Snap…
Boom…
A bolt of thunder accompanied by lightning streaked across the sky; the imminent torrential rain had the night sky crowded with dense clouds.
It's like a gaping-mouthed hellish demon, clamoring to devour everything.
At the foot of the tea mountain!
A garden-style villa, comprising a hundred acres, is currently being swallowed by a large fire. The smoke is billowing, and the fire is sky-high!
"Papa, Mama!" At the front door of the villa, a young woman kneels and cries. Her beautiful, water-like eyes stare in horror at everything before her.
"Help, somebody... please, somebody!" Her desperate screams echo through the quiet, deep night.
But this thousand-acre tea garden belongs to her Han family's private property; for dozens of miles around, it's just them.
No one can hear her cries for help, and the only things responding... are the tremendous thunder in the distance, ominous flashes of lightning, and the reckless, raging wind.
The woman stands up, attempting to rush into the sea of fire. But just as she takes a step forward, a puff of thick smoke chokes her, driving her clumsy body back.
She collapses on the ground; her pale face is filled with helplessness. She struggles to get up and charge in once more, but her fingers brush against a purse scattered on the ground.
The woman's body stiffens; a glimmer of hope suddenly rises in her heart. Excitedly, she crawls over, hurriedly flipping the purse upside down.
"Phone, where’s the phone…" Her lips tremble as she mutters unconsciously, frantically searching.
When she gets hold of the phone, a burst of relief finally surfaces on her face. With trembling fingers, she dials the most familiar string of numbers in her heart!
Beep… beep… beep…
The ten or so rings felt incredibly long but the call finally connected.
The second the call was answered, the woman on the line reacted as if she’d grabbed onto her last lifeline.
With a desperate, crying voice, she urgently said, “Tian Che, a fire! There's a fire! The tea garden villa is being engulfed by a large fire. My parents are still inside! Please, think of a way to save them, quick!”
The silence on the other end of the phone was like a bucket of cold water extinguishing her flame of hope.
She was stunned for a moment, and then called out in a whisper, “Tian Che?”
“Han Jing Shan, there’s no way Tian Che is going to save your parents!” A middle-aged woman’s elegant and icy voice came from the other end. Her voice was so ruthless and so heartless.
"Mom?" The woman on the line could hardly believe what she was hearing, and choked out, "Please, mom, save my parents. They're still trapped in the fire. They could lose their lives at any moment."
"That's your Han family's matter!"
“Mom!”
"Han Jing Shan, are you really that confused?" The voice of the middle-aged woman on the other end was even colder. Word by word, she said, “Your parents deserve to die; this is their retribution. No one can save them. Not you, and certainly not Tian Che.”
"No, that’s not true. Tian Che will definitely save my parents! Give the phone to Tian Che, I want to talk to him. Let him answer the call!"
"Han Jing Shan, there’s no way Tian Che is going to answer your call. When you come back, sign the divorce agreement. From then on, you are not Tian Che's wife and no longer a daughter-in-law of the Xiao family."
"Divorce Agreement?"
The color instantly drained from Han Jing Shan’s face. She shook her head fiercely and said, "No, no! Mom, I'm still carrying Tian Che's child! The blood of the Xiao family is still in my womb! Why? What happened? What on earth is going on?"
On the other end of the phone, the middle-aged woman fell silent for a moment, then said impatiently and coldly, "Remember, after you have retrieved your parents' bodies, go to the Xiao family and get the divorce settled. Also… from now on, don't you dare call me 'Mom'!"
"Mom, Mom…"
Dial tone
. There was no more sound from the other end of the phone, only the harsh sound of a disconnected line ringing in her ears.
The phone slipped from Han Jingshan's palm.
She turned her head, facing helplessly the raging fire before her. An overwhelming despair loomed over her.
After a few seconds of hesitation, Han Jingshan suddenly got up. She ran towards a luxury Bentley parked by the roadside, got in, started the car, turned it around, all in one breath.
The car was pointed towards the mansion's gate. Her face was smeared with tear stains that hadn't dried yet, an expression of determined desperation in her eyes.
Then, Han Jingshan stepped on the accelerator, flooring it. The Bentley charged into the mansion like an arrow, the windows flanking by the raging fire, the hot wave scorched her skin.
But she couldn't care less. Once she bolted into the courtyard, she got out of the car, one hand covering her nose, the other clutching her stomach, she staggered towards the main building of the mansion.
"Dad, Mom, are you two inside? It's Jingshan, it's Jingshan!"
Han Jingshan sprinted past the living room, racing up the stairs, frantically pounding on the bedroom door, but there was no response from inside.
"Dad? Mom?" Han Jingshan became anxious. She pounded on the door until it resonated, but still, there was no response from within.
She backed off a few steps, then lunged shoulder-first towards the door, once, twice, thrice!
The pain in her abdomen far exceeded the agony from her shoulder's impact. A moist sensation pooled below her, blood... trickling down her thighs onto the ground.
Finally, the door opened. What followed was an inferno. The surging flames instantly consumed her.
Han Jing-Shan instantly became a human torch, screaming as she rolled on the ground, with the flames reaching the corridor.
She was still on fire, protecting her belly, rolling all the way to the staircase entrance. But she failed to control her direction and ended up tumbling down the stairs.
"Clunk!" She fell heavily from the second floor to the ground!
Her lower abdomen, sent out sharp, needle-like pains!
"My child, my child..." Han Jing-Shan's face turned pale as she struggled to crawl under the marble table while enduring the agonizing pain in her abdomen, which felt like she had been stabbed by a knife repeatedly.
She finally got under the marble table, clenched her teeth so hard that she left two lines of shocking bloodstains behind her.
The severe pain came again. She clenched the table leg and screamed, her lips were bitten to bleed, her body trembled into a cluster, her consciousness became increasingly blurry.
In her blur...
She seemed to hear a baby's sharp and loud cries. She struggled to open her eyes, and all she could see was fire, nothing but fire!
"My child, my child!" Han Jing-Shan groped around strenuously when the marble table collapsed with a loud noise, hitting her forehead and instantly plunging her into darkness!
Crackling!
The flames continued to burn, consuming everything relentlessly.
Crack!
Rumbling...
"Ah..." A scream accompanied by the roar of thunder exploded in her ears. A dazzling bolt of lightning slashed across the sky, illuminating the entire bedroom.
The person on the bed suddenly sat bolt upright, clutching her head, trembling all over.
Her tousled hair covered her disoriented eyes. Sweat seeped through her pearly white skin, soaking her white satin pajamas.
Han Jing-Shan sat there for several minutes before she gradually returned to her senses.
She had that terrifying dream again. It's been five years since that incident happened, but everything that had transpired was as clear as yesterday in her memory.