Chapter 33: Bathroom Lord’s Promise (5)
Translator: Sissy That Walk
Slightly frowned, Bathroom Lord leaned over to avoid the attack, without stopping his steps towards me and grabbed my arm. With a hard pull, he turned his waist around and pulled me into his arms before falling into the river.

When we were falling down, I heard him whisper in my ear, “Since I made a promise to you, I would keep it with all my heart.”

I was a little stunned, and mixed feelings welled up in my heart.

Until we fell into the water, when it almost covered our mouths, I only wanted to ask him one question: Do you know how to swim?

Soon I realized that it didn’t matter if Bathroom Lord could swim or not.

The current was rapid, whirling forward, and we were rushed out a long way in a twinkling time. No matter how you were good at swimming, it was also of little use. The only thing we could do was to hold breath, avoid being choked or staffed with water, and then change breath quickly while we took the opportunity to keep our head off the water.

After a while, the river suddenly narrowed down which rushed us into the famous Jiuqu gorge.

Jiuqu gorge was famous for its numerous river bends, beaches and fierce water.

Suddenly there were some submerged rocks in Jiuqu gorge, which hit us here and there when we were floated in the river.

He protected me by embracing my whole body in his arms, his hands crossed behind my head, bumping against one rock after another with his own back.

I could clearly hear the muffled voice in his throat as he was hit.

I knew very well that this wouldn’t go on for long. He could hold me now, but the next second he might be knocked unconscious and let me go. I considered it and made up my mind to put my arms around his neck, with my hands around his head and neck, and at the same time, I clung on his waist by my legs trying to cover his ribs.

At this moment, there was no gap between him and me. Jesus! It was such an ambiguous body move. I was even embarrassed.

Apparently not knocked out yet, Bathroom Lord gave me a startled look.

When our heads were out of the water, I shouted in his ear, “Let’s make a bet on who’s going to faint first.”

With water all over his face, he even grinned: “I bet it’s you.”

I opened my mouth just want to answer back, when a big wave patted over us, who immediately sank into the river. I hurried to close my mouth, holding my breath, waited for the next time to get my head out of the water.

However we were repeatedly involved in the whirlpool, which trapped us in the water for a long time. As a result, I was at the end of my breath and felt myself suffocating. Even immersed in the water, I couldn’t help opening my mouth to breathe. My legs were released from his waist, only desperately treading water, and wished I could immediately get out of the water for breathing.

Struggling in the water, my mouth was suddenly staffed by soft lips. A flexible tongue broke into my mouth, followed with air slowly transmitted from there.

I was dumbfounded. I had almost suffocated, even forgot to breathe in.

Bathroom Lord detected my sluggish reaction in the water, and thought I might faint away. His hands pressed hard on the back of my head, and his lips went deeper into my mouth, trying to blow air into my mouth.

My first thought was that this man really had great lung capacity! Even at this time he dared to operate artificial respiration for me!

I suddenly woke up. In this moment, my life was on the line. How could I care about those trifles? I just hugged him and inhaled from his mouth while telling myself that I should look him as a beauty in robust figure.

With his support, I finally survived and held out until getting out of the water again.

We parted at the same time, both gasping. When I took enough breath, I thought I should thank him, but my lips touched his while I turned my head. For some reason, I was unexpectedly surprised, suddenly choked to cough up.

He patted me on the back and asked, “What’s wrong?”

I did not know how to answer. Luckily the river in front suddenly became turbulent, we were carried forward with the current, with no time to talk.

Here was the last bend of Jiuqu gorge, which was the most dangerous one, hidden with many beaches. Although both of us tried our best to avoid the rocks, we hit against some of them. The last hit was the most serious one that it made him slowly release an arm that held me tightly after murmuring in a low voice.

Well, I won the bet. Bathroom Lord passed out first.

It was still dark, and I could not see where he was hurt. What I could do was to hold him tightly, floating with the current.

Further down, the river finally widened and the float became eased. After drifting for a while, the roaring river turned peace like a shy girl, shining in the moonlight.

I let go of my hands and feet, only a hand around his neck, and then leaned on the river, quietly floating along the serene river slowly. The river was quiet, so was my mind.

I thought, at this time as long as I let him go, he would be no longer a threat to me. I could go back to find Qi Sheng, and continued to play the role of the Crown Princess Zhang shi, until Qi Sheng ascended to be the Emperor. Then I would choose a few beautiful girls in the Palace, and together with Lv Li, to move to a distant Palace where I could live a well-off life until death.

It could also be counted as “safety and sufficient supply for provisions and clothing.”

I loosened my fingers and closed them, again and again, but I couldn’t get rid of him finally.

I was afraid that what I let go of was not only him, but also my own conscience.

After drifting for a long time in the evening, we finally landed on a beach at daybreak. My hands and feet had been so paralyzed that I couldn’t feel them at all, but I still dragged him out of the water.

There were many trees along the riverside, so I chose a place to take shelter from the wind. I lay him down on the beach and examined his wound. The bruises and scratches on him were too many to count, and there was a rather deep knife wound near his shoulder blade which had turned white after soaked in the river for a long time.

Fortunately, his limbs were not broken. I looked over his ribs carefully again, and seemed it didn’t injured that severely.

I had a sigh of relief and thought about binding up his wound. But when I checked him again, only found that the sharp rocks had torn his clothes so ragged that there was no any complete piece of cloth used as the bandage.

But my clothes was rather complete, especially the yellow satin inside. Tearing my own clothes into rags might work it. I took off the clothes, picked clean part of the clothes to tear off to wrap him up. Comparing to Bathroom Lord, my condition was much better than his, my sword wound in the chest was not deep, and since applied medicine, I wouldn’t feel hurt even it was soaked into the water. Nothing was serious except for a few bruises and scratches on my arms and legs.

He was lying quietly beside. Although he did not wake up, his breath was still smooth. I feared what if it caused wound inflammation, he would get a high fever. What I feared always came around me. After a while, I heard his breath becoming faster and faster. He had a high temperature, but his teeth were chattering and his limbs were curled up all together.

I squatted beside him, silently looking at him, hesitating whether to try the method I had seen on TV, which was to strip myself to cover him! I didn’t know if it worked or not. It was not because of any psychological barrier, in this case there was no big deal for two men hugging together, but considering the IQ of those screenwriters, I finally gave up this attempt. Instead, I walked to the river and soaked the cloth in cold river water, which could do him the physical cooling.

It was not until the sun rose high that his temperature gradually dropped. I was finally relieved. After a while, he opened his eyes, but did not speak, only silently looking at me.

I began to worry that the fever took a toll on his brain.

“You surprised me,” he said hoarsely.

I patted the dirt on my ass, turned around and looked through the pile of tattered clothes. “You also did something beyond my expectation.” I replied casually.

I tried to find something I could wear, but failed. Finally I could only smack my lips, picked out some rags and wrapped them on my feet first.

He watched me with silence.

I turned back, narrowed my eyes and looked at him for a moment, and said sincerely: “After the accident of last night, no matter what calculation you are on, we got through life and death event, so I sincerely advise you that you’d better give up competing for the imperial throne, otherwise sooner or later you would be doomed.”

He tried all his best to sit up on his elbows, squinting at me, sneering: “Why do you say so?”

I went to his side, crossed legs to sit down, and said: “Military power! Although you are a favored prince, you have no military power in your hand, while Qi Sheng has it. He is the Crown Prince, appointed by Cheng Emperor. Even if the Emperor does not like him, as long as he does not craft a conspiracy against him, the Emperor will not abolish him for the sake of the stability of the imperial court.”

This was also the reason why I decided to continue to work with Qi Sheng before, although the present Emperor had weak character, he was not a fatuous and self-indulgent ruler. He knew the importance of a Crown Prince, who couldn’t be abolished as he wished.

He did not speak, only looked at me coldly.

I thought myself confessed everything without any reserve, hence there was no need for me to avoid his gazing, so I looked at him back.

Finally, he dodged my sight, and said with a faint smile: “Do you think that if I quit competing I could survive? They have forced me to do that step by step. If I compete, there might be a gleam of hope, but if I quit, I would be doomed. ”

I felt that I had no comment on the topic, so I stopped speaking. I stood up, saying: “I am hungry, you wait here first, I will go to see around to find some food, and get some water back from the river.

I was about to leave after saying that, when I heard him calling out after me, “ah –“