As she woke, she saw the sky turning pale, gradually revealing the first light of dawn.
She noticed a group of dust-covered people descending from the mountain, carrying several stretchers towards the tents.
Su Su could no longer sit still and stood up. Those inside the tents also saw them and shouted, "Look, someone's finally been rescued!"
Everyone stood up, hoping to see their own relatives among the rescued, and swarmed towards the approaching group.
Su Su pushed her way through and saw two or three people carrying a stretcher. On it were children and adults, all injured to varying degrees, with head injuries that had been simply bandaged.
However, Tian Yi was not among the injured on the stretchers. She did, however, spot the girl from the train she had shared a carriage with, tears streaming down her face as she carried a stretcher.
Su Su quickly went to her side, looking at the man on the stretcher, his face covered in dirt mixed with blood, and asked, "Is this your boyfriend? He's not seriously injured, is he?"
The girl didn't respond. She, along with two others, carefully placed the stretcher on the ground beside the ambulance, squatted down, and burst into tears.
Su Su was momentarily stunned and asked the rescue personnel beside the girl, "What's wrong with her?"
"The person on the stretcher is an injured villager, not her boyfriend," a member of the rescue team said, catching his breath. "Her boyfriend is gone. The village children said he was buried by the mudslide while saving students. When we dug him out, he had already stopped breathing."
Su Su's face turned pale with fright, and her voice trembled as she asked, "How could this happen? Where is her boyfriend's body?"
The rescuer replied, "Oh, we can only prioritize getting the injured down the mountain for treatment as quickly as possible. As for the bodies, they've been placed in an undamaged open area at the orphanage. We'll transport them all down once the road up the mountain is cleared..."
Su Su stopped listening to the rescuer. All she wanted was to go up the mountain immediately to find Tian Yi. The thought that Tian Yi might suffer the same fate as the girl's boyfriend made her tremble uncontrollably.
But after taking only two steps, she felt her legs weaken, her strength draining away bit by bit.
As she was about to fall, the bodyguard accompanying her caught her. "Mrs. Qin, you should sit down and rest. Mr. Qin is not among the injured who were just brought down. We just have to keep waiting."
Su Su pushed the bodyguard away forcefully and shouted, "Waiting for what? Many people have died on the mountain, and their bodies haven't even been brought down yet. I have to go up there and see, what if Tian Yi..."
Just as she was refusing to listen to any more dissuasion and was determined to go up the mountain on foot, a familiar voice suddenly called out from behind her, "Su Su."
She froze on the spot, thinking it was her imagination.
The bodyguards following her looked in the direction of the voice first and exclaimed, "Mr. Qin... it really is you!"
Su Su slowly turned around and saw a familiar figure putting down a stretcher he was carrying. A child lay on the stretcher, injured.
He was only a meter or two away from her, yet she could barely recognize him. He was covered head to toe in mud, making it impossible to distinguish the original colors of his clothes and pants.
His face was also smeared with mud. Apart from his eyes, his features were almost unrecognizable.
Qin Tianyi looked at Su Su with surprise, remaining motionless.
They gazed at each other across the distance, as if the people around them didn't exist and all sounds had vanished.
After an unknown period of mutual observation, Qin Tianyi spoke first, "Why are you here? Didn't I tell you to stay home and take care of yourself and the child!"
"I knew you didn't go to W City, and I saw the news. I thought you would, would..." Su Su's eyes welled up with tears as she spoke.
Qin Tianyi said in a commanding tone, "Come here!"
He looked as if he had crawled out of a mud pit, so disheveled, yet still domineering. Before Su Su could get close, he reached out and pulled her towards him, and in the next second, he kissed her fiercely on the lips.
He could truly feel her warmth, her breath, as if confirming he was still alive, that he had returned from the brink of death.
Su Su kissed him back passionately, instinctively wrapping her arms tightly around him. Tears blurred her vision. He was alive, alive and well!
When Qin Tianyi saw her, although he felt she shouldn't have come, holding her in his arms finally calmed his heart, and the fear of surviving a disaster slowly subsided.
They kissed for an unknown amount of time. Qin Tianyi finally let go and said, "Let go, my back still hurts badly."
Su Su instantly came to her senses, blushing, and released him. She asked with concern, "Are you injured too? Why are you still carrying a stretcher?"
Qin Tianyi glanced around and said, "Compared to these seriously injured people, and those who lost their lives on the mountain, my injuries are nothing."
"Humans are so insignificant in the face of natural disasters. I'm just glad you're okay..." Su Su held his arm, still worried, and called out for medical personnel. However, the medical team was limited and had no time to attend to them, as they were all busy with the injured who had been brought down.
"Stop calling. I want to rest in the tent for a while," Qin Tianyi said, holding her hand and walking somewhat unsteadily.
Seeing him like this, Su Su asked worriedly, "Are you injured elsewhere too? You go rest, I'll find medical personnel..."
"It hurts, it hurts so much," Qin Tianyi said, holding her hand and speaking in a spoiled tone, "When you leave, my whole body hurts."
Su Su was helpless and accompanied him to sit in the tent. She rolled up his sleeves and pant legs. Looking at his injuries, her heart ached. He was covered in bruises, and in some places, the skin was scraped off, the blood had clotted, and scabs had already formed.
"It must hurt a lot. You need a doctor to bandage these," she said, preparing to get up again.
Qin Tianyi pulled her back, looking at her anxious little face, and smiled, "It's good enough that I dodged the mudslide and saved my life. These places were just hit by falling rocks from the mountain. It's fine, these injuries won't kill me. We can go to the hospital when we get back to Lancheng."
Su Su said anxiously, "We'll need X-rays at a big hospital to see if the bones and tendons are injured!"
"Okay, okay, my dear wife," Qin Tianyi said, still in the mood to smile playfully.
Su Su said with a hint of exasperation, "You're quite optimistic."
She then looked at the people coming down from the mountain and asked, "Where is Xiao Anjing? I don't see him. Is he okay?"
"He's also fine," Qin Tianyi said, holding her. "He's helping to dig people out on the mountain. The mudslide that poured down from the mountain was too terrifying. It instantly overwhelmed and buried the village and the orphanage. Fortunately, he and I reacted quickly and led the children from the orphanage out of the classroom. Otherwise, we would have all been buried. However, some children and staff were injured, and some who didn't follow us were buried..."
Su Su's eyes welled up with tears as she listened, gripping his hand. "You've done very well, saving yourselves and others. If I were in this situation, I can't even imagine how terribly I would have died..."
Qin Tianyi immediately covered her mouth. "Don't talk nonsense. Don't say such unlucky words."