The Sweet Rival (Mango Shen and Nathaniel Ye)

"Mango!"

As Nathaniel grabbed her hand, both of them fell together.

During the fall, Nathaniel reversed his body and held Mango in his arms. After that, Nathaniel was cushioning her when he landed.

Mango could only hear a muffled groan, but she wasn't harmed at all. She couldn't help but be worried.

"Are you alright, Nathan?"

"I'm fine."

Nathaniel held back the pain and helped Mango up.

This was a cave-like place, but there were open flames inside.

Mango was slightly nervous as she said, "What kind of place is this? I was clearly walking with you just now. Why did we suddenly fall since this isn't a valley?"

Nathaniel was also a little wary as he shielded Mango behind him.

"Follow me. If anything happens later, don't mind me. You can go first."

"What are you talking about? How can I leave first?"

Although Mango was afraid, she would not abandon Nathaniel.

Nathaniel said in a low voice, "It seems that someone is living here."

"How could this be?"

"Look at the tracks here. It looks very clean. It can't be spotless if someone doesn't clean up."

Nathaniel's words made Mango tense again.

"We'd better find an exit. It's scary here."

"Stop talking and follow me. It's impossible for us to retrace our steps. We can't climb up right, can we?"

Nathaniel tightly grasped Mango's hand. He noticed that Mango's palm was covered in sweat.

"Don't be afraid. I'm here with you."

Nathaniel's gaze gave encouragement to Mango.

The two of them walked inside in a single file.

After walking through a tunnel, they saw a relatively spacious area.

It looked like a warehouse, but there were beds, some instant noodles, and water.

Seeing all of this, Mango's heart was finally at ease.

"Indeed, someone is living here. But who is that? It's so creepy for him to live in a graveyard."

Mango still felt the goosebumps on her skin.

Nathaniel protected her and made her sit on the bed while he looked around.

The person who stayed here surely did not leave often, as the food was prepared in cartons and some household waste was left there as well.

Nathaniel didn't know who was living there, but he still sat beside Mango and said in a low voice, "We can only wait here."

"Zion will be worried. Lemme give him a call."

As Mango spoke, she took out her mobile, only to find that the phone had no signal at all.

"What's wrong?"

"There's no signal."

Mango became even more depressed.

No one came back even after they had waited a long time.

Mango wondered what time it was as her phone had died long ago.

Nathaniel looked at her exhausted appearance and said softly, "Get some sleep. I'll wake you if anything happens." "Let me keep you company. I can't be at ease if you're all alone in this place." "It's okay. Get some rest first. I can deal with it."

Perhaps it was Nathaniel's reassuring gaze, but Mango fell asleep in his arms soon after.

Nathaniel looked at her slumbering face and smiled dotingly.

He wondered how much time had passed till a strange smell greeted him all of a sudden.

Nathaniel's vigilance was extremely high. He immediately held his breath and wanted to ask Mango to do the same as well. However, it seemed like she had fallen prey to the gas.

Who was that? Was it the person who lived here?

Nathaniel thought for a moment before he collapsed abruptly.

Not long after, a man walked in. He was seemingly in his fifties or sixties. When he saw both Mango and Nathaniel unconscious, he chuckled.

"You have no idea who you're messing around with, young man."

The man came to them and reached his hand to touch Nathaniel's body. At that moment, Nathaniel suddenly opened his eyes and grabbed that man's wrist.

"Ouch, my wrist!"

The man immediately whined.

Nathaniel looked at him coldly and said, "What have you done to us?"

"What else can it be? It's just a kind of herb that can make you faint temporarily. Let go of my hand! You break into my home for no reason, and now you want to attack me. You're so mean, aren't you?" The man was howling but Nathaniel did not let go of him.

"Hand me the antidote!"

"You don't need an antidote! Just splash a basin of cold water on her and she'll wake up."

The man's words made Nathaniel squint his eyes.

"I'll say it again. I need the antidote! Otherwise, I'll break your arm!"

Meanwhile, Nathaniel strengthened his grip as he spoke.

"Ouchhh! Have mercy! I'll give it to you!"

The man screamed in pain again, and his voice raised in pitch.

Then, Nathaniel reached out.

The man reluctantly took out a small bottle from his pocket and handed it to Nathaniel.

"Wipe it on her temples. She'll wake up in a while."

Nathaniel found a rope to tie the man up and then smeared it on Mango according to what he said.

It didn't take long for Mango to wake up.

She sneezed several times in a row, and only then did she wake up completely.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing much."

Nathaniel smiled.

Once the man saw that Mango had woken up, he hurriedly said, "Hey, she's awake. You can let go of me now, right?" "How do I know if there are any toxins left in her body? Let's talk about it after she's gone through a checkup." The man was feeling very frustrated.

"How? Except for me, everyone else here is dead! Will corpses be able to do checkups?"

Nathaniel looked at the man and asked icily, "What's your name? Are you a member of this village?"

"Yeah, of course! In fact, I have to ask you some questions. Who are you? What are you doing in our village?"

The man didn't back down at all.

Nathaniel said coldly, "Our village? Are you sure that a village with only one living is being called ours?" "How dare you!"

The man was red with wrath. He knew that he couldn't defeat Nathaniel, so he shut his mouth and turned away from Nath niel.

Mango had no clue about what was going on, but her mind quickly came to its senses.

"Is he the owner of this place?"

"Probably. How do you feel? Does anything ail you? If you feel uncomfortable, just tell me as soon as possible, and I'll ask him to give you the antidote."

Upon hearing Nathaniel's words, the man said angrily, "If I really poisoned her, you wouldn't be able to detoxify her. No one else can do it besides the people from our village."

"That's not necessarily so. Madeline can deal with it."

Nathaniel suddenly blurted out Nanny Zhang's name.

The man was stunned for a moment. Then he asked excitedly, "Who did you mention just now?"

"Madeline Zhang. She was from this village too. She's in Ocean City now."

The man's expression became even more excited.

"Do you know Madeline?"

"Of course I do. Who are you?" "I'm Aiden, her fiance!"

Aiden's words shocked both Mango and Nathaniel.

"Pardon, what did you say?"

"I am her fiance! That year we were engaged, but we were yet to get married. A disaster struck us and I survived that incident soon after I found this cave. I only realized that the village had been destroyed after I came out. I buried everyone here, but I couldn't find Madeline. I thought she was dead, but I received a letter from Madeline the year after instead. She said she was in Ocean City and had a good life. She asked me not to wait for her anymore. Well, she's my one and only, so how could I not wait? I have been to Ocean City to look for her, but she was nowhere to be found, so I had to come back again. From then on, I didn't get any news from her. That was almost thirty years ago. I was guarding these tombs and made myself a groundskeeper for almost 30 years."

There were teardrops in Aiden's eyes as he said about this.

Nathaniel and Mango looked at each other. They never thought that there were still people alive in this village, and they never expected that Aiden was Nanny Zhang's fiance.

"She's passed away. I came here to bury her ashes. I've already bought this whole village and the ancestral temple is under renovation. You can leave the cave and stay wherever you like."

Nathaniel's words suddenly made Aiden stunned.

"She's dead? What happened to her? Who killed her?"

Aiden was very emotional.

Mango did not want the cycle of hatred to continue because it had taken too many lives.

She hurriedly said, "What made you think that someone killed her?"

"She left us for revenge! I know! I knew Madie's temper very well. We were all slaughtered here, so she could not let our deaths be in vain."

Aiden spoke seriously.

Nathaniel said coldly, "What does the slaughter have to do with my mother? Why do you want her to live in pain?"

"What did you say? Your mother? Are you Madie's son? Is she married?"

Aiden was stunned again.

Nathaniel still said coldly, "Yeah, my mother is married. If it weren't for her last wish to be buried here, I would not have brought back her ashes."

"Impossible! That's impossible!"

Aiden suddenly became agitated again.

"She's my fiancee! She's mine!"

"Well, you didn't protect her at the time. When the disaster came, you hid here alone to seek refuge, but why didn't you take her with you? By the time you got to know that she left here for Ocean City, why didn't you try your best to find her? If you did so, it's impossible for you not to find my mother. What makes you say that she is yours now?"

Nathaniel's words stunned Aiden completely.

"At that time, I..."

He seemed to be in grief as he spoke.

Yeah, why didn't he bring Madeline with him back then?

It was all because he couldn't make it in time.

His home was far away from Madeline's, and he was afraid that when he found her, both of them would not be spared. Hence, he gave up Madeline at that moment.

Thinking of this, Aiden began to cry in grief.

"I didn't mean it! It was so terrible at that time. I really didn't manage to care for her. I didn't mean it!"

Nathaniel looked at him and thought that all of this wouldn't have happened if Madeline and Aiden had escaped together. Alas, no one could change the past.

Tell us how to get out of here. I don't care if you want to cry, but we have to go and look for the blue nymph grass and bury my mother."

Nathaniel's words made Aiden pause.

"Are you here for blue nymph grass?"