Lu Jiaying looked up, seeing him holding his phone to capture both of them in the frame, and raised her hand to scold him.
Jiang Jingyu, ignoring her, pressed the shutter.
Lu Jiaying’s expression, a mixture of playful anger, along with his silly grin, was frozen there.
Less than ten minutes after boarding the life raft, raindrops as big as soybeans began to pelt down.
Accompanied by a wind that stole their breath and rolling waves, Lu Jiaying realized for the first time how cowardly she was.
She couldn’t breathe, dared not open her eyes to look around, and tightly gripped the rope, calling out to Jiang Jingyu.
“What do we do? Are we going to die here today? It’s so terrifying.”
“Jiang Jingyu, will I drag you down to your death? You absolutely cannot be harmed. If you die here, how will I explain it to your family?”
Jiang Jingyu was not afraid at all; he had always enjoyed challenges.
In fact, seeing Lu Jiaying’s frightened state, he thought the rain that day was quite good.
Lu Jiaying finally had a moment of inferiority to him, a moment when she needed him.
He slowly moved closer to her and took off his shirt to cover her head.
Though it couldn’t shield them from the wind and rain, it at least gave her a sense of security.
He pulled Lu Jiaying into his arms, holding a paddle with one hand, and forcefully steered the raft to maintain its direction, preventing the wind from pushing them further away from the shores.
The two of them, clinging to each other as if their lives depended on it, struggled in the rain.
After an unknown amount of time, Jiang Jingyu felt he could no longer hold on, utterly exhausted. The rain finally subsided slightly, and at the same time, a strong wind picked up at sea.
Heaven did not intend for them to perish; the wind was blowing in their direction.
It was as if an invisible hand was pushing them towards the riverbank.
Thus, after a period of drifting in the rain, the life raft wobbled towards the shore.
As it wasn't a designated landing spot, the riverbank was straight and steep, and there was no place to tether the raft.
To get ashore, they had to jump into the water, swim to the bank, and climb up the rocks.
Jiang Jingyu reminded Lu Jiaying that they had reached the shore and told her to open her eyes and look.
Lu Jiaying opened her eyes, but the feeling of despair did not diminish.
In the downpour, her vision was blurred, and before her stood a sheer cliff, at least two to three meters high, almost vertically straight.
She couldn't swim and had never climbed rocks.
She had been in school, and after graduation, she joined Grey Electric, spending her days solely at work. Outside the office, she had no survival skills.
And now, she was expected to swim and climb?
Disbelieving her own eyes, she asked the obvious question, "What do we need to do?"
Jiang Jingyu held her, his face streaked with rain, his eyes resolute.
"Jump in and swim to the shore. I'll go first. When I find a suitable spot, you can follow. Climb up using my footprints."
Just hearing his words made her legs weak.
Lu Jiaying, pathetically, shook her head, "But I can't swim."
Jiang Jingyu hadn't known this. "You can't swim?"
"And I can't climb rocks either."
He had been selfish, only thinking about having some private time with her, unafraid of the thrill, wanting it to be a memorable experience for reflection later, forgetting to consider the practicalities.
He didn't even know she couldn't swim.
But it was too late for regrets. They couldn't wait here indefinitely; who knew when the rain would stop.
Lu Jiaying was so thin; if she caught a cold from being soaked, it would be troublesome.
"It's okay. If you can't swim, I'll take you. But you'll have to learn to climb."
"Don't think too much about it. I'll climb ahead, and you just follow my footprints behind me. Focus only on what's right in front of you, don't overthink. We can do this."
Glancing again at the perfectly straight cliff face, Lu Jiaying shivered all over.
"But I don't think I can..."
"Then what do we do? Turn back?"
The waves on the river surged higher and higher, and the small raft, propelled by the waves, sometimes leaped nearly a meter into the air.
Lu Jiaying never wanted to experience that weightless fall from the waves again; it was far more thrilling than a roller coaster and felt like it could take her life.
Moreover, it wasn't just her who was in danger; Jiang Jingyu was too.
Even if she wanted to die, she had to get the young master of the Zhan family back before that happened, or she wouldn't be able to face Melody.
"Alright, I'll listen to you. No more talking. Be careful, you absolutely cannot get into trouble."
Jiang Jingyu removed his shirt from her head. Lu Jiaying snatched it and pulled it into her embrace. They held each other tightly, and he used the shirt to tie them together, then looked at the churning water.
"Take a deep breath. Hold onto my neck."
Lu Jiaying’s teeth chattered with nervousness. She clutched Jiang Jingyu’s shoulders tightly.
"Hold onto my neck. At a time like this, what are you worried about being a man or a woman? Are you trying to die?"
Startled by his words, she no longer dared to be polite and quickly wrapped her arms around his neck.
Jiang Jingyu, holding her, slid to the edge of the life raft, extending his long legs into the water. Lu Jiaying couldn't help but scream immediately.
"Ah—"
Jiang Jingyu stopped and gently pressed the back of her head.
"You're scared, aren't you? We'll go when you're done screaming. Once we go down, you can't scream anymore, or you'll inhale water into your lungs."
He even had the leisure to lecture her, and Lu Jiaying deeply felt her own inadequacy.
Terrified, she could only grip his neck tighter and close her eyes.
"Okay, let's go."
Jiang Jingyu wrapped her legs around himself, and with a splash, they plunged into the water.
The two of them, weighing over a hundred kilograms combined, plummeted rapidly into the sea.
The sensation of being supported by the water, drifting weightlessly, and the icy chill penetrating every limb was agonizing.
Lu Jiaying finally understood what was meant by a life-saving friendship.
At this moment, even if Jiang Jingyu were her enemy, she wouldn't be willing to let go of him.
After falling for only a few seconds, Jiang Jingyu used all his strength to swim out, like a mother kangaroo carrying her joey towards the shore.
Upon reaching the bottom, a new problem arose.
Lu Jiaying couldn't swim and had to be brought up first.
Otherwise, if he left, she would sink.
"Open your eyes and look back. We've arrived."
Lu Jiaying opened her eyes and looked at the cliff face.
What had seemed like a smooth, vertical wall from a distance was, up close, full of nooks and crannies. Though not very deep, they were enough for hands and feet to grip.
Jiang Jingyu instructed her, "You climb up first. Once you've taken a couple of steps, I'll come alongside you. Pull yourself together, Lu Jiaying, you don't want to die here, do you?"
At this point, she had no choice but to try. Being on the rocks was better than being in the water.
Lu Jiaying nodded. Jiang Jingyu lifted her to the side of the rock, found a few suitable small crevices, and helped her shaky hands and feet wedge in.
"Hold this position, don't move, wait for me. I'm coming to your side."
He found a suitable spot next to her and began to climb.
"Don't look around randomly. Listen to my instructions. You can do it, Lu Jiaying. Let's go."