The gentle undulating ripples of water twisted the light and shadow just right, complemented by Little Huang Ying's demeanor and movements, as if a filter had been applied.
Li Zhiyuan had been taken by his parents to see the cultural performances at their company before, where he saw many professional singers and dancers, but the impact of Little Huang Ying's performance yesterday was no less significant than that of his brothers.
Under his parents' education, he always knew and abided by the rules, yet under that humble shack, Little Huang Ying showed him another kind of wild grace.
It was wild, it was unrestrained, it was rustic, it was not suitable for public display, yet that scent, it smelled so good.
She came closer, increasingly close, like a person in a painting, stepping out of the painting, and simultaneously walking back into it.
At this moment, Li Zhiyuan had forgotten his own situation, as if he no longer remembered he was still in the water, ignoring the panic of not being able to breathe and the water constantly choking into his nose and mouth.
she reached out her hand.
Yesterday, when he was squeezed in front with his brothers watching the performance, Little Huang Ying twisted her waist and sang her way up to him, even deliberately reaching out to touch his face, since Li Zhiyuan stood out among those children, his skin fair like a porcelain doll.
Originally, Li Zhiyuan had hoped to be touched by her again.
this time she reached out with both hands.
Both hands, grabbing Li Zhiyuan's shoulders.
"So cold...so painful..."
In an instant, the atmospheric feeling was twisted and torn apart, the previous inexplicable fascination disappeared.
In Li Zhiyuan's eyes, fear finally emerged, like a person whose anesthesia has worn off, suddenly regaining the sense of pain.
He wanted to break free, to hide, to escape, but those hands held him tightly, no matter how he moved, he couldn't break free.
At that moment, a force came from behind.
Li Zhiyuan felt himself being pulled, like during tug-of-war played at school, except this time he was the rope.
Eventually, with a kind of disengagement, Li Zhiyuan was pulled up.
In his field of vision, he floated up, higher and higher, while Little Huang Ying below became farther and smaller.
Her arms reached out towards him, and between the two, a chasm that should not have been possible gradually formed.
Fortunately, he had a bamboo basket on his back, and Li Weihan was pulling upward using this bamboo basket.
Heavy, deathly heavy, though it was just a child, Li Weihan felt as if he was struggling against a bull in heat.
Below, a force was trying to prevent his grandson from coming up.
Leizi came over to help at this time, holding Li Weihan's waist and pushing backward.
When the grandson was pulled out of the water, the force of the struggle suddenly disappeared, and Li Weihan, Leizi, and the just-rescued Li Zhiyuan together fell onto the boat.
Li Weihan, without getting up, shouted at Panzi.
This time Panzi did not let the team down, using all his strength to propel the boat quickly to the other side.
"Grandpa, she's coming, she's coming!"
Leizi pointed ahead in fright.
Li Weihan looked in that direction, only to see that with the movement of the boat, the mass of black hair on the water surface was also moving toward them.
"Leizi, go help Panzi with the boat, quickly!"
Leizi got up and ran, the brothers together shouting and applying more force, speeding up the boat.
Li Weihan then picked up a fishing rod, his expression serious, and seeing that the mass of hair was still shortening the distance from the boat, he shouted loudly and thrust the fishing rod towards a spot just ahead of the mass of hair.
The fishing rod entered the water, apparently hitting something without resistance, but then a tremendous force pulled the fishing rod further downward.
Li Weihan exclaimed, fortunately letting go of the rod in time, otherwise he would have been pulled into the water by this terrifying force.
The hair, even closer.
Standing by the side of the boat, Li Weihan could see the silhouette of the woman's black cheongsam underwater.
Clearly, the river flowed eastward, yet she was moving against the current.
She was walking, she was truly walking on her own!
The boat began to shake, gradually intensifying.
Li Weihan found it hard to imagine what would happen if the boat capsized and he and his grandsons were dumped into the water; it was no longer a question of how good their swimming was, this demon was exceedingly sinister!
At that moment, Li Weihan's gaze landed on a fishing net beneath his feet, without much though, he immediately grabbed the net and cast it towards the position of the hair, now less than two meters away from the boat.
The net first covered the surface of the water, quickly sinking around the edges.
At first, the net on the water surface continued to be dragged along, but gradually, its speed slowed down, eventually, it stopped.
It worked, it trapped her!
Li Weihan rushed to the stern, grabbing the bamboo pole: "You guys go check on Little Yuanhou!"
Panzi and Leizi, ultimately still just big kids, were already somewhat exhausted from the fierce rowing they had been doing. After Li Weihan took over, they immediately ran to Li Zhiyuan's side.
"Yuanzi, Yuanzi? Yuanzi wake up, please wake up!"
"Grandpa, Yuanzi won't wake up."
Li Weihan, while rowing, kept looking back towards the gradually distant fishing net, calling back: "Is he breathing?"
"Grandpa, he's breathing!"
"Pat Little Yuanhou on the back."
The brothers immediately did as instructed, one helping Li Zhiyuan sit up while the other patted his back with a hand.
But after a long struggle, Li Zhiyuan still did not awaken.
"Grandpa, it's no use!"