Chapter 203: Do You Have a Criminal Record?

I struggled to swim towards the nearly submerged guitar, but the guitar drifted further and further away with the water current.

My thick winter clothes were completely soaked, creating a significant burden. Combined with the shock of the icy lake water, I felt my strength fading rapidly, and I swallowed mouthfuls of water. Yet, deep inside, there was a hidden force that continued to support me, enabling me to barely keep going in pursuit of the guitar.

From the shore came Jianwei’s muffled voice, but amidst the sounds of wind and waves, I couldn’t hear her clearly. I exerted my last bit of strength and tightly grabbed the nearly submerged guitar. Overcome with sudden joy, I immediately lost my strength, swallowing even more water. At that moment, I finally felt fear and an intense desire to survive.

With my last remaining strength, I swam toward the shore, but my legs cramped from the extreme cold. My heart filled with anxiety and panic, as I experienced for the first time how close death felt.

At that moment, Jianwei suddenly took off her coat and sweater on the shore, jumped into the river wearing only a thin undershirt, and swam toward me…

“Zhaoyang, hold on! You must hold on!”

My strong survival instinct drove me to kick my legs and slap the water surface to keep from sinking. Finally, Jianwei reached me. She slipped under my armpits, supporting me, and together we exerted effort to swim back toward the riverbank.

…

A cold wind blew continuously. Both Jianwei and I collapsed on the ground exhausted, coughing violently, our bodies dripping water onto the ground. The guitar was the same; water streamed down its strings in a continuous line, and then three streams converged together, seemingly carrying our countless past memories back into the river.

Jianwei’s lips were pale white, and her body trembled. I used my last strength to crawl to where the down jacket lay, then returned to wrap it around her. I took my phone from the pocket of the down jacket, preparing to call an ambulance, fearing Jianwei couldn’t withstand the damp cold.

However, Jianwei took the phone from my hand and shook her head, her voice choked as she asked, “Why did you do this? … Why risk your life to retrieve this guitar?”

“I feel terrified and regretful now… But at that moment, I didn’t have time to think much because watching the guitar sink into the river felt just like I myself was about to be buried at the river bottom. It was a pure instinctive reaction… I had no choice but to do it!”

Jianwei looked at me with a complicated expression. I couldn’t tell whether the drops falling from her face were tears or river water, but the twitching at the corner of her mouth was undeniably real. She opened her mouth several times but ultimately said nothing.

I was nearly collapsing from the cold when Jianwei put the down jacket back over me. She retrieved her dry sweater and coat from the bushes and, right in front of me, took off her soaked undershirt and changed into the dry sweater and coat.

She glanced at the dripping guitar and asked me, “Zhaoyang, is this guitar still usable?”

I shook my head, saying, “It’s basically ruined… Let it be ruined then.”

Jianwei stared blankly at the guitar for a long time without speaking.

I picked up the guitar from the ground and said to Jianwei, “If this guitar must be completely destroyed, please do it when I’m not around. After all, it has accompanied me for so many years…”

Jianwei took the guitar from my hands, lowered her head for the first time in front of me, and softly said, “I understand what you mean… Let me take you back.”

“No need.”

“It’s hard to get a taxi here. If we stay any longer, you will definitely catch a chill.”

I looked up at the rarely trafficked road and finally nodded.

…

Jianwei turned the car heater up as high as it would go, but both of us still shivered from the cold, especially me, who had spent more time in the river. Still, it was fortunate at least that we had saved two lives, because in such an extremely dangerous situation, I had no doubt that both Jianwei and I could have easily succumbed to exhaustion and sunk to the bottom of the deep, endless moat.

The speeding car quickly reached my residential complex. Just as Jianwei was about to drive into the compound, I suddenly saw Mi Cai’s Q7 turning in ahead of us. Immediately, I asked Jianwei to pull the car over to the roadside.

As I was getting out, Jianwei said to me, “Zhaoyang, go back quickly and change your clothes so you don’t catch a chill!”

“Yeah, you too.”

Jianwei nodded. After I closed the car door for her, she started the car and drove away.

I walked into the complex and sat in a small, already abandoned garden. Despite shivering from the cold, I didn’t want to go back inside because I didn’t know how to explain the soaked state I was in to Mi Cai.

My phone rang again. Without even looking, I knew it was Mi Cai calling. Near the end of the ring tone, I finally answered but didn’t speak first, afraid my trembling voice would give me away.

“Zhaoyang, where are you?”

Thinking fast, I told Mi Cai, “I’m at Fangyuan’s house having a drink!”

“Really?”

“Yeah… I won’t talk to you anymore.”

“Zhaoyang…”

I sensed something wrong in Mi Cai’s tone and uneasily asked, “What’s wrong? Is there anything else?”

“Where exactly are you now? Please tell me the truth.”

Holding onto my last bit of hope, I replied, “Didn’t I just say I’m at Fangyuan’s?”

“…Did you forget that all of Zhuomei’s middle and senior management attended my uncle’s birthday dinner today?… I left early. Tell me, where is Fangyuan right now?”

I was instantly stunned, cursing myself for being careless, and finally told Mi Cai, “…I’m at the complex. I’m coming up now.”

Mi Cai hung up the phone.

…

I walked uneasily toward the stairwell and discovered that Mi Cai had already come downstairs. She was waiting at the entrance. I forced myself to walk toward her.

She looked at me, soaked from head to toe, and asked, “Zhaoyang, what happened to you?”

Still stubbornly clinging to my lie, I smiled and said, “I was accidentally sprayed by a water truck on the road. What bad luck!”

Mi Cai’s face finally showed disbelief. Frowning, she said to me, “Do we really have to have deception between us?”

I clenched my teeth tightly, assuming a posture of silently accepting whatever she might do, though I was shivering from the cold.

Mi Cai sighed, “Go back and change your clothes quickly!”

I nodded. Although eager to change, I still walked behind Mi Cai.

As soon as I entered the house, I rushed into the bathroom, took off all my wet clothes, and went back to my room in a bathrobe. After changing into underclothes, I turned on the air conditioner and wrapped myself in the quilt, still shivering.

Mi Cai came into my room, poured a cup of hot water, and handed it to me. Though her mood was bad, she still showed concern in her words, saying, “Let me take you to the hospital.”

“No need for such trouble. I’ll be fine soon.”

Mi Cai looked at me for a long time before asking, “Tell me, did you try to drown yourself?”

Her words shocked me so much that I immediately spat out the hot water I hadn’t yet swallowed, choking for a while before incredulously looking at her and saying, “Do you really think I would go as far as drowning myself?”

Mi Cai nodded, “Yes, you would. You’ve done it before!”

I suddenly recalled the incident long ago when I had called Mi Cai to stop me from jumping into the river. She was indeed right—I had a history.

Judging from this, I really was quite fragile!