Chapter 122: Love is forbidden. How can I have a family if the Xiongnu is not destroyed? ...

Zhu Yingning followed him out, holding food in his hands, with four big words floating in his mind -

You can’t fall in love too early.

Suppressed by these four words, she decided to pretend that nothing had happened. She sat down at the dining table, neither saying a word nor daring to think about what had just happened. She emptied her mind and focused on eating. She wished she could put the bowl on her face and sew it up with some thread.

In between picking up food, his eyes would occasionally look up and meet Xu Sirui's gaze.

He also didn't say anything, just looked at her. His eyes, which usually looked normal, were now made particularly dark and thick by the overhead light from the dining table.

Zhu Yingning felt extremely tortured and could only keep picking up food, looking like he had been hungry for hundreds of years and would starve to death on the spot if he didn't eat.

They ate dinner in silence, and if you didn't know better you would think they were having some kind of feud.

After dinner, she took her bowl and went to wash the dishes. Xu Sirui followed her into the kitchen and said, "Let me do it."

"No, go and rest. Don't bother if you're injured."

She stared down at the bowls in the sink, grabbed a rag at random, rinsed it aimlessly under the faucet, wrung it dry, and then wiped it aimlessly on the faucet again.

"Just put the dishes in the dishwasher. You can do it with one or two hands."

"All right……"

The day she first arrived at Xu Sirui's house, Zhu Yingning had thought their kitchen was exceptionally large. But now, it felt incredibly small, so cramped that even breathing was difficult. She decided to go outside for some fresh air, so she put down the dishcloth she had ravaged, turned around, and walked out, leaving the kitchen to him.

As they passed each other, she heard what sounded like Xu Sirui's laughter. It came from his chest, a deep, resonant sound, with a faint tail that was barely audible, as if it were merely an illusion. Her steps paused slightly at the laughter, and just as she was wondering if she had misheard, she heard him whisper, "I don't think you're very courageous."

“…”

She immediately quickened her pace and left.

Returning to his room, Zhu Yingning closed the door, squatted behind it, supported his face and sighed.

She consoled herself: this wasn't a question of desertion or courage, but rather a matter of concentrating on her duties as a student. Each age group had its own responsibilities, and at her age, she should be focused on her studies. If she failed the college entrance exam because of some random thought, wouldn't that be harmful to both herself and others?

After comforting herself, she nodded seriously, confirming her inner thoughts.

**

A broken rib is not a big problem, but it will inevitably cause inconvenience in daily life.

Xu Sirui was a delicate person, and Zhu Yingning sometimes couldn't tell whether he was really in that much pain, or if he was just a spoiled child by nature, and would exaggerate even three points of pain into seven points of pain.

During the time he was recovering from his injury, she had to take care of him like a personal maid - he couldn't lie down by himself, he had to be supported, the same was true for getting up, and he couldn't walk independently, he had to use her as a crutch. Sometimes Zhu Yingning wanted to complain: "Your leg is not injured, why do you have to support me?"

But she didn't dare say this, for fear that she would get some answer that would shake her determination to study.

Since she's been helping Zhu Zhiwei manage her online store lately, editing detail pages and designing product slogans, Xu Sirui gave her her old, unused phone. Besides logging into Taobao, she sometimes checks out everyone's posts and chats on QQ.

Their class has two class groups, one with a teacher and one without. The one with the teacher doesn't chat a single word for ten days or half a month, while the one without the teacher can chat 99+ times in two or three days.

In the early days of the internet, everyone was still very naive, so naive that almost everyone would add everyone in the class group. Zhu Yingning only discovered that she had added Dai Yize when she accidentally browsed her friend list.

Dai Yize has a voracious appetite for sharing, posting nearly every day. When Zhu Yingning opens her QQ space, at least half of it is filled with him enjoying himself: videos of him playing and singing Justin Bieber songs, curses against people who cut in line for having no anus, and non-mainstream melancholy diaries.

On Children's Day, he posted a photo of himself participating in a Children's Day event at a mall, with the caption, "Older children also received Children's Day gifts." She clicked on the photo and saw Dai Yize holding a small yellow duck hydrogen balloon. She thought it was quite amusing, so she zoomed in and carefully examined the sign behind him. It said the balloon giveaway would continue until June 2nd, which happened to be today. She figured she could go downstairs and get one for Xu Sirui later.

Just when I was about to confirm the number of balloons and the rules for collecting them, so as not to miss out, I saw Xu Zhengkang's face in the background.

Zhu Yingning suddenly felt a surge of anger and his face turned dark. Although he knew in his heart that this was not good, he could not control his inner stance.

During the days when Xu Sirui was injured, Xu Zhengkang didn't say a word, neither apologized nor showed any concern. When he saw the chest strap on Xu Sirui, he just glanced away indifferently, as if Xu Sirui's injury was entirely caused by his own fall and had nothing to do with him.

He also used the excuse that he was busy with work and rarely went home.

No time to go home, but have time to go shopping?

Although appearing in the mall might be to treat customers to a meal, Zhu Yingning just wanted to get angry.

She angrily wiped his face away and continued to check the activity description in the picture. She saw that the rules said that any student who is currently studying can receive it with their student ID or campus card, so she took the school seal and went out.

"Where are you going?"

Xu Sirui heard the sound of the door opening and poked his head out of his room.

"Get you a present."

He was stunned. Although he didn't understand why she suddenly wanted to give him a gift, his heart was still inexplicably excited by her words.

Twenty minutes later, Zhu Yingning really came back with a gift for him.

A Hello Kitty hydrogen balloon.

“…”

He was silent for a long time and then asked, "Where is my gift?"

"Here." She handed over the Hello Kitty balloon.

She explained seriously that it was because he had been in a bad mood recently. Xu Sirui's bad mood had complex reasons: he was worried about Zhou Tianlan's illness, he resented Xu Zhengkang, and after his rib injury, he couldn't use the computer anymore. He had been playing with one hand for a few days and almost developed tendonitis.

He listened for a moment, then raised his hand to stop her: "Okay, I know why you want to give it to me, but why Hello Kitty?"

He had originally thought that as long as she could give a reasonable explanation, Hello Kitty would be fine. At least she had the same, uh, fair skin as him. But Zhu Yingning said, "Because this is the only free gift left in the mall. Everything else costs money."

“…”

Xu Sirui was so angry that he slammed the door and went back to his bedroom.

Zhu Yingning curled her lips, thinking that if he didn't like it, she would keep it for herself. She walked towards the guest room holding the balloon. As she was opening the door, the door of his bedroom behind her suddenly opened again. Then, before she could react, he reached out and snatched the Hello Kitty hydrogen balloon from her hand. With a bang, he slammed the door of his room.

The corridor was empty. She looked down at her equally empty hands, the corners of her mouth curled up involuntarily. She shook her head outside his door and sighed, "Xu Sirui, you're really not cute like this."

"Shut up." He said unhappily from inside.

**

Worried that Zhou Tianlan would see his injuries and worry her, Xu Sirui made the excuse that he had signed up for the school's competition class and needed tutoring after school and on weekends, so he couldn't go to the hospital. He just called her for more than half an hour every night.

Zhou Tianlan probably also thought that this reason sounded ridiculous, because Xu Sirui didn't look like someone who would take the initiative to sign up for a competition class. After a period of regular calls, her suspicion grew, and she suddenly asked to video chat to see what he looked like.

Xu Sirui had no choice but to accept the video call from Zhou Tianlan while wrapped in a blanket at Zhu Yingning's suggestion.

The blanket covered the chest strap, revealing nothing. The only downside was that it was summer, and the outfit looked strange. Zhou Tianlan asked worriedly, "Ruirui, why are you still wrapped in a blanket in June? Are you really that weak?"

Xu Sirui looked at Zhu Yingning for help. Zhu Yingning quickly spoke up to help, "Auntie, it's because... the air conditioner in Xu Sirui's room is too cold."

"But why does he look sweaty to me?"

"Uh..." she mused, "This isn't sweat. This is the water from his shower that he forgot to dry."

Next, Zhou Tianlan started to lecture on the dangers of not drying off in time after showering, and told him to turn up the air conditioner a few degrees if he felt cold, instead of setting it to 18 degrees every day as if simulating the Arctic environment. But at least he managed to fool him.

Zhou Tianlan's condition was under control, and after a period of observation, there were no signs of worsening symptoms. This was a good thing, but it also raised an awkward issue: if her condition improved, she would have to be taken into custody by the prison.

It was July, and final exams were just a few days away. Zhou Tianqing assured them to focus on studying for the exams and not worry about Zhou Tianlan's imprisonment. She had applied for medical parole for a year, and according to regulations, she was required to report her health condition to the police station every month. Once the executing authorities assessed her condition and deemed her fit to continue serving her sentence, she would be imprisoned early. Zhou Tianqing explained that Zhou Tianlan had just submitted a report at the end of June, and according to regulations, she only needed to report once more at the end of July, leaving her with a month's time outside.

"Let's discuss the specific details after you finish your exams," said Zhou Tianqing.

In order not to affect their exams, and also to prevent her sister from meeting the scumbag Xu Zhengkang, she took Zhou Tianlan to her home after completing the discharge procedures.

Xu Sirui thought this was fine. Even if Zhou Tianlan was really imprisoned at the end of the month, he would have nearly a month to accompany her after they finished their exams in the next few days.

Unfortunately, man proposes, God disposes.

After finishing the last exam and just leaving the school, Xu Sirui received a call from Zhou Tianqing.

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The author has something to say: Today's second update will be a little late, everyone come back at 11:30 (kneel)