âDonât be selfish, Gu Yiâan. Youâre just using love as an excuse. A life without you is an even worse punishment for me! I love you more than you know!â
Gu Yiâan had no idea that Guan Zijue saw it this way.
He knew Guan Zijue wouldnât leave him voluntarily, and he didnât want to part ways with Guan Zijue either. But he felt that faking his death had been the only viable option at the time!
No one could understand how he was feeling!
The tree branches rustled in the wind as they stood staring silently at each other.
Suddenly, Guan Zijue said, âGu Yiâan, I understand now. Letâs go back!â
Guan Zijue then made his way back to the clinic.
He sat on the sofa upon entering while Gu Yiâan brought him a mattress.
âMake do with this! You canât sit here all night!â
He then brought Guan Zijue an electric blanket and placed it on the mattress.
âGuan Zijue, I might have been too selfish. I didnât think about your feelings at all! I wonât do that again in future. Iâm sorry!â
âGu Yiâan, I have a question for you. Is it because weâre on opposite sides of the law that you refuse to be with me?â
âMaybe. Your dad talked to me in the past and he asked me to leave you if I want the best for you! I understand that, but itâs only now that I realize I was being too naive! Thereâs a price for everything in this world! I love you, and I wouldnât want you to get hurt because of me!â
âOkay! Well, if itâs just because of that, then okay! Letâs sleep!â
Huh? Thatâs it?
Gu Yiâan was rather confused at Guan Zijueâs reaction.
If he doesnât want to say anything else, then fine.
Guan Zijue was gone when Gu Yiâan woke up the next morning.
Gu Yiâan searched the entire village but Guan Zijue was nowhere to be found. His vehicle was gone as well!
Why did he come here only to disappear so suddenly?
He spotted the note that Guan Zijue left him only when he returned to his clinic.
It said: Wait for me!
What? Where am I supposed to wait? And how long am I supposed to wait?
Gu Yiâan was nothing but confused.
Calming himself down, he decided to open his clinic for the day.
He then spent the next month or so teaching and being the village doctor.
Ye Zhongjue called one day telling him that something happened to Guan Zijue.
Before Gu Yiâan could ask further, the call was cut due to the poor signal in the mountains!
He couldnât get through when he tried calling back either.
He thus packed up and left as quickly as he could.
Upon arrival at Emperor City, he called Ye Zhongjue to come pick him up at the station.
Gu Yiâan asked, âJue, whatâs going on? Where is Guan Zijue? Didnât you say something happened to him? What happened? Can you explain?â
âYiâan, stay calm. Guan Zijue is currently missing in action after going on a mission. It was a hostage situation in the mountains. The hostage was saved, but Guan Zijue is now missing! None of his men knows where he is! He seemed to have disappeared into thin air! The Guan family has also been searching for him all this time, but thereâs still no news. I thought that I should tell you about it! You decide if you want to go look for him!â
Gu Yiâan frowned. âHow did he go missing? How is it even possible for a living person to just disappear like that? Also, what kind of mission was that? Why did he have to personally participate in the operation?â
âWe donât have any clues. Right now, no one knows how he disappeared. Itâs dangerous in the snowy mountains and avalanches are very common. The team might have gotten separated during their mission. Yiâan, I wanted to let you know, but I donât want you to risk anything. Itâs extremely difficult to locate anyone in those mountains!â
âNo! Heâd be fine! He told me to wait for him! Heâll be back. I trust him!â
Even though he said this, Gu Yiâan decided to make a trip into the mountains to search for Guan Zijue on his own.
He found nothing on the first day. On the second day, he spent the night in a cave he found before continuing on his journey.
He spent the next half a month in the mountains but there was still no trace of Guan Zijue anywhere.
He even encountered a wolf pack in the mountains!
Gu Yiâan spent two whole hours fighting the pack before successfully killing all of them, and the snow was dyed red with blood after their intense fight.
He trudged wearily in the snow and found a place to rest. It was at this point that he realized he had been walking aimlessly in the mountains.
There was something he couldnât understand. If Guan Zijue told him to wait, why did he have to do something so dangerous?
Gu Yiâan skinned one of the dead wolves and ate it for sustenance the next day.
He was afraid that he might end up dying here before he could find Guan Zijue.
If Guan Zijue told me to wait, heâll definitely be back!
As Gu Yiâan ate, he heard several howls behind him.
He froze before turning to see another pack of wolves. These wolves looked like they were enraged.
They must have seen the bodies of the other wolves. They look like they hate me and they probably want to take their revenge!
Gu Yiâan clenched his fists to prepare for a fight, but he wasnât sure if he would be able to survive it.
He waited for an opportune moment to attack.
I canât die here. I have to look for Guan Zijue. I canât die before I find him.
Gu Yiâan rushed at the wolf in front with determination!
The wolf pounced at him, and he slid under its belly and slashed it with his knife.
The wolf then howled in pain, surprising Gu Yiâan.
I donât have a lot of strength left. Why is it crying out so painfully?
He then realized that the wolf was pregnant!
He was caught in a dilemma. Should I attack or should I retreat?
That particular wolf retreated into the pack and its companions surrounded it as they looked at Gu Yiâan with slight fear in their eyes.
I canât stay in a stalemate like this for too long. Iâd freeze to death before I know it.
A minute turned into two, and five minutes turned into half an hour...
After an hour, Gu Yiâan felt like he was completely frozen.
The wolves seemed to view him as a terrifying opponent, or else they wouldnât have stayed in their places for this long.
I have to think of something quickly.
There was a sudden sound from above while Gu Yiâan racked his brains for an idea.
He looked up to see a helicopter in the sky.
Ye Zhongjue had actually placed a tracker on him before he left for the mountains.