Chapter 405 Freedom
It was the day of Liu Yan’s departure to Ustrana. Wu Nian had come to the airport to see her off.
Holding Wu Nian’s hands in hers tightly, Liu Yan shot her a worried look. “Rong, I know you tend to keep things to yourself… I won’t be by your side anymore, but whenever something’s bothering you, you can write it out as if you’re writing me a letter. That’ll help make you feel a bit better.”
Wu Nian nodded obediently. “Okay.”
Tears began welling up in Liu Yan’s eyes. She stifled them with a sniff and continued chokingly, “I’ll miss you. Please don’t forget me. You’ll always be my bestie, even in the next life.”
At the sight of her sobbing friend, Wu Nian couldn’t hold back her tears any longer. She nodded and reached out a hand towards Liu Yan’s face, wiping off her tears and caressing her cheek. “Remember to be careful with everything you do and say out there. When you’re angry, try listening to some music and cool off for a few minutes before jumping to conclusions.”
“I can take care of myself. Let me know when Shen Yiyan finally moves on to another woman, though I’m pretty sure that won’t be long,” Liu Yan added hopefully. “When he’s no longer interested in me, I’ll come back secretly and see you whenever I can.”
Wu Nian lowered her eyelids without a word. Just then, Shen Yiyan’s silhouette came into the distance. “He’s here. Take care now.”
Liu Yan nodded and restrained her expression, fighting back her sorrow.
This might be farewell for real. Who knows when I will ever get to see Rong again?
Shen Yiyan approached them in casual strides, a hand in his pocket. Seeing Liu Yan’s reddened eyes, he chided in a seemingly empathetic manner, “What are you crying for? It’s not like you both aren’t seeing each other anymore.”
Quickly sweeping her tears away, she shot him a sidelong glance with an annoyed frown. “Why bother if I’m upset or not? The sky and the earth are already under your rule, and now you’re trying to control someone else’s emotions too?”
Shen Yiyan pulled her gently into an embrace. “You should be happy you’re going on a holiday. I’m the one who should be upset.”
As he spoke, he turned her around and walked her towards the departure hall.
Liu Yan stared at him, perplexed. “What are you even upset about? You come and go as you please.”
“You really don’t know what I’m feeling sad about?”
Wu Nian watched as the two of them walked off, their voices trailing off into the distance along with their disappearing backs. She waited until the plane took off, then turned to leave with a heavy heart.
Now all that’s left would be to wait for Aaron’s news. Guess I should focus on getting my boating license for now.
Wu Nian spent her days ahead traveling back and forth between the training ground and her hotel.
Handling a yacht was much easier than she’d thought. It took less effort than learning to drive a car. Within a week of training, she was granted her license.
Wu Nian knew right away where she wanted to sail to. She’d always yearned to visit that deserted island back then once again. Having acquired everything she needed to fulfill her dreams, all that’s left was to set the right coordinates on the yacht’s auto-navigation, and then she’d be ready to go.
The day before the journey, she had bought over a week’s worth of food and fuel.
Upon checking out of the hotel early that morning, she set out for her long-awaited adventure. It would take eight hours before she’d arrive at the deserted island.
Wrapping herself in a blanket, she stood on the yacht’s deck and leaned against the bow, staring at the borderless horizon. The sky was clear, and the sea breeze felt somewhat cooler than usual.
This would be her way of life from now on. A life of solitude in the midst of the vast ocean, far away from bustling cities. She figured she could return to the mainland’s shore on occasion to buy necessities and spend the rest of her days on this remote island without a care in the world until the time would come when she could no longer go on…
It was 4 p.m. when the island came into view. However, something didn’t feel right. Through the binoculars that had come as a package with the yacht, she could see a building on the coast. It looked like a residence.
Somebody built a house here? That’s strange.
Ten more minutes passed before the yacht sailed close enough to give her a clearer view of the building.
It was a three-story house, enclosed within concrete walls that loomed over two meters.
Outside the walls, a water reservoir and a single concrete driveway sat there, leading towards a metal gate. Seeing that the gate was locked, Wu Nian speculated that the owner of the house wasn’t around.
Who would’ve thought that someone else had similar ideas of living on this island! Considering that there was already one house built, it’s possible for a second one would appear. She could earn a humble living by teaching the residents here.
She docked the yacht at a fifty-meter distance away from the other end of the shore. After a simple dinner that evening, she laid on a recliner atop the deck and gazed up at the stars above.
Despite being shielded beneath her thick, fuzzy blanket, the night breeze was cold enough to send chills down to her bones.
At last, she’s back at the place she longed to be. Loneliness filled her nevertheless. The chilly atmosphere couldn’t be more fitting.
That man was no longer here with her.
As she stared blankly at the deep, night sky, Wu Nian let her mind unravel in all kinds of imaginations – thoughts about her death, about the possibilities of starting over, about countless what-ifs. Before she could figure out any answers, however, she dozed off into a hazy sleep.
As she drifted in and out of incoherent dreams, Wu Nian felt as if she was being watched by a pair of eyes. At some point, a wave of coldness hit her, as though someone had pulled her blanket off her.
She struggled to snap herself awake. However, she found herself paralyzed, unable to move nor speak amidst the darkness that had enveloped her. After a short while, she gave up.
Whatever. Life or death makes no difference anyway.
Just as she convinced herself this way, her body began to feel light. She felt a swaying and spinning sensation as if rocked back and forth by the ocean waves. A while later, a sudden heavy force pulled her into the depths and completely engulfed her consciousness.
Her eyelids fluttered open in a daze when squawks of seagulls filled her ears. She felt a warm tingle of the sunlight upon her cheeks. It was morning. Her head felt heavy, and her nose was stuffed. Oh, I’ve caught a cold… She sat up groggily and wobbled back into the cabin to get ready for the day.
Through the cabin window, she could see two wolves wandering on the shore. More of them then emerged from the forest one by one and joined the pair, and they slowly grew into a pack of twelve.
One of them turned and noticed her. Sensing a potential prey, it howled. The others then stopped in their tracks and began to fix their eyes on her figure.
What a scene. If we were ambushed by these wild fellows instead of the masked men back then, who knows if Gu Mingchen would even stand a chance against them…
She was oddly grateful that at the very least, they hadn’t died in such a grim situation.
The wolves stood staring for almost an hour, baring their fangs in her direction once every while, though there was no way for them to reach prey that was too far out on the waters. They eventually abandoned their bloodlust, lowered their heads, and walked away.
Wu Nian brewed herself some herbal porridge for breakfast.
She tried to run on the treadmill, only to have her head throbbing in pain at the end of the workout. The agony soon spiraled beyond what she could endure. She thus popped a pill and went back to sleep. When she woke up the next moment, it was already nearing the afternoon.
To her dismay, the cold had worsened. Her nose was so stuffed that it almost suffocated her, and she felt shivers from time to time.
Wu Nian couldn’t help berating herself. Who in their right minds would’ve spent a whole night out there in the cold as she did? You brought this upon yourself. What a fool! Without much energy to do anything, she spent the rest of the day watching movies on her laptop and making more porridge for dinner.
With herself ill, the week hence flew by without much excitement.
Save for the wolves who kept coming back to shore consecutively for five days straight. They stopped showing up on the sixth day, presumably having decided that their prey would never come ashore.
On the eighth day, Wu Nian packed up her things and sailed back to the city.
She knew she had to follow up on Liu Yan’s situation and Aaron’s upcoming visit. Her phone had been dead silent since there was no signal on the island.
As soon as she arrived back on the mainland in midday, her phone buzzed violently with a continuous row of incoming messages and missed calls.
Most of them had come from Shen Yiyan and Aaron.
Wu Nian decided to contact the latter first.
Aaron’s sober voice greeted her almost immediately. “Where have you gone to? You went silent for a whole week out of the blue.”
“My bad,” she apologized. “I got my yacht license last week, so I went on a solo trip. There wasn’t any signal out there at sea.”
“You’re living so freely these days, huh?”
Wu Nian smiled mockingly at herself. “More like I just decided to dive headfirst into an adventure.”
“Liu Yan arrived two days ago. She’s safe so far. I’ll send you the address soon. I’m supposed to transfer her in eight days, right?”
At that piece of news, she heaved a sigh of relief. “That’s right. Keep your eyes on her, and don’t let anyone take her away,” she reminded.
“I know. And about my grandma’s visit, we’ll be heading over to A City on the 15th,” Aaron added, then paused for a second before he continued in a solemn tone, “There’s also something else I need to talk to you about.”
