Chapter Twenty-Seven
He Qi swallowed hard and gave You Congxi a fawning smile: "Haha, what a coincidence."
Just when he feared it all, Shen Yue inwardly groaned, but outwardly maintained a strong and calm demeanor: "Well, didn't you go home?"
You Congxi shifted her gaze from the injury on his face, the smile fading from her lips. She nodded, her voice devoid of emotion: "Come back to get your homework."
Shen Yue glanced at the backpack on her back, breathed a slight sigh of relief, and stepped forward as if to take the backpack off her shoulder and carry it in his hand: "Just text me, I'll be at school right now, and I'll deliver it to you directly—"
You Congxi sidestepped his hand, preventing it from even touching the edge of his backpack.
"No need."
Shen Yue was surprised that she would dodge, and his raised hand froze in place.
He Qizheng keenly sensed the awkward atmosphere between the two and wisely regarded himself as an infinitely shrunk mushroom with zero presence, keeping a distance of five meters from them.
So he witnessed the whole process of his brother turning into a lackey.
His brother, a tall man of 185 cm, was seen hunching over and shamelessly approaching You Congxi, muttering something under his breath. One could vaguely hear words like "accident" and "knowing he was wrong."
You Congxi stood with his back straight, seemingly having no intention of paying any attention to his brother.
Hey, He Qi's wandering gaze finally settled. How come You Congxi's schoolbag was in Shen Yue's hands?
Looking up again, the four large characters "Zhuangyuan Clinic" came into view.
"......"
"Oh, the VIP is here?" The doctor put his hands in his pockets and smiled as he watched the clinic's only member enter. "Why did you take so long to come this time? This isn't like you."
Shen Yue: "......"
You Congxi snatched the backpack back from Shen Yue's hand, put it on, nodded politely to the doctor, and stepped aside to make room so that the doctor could see the member's injuries more clearly.
"Oh dear, you're disfigured!" The doctor exaggeratedly patted his chest, gesturing for Shen Yue to sit down, and said while preparing the medicine, "If you walk by the river often enough, you're bound to get your shoes wet—"
"Dr. Sun," Shen Yue interrupted, unable to contain himself any longer, "why is your clinic so deserted today?"
Even You Congxi, who is terrible at Chinese, knows how bizarre it is to describe a clinic as having "a deserted doorway".
He Qizheng's lips twitched, realizing that his brother's injury wasn't on his face, but rather on his brain.
Dr. Sun didn't seem to care. He used a cotton swab to evenly apply hydrogen peroxide to Shen Yue's wound. He heard Shen Yue gasp in pain, then complain, "Dr. Sun, why are you using hydrogen peroxide on my scratch?! Iodine would have been fine!"
Dr. Sun's clinic is located near several schools, and he usually sees mostly hot-blooded teenagers like Shen Yue who love to fight. With his rich experience, he can tell at a glance that the wound on Shen Yue's face was caused by a knife.
Selectively ignoring Shen Yue's complaints, Dr. Sun quickly applied a band-aid to him and strolled to the pharmacy to get him some anti-inflammatory medicine: "I only have hydrogen peroxide here, for your exclusive use."
Shen Yue gritted his teeth and endured the burning pain on his face. Looking at his bruised face reflected in the mirror hanging diagonally in front of him, he suddenly remembered something very important.
He rushed to Dr. Sun and asked in a panic, "Dr. Sun, will I be left with a scar on my face?!"
Dr. Sun paused in his work of preparing the medicine, glanced at Shen Yue, then at He Qi, who was equally nervous, and at the young girl who was pretending not to be nervous but whose eyes were fixed on him.
They're still just a bunch of kids.
Dr. Sun chuckled inwardly, but his brows furrowed slowly, making Shen Yue's heart tremble.
Seeing Dr. Sun's hesitant expression, Shen Yue's heart sank. He braced himself on the table, assuring himself that he wouldn't be ashamed to lie on the ground after hearing the verdict: "Just tell the truth, don't pity this delicate flower!"
Seeing that he still has the mood to joke around, You Congxi doesn't know whether to be speechless or relieved.
Seeing Shen Yue's anxious eyes, Doctor Sun slowly shook his head and sighed softly.
He Qizheng stared wide-eyed, while You Congxi turned to look at Shen Yue, who remained unresponsive.
"So being thick-skinned has its advantages after all." Doctor Sun handed the bag of medicine to the wooden man, Chen Yue, a smile playing on his lips, as if he hadn't been the one who had just been playing tricks on him. "Are you stupid? You little devil, you actually have moments of fear. Don't fight anymore, or you won't be so lucky next time."
You Congxi was the first to react. She took the medicine and thanked Doctor Sun.
He Qi followed closely behind, excitedly patting Shen Yue's broad shoulder, even happier than the person involved: "Brother! That's great, your face is saved!"
Then Dr. Sun muttered beside him, "You kids are such a handful. A group of young men just came in, barged in, and sat down here. The one leading them even had a buzz cut, and he looked unfamiliar..."
Shen Yue froze, looked up and stared intently at Doctor Sun: "You just said that a crew cut guy came?"
Dr. Sun straightened the slightly crooked QR code for payment and casually remarked, "Yes, your accomplice? I think his name was something like Mian..."
"Wang Mian".
"Yes, Wang Mian."
-
You Congxi followed behind Shen Yue, watching him climb the steps three at a time, with the schoolbag he had snatched from him in a rascal's act slung over his shoulder.
You Congxi took out his phone, which vibrated in his pocket, and unlocked it to find a WeChat message from Qu Qi.
[Rat Poison Cookies: Are you home yet? You actually forgot your homework at school one day!]
You Congxi lied without batting an eye.
[I am a fish: We've arrived.]
[Biscuit: I remember now, when I was applying mosquito repellent rollerball to the mosquito bites...]
[Cookie: Why is the one in Chen Yue's desk drawer the same as the one you gave me?]
"Small fish swimming."
The sudden noise startled You Congxi, who instinctively locked her phone and stuffed it into her pocket, looking up at him and asking, "What are you doing?"
Shen Yue was a few steps away from her. Looking down from his perspective, You Congxi appeared even smaller. Standing in the old, yellowed stairwell, Shen Yue felt even more that his compromise was a mistake: "You should go home. I just came to chat with him."
You Congxi couldn't remember how many times he had tried to kick him out; he practically wore his guilty conscience on his sleeve: "Oh."
Shen Yue's face lit up with joy, then he heard You Congxi say calmly, "But I have to keep an eye on you."
Shen Yue: "...I can no longer be the outstanding student representative. Da Hai will personally present me with the delinquent student representative sash next Monday."
You Congxi raised an eyebrow: "Congratulations."
Shen Yue: "......"
"What I mean is, you don't need to supervise me anymore. Go home, it's getting dark."
Seeing Shen Yue stop in front of a door, You Congxi pretended not to hear him and asked, "Why didn't you knock?"
Shen Yue couldn't persuade her otherwise, so he turned around and knocked on the door. He thought that he couldn't change her mind, so he had no choice but to take the trouble to protect her himself.
There was no response from inside, so Chen Yue knocked again.
The only sounds in the quiet stairwell were the two people's soft breathing.
Shen Yue held the phone to his ear and knocked on the door again.
You Congxi asked, "Does Wen Hu usually live alone?"
Shen Yue hummed in agreement.
His attention was entirely focused on the unanswered phone call and the still tightly closed door, and he didn't notice that You Congxi had disappeared from his side.
There seems to be something under my feet.
Shen Yue didn't pay attention, lifted his foot, and took the phone off his ear again to make another call.
As time passed, Shen Yue's ominous premonition grew stronger. He recalled Wen Hu's bloodshot eyes when he was entangled with Ping Tou, and his heart felt like it was being pounded by drumsticks.
Wen Hu's condition improved a lot after he entered high school, but Shen Yue knew that he just lacked an outlet for his emotions. He was suppressing them as much as possible, like a dormant volcano, just waiting for the right moment to unleash a torrent of smoke and a cataclysmic upheaval.
Wang Mian hadn't changed much, except he'd shaved his head and his face still had that same smug look; he was instantly recognizable. Shen Yue thought that Wang Mian probably hadn't recognized Wen Hu.
But Wen Hu clearly recognized Wang Mian.
The familiar mechanical female voice from his phone rang again. The terrible thoughts swirling in Shen Yue's mind were like a boiling cauldron, about to overflow with a single drop of water—
Click.
Shen Yue was taken aback.
The tightly closed door opened, and You Congxi went in first, waving the key in her hand at him expressionlessly: "Aren't you coming in?"
Shen Yue stood there for three seconds before he came to his senses. He stepped inside, closed the door behind him, and asked incredulously, "How did you get a key to his house???"
Shen Yue didn't miss a single pixel of the smile that appeared on You Congxi's lips, like a kitten proudly wagging its tail. Under Shen Yue's intense gaze, You Congxi's voice remained calm.
I won't tell you.
Shen Yue took a deep breath.
"A Chinese composition."
You Congxi looked around, searching for Wen Hu's whereabouts.
Shen Yue: "......"
Shen Yue: "Two."
You Congxi twirled the key in her hand and placed it on the cabinet in the entryway.
Shen Yue: "You Xiaoyu, one shouldn't be too greedy..."
The words Shen Yue was about to say stuck in his throat. The fleeting cool touch on his wrist still lingered on his skin. He stared blankly at the nonchalant perpetrator, listening to her innocent explanation: "I accidentally brushed against it, I'm sorry."
Shen Yue took a deep breath: "Three."
The Chinese teacher only kept three copies.
You Congxi's eyes crinkled into a smile: "Deal."
Shen Yue stared blankly at You Congxi's smiling eyes. He thought that no matter what she asked for, as long as she smiled at him, he would definitely give it to her without hesitation.
You Congxi explained that people who live alone usually have a spare key just in case. She followed her own clues about where she hid the key and actually found it.
Shen Yue frowned: "You live alone?"
You Congxi hadn't expected his focus to be so peculiar. She nodded, looking at his unpleasant expression, and asked, somewhat puzzled, "What's wrong?"
"It's too dangerous."
Shen Yue recalled that he had taken You Congxi home from school during this period and had never heard You Congxi mention her family, let alone whether anyone else cared about whether she got home on time.
He thought it was time to start moving.
Ideally, I could become neighbors with You Congxi tomorrow.
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