A loud "wah" of crying, and the child came back to life.

Yun Niang hugged the child tightly, calling his name repeatedly until she heard him softly call "mom", finally putting her heart at ease, unable to hold back her tears as she and her child cried together.

In her extreme panic, Yun Niang completely forgot to thank the child’s savior.

Her mother-in-law, who had also woken from fainting, rushed over, and the two of them hurried home with the child to find a doctor.

Qin Yao watched them leave, then turned around, taking a glance at Yin Le, who was sprawled on the ground, soaking wet but still breathing, and covered her with his short-sleeved jacket, signaling Ah Wang to keep an eye on her.

He turned back and calmly organized the chaotic stationery factory.

The workers returned to their positions, while He and Mrs. Qiu, still jittery from the scare, went home once before remembering that the children had gone to school in the morning, and Da Mao was taken by Mrs. Zhang to help in the watermelon field.

However, the other half-grown kids weren’t so lucky, as they were harshly scolded by their parents before being dragged to Yun Niang’s house to apologize.

Little Lai Fu also got a beating from Mrs. Li, but given that he had at least gone to call the adults, Qin Yao stopped the punishment halfway.

"Take him home first, let him have some hot soup to calm down, he’s quite frightened too," Qin Yao advised.

Mrs. Li glared at her son, who didn’t cry out despite the beating, just let his tears fall silently, looking pitiful and accepting his punishment as he knew he was at fault.

"Sigh~" Mrs. Li sighed, tapping her son’s head, "Today you boys were lucky, if something really bad happened..." Thinking about if it had been Little Lai Fu who fell into the river, Mrs. Li felt a chill, deeply scared by the thought.

She nodded at Qin Yao, leading her son home.

Song Yu, still worried, settled everything at the factory and quickly caught up with the mother and son after seeking permission from Qin Yao.

Finally having some peace, Qin Yao stepped over to Yin Le, whom Ah Wang had already helped up. She was kneeling on the ground, shivering under the jacket.

Qin Yao frowned, asking, "Can you swim?"

Yin Le shook her head, her eyes lowered, staring at the ground, "No."

Qin Yao immediately got angry, snapping, "If you can’t, why did you try to save someone!"

"I didn’t think much about it," Yin Le replied softly, wringing her dripping wet pants.

If she wasn’t looking half-dead, Qin Yao would have kicked her into the river; what was she thinking!

Impatiently asking, "Can you get up? Look at you, all a mess, hurry up and change your clothes."

Yin Le nodded, thinking she could stand up.

But in truth, just as she tried to rise, she ran out of strength and plopped back down. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

She was surprised, a bit scared, but not regretful.

If given another chance, she would do it again.

She hadn’t expected that just a brief moment in the water would drain her of all her energy.

It seemed she was indeed too weak.

Seeing the disappointment on Yin Le’s face, Qin Yao felt like some kind of villain.

She exhaled a breath of pent-up Qi, quickly waving her hand to the side.

Ah Wang’s mouth twitched, understanding her, squatting in front of Yin Le, "Come on, I’ll carry you back."

Yin Le swallowed, a bit embarrassed, but knowing now wasn’t the time to be shy, she closed her eyes and rested her hands on the broad back before her.

Ah Wang carried her and followed Qin Yao to where Yin Le rented her room.

Since she had few belongings, the door was simply tied shut with a cloth strip.

Qin Yao opened the door, revealing a room so spartan that everything could be seen at a glance.

There was an old wooden bed, a table, a bowl, and a clay pot, and that was it.

Afraid of dirtying the beddings, Yin Le struggled down from Ah Wang’s back, sitting on the only wooden stool inside the room.

Qin Yao handed the clay pot on the table to Ah Wang, "Go boil some hot water."

Ah Wang acknowledged, taking the clay pot out.

Liu Dafu’s old house had a kitchen where tenants could cook for themselves.

Qin Yao closed the door again, telling Yin Le to take off her wet clothes while she looked for something for her to change into.

After searching the room, she didn’t see anything that could hold clothing.

In disbelief, Qin Yao asked, "You only have this outfit?"

"There’s another one, washed and drying outside under the eaves, but it hasn’t dried because of the rain these past few days."

Though it wasn’t wrong, Yin Le felt timid under Qin Yao’s cold gaze, her voice growing quieter.

"You’re really tough!" Qin Yao said, opening the door and striding out.

Yin Le quickly asked, "Master, where are you going?"

From outside, a head suddenly peeked in, coldly staring at her, warning, "Don’t call me Master!"

Yin Le hurriedly corrected, "Benefactor."

"I’m going to get you some dry clothes, stay put," Qin Yao said by way of explanation, then left without another word.

With days of rain, the weather was chilly; even if the sun now peeked out, the dark old house of Liu Dafu received little of its light and remained somewhat cold.

Yin Le rubbed her itching nose, hastily taking off her wet clothes to burrow into the bedding before sneezing.

Covering with the blanket seemed to warm her whole body, even her heart was warm.

Qin Yao soon returned with a set of her old hemp clothes for Yin Le to change into.

Ah Wang had boiled water, following Qin Yao’s instructions to pour it into a wooden basin and hand her a cloth.

With the door closed again, Yin Le was pulled up by Qin Yao, blushing as she wiped her body and washed her hair in front of her.

Once tidied up, Yin Le immediately scurried back under the covers, burying herself entirely.

"We’re both women, what’s there to be shy about," Qin Yao remarked, speechless.

If not worried about her collapsing without strength, she wouldn’t have stayed.

"But how are you so thin yet still have...?" Qin Yao asked curiously.

Yin Le’s eyes widened, shocked by the question, but met with Qin Yao’s sincere eyes, she instinctively replied:

"Maybe it’s natural."

Qin Yao nodded in understanding, suddenly finding the atmosphere odd, seamlessly changing the subject, "How are you feeling? Can you work in the canteen today?"

Afraid of being turned away, Yin Le hastily nodded, "I’m fine now, I can go back to the canteen right away."

To prove herself, Yin Le sat up, showing her arms, even punching the air twice.

But to Qin Yao, those punches seemed feeble, hardly strong enough to scratch an itch.

She thought Yin Le might be misunderstanding; she only wanted to assess her condition for scheduling.

But since Yin Le claimed she was fine, she could go to work!

Qin Yao nodded, "Clean up and get back to work, we’re heading out now."

She opened the door, but before leaving, looked back and scanned Yin Le, raising an eyebrow; she hadn’t even coughed through all this, quite resilient.

Still, she wanted to give some advice.

Qin Yao said, "Yin Le, it’s good to have a conscience, but don’t be overly conscientious."

Yin Le was stunned, was she being told not to take risks to save people?

Or... was her benefactor actually worried about her?

Realizing this, a big, warm grin spread across Yin Le’s face like a field of sunflowers blooming.

She giggled, immediately sprang out of bed, wrapped a towel around her face, and went off eagerly to work!

She was full of energy now!