TL: Hua
On the suburban road in the early morning, there were only a few scattered cars.
A faint female voice from the car stereo sang softly, adding a touch of ambiance to the quiet late autumn night.
“Yanran, could you please set the navigation for me?” Gu Siye’s voice broke the silence. “The road ahead is under construction, so we need to take a detour.”
The low-key and luxurious car had a faint scent of lemongrass. Lin Yanran, who had been listening to the song and looking at the beautiful river view outside the window, turned his head, and his gaze fell on Gu Siye, who was driving.
Seeing that Gu Siye was about to reach for the phone in his jacket pocket, Lin Yanran spoke up to stop him.
“I’ll use my phone to set it for you.”
Lin Yanran explained, fearing a misunderstanding. “You’d have to unlock yours, which isn’t convenient while driving.”
Gu Siye smiled. “Okay.”
Lin Yanran quickly opened his phone and started looking for the navigation app.
This wasn’t his own phone, and he wasn’t very familiar with using it yet.
It took him about ten seconds to find the navigation app.
After quickly typing in the name of his residential community, Lin Yanran placed his phone in front of Gu Siye’s right side.
A cheerful female voice from the navigation app began to announce the distance to the destination and the estimated travel time.
Lin Yanran’s gaze fell on the song that was playing, and he finally couldn’t help but ask Gu Siye, “Do you also like Huang Huanqian?”
Gu Siye nodded and said softly, “Yes.”
He deftly turned the steering wheel, and after the black car pulled onto a new road, he added, “I used to listen to her a lot in high school.”
“Me too. I started listening to her songs in high school.”
This coincidence made Lin Yanran feel like he had found a kindred spirit, and his whole tone became livelier.
Huang Huanqian was a deceased singer. When she debuted in the last century, her style was quite niche. She wasn’t unpopular, but she wasn’t a superstar, so her songs and fan base were much smaller compared to the pop kings and queens of the era.
As time passed, even fewer young people knew of her, let alone listened to her music. So, in the present, their group of fans was truly a small, dedicated circle.
In his previous life, Lin Yanran only knew one person his age who shared the same hobby—his good friend from high school. They did everything together, so having similar interests wasn’t a huge surprise.
But it was astonishing that Gu Siye, a top star in the entertainment industry, liked such a niche singer.
It felt like finding a soulmate in a parallel world.
The feeling was even stronger because Gu Siye’s taste in music was almost identical to his.
Every song playing in the car since he got in was one of his favorites, songs he had listened to countless times before he transmigrated into this novel.
This discovery gave Lin Yanran a sense of familiarity in this strange and fictional world.
He finally understood why he felt an immediate connection to Gu Siye the first time they met.
It must have been a shared interest that drew them together.
“The first song of hers I ever heard was Night Wind Blows Softly. My friend and I skipped class one night and went for a walk by the river. The song came on my playlist, and her gentle voice perfectly matched the night scenery.”
As the song brought back memories of the past, Lin Yanran’s expression brightened. He was full of energy, his eyes sparkling.
Gu Siye listened quietly, feeling as though the scene Lin Yanran described was familiar, yet he couldn’t picture it.
It was late at night now, and there were barely any pedestrians on the road. The night was hazy, and a gentle breeze blew by the river, creating a beautiful atmosphere.
Gu Siye turned his head, wanting to look at Lin Yanran and tell him that this was also the perfect time to listen to Night Wind Blows Softly. But then he heard a loud splash from the river.
A black car drove straight into the water.
Lin Yanran, who had been about to continue talking about music with Gu Siye, saw the whole thing. He yelled, “Gu Siye, stop the car! A car drove into the water!”
Gu Siye quickly hit the brakes and pulled over to the side.
But before the car even stopped, Lin Yanran threw his phone down, pushed the door open, and jumped out.
He ran toward the river, scanning the surroundings. He saw there were only trees and nothing to use for a rescue.
As he got closer to the river, he heard cries of “Help!” and a little girl’s sobs coming from inside the car.
Knowing there was a child in the car, Lin Yanran didn’t hesitate. He jumped into the river and swam toward the vehicle.
He had been swimming since he was a child and was a fast swimmer. Within seconds, he reached the car. Up close, Lin Yanran saw that a third of the car’s front was already submerged.
The situation was critical. In a few more minutes, the entire car would sink.
Lin Yanran grabbed the driver’s side door handle and pulled hard, but it wouldn’t open. The door was locked.
“Help! Help! Someone, please save us!”
The driver, who looked to be in his fifties or sixties, was in a complete panic. He held the little girl in the passenger seat and cried out helplessly. The little girl, her face covered in blood, was wailing, “Mommy.”
Lin Yanran immediately started pounding on the car window, trying to bring the driver back to his senses.
“Sir, don’t panic! Don’t panic! Unlock the door!”
There was a chance of self-rescue if a car fell into the water, but they had to stay calm. Lin Yanran tried to get the driver to relax first.
However, the driver was probably too terrified. He didn’t respond for a long time and just kept crying out to himself.
“Sir! Sir!”
Lin Yanran pounded on the window a few more times. Seeing no reaction, he quickly swam to the passenger side.
“Unlock the door! Unlock the door!”
Lives were at stake; there was no time to waste.
Lin Yanran used all his strength to pound on the window and almost yelled at the top of his lungs, trying to convey the most important information to the person in the car.
This time, his shouts finally had an effect.
The driver froze for a second, finally noticing that someone was outside trying to rescue them.
He was overjoyed and started tapping on the window. “Help, help! Please save Lele!”
Lin Yanran nodded at him and continued to remind him, “Unlock the car first! Now!”
The driver, prompted by Lin Yanran, seemed to finally remember the option of unlocking the car. He frantically turned to search inside the vehicle.
But in his panic, he had thrown the car keys somewhere, and he couldn’t find them.
Time was ticking by. It felt like centuries had passed in just a few seconds.
By now, the water inside the car had reached their knees. The little girl, her face covered in blood, started crying again out of fear.
Waiting was no longer an option. Lin Yanran used his hands to forcefully smash the car window. But the safety glass was impossible to break.
The car’s seal wasn’t good, and it quickly filled with water halfway.
The driver finally found the keys on the dashboard. He unlocked the door, but the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the car was too great, and even with both of them pushing together, they couldn’t open it.
Seeing that they were getting nowhere, Lin Yanran yelled at him, “Look for a safety hammer in the car!”
He had just said it when he remembered that Gu Siye had been driving, so he turned to ask him to get the safety hammer from his car.
As he turned around, he saw Gu Siye swimming toward him, holding a safety hammer in his hand. It was as if he knew exactly what Lin Yanran needed.
Lin Yanran reached out happily, taking the tool from him.
In this critical moment, he still thought of bringing such a life-saving item with him when he came to the rescue. Gu Siye’s calmness and meticulousness were truly unmatched by ordinary people.
“You’re so thoughtful.”
The tight frown on Lin Yanran’s face finally gave way to a hint of a smile.
To avoid injuring the people inside, he first smashed the back window, then reached in from there and smashed the passenger window.
With a crash, the glass finally broke.
“You save the little girl first; I’ll go break the glass on the other side.”
Gu Siye calmly took the safety hammer from Lin Yanran and swam over to the driver.
The little girl inside the car was still sobbing uncontrollably from shock.
Lin Yanran reached out to her. “Don’t cry, little sister. Your brother is here.”
Then he instructed the driver inside to carefully pass the little girl out through the window.
“Don’t cry; you’re safe now.”
Lin Yanran held the little girl carefully and swam back to the riverbank with one arm.
After finally getting her to shore, Lin Yanran laid her down on the grass.
Blood was still oozing from the cut on her face, mixing with her tears. She cried as she looked at the driver in the river, continuously calling for “Grandpa.”
Lin Yanran quickly used his sleeve to wipe the blood off her face and said, “Wait here for a little bit, okay? Your brother will go save Grandpa.”
The little girl couldn’t stop crying, but she looked at Lin Yanran with gratitude and nodded obediently.
After settling the little girl, Lin Yanran jumped back into the water to save her grandfather.
Unlike the little girl’s tiny body, the driver’s heavy, two-hundred-pound frame couldn’t fit through the car window. After several failed attempts, the driver collapsed back into his seat in despair.
Trapped in the car, unable to open the door and with no way to jump out the window, he watched the water rise to his chest and felt a wave of despair.
“I’m not going to make it out, am I?” His voice had lost its former desperate will to live.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get out. We just have to wait a little,” Lin Yanran quickly said, trying to calm him down. But as he spoke, he accidentally swallowed some water, and the rest of his words were cut short.
“Wait?” The driver was confused. In this life-or-death situation, his heart was pounding, but he had a strange feeling that the two young men in front of him wouldn’t lie.
Gu Siye held Lin Yanran’s hand and helped him gently pat his back. “Are you okay?”
Lin Yanran wiped the river water from his face and nodded. “Yeah, I’m okay.”
Once he had recovered, Gu Siye helped Lin Yanran explain to the driver. “We’re waiting for the water pressure inside and outside the car to equalize. When that happens, there won’t be a pressure difference.”
Hearing this, the driver finally calmed down.
The car sank faster and faster, and the water inside rose quickly. Soon, the water levels inside and outside the car were equal. Lin Yanran and Gu Siye exchanged a look.
“Sir, let’s do this together!” Just as Lin Yanran’s voice faded, he and Gu Siye both grabbed the car door and pulled with all their might. The driver inside heard them and followed suit, using his body to push the door outward. With the three of them working together, the car door finally opened!
The driver, bursting out of the car, began to cry with relief.
He knew these two young men had literally pulled him back from the jaws of death.
Gu Siye and Lin Yanran each took one of the man’s hands and pulled him to the shore, where he collapsed onto the ground. He hugged his granddaughter and sobbed.
“Lele, Grandpa’s so sorry. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” the little girl cried, but seeing her grandfather, she wasn’t as scared as before.
A cool night breeze blew through. Lin Yanran felt relieved to see that the grandfather and granddaughter were okay.
The rescue had taken several minutes. The commotion had attracted a crowd, and people were starting to gather. Seeing a large number of people approaching, Lin Yanran grabbed Gu Siye’s hand and ran toward their car.
“More and more people are showing up. Let’s go.”
Staying with Gu Siye at this hour of the night would definitely put them on the top of the trending topics if someone snapped a photo. Lin Yanran felt he had already caused the other party enough trouble and didn’t want to add to it.
Gu Siye didn’t pull his hand away; instead, a smile formed on his face as he ran with him.
At first, Lin Yanran led him, but soon Gu Siye was the one holding his hand.
It wasn’t until they were back in the car that they let go.
Lin Yanran hadn’t even noticed they were holding hands. He looked out the window and sighed with relief when he saw that everyone’s attention was focused on the car still submerged in the water.
“Nobody saw us, right?”
Gu Siye glanced at their hands, which had just been tightly clasped, and smiled slightly. “Are you that worried about a scandal with me?”
Lin Yanran shook his head, pulling at the collar of his soaking wet shirt. He didn’t like the sticky, uncomfortable feeling of the wet fabric against his skin. As he fiddled with his clothes, he replied, “My popularity and reputation are terrible. If your fans spot us together, I’m afraid they will get mad at you.”
He wasn’t worried about people accusing him of using Gu Siye for fame; he was worried about people getting mad at Gu Siye.
Just one word was different, but it revealed where his true concern lay.
Gu Siye understood what he meant but didn’t say anything. His eyes were fixed on Lin Yanran.
He was already good-looking, but with his hair and eyelashes wet with river water, he looked even more beautiful. As he looked down to fix his clothes, he seemed as fragile and lovely as a delicate porcelain doll.
But after a few moments with him, Gu Siye knew this porcelain doll wasn’t fragile at all; he was strong and resilient on the inside.
Gu Siye suppressed the urge to wipe the water from his eyelashes, looked away, and said with a gentle laugh, “It’s okay. I’m not afraid.”
Half an hour later, Gu Siye dropped Lin Yanran off at his apartment building.
“Teacher Gu, do you want to come up and change your clothes first?”
Lin Yanran looked at Gu Siye, who was just as soaked as a drowned rat, and thought about how uncomfortable he must be.
Although he knew it might be inappropriate to invite him in, he figured it was fine since they’d just saved someone’s life together.
Gu Siye gave him a gentlemanly smile. “No, thank you. My place isn’t far. You should go home and take a hot shower so you don’t catch a cold.”
With that, Lin Yanran didn’t press the issue.
He said his goodbyes and got out of the car. Just as the door was about to close, he heard Gu Siye call out, “You don’t have any filming schedule tomorrow, so get some good rest.”
After watching Lin Yanran disappear into the night, Gu Siye started his car again. He drove a long way before finally getting home.
While Gu Siye and Lin Yanran were in the middle of their rescue, the internet was going crazy about the necklace incident.
After the show had finished filming, a staff member went to a forum and spilled the beans about what happened between Xuan Yihan and Lin Yanran.
But since the story was so unbelievable, and there was no video or photographic evidence, most people didn’t believe it was true.
Xuan Yihan’s fans, in particular, accused Lin Yanran of making it all up to get publicity, slander their idol, and whitewash his own image.
Xuan Yihan’s fans, in particular, pointed out that Yanran was deliberately fabricating this story to discredit them and simultaneously whitewash herself.
Thus, those mocking Xuan Yihan, those cursing Lin Yanran, fans, and haters, each holding their own opinions, engaged in a heated argument.
When Lin Yanran got home, he immediately took a hot shower. He washed his wet clothes and hung them up to dry before finally going to bed.
The show had been filmed late, and with the long drive and the rescue, he didn’t fall asleep until almost 5 AM.
The result of staying up so late was that his body clock went out the window. He didn’t wake up until around noon the next day, and it wasn’t a natural awakening.
A phone call woke him up. It was from the Super Idol production team, and as soon as he answered, the staff member on the other end was clearly excited. “Teacher Yanran, please come down! I’m here to pick you up for the show! It’s urgent!”
Lin Yanran rubbed his eyes and asked groggily, “What’s wrong?”
There’s no filming schedule today, right?
The staff member said, “You’re trending!”
