Rebirth: After Becoming the Villainess-Chapter 18: This Is Called Artificial Respiration

Chapter 18: Chapter 18: This Is Called Artificial Respiration

Just then, the main gate was pushed open. The doorman, a sour look on his face, saw the down-and-out scholar in coarse linen and immediately kicked him. "Where did this drunk come from? Get lost! The General Mansion is no place for you to make a scene!"

The door slammed shut again.

Yan Wen was a scholar, frail to begin with. Combined with being drunk and soaked by the rain, the kick landed right on his solar plexus. He couldn’t catch his breath and fell flat on his back.

Song Lianhe had been watching the spectacle, but seeing him collapse so stiffly, without any reaction at all, she knew something was wrong. A complicated look flickered across her face. Finally, gritting her teeth, she rushed into the rain and pressed her ear to his chest, listening for a heartbeat.

’It stopped?!’

With no time to think, she immediately started performing CPR on him!

Song Lianhe’s movements were steady, and her expression was so different she looked like another person entirely.

She knelt on the ground, performing chest compressions with her arms locked straight, silently counting to herself. ’Thirty chest compressions, then mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Repeat five times, then check his condition...’

"Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen..."

’Without the proper tools, CPR is the most effective method.’

In the carriage, Zhou Cangyan coldly watched the solitary woman kneeling in the rain.

Though he didn’t know what she was doing, he could tell she was trying to save the man.

"My Lord, we..."

The Shadow Guard hadn’t finished speaking when his master shot out like a drawn blade—SWOOSH—

"Thirty!"

Having finished thirty compressions, Song Lianhe decisively pried open Yan Wen’s mouth, took a deep breath, and exhaled into it.

Just as she tilted her head to take a breath, preparing for another round of mouth-to-mouth, a large hand suddenly clamped over her mouth from behind—

Song Lianhe nearly choked to death!

She turned her head in disbelief, her gaze meeting a pair of dead, lifeless eyes.

On closer inspection, however, one could see the faint stirrings of murderous intent in their depths.

’Zhou Cangyan?’

’No way!’

’Dude, I’m saving someone! Can’t you see?’

She pried his hand away and pointed at Yan Wen, her voice urgent. "If we don’t save him now, it’ll be too late!"

Zhou Cangyan narrowed his eyes, staring at her. "Save him how? Mouth to mouth?"

"You... Ugh, forget it. You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you!"

She was about to go back to saving the man, but Zhou Cangyan grabbed her arm and hauled her up from the ground.

"Don’t stop me! It’ll really be too late if he isn’t saved now. His heart has already stopped..."

Zhou Cangyan shot the Shadow Guard an extremely displeased glance.

The Shadow Guard was highly trained and accustomed to such situations. He immediately took out a red pill, pried open Yan Wen’s mouth, and shoved it inside. Then, with a sharp SMACK, he struck Yan Wen’s chest. The force was precisely controlled; Yan Wen’s Adam’s apple bobbed mechanically, and just like that, he swallowed the pill.

A moment later, Yan Wen suddenly coughed. His chest began to heave violently, and his eyes flew wide as he desperately gasped for breath.

Seeing him finally come back to life, Song Lianhe felt as if all the strength had drained from her body. "Thank goodness he’s alive..."

Zhou Cangyan glanced to the side, his eyes unintentionally falling on her hands. They hung at her sides, trembling uncontrollably. She wore the complex expression of someone who had just survived a catastrophe, and he couldn’t tell if it was relief from saving the man, or something else entirely.

*

「Inside a medical clinic.」

Yan Wen lay in the inner room, his face pale.

The attendant brought over a freshly brewed decoction. "Sir, time for your medicine."

Yan Wen ignored him, staring blankly at the roof beams.

"Sir?"

The attendant called his name several times, but he gave no response.

Song Lianhe had changed into clean clothes—an old set belonging to the clinic doctor’s daughter, which hung a bit loosely on her. Her hair was still damp, so she walked in with it undone.

Seeing the attendant’s troubled expression, she walked right over and took the bowl from him.

"Wasting your life over a woman who doesn’t like you back... I’d say all your scholarly reading has gone to waste."

At the sound of her voice, Yan Wen finally stirred.

Recognizing it was Song Lianhe, he initially frowned in disgust. But an image flashed through his mind, one he couldn’t shake.

It was a strange thing to recall. The moment he was kicked to the ground, it was as if his soul had left his body. Like a bystander, he watched his "self" lying on the ground.

’So frail he couldn’t withstand a single blow, lying wretchedly in the mud... How could someone so pathetic ever be worthy of Miss Xilan?’

’Heh, what a foolish fantasy.’

’Someone like that might as well be dead.’

’But the next instant, Song Lianhe had rushed over, passing right through my floating form. She went to the me on the ground, pushing and pressing on his chest, and then... she lowered her head...’