Chapter 133

Chapter 133: The polar bear expressionlessly stretched out its paw and pushed the person back down again.

“Saving someone?” Lin Qianyu paused while stroking the little snow leopard’s paw. “Where?”

The little snow leopard lightly swished its tail, the tip brushing over the snow on the ground. It looked up and called out, “Awoo…!”

In the water!

“Someone fell in?” Lin Qianyu quickly stood up. “Take me there.”

“Awoo!”

【Huh? Who fell into the water?】

【Damn, in this kind of freezing weather, wearing a thick down jacket and falling into the water… that’s probably fatal.】

【Where’s the director? The rescue team? Someone fell into the water and there’s not a single word about it?!】

...

As Lin Qianyu moved, the other fluffy ones all stood up as well. She reached out to pat the arctic fox’s head and said, “You all stay and help me watch the fish, okay? I’ll go with Tangyuan.”

“Ying!”

“Good. I’ll leave this to you.” Lin Qianyu turned and said, “Tangyuan.”

“Awoo!”

The little snow leopard leapt up and ran ahead to lead the way.

Lin Qianyu didn’t have time to look at the barrage of comments and closely followed behind the little snow leopard.

---When they first arrived on the island, there had been lessons on how to quickly perform self-rescue if one accidentally fell into the water. They had also emphasized not acting alone, hoping that if someone did misjudge the ice and fell in, at least there’d be someone on shore to lend a hand.

The clothing they wore was thick and would help them float once in the water.

But now the water temperature was close to -1.7°C. It might be slightly warmer in deeper areas, but at the surface, even the slightest delay could cause someone to freeze up.

She didn’t know whether the production team had responded yet, or if the rescue personnel had arrived.

Fortunately, the place where someone had fallen in wasn’t too far away.

Xuetuan had also been returning from hunting with its companions when it saw what happened on the way.

“Awoo!” The little snow leopard’s tail stood high, its fluffy tip clearly visible in the vast white snow.

From afar, Lin Qianyu saw the polar bear entering the water from the edge of the ice, swimming inward.

This area wasn’t like where they had been before, which had large stretches of solid ice with only occasional cracks. Here, it cut across the entire island, and only broken chunks of ice floated on the water’s surface.

Besides that, there was no sign of the person who fell in.

Either they had been in the water too long and already sunk, or they had lost the strength to struggle from the cold—either way, the surface of the water was calm and still.

When Lin Qianyu saw the neatly folded clothes at the edge of the ice, her brows furrowed.

Would someone who accidentally fell in have the time to take off their clothes, fold them, and place them to the side?

Lin Qianyu: “...?”【Just came back from the island owner's livestream. All I can say is… Xuetuan had good intentions, but maybe don't act on them just yet.】

【Whether or not to act—could it be that Xuetuan didn’t recognize the person in the water as the island owner?】

The polar bear in the water had clearly mistaken the person for someone who had accidentally fallen in and was swimming straight in one direction.

After running over nervously, Lin Qianyu finally let out a sigh of relief. “As long as it wasn’t an accidental fall.”

There’s a big difference between entering the water voluntarily and falling in by accident.

To dare to enter the water on Polar Island without any protective measures—other than Feng Jingye, Lin Qianyu couldn’t think of anyone else.

For trained professionals, swimming in this kind of environment isn’t much different from winter swimming.

There are quite a few who enjoy challenging their limits; activities like these always carry both danger and challenge.

The current Guinness World Record for swimming in the Arctic is 18 minutes and 50 seconds. The temperature on Polar Island is about the same as the Arctic, except Feng Jingye was likely diving rather than crossing this stretch of sea.

Compared to the general danger of swimming on Polar Island, Lin Qianyu was more worried about Feng Jingye’s safety. “What if Xuetuan realizes the person is Mr. Feng?”

Standing on the shore, she cupped her hands around her mouth like a megaphone and shouted, “Xuetuan! Come back! No one fell in! You misunderstood!”

Maybe it was too far away, or because the polar bear kept diving underwater, but it didn’t hear Lin Qianyu’s voice.

At this point, Xuetuan had already approached Feng Jingye and, upon surfacing, had the collar of his shirt in its mouth.

It seemed Feng Jingye hadn’t planned on surfacing so soon, but in the water, a human’s strength was no match for a polar bear.

Splash—the polar bear shook its head, then clamped down on the shirt again, preparing to drag the person back to shore.

Feng Jingye had already adjusted his posture by then, turning his head to meet the polar bear’s eyes at close range.

In that instant, even the sound of the current seemed to still.

Xuetuan opened its mouth slightly—unusually, it didn’t attack the moment it saw Feng Jingye. Its eyes looked slightly dazed, clearly not understanding what was going on.

Feng Jingye raised an eyebrow with a smile, a thin layer of frost quickly forming on his brows. He opened his mouth to tease, “So you’re trying to… mm?!”

The polar bear, expressionless, reached out its paw and pushed him back down again.

Feng Jingye: “……”

Lin Qianyu: “?!!”

【Aaaahh?!】

【The polar bear saves someone, and the island owner doesn’t even say thanks, just jokes with it. The bear is kind, the human is bad!】

【Good lord, judging situations like that—do you have a death wish?】

...

The grudge from under the water wasn’t resolved even after coming ashore.

The polar bear shook its fur beside Feng Jingye, sending water flying in all directions. His body and face got thoroughly splashed.

Lin Qianyu placed a hand on the polar bear’s head, palm pressing down on one ear, and handed over a down jacket. “Are you okay?”

Feng Jingye nodded, took the jacket and draped it over his shoulders. As he casually raked his dripping hair, he asked, “Why did you come over?”Lin Qianyu said, “I thought a guest had accidentally fallen into the water and came over to help. Let’s go back first—get those wet clothes changed.”

“Mm.” Feng Jingye first put on his clothes, didn’t change out of his swim trunks, and didn’t bother with the water on his body—he just bundled up quickly.

The polar bear licked its fur and didn’t seem inclined to fight with him. It leaned against Lin Qianyu angrily, glaring at him.

“Roar!”

Frustrated, the polar bear stopped looking at Feng Jingye, turned around, and dove into the water to go fishing.

Lin Qianyu took off her scarf and put it on him.

Feng Jingye paused. Before he could say anything, Lin Qianyu beat him to it: “Lift your head.”

Before he could react, he realized his gaze was already skyward.

A warm scarf wrapped around his neck.

Lin Qianyu casually tugged at the hem of his coat. “Why did you suddenly feel like swimming?”

“Wasn’t swimming—just picking something up.” Feng Jingye pulled on his hat, reached out, grabbed Lin Qianyu’s wrist, and placed something in her palm.

Lin Qianyu curled her fingers slightly to keep the object from falling. “What is this?”

On a black glove lay a teardrop-shaped bead—a large one, about the length of an index finger joint. It resembled a pearl, but the color was vastly different.

The color was vivid, a blue-green with hints of purple, more like an opal.

Feng Jingye said, “Abalone pearl. Beautiful, isn’t it?”

He coughed lightly, fingers fumbling at his collar as if trying to find the zipper—clearly trying to hide his awkwardness through this small gesture. But the scarf was wrapped so tightly that he couldn’t find the zipper on the down jacket no matter what.

So he just yanked up one end of the scarf to cover most of his face. Even his voice became muffled. “You can use it to make a necklace or a brooch. This size of abalone pearl is pretty rare.”

Abalone pearls can’t be farmed. Abalones have very few platelets, and implanting a pearl nucleus can easily cause fatal bleeding.

Naturally formed abalone pearls are usually irregular and jagged, or very small. This one, with its smooth, rounded teardrop shape, could rival cultured pearls. Its color—like flowing starlight—made it nearly perfect in every way.

Lin Qianyu froze. “You’re giving it to me?”

“I’m not interested in things like that.” Feng Jingye avoided the question. Tugging at his hat brim and pulling up his scarf to almost completely cover himself, he still looked uneasy. He quickly added, “You go back to what you were doing—I’ll head back first.”

He said this while circling around Lin Qianyu and walking off toward the base.

“Eh? Let me walk you…” Lin Qianyu offered, “I’ll make you some hot water too. Do you have a fire in your igloo? If not, you can come to mine first?”

“No need.” Feng Jingye didn’t even turn his head and waved her off. “I’ve got everything I need, no trouble—I can manage myself.”

He started off walking, but soon his pace turned into something close to a run.

Lin Qianyu turned back to watch his slightly stumbling but rapidly retreating figure, and couldn’t help raising one eyebrow slowly.

You give me an abalone pearl… and then panic like that?

Lowering her gaze, Lin Qianyu picked up the abalone pearl with her fingertips and raised it to the sunlight. Its color looked even more beautiful in the light, but all she could think about was Feng Jingye’s ostrich-like attempt to hide himself earlier. After a moment, she shook her head and laughed.

【This isn’t right, this just isn’t right!】

【Help—going into the sea in freezing weather to fetch you an abalone pearl?! The island owner is too good!】【Does the polar island also farm abalone on the side? This abalone pearl is the most beautiful one I’ve ever seen—so round it almost looks fake. Sister Lin, are you selling it? I’ll pay seven figures.】

…

Lin Qianyu put the abalone pearl into the down jacket pocket, fastened the button on the flap, and called out, “Xuetuan, time to go.”

The polar bear emerged from the water with a fish in its mouth. “Mmm!”

The little snow leopard lay on the top of Lin Qianyu’s shoe. Seeing this, it stood up and began climbing up her clothes.

Lin Qianyu picked the snow leopard up and walked over to meet the polar bear. “Good work, Xuetuan. I’ll give you double canned food when we get back today, okay? One can of strawberry, one can of yellow peach.”

Even though the rescue turned out to be a misunderstanding, Xuetuan had good intentions—it rushed in to help when it saw someone fall into the water.

This well-behaved big white fluffball deserved a reward.

“Awoo!” Compared to sea fish, Xuetuan clearly preferred canned food.

It had eaten fish often since it was little, but rarely sweet things.

It was just that now they didn’t have many cans left at home. If the show was already over, there’d be no need to ration—Xuetuan could eat its fill of canned food.

The fish that had landed on the ground was still flopping around. The polar bear bit into it, looked around, and didn’t see the other person.

Lin Qianyu rubbed her fingertip against the polar bear’s ear. “Looking for Mr. Feng? He went back already.”

“Mmm…”

Lin Qianyu said, “Let’s go too. Xueqiu and the others are still waiting by the fish.”

Luckily, they had heated water over the fire earlier. When they got back, she’d cook some fish soup and bring it over to Feng Jingye.

In this freezing weather, a bit of hot soup would help drive out the cold.

Lin Qianyu rubbed the little snow leopard’s belly with one hand, and twirled the tip of its tail with the other, thinking it’d be even better if she had a few slices of ginger.

The snow leopard, seeing its tail swaying in front of its eyes a few times, couldn’t hold back. Its pupils shifted, and it suddenly opened its mouth and bit down. “Awoo!”

Author’s Note: Guinness record data and abalone pearl information are all sourced from the internet.

Good night, sleep early, love each and every one of you.