Chapter 15 The Young Lady in a Wheelchair 15: A Tough Girl's Tenderness (Bug Fix)

Dark gray clouds loomed over the city, and tall buildings in the distance soared into the sky, their rooftops appearing to be buried in the clouds. The rain, which had been forming a curtain, subsided, like a thin veil.

As dusk fell, more and more vehicles came onto the road, converging from all directions, their headlights glowing red against the light rain.

"Watch out!" Cheng Zhishu suddenly said.

With the sound of brakes, a heavy thud came from outside the window, and a strong sense of being pushed back came. Xi Congshuang, who was deep in thought, was hugged by someone who rushed over from the side. Her vision went black, and she covered her eyes with her other hand.

Despite being slender, she clung tightly to someone slightly taller than her like an octopus, trying to use her thin back to block out more harm.

"..."

Recovering from the brief shock, Xi Congshuang blinked, her long eyelashes brushing gently against Cheng Zhishu's palm. The hands covering her eyes seemed to be burned, and she quickly withdrew them.

Then he hugged her other arm.

Looking down at the head in her arms, her slender back stretched across the partition, the edge of the dark seatbelt wedged around her neck, yet she still held on tightly to Xi Congshuang.

The driver in front gripped the steering wheel tightly and managed to brake just before hitting the rear of the car in front. She immediately turned around and apologized: "I'm sorry, miss, there seems to be an accident ahead. I just braked suddenly. I hope you weren't hurt?"

She looked ahead nervously; the road was slippery due to the rain, and the car in front had rear-ended another car.

The driver habitually kept a distance from the car in front. When he noticed something was wrong, he stepped on the brakes in time and managed to stop successfully thanks to the vehicle's superior performance. Most importantly, there were no vehicles behind him, otherwise he would have suffered the same fate as the car in front.

But all of that is secondary. The most important thing is Xi Congshuang, who lost both legs and her parents in a car accident. Since then, she has refused to ride in a car and has abandoned all her beloved cars.

It's not easy to go out and then this happens. I hope it doesn't trigger the woman's PTSD. As the driver, she certainly won't get away with it either.

Xi Congshuang steadied herself and replied, "No."

The driver breathed a slight sigh of relief. She opened the car door and got out to check: "I'll go see what's going on up ahead. Please wait a moment, miss."

She got out of the car, opened her umbrella, and walked forward. Just then, the driver of the car in front of her also opened his door and got out, scratching his head as he made an agreement with the driver of the car in front of him to go through insurance.

The driver discovered that the situation was more serious than she had thought. Because the road was slippery, there were more than two cars involved in the rear-end collision. The car in front braked suddenly to avoid a pedestrian who had run a red light, causing a chain reaction. The pedestrian who had run the red light was also grabbed by the driver of the car in front and they were all shouting that they would call the police.

Inside the car.

The driver opened and closed the car door, largely isolating the sounds of rain and arguing.

Cheng Zhishu was still nestled in Xi Congshuang's arms, smelling her faint fragrance. She seemed reluctant to look up, but in reality, she dared not lift her head.

It's not for any other reason than it's truly embarrassing.

Subconscious actions require a lifetime to heal.

Where is there a crack in the ground I can crawl into?!

At the moment of the incident, Xi Congshuang's palm was pressed against the forearm that was lying across her chest. Now that Cheng Zhishu wouldn't let go, she couldn't move either, so she could only pat Cheng Zhishu's back with her other hand.

Xi Congshuang comforted her, "Don't be afraid, it's alright."

Xi Congshuang hugged her back and patted her back to comfort her. Cheng Zhishu's cheeks flushed slightly. She said shyly, "I'm not afraid. I'm afraid you're afraid..."

The people in the Xi family were all tight-lipped about the reason for Xi Congshuang's accident, but she still managed to piece together the general outline from snippets of conversation.

They said that Xi Congshuang became like this because of a car accident, and that she became very resistant to riding in cars. Every time she rode in a car and went home, she would have nightmares, which would wake her up and keep Wenhai awake all night.

Cheng Zhishu hoped that Xi Congshuang would not be afraid, even if she was just overestimating herself in the other party's eyes.

"..." Xi Congshuang softened her voice: "It's okay, I'm not afraid."

Cheng Zhishu slowly got up, lowering her eyes and not daring to look at the person next to her. There was a partition between their shoulders, and she didn't know if it was just her imagination, but she felt that the other person's body temperature still lingered between her arms.

The subtle fragrance lingered and grew stronger inside the car.

Just as I was carefully trying to discern what kind of fragrance Xi Congshuang was wearing, and it smelled really good, a hand gently rubbed my head, then slid down, brushed aside the hair hanging by my ear, and pinched the soft flesh on my cheek.

At seventeen or eighteen, she was still growing. She had always been frugal with her adoptive parents, so she didn't have much fat on her cheeks and was thin. Her oversized school uniform looked like a big sack covering her.

After staying in Wenhai for a week, my face has become noticeably fuller, and I feel like I've grown a little taller than before.

With a pinch of two fingers, Cheng Zhishu's lips twitched as if she were smiling, but her clear eyes were actually filled with question marks: "?"

Xi Congshuang was unaware that the corners of her lips twitched slightly, a faint smile flashing across her face, which made Cheng Zhishu's heart skip a beat.

Previously, Xi Congshuang's attitude towards Cheng Zhishu was simply that she had another person to eat at Wenhai. Supporting a student wouldn't cost much money, and it wasn't even as high as Zheng Momo's salary.

As for what she wants to do, she hasn't made any plans yet.

A person who has died once will find their will to live diminished by the lingering sense of impending death, and their senses become numb.

During her long illness, she lost much of her passion, but the warmth of her body beneath her fingertips gave her a renewed sense of reality about the world.

Xi Congshuang: "Why are you looking at me like that? Did I pinch you too hard?"

Cheng Zhishu moved her lips, then shook her head: "No."

Xi Congshuang rubbed the spot that had been pinched red. She hadn't used much force, but Cheng Zhishu's thin skin made it more noticeable.

While thinking to herself, "No wonder she blushes so easily," she said, "Sometimes being understanding isn't a good thing."

The original owner, Xi Congshuang, was someone who would get angry and tell a rehabilitation doctor to get lost even if he looked at her with pity, let alone Cheng Zhishu, who was completely under her control.

Without even thinking, it's easy to understand how Cheng Zhishu would treat her; this kindness just happened to touch the raw nerve of the original owner.

However, Cheng Zhishu was forced to stay and could not escape.

Cheng Zhishu didn't quite agree with this statement and muttered to herself, "But my grandmother taught me from a young age that a drop of kindness should be repaid with a spring of gratitude."

Xi Congshuang placed her hand on the hem of her skirt, unaware of the regret lingering in the eyes of those around her as they stared at her hands: "What if the person you kidnapped repays your kindness with ingratitude, scorns your good intentions, and retaliates against you tenfold? What would you do then?"

Cheng Zhishu found the question strange and said, "No way, how could that be?"

Xi Congshuang had already asked, and after thinking about it for a while, she slowly gave her answer: "If someone repays kindness with ingratitude... I don't really know what to do. It would be better to stay away from that person."

For some reason, Xi Congshuang's smile faded, and she only wanted to stay away and not fight back, which was very different from Cheng Zhishu's way of handling things in the future. She said, "She's still a child."

Looking at the disheveled hair, she wanted to ruffle it to feel how it felt, but she raised her hands slightly off the white dress and then lowered them again.

Her tone was tolerant; she was never an unseemly or improper person, yet she repeatedly broke her vows with Cheng Zhishu.

The female lead filter that was unconsciously applied to her has diminished, and she has returned to her true self.

Cheng Zhishu immediately objected: "I'm not a child. I'm already seventeen, and I'll be eighteen next year. I'm an adult as defined by law."

Xi Congshuang: "So what do you plan to do after you come of age?"

Another question caught Cheng Zhishu off guard. In her memory, Xi Congshuang was a princess deep in the garden, always aloof and untainted. She never expected that she would ask her many questions that her elders would ask her.

Before I could answer, the driver returned with an umbrella, and the sounds of police sirens and ambulances could be heard in the distance.

The driver folded his umbrella, sat back in the driver's seat, recounted the situation ahead, and then said, "I should be able to leave soon; the traffic police will be here shortly."

Xi Congshuang responded indifferently. She still didn't like rainy days. Although there was no abnormality on her face, the faint pain without any wound made her uncomfortable.

The driver was right. Fifteen minutes later, the accident scene was cordoned off, and traffic police were directing traffic with sirens blaring, allowing vehicles behind to continue moving forward.

I thought I would be back in Wenhai within half an hour of this trip. Before I left, Xiao Liu, who manages Wenhai, repeatedly told me to hurry up and bring her back, and not to delay her mealtime, as the young lady needed to take her medicine after eating.

Moreover, Miss Xi Congshuang has a peculiar habit: she refuses to eat if it's past mealtime, and taking medicine directly would be too harmful to her stomach. Her current physical condition is far more fragile than they imagined.

On rainy evenings, darkness falls quickly, and the streetlights along the road are turned on early, illuminating the scene with neon lights.

The world was wet, and the shallow puddles reflected the bright skyscrapers, which were then blurred by countless water droplets, creating ripples.

Looking out the car window, Xi Congshuang suddenly felt a weight on her shoulder. Turning her head, she saw that there was indeed another head on her shoulder.

The girl, who had just been sitting upright, finally couldn't sit still any longer. She closed her eyes drowsily and drifted into a deep sleep.

The students were also busy with their studies. Suddenly, she remembered that Xiao Liu had told her that Cheng Zhishu's room light was always on until very late. Once, she reminded her while delivering milk, and the light, which had been on late, was finally turned off, which put Xiao Liu at ease.

The next day, when Xiao Liu passed by Cheng Zhishu's room again, he noticed that the gap under the window was dark, but something seemed off. During a surprise inspection, he discovered that Cheng Zhishu was no longer studying with the main light on, but had switched to a small desk lamp, almost fooling her.

Xi Congshuang didn't have any particular feelings at the time, and just listened and let it go. She only instructed Xiao Liu to prepare meals for Cheng Zhishu separately: "She is still young, so don't let her eat bitter medicinal food with me every day. Make something that she likes to eat at her age."

Xiao Liu agreed, and when she returned home that evening, she served a different meal. After dinner, she told Cheng Zhishu that the young lady had specially instructed her to prepare it.

That evening, Cheng Zhishu knocked on her door, smiled at her, and whispered, "Thank you, Sister Shuang, you're so kind to me."

Okay?

Xi Congshuang didn't think she had too much; she felt that these things were all insignificant.

Another red light.

The driver gripped the steering wheel, waiting for the traffic light to turn green. Countless vehicles passed by on the road ahead, converging at one intersection and then dispersing at another, each going its own way.

As it grew later, the anxious driver tapped her fingertips on the steering wheel. Looking back in the rearview mirror, her gaze froze, and she began to wonder if she was dreaming.

The two people in the back seat were sitting side by side. The girl in the school uniform tilted her head and leaned on the shoulder of the person next to her.

She was probably too tired; her face was flushed from sleep, and her head kept drooping, only to be stopped by a hand just as it was about to fall.

Xi Congshuang gently lifted Cheng Zhishu's head, which was nodding downwards, and pressed it back onto her shoulder. Her eyes were slightly lowered, and her gaze was dim, making it impossible to see her eyes clearly.

A loud "beep!" from the car behind snapped the driver out of his thoughts. The light had turned green, so he quickly started the car and continued on his way.

I've heard that people who have faced life and death often undergo a dramatic change in personality; perhaps that's true for you, Miss.

The driver comforted herself in this way, otherwise she couldn't convince herself that Xi Congshuang, who used to throw anyone who dared to do such a thing, would have such a tender moment.

Hahaha, it's perfectly normal for a tough woman to suddenly become tender after experiencing a major life change, hahaha.

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Driver: Hahaha, stop joking! I must have picked up the wrong person today. This isn't my straight-as-an-arrow lady ( ).