Chapter 46: Fainted
An Ning fell into the river!
The impact of that one sentence was like a nuclear bomb going off!
The An family bore the brunt of it. An Guoqing was the first to sprint off, but he ran around like a headless chicken, not knowing which way to go.
"Follow Da Huang!"
With those words from Sun Dazhuang, everyone instantly found their direction.
Now, a large yellow dog was leading the way, followed by nearly the entire village in a massive, thundering procession toward the riverbank.
Meanwhile, in the river, An Ning was still severing Miao Xiaohua’s spiritual power.
But Jiang Xia, who had jumped in to save her, didn’t know this. All he saw was the two of them sinking.
He kicked hard, diving down for the rescue.
An Ning sensed Jiang Xia’s approach, and a flicker of confusion crossed her eyes.
’Why did he jump in too?’
An Ning’s original plan was for Jiang Xia to be a witness—a witness who saw Miao Xiaohua push her into the river.
Though she didn’t know why he’d jumped in, An Ning knew she couldn’t let an innocent person get dragged into this. She accelerated the process of severing the spiritual power.
Instantly, her head felt like it was about to split open as Miao Xiaohua’s memories crashed chaotically through her mind.
An Ning gritted her teeth against the searing pain and started dragging Miao Xiaohua toward the surface. Letting Miao Xiaohua die in the river had never been part of her plan.
For one, it would be hard to extricate herself if a death was involved. And for another, sometimes living was a far greater punishment.
In the river, Jiang Xia was swimming down while An Ning was pulling Miao Xiaohua up.
Their eyes met for a moment. An Ning could clearly see the incomprehension in Jiang Xia’s gaze—and even a hint of disdain.
’What’s that about? Why is he looking down on me?’
An Ning didn’t understand but continued swimming for the surface.
Jiang Xia flipped around in the water and began swimming upward. He didn’t go for Miao Xiaohua, however. Instead, he swam to An Ning’s side and reached out to grab her.
When An Ning saw Jiang Xia’s outstretched hand, she thought he was out of strength.
’He came down here to save people, after all,’ she thought, so she immediately extended her own hand.
In an instant, their hands clasped.
Before Jiang Xia could exert any force, he felt a powerful tug travel up his arm.
An Ning was single-handedly pulling two people and could still swim.
For a moment, Jiang Xia was completely baffled. ’Who’s saving whom here?’
All of this happened in the span of a few breaths. By the time the three of them broke the surface, the villagers still hadn’t arrived.
The three of them kept their heads above water, gasping for breath to regain some strength before slowly making their way to the bank.
Jiang Xia finally pulled his hand free, a barely perceptible blush on his cheeks as he treaded water beside An Ning.
’This silly deer,’ he thought. ’Saving the very person who pushed her in. She’s so kind it’s foolish.’
"Little Sis—!" SPLASH!
An Guoqing was the first to arrive. He jumped in without a moment’s hesitation, thrashing his way toward An Ning in a perfect doggy paddle.
Several of her cousins from Uncle An’s side of the family followed right after. With everyone helping, the three people in the river finally made it to shore.
The instant An Ning was on land, An Sancheng draped his own coat over her.
It wasn’t just him; two of her cousins’ wives also appeared with clothes from who-knows-where and wrapped An Ning up tightly.
Squad Leader Sun Dazhuang looked at the three of them sitting on the ground and had a feeling this wasn’t a simple matter.
"What in the world happened? How’d you fall in?"
Fighting a headache, An Ning said, her body trembling, "Miao... Miao Xiaohua pushed me from behind, and we both accidentally fell in."
After saying her piece, An Ning simply hugged her knees and shivered. Paired with her pale face, she looked utterly pitiful.
"COUGH, COUGH... I didn’t! An Ning pushed me! She... she..." Miao Xiaohua felt like she was forgetting something important, but she couldn’t recall what it was.
"She hates that I’m with Chen Mingliang."
An Ning lowered her head, an unreadable light glinting in her eyes. ’Miao Xiaohua’s condition is a little better than I expected.’
An Ning had only taken some of her memories, leaving the ones about Chen Mingliang untouched.
The Miao Xiaohua of now still believed Chen Mingliang would strike it rich, and she still dreamed of being a wealthy man’s wife. But everything else, she’d forgotten.
After Miao Xiaohua spoke, the scene reached a stalemate. Fortunately, Jiang Xia was still there.
Jiang Xia stood up, water still dripping from his soaking wet clothes.
"Miao Xiaohua pushed An Ning. She fell in with her, and An Ning was the one who pulled her out."
After he spoke, Jiang Xia looked at the shivering An Ning. He didn’t entirely agree with what she’d done, but he thought he understood why.
’A death is always a messy affair.’
He continued, "An Ning, if you want to report this to the police, I’ll be your witness."
Having said his piece, Jiang Xia prepared to leave.
But Miao Xiaohua wasn’t having it.
"You’re lying! I didn’t push An Ning."
"I get it now! You two must be having an affair, that’s why you’re helping her, isn’t it?"
Jiang Xia had no patience for Miao Xiaohua’s hysterics.
"Get lost! Piss me off again, and I’ll throw you back in the river to feed the goddamn turtles!"
But Miao Xiaohua must have really gotten water on the brain, because she shrieked relentlessly, "I knew it! You two are definitely hooking up!"
Jiang Xia shot out a vicious kick. Miao Xiaohua, who was already right at the water’s edge, fell back into the river with a loud SPLASH.
After landing the kick, Jiang Xia didn’t spare her another glance and walked off with Da Huang.
No one paid any mind to Jiang Xia’s actions. Not even the Miao Family stepped forward.
Only Squad Leader Sun Dazhuang was left to hastily call people over to pull Miao Xiaohua out of the river again.
After swallowing several more mouthfuls of river water, Miao Xiaohua finally learned her lesson and didn’t dare to make another peep.
"An Ning, what do you want to do about this?"
Just as Sun Dazhuang asked the question, a panicked commotion broke out nearby.
"An Ning! An Ning! Wake up, wake up!"
The cousin’s wife holding An Ning couldn’t wake her up. She looked up in a panic.
"Uncle, An Ning’s burning up!"
An Ning had passed out.
She had fainted because her spiritual power was in chaos, but the An family didn’t know that. In a mad scramble, they rushed An Ning to the hospital.
When An Ning opened her eyes again, the white light above her head shocked her fully awake. ’Am I back in the interstellar age?!’
’This can’t be happening! If I’d known that dealing with Miao Xiaohua would lead to this, I would have just finished her off!’
Still in a daze, An Ning had just barely opened her eyes when she heard a familiar voice.
"My dear girl, you’re awake."
"Gui Fen, hurry and get the doctor!"
Lin Cuihua’s fearful, tear-filled voice brought An Ning’s heart back to earth. ’Thank goodness. I’m still on Ancient Earth.’
"Mom... where am I?"
An Ning scanned her surroundings. She definitely wasn’t at home.
"The hospital. You’re in the hospital."
Lin Cuihua quickly turned away to wipe a tear, then turned back and pulled the blanket farther up over An Ning.
An Ning didn’t have the heart to say that she was actually starting to feel a bit warm.
In this weather, you didn’t even need a blanket.
But Lin Cuihua seemed lost in thought. She kept talking, but the motion of her hands tucking in the blanket felt automatic, and An Ning didn’t want to interrupt her.
"You scared us to death. You’ve been unconscious for five whole days."
"You were running a high fever, but the doctor couldn’t find anything wrong. He even told us to start preparing for your..."
Lin Cuihua trailed off, sniffling, unable to finish the sentence.
But An Ning understood. They had been told to prepare for her death.
"Mom, I’m fine now. I’m even hungry!"
"Hungry? Mom will get you—"
"Mom, the doctor’s here!"
Her sister-in-law, Zhou Guifen, burst in through the door, dragging a white-haired doctor behind her whose collar was pulled askew.
After three separate examinations, the doctor, now seriously questioning his own medical expertise, declared An Ning to be perfectly fine.