"What's dead?" Long Qiu asked over the phone. "What's wrong with you?"
Tao Ran immediately raised his head to prevent his mouth and nose from being covered by mud. The phone fell into the water and the screen went blank. Long Qiu could no longer hear Tao Ran's voice. She panicked and called the assistant. "Where did Tao Ran shoot the advertisement today? Send me the address."
The assistant immediately sent the address to Long Qiu, and Long Qiu immediately left with a cold expression on her face. Along the way, several directors greeted her but Long Qiu walked past them without even sparing a glance. The directors were confused and automatically assumed that it was them who caused Long Qiu to once again wear the Ice Lady look on her face.
Several people at the beach took a rope and hooked it to Tao Ran's car, and then dragged the car back to the shore. But the waves were quite overwhelming and they were pushed back strongly. Tony was so anxious that he cried. "I'll be fine. But if something bad really happens to him, you all will be fully responsible for it. Do you realize that you're going to jail?"
The director was also sweating profusely in fright. He said, "Don't worry. The car is airtight, so the seawater can't get in for now."
The water quickly filled the driver's seat, so Tao Ran moved to the back seat. It was also a little upturned there but it wouldn't be flooded temporarily. At this moment he didn't dare to open the back seat window, and simply waited for someone to rescue him.
"Xiaomei, if the host is in danger, can't you save them?"
Xiaomei replied, "The self-rescue function requires two system upgrades. At present, the host’s points are insufficient to support system upgrades."
Tao Ran nearly collapsed. He asked, "Are you just gonna watch me die? What would you do if I died?"
Xiaomei opened its pair of red panda eyes and replied, "The host doesn't need to worry about Xiaomei. It's fine for Xiaomei to change to another host. People will miss you."
Tao Ran: "....” Who's worried about you?
Tao Ran's car seemed to have been hit by something, and the panda Xiaomei said, "Host, you are saved. That's the sound of the rope hanging from the front of the car so that means that you’re being dragged to safety."
"Great." Tao Ran sighed with relief. "I know it's impossible for a handsome person like me to die young."
He was very happy for a moment and became sorrowful once again as the car was dragged to the shore. The rough sand that had been poured gradually into the car now poured in quickly into the back seat. The car was immediately filled with water. Tao Ran puffed his mouth and held his breath, staring at the system with wide eyes.
Panda Xiaomei’s pair of claws were squeezed into a ball. “Come on, host! Hold on for a while. As long as you can hold your breath for three minutes, you'll definitely be saved.”
Tao Ran grumbled as several bubbles were exhaled from his nostrils, his lungs were slowly being deprived of oxygen to the limit. He unconsciously opened the windows in a daze. Then the seawater immediately poured in. Tao Ran felt a burning pain in his lungs, his brain became numb, he felt dizzy, and then he lost consciousness entirely.
Long Qiu drove to the beach where he was shooting the commercial. From a distance, she saw a large group of people standing on the beach. She got out of the car and rushed over. "Tony!"
Tony's brain exploded. "Miss Long?"
Long Qiu ran over and asked, "Where is Tao Ran?"
Tony pointed at the car being towed in the sea with red eyes. “He's still in the car."
Long Qiu didn't know what was going on. Her eyes turned red in an instant. The director of the Advertising Agency was so frightened. He said, "President Long, don't worry, the car will be dragged up right away, and Tao Ran will be fine."
Long Qiu looked at the car in the sea and then back at the director again. Her voice was as cold as ice. "No matter how he is, whether he is safe or not, don’t even think about messing around in this business again. I’ll call your company manager personally and have you fired."
Now the director was really going to cry. Tao Ran must be saved, or he might go to jail.
The car was quickly dragged up, and everyone rushed towards it. The person in charge of the haul took a look and said, "Oh no! The window was opened, and it's already flooded inside."
Tony's legs softened and he fell onto the ground. Long Qiu threw off her high heels and rushed over, just in time to see Tao Ran being dragged out. He was soaking wet, his skin was pale, his lips were blue, and he lay motionless with his eyes closed.
"Tao Ran." Long Qiu knelt beside Tao Ran. She reached out and patted his face.
She took a few deep breaths, pinched Tao Ran's nose, and began to give him CPR, pressing his chest as much as possible and breathing into his mouth. Tao Ran vomited a lot of water, but he still didn’t recover his breathing. The ambulance arrived, and Tony came over to inform her. "Ms. Long, the ambulance is here."
Long Qiu said, "What are you waiting for? Take him away immediately.”
The medical staff quickly put Tao Ran into the car while Long Qiu was watching. She grabbed her shoes and went inside the ambulance barefoot. There could only be one person in the ambulance, so Tony had to drive to the hospital by himself. They left in a hurry, leaving the director slumped on the beach. He knew he was finished, and no advertising agency would work with him again.
Tony rushed to the emergency room of the hospital. Long Qiu was sitting outside waiting. Her hair was a little messy, and the neatly combed ponytail had come loose. Tony walked over and asked, "Ms. Long, how is he?"
Long Qiu had no expression on her face and her voice was calm. "I just sent him in. I don't know what's going on."
Tony immediately regretted what happened. "I shouldn't have let Ranran take this endorsement."
Long Qiu said, "It's too late to regret it. Just think more carefully when receiving advertisements in the future."
The two sat together for a while before Long Qiu said, "You go back first. There are still things that you need to deal with. This matter must be covered up. Don’t let the reporters take pictures."
"Okay." Tony stood up and prepared to leave. He glanced at Long Qiu, then took out a comb and small mirror from his bag and said, "Miss Long your hair is a bit messy.”
Long Qiu took a look in the mirror, then started combing her hair. After a short while, she recovered to become the meticulous and cold female president once again. She called her assistant to send a pair of shoes to the hospital.
Before the assistant arrived at the operating room, the lights were dimmed, and a doctor and a nurse pushed Tao Ran out.
Long Qiu stood up and asked, "How is he?"
The doctor said, "He’s out of danger now."
Long Qiu breathed a sigh of relief, and her tight nerves also relaxed.
The doctor said, "But he has been hypoxic for a long time, and it may have some after-effects. He's an actor, right? I’ve seen him in that movie. It's best not to arrange any work for him at the moment. He needs to rest."
Long Qiu nodded. "Okay, what kind of after-effects would he have?"
"Since his brain was hypoxic for a period of time, he may have frequent headaches in the future, and it may cause coma in severe cases." The doctor said, "If he rests well, his symptoms will improve.”
Tao Ran was sent to the ward, and Long Qiu followed behind, watching the pale-looking Tao Ran lying on the bed. She felt both relieved and sad. She didn't know why she felt this way. When the assistant came in and saw Tao Ran still asleep, she whispered, "Ms. Long, your shoes are here."
Long Qiu bent over and changed her shoes before saying, "Do not arrange any work for Tao Ran at the moment. Cancel everything for now until I give you a notice. Discuss it with Tony as well."
The assistant took note, and said, "But what about the film festival in three days?"
Long Qiu was silent for a while. She knew how important this kind of award was to an actor, especially to a newcomer actor. How glorious the moment was. According to her plan, Tao Ran wouldn't go to this film festival, but she decided to respect Tao Ran's decision. So she said, "When he wakes up, let's see what he wants."
When Tao Ran woke up, Long Qiu had already left, as the CEO of Star Entertainment was not so free. Tony was sitting by the bed, peeling oranges, and almost jumped when he saw him awake. Tao Ran was hit by the orange in the nose, as Tony suddenly threw it and rushed out to find the doctor. The doctor came in, checked Tao Ran, and said, "He’s okay. He just needs to take a good rest now."
Tony clutched his chest and said, "Oh, you are finally awake. If something worse had happened to you, I would not even think about it. I will follow you to death.”
Tao Ran sweated a moment before begging for mercy. "Don't! If I die, I'd have to be with you. That would really be a dead end."
"I hate you." Tony rolled his eyes and said, "It's really unfortunate that you woke up just a bit late. Miss Long just left. You don't know how Miss Long looked when she saw you on the beach when you were out of breath. Her eyes were red and she gave you CPR herself.”
"Really?" Tao Ran smiled and said, "Miss Long is still very kind."
Tony rolled his eyes again. "Kind? What if that person lying there wasn’t you but me? Do you think she'd still be that kind?"