Chapter 167: Ai Yi Falls ill
“Calm down. Did you all forget? Lu Weiyi has a motorboat in his space,” Li Zhuang said, glancing at Antonio.
“That’s right! We took it to go find Zhuang before—and Lu packed it away,” Antonio shouted excitedly.
Li Zhuang nodded. “Everyone relax. Lu Weiyi’s definitely fine. Once they’re found, he’ll take the boat out. Let’s just wait a bit longer.”
“But I…” Xiong Jie clutched his head with both hands, staring at the endless flood. There were all sorts of debris floating on the surface—but none of it was his Xi Shi.
“Half an hour,” Li Zhuang said. “We’ll start building a raft now. If they’re not back in half an hour, we’ll all go search.”
“Alright.”
Now that they had a goal, the group immediately sprang into action.
*
Aside from the initial waves that slammed into the lower floors, the flood only reached about two stories high. Some of the third-floor rooms on the back side still had intact windows. Even on the second floor, the water barely reached knee height—walking through it was still manageable.
The group climbed into the villa and began dismantling beds and cabinets from the bedrooms, combining them into one structure. Antonio dove underwater to the first floor, hoping to retrieve some rope from the storage room. As soon as he entered, he realized everything inside was gone. Looking closer, he noticed even the food that had been set out on the table—along with the table itself—was missing.
“It must have been Lu who put everything away at the last minute,” Antonio shrugged, admiring Lu Weiyi’s obsession with preserving supplies. “No rope, but I did find this.” He waved a bundle of electrical wires he had ripped out of the wall.
“Not enough,” Li Zhuang said.
“Let’s use bedsheets,” Lin Yimu gathered all the quilts and curtains from the beds. “Tear them into strips and tie several layers—same idea.”
Everything usable was repurposed. A dozen people got to work, and within moments they had crafted three wooden rafts, each two meters wide. They even removed curtain rods, linking them together to use as poles for pushing the rafts forward.
Still, venturing out into the heavy rain was extremely dangerous. Not everyone could go.
As the group debated who would go, the sound of an engine came from outside. Shen Xing, who had been posted to keep watch, shouted immediately, “Come quick! It’s a motorboat—they’re back!”
Xiong Jie dropped the plank he was holding and rushed out first. Zhuang Mingxu twisted his body, urgently trying to move, but collapsed to the floor. Wu Yue picked him up and ran.
“Where are they? Where are they?” Xiong Jie muttered anxiously, leaning halfway out the window.
“Is anyone there?” someone shouted from outside in the rain. To those inside the villa, it was barely audible—just a faint noise.
If they hadn’t been focused on listening, they probably wouldn’t have heard it at all.
“Yes! We’re here!” Xiong Jie shouted, flinging open the window and waving his hand, his eyes scanning the motorboat but not spotting anyone familiar. Anxiously, he asked, “You guys… did they…?”
“Your captain is at the Greenfield Complex. He asked us to tell you everyone is safe,” Liu Yang shouted back from the front of the boat.
“They’re okay? All of them? Three adults and a kid?” Ning Yuan squeezed to the window and shouted.
“Yes, all safe!” Liu Yang confirmed.
“They’re okay. They’re okay, Mingxu! Did you hear that? They’re all safe,” Ning Yuan finally let go of the anxiety he’d been carrying.
“That’s good… That’s good…” Zhuang Mingxu murmured.
“Where are you headed?” Li Zhuang asked, noticing the boat was the same one Lu Weiyi had stored earlier.
“We’re going to look for our brothers in the military and maybe rescue a few people along the way,” Liu Yang replied. “They’re well taken care of over there, so don’t worry. We’re heading off now.”
They waved and set off again in the motorboat.
“So… should we still go over there?” Antonio asked.
“Yes,” Xiong Jie answered decisively, now reinvigorated. He slung a three-meter-wide wooden raft over his shoulder. “Guys, help me fasten this down—I need to make sure I can get to the Greenfield Complex.”
“Then let’s take the time to build a proper little boat and row straight there,” Lin Yimu laid out a few boards, gesturing. “These can be the base, surround them with more boards, and fill in the gaps… Ning Yuan, use your ice to seal it.”
No sooner said than done. With a sense of direction and renewed peace of mind, everyone worked more carefully. In no time, they’d built a barrel-shaped boat—two meters long, two meters wide, and one meter high. Ning Yuan sealed the edges with a ring of ice, and when they set it on the water, it floated.
“I’ll go with Ning Yuan and Xiong Jie,” Li Zhuang volunteered. “Antonio, stay behind. Anyone else want to come?”
Zhuang Mingxu clenched his fingers but said nothing. In his current state, he’d only burden the others.
“I’ll bring Mingxu,” Wu Yue offered, taking the initiative.
Zhuang Mingxu exhaled in relief, glancing at Wu Yue in silent gratitude—they both understood without words.
“I’ll come too. If anyone gets injured, I’ll feel better being there to help,” Gu Qingyue said.
“I’m going too,” Gu Qingji refused to let Qingyue go alone.
The others wanted to speak up, but Li Zhuang stopped them. “The rest of you stay here. If nothing happens, we’ll all be back soon.”
Almost all household items had been stored in Lu Weiyi’s space—there wasn’t even an umbrella to be found. So the seven of them set off into the rain. Fortunately, aside from Zhuang Mingxu, the others were ability-users; the rain was nothing to them.
*
After Lu Xi left, Lu Weiyi decided to wake up Zhuang Ai Yi.
The groggy little boy’s eyelids were heavy. When he saw Lu Weiyi, he opened his mouth slightly but said nothing, only tightening his grip around him.
“Ai Yi, don’t sleep yet. Drink the medicine first and you’ll feel better, okay? Be good. Uncle Lu is going to get daddy—he’s on his way now,” Lu Weiyi whispered gently. He took the medicine from Xi Shi and held it to Ai Yi’s lips.
Unfortunately, he had no idea how to feed medicine. One tilt, and Ai Yi started coughing violently, nearly choking—gut-wrenching, heart-tearing coughs that made Lu Weiyi’s eyes instantly turn red.
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Xi Shi comforted, gently patting Ai Yi’s back. At this moment, Dr. Sun Cheng’s words rang true—they were just two clumsy men. But where could they find a woman right now?
Just as the two of them were fretting, there was a knock at the door. Then Lin Mo’s voice came, “Young Master Lu, there’s a girl here to see you.”
Already frustrated, Lu Weiyi turned back impatiently, only to see Yun Lu standing in the doorway, eyes teary, face full of hope like she had just seen her savior. With a sob in her voice, she cried out, “Weiyi!” and ran toward him.
Lu Weiyi frowned and dodged aside, avoiding her embrace. He asked, brows furrowed, “Do you know how to give medicine to a child?”
How could an unmarried young girl possibly know how to do that? Xi Shi was about to respond when Guan Tong walked in from the door. “I do. What medicine are we giving? I’ll handle it.”
Lu Weiyi looked at her as though he had just found a lifeline, and Xi Shi immediately handed over the prepared medicine.
“He’s got a fever?” Guan Tong glanced at the packet. “You added way too much water. Most kids’ medicine has a sweet taste—just dissolve it in a little water and have them drink it directly. With that much water, it’s practically just plain water.”
Xi Shi felt a bit awkward and quickly handed over another dose of medicine.
Guan Tong deftly adjusted the temperature and mixed the medicine. With Lu Weiyi holding Zhuang Ai Yi in his arms, she managed to feed the child without waking him completely—no coughing or choking at all during the process.
Lu Weiyi finally let out a long sigh of relief.
“Little daddy~” Zhuang Ai Yi clutched Lu Weiyi’s collar with his tiny hand, murmuring sleepily.
“I’m right here. Go to sleep, everything will be fine after a nap,” Lu Weiyi whispered gently, took out a child’s down jacket from his storage space, wrapped it around Zhuang Ai Yi, and paced around the small bedroom with him in his arms. He also reminded Xi Shi, “Brother Xi, go get some rest.”
Xi Shi nodded but didn’t lie down. Instead, he quietly asked Guan Tong how they got there.
“There was a crack in the building next door. Just so happened there were soldiers patrolling in a motorboat. They recognized Chen Zhong, so we came with them,” Guan Tong explained briefly, leaving out the part where Yun Lu pretended to be Lu Weiyi’s girlfriend to hitch a ride.
—
“Weiyi, let me hold Ai Yi. You need a break,” Yun Lu, noticing how sick the child was and how focused Lu Weiyi was, offered to help.
“…” Lu Weiyi paused for a moment, then nodded. He wanted to go check on Zhuang Mingxu—his leg wasn’t in good condition, and if something happened while he wasn’t there, who knew if anyone could help.
Xi Shi couldn’t read Lu Weiyi’s intentions, but he had no grounds to stop him. He simply watched, wary of the proverbial “stepmother secretly bullying the child” situation.
But just as Lu Weiyi leaned forward, about to pass the child into Yun Lu’s arms, Zhuang Ai Yi cried out again in a teary little voice, “Little daddy~”
“I’m here, I’m here,” Lu Weiyi quickly pulled him back into his arms and patted him gently, finally calming the child down.
“Forget it, I’ll hold him,” Lu Weiyi sighed—a rare slip of emotion in front of others.
Looking out the window, he suddenly understood the situation Zhuang Mingxu had faced in the early days of the earthquake—delayed in coming to find him because Zhuang Ai Yi was sick. It must’ve been just as hard.
Yun Lu stood to the side, wanting to speak but knowing it wasn’t the right time. She stayed silent, occasionally glancing at Lu Weiyi. Nearly an hour passed in silence. Xi Shi, leaning against the bed, had dozed off from exhaustion. Finally, Zhuang Ai Yi blinked his eyes open.
“Does anything still hurt?” Lu Weiyi asked in the softest voice.
Zhuang Ai Yi shook his head and looked around. When he saw Yun Lu, he shrank a little deeper into Lu Weiyi’s arms and asked in his soft baby voice, “Little daddy, where’s big daddy?”
“Uncle went to get him. He’ll be back very soon. Are you hungry? Uncle made you some porridge. Want to try a little?” The handsome young man speaking in a low, soothing tone to the child—under Yun Lu’s romanticized filter, it was a scene that made it hard to look away. She finally saw her chance to be helpful.
“I’ll get you a bowl,” Yun Lu, wearing soaking wet clothes that clung to her, her pale face looking pitiful from the cold, passed by Lu Weiyi and scooped out two large spoonfuls of thick, soft millet porridge. “I’ll feed him. It’s not convenient while you’re holding him.”
