The Extreme Challenge is a reality show featuring athletic challenges.
Each episode features a different theme, but the challenges are basically open-air outdoor activities filmed on location. For example, this episode has a horror theme and was filmed at a large abandoned factory on the outskirts of City C.
After getting off the plane and into the car, Song Anan had been sitting in the same position the whole time, head lowered and hands folded in her lap, motionless.
Her white knuckles from tightly clasping her hands together showed how anxious and uneasy she was.
Song Anan was completely lost in her own thoughts and unable to break free.
Her mind was filled with the ending for Song Linchuan in the book. Although the original novel did not describe his sudden death in much detail, there were still a few key pieces of information.
The location where he died was also in City C. That episode had a horror theme as well. While being chased by people in black costumes arranged by the show's crew, he was suddenly frightened by a "woman in red" who appeared out of nowhere, causing his heart to stop suddenly and resulting in his death.
But Song Anan knew that Song Linchuan was very brave and not afraid of ghosts. How could he possibly be scared to death by a "woman in red"?
That's why she mainly attributed the cause of his sudden death to his own physical condition, which is why she took him to get a physical exam.
But now Song Anan had a terrifying thought—could this be the plot correcting itself?
She had brought Song Linchuan to avoid the original storyline by participating in this lifestyle show, but the male lead from the original book just happened to appear on this show.
Although the female lead had not shown up yet, a supporting character who was not originally supposed to appear in the show had.
Now Song Linchuan had come as a guest to participate in this extreme variety show.
A term suddenly flashed through Song Anan's mind—destiny!
The sense of destiny from the original book.
Even if the plot deviated, Song Linchuan would still encounter the people he was destined to meet, and they appeared at the same points in time.
Did this not also mean that Song Linchuan's sudden death ending was not something that could be easily avoided just by hiding from it?
Thinking of this possibility, Song Anan suddenly felt a chill reach to her bones, and her whole body couldn't help but tremble.
No!
Things definitely weren't like that. She couldn't scare herself. Since the plot could change, the ending could also be altered.
She still had time to stop all of this. As long as she helped Song Linchuan get through this catastrophe in the original book, then the subsequent plot would have nothing to do with the book anymore.
Wouldn't that mean Song Linchuan had truly escaped his fate in the book?
After finding out Song Linchuan had gone to film this extreme variety show, the first thing Song Anan did was call him to try to stop him, but she couldn't get through.
It wasn't until Pei Kuang contacted Jiang Han that she found out Song Linchuan had already entered the filming location, and the show required guests to turn off their phones during filming, which was why she couldn't reach him.
Song Anan didn't care about all that at this point. She immediately told Jiang Han to get him out of the show, although she herself couldn't come up with a coherent reason why.
In the end, it was Pei Kuang who came up with an excuse to smooth things over, saying there was an emergency at home and they urgently needed to contact Song Linchuan.
Only then did Jiang Han agree and say he would discuss pausing filming with the director.
But for some reason, even though they were already in City C, Jiang Han still hadn't gotten back to them. They couldn't even reach him by phone, which made Song Anan more and more anxious.
"You still can't get through to Jiang Han?" Song Anan asked Pei Kuang anxiously.
Pei Kuang didn't speak. He took out his phone and dialed Jiang Han's number again. The other end gave an unavailable tone once more.
Song Anan became even more restless.
Pei Kuang patted her arm to reassure her, "Don't worry, everything will be fine. Brother Jiang said he'd call us when he had news."
He didn't know why Song Anan had reacted so strongly upon hearing Song Linchuan went to film The Extreme Challenge.
But from his understanding of her these past few days, he knew Song Anan was not the type to make a fuss over nothing. She must have her reasons for doing this, which is why he rushed over to City C with her right away.
As for what those reasons were, since she didn't say, Pei Kuang didn't ask.
Song Anan felt like her heart was on fire, unable to calm down at all. "Master, how much longer until we arrive? Can we drive faster?"
The driver was also made nervous by the atmosphere in the car. "The airport is in eastern City C. You want to go to western City C. If traffic is smooth, it will take about an hour more, but if we hit congestion then I can't say."
Eastern and western City C were separated by the entire expanse of City C, so the distance was quite far.
Hearing it would take so long, Song Anan became even more anxious. But she also knew getting impatient now wouldn't help. She could only watch the scenery outside the window anxiously, wishing she could sprout wings and fly over immediately.
Just then, her phone suddenly rang.
Song Anan didn't even have time to check the caller ID. She immediately answered the call.
"Jiang Han, what's the situation?" she asked anxiously.
There was a brief pause on the other end, then the voice that responded was not Jiang Han's.
"Auntie Anan, it's me."
Song Anan froze and pulled the phone away from her ear to look at it.
It was Qi MuShi.
"Auntie Anan, how is Brother Linchuan? I saw online that he had an accident while filming a show and was taken to the hospital. He's okay, right?"
Song Anan's mind went blank with a buzz.
It took her several seconds to react. When she finally responded, her voice was nearly broken: "Hos...pital?"
"Yes! It's trending on social media. I sent Brother Linchuan a WeChat message but he didn't reply, so I called you..."
Trending. Song Anan only caught that one key piece of information.
With a trembling hand, she opened Weibo. Sure enough, on the trending topics was a tag in red that clearly contained the character for "explode."
#Song Linchuan has accident while filming show, life or death unknown!#
Clicking in, there was a video shot at the hospital entrance. A doctor wheeled someone out of an ambulance. Although you couldn't see the person's face clearly, Song Anan recognized the clothes he was wearing—Song Linchuan had worn them just a few days ago.
Right after that, the video showed Jiang Han getting out of the ambulance as well.
In that moment, Song Anan felt like something had grabbed her heart. She was suffocating and helpless.
She slowly turned her body to look at Pei Kuang, completely lost.
"What...what do we do? Linchuan, he..."
Her voice already carried obvious tones of crying. As she spoke, she broke down in sobs.
Pei Kuang quickly grasped Song Anan's trembling hands to comfort her. "Don't worry, nothing will happen to Linchuan. Stay calm, stay calm."
After saying this, he freed one hand to call Jiang Han again, but the other party still didn't pick up.
Pei Kuang was also panicking now. His whole body was shaking, just not as obviously as Song Anan.
Unable to reach Jiang Han, where were they supposed to go find Song Linchuan?
Seemingly struck by a thought, he suddenly started searching on his phone.
About half a minute later, he looked up at the driver in front. "Go to City C Municipal Hospital."
Song Anan turned to look at him.
Pei Kuang explained, "It's the hospital closest to the filming location."
Based on common sense, when an emergency like this happened, normal people would choose the nearest hospital.
Song Anan froze for a second, then understood what he meant.
The driver didn't say anything more either, just directly changed route toward City C Municipal Hospital.
The car sped down the highway.
Nearing the hospital, Pei Kuang finally got a call from Jiang Han.
"Hello, Pei Kuang. My phone ran out of battery just now, where are you and little sister-in-law now? Linchuan is at City C Municipal Hospital."
Pei Kuang: "We're almost there. Go wait for us at the hospital entrance. We'll be there in..."
He glanced at the driver in front.
The driver reacted swiftly, immediately responding, "Three minutes."
"No more than three minutes. We'll definitely be at the hospital entrance."
Three minutes later, Jiang Han did indeed see Song Anan and Pei Kuang arrive at the hospital entrance.
"Linchuan is in surgery. I'll take you to wait outside the operating room." Jiang Han said.
By now, Song Anan was completely disoriented. Her mind went blank. She could only let Pei Kuang lead her along the whole way.
On the way from the entrance to the operating room, Pei Kuang got a full account of events from Jiang Han.
After receiving Song Anan's call, Jiang Han immediately rushed to the filming location, originally planning to personally discuss pausing filming with the director since abruptly halting production was no small matter.
But before he even got to speak with the director after meeting him, news came from the indoor set that Song Linchuan was injured.
He had been hit by falling equipment during filming.
"Hit by equipment?" Song Anan suddenly looked up at Jiang Han.
Wasn't it that while being chased by people in black, he was frightened by a "woman in red" and went into sudden cardiac arrest?
Jiang Han was startled. He didn't understand why Song Anan had this kind of expression. But he still truthfully responded, "According to staff, Linchuan was hit while trying to save a female guest on set. Luckily he reacted quickly and dodged a little, so it didn't hit his head, but his leg was injured."
The surgery was still underway so they didn't know the specifics yet. But seeing Song Linchuan with that bloody leg, Jiang Han had certainly been scared out of his wits.
That kind of condition, the injury was definitely not light.
But Jiang Han was afraid of worrying Song Anan, so he didn't say that part.
The three of them quickly arrived outside the operating room.
Jiang Han was pulled away by someone to handle some paperwork, and the show staff were assigned to go deal with reporters who had rushed over after hearing the news at the hospital entrance.
In the end, the only two left waiting outside the operating room were Song Anan and Pei Kuang.
Song Anan sat on the bench, head lowered as she stared at her shoes. She tightly gripped her phone, lost in thought.
Upon hearing that Song Linchuan was hit by equipment instead of sudden cardiac arrest, the soul she had lost finally returned to her body.
At the same time, Song Anan began to regret her carelessness the past two days.
Just yesterday, she had secretly rejoiced, thinking that things between Song Linchuan and Ji Qingbai seemed to be going fine, and with Jiang Kai having left the show, they were safe.
But she had overlooked one thing—the time of Song Linchuan's sudden death in the original book had not yet passed, so anything could still happen.
It was all her fault. If she had been a little more careful, would Song Linchuan be lying in the operating room right now?
The more Song Anan thought about it, the more she blamed herself. In an instant, she was completely submerged in deep guilt.
The entire corridor outside the operating room was deathly silent.
Pei Kuang sat next to Song Anan when he suddenly heard a 'drip' sound.
He turned to look and saw a teardrop had landed on the back of Song Anan's hand.
Then two drops, three drops... She was crying soundlessly.
Pei Kuang thought for a moment before standing up and walking over in front of her. He gently patted her back to comfort her.
Hearing the movement, Song Anan slowly lifted her head. Her eyes were wet, tears swirling around.
She seemed extremely aggrieved.
Pei Kuang hesitated for a second.
The next moment, Song Anan burst into loud sobs.
She then rushed into his arms, crying louder and louder.
Pei Kuang's body stiffened. Song Linchuan's words from last night suddenly flashed through his mind.
"My auntie has been a crybaby since she was little. When she starts crying, she's impossible to console."
He looked at the auntie in his arms who was crying inconsolably, and silently sighed.
Indeed impossible to console.
Furthermore, Pei Kuang really lacked experience comforting people. He could only pat her back lightly and let her vent it all out.
He had witnessed just how panicked Song Anan was the whole drive over.
Who knew how long she cried for, but eventually Song Anan's sobs grew softer.
However, her shoulders still shuddered as she continued sniffling.
Just as Pei Kuang was about to say something to comfort her more, hurried footsteps suddenly echoed from the other end of the corridor.
Jiang Han was in front, followed by a middle-aged couple.
The man had an aura of authority and prestige that comes with being in a high position, while the woman exuded an air of elegance and nobility. One could tell at a glance that they were no ordinary people.
The woman walked straight towards them. "Anan, you must have been so frightened. Don't worry, it's alright now, sister-in-law is here."
Song Anan lifted her head from Pei Kuang's embrace. Seeing the newcomer, her eyes brimmed with tears again. "Sister-in-law, Linchuan is injured."
The new arrivals were none other than Song Linchuan's parents, Song Anan's elder brother and sister-in-law, Song Zhenhui and Zhao Ya.
Realizing their identities, Pei Kuang relinquished the girl in his arms to Zhao Ya and took a few steps back.
He then nodded to Song Zhenhui beside him. "Uncle."
Song Zhenhui lightly nodded back. "Thanks for your trouble."
Pei Kuang shook his head but said nothing more.
Perhaps it was the sight of her family, but Song Anan started weeping again. "Brother, sister-in-law, it's all my fault. I didn't take good care of Linchuan."
Seeing Song Anan so distraught, Zhao Ya's heart ached. "How could it be your fault? He's a grown man..."
She had meant to scold Song Anan, but swallowed her words at the thought of her son still in surgery.
But seeing her young sister-in-law so upset brought tears to her eyes too.
Truth be told, this incident had nothing to do with Song Anan. Even if it did, Zhao Ya could not bear to blame her.
Song Anan was an unexpected pregnancy when Song's mother was 48. By then, Song Linchuan was already 7 years old.
Song's parents had married young, and his mother gave birth to eldest son Song Zhenhui at 19.
Coincidentally, Zhao Ya and Song Zhenhui were childhood sweethearts who also married and had children early. This resulted in Song Linchuan being 7 years older than Song Anan.
To Zhao Ya, although Song Anan was her sister-in-law, she had raised Song Anan like her own daughter and loved her dearly.
In fact, the whole Song family doted on Song Anan.
Just then, the surgery room lights went off. Shortly after, the surgeon emerged.
"The surgery went smoothly. The patient will be moved to the ward soon. With proper rest and recuperation, he will recover."
Hearing this, everyone heaved a huge sigh of relief.
As long as he was alright, nothing else mattered.
In the ward, they waited for the patient to regain consciousness as the doctor had instructed.
Before long, Song Linchuan slowly opened his eyes.
The anesthesia had just worn off and he had little strength.
He scanned the room before his gaze landed on Song Anan's swollen eyes. His own eyes flashed angrily.
"Pei Kuang! How could you let my auntie cry like this? I trusted you to take care of her!"
An awkward silence descended in the room.
Everyone else: "..."
Somehow, those words sounded rather inappropriate.
