Chapter 297: Chapter 297: Rebirth after the disaster, husband and wife closely embrace each other.

She had tried several times, with great difficulty, to climb onto the horse’s back, sat awry, and held onto the reins.

The jujube-red horse seemed rather restive, and before Liu Sisi had a chance to kick its belly, it started trotting.

A moment later, the horse increased its speed, almost bucking her off its back.

She shrieked—a primal instinct to hug tightly around the horse’s belly.

The tighter she held to the belly, the faster the horse ran! Liu Sisi didn’t dare to lift her head anymore. She held tightly onto the horse’s neck, allowing it to run wherever it wished.

She did not know for how long the horse had run. The panicked Liu Sisi finally calmed down, slowly lifted her head from the horse’s back, and noticed that she was on the back hill. All around, everything was blanketed in white. Apart from sparse patches of lush greenery poking out from under the snow, there was barely any other scenery in sight.

Looking back, there were only the chain of hoofprints left in the snow, extending to the back of the hill.

Her mouth gaped open at the endless expanse of snow. The rumbling noise she had heard earlier had stopped. Aimless and without a set destination, she plowed straight forward.

As she rounded the hill, her face lit up with joy!

Not far ahead of her was a mountain peak. Most of the snow on the peak had visibly melted away, revealing patches of verdant hillside, distinctly different from its neighboring peaks.

“Oh, horsey, do you see that mountain peak? Let’s go! Giddy up!”

Mimicking Di Yelei’s actions, Liu Sisi tried to lightly kick the horse’s belly. The horse indeed broke into a trot, heading towards that mountain peak.

At the foot of the mountain,

Zhang Peng and his four men were still relentlessly digging through the accumulated snow.

Suddenly, there came a rustling sound from up ahead, making all five of them stop in their tracks. Moments later, the rustling noise became denser. Zhang Peng’s eyes widened at it.

“It must be Ye Lei! Ye Lei’s still alive! He must be digging too, we have to dig faster!”

Zhang Peng’s shout brought newfound hope among the group. Everyone sped up their digging, and the rumblings within the snow became louder.

“Everyone push harder! We are close to reaching them!”

Zhang Peng’s shout energized everyone and their work hastened.

“Over here! Over here!” A fellow villager could hardly contain himself.

Accompanied by cheers, a dog’s muzzle appeared from the hole, huffing and puffing. Ah-Huang waggled his tail and crawled out of the hole.

Then, there came a bout of coughing from the hole, revealing Di Yelei’s smiling face.

“Ye Lei! Quick, everyone lend a hand and pull!”

A few of the villagers came over to help. Working together, they managed to extract Di Yelei from the hole.

Friends united after surviving a catastrophe, everyone sank to the ground, laughing in relief.

“We’re truly sorry for what happened earlier, we….” The two villagers felt guilty about abandoning them earlier during their flight.

“No, no! That’s nothing!”

With a dismissive laugh, Di Yelei totally understood the actions of the two villagers: “It’s all well that you ran fast, otherwise, we would have all ended up buried under the snow. There would have been no one left to dig me out.” He joked, but his words rang true.

The villagers couldn’t help but laugh.

“Ye Lei! Are you okay?” Zhang Peng finally caught his breath and immediately started asking.

“Brother Zhang, I’m fine, just a little worn out!”

Di Yelei managed a weak smile, feeling as if his lungs were about to burst. A trickle of blood ran down the corner of his mouth.

“You… You must have internal injuries! And you’re still saying you’re fine!” Zhang Peng was anxious.

“Brother Zhang, honestly, I’m fine. This minor injury is nothing compared to life itself.” A narrow escape ensures good fortune!

“Good words! When we get back, I’ll get you a remedy specially made for internal injuries. You’ll be fully healed after a while.” Zhang Peng laughed heartily, his mind at ease.

“Woof, woof…” By his side, Ah-Huang wagged his tail and burrowed into Di Yelei’s arms.

“Didn’t Ah-Huang pass away just now? How did he come back to life?”

A stunned villager next to them recounted the events that had just taken place.

“I, too, thought Ah-Huang had passed away. I planned to bring his corpse back, but when we were being buried in snow, it suddenly woke up. Initially, I was the one clawing at the snow, but then after it saw me, it started doing the same, digging faster than me.”

Di Yelei couldn’t help but chuckle at the recollection, though he was hit by a fit of coughing after just a few laughs.

“Ah-Huang is okay, but Ah-Hua…” can never come back!

Next to him, Zhang Peng patted his shoulder, “Ah-Hua may have died, but it died an honorable death! It was a good hunting dog!”

“It’s getting late, let’s go! We should get back home earlier to reassure our families.”

At that, the group turned to return home, their conversation and laughter resuming.

Meanwhile, Liu Sisi was struggling on her fiery red horse!

This horse was extremely obedient under Di Yelei, but it was a different story with her. The mare refused to listen to her commands. The more anxious she became, the more restless her horse was. Ye Lei was still waiting for her to save his life! How much longer would this damned horse continue to mess up?!

She vowed to learn horse riding after she overcame the current crisis!

While she was frantically lost in her thoughts, the fiery red horse raised its head and neighed, then it started galloping towards the people ahead.

Liu Sisi raised her head, realizing what was happening!

It turned out that the horse had scented Di Yelei and refused to take her instructions!

“Sisi? Why… why are you here?!”

Di Yelei was surprised to see Liu Sisi there! A warm current swept over his body instantly, his eyes brimming with emotion.

No one knew the emotions he felt when he was racing against the Snow Dragon!

In the moment that he was buried alive, one thought dominated his mind!

He had to survive! He had to! He had to get home alive!

Sisi was waiting for him at home!

This woman, weak on the outside but strong on the inside, was always on his mind and he was certain he could not leave her!

So, he survived!

He survived the burial by the Snow Dragon! Wasn’t his survival also a result of the strength he drew from the woman in front of him?

Liu Sisi’s eyes were also red!

Her tears welled up in her eyes. Stubbornly, she bit her lip and refused to let them fall!

Ye Lei was alive! He was alive, standing perfectly fine in front of her!

Her tears finally broke through the restraint and spilled down her cheeks. She cried uncontrollably. She jumped off the horse and threw herself into Di Yelei’s arms, sobbing loudly!

“Don’t cry! Sisi, don’t cry! Good… good… ”

Di Yelei’s eyes were also filled with tears, and he couldn’t hold them back any longer.

He tried to wipe them away, but they kept falling.

“You bastard! You promised not to get hurt! You lied to me again… sob… sob…”

As she sobbed uncontrollably, she kept pounding his chest!

“Sisi! My dear Sisi…”

He held her tightly, as if trying to embed her completely into his body, refusing to let go of her.

The couple cried loudly, their faces covered with strange smiles of happiness that bespoke a narrow escape from danger.

Everyone’s eyes were red!

No one laughed at them; instead, they all smiled brightly at them.

When they finally got back home, it was already completely dark. The two fellow villagers brought back by Zhao Wu were waiting inside the house.

Guihua cried and threw herself onto Zhang Peng at the sight of him. She wept and beat her fists against him, while wiping her nose and eyes.

After much ado, everyone finally entered the house.

Liu Sisi hurriedly prepared dinner. Everyone had been busy and hungry all day, they needed a good meal.

They recounted what they had each experienced, each expressing their own feelings. Ah-Huang, who had shown remarkable bravery, was given exceptional attention and was carried to the bonfire to warm up. Though Ah-Huang was safe, his spirit seemed low, and he lay still, half-asleep and half-awake.

When they spoke of Ah-Hua, Di Yelei sighed: “Ah-Hua bit onto Old Man Li’s leg and refused to let go, eventually falling into the karst cave with him. I saw the cave was as big as two thatched huts, and the suction inside was very strong; it was impossible to go down after them…”

As to the fate of the dog, no one said anything, they just quietly ate their food.