425 Salvation
Just when the guard wanted to go out, Chu Cichen interjected, “Wait two more minutes before you allow them to come in.”
“…” The guard immediately misunderstood something. Did his employer not hug Miss Shen enough? Or did he want to do something else?
But wasn’t two minutes too short?
The guard shot a look of contempt at his employer. “Got it.”
Chu Cichen. “…”
He couldn’t be bothered to explain. After the guard went out, he then looked at Shen Ruojing. “Earlier, you said that I’ve always been with you. What do you mean?”
What was going on?
Shen Ruojing lowered her eyelids.
Her thoughts drifted back to when she was eleven.
Back then, she was abducted and sent to the mountains and forests. She was then tossed by a few adults into an underground cave.
The eleven-year-old girl was skinny and tall like a bamboo stick. And although she was trained in martial arts, she was still too young and basically wasn’t a match for these people.
This also caused joy to be seen on the faces of those people.
To punish her, they tossed her into the cave, wanting to frighten her.
Shen Ruojing was a little rebellious since young, but she was still young after all. Honestly speaking, she was extremely afraid.
Although she refused to cry or beg for mercy, her body was still trembling in fear in the dark cave.
The mountain wind gusted by, and it sounded like the shrill cries and wails of vicious ghosts.
She curled up in a corner and felt hungry and cold, knowing no one would come and save her. This group of people kidnapped her and stuffed her in the boot of a car. After driving for two days, they brought her up a boat and then relocated her to a huge truck. After traveling for four to five days, the kidnappers changed to a small van and brought her here.
From the amount of time it took them to travel, she should be at the edge of China, in the most remote mountain village.
Even if her parents discovered that she went missing, they wouldn’t be able to find her in time.
After all, China was so big…
What could she do then?
The voices of the people outside drifted down. “That female we sold yesterday is now thoroughly subdued through beatings. Although they looked intimidating as they are from a big city, they are actually sluts deep down in their bones! It is just that this little girl is too skinny, and her bum is too small. She doesn’t look like she would be able to give birth to children.”
“You don’t know how fierce she was! If we really can’t sell her, we can simply play with her ourselves!”
The chatting voices gradually went further away, so the little girl climbed to her feet.
She began searching for things that could help her climb out of the cave, but after going around, she discovered that there was basically nothing inside. The cave was very deep, almost 20 meters deep. However, the walls were completely barren, without footholds that she could use to get out.
She walked one circle before sitting on the ground in despair.
In this cave, if there were no outsiders coming to help, those inside wouldn’t be able to get up.
Hence, she lay there helplessly and stared at the sky.
The wind gradually ceased.
Only then did she discover that the howling wind actually wasn’t scary. What was scary was the absolute silence.
It was as though the entire world had died. There was no sound at all, no response, like she was the only one remaining in the world, trapped in a deep abyss…
The term ‘loneliness’ couldn’t even describe how frightened she felt at this moment.
…There were some sharp stones at the side. As long as she cut her wrist with one, all pain would instantly vanish.
Such thoughts made her involuntarily sit back up.
Just when she grabbed one of the stones, she suddenly discovered that there was a radio in the cave.
It was an old kind of radio.
She immediately grabbed it. As someone who had self-learned electrical engineering, she tried disassembling the radio and extending its antenna. After that, she shook the battery and there was finally some electricity.
After that, she tried to modify the radio into a walkie-talkie to connect to a channel not far from her. She would be able to call for help then.
She tuned the frequency for a very long time, but there were no sounds at all.
After waiting so long, she thought that she was completely isolated from the world and would be trapped in this darkness forever. But all of a sudden, the voice of an adult man rang out from the other end.
“Young master, why did the radio suddenly buzz twice?”
After that, a young voice rang out.
“It is no longer buzzing now. Uncle Liu, it’s time for me to study.”
“Hmm, okay. I’ll go out first then and not disturb you.”
“…When the heavens want to bestow something great on someone, they would first temper the person’s heart and will. They would then exhaust their strength, using hunger to nurture the body, making the person completely exhausted…”
In the lonely cave, Shen Ruojing could only see a small piece of the sky. The young man’s melodious voice had pulled her away from the boundless terror she felt.
She shouted a few words, but the other party ignored her. Evidently, he didn’t receive her message.
This radio didn’t have any ability to converse. She could only listen but not send out any replies.
However, this lonely world finally had sounds. Without realizing it, she hugged the radio to sleep.
From then on, listening to the young man studying and reading poems became her only source of joy every night. It was as though once she listened to his voice, she would be able to calm down.
Humans had to have hope, right?
She simply depended on his voice and endured her harsh living conditions.
It was unknown how long had passed. Maybe, it had been a month or even 100 days.
The other party started learning mandarin.
She heard the other party’s teacher patiently speaking, “Young master, if your name is written in Chinese, it would be written like this ‘楚辞琛’. Take note that your ‘ci’ is that of ‘farewell’ and ‘chen’ has the ‘王’ radical beside it.”
Shen Ruojing smiled.
So, his name was Chu Cichen.
He was the only ray of light in her life at that time.
…
So, there had never been love at first sight. Shen Ruojing wasn’t a woman addled by love, so how would she fall in love with him because of his looks?
She had always liked Chu Cichen.
Also, it wasn’t the Chu Cichen that Song Chen impersonated.
There was no need for him to do anything. As long as he was in this world, he was her salvation…
It was so when she was 11 years old, and it was so when she was in the darkest period of her life six years ago.
Song Chen impersonated Chu Cichen and met her for two hours every week. However, it wasn’t because of what he said or what he did that she felt at ease. Rather, it was the fact that the person he was impersonating was Chu Cichen.
…
In the ward, Shen Ruojing lowered her eyes to mask the emotions within. In the end, she only curled her lips and didn’t explain. She then glanced at the door. “They will soon enter.”
Outside the door.
Mother Rong was currently checking the surroundings. At the same time, she whispered to Rong Rong, “Your friend Little Jing better not appear right now. Also, later on, you have to make sure that you don’t mention anything about your past. Understand? If the eldest young miss of the Shen Family asked where have you been in the past thirteen years, just say you were studying abroad…”
Rong Rong didn’t speak.
Doctor Xu added, “Little Rong, you should pay attention to your words and ponder over how to become her friend…Later when you meet her, don’t say the wrong things.”
The guard soon allowed all three to enter.
Doctor Xu took the lead while Mother Rong walked behind. She couldn’t help but pinch Rong Rong. “Why is your brain like wood? If you were half as smart as your younger sister, you would definitely be able to charm the eldest young miss of the Shen Family!”
She spoke in a tone like she hated iron for not becoming steel as she glared at Rong Rong. After that, she made sure she had a wide smile on her face as she brought Rong Rong through the door.