Sweet Wife in My Arms

All of a sudden, she went hysterical as she witnessed the man being swept away by the flood.

''Lu Yi, Lu Yi...''

Just as her mouth swung open, water gushed in rapidly, smothering her with the taste of sand, seawater and her own tears.

Wait, is this supposed to be sea water or river water? Rain water or tears? Why is it so unusually salty?

She loosened her grip, hoping to be washed away by the currents. She fantasized about how liberating it would be if she could be with Lu Yi. But whenever she almost lost herself in her subconscious, a man would appear and urge her to hang on.

''Huanhuan, hold on tight! Don't let go!''

Yet, when she opened her eyes, she was still tied tautly to a pole with the flood at chest level. Apart from the unkind depiction of death by the flood, all she could feel was an endless sense of immeasurable hopelessness, cold, fear and dread.

She clung tightly onto the pole, resting her face against the cold iron.

"Lu Yi..." She kept calling out his name. That was all she could say.

As the flood water continued to rise, the water could have fully submerged the top of her head at any moment.

"I've promised you to hold on tight,'' she whimpered in silence without breaking into tears.

''Whatever I've promised you, I can do it, right?''

''I will be good, I promised to be good.''

She could not remember the number of times she was almost drowned by the turbulent waves. The waters robbed her of her bodily warmth and clean air, and she became a frail boat drifting in the vast ocean. She did not know if she would be swallowed alive by the next wave. Nonetheless, her fragile fingers continued to clutched at the pole tightly with the slightest hope. Even though her nails were torn, and her body was covered in wounds, she managed to resist the vicious currents. Apart from gripping onto the pole, a piece of clothing was also tied to her wrist and Lu Yi's belt was wrapped around her waist, securing her to the pole and preventing her from being washed away.

As long as the pole did not collapse, she would not be pulled away.

With the hands of time ticking away into a state of desolation, Yan Huan was tempted to surrender her life to the catastrophic and tormenting experience. After all, dying before this flowing water would be as clean as how she was born, cleansed and pure. She wondered where these waters would take them.

Given the prolonged state of being stranded in the water, she completely lost track of time. She did not dare to fall asleep, let alone shut her eyes. Her perception of time went drastically from the frame of minutes to draggy seconds.

Usually, it was almost impossible to experience what time meant to her. Neither could she feel time trickling away. Like when she was waiting to get off work, or waiting for the traffic light to turn green. The passing of every minute was too insignificant to be felt because time had always been inevitable and irreversible. Yet, during this moment, time seemed to have slowed down so tremendously, only waiting for her to count the next second while lingering in the previous moment.

One second had passed. Then another...

She was not counting on for her life, but counting down to her death.

After all, given the current condition she was in, how would dying make any difference?

She pressed her face against the pole under the swelling rain. As raindrops continued to flow down her hair, the water droplets streamed persistently to the corner of her eyes, only to break off at the chin, dripping away into a seemingly perpetual downpour.

Then, the Lu Family broke into chaos.

Ye Shuyun's face turned pale as she sank into the couch. Lu Jin clasped his hands around her icy fingers.

"It's alright. Everything will be alright,'' Lu Jin assured profusely as he comforted Ye Shuyun. Unfortunately, the more he reiterated his words, the greater his doubt was. How could they possibly be alright? He was just trying to remain unhopeful because realistically, he was not convinced himself, so there was no way for him to convince others.

To tell her there was hope? But was there any hope?

This is not as simple as filming a movie, because every mistake in a movie scene could be retaken. In this massive flood, in the face of these roaring waters, the insignificance and vulnerability of every human being was accentuated.

Ye Shuyun lifted her head up. Yet, not a single word was uttered from her petrified lips.

''It's alright.'' Lu Jin had ran out of words to say. He was no longer sure whether he was assuring Ye Shuyun or himself. Perhaps he was lying to her, or perhaps he was attempting to sugar coat the harsh reality.

Suddenly, Yi Ling started pulling out her hair.

"It was my fault. All my fault! It was me who suggested to take a trip to Sea River. This wouldn't have happened if it wasn't me who insisted on bringing Mother and Big Aunt there. It's my fault. All my fault! If we had not been there, Huanhuan wouldn't have came to us. She wouldn't have needed to save us either. If only she didn't turn up, she wouldn't have been washed away by the flood water. And Lu Yi wouldn't have to die!''

Ye Shuyun shuddered the moment she heard the word 'die'.

Everyone then knew, death was not to be mentioned. Words that implied the same meaning was a taboo as well because it would upset Ye Shuyun.

Lei Qingyi immediately covered Yi Ling's mouth.

Dear lord, could you stop yapping for once? I'd much rather you cry, whine or throw a fit so long you do not mention that word again. You are as good as plunging a dagger straight into Little Aunt's heart.

Ye Shuyun ended up falling sick and had to be admitted into the hospital. She was ill at heart, yet there was no medicine to cure her wounded heart. The only thing everyone could do was to helplessly witness her health deteriorate day by day.

She was missing her son. She could not stop thinking about Yan Huan.

Who would have predicted this? Why was she still alive, while her son and daughter-in-law were nowhere to be found? Even though everyone was refraining from mentioning death, but she knew deep down that she had to come to terms with it.

Flood. What is a flood? It only robs the lives of others.

He was her one and only son. From young until he became a grown-up, she had witnessed his every milestone; from graduating university to securing a job, she continued to witness him tie the knot and settle down with someone special to spend his life with. Yet, why did the flood had to happen? Why? Why did she make that trip? Was she out of her mind? Were her nerves shot? She was the cause of her daughter-in-law and son's tragedy!

So what if the rescue teams were still carrying out the search? Where would they search in the long Sea River? Given that this was such a massive flood with its currents rushing so rapidly, there was no way that they could salvage the victims in time. By the time these people were found, they would have already become corpses.

''Are you certain?'' Su Muran suddenly straightened in her seat. ''You mean... Yan Huan is dead?''

''That's right. Dead. Lu Yi too.'' Lu Qin crossed his legs while swirling the wine glass, both ends of his lips curled up. He smirked and gloated over the news.

Looks like fate is on my side.

Good that they're dead. Let them stay that way.

As he drooled over the wondrous opportunity of the future, he knew everything that once belonged to the Lu Family would be under his name eventually, including Linlang. Oh Lu Yi, whatever you have ever longed for, looks like none of them will be yours. You wretched soul!