Chapter 85: Sudden Change in the Wind and Clouds

On an evening in late October, there was finally a hint of coolness in the air.

The stream gurgled past her ears, and Xia Xiaoxing swore it was the first time she had ever found food she had cooked herself so delicious.

She felt she had wronged these delicacies all along — what a waste.

After a few lines of idle chat, her guard against Qin Yun had eased considerably. Especially after tasting his cooking, Xia Xiaoxing had quietly reached a conclusion in her heart — a man who could cook that well definitely couldn't be a bad person.

Watching her eat with such an impatient look, Qin Yun chuckled lightly: "Xia Xiaoxing, you're a young miss — how come you're out camping alone in this wilderness? Aren't you afraid of running into bad people?"

Xia Xiaoxing puffed out her slightly swelling chest, face full of confidence: "I'm not afraid of running into bad people. I brought weapons."

Saying so, she pulled out of her pocket a spray-like device and a folding pocketknife.

Seeing her smug look, Qin Yun sighed inwardly, thinking this girl really has never met any villains — what good are those two things? Most importantly, at barely one and a half meters tall, if anything really happened, she couldn't even reach high enough to swing the knife.

He didn't burst her bubble, just gave a thumbs-up: "Impressive."

"Brother Qin, what about you? Are you a local or just traveling through?"

Xia Xiaoxing blushed and put the things back in her pocket.

"I'm from Zhoushan. I'm just passing through Quzhou today, I'll be gone tomorrow."

Xia Xiaoxing nodded slightly at his words, then asked curiously: "Zhoushan — I've heard of it. I heard that over there you even row a boat when you go visit neighbors. Is that true?"

Hearing this, Qin Yun nearly choked on his tea.

"Zhoushan has just over a thousand islands in total. What do you think?"

Xia Xiaoxing instantly realized she had asked a stupid question, gave an embarrassed little laugh, and even the tips of her ears turned a little red.

The night grew deeper. At some unknown hour, the chirping of insects rose on all sides, wrapped in the sound of the stream — a quiet sort of bustle filling the whole mountain.

"I still have a tent here. Let me lend it to you. For sleeping, just use your own air mattress. Make do for tonight, and you can sort out your own tent once it's light tomorrow."

Qin Yun stood up and took the tent out of the trunk.

The tent he had bought naturally couldn't compare with Xia Xiaoxing's — it was only a manual pop-up tent — but it was more than spacious enough for him, let alone for Xia Xiaoxing.

"Brother Qin, thank you."

Xia Xiaoxing thanked him sincerely.

Qin Yun nodded, helped her set up the tent beside the big G, then took the air mattress, blanket, and sleeping pad out of her original leaky tent. Once that was done, he waved his hand, unfolded the lounge chair, and lay down straight away.

Xia Xiaoxing, hugging the little dog and yawning, crawled into the tent.

Qin Yun threw a blanket over himself, left the camping light on without turning it off, and just let it stay that way. Listening to the insects, the flowing stream, the rustle of wind through the leaves, he drifted off without realizing it.

He had no idea how long he'd slept when a sudden clap of thunder exploded, dragging him roughly out of his slumber.

The sound of lightning tearing through the void was piercingly sharp, as if someone had hurled a bucket of broken glass smashing onto the ground. Qin Yun's eyes snapped open at once, and his very first reaction on waking was: the wind has picked up.

*Crack—! *

Another thunderclap burst right overhead, and Qin Yun felt his very soul tremble for an instant. Immediately after, fat raindrops came pounding down without warning, clattering against the canopy with terrifying force.

For a moment the canopy seemed on the verge of being smashed apart by the rain, but luckily the ground stakes he'd driven in were solid enough to hold for now.

Stepping down from the lounge chair, Qin Yun looked past the canopy toward the heavens. Though he couldn't see clearly, he seemed to make out unnaturally thick clouds gathering — clearly not normal.

The wind grew stronger and stronger!

He turned to glance at the stream not far away, felt a sudden jolt in his chest, and without a word began packing up.

In between, he glanced at the tent nearby. Not a sound from inside — even the tremendous thunder and lightning hadn't stirred Xia Xiaoxing. One had to admit, that was some good sleep.

But as wind and rain began to intensify, the tent had already started swaying, as if it might be flipped away at any moment.

*Boom—! *

A muffled peal of thunder suddenly roared, like a beast's bellow, terrifying beyond words.

"Ah—!"

Qin Yun seemed to hear a startled cry from the tent, followed by the dog barking, a faint light flickering on, and a flustered shadow cast against the tent fabric.

Clearly Xia Xiaoxing was awake.

Seeing this, Qin Yun shouted: "Xia Xiaoxing, hurry and put your things back in the car. A storm is coming. Once too much water builds up upstream, it could turn into a flash flood. We have to leave right now."

Hearing Qin Yun's voice, Xia Xiaoxing panicked on the spot.

She pulled open the tent flap, glanced outside, and her face changed abruptly — a flicker of fear rising in her eyes.

"What are you standing there gawking for? Hurry up!"

Xia Xiaoxing's throat bobbed, and she immediately dashed out of the tent into the rain, stumbled over to the car's trunk, pulled out a raincoat and threw it on. Only then did she rush off to gather the various outdoor items left outside.

Qin Yun glanced over, thinking to himself that she'd even prepared a raincoat — pretty thorough.

He hadn't taken much out of the trunk, so in no time at all, all the tables, chairs, and stove had been stuffed back inside. And since the canopy was attached to the car, he hadn't even gotten his clothes wet before everything was packed away.

The stream nearby was visibly swelling, showing signs of spreading outward.

Qin Yun quickly took down the canopy, dashed through the rain back to the driver's seat, started the car, and drove over toward Xia Xiaoxing's car.

Once he'd stopped steadily, he got out at once, gave Xia Xiaoxing a push straight into her car's driver's seat: "Get back in the car first. I'll help you."

Xia Xiaoxing was practically shoved into the driver's seat, and only then remembered her dog was still in the tent: "Brother Qin, Keke is still in the tent."

Qin Yun waved his hand: "Got it. Start the car."

With that, he charged into the rain, scooped the dog out of the tent, and casually stuffed it into the trunk — the little fellow probably sensed the danger too, curling up motionless in his hands.

The things scattered on the ground were blown every which way by the wind. Qin Yun couldn't be bothered to pick them up carefully, and nimbly tossed whatever could be carried into the trunk. In just a few minutes, everything except that inflatable tent had been stuffed into the big G's trunk.

He patted the car body hard: "Xia Xiaoxing, drive onto the main road and wait for me. I'll go down first, you follow me in a bit."

Xia Xiaoxing nodded. She had already taken off her raincoat, but her body was still a bit damp, clinging unpleasantly to her skin. By now the fear in her heart had eased quite a bit — if she had been alone, she would surely have been scared stiff.

She gripped the steering wheel tightly, eased onto the accelerator, and the car wobbled over the cobblestones toward the main road.

Seeing this, Qin Yun immediately began packing up the tent. That tent hadn't been cheap, and he wasn't willing to just leave it behind — if he could take it back, of course he would.

*Boom—! *

The enormous sound was deafening. Lightning tore across the long sky, and for an instant the black night was lit up bright as day.

Just as the light tore through the darkness, Qin Yun's gaze suddenly sharpened — he saw that far upstream the stream had suddenly flooded over a wide stretch, rushing down with a great roaring whoosh.

Qin Yun sped up, hastily folded the tent, didn't bother stuffing it into a bag, and tossed it straight into the trunk.

"Vroom—!"

Qin Yun floored the accelerator and the car shot forward; the very next instant the muddy torrent swept over the spot where the car had been, and the inflatable tent lying on the ground was immediately caught up by the current and carried downstream.

Pulling the car onto the main road, Qin Yun glanced at the big G behind him through the rearview mirror, then slowly drove back the way they had come.

Seeing Qin Yun's Land Rover move, Xia Xiaoxing hurriedly followed as well.

And as the two of them pulled away, the road gradually widened, and in no time the car arrived at the parking lot of the Lingyu Island scenic area. Although it was still flashing with thunder and lightning and the weather was terrible, once they left that deserted stretch, a sense of security instantly welled up in Xia Xiaoxing's heart.

The two parked their cars side by side in the lot. Qin Yun rolled down his window and called out to Xia Xiaoxing: "Tonight let's just make do sleeping in the car like this, we'll talk about the rest tomorrow."

"Okay, Brother Qin, you're soaked through, hurry up and change your clothes."

After a brief word, Qin Yun climbed into the back seat, pulled out a set of dry clothes from the trunk, wiped himself down, and quickly changed.

He checked his phone — the time was plainly just past three in the morning.

Damn this rotten luck, the forecast clearly said clear skies, how did it just start pouring out of nowhere.

Qin Yun shook his head helplessly, glanced at the big G beside him, and lay straight down.

Xia Xiaoxing was soaked too, curled up in the back seat, her body sticky and uncomfortable, and gradually a chill began spreading through her.

After sitting for a while, she couldn't take it anymore, immediately restarted the car, and warm air from the engine slowly began drifting out of the vents.

Hearing the movement, Qin Yun sat up, but seeing the car wasn't going anywhere, he figured it out in a flash.

Taking another T-shirt and a blanket from the trunk, Qin Yun opened the car door and knocked.

"Xia Xiaoxing!"

The rear window of the car lowered a little, and Xia Xiaoxing's voice came from inside: "Brother Qin, what's up?"

"Here's one of my T-shirts and a blanket, change out of those clothes so you don't catch a cold."

Xia Xiaoxing's face instantly flushed crimson. She hesitated a moment, then still chose to roll the window all the way down.

Qin Yun tossed the clothes and blanket straight in, and they landed on Xia Xiaoxing's head.

Xia Xiaoxing's heart was pounding like a drum; the unfamiliar but pleasant scent on the clothes made her head spin.

She hurriedly closed the window, and only after quite a while managed to calm herself down.

She simply took off her wet clothes and hung them by the AC vent. Then, after putting on Qin Yun's T-shirt and wrapping herself in the blanket, it felt as if she were being held in someone's embrace, and she began letting her thoughts wander again.

Qin Yun couldn't be bothered with any of that. Even though the rain poured down outside, not a drop got into the car — a perfect sense of security. Only, given his height, crouching back here was genuinely a bit cramped.

If it were Xia Xiaoxing, she'd probably have plenty of room to lie down comfortably.

But sleep was sleep, so Qin Yun merely adjusted his posture a little, and before he knew it his breathing had steadied.