Chapter 23: Favors Must Be Repaid
Zhu Si was rather naive. At this moment, he was making faces at the little rabbit in his arms. He couldn't let it go for a moment and didn't pay attention to the difficulties and dangers of going down the mountain .
Zhu San was a little older and seemed very shrewd.
"That road is too steep. Is there no other way to go down the mountain? Let's take another way!" Zhu San frowned.
Zhu Hao pouted: "Do you know why rabbits come here to build nests? It's because the terrain here is high, it's a circular platform. If I have time, I can take you to walk around this area of one or two miles. There is only one way up and down the mountain... Okay, I'm going down first, you guys take care of yourselves."
Zhu San was unwilling to give up, so he actually walked around the top of the mountain. Then he came back with a pout, looking at the steep mountain road and the pool of water below with a worried look on his face.
"If you don't want to go down, I'll leave first..."
Zhu Hao implied that he didn't want to wait for the brother and sister.
Zhu San hurriedly said, "No, you walk behind... Lao Si, I'll give you all the rabbits, you take them, you walk in front, and I'll pull you from behind."
"Ah...but it's not that high here."
Zhu Si looked at the road down the mountain and didn't think much of it.
The hill is not very high to begin with, and the distance from the top to the pool is only seven or eight meters at most. Most people would think that there would be no problem even if they jumped from the top of the hill.
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… …
The brother and sister divided the work and walked down one after the other, with Zhu Hao falling behind.
For Zhu Hao, the most important part of the plan is not to catch the rabbit, but to get the target into the pool of water, giving him a chance to "sacrifice himself to save others", which requires a little skill.
He had tampered with the mountain path before. In order to prevent the experienced guards of the palace from noticing the flaws, he took great pains to deliberately spread moss-covered soil on the uneven rocks, making it look like it was pouring down from the top of the mountain during a flood, and then sprinkled a layer of dry soil on the outside.
When they came up, they had already rubbed off the dry soil outside, and when the three of them walked down, the place they stepped on became extremely slippery.
When they went down, the three of them had something in their hands, and he deliberately walked at the end so that he could trip them at any time... Even if he walked in front, he could still drag the two children...
In short, if they were allowed to go back safely, Zhu Hao's plan would have failed.
"Go slower."
Zhu Hao underestimated Zhu Si's agility. Even though he was holding four rabbits in his hands, he still jumped down the stone steps quickly. As long as he crossed a muddy dirt road, there would not be much steep mountain road left.
As a result, even Zhu San felt that this road only looked dangerous.
She held her brother's collar tightly with both hands to prevent him from falling.
Zhu Hao originally hoped that the brother and sister would slip on their own, but now it seems unrealistic, so he can only trip them up.
He didn't need to attack Zhu Si who was walking in front. He aimed at Zhu San who thought he was cautious. When he went down, he kicked a pebble and it landed accurately at Zhu San's feet...
"Ouch!"
As expected, Zhu San, who grabbed his brother's collar, staggered and fell forward.
"careful!"
Zhu Hao exclaimed and stretched out a hand to pull Zhu San's clothes, and he was actually pulled by him.
Just when Zhu San breathed a sigh of relief, thinking it was just a false alarm, Zhu Hao had already used the force of the forward rush to fall down, and all of a sudden... the one behind fell on the one in front. Zhu Si was walking in the front, but even if his feet were steady, it was useless because the two people behind him crashed down directly, and he stumbled and fell forward. This caused Zhu San and Zhu Hao to accelerate and slide towards the pool below.
As Zhu San slipped, his eyes were filled with fear and he unconsciously let go of his hand that was holding his brother's collar. He waved his hands, trying to find a foothold to stop his downward trend, but everything he touched was mud. How could he stop his body from falling?
Zhu Hao refused to let go of the hand that was holding Zhu San's clothes, as if he was trying his best to rescue him, but in fact, it was basically useless.
“Crack, crack, crack—”
The thatched grass on the roadside that had been loosened by Zhu Hao a long time ago was pulled up by the roots one by one by Zhu Hao's other hand, bringing up large pieces of mud along the way, making a terrifying sound.
“Plop!”
Zhu Si was the first to fall into the pool.
With Zhu Hao's "help", Zhu San's forward momentum eased a little, and he slid all the way into the pool. Although he was only at the edge, he was still submerged in an instant...
Zhu Hao, who fell behind, also slipped into the pool.
"Help...Help...Gudong!"
With two "pushers" from Zhu San and Zhu Hao, Zhu Si rushed forward so hard that he almost fell into the middle of the pool. Although he struggled desperately after falling into the water, he gradually sank to the bottom.
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…
Three children fell from the top of the mountain into a deep pool. Without help from outsiders, it was difficult for them to get out safely.
Of course, the water was not very deep, with the deepest point being only three or four meters, and the water was only a little over one meter deep where Zhu San fell. It was only because Zhu San's feet were unstable that his head did not stick out of the water.
Zhu Hao first swam to Zhu San, grabbed her hair, lifted her out of the water, and kept his body as far away from her as possible.
Saving a drowning person could easily cost you your own life. Zhu Hao knew that he was weak, so he had to resort to extraordinary measures to make it impossible for you to catch him even if you wanted to.
Zhu San struggled for a while and found that he could stand firmly, so he was not so nervous anymore and was pushed to the shore by Zhu Haosan in two moves.
"Hurry... hurry and save my brother!"
After Zhu San escaped from danger, he saw Zhu Si still "splashing" in the middle of the pool. He was so scared that he burst into tears and his voice changed in fear.
Zhu Hao did not go ashore, but swam quickly towards Zhu Si.
When he arrived in front of Zhu Si, Zhu Si had been drowning for a while and had a lot of pool water in his stomach. When he touched Zhu Hao's arm, he grabbed it tightly as if it was a life-saving straw.
Zhu Hao used all his strength to pull Zhu Si hard, trying to push his head out of the water... But because of water in his lungs, even though Zhu Si's head was above water, he was unable to breathe much air in a short period of time and was still struggling desperately.
Zhu Hao observed quickly and soon determined that there was a large rock nearby... He had prepared this in advance yesterday. He used the principle of leverage to pry it from the top of the mountain into the pool to serve as a stepping stone.
He knew the exact location of the stone, so when he got there, even if Zhu Si tried his best to pull him to the bottom of the water, he would have a foothold.
Pulling Zhu Si's body forward two meters, Zhu Hao quickly felt at ease when he stepped on a big rock and made sure that the water only reached his chest.
The successful completion of the plan has a solid foundation, and the next step is to take advantage of the topic.
It was impossible to get the person ashore quickly, as doing so would make the rescue seem too easy, and would not be enough to reflect his "noble character" of sacrificing himself to save others. So Zhu Hao deliberately pretended to be dragged down by Zhu Si, and both of their heads submerged in the water together.
"Gudong, gudong..."
Because Zhu Hao held his breath in advance, it didn't have much impact on him.
But for Zhu Si, just when he had a sign of escaping the trouble, it was shattered in the blink of an eye.
After Zhu Si took two sips of water, Zhu Hao lifted Zhu Si's head out of the water again.
At this time, Zhu San's cries could be clearly heard on the shore.
Zhu San couldn't swim and didn't dare to go into the water. He stood on the shore, stamping his feet in anxiety. He didn't know how to find a bamboo pole or something to help him. He just kept shouting.
Zhu Hao's head sank into the water again with Zhu Si. This time, it was obvious that Zhu Si's struggle had weakened, indicating that his drowning condition was very serious.
Soon Zhu Hao pushed Zhu Si's head out of the water again, and after determining the direction, he began to swim towards the shore.
Even though Zhu Si was still struggling hard, he did not have enough strength to pull Zhu Hao into the abyss. Zhu Hao had already identified the direction. There were many vines on the cliff on one side of the pool that fell on the water. Zhu Hao swam two or three meters and grabbed them. With something to leverage, rescuing people was much smoother.
…
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Zhu Si was finally pulled ashore by Zhu Hao.
At this time, Zhu Si was in a state of disorientation, curled up on the ground like a cooked shrimp, with water gushing out of his mouth. Fortunately, the water entering his lungs was still within controllable range, so the next step was naturally the first aid, which Zhu Hao was good at.
Zhu Hao stretched out his hand, ready to place Zhu Si on his bent legs, with his head facing downward.
"What...what are you going to do?"
Zhu San rushed forward and grabbed him, not wanting Zhu Hao to offend Zhu Si's body.
But Zhu Hao was very strong and pushed him away, shouting: "You are just a troublemaker. What else can you do except cry? I am saving your brother's life!"
The voice was serious and cold, and it immediately calmed down the crying and confused Zhu San.
When Zhu Hao rescued people before, he made sure that he did not hurt Zhu Si, but at the same time made him feel extremely afraid of drowning. At this time, he pressed Zhu Si's back hard, forcing the pool of water that had entered his lungs and stomach to be discharged. After a while, Zhu Si's pupils refocused and his spirit slowly recovered.
"call……"
Zhu Hao sat down exhausted, gasping for breath.
"Is he... is he okay?"
Zhu San was nervous and wanted to get closer to take a look, but was afraid of being blamed by Zhu Hao.
Zhu Si lay on his back on the ground, his breathing gradually became smoother, but he still kept coughing: "Cough cough... cough cough... Sister... I'm fine..."
After hearing his brother's answer, Zhu San finally felt relieved.
"It's all your fault!"
After Zhu San found out that his brother was fine, he immediately pointed the finger at Zhu Hao.
Zhu Hao looked at Zhu San angrily, "It was you who fell down first and got everyone involved... If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have all fallen into the water... Humph, I shouldn't have saved you just now."
Zhu San felt very aggrieved.
But she couldn't find out the crux of the problem. Her first impression was that her feet slipped, and she wanted to say that it was Zhu Hao who pushed her. But when she thought about it carefully, she realized that Zhu Hao was pulling her hard at that time. At this moment, she only had to look up at the patches of uprooted thatch on one side of the mountain path to know how hard Zhu Hao tried at that time.
The three of them fell into the pool together, and it was only thanks to Zhu Hao's desperate efforts that he rescued her and her brother. It was too cruel to slander them.
"It's really a case of dog biting Lu Dongbin. I shouldn't have saved you and my rabbit... Oh, I really shouldn't have brought you here. If I had known that I could find the rabbit's nest smoothly, I would have done it myself. I regret it so much... I will go back now and tell the master about it..."
Zhu Hao stood up and said this, looking like he was ready to leave without caring about the life or death of the Zhu siblings.
Zhu San got anxious when he heard this and said quickly, "You can't tell your husband."
Zhu Hao said: "I didn't tell your parents, so why can't I tell my husband?"
"He...he will tell Instructor Sui..." Zhu San gritted his teeth.
Zhu Si said pitifully, "Third sister, if mother knew, would she punish us?"
"Shut up!"
Zhu San showed his unreasonable energy again and glared at Zhu Hao, "Anyway, I order you not to tell anyone else when you go back, especially your husband. What happened today... just pretend it never happened."
Zhu Hao pointed at the brother and sister and said, "It's hard to explain your wet clothes to others, right?"
Zhu San put his hands on his waist and said angrily: "How we explain it to others has nothing to do with you. Anyway, you can't tell anyone, otherwise..."
"What else?"
Of course Zhu Hao would find ways to threaten the siblings.
If the people in Prince Xing's Palace knew that you two siblings sneaked out and fell into the pond, you would never have the chance to leave the palace again!
"Otherwise you'll be in trouble!"
Zhu San really couldn't think of any way to threaten Zhu Hao.
Zhu Hao said: "The teacher taught us that we should have the courage to admit our mistakes. I ran away to treat my mother's illness and almost got into trouble. If I don't tell the teacher, it means I don't know how to respect my teacher... Unless you promise me one thing, I will consider not telling anyone!"
"You...what do you want to do?" Zhu San looked puzzled.
Is there any room for negotiation?
Zhu Hao struck while the iron was hot: "My husband is about to leave Anlu for Nanchang. I will be without a husband soon. My family will take me back to do hard labor. I will have a hard time in the future. Unless you agree to let Mr. Sui take me as a student, I will not publicize this matter."
"I saved you, so it's only right that you repay me, right?"
