"There is something here." Lu Yuan points at the spot. His eyes sparkle with excitement. "The island from the map this one for sure. We will find a treasure if we dig here."
Lu Weixue scowls at him. His mood is awful. They have been wandering in the sea for years because of a stupid map that his brother stole from an old drunk man who blabbered about some treasure that he hid on an island. The old man must be laughing in his grave because of his brother's foolishness.
"This is the last island." Lu Weixue swears and picks up the shovel. "We are going home after this."
"We will be going home as rich men." Lu Yuan is full of energy. "Let's do this brother for our bright future. After going back home, you can get married. No woman would mind marrying a rich man even if he is old."
Lu Weixue curses him. "Shut your mouth if you don't want me to leave you here."
He is old and unmarried because he believed his foolish brother and decided to find a secret treasure left behind by an old man.
The shovel hits something hard. Lu Weixue freezes when he hears a whimper. Lu Yuan stops shoveling right away. He stares at him with a ghastly face. What's beneath the sand that can whimper in pain? The sound is quite human too.
Lu Yuan asks with a low voice. "Did we disturb someone's grave?"
Dead can't whimper. Lu Weixue digs with his hand until he finds a thin foot. The skin is cold to touch and there is barely any flesh. If it's dead, then who whimpered in pain earlier? Was it the ghost of this body?
His heart nearly leaps out of his chest when the pale toes twitch suddenly.
"What was that?" Lu Yuan has also seen it. "That's... Brother, I am leaving."
"Yuan, wait." Lu Weixue calls out his name. Lu Yuan runs with his tail between his legs as if the dead body. He wouldn't look back at his brother even once.
"Aish!" Lu Weixue's face turns sour. "What kind of brother is he?"
He jumps when the pale toes in his hand twitch again. He doesn't know where the rationality and calmness come from. He keeps digging until he sees the face. The person opens her eyes slowly as if the person is waking up from a long dream. The body is so thin that he can count the bones on her ribcage. There is not a piece of clothing on her. He covers her with his coat.
It's such a disturbing sight. He steels his heart and asks her, "Did someone bury you alive?"
"I buried myself alive," She replies to him coldly. "Why did you dig me out? You could have stopped when you saw that there was a person here."
Stunned, Lu Weixue opens his mouth and then, he closes it. He doesn't know how to answer her. Was she trying to commit suicide and he disturbed her plans?
"Woman!" He looks at her with disbelief. "You could have just jumped into the sea. That's a more sensible way to commit suicide. Why dig your grave and bury yourself?"
She shrugs her shoulder with disinterest. "I can't drown."
"Oh, it must be because you can swim." He wrinkles his nose. The woman barely looks human. The skin is too pale. She's one step away from death.
"Are you done?" She snaps at him.
Should he feel bad that he disturbed someone's suicide attempt? He already feels wronged for looking for a treasure for the last ten years and ending up in this situation. He is 35, poor, and sitting beside a nearly dead woman who tried to bury herself on an isolated island.
He grunts in frustration. There is nothing left. All the resources and his youth is wasted on looking for a treasure that never existed.
"Can you leave now?" She throws the coat at his face. "Leave. I want to lie down here. Don't stare at my body."
Why did she throw away the coat if she doesn't want him to stare? And which man will stare at that near skeleton body?
The woman doesn't give a fudge and lays down in her grave, ignoring him completely. She closes her eyes and wraps her bony arms around herself. He has never seen such a pitiable figure before.
He wonders why she is like this. Did someone abandon her here? Did her husband or love betray her? What kind of pain can force a person to dig her own grave and bury herself?
If he leaves her, she's going to die for sure.
"I came here looking for a treasure, but I found you." He tosses the coat at her again. "I am taking you with me."
She doesn't reply to him. He wonders if she has lost her consciousness. Is she already dead? He leans closer to her to check if she's breathing.
Suddenly, she opens her dark eyes and looks at him sharply. Startled, he jumps back away from her.
"Go away." Her voice carries a hint of warning. "If you don't want to get cursed, then you should leave."
"I am already cursed." He spats the words out. What is the worse thing that can happen to him now? "Woman, I am not going back empty-handed. You are going with me."
"Let me go now." She screams madly when he lifts her in his arms. She weighs less than a little child. Lu Weixue ignores her screams and carries her to the boat. He finds Lu Yuan waiting for him while biting his nails. His brother isn't shameless enough to leave him behind.
"Brother, what is that?" Lu Yuan points at the thing in his brother's arms.
"A woman." He throws her into the boat. She winces in pain and looks at him like a little wild angry kitten. Lu Weixue wants to ask her why she is trying to commit suicide with such life in her eyes. She tries to climb off the boat. He grabs her by the back of her neck and pulls her back in. She bites his hand. He nearly slaps her in reflex.
Annoying woman!
"Lu Yuan." He glares at his younger brother. "Start moving."
Lu Yuan gets the necessary push to move. He peeks at the woman clasped in his brother's arms to keep her still. She looks pretty much alive. Never in his dreams, he would have imagined that they would end up digging an alive woman out instead of a treasure or a rock.
That old man must have been a scammer.