Chapter 14: A Life-and-death Struggle
Translator: Flying Lines
Edited by Lord Immortal

The pig cage fell into the river with Xie Mengxuan inside. Clinging to the ground, Geng Zhishan made a desperate effort to shake off the shackles but failed, as others strained to keeppress upon him down.

What Xie Mengxuan saw before drowningat last was that Geng Zhishan, who had no choice but to actbe struck dumb, shouted ‘darling’ in great pain. She took a deep fast breath with her eyes closed. It was apparent that she had lost the bet.

Seeing Since Xie Mengxuan had took treating her impending death calmly as if like “going home”, Geng Zhishan was terrified out of his wits. He immediately got rid of others and stood climbed up with all his might. Although he stumbled a little at first, he still made a dash for the riverside.

He clearly saw something drop from the sleeve of Xie Mengxuan. It was a the dagger as long as a thumb! The instant he pounced to catch hold of it, the Zhao brothers took the hint from Aunt Cui and pressed upon him tightly together with other strong men.

“Stop him, and don’t let him halt the trial of the river god!” clapped Aunt Cui, who was watching the pig cage being washed away by the swift current.

Within the a blink of thean eye, the girl in red inside the pig cage disappeared in the rushing waters.

Geng Zhishan struggled to get free, but more and more people pounced on him. He yelled; and he screamed,; but nothing changed.

Until he was finally tired out and the pig cage completely disappeared from in sight, Aunt Cui waved her hand,. “Well, it seems that Mrs. Geng has been deemed sentenced to be guilty by the river god. Don’t be sad, Geng Zhishan. There are a number of beautiful girls in our village. As your auntie, I’ll be the matchmaker to find you a pretty beautiful wife with fertility.”

The Zhao brothers and other muscular strong men climbed up while being out of breath. With the red eyes as his eyes red from anger, Geng Zhishan looked up at Aunt Cui and stumbled to his feet. Gasping, as tears crossed his face, he said in a hoarse voice,: “If anything untoward should happen to my wife, all of you present will be murderers!”

Having finished speaking, he speeded down the riverside.

Since the current was swift and she was trapped in such a narrow space of the pig cage, Xie Mengxuan nearly gave up while when feeling the pain as the current exerted an impact against her injured leg.

However, due to her survival instinctsby the instinct of seeking to live on, Xie Mengxuan endured the impact of the current around her and managed to open her eyes under in the river. Unbearable though the stabbing pain was, she still struggled to keep make her eyes open to observe the surroundings in order to seize a the chance to live.

The pig cage swung in the rushing waters randomlyaccording to no rules. Xie Mengxuan reached into her sleeve to look for the thumb-sized dagger as long as a thumb only to find nothing. A flash of desperation appeared in her eyes. With a wobble, the pig cage along with her hit an the underwater rock under the river even before she gave out a sigh.

Due to the agonizing painOut of pain, Xie Mengxuan could not help giving out a breath but held it shortly afterwardher breath in a short while.

Considering the fact that she was a poor swimmerin swimming, she couldn’t hold the breath for a long time. It was vital for her to get out of the pig cage as soon as possible. Otherwise, she would die.

With effort, Xie Mengxuan struggled to untie the string at the top of the pig cage. Due to her shaky movementsAs she was in unsteady movement, she almost strained herself to the limit before succeeding successfully undoing the rope string with her weak hands.

Under the strong will to surviveBy the instinct of seeking to live on, she forced herself to hold her the breath for a relatively longer durationtime. She preferred to live rather than die here[1] .

Holding this firm belief, she successfully untied the string[2] . With a sweep of her the hands, she managed to float up. Unfortunately, her injured leg got stuck in the pig cage.

Lowering her head, Xie Mengxuan finally reached her limit, bursting bubbles from her mouth. Due to a deep sense of unease, she could not help taking a breath. The moment the water entered her nose, she felt suffocated with her eyes opened wide. Purely Oon instinct, she began to struggle only to undermine the strength.

She ran out of oxygen and felt dizzy soon afterbefore long. Instead of struggling, she flew along with the current to sink and emerge.

“Am I going to die?”

Xie Mengxuan slowly lifted her hand and found everything vague and blurryin sight within a blink of the eye. In a daze, she seemed to see a white figure come straight to her.

Before she could make made out who the white figure was, she fell into the deep darkness.

Geng Zhishan didn’t know Xie Mengxuan was struggling between life and death under the river. He ran like the a wind along the riverside but was soon stopped by a man.

The man was a mystery, garbedwho was in a large black robe with his face and body so well covered that he didn’t expose even a little bit of his skin.

“You can’t.” The man in black robe said in a low and deep voice as if he had experienced many vicissitudes of life.

Standing with his back straight, Geng Zhishan took a deep breath,: “She’ll die.”

“She won’t.” The man in black robe gave a quick response.

Geng Zhishan looked up at him and went forward with hope in his eyes. “Where is she?”

“It doesn’t matter where she is. She won’t die, and very soon, she’ll be back. Keep in mind your identity, Geng Zhishan!”

His last words meant a warning. With a heavy breath, Geng Zhishan clenched his fists, and his veins protruded in anger. “If I can’t protect those I love and care, why should I keep my identity in mind?”

“Stupid!” The man in black robe waved his the sleeve to force him backto backward and then scolded him. “If you are exposed, our plan over all these years will be disrupted.”

Still worried about Xie Mengxuan, Geng Zhishan hesitated. “But she…”

“The bBeauty tends to confuse the mind. A heavy burden still liesremains to be on your shoulders, Geng Zhishan.” The man in black robe softened his voice. “I can guarantee you her safety. The one who set up this pitfall has saved her life.”

“It’s a trappitfall?” Geng Zhishan was amazed. Was that man the one who set up this ploypitfall? Why did he do this? What was his purpose?

Having noticed that he was absent-minded, the man in black robe gave a displeased snort and said in a low voice,: “It seems that it wasto be wrong for the master to order you to protect Xie Mengxuan since you haven’t found that it was a pitfallscheme.”

“It’s due to my ignorance.” Geng Zhishan restrained himself and lowered his head with his hands folded.

With a sweep of his sleeve, the man in black robe said,: “You’d better be aware of this point. Go, and continue to play the role of Geng Zhishan.”

Having finished speaking, the man disappeared. Standing still, Geng Zhishan took a deep breath. What should he do? Go ahead to look for Xie Mengxuan? Or, go back to being Geng Zhishan?

He should have already known the answer, but looking at the current, he finally put his the hand close to his lips and imitatedto give out several notes of birds.

After three notes, there was nothing but silence. After a long while during which one could have a cup of tea, a black figure jumped from the top of a tree and went down on his knee. “My young master, here I am.”

Now that the man in black, his top-notch bodyguard, had appeared, Geng Zhishan became aware that it was safe all around.

With his hands clasped behind his back, Geng Zhishan seemed to be from a noble family regardless of the coarse clothes he was wearing. “Go to look for her together with me.”

“According to the teacher’s order, you are not allowed to save her.” The man in black said by instinct.

Pissed off with his response, Geng Zhishan gave him a slap which was close to fall on his face. “Since you are now under in my charge, you should obey my order. If not, I’ll call another bodyguard.”

Nevertheless, the man in black maintained the kneeling posture. “My young master, you can’t. At present, you can only be Geng Zhishan, an incompetent peasant.”

Geng Zhishan’s darkened his eyes darkened, and in all of a sudden, he seized the bodyguardman in black by the throat and gradually tightened his grip.