Past Events

"That was over a decade ago. Little Xue and I were both five or six years old. We were childhood sweethearts, innocent and inseparable, and we ran around playing together every day."

Jiang Ran looked out at the sea, feeling the sea breeze grow gradually colder.

"Something happened that year. I almost died."

"Or you could say, I was already dead at that point. At least 99.99% dead."

Pfft--

Qin Feng spat out his drink.

"Sorry."

He wiped his mouth, unsure whether to laugh or cry.

"I know I shouldn't laugh at a serious moment like this, but your 'death percentage' is just... What kind of absurd quantifiable metaphor is that?"

However, Jiang Ran shook his head.

"It's not an exaggeration at all to say it like that. Under normal circumstances, it would have been a certain death. But after all, I'm still alive. That's why I said 99.99%."

"The situation back then was similar to when I jumped into the river to save a drowning child a few days ago."

"My six-year-old self was also a hero once, but back then, the one who fell in wasn't anyone else but... six-year-old Little Xue."

Qin Feng's expression turned serious.

He vaguely guessed what was coming.

"We were playing on a small hill when Little Xue accidentally slipped and fell into the river."

"Of course, she couldn't swim back then and immediately started struggling and sinking. Naturally, my six-year-old self couldn't swim either."

Qin Feng blinked.

"Don't tell me you..."

"Yes."

Jiang Ran nodded.

"I didn't even think about it. I just ran to the riverbank and jumped in."

"Honestly, it wasn't bravery or anything. It was pure ignorance. Plus, during kindergarten, my parents were always telling me to take care of Little Xue and protect her from bullies."

"Kids don't understand that stuff. They just kept telling me, so I took protecting her as my responsibility. When she fell in, of course, I had to jump in."

"You can probably guess what happened next. After I jumped in, my feet couldn't touch the bottom, and I was immediately choked by the water. But I still forced my eyes open, used all my strength, and desperately pushed Little Xue towards the shore."

"It was lucky. Little Xue managed to grab onto a sewage pipe and climb out. I, on the other hand, was swept away by the river, quickly suffocating and losing consciousness."

Qin Feng frowned deeply.

He truly hadn't expected they had such a history.

It wasn't surprising then... that Cheng Mengxue had such an abnormally frantic reaction when she saw Jiang Ran jump into the water to save someone that day.

"What happened next?" he urged.

"Everything that happened afterward was told to me by others."

Jiang Ran looked out at the sea.

"Like I said, I had drowned and lost consciousness. Of course, I don't remember what happened after that."

"They said that after Little Xue got ashore, she ran along the river, shouting for help. Adults nearby heard her cries, and a kind person immediately jumped into the water and rescued me... but that was several minutes later."

"They said I had stopped breathing by then, my face was purple, and there was no heartbeat. The adults immediately gave me artificial respiration and chest compressions, but nothing worked."

Qin Feng clenched his fists, also becoming tense.

He finally understood what "99.99% dead" truly meant.

Suffocating in the water, heart stopped, CPR not working, brain deprived of oxygen for nearly ten minutes... that state was hardly an exaggeration to call 99.99% dead.

"Then..."

He looked at Jiang Ran.

"What about that 0.01%?"

"[What kind of 0.01% situation brought you back to life?]"

Jiang Ran chuckled.

He stretched lazily in the sea breeze.

"[Coincidence.]"

"Coincidence?"

"That's right. An extreme coincidence."

Jiang Ran continued.

"Thinking about it now, I can't help but laugh. Those adults were doing CPR on me, right? Seeing that I wouldn't wake up no matter what, they kept increasing the pressure on my chest. They even broke my ribs, and the impact of my chest hitting the ground kept jolting my head up and down."

"Just then, some elementary school students with backpacks walked by on the mountain. One of them slipped, their backpack fell open, and their stationery spilled out – pencils, erasers, rulers, all scattered on the ground."

"As luck would have it, a pencil bounced and rolled down the mountain, landing right below my neck."

He subconsciously rubbed the back of his neck:

"The adult giving me CPR was pressing down hard at that very moment, and the result was..."

"Yikes!"

Qin Feng gasped, a bloody image flashing through his mind. He felt a phantom pain in his neck, as if a sharp pencil tip had forcefully stabbed him!

"The pencil tip plunged into the back of my neck."

Jiang Ran scratched the wound on the back of his neck with his fingernail:

"You should know, I have a small bruise here. You even asked me about it."

"I remember."

Qin Feng opened his left palm:

"My palm was also pricked by a pencil when I was a child. It's still a small blackish-blue spot. It's similar to how tattoos work."

"I remember I did ask you why you had a bruise on the back of your neck. You said a pencil did it, and I didn't think much of it. Who hasn't been pricked by a pencil in all their school years?"

"But I never imagined that the little bruise on the back of your neck came from such an origin. So... was that pencil that happened to fall the 0.01% that saved you?"

"That's right."

Jiang Ran chuckled softly:

"The pencil was actually quite deep. I tensed up completely, my legs kicked out, and the water in my lungs sprayed out. As I coughed violently... my heartbeat also returned."

"Amazing."

Qin Feng was awestruck.

Reality was indeed more dramatic than fiction.

That pencil must have hit some nerve, like an electric shock, causing his whole body to tense up and unexpectedly restoring his cardiopulmonary function.

This kind of internal stimulation was far more effective than external chest compressions.

"When I woke up, I saw Little Xue's throat was hoarse, there was blood at the corners of her mouth, and she was holding me and crying her eyes out."

Jiang Ran turned his head and looked towards the second-floor window.

That was Cheng Mengxue's room. The sleeping beauty had long since drifted off to dreamland.

"After that, she insisted on dragging me to sign up for swimming classes together."

"I went there purely to play in the water, but Xue always practiced very seriously, even excessively so."

"So you see, Xue's dives are quite impressive. It's probably because my near-death experience shocked her too much."

At this point.

Qin Feng finally understood.

He had initially thought Cheng Mengxue was just overly worried about Jiang Ran, which caused her to lose control and then realize her feelings for him, leading her to prepare to confess under the influence of alcohol...

All wrong.

He had guessed everything incorrectly.

This wasn't some melodramatic love story, but a past event where they had almost been separated forever.

The incident of saving him from drowning was the biggest psychological shadow, the greatest trauma for Cheng Mengxue.

The moment Jiang Ran jumped into the river, all Cheng Mengxue saw flashing in her eyes was a scene from over a decade ago... that little boy who jumped into the river to save her and had a 99.99% chance of dying.

This was her most terrifying nightmare.

And her most dreaded scenario.

"Okay, I admit I guessed wrong."

Qin Feng patted Jiang Ran's shoulder:

"Sorry."

"It's fine."

The two fell silent.

The moonlight was once again swallowed by dark clouds.

The crowds on the lower deck dispersed, and the lights were extinguished.

The night grew quiet.

Seabirds landed in the moonlight, fighting over leftover scraps, the sound of steel cutting through the water, splash, splash.

Waves crashed against the ship's hull, washing away the traces of time, washing away the fields of their hearts.

"But there's one thing I didn't say wrong."

Qin Feng turned his head.

"Don't worry about what others think of you, don't worry if you've been ordinary or outstanding all these years. In Little Xue's eyes, you haven't changed at all over the past decade--"

"[From the moment you jumped into the water at age 6, you've been the one and only hero in her heart.]"

Jiang Ran didn't deny it, a slight smile on his face.

"Why don't you take a course in Adolescent Psychology?"

"Let's all three take it next semester."

"Forget it."

Woo--------

A deep, muffled foghorn sounded.

This was a signal that had long lost its meaning at sea, but now served as the cruise ship's hourly chime.

The foghorn signaled the end of all entertainment for the day, reminding passengers to return to their cabins for a safe rest.

"Let's go."

Jiang Ran pushed himself off the railing and walked towards the stairs.

"Huh?"

He noticed Qin Feng hadn't followed.

"What's wrong?" Jiang Ran asked, puzzled.

Qin Feng still didn't speak.

He walked to the dining table.

He picked up a green date from the fruit bowl.

And threw it at Jiang Ran.

Snap.

Jiang Ran reached out and caught it precisely.

"Jiang Ran."

Qin Feng narrowed his eyes, looking at the green date in Jiang Ran's palm.

"Do you think that pencil..."

"Was really an accident?"