Planning
"Don't move, let me apply the medicine for you." Meng Yun said, picking up a cotton swab, dipping it in the medicine, and pretending to wipe it on her wound.
Yu Xi leaned back uncomfortably, her back straight against the back of the rear seat until she had nowhere left to retreat.
Meng Yun paused as she was about to apply the medicine, then smiled and said, "Sister-in-law, are you afraid of pain?"
"Don't worry, I'll be gentle, I definitely won't hurt you."
The ghost who got into the car and sat in the front passenger seat couldn't help but speak up: "Shut up, what are you talking about!"
"Haven't you had enough of the hero saving the damsel in distress act? Now you're starting to show off your peacock feathers?"
"If I could touch things in this world, would I need you to come here? I would definitely go to save my sister immediately."
Listening to his complaints, Yu Xi snatched the cotton swab from Meng Yun's hand. Just as she was about to apply the swab, she looked down and realized that it was indeed a bit inconvenient to apply.
"I can do it myself."
"Is there a mirror?" she blurted out, immediately regretting it. Meng Yun was a grown man; how could there be a mirror in the car?
As expected, Meng Yun pursed his thin lips and leaned closer to her, "Sister-in-law, do you think there would be something like this in my car?"
As they spoke, the distance between them suddenly closed, and Yu Xi could clearly see her reflection in Meng Yun's eyes. She looked somewhat disheveled, with blood seeping from the wound on her collar, her hair disheveled from the outer garment that had been covering it, and her face full of exhaustion.
"What do you need a mirror for? I'll be your mirror." His warm breath brushed against her ear. Seeing that she didn't move, Meng Yun untied his black tie without a word, blindfolded her, and smiled.
"Men and women should not touch each other, sister-in-law, I know that."
As if the eyes behind the tie could still be seen, Meng Yun easily pulled the cotton swab back from her fingertips, took her wrist, and gestured for her to hold his hand.
The scalding touch suddenly came, and Yu Xi's body stiffened without her realizing it. The abrasion on her chest was fine, but the spot on her neck above her collarbone was too difficult for her to apply medicine herself.
"Sister-in-law, please don't refuse me anymore. I just want to apply medicine to stop the bleeding from your wound."
His words, delivered in a soft, tingling tone, sent a chill down Yu Xi's spine.
The ghost suddenly turned around from the passenger seat and looked back. With his hands on the seat, he could see this extremely glaring scene as soon as he looked up.
The person with the tie covering her eyes had her wrist held by Yu Xi, who was wiping her wound with a cotton swab. The coolness of the medicine, as it touched the burning, painful wound, made Yu Xi unconsciously frown.
"You green tea b*tch!" the ghost muttered under its breath, its eyes fixed on Meng Yun. Seeing that the smile on his lips never faded, it knew what kind of expression those blindfolded eyes must hold.
"I'll keep watching you forever," the ghost muttered, its hand gripping the seat suddenly tightening, its fingertips piercing through the seat without causing any real damage. The driver, however, felt a faint chill beside him, looked blankly at the empty seat next to him, and raised his hand to turn up the air conditioning temperature.
“Sister-in-law, I still remember when I got into a fight in my second year of high school, you were the one who chased those people away for me.” Meng Yun held a cotton swab in one hand and medicine in the other. “You ran to the nearest pharmacy the moment it happened and bought me a band-aid.”
Seeing that he was about to continue, Yu Xi interrupted him, "It happened many years ago, I don't remember it at all."
Her gaze lingered on Meng Yun's face. With her eyes covered, her face bore a striking resemblance to Meng Chou, and her voice and figure were also similar. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that she resembled Meng Yun.
Meng Yun and Meng Chou are half-brothers, but Meng Yun is the same age as Meng Chou. Meng Chou's mother died early and never knew about Meng's father's infidelity. This illegitimate son changed his surname after his stepmother married into the family. To save face in the business world, Meng's father claimed that he and Meng Chou were twin brothers, but that he was born weak and raised outside from a young age.
Therefore, Meng Chou and his so-called twin brother had a very bad relationship, and could even be described as disliking each other. Meng Yun, on the other hand, did the opposite, trying his best to curry favor with his brother, hoping to become a real family with him.
“My sister-in-law doesn’t remember, but I remember clearly.” Meng Yun said, pulling down the tie that was covering her eyes. “So this time, it’s my turn to protect you.”
The unexpected words made Yu Xi's ears burn. How could she not remember things from high school? She just didn't want to bring them up again.
Yu Xi didn't think that helping someone out of a sense of justice was a reason to morally blackmail them.
—
The school bell rang at City Experimental Middle School A. It was Friday, and the students who had been under the school's closed management for a month were already eager to rush out of the school gate.
Yu Xi packed her schoolbag at a leisurely pace. Seeing her slow pace, her deskmate nudged her with his elbow and said, "How about we go to that shopping mall I mentioned tomorrow?"
"No, I've found some part-time jobs." Yu Xi smiled and zipped up her backpack. "You guys go ahead. Next time, I'll definitely go next time."
My deskmate seemed to have guessed the outcome, and slumped helplessly onto the table. "You always say you'll go next time. Tell me how many times this has happened? Why are you pushing yourself so hard? You should let yourself rest and relax."
Yu Xi remained silent. It would be best if she could earn money on her own; she couldn't always rely on others, and she had to be responsible for her own future.
Some shop owners knew about her situation and gave her a job this week, where she had to stand all day handing out flyers while dressed as a mascot. The pay was a paltry 130 yuan.
But for her, it was already very, very good.
There wasn't anywhere she particularly wanted to go, so she wasn't in a hurry to head back. She waited until the crowd had mostly dispersed before Yu Xi carried her backpack downstairs.
The city's experimental school campus is vast, with plane trees scattered throughout its various corners, including a corner Yu Xi often passed by. The emerald green leaves swayed in the wind, and the midday sun cast long shadows on the ground, the tree shadows dancing with the leaves and the wind, the girl's graceful figure appearing alongside the scorching summer breeze.
"You're the young master of the Meng family, who would believe you're broke?"
"That's right, give us the money you have so we can spend it, and we promise we won't beat you up today."
"Stop dawdling! Hurry up!"
Meng Yun was cornered by several people at this corner. Her schoolbag was left aside, and her textbooks and test papers were scattered all over the ground. She was squatting on the ground with her hair disheveled and blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.
He stubbornly insisted, "I said I didn't bring any money, and that's it."
"Fine, you're really stubborn."
"Looks like he hasn't had enough of being beaten yet!" Just as the fist was about to come, it was blocked by a small figure raising his hand.
Yu Xi grabbed the man's wrist and used all her strength to throw him to the side. Without hesitation, she pulled the man up from the ground and staggered out of the group's encirclement, running away as if fleeing.
The two stopped slowly in front of the administration building. This was the teachers' office building, and even if those people had a lot of guts, they wouldn't dare to cause trouble here at the risk of being fired.
"How did you get on their bad side?" Yu Xi blurted out the question as soon as they stopped walking.
Meng Yun looked somewhat troubled, and after a long while, she finally spoke: "I left a little late today, and I didn't expect to be blocked there by them, who insisted on asking me for money."
Yu Xi asked, "Where's Meng Chou? Didn't you leave with him?"
She and Meng Chou were in the same class. Everyone in the class knew about the twins, and people would often tease them for not looking alike, as if they weren't twins at all.
"No, my brother had something to do, so he didn't wait for me," Meng Yun said, knowing in her heart that the relationship between the two was not as harmonious and friendly as they appeared in front of their classmates.
He knew perfectly well how much Meng Chou disliked him.
Yu Xi glanced at the bloodstains at the corner of his mouth and said, "Wait here and don't wander off."
"Oh, okay." Meng Yun replied, took the schoolbag from her, and obediently hugged it, sitting on a chair in the nearby pavilion.
He looked down at Yu Xi's backpack. It was a simple, pure black backpack, quite large, and didn't look like the kind of bag a girl would carry. The only detail was a tiny Kitty doll on the zipper, which added a touch of cuteness.
He raised his hand and poked the doll's cheek, the image of the girl standing up for him flashing through his mind. He casually took out his phone from his school uniform pocket, opened the group chat, and sent a transfer.
[You guys did a great job. I'll pay you double the agreed amount. Just keep this to yourself.]
[Young Master Meng, don't worry, we understand.]
[Yes, we'll handle it, so you can rest assured!]
At first, those people couldn't bring themselves to hurt him. No one wanted to harm the young master of the Meng family and incur the hatred of the Meng family, which was not worth it.
Meng Yun calculated the time; Yu Xi should appear on this road by now, so she decided to take drastic measures against herself.
He did this simply to get Yu Xi to pay more attention to him than to Meng Chou.
Thinking of what Yu Xi had just done, Meng Yun's eyes lit up with a smile. She raised her hand to look at the wrist that Yu Xi had pulled up, and pressed it against her nose, as if Yu Xi's breath and body temperature still lingered on it.
"Meng Yun, look up!" Yu Xi said breathlessly, tearing off a band-aid and sticking it on Meng Yun's slightly swollen cheek the moment he looked up.
Yu Xi's icy fingertips brushed against his cheek unintentionally, causing Meng Yun to pause.
She handed him the iodine solution she had bought, saying, "Here's some too, apply the medicine yourself."
Yu Xi pointed to the corner of her lips, "You're injured here too."
Meng Yun returned the schoolbag to her, thanking her, "Thank you for buying me medicine."
The school hospital isn't exactly close to the administration building; the round trip is about the distance of two 800-meter runs. Looking at the beads of sweat on Yu Xi's forehead, a hint of satisfaction flashed in Meng Yun's eyes.
It seems that Yu Xi cares about him, and that alone is enough to prove it.
"I think I can apply the medicine myself. This little injury is nothing." Meng Yun clumsily opened the iodine solution and struggled to apply it to himself. Hesitantly, he couldn't see the wound on the corner of his lip, and several times he applied the medicine over the wound.
To save a person, one must see them through to the end; to see a Buddha through to the Western Paradise, one must see him through to the Western Paradise.
Yu Xi couldn't stand it any longer and took the cotton swab from his hand. "Let me do it."
Meng Yun smiled and let go, not feeling any pain even though the smile pulled at the wound on his lips. His burning gaze fell on Yu Xi, who was applying medicine to him with her head down.
Yu Xi never imagined that Meng Yun's whole plan was to create some time to be alone with her.
Even after many years, he still managed to find every opportunity to frequently appear in my life, even though he hadn't gotten what he wanted.
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