My Lady Says She Wants to Marry Me - Chapter 19

Chapter 19

The floodwater rushed into her mouth, and Su Wanrou’s lungs felt like they were about to explode. Her nose and throat were filled with silted water, the stinging pain overriding her instinct to breathe.

She flailed her arms, trying to break free from the current, but the water was too powerful. Finally, a wave tossed her upward, and she gasped for a frantic breath of air before being dragged back down. After ten minutes of struggling, her strength vanished. Her body began to sink.

Wave after wave battered her. She was slammed against a submerged branch with a force that knocked the wind out of her, and she couldn’t even cry out in pain. In the moonless night, there was no way to see what lay ahead. Suddenly, a strong hand reached through the darkness, pulling her sinking form into a firm embrace.

Su Wanrou instinctively grabbed the person’s clothes, her body trembling with a desperate need for oxygen.

Lu Youming held her tight. She tilted her head back to gulp in a lungful of air before being pulled under again. Underwater, she pressed her lips firmly against Su Wanrou’s. There was no time to think about the softness of the girl’s lips or the fact that her “first kiss” was happening in a muddy torrent; she only wanted to save the woman she had accidentally dragged into this danger.

Using her left hand to pinch Su Wanrou’s jaw, Lu Youming forced air into her lungs and quickly sealed her mouth again to prevent water from entering the girl’s windpipe. Her right arm paddled frantically toward the surface.

In the chaos of the rising and falling waves, Lu Youming focused all her willpower on swimming forward. She couldn’t see the shore; she might have already missed a landing spot. She kept moving, occasionally sharing her breath with Su Wanrou to keep her from drowning.

Eventually, Su Wanrou regained consciousness. She felt herself floating with the current, held steady by Lu Youming.

“Husband… are you tired?” Su Wanrou whispered. She forced herself to relax, remembering the points of the “backstroke” Lu Youming had once described to her.

“I’m fine. Don’t talk,” Lu Youming replied. She didn’t know how far they had drifted, but the moon had finally appeared—a bright, silver orb casting light over the brown flood, illuminating their path. “Save your strength. It prevents you from choking.”

They drifted for what felt like hours. Lu Youming’s arms grew numb, and a crushing fatigue began to settle in. Between the grueling rescue work of the past few days and the midnight attack, she was at her limit.

Her eyes fluttered shut for a moment, and her body began to sink. Su Wanrou, sensing the change, grabbed Lu Youming’s arm, but was pulled down with her. The shock of the cold water woke Lu Youming instantly.

As they resurfaced, a massive log—thick enough for two people to hug—drifted toward them. It slammed into Lu Youming’s lower back. Ignoring the sharp pain, she grabbed a branch. “Quick! Grab the wood! Climb up!”

With the last of their strength, they hauled themselves onto the three-meter-long log.

“Phew… the heavens don’t want us dead yet,” Su Wanrou gasped, sprawled across the bark. She looked at Lu Youming, who was equally breathless. They shared a weary, triumphant smile.

Su Wanrou reached out to touch Lu Youming’s head. “Doing things like this… you’ll make me fall for you.”

Lu Youming froze, staring into Su Wanrou’s red-rimmed, tearful eyes. In that moment, Su Wanrou’s heart truly stirred. How could it not, for a person who risked everything to save her?

Lu Youming realized the girl was just shaken. she reached out and playfully flicked Su Wanrou’s nose. “Little girl, do you even know what ‘falling for someone’ means?”

“Who says I don’t? Besides, you are already my husband.” Su Wanrou flicked Lu Youming’s nose back and quickly withdrew her hand, causing the log to wobble. She shrieked slightly and hugged the wood tight.

Lu Youming’s laughter vibrated through the log and into Su Wanrou’s chest.

“Don’t worry, I’ll stay with you. Close your eyes and sleep for a while,” Lu Youming said softly.

“Okay.” Su Wanrou closed her eyes and was asleep within a minute.

Lu Youming stayed awake. She used her dagger to cut a strip of cloth from her robe and tied her wrist to Su Wanrou’s. She checked her official blade and her belt—it was all she had left, and she couldn’t afford to lose them. Looking at the sleeping girl, she whispered, “Good. I saved you.”

Soon, exhaustion claimed her too, and she fell asleep as the log drifted away from the open flood and into a narrowing channel where the water began to split into three branches.

The morning sun woke Su Wanrou. Her legs were dangling in the water, and her upper body felt stiff and numb. As soon as she moved, a pins-and-needles sensation shot through her.

Lu Youming woke shortly after. The two sat on the log, staring at each other with wide eyes before bursting into laughter, which then turned into groans of pain as the movement agitated their cramped muscles.

“Husband, I’m hungry,” Su Wanrou pouted, her eyes twinkling with a mix of genuine hunger and playfulness.

“I’m hungry too, Madam,” Lu Youming replied with an equally innocent expression.

The sound of their laughter echoed through the river valley. Having survived a near-death experience, they had dropped their usual pretenses.

Lu Youming sat up and surveyed their surroundings. They were in a wide river, but the banks were steep slopes or cliffs—getting ashore would be difficult. However, the water was clear now, meaning they were outside the flood zone.

Su Wanrou stretched her legs and rested one near Lu Youming. “My legs are numb. I’m just… placing them here.”

Lu Youming raised an eyebrow. The Su Wanrou of today seemed different—the dignified “noble lady” facade had thinned, replaced by a more natural, relaxed version of herself.

Su Wanrou untied her hair and used a cord to pull it into a high ponytail. “I’m not letting my hair drown me again,” she muttered, remembering the terror of the previous night.

She stole a glance at Lu Youming. She remembered being given air underwater; she had been semi-conscious but aware of the contact. She touched her lips instinctively, then pulled her hand away, blushing furiously.

Lu Youming noticed her face turning red and her shy, dodging gaze. Thinking she might need to find a place to relieve herself but was too embarrassed to say so, Lu Youming asked gently, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing!” Su Wanrou said quickly, looking down. Every time she thought of their lips meeting, her heart did a frantic little dance.

They continued to drift. They endured the hunger and sipped the river water when thirsty. Eventually, the river began to narrow, and the current slowed.

“Husband, where are we?”

“I don’t have a map, but based on the speed of the current last night, we’ve drifted at least fifty li (25km). We’re likely far outside the boundaries of Qinghe County.”

Lu Youming tried to sit up straighter, but a sharp pain shot through her lower back where the log had hit her. She rubbed the spot discreetly, trying to hide the discomfort from Su Wanrou.