Chapter 133: The Condescending President Gu Kneels on the Ground

Rain in the mountains is entirely different from rain in the city; when misfortune strikes, your cries to heaven and earth go unanswered.

Gu Pingsheng followed the directions given by the staff member, the downpour growing heavier by the minute. Upon catching sight of the gathered crowd, he didn't even bother to open an umbrella, stepping out of the car with his long legs. His pristine, spotless leather shoes sank into a puddle, splashing mud all the way up his trouser cuffs.

A man who cared so deeply about cleanliness now had not a single moment to spare for such trivialities.

"Director Gu, you've arrived..."

"Director Gu..."

"Where are they? Has anyone been found?" Gu Pingsheng asked urgently as he approached.

Raindrops mixed with unruly strands of hair falling across his forehead, dripping down his resolute profile. Water mist clung to his eyelashes, falling away the moment he blinked.

Yet, everyone simply shook their heads at him.

Gu Pingsheng: "Search. Split up into pairs. Has the police been called?"

"We've contacted the nearest police station, but the mountain roads are treacherous and with this rain, there's no telling when they can get here," an employee replied.

Gu Pingsheng stood at the spot where Wen Zhixia had fallen, the fingers at his side trembling faintly: "Keep looking. Right now!"

The crowd scattered for a second search. Gu Pingsheng grabbed one of the men by the shoulder: "I saw a coil of hemp rope in your bag yesterday."

The male employee froze, clearly completely caught off guard that Gu Pingsheng had not only noticed such a detail but was bringing it up now: "Yes, the rope is used to tie..."

Before he could finish, Gu Pingsheng cut him off: "Take it out."

Though the employee was filled with confusion, he complied with the demand: "What does Director Gu want with this?"

Gu Pingsheng eyed the length of the coiled rope: "How many meters is it?"

The employee: "Around four hundred and fifty."

Gu Pingsheng paused, then resolutely tied one end of the rope securely around his own waist. Seeing this, the employee immediately guessed what he intended to do and tried to stop him: "Director Gu, you can't! You don't have any equipment, and this rain is only getting heavier. If you do this, not only might you fail to find anyone, but you'll get yourself into serious trouble."

Gu Pingsheng's plan was straightforward: he would tie himself with the rope while securing the other end to a tree, having the employee lower him down bit by bit so he could slowly search the exact path where Wen Zhixia and another employee named Chen had fallen.

It was the fastest way to find them—simple, direct, and also... the most dangerous.

Winter mountain rain fell with a stinging force, growing heavier by the second until their clothes were thoroughly drenched.

Gu Pingsheng tied the hemp rope around his waist. The other employees had long since descended to search and were out of sight. The reason he waited until the last moment to mention this was precisely to prevent anyone from stopping him. The employee was frantic: "Director Gu, this slope is easily over eight hundred meters. Once the rope runs out, how are you going to get back up?"

How was this any different from seeking death?

The moment an accident happened, survival would be a miracle of one in ten thousand.

"If I don't find anyone, I'll come back up." He handed the other end of the rope to the man. "I'll be fine."

Until he was certain that Wen Zhixia was safe and sound, how could anything possibly happen to him?

Watching him stubbornly prepare to climb down without a backward glance, the male employee felt a sting in his eyes: "Director Gu, please be careful."

Gu Pingsheng gave a slight nod, his figure gradually shrinking from view.

While Gu Pingsheng had some rock-climbing experience, attempting to scale down a steep, slick, and precipitous mountain slope without knowing the terrain and lacking professional tools, relying solely on bare hands, made the difficulty unimaginable.

Less than seventy meters into the descent, the slender fingers usually reserved for signing documents and directing corporate empires had already scraped raw and bloody.

Above, the employee continued to feed the rope down bit by bit. As they reached the halfway point, his mindset began to shift. If something actually happened to Gu Pingsheng, would he... be held responsible?

He wiped the rain from his face. As the rope grew shorter and shorter, the employee began to panic completely.

Down below, just as the rope was nearly at its end, Gu Pingsheng suddenly caught sight of a woman's figure clinging to the mountainside. A flash of wild joy crossed his deep eyes: "Xiaxian!"

"Xiaxia, is that you?"

Hearing someone call out, Xiao Chen cautiously raised her head. The moment she vaguely made out Gu Pingsheng, the nerves that had remained taut yet paralyzed by fear finally shattered, and she burst into loud, bitter tears: "Director Gu, Director Gu, save me! I don't want to die!"

"Sob, sob... I don't want to die, save me."

Hearing the voice, Gu Pingsheng's heart sank. It wasn't Wen Zhixia.

He slid down and stopped half a meter away from her: "Where is Wen Zhixia? Where is Wen Zhixia?"

"I don't know, I don't know, no... She, Director Wen, Director Wen seemed to have fallen further down, sob, sob, I... save me, I don't want to die." The momentum of the fall had been too fast; she had been intercepted by an extending tree branch, and the sheer will to survive had made her cling desperately to the trunk and crawl up inch by inch. But Wen Zhixia hadn't been so fortunate—she had plunged straight down, and there was no telling how she wasing.

Hearing this, Gu Pingsheng's heart plunged even further, especially after listening to her desperate, tearful pleas for survival. He asked, "Do you still have strength?"

Xiao Chen nodded frantically.

"Tie the rope from my waist around yours. Climb up, and then throw the rope back down. Do you understand?" The rain poured down heavily, and he raised his voice to ensure every single word carried through clearly.

Xiao Chen nodded repeatedly. The instinct for survival had made her forget to consider what might happen to Gu Pingsheng, who remained in that precarious climbing posture without any safety measures.

Up above, the male employee felt a tug on the rope and immediately began pulling.

After expending immense effort, he hauled the person up only to discover it wasn't Gu Pingsheng. After untying the rope from Xiao Chen, he anxiously asked: "Are you alright? Where are Director Gu and Director Wen?"

The moment she was pulled up, Xiao Chen's legs turned to jelly, and she collapsed onto the ground. The joy of surviving a catastrophe made her cover her face and sob uncontrollably.

Seeing this, the male employee grew even more frantic: "Cut it out! Stop crying! Where are Director Gu and Director Wen?!!"

At that moment, the other employees who had been searching in different directions and returned empty-handed rushed over: "Xiao Chen, you're alright, that's wonderful! Does that mean Director Wen is alright too?"

"Hey? Where is Director Wen? How did you get back up?"

"..."

Xiao Chen wiped away her tears, her gaze somewhat vacant. Cheating death had slowed her cognitive reactions: "Wen... Director Wen... Director Gu! The rope, the rope! Hurry and throw the rope back down, Director Gu is still waiting at the spot where I fell!"

The others had no idea what had happened, but the male employee who knew the situation hurriedly tossed the hemp rope back down.

However—

No matter how he shifted the angle, the descending rope met with no resistance. No one below was pulling on it.

"Xiao Chen! What is going on here? Didn't you say Director Gu told you to throw the rope back down after you got up? Why is there no response? Why isn't he pulling the rope?" The male employee's face turned ashen.

Xiao Chen scrambled to her feet from the mud, her legs completely numb. "Impossible! Director Gu was right at the spot where I was, there's a tree branch there, the branch..."

Seemingly remembering something, Xiao Chen's face, already drained of color by fright, turned even paler. When she had climbed up, had she heard... had she heard a sound?

It sounded like—

A sharp *snap*, the sound of something breaking.

Xiao Chen's throat caught, and she burst into loud tears: "Director Gu!"

Gu Pingsheng had plunged down alongside the snapped branch, wrapping his arms tightly around his head to protect it. With a loud *bang* and a violent splash of water, he lost consciousness entirely.

The employees who had searched the foot of the mountain twice over had actually passed through this area as well, but had found nothing.

Gu Pingsheng was carried along by the rushing water, drifting toward an unknown destination.

Clear water mixed with yellow earth, churning and blending into a pool of orange-brown mud.

Rain beat against his face. After a brief period of unconsciousness, the moment his awareness began to coalesce once more, the only thing floating in his mind was a pair of exquisitely clear eyes.

"Xiaxia~~"

He opened his eyes heavily and slowly dragged himself out of the water. Merely crawling ashore left him gasping for breath. His clothes, once spotless, were now so saturated from the ordeal that a mere twitch of his body would squeeze out streams of mud.

Gu Pingsheng had no idea where this place was—barren and uninhabited, save for mountains, overgrown weeds, and withered branches. The sky was already showing signs of darkening. He propped his body up and stood: "Xiaxia!"

"Wen Zhixia!!"

"Xiaxia!!"

He walked aimlessly, screaming her name until his throat was torn raw.

If he had managed to land in this area, did that mean Wen Zhixia... was nearby as well?

Even if there was only a sliver of hope, he refused to give up.

It was his fault. He shouldn't have made her shoot another promotional video, shouldn't have brought her to a place like this. He regretted it, truly regretted it!

He followed the riverbank step by step, his left leg dragging behind him in an unnatural manner.

When he fell, his shinbone had slammed heavily against a boulder; every step sent a tearing agony through his flesh and bone, yet he acted as though he had lost all sensation, calling out Wen Zhixia's name without stopping.

Wen Zhixia was squatting beneath an overhanging rock face that provided shelter for roughly half her body. When she suddenly heard his voice, she half-believed for a fleeting second that she was suffering from auditory hallucinations.

But as the sound drew closer and closer, her eyes flickered rapidly. She scrambled to her feet, rushed out, and ran toward the source of the noise.

Her shoes squelched deep into the mud. Looking at Gu Pingsheng—bedraggled, battered, yet staring at her with an expression of ecstatic relief—Wen Zhixia suddenly sank to her knees and began to weep.

Dragging his crippled left leg, Gu Pingsheng stumbled toward her, dropped heavily onto his haunches, and pulled her tightly into his embrace. Feeling that she was truly, physically safe within his arms, he lowered his voice, his throat choked with sobs as four simple words escaped him: "Are you hurt?"

The rain poured down torrentially. This was likely the heaviest rainfall of the year; not only the mountains, but even the city center was experiencing traffic paralysis due to the sudden storm.

Within hours, low-lying areas with poor drainage had water pooling up to an adult's calves.

Under such conditions, the difficulty of the rescue could well be imagined. Halfway up the mountain, the police vehicle had been forced to turn back, unable to proceed any further.

Huddled beneath the rock face, they were truly in a place where their cries to heaven went unheard and their pleas to earth went unanswered.

Especially since their phones had been lost somewhere during their respective falls.

Wen Zhixia looked up at him, completely drenched in the pouring rain, and made a move to shift aside, but her shoulder was firmly pinned down by his hand: "There's no space. We'll find a way out once the rain lets up a bit."

Wen Zhixia's face was caked in mud. Gu Pingsheng cupped some rainwater in his palm, washed the grime off his fingers, and gently wiped her face.

When Wen Zhixia turned her head, she caught sight of the raw, torn flesh across his fingers and paused: "...Gu Pingsheng, how did you find this place?"

A kaleidoscope of emotions flickered through his deep gaze. Seconds later, he smiled and said: "...Pure fate, and telepathy. So many people couldn't find you, but the moment I looked, I found you. That proves we're destined for each other."

The harrowing tale of how he had hurled himself down the mountain following her trajectory was brushed aside as lightly as if nothing at all had happened.

Wen Zhixia's gaze fell upon his hands, her lips parting slightly, "Your..."

"You fell from such a height, are you hurt?" he interrupted, turning the question back on her.

Wen Zhixia paused: "I landed in the water, so my body is mostly okay. When I woke up, the rain was already pouring. I don't know how long I wandered before I completely lost my bearings."

She had been unable to find a way out, and her cries had gone unanswered. Completely exhausted, she had finally stumbled upon this protruding rock face to take shelter.

Her clothes were soaked through to the skin, and she was shivering violently from the cold.

Gu Pingsheng instinctively wanted to take off his own clothes and give them to her, but he knew it would be utterly useless. The sky was a sullen, bruised gray, and there was no telling how much longer the rain would last. Deciding they couldn't wait any longer, Gu Pingsheng said grimly, "This rain isn't going to stop anytime soon. If we wait here and rescue doesn't come, we'll have to spend the night. There's nowhere proper to shelter from the elements here, so..."

"Let's go." Wen Zhixia understood what he meant. Finding a way out, finding civilization, or reaching a road where cars passed—any outcome was better than sitting here and waiting to die.

Gu Pingsheng steadied himself against the rock wall and forced a smile: "Let's go."

As long as she was by his side and he knew she was safe and sound, there was nothing left for him to fear.

The two of them supported each other and forged ahead into the driving rain. Because of his deliberate concealment, because the path was rugged and uneven, and because the stinging rain made it impossible to keep their eyes fully open, she hadn't the slightest inkling that something was wrong with his leg.

Their clothes clung to them, radiating a bone-chilling cold that felt as though their entire bodies were freezing solid. They had walked for God knows how long through the pitch-black night when a beam of light suddenly pierced the darkness. Their intertwined hands tightened simultaneously: "It's a car."

Gu Pingsheng confirmed in a raspy voice: "That should be a road ahead."

A road, a car, meant hope. If someone could give them a ride to a nearby place where they could rest and make a phone call, they would be saved.

However, when they finally dragged their exhausted bodies to the roadside and waved frantically at an approaching vehicle, the car sped past them without the slightest hesitation, brushing right against their bodies.

Wen Zhixia tumbled to the ground, her palm scraping sharply against gravel. She sucked in a breath of cold air, her already frozen limbs completely failing her as she tried to get back up.

Gu Pingsheng squeezed his hands into fists and helped her sit to the side. "Stay here and don't move around. I'll flag down the next car."

Wen Zhixia pressed her lips together: "Be careful. Don't get too close to the road."

They were in the middle of nowhere; missing one car meant having no idea when the next would appear.

Gu Pingsheng paced anxiously back and forth by the roadside. Wen Zhixia, whose constitution was already fragile, had exhausted virtually every ounce of her energy to make it this far. In the blinding rain, her consciousness began to fade, and several times her eyes drifted shut.

Gu Pingsheng watched her closely, calling out her name whenever she started to drift off: "Xiaxia, don't sleep."

She nodded each time, curling her body against the freezing ground. Without looking closely, she was practically invisible, a silent presence swallowed by the storm.

As time dragged on, Wen Zhixia's condition worsened, and Gu Pingsheng's anxiety reached a fever pitch.

When a second set of headlights finally appeared, he threw caution to the wind, lunging straight into the middle of the road and spreading his arms wide to force the vehicle to a halt through sheer desperation.

He couldn't afford to gamble on whether the driver of this second car would be kind enough to stop. Wen Zhixia was running a fever; her body simply couldn't endure this torment. If they waited until dawn, she wouldn't survive.

The night was too dark, and the thick layer of mud coating his clothes completely obscured their original appearance.

By the time the driver finally spotted a figure ahead, he slammed on the brakes. Glaring headlights and the piercing screech of tires tore through the stormy night.

"Damn it, are you out of your fucking mind?!" the van driver cursed furiously. The vehicle came to a skidding halt mere inches from Gu Pingsheng—had it been even a fraction of a second later, just 0.01 seconds, he would have been sent flying.

Through the windshield, Gu Pingsheng's dark eyes locked onto the front. Staggering, he grabbed the side of the van and pounded frantically on the window: *Bang, bang, bang!*

The two men inside exchanged glances. Seeing that it was just a lone man with what looked like an injured leg, they decided he posed no threat and rolled the window down a mere third of the way.

Panicking, Gu Pingsheng pointed toward Wen Zhixia by the roadside: "My wife and I accidentally fell down the mountain. Could you please take us to the nearest hotel? Once we're safe, I'll pay you one hundred thousand yuan for your trouble."

"One hundred thousand yuan?" The man in the passenger seat looked him up and down, then let out a scoffing laugh: "If you could casually pull out one hundred thousand yuan, you wouldn't be in a godforsaken place like this. Get lost, get lost! Don't waste our time getting home, or you'll regret it!"

"Er'zi, don't waste your breath on him. I heard there are scam artists operating around here who use a dying wife to prey on passing drivers' sympathy. Look at that half-dead woman he's pointing at—if we get roped into this, we'll never clear our names." The driver shifted gears, ready to drive away.

Gu Pingsheng slammed his fingers hard against the glass, the torrential rain hammering relentlessly against the roof of the van with a deafening rattle.

The proud, aloof Director Gu, accustomed to looking down upon the world, sank to his knees beside the vehicle with a dull *thud*. His straight, rigid posture stood like a monument in the dark night. Raindrops the size of soybeans pelted his body, seeming to shatter his remaining pride as well.

"Please... save her."