CHAPTER 352: CHAPTER 159: SU ZICENG’S CONVICTION

An Orleans stripped of nobility and wealth is no different from garbage by the roadside. But Wen Maixue wouldn’t reveal her true thoughts.

Surprise appeared on her face, but it quickly faded. She said timidly, "No, this won’t do, your father won’t let me go, he has confiscated all my passports."

"No, it’s always ’no.’ Why is it that everything I want to do is not allowed," Orleans thought about last night when he was locked in the wooden cabin, while his shameless father was abusing Wen Maixue. He sat aside furious, holding his head in his hands, roaring in agony.

"Orleans, my dear," Wen Maixue sat up, cradled Orleans’s head in her arms, and soothed in a low voice, "You didn’t sleep well last night. Seeing you like this now truly hurts my heart. Come, I have some sleeping pills here. Take them and get some good rest."

Wen Maixue took out two small medicine bottles and took out a pill from each, watching Orleans swallow them. The two bottles of pills, one was a psychoactive medication given by Pello, the other was the sleeping pills Wen Maixue used for insomnia.

Orleans lay down on the bed, his hand was held by Wen Maixue, his eyelids drooped, and soon, the room was filled only with the sound of deep sleep.

Wen Maixue left the wooden hut, closing the door behind her, she slipped on her ski suit alone—she needed some exercise now, to properly vent all the emotions that had been building up inside her.

Because no one notified the rescue team, the three to four days that Pello originally expected to wait soon passed.

Over these days, Su Ziceng and Pello survived on the meat of a reindeer that had frozen to death in a gully. Su Ziceng, who would never even touch raw fish slices before, has now jumped to eating raw deer meat. In the first few days, she vomited up more deer meat than she ate, and it was only after Pello’s repeated coaxing that she managed to eat it.

"It’s so good to have you here." Every night, as Su Ziceng fell asleep on Pello’s chest, she would say this. And every morning when she woke up, she would say the same thing.

No matter how difficult it was to swallow the snow water or how fishy the deer meat tasted, as long as Pello was still around, she could eat it. She had already gone through death once and wouldn’t try it again. Su Ziceng kept telling herself, as long as she could get out alive this time, she would tell Su Qingzhang that she wanted to marry Pello. If Pello stayed with the Su Family, she would too; if Pello went back to France, she would stay in France. None of those things like ZARA or being twenty-five mattered anymore.

Because she had gone blind, Su Ziceng could no longer remember exactly how long they had been trapped in the gully. She could only guess by her cycles of waking and sleeping that they had been trapped there for about seven or eight days.

Dehydration symptoms were showing in her body; the snow water eaten could instantly clear the mind but also made the blood vessels throughout the body freeze in an instant.

"It’s so good to have you here," Su Ziceng said, as usual, waking up in the morning. Pello by her side was warmer than at any other time, like a furnace.

But nobody answered her. Su Ziceng moved anxiously, reaching out her fingers towards Pello’s face. An abnormal heat, her fingers searched until they were under Pello’s nostrils, his breath was already irregular.

"Pello, what’s happening?" Su Ziceng’s voice trembled as she moved her hand over Pello’s body and found that his clothes were torn to shreds. Pello’s sitting position was right where the wind blew; to prevent Su Ziceng from being hit by the wind, he had been blocking it for several days. The wound on his body, in the cold weather, on the torn flesh, was starting to show signs of necrosis.

When his wound was touched, Pello’s body shook slowly, he unconsciously held Su Ziceng tighter and said, "Ziceng, don’t be afraid, it’s going to be okay."

Su Ziceng burst into tears, filled with fear and cold, as darkness enveloped her sight. The person beside her had already lost consciousness, and if tetanus got any worse, it could be fatal.

What should she do if Pello died?

Stay calm, stay calm. Su Ziceng thought it over and began to take off her clothes. She couldn’t see where Pello was, so she had to rely on her fingers’ touch to wrap all her clothes around Pello’s back. Then she freed up her own spot and pushed Pello into her place.

The cold quickly engulfed her entire body, and Su Ziceng leaned on the wind-sheltering frame to stand up. Her own clothes were not enough; if she didn’t move a bit, she would quickly stiffen up and freeze to death.

She stepped out with her foot, pressing down into the snow to ensure safety before leaving the snow shelter.

With a bitter taste of waking from sleep still in her mouth, Su Ziceng paused, grabbed a handful of snow, and stuffed it into her mouth regardless of the cold.

This was her first time drinking real snow water; in the past few days, it had been Pello who fed her, and the snow water carrying Pello’s body heat quenched her thirst far more than pure snow.

A feverish person needs enough water and ample calories. She recalled where Pello had mentioned the dead deer was located.

Su Ziceng took a few steps and stumbled over a lump of snow. After thinking for a moment, she crawled on all fours. Ice and snow rubbed against her knees and palms, quickly numbing them.

"Really like a wild cat," Su Ziceng mocked herself, her hair slipping in the snow, the only sound in the peaceful mountain hollow.

Crawling was certainly slower than walking. Su Ziceng used a protruding block of snow as a pivot, changing directions constantly and after half an hour, she finally touched the dry and stiff deer carcass.

The joy didn’t last long; as soon as Su Ziceng mustered the courage to touch the deer carcass, she froze.

She couldn’t feel the elasticity of flesh at all, only the frozen stiff body of the deer. When she had eaten venison before, she had no idea she was facing such meat; why had it become like this now.

Su Ziceng was unaware that the venison she had eaten was all processed by Pello. With sharp stones, Pello had cut large pieces of deer meat down to sizes that Su Ziceng could swallow.

But now, in front of her lay a shapelessly cut-up carcass, a body that looked like an ice block after enduring the wind and snow.

Su Ziceng sat beside it for a good while, when suddenly a loud noise from behind made her tremble; it seemed to be the sound of Pello unable to stay put and sliding down.

She suppressed the urge to cry that was about to burst forth and reached for the deer’s body again. Her body pressed low, sticking to the carcass that had shed its fur. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to go to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast recommendation votes and monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation.)