"What to do When the Pretty Woman I Kissed is My Best Friend's Professor" - Chapter 54

During the summer vacation of her freshman year, Yan He went to Hainan with Li Xiuxi. The two earned their diving certificates in Hainan, and when they returned, they also took a lifeguard certification course at the suggestion of their coach (and the instigation of Li Xiuxi).

As she sprinted to the shore, she saw that the child had struggled from a distance of about seven or eight meters from the bank to the center of the lake. This was a man-made lake of considerable size; Yan He estimated the distance from the center of the lake to the bank was nearly twenty meters.

When she plunged into the water, she could feel the chilling water of early autumn enveloping her from all directions, momentarily stiffening her limbs. Then, she grit her teeth and swam fiercely toward the child.

The lake water near the shore was strewn with dead leaves shed in early autumn, floating on the surface, and the water didn’t smell very pleasant. Yan He knew that she could only rely on herself now. If she waited until she ran into the woods to call for help, it might be too late.

She recited the steps for water rescue in her mind, swimming toward the child while silently reviewing them. She saw that the child’s struggling weakened gradually and quickly sped up her swimming pace.

While swimming, Yan He thought of many things. In this twenty-meter distance, if the child didn’t struggle too violently, she should be able to bring him safely to the shore.

What about afterward? If artificial respiration was needed, what were the steps? Lay the child flat first, ensure air circulation…

Adrenaline surged rapidly, supporting her as she swam to the child’s side. She swam behind the child, supporting his armpits to keep his head above the water. She was splashed in the face by the water the child scattered while struggling. After doing all this, Yan He finally breathed a sigh of relief. While calming herself, she offered reassurance: “Don’t be afraid!”

“Don’t struggle, be good, you’ll be fine immediately.”

The child was still struggling instinctively, and his hand accidentally struck Yan He’s cheekbone. A person’s potential is infinitely unleashed when fighting for survival; the force of his blow startled Yan He for a moment.

However, he vaguely realized that someone had come to save him. Although his hands were still haphazardly slapping the water in front, the force had diminished significantly. Yan He was thankful that she was applying force from behind, as required, or it might not have only been her cheekbone that got injured.

“Good—don’t be afraid, you’re safe. We’re going now.”

After saying this, Yan He confirmed that she had completely controlled him. She took a deep breath, held the child tightly, and began swimming toward the shore using the backstroke.

Just then, the crowd that had been watching the excitement in the woods dispersed, and someone noticed the activity in the lake and shouted loudly for people to come and help. A group of people came to the shore, and one of the men jumped down, leaning on a rock, and threw a whip used by an elderly man for exercise toward Yan He.

The long leather whip was nearly two meters long. Yan He had already swum half the distance with the child. She narrowed her eyes, trying to maintain her composure while keeping her breathing steady. She was about five meters away from the shallow area. With one hand tightly holding the child, she extended her free hand to grab the whip the man offered.

The moment she grabbed it, both she and the people on the shore breathed a sigh of relief.

Everyone worked together to pull her and the child to the bank. Yan He and the man pushed the child up first, and then she helped herself up, leaning on the rocks at the edge.

The child burst into loud wails after reaching the shore. He seemed to know how to swim a little, and he hadn’t been in the water for too long. However, due to his struggle, he had moved gradually from the edge to the center of the lake. Fortunately, Yan He spotted him quickly, so he only choked on some water and was not seriously harmed.

About ten people were gathered on the bank, and the number was steadily increasing. Seeing Yan He emerge, everyone quickly cleared a small space and applauded.

Yan He felt completely soaked and cold. Her mind was blank. She was helped to stand up by a kind elderly woman and smiled gratefully at her: “Thank you.” She turned her head, looking confused amidst the applause.

“Is the child okay?” Yan He, feeling lost, turned her head and asked the elderly woman who had just helped her up.

“He’s fine, fine!” The elderly woman patted her shoulder hard, her voice slightly choked: “Good child.”

Yan He nodded. She was completely drenched and felt cold all over. All she could think about was that she would definitely catch a fever if she didn’t rush home to change her clothes. So, she smiled at the elderly woman and walked out of the crowd on her own.

No one stopped her; everyone watched her leave.

As soon as she walked out of the crowd, she heard a commotion behind her. She looked back and saw that the child’s parents seemed to have arrived. She could vaguely hear the sound of the child’s mother crying.

Yan He shook her head. She felt like her brain was full of water, and shaking it might help a little. She pouted, feeling a little aggrieved. The clothes and shoes she was wearing today were her favorites, worn specifically to see the Older Woman, and now they were probably covered in all the messy leaves from the lake, right?

Water seemed to have entered her Dr. Martens boots. She stomped her foot and could hear the sloshing sound of water inside.

But it’s good that the child is fine! Yan He pinched the wet ends of her hair, thinking happily.

She pulled out her phone from her pants pocket, shook off the water, and it still worked. She called Sister Wang, who quickly answered: “Yan He? Have you arrived?”

“I’m sorry, Sister Wang, I ran into a bit of a problem here…” Yan He held the phone with one hand and wrung her soaking wet clothes with the other. She was glad she didn’t wear white clothes today; otherwise, it would have been completely transparent now.

“Oh, it’s fine, it’s fine! It just so happens that I’m mostly finished with the interview here,” Sister Wang laughed heartily: “It was nothing major anyway!”

Yan He still felt apologetic: “I’m sorry, I originally promised you—” “It’s fine!” Someone seemed to be talking on Sister Wang’s end. Yan He heard her raise her voice and say, “Really?” Then, Sister Wang said, “Well, I can’t talk now! Something seems to have come up on my end, I’m going to go check.”

After hanging up, Yan He shook her phone again. She felt there was static when Sister Wang was speaking, guessing that water had gotten into the earpiece. She planned to blow-dry it when she got home and hoped it wouldn’t cause any major issues.

Yan He sighed, thinking, I hope this doesn’t add insult to injury to an already tight budget.

As she walked out of the park, she saw a taxi parked by the roadside. The driver seemed to be resting. Yan He walked over and knocked on the car window. The driver lowered the window and asked curiously, “What’s wrong?”

“Are you available?”

The driver was drinking water. Hearing this, he screwed the cap back on and said, “Yes!”

As soon as he said this, he saw Yan He, who was completely drenched. He looked at Yan He, then at the park beside them, remembering the man-made lake inside, and asked playfully, “Young lady, you didn’t fall into the lake, did you?”

Yan He gave an awkward smile, also feeling that being completely soaked was too much trouble for the driver: “Yes, I accidentally fell in. I’m sorry. Can I give you an extra one hundred yuan for the car wash fee?”

Although it was around two o’clock in the afternoon and the sun was high, the wet clothes still felt cold when the wind blew. When the wind came, Yan He couldn’t help but shiver.

The driver glanced at her, hesitated, and said, “Fine, get in.”

Yan He breathed a sigh of relief. She opened the door and sat in the back, told the driver the address, and then checked her pockets. She found she hadn’t lost anything, and her wallet and house keys were still there.

She thought optimistically, Apart from my clothes being wet, I don’t seem to have lost anything else.

Seeing that she was completely wet, the driver thoughtfully closed the car windows. The temperature inside the car was higher, but her clothes were still soaked and clung uncomfortably to her body.

Yan He thought about the scene of her rescue just now and felt a little pleased. She had been too cold, and there were too many people just now. She had a bit of social anxiety and was too frozen to think. Now that she had calmed down, she thought, I was amazing for saving that child!

She couldn’t help but praise herself in her mind, and thought how fortunate she was to have listened to Li Xiuxi and gotten her lifeguard certification, or she might have been helpless just now.

Yan He sniffled and happily sent a message to Li Xiuxi: “Sister! I just did something super amazing!”

Right after sending the message, she saw her phone flicker, and then the screen went black.

“Oh no…” Yan He muttered, shaking her phone again. Only then did she remember that the phone was probably dead. She had only charged it for less than an hour at the Older Woman’s house, and the water might have been too cold, so it had shut down directly.

Yan He sighed, looking out the window speechlessly.

After being driven back to her apartment complex entrance by the driver, Yan He took out her wallet and smoothly paid with a few wet bills. She was glad she had brought her wallet today and that it had over a hundred yuan in it; otherwise, she wouldn’t even have been able to pay the fare if her phone was dead.

A silver lining in the misfortune.

After getting out of the car, Yan He cautiously scanned her surroundings, realizing that the usual busybody elderly residents were not at the entrance. She breathed a sigh of relief and walked home confidently.

It was the weekend, and Ms. He was home. Seeing Yan He, who had gone out in the morning and returned in the afternoon completely soaked, Ms. He was startled. She widened her eyes and quickly looked Yan He up and down, asking, “Did you—go have a water fight? Or did you fall into the water?”

Yan He took off her waterlogged Dr. Martens boots and placed them aside while going to her room to find clothes to shower. Hearing Ms. He’s question, she instinctively ran her hand through her wet hair and said, “Fell into the water.”

Ms. He raised her eyebrows high, seemingly asking, How did you manage that? Then she said with concern: “Alright, alright! Go take a hot shower quickly, don’t catch a cold later!”

Yan He took her pajamas and walked into the bathroom to shower. As soon as she turned on the hot water, she remembered that her phone was dead, so she shouted through the door to Ms. He: “Mom! Can you blow-dry my phone for me? My phone fell in too just now!”

Ms. He sighed helplessly, showing great tolerance for her daughter’s rare moment of recklessness: “Fine, I got it.”

She found the hairdryer and started blowing air onto the phone.

After finishing her shower, Yan He’s cheeks were flushed with an abnormal redness. Ms. He looked at her, handed her the phone, and said, “I think it should be almost dry. Plug it in and see.”

Yan He knew that if there was water in the charging port, it wouldn’t charge, so she tentatively plugged in the charger. Seeing that the phone was charging normally, she breathed a deep sigh of relief.

After blow-drying her hair, Yan He yawned and said to Ms. He, “Mom, I’m a little sleepy. I’m going to take a nap!”

Ms. He chased after her from the kitchen, carrying a strong, spicy scent of ginger: “Wait a minute before you sleep! Drink this ginger soup! Don’t catch a cold.”

The moment she finished speaking, Yan He promptly sneezed. Ms. He stood there with her arms crossed, watching her steadily. Yan He shrank her neck, obediently drank a bowl of ginger soup, and then went back to her bedroom and immediately fell asleep.

When it was time for dinner, He You (Ms. He) went to her room to wake her up.

She called out a few times, but Yan He didn’t respond. He You felt that something was wrong. She turned on the light and looked down, finding Yan He curled up in the quilt with a flushed face, her body burning hot.

He You was startled and immediately called Yan Guangming: “Where are you?”

Yan Guangming replied: “I just got off work.”

“Hurry home. Your daughter has a fever.”

Just as He You finished speaking, Yan He’s charging phone next to the bed lit up; someone was calling. She felt it was her daughter’s privacy and didn’t want to answer at first, but the person kept calling relentlessly.

Ms. He hesitated, walked over to Yan He’s phone, picked it up, and saw two characters on the caller ID.

“Older Woman?”  (- Jiějie)

He You muttered the name softly, pondering for a moment, thinking this should not be a relative of their family.

She cleared her throat and answered the phone: “Hello? Hi.”

Shen Jinrong was taken aback. She took the phone away from her ear, saw that it indeed showed Yan He’s name, and confirmed she hadn’t dialed the wrong number. So—who was the person answering the phone?

The female voice just now was cool and detached, subtly carrying the authority of someone in a superior position.

Shen Jinrong couldn’t quite tell who the person on the other end was. She tentatively said, “Excuse me, I’m looking for Yan He.”

He You raised her eyebrows high, her gaze falling on Yan He who was lying in bed, and casually said: “Sorry, she slept.”