Chapter 272 — Just Before Death

That was precisely why Gu Pengzhan had instructed Wei Zhao to watch and wait - not to alert the snake by beating the grass, to play at knowing nothing of Jin Gubang's conspiracy.

But Wei Zhao had turned the scheme against its master, and blown the whole affair wide open!

The amusement park was one of the very properties under Jin Gubang's charge. Ordinarily, an accident there could be made big or small as one pleased. But the accident Gu Pengzhan had been waiting for was exactly this kind of middling incident!

The victim was Shen Yushu - the Chen family's precious darling! An accident at the amusement park under Jin Gubang's supervision: if he chose to seize on it at the board meeting to strip Jin Gubang of power, he was confident no one would object.

In itself, it was a trifling matter. But once the Chen family became involved, it was no trifling matter at all. Every shareholder knew the Chen family's clout. If the Chens learned that Shen Yushu had been hurt and the board had yet to hold the responsible party to account, things would clearly blow up.

So no one would stand up for Jin Gubang in a mess like this. Who asked him, of all people, to be the one in charge of the amusement park? Whether he bore responsibility or not, he was the directly accountable executive.

Jin Gubang could only swallow the grievance in silence. Wei Zhao had played his hand beautifully - to the very end, Jin Gubang still had no inkling that Wei Zhao had seen through their scheme!

With such hope still alive in his breast, Jin Gubang would not dare to turn hostile, for he was already fantasizing about taking another shot at Gu Mengyao the next time around.

This time, using this incident, Gu Pengzhan could claw back every last of the entertainment holdings Jin Gubang oversaw - the hotels, nightclubs, KTVs, and amusement park carnails under the company were all money-printing machines. God only knew how much Jin Gubang had already siphoned off through them over the years!

Wait, let me fix: "amusement park carnails" should be "amusement park carnivals."

Once control of these properties was wrested back at the first step, auditing the books at the next would be far easier. Slow-cooking a frog over a low flame - Gu Pengzhan meant to bleed Jin Gubang's power away little by little, striking him again and again while always leaving him a sliver of room to keep the dream of turning things around alive. Only in this way could he purge this scum without harming the company's interests.

Uncle Qing relayed Gu Pengzhan's meaning to Gu Mengyao. Though she did not much understand corporate politics, Uncle Qing explained it plainly enough: Wei Zhao had done her daddy a great favor this time.

The man himself, Wei Zhao, had no idea that Gu Pengzhan was in such a state of excitement. He had merely thought on the spur of the moment that an accident at the amusement park might bring Gu Pengzhan some benefit - never imagining that Gu Pengzhan would already have the entire follow-up campaign mapped out.

On the second descent, the cord snapped clean through, and Wei Zhao and Shen Yushu dropped straight into the churning sea.

Shen Yushu had finally dared to open her eyes, wanting to feel the thrill of bungee jumping, when she watched the cord break - and saw the seaw below rushing closer and closer to her head...

Wait: "自己的腦袋離下面的海水越來越過" - I think this should be "越來越近" (closer and closer). Let me render it as "closer and closer to the sea below."

"Ah, Brother Arrow!" Shen Yushu had never expected the cord to break - if she fell like this, wouldn't it be all over? Watching herself plunge headfirst toward the sea, every scattered moment of her eighteen years of life flashed across her mind like scenes in a film.

"Am I going to die?" The threat of death pressed in on Shen Yushu, and she instinctively clung tight to Wei Zhao. "Brother Arrow, I don't want to die! I haven't lived long enough! I've never been in love, never had a boyfriend, never even kissed anyone!"

Wei Zhao was left nearly speechless. With him right here, was there any way she could die?

Splash. The two hit the water. Shen Yushu had been screaming moments before and it took her a beat to register that seawater was already flooding into her mouth.

"Gurgle, gurgle..." Bubbles began rising from Shen Yushu's lips.

Wei Zhao wanted to reach out and clamp a hand over her mouth to stop her from yelling - any more and she would drown for real - but his arms were pinned fast by Shen Yushu, who clung to him like an octopus, leaving him unable to move a muscle.

In desperation, Wei Zhao could only seize her mouth with his own, pressing his lips against hers to block the water from rushing in.

Shen Yushu had been dazed before, so she had not even noticed the seawater pouring into her mouth. But now, with Wei Zhao's lips on hers, she did notice. She wanted to open her eyes wide to look at him, but the salt stung them shut.

Oh - so this was it? Before dying, Brother Arrow had granted her wish! She had just said she had never been in love, never had a boyfriend, never kissed anyone - and now she was about to die. And just like that, Brother Arrow had kissed her.

Shen Yushu felt her cheeks flush. Did that make Brother Arrow her boyfriend? Surely it counted - hadn't they already confessed their feelings to each other? She comforted herself with the thought: if this was how it ended, then so be it. At least she would be dying in a double suicide with Brother Arrow - all things considered, it was not a life wasted. Meanwhile, Wei Zhao was trying to pry Shen Yushu's arms loose from around him. The current was already swift, their waists and legs were bound together by the rope, and there was still Shen Yushu hanging off him - Wei Zhao had no way to swim at all.

In the brief time it took to struggle once, the current had already swept them far away.

At last Wei Zhao broke the surface with Shen Yushu in his arms, and all around them stretched nothing but open sea...

"Hah..." Wei Zhao uncovered Shen Yushu's mouth and drew a deep breath. Thank goodness he could hold his breath underwater for a long time; otherwise he would already be dead.

And Shen Yushu, held in his arms at that moment, had already passed out.

Wei Zhao reached down to his shoe and pulled out a blade, which he used to cut the rope binding their ankles together. As for the rope around their waists, he left it alone, keeping Shen Yushu lashed to his own body, so that carrying her would be a little safer.

The blade in his shoe was Wei Zhao's trump card. He had used it once before to blow out the tires on the two Yellow Rank experts of Li Ci's crew, and it had not been long before he needed it again.

He put the blade back into his shoe, narrowed his eyes, and studied the sun in the sky to judge his bearings. After a moment, Wei Zhao took a deep breath and swam with Shen Yushu toward his front left.

Swimming while carrying another person is exhausting work, but ever since Wei Zhao had cultivated the Xuanyuan Dragon-Anchor Art, he no longer felt fatigue; a single silent recitation of the mental formula would restore his vigor at once.

His most pressing concern now was to find a place to land and drain the water from Shen Yushu's belly; if too much time passed, her life would be in danger.