Chapter 174: Sadness, Discouragement, and Extreme Thoughts

Chapter 174: Chapter 174: Sadness, Discouragement, and Extreme Thoughts

"Okay!" Zhao Nuanyue complied. She filled the small porcelain bottle with plain water and sealed it again. After a careful inspection to make sure it looked unchanged, she slipped it into the innermost pocket of Wang Yuan’s clothes.

Once this was done, Zhao Nuanyue finally let out a small sigh of relief and began pressing on Wang Yuan to expel the water from her stomach.

A moment later, Wang Yuan groggily woke up.

"Am I... Am I dead?" Wang Yuan asked weakly. "I’m dead, aren’t I?"

Zhao Nuanyue shook her head and said with concern, "What nonsense are you talking about? We’re not dead. I pulled you out. You need to snap out of it. I have to go get someone to help us drag the fishing boat to shore."

Hearing that she was alright, Wang Yuan wept with joy. It felt so good to be alive. She didn’t want to die.

Only after facing death can a person truly understand what a beautiful thing it is to be alive.

"Thank you, Nuanyue," Wang Yuan said gratefully. "Thank you. If it weren’t for you, I’d be dead."

Hearing Wang Yuan’s thanks, Zhao Nuanyue had mixed feelings.

’No matter how grateful you are, you still chose to betray me.’

But this was fine, too. Zhao Nuanyue felt no guilt about using Wang Yuan.

There were plenty of clever people in the world. If you could use others, others could use you.

When Wang Yuan decided to harm Gu Qingyu, she should have been prepared for retaliation.

"You’re welcome, Wang Yuan. Let me help you back to the Dragon King Temple, and then I’ll find someone to help us," Zhao Nuanyue said softly, comforting Wang Yuan.

Wang Yuan stood up and suddenly remembered something important. ’Did I lose it?’

She frantically patted herself down. When her hand found the small porcelain bottle still in its place, she breathed a small sigh of relief.

"What’s wrong, Wang Yuan?" Zhao Nuanyue asked quickly. "Did you lose something?"

Zhao Nuanyue inwardly mocked herself for asking a question she already knew the answer to.

Hearing this, Wang Yuan looked a bit embarrassed and said awkwardly, "N-nothing... I didn’t lose anything! I’m a little cold. We should get going!"

Zhao Nuanyue nodded. "Alright, I’ll help you!"

"I can walk on my own. You should carry the Little Red Carp," Wang Yuan said. Seeing such a small child trotting to keep up with them, she felt a pang of pity.

Earlier, while struggling in the water, Wang Yuan had hated the Little Red Carp. ’If it weren’t for the Little Red Carp,’ she had thought, ’Zhao Nuanyue would have definitely saved me first.’ But now that she was on dry land, she felt that the Little Red Carp was, after all, just a child, even less capable of protecting herself than she was.

"Alright then, let’s hurry so we don’t catch a cold." Seeing Wang Yuan could walk on her own, Zhao Nuanyue picked up the Little Red Carp.

Wang Yuan looked around. The wind had died down and the water was calm.

"Strange. The wind was so strong just now, why is it so calm all of a sudden?" Wang Yuan wondered aloud, then looked at Zhao Nuanyue. "Nuanyue, don’t you think it’s strange?"

Zhao Nuanyue shivered, looked around cautiously, and said with lingering fear, "Maybe... maybe we ran into something unclean?"

Wang Yuan froze. She immediately looked back at the patch of water where they had fallen in and jumped in fright. She quickened her pace and stammered, "Maybe... maybe you’re right. We really did run into something unclean. It didn’t manage to drag someone down to take its place this time, so who knows if it’ll try to pull us in again? We should get back and bring more people. Even if there are ghosts, we won’t be afraid with a bigger group!"

"You’re right!" Zhao Nuanyue nodded. "We’ll get more people."

The Little Red Carp was laughing inwardly. ’What ghosts? That was just me stirring up the wind and waves.’

But Zhao Nuanyue had asked her to do it. As a younger sister, she had played this prank to help her older sister complete her mission. She wouldn’t actually kill Wang Yuan, though. After all, playing a prank and killing someone were two very different things.

Wang Yuan picked up her pace, walking ahead of Zhao Nuanyue, hoping to escape this place as quickly as possible.

Wang Yuan was sick of every blade of grass and every tree here. She was sick of the work, sick of the life. She wanted to go back to the city, back to Jincheng City, the city that haunted her dreams.

Zhao Nuanyue and Wang Yuan returned to the Dragon King Temple, and each went to their own room to change out of their wet clothes.

Without even bothering to take off her dirty outer clothes, Wang Yuan quickly pulled out the exquisite little porcelain bottle. She found the stopper was tight and the potion inside hadn’t spilled. Only then did she feel relieved.

This was the most important thing she had right now. It was the key to leaving this detestable place and returning to Jincheng City, the city of her dreams. It absolutely could not be lost.

Wang Yuan changed her clothes and put the small porcelain bottle back into a pocket close to her body.

Zhao Nuanyue changed her clothes and changed the Little Red Carp’s as well.

Thankfully, it was summer. Even after falling into the water, they didn’t catch a cold.

After changing, Zhao Nuanyue and Wang Yuan came out of their rooms at almost the same time.

"Wang Yuan, if you’re not feeling well, you can stay here and rest. I’ll go find someone to help drag our boat back," Zhao Nuanyue said with concern. "You don’t look well today. You should get plenty of rest."

Wang Yuan was about to refuse, but then she had a thought. Once Zhao Nuanyue and the Little Red Carp left, there would be no one else at the Dragon King Temple. This would give her a chance to check on those sponsored individuals out back and decide when to administer the drug!

Wang Yuan couldn’t stand being here a moment longer. She wanted to leave as soon as possible.

So, under Zhao Nuanyue’s "concerned" gaze, Wang Yuan touched her forehead, put on a weak expression, and said, "I do feel a little unwell. I’ll have to trouble you to find someone to bring the boat back, then."

"Mm, okay, it’s no trouble. It’s not a big deal," Zhao Nuanyue replied, smiling on the outside but feeling sad on the inside.

’So Wang Yuan is finally going to make her move.’

’But isn’t this exactly what Elder Gu’s plan to turn her own scheme against her calls for?’

’So why does my heart ache so much?’

Sigh. Maybe it was because they had gone through hardship together that Zhao Nuanyue had held higher hopes for Wang Yuan. But Wang Yuan had chosen a different path.

She couldn’t pull Wang Yuan back, so all she could do was let her walk further and further down a path she mistakenly believed to be wide and open.

Zhao Nuanyue left the Dragon King Temple with the Little Red Carp, but both of their Divine Senses remained behind to watch Wang Yuan.

As they walked, the Little Red Carp looked at Zhao Nuanyue and asked in a low voice, "Sister, you seem unhappy."

Zhao Nuanyue shook her head. "I’m not exactly happy, but I just feel that life is rather meaningless."

Hearing this, the Little Red Carp felt Zhao Nuanyue’s attitude was far too pessimistic. She quickly tried to console her, "Sister, you can think of it another way! Life is full of hardships, but you still have so much to cherish. Like me, and your brother Nuanyang, and that little sweetheart of yours, Hua Yusen!"