After I Gave Up/Let Things Slide, I Became Famous Across The Entire Internet - Chapter 32

The cameraman was ecstatic, “Elder Tang” shiver.

Tang Shuxia didn’t even look at him, and dived back down, this time for longer.

The mothers of the two children stopped those who had just climbed out of the river, “Don’t go, please don’t go. Please, look again, you must be able to find my Xiaoxi. I’ll kneel down for you. My Xiaoxi is so afraid of water, please bring her back.”

“Look again, my Er Bao is easy to find, he’s chubby, with a round belly, and looks very sturdy and cute.”

She finished speaking and was already sobbing.

The two women didn’t know how to swim; if they did, they definitely wouldn’t beg others to save their children’s lives.

Su Fan and his group, who were in the village to mingle and source ingredients for lunch and dinner, heard that children had fallen into the water and rushed over. Seeing the cameraman who always followed Tang Shuxia running around the riverbank, they hurried to ask, “What’s going on? We heard a child fell into the water. What about now? Have they been rescued?”

Seven or eight people came, urgently throwing questions at the cameraman, who barely managed to keep up, “Two children haven’t been rescued yet, and Teacher Tang is still in the river and hasn’t come up.”

He was truly worried.

As soon as he finished speaking, Luo Tong had already jumped into the water.

Seeing how quickly Luo Tong acted, Ji Xingyu quickly took off his clothes and plunged into the water as well. The two submerged for a while and quickly resurfaced, asking, “Where did the children fall into the water before?”

The two mothers, seeing more people jump in, cried with joy and hastily pointed towards a direction, trembling. It was the stone slab where the women often washed clothes. There was moss on the slab, making it particularly slippery after rain; sometimes even adults would slip if they weren’t careful. They had no idea why these children decided to play there, when they had repeatedly warned them not to go near the river, and if they played, to stay far away from the bank.

Splash!

Tang Shuxia emerged from the water, pulling a child, “Here, quickly.”

The cameraman was stunned. This spot was already far from where Tang Shuxia had first jumped into the river. “Teacher Tang found a child! Quick, save him!”

Su Fan sprinted over and quickly pulled the little chubby child Tang Shuxia was holding onto the bank. Before he could speak, Tang Shuxia dived back down, but this time quickly returned with a little girl. Both children were found, and the rushing villagers were quite happy, but seeing the children’s faces turned purplish and their eyes tightly shut, their smiles vanished.

“Quickly see if the children can still be saved?”

Su Fan’s hands trembled as he checked the children’s breathing. His eyes widened in horror. “Tang Tang, what should we do? It looks like, it looks like they’ve stopped breathing.”

Tang Shuxia touched both children’s pulses with two fingers. “They can be saved,” she emphasized to Su Fan again, “They can be saved, save them for me.”

Su Fan was paralyzed with fear, nodding woodenly. Then he racked his brain and started performing CPR and artificial respiration on the little chubby boy with his limited rescue knowledge. “Little chubby, fight for your breath, wake up!” Unfortunately, the little boy didn’t cooperate; he didn’t cough up water, and his complexion turned even bluer.

The two mothers, hearing their child had stopped breathing, felt their legs go weak and nearly collapsed. They were about to rush forward to grab their children, but an elderly person pulled them back. “Don’t go over yet. They look like they’re trying to save the kids. Saving a life is urgent; you don’t understand anything, don’t mess things up.”

Su Fan patted the child for a long time without any success. Ji Xingyu saw him stop and quickly took over, but first he checked the child’s breathing. “This child…” He stopped breathing long ago, didn’t he? Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tang Shuxia holding the little girl over her knee, one hand seemingly feeling for something, and the other lightly patting her back, occasionally checking her pulse with two fingers. After several such pats, the little girl vomited a mouthful of foul water.

Everyone was overjoyed. “She spat it out! If that water is spat out, she’ll be fine! Xiaoxi is saved!”

Before the little girl could clearly see who saved her, she was transferred to her mother’s side. The woman cried loudly, holding her as if embracing a precious treasure recovered from loss.

Tang Shuxia quickly turned to check the little chubby boy’s condition. His situation was even more critical than the little girl’s, which shouldn’t be the case. A look of doubt flashed across her face. She felt around the little boy’s neck and suddenly touched something. She quickly picked him up, standing, and forcefully patted his back, but still saw no results.

She immediately grabbed Er Bao’s legs, lifting him completely upside down, shaking and patting him.

“Teacher Tang, this, this won’t work…”

“Cough.”

A thumb sized shell was coughed out of the little chubby boy’s mouth.

Everyone else was dumbfounded, especially those who picked up the shell to look at it.

“How did Er Bao have something stuck in his throat?”

“Oh dear, this little glutton almost choked himself to death!”

Tang Shuxia quickly laid him flat and spoke to Ji Xingyu, who had tried to stop her earlier, “You save him.”

Ji Xingyu hurriedly waved his hand. He hadn’t even noticed the little chubby boy had something stuck in his throat. This little boy was truly lucky to be alive; rescuing him was purely a stroke of luck. Tang Shuxia ultimately let Su Fan take over. Su Fan quickly performed CPR on the little boy until the little fellow coughed up some more foul water and opened his eyes.

“Er Bao, my Er Bao, you almost scared your mother to death.”

“Cough, cough, cough.”

The little strong boy had already been taken home. Since these two children were covered in mud and water weeds, the adults quickly carried the children home to clean them up. In no time, the people who had gathered by the river dispersed.

“Teacher Tang, are you alright?”

Tang Shuxia sat on the ground, looking at her pale fingertips. These hands were still very clean. Suddenly, a hand reached out to her. She looked up and saw You Yixuan looking awkward. “You’re completely soaked. You should at least go back and change your clothes. Also, the ground is very dirty. Let me pull you up.”

The cameraman stopped filming after confirming the two children were fine. “Teacher Tang, quickly go back and take a hot shower, don’t catch a cold.”

Tang Shuxia did not take the offered hand. Instead, she stood up and dusted her clothes, resulting in a handful of grass debris. She nodded to them and quickly went back for a hot shower. When she came out, she found a group of village folks in the house, even the village head had arrived.

Everyone carried chickens, ducks, fish, marinated cured meat, sausages, and various fruits, with enthusiasm as if visiting relatives during the New Year. They looked at Tang Shuxia as if she were their own daughter, their faces beaming with cheerful smiles.

The two mothers hadn’t forgotten Luo Tong and Ji Xingyu, who also jumped into the water, but Ji Xingyu was busy rushing to the bathroom to shower. They looked around but couldn’t find them.

“Oh, it was this pretty girl who saved my Xiaoxi.”

“And our Er Bao.”

“Girl, we owe you today. This is a small token of our appreciation, please, you must accept it.”

“Exactly, exactly, don’t be polite. Our Er Bao will recognize you as his older sister from now on. The kindness of saving a life, how is it supposed to be repaid?” Someone next to them couldn’t bear it anymore. “Repaid with overwhelming gratitude. Don’t scare the young lady.”

The middle aged woman saw Tang Shuxia standing there coolly and aloofly and affectionately grabbed her hands very firmly. “This is from the heart, they aren’t anything valuable, so don’t mind them. And the fruits are home-grown, very fresh, unlike the ones in your city. We barely use any pesticides. Girl, remember to eat more. You are too thin. Come to Auntie’s house another day, and I’ll stew an old hen soup for you.”

Tang Shuxia unusually didn’t pull away, because she didn’t know what to say, so she simply nodded.

The woman immediately smiled broadly.

“The two kids were a bit scared today. Tomorrow I’ll have them come and kowtow to you.”

“No need.”

Just as Tang Shuxia spoke, another woman quickly cut in, “Yes, there is! Let these two kids remember that if it weren’t for you today, they wouldn’t have a future. This kindness must be remembered for a lifetime. If they dare to forget, I’ll break their legs.”

The other villagers kept chiming in with “Yes, yes, that’s right.”

Tang Shuxia, “…”

Zhai Xuefeng and Cheng Ziqiong, seeing Tang Shuxia looking flustered in front of the crowd of aunts and uncles, immediately stepped forward to greet them. The two older brother and sister figures in the show were good at dealing with these folks, and in a short while, they had them laughing. In the end, it was the village head who, seeing the time was right and fearing they would disrupt the filming, called the group away.

After the people dispersed, Qin Lei couldn’t help but give her a thumbs-up. “If it weren’t for Fanfan saying so, I wouldn’t have known you were such a good swimmer, Teacher Tang.”

Ji Xingyu and Luo Tong both agreed. They knew from the cameraman that Tang Shuxia had been in the water for a long time before they arrived. Thinking about it now, the lives of those two children were truly hanging by a thread today. If it had been them, once they determined the children had stopped breathing, they would essentially… assume death.

Tang Shuxia, “It’s alright.”

Pang Tingrong, seeing her in low spirits, recalled that she had just gone through the heavy blow of the Tang Corporation’s bankruptcy yesterday, and today she had rescued two children. “Teacher Tang, you’ve worked hard. Why don’t you go back to your room to rest for a while? We’ll call you down for dinner later.”

Tang Shuxia was indeed a little tired. She walked straight upstairs. Halfway up, she glanced at the items sent by the villagers, which filled a corner of the house: chickens, ducks, fish, vegetables, and fruits. “By the way, you can use those ingredients freely.”

Jiang Yunyun and Yu Xuebo’s eyes lit up. They were just worrying about the ingredients for today, and unexpectedly, a big pie had dropped from the sky. However, Jiang Yunyun cautiously said, “These were all gifts from the villagers to Teacher Tang. It might not be right for us to just use them.”

Yu Xuebo also felt awkward. “That’s right.”

Everyone had put in a lot of effort to gather ingredients before, and for them to just pick up ready-made ones now seemed improper.

Zhai Xuefeng said, “I think Little Tang genuinely doesn’t mind. How about this: each of us puts in our best effort and cooks one of our signature dishes for Teacher Tang to try. This way, we won’t disappoint the villagers who provided the ingredients, and everyone can have a satisfying meal.”

The director, holding rolled-up scripts, roared at Zhai Xuefeng, “What do you mean? Were you just messing with me when you cooked before, holding back? Ah, Zhai Xuefeng, I misjudged you!”

Zhai Xuefeng angrily put his hands on his hips. “You unscrupulous director, think about what you prepared for us! Without ingredients, how can I show off my skills?”

The director immediately ran away covering his head, leaving behind a phrase, “Next episode, I’ll prepare something special for you.”

Everyone burst into laughter.

Cheng Ziqiong rubbed her stomach. “You made me hungry, Old Zhai.”

For the past two days, everyone’s mouths felt bland; they were either gnawing on sweet potatoes, eating noodles, or occasionally having a bowl of porridge in the morning. The only chicken meal was courtesy of Ji Xingyu’s great sacrifice. Seeing so many ready-made meat ingredients, they immediately rolled up their sleeves. Ye Kaicheng excitedly pulled a strip of cured meat from the basket, swaggering and showing it off in front of the director and the show staff. “This doesn’t count as cheating, right? The villagers willingly gave these to us, oh.”

The director was amused by his smugness. “Fine, but that’s because Teacher Tang is impressive, it has nothing to do with you.” After saying that, he lightly kicked him.

Ye Kaicheng quickly dodged, chuckling twice. “No matter what, this is what we call: when one person attains success, their whole circle benefits.”

“Everyone, let’s get moving. I’m making this dish, I’m starving to death.”

It was lively downstairs, and quiet upstairs.

Tang Shuxia was genuinely tired. Her current body constitution wasn’t up to her past standards. However, lying on the wooden bed, staring at the ceiling, she couldn’t fall asleep. There was a spider web in the corner of the ceiling. Two large houseflies slowly became the spider’s meal, leaving only small remnants, signifying their existence in this world.

Ding.

Tang Shuxia was too lazy to move.

Ding, ding.

Tang Shuxia couldn’t help but turn over.

Ding, ding, ding.

After a while, the phone finally went silent.

It seemed the messages were all sent.

Tang Shuxia had quite a few contacts on WeChat, but the only person who would harass her like this was Xie Jinzhi. Xie Jinzhi was bored in the hospital and would occasionally send her emojis or a comprehensive plan for her next two years. Tang Shuxia had never opened that densely packed schedule.

While thinking, Tang Shuxia fell asleep, completely unaware of the new storm brewing online.

#Look at the conduct of the Tang family’s daughter: giving attitude and acting like a diva.

It was the usual attention grabbing headline, but many people still clicked on it, especially Tang Shuxia’s small fan base. However, this time, the content didn’t disappoint the public’s expectations; it was quite juicy. Someone, anonymously, leaked a candid photo from the set of Tang Shuxia’s reality show. In the photo, Tang Shuxia was accompanied by two handsome assistants. The poster, claiming to be a staff member, wrote about Tang Shuxia’s actions, stating that she put on airs, even monopolizing the director’s recliner, and treated the staff coldly, clearly looking unhappy. She also ignored her co-stars, being extremely impolite.

In short, she was described as lacking quality and manners. Tang Corporation’s daughter, humph.

Xie Jinzhi was scrolling boredly in the hospital and stumbled upon a piece of news about her artist. Judging from the photo and the text, it seemed just as the poster described: Tang Shuxia looked cold, radiating arrogance and haughtiness. She quickly sent N photos to Tang Shuxia, but…

She quickly called the assistant to find Tang Shuxia.

The assistant was also slow to realize. He was busy scouting a good location for filming and only learned about Tang Shuxia saving people in the water an hour later. “Sister Xia, Sister Xia must have gone to rest. Sister Jinzhi, you don’t know, Sister Xia jumped into the river today and saved two children…” The assistant praised Tang Shuxia effusively, talking non-stop, his eyes getting brighter, leaving Xie Jinzhi completely bewildered.

Xie Jinzhi looked confused. “Ah, can Shuxia swim?”

She seemed to recall that Tang Shuxia’s profile stated she couldn’t swim. After all, there might be some swimsuit endorsements related to women in the future, and Xie Jinzhi had collected information in advance, thinking she would reduce water-related endorsements if Tang Shuxia couldn’t swim.

After saying a lot, the assistant finally remembered Xie Jinzhi. “Sister Jinzhi, are you looking for Sister Xia?”

Xie Jinzhi, “…Never mind, let her rest well.”

Damn it, can’t these people online just stop? They throw all sorts of mud at my Shuxia. Seriously, are they bullying her because the Tang family went bankrupt and she has no one backing her?

After hanging up the phone, Xie Jinzhi immediately rolled up her sleeves and started tearing into the comments.

LOL, didn’t the Tang Corporation announce bankruptcy two days ago? It seems the liquidation team has started. Still calling her a daughter of wealth? Are rich people more noble than ordinary people?

I heard her father racked up a huge debt and accidentally fell down the stairs while trying to run away, and is now lying half-dead in the hospital. I heard the medical bills are outstanding, and no one is visiting. I heard Tang Shuxia hasn’t even shown up until now. If she hadn’t legally acknowledged her father daughter relationship with Tang Mingcheng, I’d really doubt she had any connection to the Tang Corporation at all. Why else would she not show up for so long? That’s too cold-blooded.$$

WTF, is Tang Shuxia that unfilial? She must have earned money as a celebrity, right? She won’t even pay her own father’s medical bills? This is a typical ungrateful wretch.

You guys don’t know anything, just babbling here. Can’t you use your limited brain capacity to think about why?

It’s unsettling to think that Tang Shuxia’s past gentle and weak image might have all been an act. Look at her now, acting like a diva, it’s hilarious. What right does a nobody with no works have to act like a diva?