Chapter 17 Overnight
Shen Jize remained silent, just staring at her blankly.
His gaze was frighteningly hot, as if it wanted to swallow Wen Eryu whole.
Shen Jize's chest rose and fell, and his warm breath gently fell on the back of the girl's hand.
Wen Eryu then realized something was wrong and immediately withdrew her hand. She avoided his gaze and hesitated for a long time.
Shen Jize stretched his sore shoulders and asked, "Is there any iodine?"
"Yes." Wen Eryu nodded, then frowned and asked, "Where are you injured?"
Shen Jize covered his right arm and looked down at the floor.
Wen Eryu walked up and lifted his sleeve, and a ten-centimeter bloodstain shockingly appeared in front of her, covering Shen Jize's forearm like a vine, looking like someone had cut it with a sharp knife.
"Does it hurt?" Wen Eryu asked.
Shen Jize pulled his arm out of her hand and looked at the wound calmly. For people in their line of work, seeing blood was a common occurrence.
"Not bad." He puffed out his cheeks and pulled down his sleeves.
Wen Eryu didn't say anything else. She ran to the storage room downstairs and looked for a while. Five minutes later, she came up with iodine and cotton balls.
She handed the things to Shen Jize: "Here, if you need anything else, I'll help you find it."
Shen Jize said: "Is there any gauze?"
"Yes, wait a moment." Wen Eryu ran downstairs again.
After she came up, she saw Shen Jize struggling to wipe the wound with a cotton ball soaked in iodine.
Shen Jize took the gauze and wrapped it around the wound, but his left hand was not as flexible as his right hand, and the gauze kept falling down.
Wen Eryu couldn't bear to watch it any longer and grabbed his hand: "Don't move, I'll help you."
Shen Jize took a deep breath: "Okay."
Wen Eryu carefully wrapped the gauze around his forearm.
The two people were very close to each other, and Wen Eryu's face was almost touching Chen Jize's chest. Due to nervousness, tiny beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, and her fine bangs hung down, covering most of her face.
Shen Jize reached out his hand and, as if possessed by a demon, gently tucked her bangs behind her ears.
When he withdrew his hand, his fingertips slid across the tip of Wen Eryu's ear. At that moment, it seemed as if a faint spark was struck, igniting the fire in both of them, and their hearts began to beat wildly.
Shen Jize's eyes flickered, and his throat seemed to be smoking: "I'm sorry."
Wen Eryu tied the last knot with trembling hands, walked aside with a red face and drank a sip of water, trying to lower her body temperature.
The blush on the girl's face spoke louder than any words.
The clock on the wall struck 1:15 in the morning. The moon hanging outside the window was covered by clouds, appearing and disappearing.
Wen Eryu coughed lightly and said, "It's getting late. You should go home."
"I can't go home now." Shen Jize stood up and prepared to leave.
Suddenly, he was stopped by someone behind him.
"Are you afraid of being discovered by Aunt Xue?"
Shen Jize nodded: "Yeah."
Wen Eryu thought about it and decided that he really couldn’t go back in this state, otherwise Xue Fenghua might think too much.
"Where are you going now?" she asked.
Shen Jize looked out the window, touched his right arm and thought for a moment: "Just find a place to make do."
"...Then why don't you sleep at my house?"
"No need." Shen Jize refused.
But Wen Eryu said firmly, "It's so cold outside now. You won't be able to bear it if you wear so little. I have a lot of empty rooms at home. If you don't mind, you can stay here tonight."
She knew that Shen Jize had nowhere to go, and he was injured, which made it even more inconvenient for him to move. Unlike the north, the winter in H City was extremely cold, and the freezing humidity was like countless ants, slowly corroding the bones.
Shen Jize finally agreed.
The guest room is right next to Wen Eryu's bedroom. Aunt Zhao often cleans these empty rooms, and there is no dust even in the corners.
It was almost two o'clock in the morning when Wen Eryu lay back on the bed.
After turning off the lights, she closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep.
*
The next day, the alarm clock rang on time.
Wen Eryu got up sleepily and changed her clothes. Instead of going downstairs to have breakfast, she knocked on the door next door.
However, she knocked three times but no one inside responded.
You're not still sleeping...
Wen Eryu called out Shen Jize's name, and then put his hand on the handle.
With a "click", the door was not locked.
She walked in quietly and found that there was no sign of Shen Jize inside. The quilt on the bed was neatly folded, with no signs of anyone having slept there.
The window was not closed, the snow-white curtains fluttered in the wind, and the vase that should have been by the window appeared on the bedside table.
Wen Eryu walked closer and saw a few brand new banknotes and a note under the vase - Thank you for yesterday.
The handwriting is a bit sloppy, but you can tell that the owner wrote it with great tenacity.
"I don't want your money..." Wen Eryu held the bills and notes in his hand and muttered softly.
Then, she carefully placed these things into her small safe.
*
Although there was no snow in December, the cold wind was howling and the whole sky was gray.
The air-conditioned classroom was warm. It was Chinese class, and the teacher was copying poetry on the blackboard.
Wen Eryu put his hands in his pockets and looked quietly at the dead leaves blown by the wind outside the window.
The biting cold wind squeezed in through the window cracks with difficulty, and Wen Eryu shivered with cold.
Ten minutes later, the bell rang and she glanced at the empty seat next to her.
Lin Cheng took a leave of absence today for the first time.
As the end of the semester approaches, every student is buried in a pile of books and writing furiously. Everyone wants to get good grades and go home for the New Year.
Wen Eryu tidied up the messy table.
Suddenly, a pink diary fell out of the drawer.
Lu Zhang, who was sitting at the front desk, picked up the diary. He had just woken up and returned it to Wen Eryu in a daze.
"Thank you." Wen Eryu took the diary back and put it back.
"What's the next class?" Lu Zhang wiped his glasses and put them on.
Wen Eryu glanced at the schedule and said, "Math class."
Lu Zhang cursed, then took off his glasses and climbed back onto the desk.
"I can sleep in for another class."
Wen Eryu didn't care after hearing this. A talented student like Lu Zhang could still rank among the top three in the class even if he slept in class.
Halfway through the math class, Wen Eryu had almost mastered the language. She secretly took out the diary from the drawer and quickly put it under the book.
Then she turned to a new page and began to write thoughtfully.
——
2***.12.24.Yin
It's very windy.
(Wen Eryu bites the pen cap, pauses for a moment, and then writes another line on the paper.)
I didn't see him at school today.
——
After finishing writing, Wen Eryu was stunned.
She doesn't have the habit of writing a diary every day. She only writes something briefly when she is particularly happy or sad.
But why is she so concerned about Shen Jize now...
Wen Eryu closed the diary irritably. She wanted to continue attending the class, but her mind had already drifted out the window.
*
After returning home, Lin Cheng called Wen Eryu. It turned out that she had caught a cold and had a fever because the weather suddenly dropped, so she took three days off from school.
After Wen Eryu finished her homework, she prepared to visit Lin Cheng at her home.
As the lights came on, the tree trunks along the street were wrapped with colorful light strips, and there were more pedestrians than in the previous nights.
Wen Eryu then remembered that today was Christmas Eve.
She rode her bicycle to the fruit shop next to Lincheng Community. After picking out a fruit basket, she was about to enter the community when she saw a sneaky figure hiding in the crowd.
A boy wearing a black sweatshirt and a hat covering his face tightly stopped Wen Eryu.
"stop."
Wen Eryu felt something was wrong and took a few steps back.
There were not many people at the back door of the community. Most people had gone out to celebrate the festival at this time. She held the fruit basket tightly and looked at the man in black vigilantly.
"What are you going to do?" Wen Eryu asked.
The man in black sneered, "Miss Wen, you're really forgetful. You haven't remembered me after just a few months?"
Wait, listen to this sound...
It’s that bastard Zhou Yi!
"It's you?" Wen Er's voice trembled.
Zhou Yi lifted his hat to the back in front of her shocked eyes. He had changed a lot in the past few months. His hair was cut into a buzz cut. Without the Wen family as an economic source, he had lost a lot of weight and his eyes had become more ruthless.
Ever since he and Xu Wenrou were kicked out of the Wen family, they had no choice but to move to a village in the city. He had long been fed up with the dark and damp environment.
So this time he specifically asked someone about Wen Eryu's whereabouts, and sure enough, he really met her.
Wen Eryu wanted to run to a crowded place, but Zhou Yi quickly grabbed her wrist tightly.
"Want to leave? Did I agree?" Zhou Yi gritted his teeth and said, "Don't even think about going back if you can't come up with the money today."
"Let me go." Wen Eryu struggled hard. "You still want to make money? I tell you, there's no way!"
After saying that, Wen Eryu kicked Zhou Yi hard in the crotch.
"Ah——" Zhou Yi's face was grim, he bent over and covered his penis, "You fucking..."
The severe pain prevented him from uttering a complete sentence.
Seeing this, Wen Eryu immediately ran away, but before she could run a few steps, Zhou Yi caught up with her.
He endured the pain and pulled Wen Eryu to the garbage station nearby.
"You're fucked! You dare to kick me."
During the struggle, the fruit basket fell to the ground, and the apples broke through the plastic bag and rolled out, but then stopped at the feet of a boy wearing teddy bear clothes.
The boy bent down to pick up the apple and walked towards Wen Eryu.
"Let her go." His voice was extremely cold, and the stabbing look in his eyes beneath his toy clothes could not be hidden.
Zhou Yi panted and warned, "I advise you to stay out of other people's business."
"Oh, you're really looking for death." The young man snorted coldly, then rushed over and knocked Zhou Yi to the ground. The two of them soon started fighting.
Wen Eryu took the opportunity to kick Zhou Yi several times: "Bah, scumbag, I told you not to block me."
Due to the limitations of the toy costume, the boy fought with Zhou Yi for several rounds without a clear winner. Soon, the sound of a police car siren was heard not far away, and it was unknown who called the police.
Wen Eryu thought to herself that something was wrong and was about to leave, but then she remembered that the teddy bear was trying to help her, and she couldn't let him get involved no matter what.
She grabbed the boy and used all her strength to pull him to a nearby park.
After not hearing the sound of the police car, Wen Eryu stopped, collapsed on the grass, and gasped for breath.
White vapor emerged from her nose and mouth and instantly dissipated into the dark night.
Wen Eryu's chest heaved. She turned to look at him and said, "Thank you."
The boy was sitting on the grass like her, and the next second, he took off his hood.
Sweat soaked Shen Jize's entire hair, but his eyes remained as calm as ever.
He clenched his fists, the veins on his forehead bulged, and when he saw Wen Eryu, his Adam's apple rolled up and down a few times.
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