Chapter 11: What's the point of explaining things to a naive person when you're applying medicine?
The alarm clock rang several times at 8:30, but Mu Tingyu slapped it off every time.
She turned over and buried herself in the blankets, remaining unconscious.
But ten minutes later, the alarm clock still rang relentlessly.
She finally opened her eyes a crack, still half asleep, and reached for her phone to check the time.
The next second, a blood-curdling scream rang out.
"Aaaaaaah! It's already 9:30! Help!"
She sprang out of bed, but the sore back muscles pulled her up with a cry of "Ouch!" She obediently lay on the bed for a while to stretch and wake up.
Then he hurriedly put on his clothes, rushed into the bathroom, and slammed the door shut.
Xing Ze sat at the dining table, listening to the sudden commotion upstairs, and couldn't help but chuckle softly.
After washing up, Mu Tingyu rushed downstairs, only to find him sitting leisurely, slowly scooping a mouthful of porridge into his mouth. She was immediately on the verge of tears: "...Why didn't you call me!"
Xing Ze said calmly, "No rush, let's eat first."
Mu Tingyu skillfully picked up a bowl, ladled some porridge for herself, sat down at the table, and mumbled through her teeth, "That's what they say..."
She blew on the steaming porridge and put it in her mouth, immediately wincing from the heat: "But I'm not leaving at nine o'clock..."
Xing Ze frowned and said, "Eat slowly."
He got up and poured a glass of cold water back: "Hold it in your mouth for a while before swallowing, just take a couple of sips. You can't drink cold water on an empty stomach."
Mu Tingyu made a "hmm" sound, took the water glass, and took a sip.
The coolness soothed her tongue, easing the burning sensation in her mouth. She picked up her spoon to continue eating.
Xing Ze suddenly asked, "What happened to your hand?"
Mu Tingyu followed his gaze and looked over: "Oh, I got a burn yesterday."
"Where did you get your hair permed?" Xing Ze asked, frowning.
"It's the water heater," Mu Tingyu said, swinging her leg and lowering her head to continue eating. "There was a power outage yesterday, and I accidentally touched it. It seems to be leaking a little."
Xing Ze got up without saying a word, took a small box from the cabinet in the corner, and came back.
Upon opening it, you'll find all sorts of medical supplies inside: iodine solution, alcohol, cotton swabs, bandages...
Upon seeing the situation, Mu Tingyu immediately withdrew her hand: "No, no need to trouble yourself, it's just a burn, it'll be fine in a couple of days..."
"Give me your hand."
Xing Ze's high brow bones drooped down, making him look somewhat fierce.
Mu Tingyu pouted and obediently stretched out her hand.
Xing Ze grabbed her wrist, his gaze falling on the burn.
Her fingers were long and slender, with the tips of her middle and ring fingers red and swollen, and some of the skin had developed thin blisters.
He frowned as he rummaged through the medicine box and found burn ointment and sterile gauze. He took her hand again, his tone turning somewhat harsh: "Why didn't you say so last night?"
Mu Tingyu stretched out her arm, her fingers twitching unnaturally: "I...I forgot..."
Xing Ze looked up, about to scold her again, when he saw Mu Tingyu looking up at him with pitiful eyes.
He paused, then lowered his head again, carefully applied ointment to the burn, tore open the sterile gauze packaging, and tightly wrapped her two fingers.
After the bandage was finished, Mu Tingyu held up her hand and looked at it several times from both sides. She found the chubby fingers rather cute and couldn't help but chuckle as she took out her phone to take a picture.
"Still laughing?" Xing Ze's voice came coolly.
Mu Tingyu instantly withdrew the corner of her mouth from the upward curve of her lips and hid her face behind her phone.
Xing Ze put away the medicine box, closed the cabinet door, and looked towards the dining table.
The girl's eyes were curved, and she clumsily poked at the screen with the uninjured fingers of her left hand, texting someone. Her right hand was also busy, stuffing porridge into her mouth with a spoon, while her head bobbed back and forth, looking particularly carefree.
Xing Ze frowned and walked over. Just as he was about to speak, he saw her tap the screen with her two stiff, bandaged fingers, making a "snap" sound.
She chuckled, then tapped twice more with great interest.
Xing Ze: "......"
Forget it, why bother reasoning with a child?
He sat down and tried to soften his voice: "Tell me right away next time."
Without even looking up, Mu Tingyu loudly assured him, "Okay!"
She absolutely didn't listen.
Xing Ze asked her with a slight headache, "Where is the leak? The water pipe?"
Mu Tingyu replied absentmindedly, "Hmm, probably."
I'll fix it tonight.
"Hehe, okay!"
.
The sky was azure, the clouds were high and distant, and a gentle sea breeze carrying moist air brushed against my face.
Mu Tingyu rode her bike past a patch of foxtail grass, happily reaching out to brush it aside, and then tried to touch a low-flying dragonfly.
"Focus on riding." A gentle reminder came from beside me.
Mu Tingyu withdrew her hand, but her head was still restlessly looking around.
She pointed to the coastline not far away and asked without turning her head, "Xing Ze, do you often surf over there?"
“I don’t go there often.” Xing Ze’s low voice drifted on the wind.
"I've seen you surfing!" Mu Tingyu turned around and asked with a smile, "Guess when?"
The girl had delicate eyebrows and bright eyes, her eyes crinkled with laughter, and her cheeks were flushed with a natural blush. Strands of hair fell by her ears and fluttered in the wind, messy yet free, like birds taking flight in the sunlight.
Xing Ze turned his head to the side, his Adam's apple bobbing unconsciously: "...The first day."
“Yes!” Mu Tingyu smiled. “You’re so smart! I don’t think I’ve seen you go again since then. Is surfing difficult?”
"It's not difficult," Xing Ze said. "Do you want to learn?"
"A tiny bit!"
"Then learn it."
"Oh, are you going to teach me?"
"teach."
Mu Tingyu asked curiously, "I saw online that one-on-one surfing lessons can cost several hundred yuan per hour, is that true?"
"Pretty much, some even cost over a thousand."
Mu Tingyu clicked her tongue in amazement: "So how did you learn it? Did you just throw money at it?"
Xing Ze paused for a moment: "No, my friend teaches this, and it didn't cost him any money."
This was the first time Mu Tingyu had heard the word "friend" from Xing Ze, and it was about things outside of Shitang Village that Mu Tingyu knew very little about.
She was itching to ask more questions.
But then she remembered that Xing Ze was a person with strong boundaries and probably didn't like others asking him questions, so she had to swallow her words back.
Seeing that she had fallen silent, Xing Ze assumed she was worried about the money, so he said, "I don't charge for teaching."
Mu Tingyu hadn't expected his thought process to be so peculiar, so she suppressed a laugh and pretended to be serious, saying, "No, I must give you the money."
Xing Ze: "......"
"Look, you don't charge rent, you don't charge for meals, and you even teach people to surf for free. You're really losing out!"
"......"
"At this rate, I'll have no choice but to do manual labor to pay off my debts!"
What kind of hard labor are you doing?
“…Hmm?” Mu Tingyu was uncharacteristically stuck on her words.
After thinking about it carefully, it seemed that Xing Ze really hadn't made her do any work.
She only cooked and washed dishes sporadically. Most of the time, she tried but failed, and before she could even get close to the stove or sink, her hands were taken away.
The only physical labor involved was going up and down the stairs every day.
She racked her brains and realized that she had very few skills at all, and her forte, painting, was nowhere to be used.
What's the difference between her painting and a curtain here? At least a curtain can block out light.
Forget it, Xing Ze doesn't seem to lack money, and his practical skills are far superior to hers. She'd better not cause trouble. She'll just transfer some money to him before she leaves.
Thinking it over, she waved her hand and said very self-consistently, "Look at how helpless I am, I'd better not make things worse for you!"
Xing Ze chuckled softly.
Judging from her hesitant expression, I knew she wouldn't come up with a decent reason, but I didn't expect her to just openly and frankly admit it.
He turned his head to look at her.
The girl was still wearing a simple T-shirt and loose shorts. The sunlight wasn't intense, but it added a golden edge to the hair. In the distance, there was a coastline with rolling white waves and a clear blue sky.
She rested her hands on the handlebars, looking relaxed and at ease, completely unlike the somewhat reserved person she had been when she first arrived.
Even his words just now, if listened to carefully, carried a subtle hint of arrogance and conceit.
Xing Ze narrowed his eyes, feeling a strange tickle in his heart.
This feeling is like when you were a child and picked up a stray cat, took good care of it for many days, and finally watched it slowly become willing to get close to you. It's a very subtle sense of accomplishment that unconsciously spreads in your heart.
Mu Tingyu gripped the handlebars with one hand, raised her left hand, and blew on her bandaged fingers.
"What's wrong?" Xing Ze's thoughts were interrupted, and he frowned. "Does your finger hurt? I told you to be careful..."
"I bumped into it by accident!" Mu Tingyu put her left hand back on the handlebars. "It's okay, I'm not that fragile! Let's go!"
As she spoke, she pedaled hard a few times, and the bike sped off a distance.
Xing Ze raised his voice in a warning: "Mu Tingyu!"
Her joyful shout came from ahead: "I'm the lightning-fast little flying man!"
......
"Isn't this Xiao Xing? Where are we going?"
Xing Ze stopped the car and nodded to the man: "Village Chief, let's go to town."
The village chief stood by the roadside, stroked his gray beard, and glanced behind Xing Ze: "Hey, so this must be the volunteer teacher..."
Mu Tingyu stopped the car and raised her arm to greet him excitedly: "It's me! Hello, Village Chief! My name is Mu Tingyu, you can just call me Xiao Mu!"
The village chief nodded with a smile: "Hello, hello! Young people are so energetic."
Mu Tingyu pushed off the ground with both legs, and the bicycle rolled forward a meter. Her voice was clear and bright: "Village Chief, thank you for your bicycle! I should have come to thank you sooner, but I was a bit busy with classes these past two days, so I got delayed!"
"It's nothing, nothing at all. It was just sitting there unused anyway!" The village chief waved his hand and asked, "Are you getting used to staying at Xiao Xing's house?"
"I'm comfortable here!" Mu Tingyu said with a smile. "He's a very nice person and takes good care of me!"
"That's good," the village chief glanced at Xing Ze, whose expression was indifferent. "Are you going to town to buy things?"
"Uh-huh!"
"Go on then, and come back soon!" the village chief said earnestly. "Xiao Xing, don't always have such a stern face. Be gentler with the girls!"
Xing Ze crossed his arms and uttered a syllable that was not meaningful.
Mu Tingyu swallowed the barely audible snort and shrank her neck.
The spot on her forehead where she had just been hit was still throbbing. She waved goodbye to the village chief and hesitantly moved to Xing Ze's side.
"I......"
Xing Ze's cool voice rang out: "Why didn't you tell the village chief just now that you were the lightning-fast little flying man?"
"..." Mu Tingyu covered her forehead, feeling frustrated. "I...I promise I'll ride slower later..."
“You should know that from the moment you were riding your bike with one hand yelling ‘You’re too slow’ and almost fell into the field—” Xing Ze narrowed his eyes, his tone dangerous, “I will never believe a single word you say again.”
Mu Tingyu: "..."
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