Chapter 480: Survival on a Deserted Island (Part 4)

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By the clear stream stood a waterside pavilion; the river valley wound gently onward.

After surviving the vast, perilous sea—after brushing so close to death amid towering waves and endless horizons—they had at last arrived in this tranquil valley where water murmured softly over stones. Only now did their hearts, long clenched tight with fear and uncertainty, gradually settle into rare calm.

Zhu Ping’an led the three of them down along the sloping bank of the valley. Years of rain had carved the earth into a steep descent, and without human interference, wild grasses had claimed the entire incline. Yesterday’s rainfall had left the blades slick and heavy with moisture. The soil beneath was muddy and treacherous.

Zhu Ping’an went first, steadying himself against tree trunks as he descended. With his wooden staff he pressed down shrubs and trampled a narrow path through the brush so that Li Shu and the bun-faced maid could follow more easily. Having grown up scrambling through mountain paths, he found this slope—though steep—hardly worth mentioning. In no time at all, he reached the valley floor.

For Li Shu and the maid, however, it was quite another matter.

Especially for Li Shu.

The wet grass made every step perilous. The slope was steeper than it had appeared from above. Following Zhu Ping’an downward, she tried to tread carefully—but just as she neared the bottom, her foot slipped.

“Ah—!”

Her cry rang out as she fell backward.

“Careful!”

Zhu Ping’an reacted instantly. Quick-eyed and quick-handed, he lunged forward and caught her. Fortunately, he was close—had he been a step farther away, he would never have managed it.

Yet catching her did not mean all was well.

He had neglected his own condition. His body was still weak—he had narrowly survived the sea, sustained multiple injuries, and just moments ago expended great effort clearing a path. Though he caught Li Shu, he lacked the strength to withstand the force of her fall. The momentum drove them both backward.

With a dull thud, they toppled together onto the riverbed.

Thankfully, the stream lay a step away. Beneath them were only damp pebbles, slick but not submerged.

Li Shu landed squarely in Zhu Ping’an’s arms. Her youthful, slender body pressed fully against his without the slightest barrier. In the instant he caught her, she had instinctively wrapped her arms tightly around him—so tightly that there was hardly any space left between them. Their warmth and softness were unmistakable, their breaths mingling in startled rhythm.

From a distance, it would have looked almost as if she had thrown herself willingly into his embrace and carried him down with her.

There was none of the absurd coincidence from storybooks where a fall inevitably leads to lips meeting lips. Such chances were vanishingly small. At least, for Zhu Ping’an and Li Shu, there was no melodramatic accident of that sort. They had simply fallen. Nothing more.

For the moment.

Li Shu remained draped over him, arms still locked around his waist.

She above.
He below.

Her knees pressed against either side of him as she half-sat, half-leaned atop his body.

Only after they landed did Li Shu fully register their position. Her eyes flew wide. Her heart began pounding violently—thump, thump, thump—as though a startled deer were leaping wildly inside her chest, desperate to break free.

This posture… it looked suspiciously like something from those embarrassing illustrated booklets she had once glimpsed by accident…

How mortifying!

Her pretty face flushed instantly, color racing all the way to the tips of her ears. The shock was so overwhelming that her mind went completely blank. For two full seconds, she froze in place, unmoving—until her gaze collided directly with Zhu Ping’an’s.

“Ahhh—!”

Her startled scream shattered the quiet of the valley, sending a few birds fluttering into the air.

Zhu Ping’an lay beneath her, somewhat speechless. He had caught her out of pure goodwill—yet her shriek made it sound as though he had wronged her terribly.

The one injured is clearly me, all right?

His back burned fiercely from the hard pebbles beneath him. This was a riverbed, not a cotton mattress. It truly hurt.

And—at this point—shouldn’t she be getting up? Why did it feel as though she had grown rather comfortable sitting there? I’m still underneath you, Miss.

…That said…

Though Li Shu’s figure in front remained somewhat youthful and modest, elsewhere she was rather… generously proportioned.

The conclusion formed unbidden in Zhu Ping’an’s mind as he lay there, body entirely uncooperative with reason.

“Ah—!”

After her first scream, Li Shu finally remembered to rise. Flustered beyond measure, she released her grip from around Zhu Ping’an’s waist and pressed her hands against the pebbled ground to push herself up. Her cheeks were so red they looked ready to drip blood.

She had just managed to lift herself, creating a sliver of distance between them, when she heard the bun-faced maid cry from above, “Miss, be careful!”

Then came another scream.

The maid, stepping where Li Shu had slipped, lost her footing as well. With a startled yelp she tumbled down the slope—rolling directly toward them. By ill-fated coincidence, she crashed straight into Li Shu.

Li Shu’s wrist was still injured; she lacked strength. The added force from the maid’s fall knocked her balance away entirely. Her arms gave out.

She fell forward again.

This time, it was not merely a tumble.

Their eyes met—

And their lips collided.

For an instant that seemed both impossibly brief and infinitely long, Li Shu’s soft, rosy lips pressed against Zhu Ping’an’s.

Heat surged violently to his head. His entire body jolted as if struck by lightning, a current racing through every nerve.

Something dormant within him—some wild, untamed creature—stirred awake at that very moment.

Li Shu, realizing what had happened, opened her eyes even wider than before.

The valley echoed once more with her scream—louder than the last.

Several seconds later, flushed with equal parts embarrassment and indignation, she began scolding the bun-faced maid at the side.

“I’m sorry, Miss… I’m so sorry…” The maid lowered her head, twisting the hem of her clothing with her plump fingers like a chastised puppy awaiting punishment.

As Li Shu delivered her reprimand, Zhu Ping’an had yet to recover from that fleeting contact.

So this… is what a kiss feels like.

In his previous life, he had remained single all the way through graduate school and even while job-hunting—a thoroughly certified bachelor. He had never kissed anyone. He had scarcely even held a girl’s hand. No wonder he struggled to return to himself now.

How did others describe it? Soft? Sweet?

For him, it was neither softness nor sweetness.

It was like being struck by lightning.

A sensation he suspected he would never forget.

The maid had not seen the exact moment their lips met. She only believed she had knocked her mistress back onto the young master.

After finishing her scolding, Li Shu’s gaze swept toward Zhu Ping’an. Seeing him still lying there like a stunned block of wood, she felt her embarrassment flare anew. She shot him a fierce glare, as though the entire incident had somehow been his fault.