Chapter 26: Unexpected Turn of Events
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“Yunsheng?” He Yan almost thought she was seeing things, but after a closer look, it was indeed He Yunsheng.
He Yunsheng had already walked up to her, shielding her and pushing Fan Cheng far away with one palm.
“You, how did you get up here?” Fan Cheng finally steadied himself and pointed at him, looking incredulous.
“Of course, I swam up!” He Yunsheng replied.
He had just been pulled out of the water, completely soaked and dripping wet. He squatted down immediately to untie the ropes from He Yan’s feet.
“How did you know I was here?”
“I was afraid that the guy with the surname Fan would bother you, so I sent Shuang Qing to follow you. Who knew that he would see you being taken away.” Shuang Qing was the servant He Yan had bought for He Yunsheng, who accompanied him to school on a daily basis.
“Shuang Qing followed to here and then came back to tell me. I rushed all the way here and swam over. Luckily, I caught up in time.” He untied the rope on He Yan’s feet and was about to untie the one on her hands, but to his surprise, the ropes on her hands were already loose. He was a little puzzled but didn’t think much about it. He stood up, glaring at Fan Cheng, and said angrily, “If I hadn’t arrived in time, what would this scoundrel have done to you?”
“What would I have done?” Fan Cheng finally regained his composure. He looked at He Yunsheng and smiled confidently, “Do you think you can change anything by coming here?”
Apart from the three of them, there was no one else on the boat. They probably didn’t want to disturb Fan Cheng’s “entertainment.” Even the guard who had brought He Yan here had disappeared. He was likely rowing the boat far away, waiting for Fan Cheng’s orders after everything was done.
“Your sister will be mine sooner or later,” Fan Cheng sneered, “You’re just refusing to face reality. Who was the one who tried everything to climb into my bed? Now you’re pretending to be a virtuous and chaste woman!”
“You!” He Yunsheng’s face turned pale, and he rushed forward, landing a punch on Fan Cheng, “You b*stard!”
Fan Cheng almost fell backward from the force of his attack. The boat swayed violently, causing He Yunsheng to stagger.
He Yan frowned and was about to go help when she saw something flash in Fan Cheng’s sleeve – it seemed to be a glimmer of silver. Her scalp tingled, and she sternly shouted, “Yunsheng, get back!”
He Yunsheng didn’t know what was happening, but he instinctively turned around. With a “thud,” the knife that Fan Cheng had taken out stabbed into his clothes.
He Yunsheng also broke out in a cold sweat, saying, “You dare to kill someone!”
“Why not?” Fan Cheng’s face contorted in a sinister expression. “As the son of a low-ranking military officer, if he dies, he dies! Once you’re dead, I will enslave your sister, and she will entertain me every day. When I’m bored, I’ll sell her to a brothel.” He burst into laughter.
A trace of fierceness appeared in He Yan’s eyes.
She didn’t want to deal with Fan Cheng, but she was afraid of bringing trouble to the He family. However, now it seemed that no matter what she did, Fan Cheng wouldn’t give up.
He Yunsheng was also filled with anger and pounced on Fan Cheng. He knocked Fan Cheng down, causing the boat to rock even more. Fan Cheng was knocked to the ground and tried to call for help, but He Yan shouted, “Don’t let him make a sound!” Then she quickly moved forward, stuffing a handkerchief into Fan Cheng’s mouth.
With his mouth blocked, Fan Cheng was momentarily stunned. In that time, He Yunsheng had already straddled him and began punching him. Although Fan Cheng had been boastful and confident, he was no match for the strength of a young man. Gradually, he stopped struggling.
“Yunsheng, that’s enough.” He Yan stopped him, “If you continue, he might end up dead.”
“It’s better if he dies!” He Yunsheng gritted his teeth, “If he’s dead, he won’t have any thoughts about you!”
“That would cause trouble for the He family.” He Yan released his grip, “Help me get him up.”
He Yunsheng got off Fan Cheng’s back, but Fan Cheng remained motionless, facing the ground. He Yunsheng kicked him, saying, “Get up, stop pretending to be dead!”
But Fan Cheng didn’t move.
“Two hits and you’d be dead. You really know how to extort people,” mocked He Yunsheng, while trying to kick Fan Cheng away. But as he moved closer, he noticed a pool of red spreading beneath Fan Cheng, who was lying on the ground.”
He said: “He, he…”
He Yan was carefully listening to the commotion outside. Earlier, the boat had been swaying, and she wondered if Fan Cheng’s guards had noticed. But everything seemed fine now, and they probably assumed it was part of Fan Cheng’s “entertainment.” However, when she heard He Yunsheng’s sudden change in tone, she found it odd and looked over. Upon closer inspection, she was taken aback.
After a moment, she squatted down and calmly turned Fan Cheng over.
“Ah!” He Yunsheng let out a short exclamation, quickly covering his mouth to stifle the rest of the sound. He looked at the scene before him in disbelief.
Fan Cheng laid on his back, his body limp as if he had lost all his bones. The clothes around his waist and abdomen were stained with large patches of blood, and the handle of a knife stuck out from his side, with the blade buried deep in his flesh.
When he was fighting with He Yunsheng just now, Fan Cheng had taken out a short knife from his sleeve. Later, during the swaying of the boat, the knife fell to the ground. He Yunsheng’s attack caused Fan Cheng to fall, and in the confusion, the knife ended up stabbing into his own belly.
Originally, the wound wouldn’t have been so severe, but because He Yunsheng pressed him down and used his fists to hit him, the knife went in deeper, causing him to lose his life.
He Yunsheng was frightened and his legs went weak, causing him to sit on the ground. He looked terrified and asked, “Is he… is he really?”
He Yan reached out and checked for Fan Cheng’s breath, then said with two words, “He’s dead.”
He Yunsheng looked at her blankly, seemingly not understanding her meaning. After a moment, he sobbed and said in a daze, “He… How did he die? What do we do now?”
The boat was still floating on the river, swaying unsteadily. Apart from the dim light inside the boat, there seemed to be no other source of illumination. In this dead silence, He Yunsheng’s sobbing was particularly clear, as he kept repeating, “What do we do? What do we do?”
After all, he was just a teenager, not having killed or seen blood before, even avoiding killing fish when he went fishing. Despite sounding tough with his words, he never thought that he would really take someone’s life. He Yunsheng was panicking, continuously muttering the meaningless phrase, “What do we do?”
He Yan frowned as she looked at Fan Cheng’s lifeless body.
She had killed many people, but they were all enemies on the battlefield. This was different, and although she was somewhat surprised, she remained composed. Looking at He Yunsheng, who seemed to be crying and laughing at the same time, shaking Fan Cheng’s body as if trying to wake him up, she could see that he had lost his senses.
A sharp slap echoed through the air.
The scorching pain on his face brought He Yunsheng back to his senses. He looked at He Yan, who was in front of him.
He suddenly realized that compared to him, He Yan was too calm. Her gaze was sharp as a sword, piercing through his heart like a chill. Her hands were steady, unlike his, which were trembling.
Her voice was cold, laced with a sternness akin to hating iron for not becoming steel, as she said, “He Yunsheng, pull yourself together. He’s already dead.”
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