing.
Cheng Yujin couldn't react, and subconsciously called Cheng Yuanjing's name: "Ninth uncle?"
Cheng Yujin fell into the water and was still in the ice water for a long time. At this moment, her voice was as thin as mosquitoes and flies, mixed in the noisy background, as weak as a gust of wind. But Cheng Yuanjing heard it. His voice was low, and his words were clear and calm: "Hold on for a while, Liu Yi has already called Lang Zhong, and the hot water and ginger tea are ready."
Cheng Yujin didn't speak for a long time, and her body was quiet and motionless. After a while, she asked in a hoarse voice, "Where are we going?"
"Zhengyangmen and Chongwenmen are blocked. It's too slow to go back to Yichun Hou's mansion. I'll take you to another house." Cheng Yuanjing thought that Cheng Yujin was afraid, so he tightened her cloak and said, "Don't be afraid, There are no outsiders in the residence, and it will not affect your reputation."
Without outsiders, Cheng Yujin understood that this was a private house under the name of Cheng Yuanjing. And obviously, the private house he bought is far more than this one, this is just the most recent one.
Cheng Yujin was in a bad mood, and her head hurt a little. Because of her weakness, her sense of time was blurred. She didn't know if she really only closed her eyes once, or if it had been a long time.
The lights on both sides are staggered, the voices are loud and distant, and the blurred light and shadow are reflected in Cheng Yujin's eyes, giving people a sense of confusion between reality and illusion. Only the breathing of the people around you is real and stable.
Cheng Yujin stopped for a long time and asked, "Why?"
His figure seemed to pause for a moment, and then his hands on her back and legs tightened: "Yu Jin, you've always been smart, why do you say that?"
Cheng Yujin was groggy, and finally couldn't hold it any longer, she leaned on him and closed her eyes. Her voice was weak, barely audible: "I can't do it, so I never believed that others would do it for me."