Chapter 41 It Doesn't Hurt "He was looking for you like crazy just now."...
Xing Ze was very close to her, their noses almost touching, his breathing deep and heavy, the intense emotions in his eyes almost drowning her.
She stared blankly, her expression becoming somewhat bewildered.
She had been emotionally sensitive since childhood, so she could now clearly feel the surging emotions that Xing Ze had buried beneath his skin and flesh, like a giant wave. But she didn't know where these emotions came from or why they were so intense, so intense that she could hardly breathe and even began to tremble involuntarily.
"Are you cold?" Xing Ze asked in a hoarse voice.
She shook her head.
Xing Ze restrained himself from looking at the various wounds on her body, keeping his gaze fixed on her face.
Even so, he still couldn't help but look at every scratch and bloodstain on her face.
A sharp pain shot through his heart, and a dark glint appeared in his eyes. He swallowed hard to suppress the suffocating pain.
The girl's soft voice rang out, tinged with a hint of helplessness: "Don't, don't worry, I'm fine."
He gritted his teeth and tightened his grip, gently wiping the dirt from her cheeks, then said in a hoarse voice, "I'll carry you down the mountain to the hospital."
Her eyes crinkled into a smile: "Okay."
-
Yu Li went down the mountain to borrow a car from the village chief, while Xing Ze carefully carried the injured girl on his back and slowly walked down the mountain.
Mu Tingyu nestled comfortably against his broad back, her arms, scraped and bruised, wrapped around his neck, her legs swaying slightly as Xing Ze descended the mountain.
"I'm all dirty."
Xing Ze said, "It's not dirty."
"But I've gotten your clothes all dirty."
He hummed in agreement.
Mu Tingyu was in pain all over and wanted to say something to distract herself, so she asked, "How did Ali find you?"
Xing Ze did not answer this time.
He remained silent, carrying the girl covered in sweat on his back, his steps heavy.
He recalled the moment he encountered Yu Li at the beach, seeing him sobbing uncontrollably with red eyes, saying, "Teacher Mu fell down the mountain and got injured."
His heart almost stopped beating.
It felt like someone had shoved him headfirst into the water, filling his lungs with icy, bone-chilling water, making even breathing painful.
He could hardly bear to look at the number of injuries on her body.
I don't even dare to think about how she fell down or how she managed to get back up with her injured body.
He had only glanced at her briefly, but her appearance was enough to make his heart ache.
Her face was deathly pale, and she could barely put weight on one foot. Her usually fair and delicate arms and legs were covered in mud and bloodstains, with abrasions that were bluish-purple and oozing blood. Almost every exposed part of her skin was unscathed.
—But she was perfectly healthy just a few hours before, before she left home.
When she left for class, he told her, "Be careful riding your bike on the way, and come back after class."
She smiled and said "okay".
She clearly said "okay".
But in the blink of an eye, she turned into this.
Xing Ze felt his blood rushing to his head, and his heart went numb.
Even though he was injured like this, that little rascal who always broke his promises still smiled at him with his eyes crinkling and said, "I'm fine, don't worry about me."
He took a hard breath, his throat feeling as if it were blocked by a bitter, hard lump.
Mu Tingyu nestled against his back, affectionately nuzzling his hair, her voice soft: "Why aren't you saying anything? Are you giving me the silent treatment?"
He asked in a slightly hoarse voice, "...Does it hurt?"
This little rascal, she's so sweet and gentle when she's being affectionate, she wants a hug when she's in pain, and she can't stop crying once she starts—she's so lovable, and she knows perfectly well how to cry out in pain and how to make a scene, so that he'll be completely heartbroken.
But now she doesn't utter a sound, not even a cry of pain.
—Like a child who has never been properly cared for, feeling that they have caused trouble and are afraid of being criticized and blamed, so they endure the pain and tears without daring to make a sound.
He took a deep breath, and his lungs ached terribly.
Mu Tingyu originally intended to make a joke to ease the atmosphere.
After all, she had come to the back mountain without telling Xing Ze beforehand, so she was already feeling a little guilty.
That was bad enough, but he ended up getting injured, his phone was broken and he couldn't get through, so he had to come all the way to rescue him, probably without even having a meal.
He's probably angry.
Because his condition became frightening from the very beginning; he remained silent and only responded with a few simple words when spoken to.
He didn't ask any of the questions, including why he went up the mountain or why he was with Yu Li.
Mu Tingyu felt that he must be angry.
She pursed her lips somewhat helplessly, and upon hearing the question, her first instinct was to answer, "It doesn't hurt."
But when she truly heard the hoarseness and pain in his voice, her eyelashes fluttered, and the words that were about to come out of her mouth took a turn, becoming: "...a little."
Xing Ze tightened his grip on her leg.
Mu Tingyu's heart clenched, and she subconsciously held her breath.
But he didn't say anything, he just gently stroked her skin with his fingers.
Then I continued to carry her steadily down the mountain, step by step.
-
When we got down the mountain, there was already a car waiting there.
The village chief stood in front of the pickup truck with its headlights on, looking at them from afar.
The first thing he said when he saw Mu Tingyu was, "Oh my goodness, how did the little girl get so badly hurt!"
Mu Tingyu forced a smile and said to the village chief, "Good evening, village chief. I'm sorry to trouble you..."
"Don't worry about the trouble," the village chief said, patting her head tenderly. He waved his hand and said, "Hurry up and get in the car to go to the hospital. I'll ask my grandson to take you."
The driver's side window opened, and a young man poked his head out: "Brother Xing!"
Xing Ze nodded and carefully placed Mu Tingyu in the back seat, constantly reaching out to protect her feet to prevent her injured ankle from bumping.
He thanked the village chief again, turned around and got into the car, only to find someone in the passenger seat.
His face immediately darkened: "Get out of the car."
Yu Li gripped the seatbelt tightly, her voice trembling slightly with fear: "I want to go to the hospital too. I want to stay with Teacher Mu."
Xing Ze repeated in a calm voice, "Get out of the car."
Mu Tingyu reached out and tugged at his sleeve.
The young man in the driver's seat also said, "It's okay, Brother Xing, we'll bring it back to him later."
Xing Ze lowered his eyes, looking at his fingers with bruises and abrasions on the hem of his clothes, and said nothing more.
The young man started the car with great foresight.
Xing Ze placed Mu Tingyu's injured foot on his lap and silently helped her take off her shoes and socks, his movements slow and gentle, as if he were touching a fragile item.
Her ankle was swollen and looked chubby.
Mu Tingyu's face flushed slightly, and she curled her toes awkwardly, twitching them slightly.
Xing Ze gripped her calf firmly with his hand: "Don't move."
The car gradually drove out of the village and onto the main road to the town. Rows of streetlights were on, their dim yellow light constantly shining through the car windows, leaving a shimmering shadow.
The car was quiet, and Mu Tingyu, unusually, did not speak.
Xing Ze's profile was tense, his dark eyelashes drooping low, and his shadow remained motionless.
Suddenly, he felt his hand being gently touched.
A soft, wounded fingertip carefully brushed against the back of his hand, then slipped between his fingers with a hint of ingratiation, and hooked firmly around his little finger.
He looked down for a while, then withdrew his fingers and slowly cupped her entire hand in his palm.
During the half-hour journey, Mu Tingyu was almost drowsy, leaning against the car window to try and stay awake.
Upon arriving at the hospital, Xing Ze carried her out of the car, and the young man rushed inside to register for emergency treatment.
The nurses in the emergency room were also incredibly surprised when they saw Mu Tingyu, exclaiming, "Oh dear, how did you get so badly hurt!"
Mu Tingyu was covered in dirt and ash, with hardly a good spot on her exposed skin. Her clothes were also dirty and tattered, making her look like a little cabbage that had been abused.
But she didn't think anything of it, gently blew the dirt off the back of her hands, and asked the nurse where she could wash her hands.
She wanted to clean herself up, but Xing Ze wouldn't let her touch the ground. He carried her all the way into the dressing room, placed her on a chair, and forcefully held her hands and legs while cleaning her wounds with saline solution.
Xing Ze's fingers were warm and dry, his touch carrying a subtle sense of soothing, and his movements as he treated the wound were quick and steady.
He only asked once at the beginning, "Does it hurt?", and then kept a straight face, gently blowing air onto her wound.
A long, drawn-out breath blew around the wound, bringing a slight itch.
Mu Tingyu bit her lip, sitting there quietly, her eyes following his every move.
The nurse stood to the side, holding tweezers and cotton swabs, feeling severely neglected.
Working the night shift is already annoying enough, why did I have to feed her such a huge dose of dog food?
She spoke as if she were nitpicking: "My girlfriend is so beautiful, how could you let her fall like this? It breaks my heart to see her like this."
Just as Mu Tingyu was about to explain, she heard Xing Ze squat down in front of her and say in a hoarse voice, "...My problem."
She was somewhat bewildered and couldn't help but ask, "How is this your problem?"
Xing Ze gently washed the mud off her knees, his voice low: "I failed to protect you; it's my fault."
Nurse:"......"
Mu Tingyu had never seen anyone take responsibility like this before, so she had no choice but to explain to the nurse, "I fell by myself, it has nothing to do with him."
The nurse, having been forced to endure the dog food (a Chinese slang term for witnessing public displays of affection), obediently shut her mouth and began cleaning her wound with Xing Ze.
At this moment, another doctor in a white coat walked in, picked up Mu Tingyu's foot and examined it.
This was almost the most serious injury on her entire body. Her ankle was swollen to a frightening degree. It was too dark to see in the car earlier, but now it looked like a radish.
The doctor reached out and gently pressed on her bones: "Does it hurt here?"
"It's okay, it doesn't hurt too much."
“Okay,” the doctor waved his hand, “just to be on the safe side, let’s get an X-ray after the wound is treated.”
"Oh no, they need to take X-rays again." She murmured as she watched the doctor leave. "I hope they'll put a cast on me."
Xing Ze remained noncommittal. Together with the nurse, he cleaned and applied iodine to all the large and small wounds on her body, wrapped the deeper wounds with sterile gauze, and then wiped the dirty parts of her body.
Mu Tingyu raised her forearm, which was covered in iodine, and looked at it: "I'm going to turn into a little brown person."
Seeing Xing Ze's tense expression, she reached out and scratched him, jokingly saying, "Promise me, even if I turn into a little brown person, you'll still like me, okay?"
Xing Ze looked down at her and hummed in agreement.
Mu Tingyu: "..."
Oh no, this feels like we've gone back to square one.
The last time he was so sparing with words was probably during the first few days after they met.
The nurse said, "Okay, take off your clothes and pants now. We need to treat the wounds inside."
She glanced at Xing Ze: "Boyfriend, go out."
Xing Ze paused for a moment, then stood up without saying a word, patted Mu Tingyu's head, walked out, and closed the door behind him.
The abrasions on her waist were also quite severe; the blood had stuck the fabric of her clothes to her skin, and it was only after softening it with water that they could be separated.
Mu Tingyu grimaced as her clothes were pulled, but she managed to take them off.
"How did you fall like that? It's so bad." The nurse clicked her tongue as she treated the wound. "It breaks my heart to see you like that, let alone your boyfriend."
Her ears felt a little hot, and she smiled shyly: "I accidentally fell on the mountain."
"Oh dear, you're so careless! Look at your delicate skin."
The nurse then asked gossipily, "How long have you and your boyfriend been together?"
"..." Mu Tingyu asked, confused, "One...one day?"
A big question mark appeared above the nurse's head.
"You young people... how come your relationships progress so fast these days? You've only been together for a day, but it feels like you've been together for years?"
"No, I'm not young anymore." Mu Tingyu blushed slightly.
"That's just how he is. He's very caring, and he's also very good to me."
The nurse has had her fill of dog food tonight.
She applied sterile gauze to several severely abrasions and then carefully instructed, "Change the gauze every day. If you don't have any at home, buy some. Don't put anything on the wounds."
Mu Tingyu nodded obediently.
"Also," the nurse glanced at her delicate arms and legs, "don't pick at the wounds before they're fully healed. Once they're healed, you can apply some scar-reducing ointment, and be careful to protect them from the sun. It would be a shame to have scars on such fair skin."
“Okay,” she said with a smile, “thank you, sister.”
The nurse was so touched by her sweetness that she couldn't resist patting her fluffy head.
"You're so cute, no wonder your boyfriend likes you."
“However,” she rubbed her chin, “he seemed a little unhappy.”
“Yes,” Mu Tingyu said without any surprise, “We should have finished eating by now.”
She reached out and touched her stomach: "I didn't even get to eat, and he had to run around doing all sorts of things, carrying me up the mountain and bringing me to the hospital."
"Do you think he got angry because you bothered him?"
"I think so, maybe they're still a little worried about me?" Mu Tingyu said uncertainly.
Looking into her bewildered eyes, the nurse couldn't help but ask, "Is it possible that he's upset because he saw you were injured?"
"Really?" Her eyes looked innocent. "Being injured is quite troublesome, isn't it?"
"—He didn't find you troublesome at all."
The nurse said helplessly, "If he was angry because it was troublesome, how could he have treated your wound like that? I think he cherishes you rotten."
“If I hadn’t told him to leave, I think he would have tried to do it himself.”
Mu Tingyu's face flushed red instantly.
"Moreover, although he looks fierce, he is quite meticulous in his work."
The nurse didn't know why she was giving emotional advice to an injured person in the middle of the night. Maybe the night shift was too boring, or maybe the injured person really did have no experience in love, so she took pity on him and said something.
"Men like this are most susceptible to being charmed. No matter how angry he is, just use that trick, and he'll calm down immediately."
"......"
Mu Tingyu's expression suddenly became somewhat complicated, and then she answered very, very affirmatively.
"No."
"He really won't eat this."
Nurse: "?"
-
Half an hour later, Mu Tingyu was settled comfortably on an empty hospital bed, several ice packs on her injured foot, and she was slurping down a bowl of noodles.
She hadn't felt hungry at all just now, but as soon as she smelled the noodles Xing Ze had bought, her stomach started rumbling with enticing aroma.
The taste was definitely not as good as Xing Ze's, but fortunately, the noodles were filled with a lot of fresh and plump prawns, so much so that she suspected the owner was losing money in the business.
After Xing Ze settled her in the hospital bed, he went to wait for her X-ray results, leaving only Yu Li and the young man in the ward.
Yu Li remained timid, his mouth tightly shut, but he stayed close to her bedside, refusing to sit down even when asked to.
The young man seemed hesitant to speak, but seeing that she was enjoying her meal, he refrained from saying anything.
After she finally pushed the plastic bowl away with satisfaction and wiped her mouth, the young man couldn't wait to speak.
"Are you the volunteer teacher staying at Brother Xing's house?"
“Yes,” Mu Tingyu leaned back against the headboard, touched her belly, and asked with a smile, “Why didn’t I see you when I went to Grandpa Village Chief’s house last time?”
"Oh, I went on vacation a few days ago and just got back."
When the topic of travel came up, Mu Tingyu got excited: "Where did you go?"
"Qinghai."
"You're going a bit too early. Qinghai Lake will be at its most beautiful in a couple of days."
She said with a smile, "In winter, the entire Qinghai Lake freezes over and doesn't thaw until April. The lake opens up in June, so July and August are the best times to go."
The young man asked curiously, "You've been there too?"
Mu Tingyu nodded: "I've been there."
Not only did I go there, but I went several times and painted quite a few pictures.
The thousands of acres of rapeseed flowers blooming around the lake stretch endlessly, wildflowers in the alpine pastures are colorful, and herds of cattle and sheep stroll leisurely on a green grassland. Everywhere there is an atmosphere of freedom, like a paradise on earth.
The young man scratched his head: "Okay, I'll go again next time I have the chance."
“Actually, it’s good no matter when you go,” she said, her eyes crinkling. “You can see different scenery. For example, I’ve never seen Qinghai Lake frozen over, it must be very interesting.”
Once she started talking about travel, she couldn't stop, her mouth flowing like a dam opening, recommending great places in Qinghai to him.
The young man stared at her blankly for a moment, then suddenly said, "I know why Xing Ze likes you now."
Mu Tingyu was taken aback by his inexplicable words: "...What?"
She sat on the hospital bed, her face pale, her face and body covered with large and small gauze and countless medicines. She was wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants that Xing Ze had bought temporarily, which were a bit too big and made her look rather thin. She also had ice packs on her feet, and her ankles were so swollen that she couldn't put her feet down to walk.
On the way here, she didn't say much, and stayed quietly nestled in Xing Ze's arms. The young man thought she was the delicate, innocent type.
But he discovered that wasn't the case.
The girl's lips were still pale, but as soon as she started talking, she seemed to come back to life, enthusiastically recommending some lesser-known spots around Qinghai Lake. She was full of vitality, and her smile was so infectious that it seemed to light up the whole ward. You couldn't tell she was in any pain.
But when the young man saw her ankle, which was swollen terribly, and considering the injuries all over her body, he couldn't help but gasp in astonishment.
Mu Tingyu, who had been talking a lot just moments before, stammered, "...Wh-what do you like?"
The young man asked in surprise, "Don't you know Xing Ze likes you?"
She knew that, but...
How did you figure that out?
They've only just met, haven't they?
"Anyone with eyes can see the way Brother Xing treats you."
The young man laughed, winking slyly, "And it's not just me, the whole village probably knows."
Mu Tingyu was stunned by those words and stood there speechless, her mouth agape in surprise: "...Huh? What, what about the whole village?"
You didn't know, did you?
The young man's eyes became somewhat meaningful.
He was looking for you—
"We knocked on every door in the village."
"......"
Mu Tingyu's mind went completely blank for a moment.
“I was eating when they knocked on my door. They said I wasn’t answering my phone and they didn’t know where I was. They said I was probably playing at some villager’s house. So I went with them to look for me, knocking on doors one by one.”
"Honestly, I've never seen him like this before."
“He is a man who usually speaks very little and hates trouble. He ran all over the village, knocking on doors one by one and asking people one by one. He didn’t even know some of the villagers. He would ask them as soon as he came up to them if they knew where he had gone, which startled them.”
The young man smiled and shook his head.
"It looks too crazy."
"......"
Mu Tingyu couldn't utter a single word; it felt as if something was blocking her throat.
Seeing her slightly reddened eyes, the young man paused for a moment and swallowed back the rest of his words.
-
They searched every villager's house thoroughly, but still couldn't find the person. Xing Ze searched every road, almost traversing the entire village. Even he didn't know that there were so many small roads in the village.
A possibility suddenly occurred to him, so he asked, "Brother Xing, could she... be at the beach?"
He phrased it somewhat euphemistically, but Xing Ze clearly understood what he meant and immediately said in a hoarse voice, "Impossible."
Xing Ze's eyes were bloodshot as he stared intently at him, repeating, "Impossible."
"...What was she doing going to the beach alone?"
He could only say helplessly, "Then let's look for other places."
He searched everywhere but couldn't find her. Eventually, Xing Ze gave up and searched along the beach several times, but still couldn't find any trace of the girl.
The young man thought he was going crazy—he even wanted to walk into the sea.
His condition was completely abnormal at that time; he couldn't even hear people calling him. He just kept searching with his head down, as if using this aimless behavior to suppress the panic in his heart. In the end, he stood on the beach, even his back view became deathly still.
Yu Li stood on a high place and called out to them, crying loudly, saying that Teacher Mu had fallen down the mountain and was injured.
In that instant, the young man felt that Xing Ze had come back to life.
Fortunately, it was found.
Otherwise, he really didn't know what Xing Ze would do.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Here comes a short, chubby chapter! ^^ Thank you all for the generous donations!
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