Chapter 0010 Injury
The following morning, the men's 1500-meter preliminary round and the women's standing long jump coincided. Ruyi explained the situation to the teachers on site, handed over her work, and then took the orange vest that Hao Jing handed her and walked towards the standing long jump venue.
Hao Jing massaged Ruyi's shoulders to encourage her. Ruyi nodded, bit her hair tie, and re-tied her hair into a high ponytail.
The women's standing long jump is usually a rather unpopular event, but because Ruyi participated, a group of boys gathered around, and some of them kept shouting in strange voices, "Go, Xu Ruyi!"
Ruyi was a little embarrassed, but she got into position, calmed herself down, and silently recited the key points of the movement taught by the PE teacher. She bent her knees to lower her center of gravity, gripped the ground with both feet, and exerted force quickly and powerfully. Without hesitation, she jumped!
The boys burst into laughter, and one of them, trying hard to get the girl's attention, mocked, "How's that? Pretty good move, landing 163cm."
The teacher reading out the grades chuckled and said, "Aren't you annoying? You still have two more chances, don't rush."
Ruyi couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. Although she had practiced in advance, she ultimately didn't have much athletic talent, unlike some of the boys during the physical test who seemed to have springs in their heels and could easily jump 2.2 or 2.3 meters.
She thought of how Chen Yan could run first place in the 3000 meters, so why couldn't she? The long jump was much simpler than the 3000 meters, and even if she lost, she couldn't lose too badly.
Ruyi felt a strange competitive spirit ignite against Chen Yan from afar. She jumped up again, stumbled upon landing, steadied herself, and looked around.
The teacher nodded and encouraged, "Good, 172. Keep up the good work and try to break 180."
Encouraged, Ruyi mustered all her strength and made her final jump. However, she used too much force and landed with a crack, twisting her left ankle. She lost her balance and fell forward, her knees hitting the coarse gravel ground with a cry of pain.
Hao Jing rushed forward to check and saw that both sides had abrasions of varying degrees, with the wounds covered in dust and grit. The right knee was more serious, looking shocking against her fair and tender legs.
She helped Ruyi up and asked with concern, "Are you alright? Can you stand...?"
Ruyi gritted her teeth and nodded, trying to walk. As soon as she put weight on her left foot, she felt excruciating pain.
The teacher, unable to bear it any longer, pointed to the nearest boy and said, "You don't have a match later, right? Carry the girl to the school clinic to get her treated."
Li Jinghao was momentarily stunned, and reflexively replied, "There's a competition..."
After being forcefully pushed by his friend, whose face clearly said, "Are you stupid?", he finally stammered an agreement and walked up to Ruyi, his fair and handsome face slightly flushed.
Ruyi was also embarrassed. She whispered to the two people on either side of her, "I want to try walking first, okay?"
Hao Jing reached out to help her up: "Okay, okay."
Li Jinghao blushed and offered his arm for her to help him up.
The girl's soft little hand rested on his wrist, and Li Jinghao felt a tingling sensation in his heart, as if ants were crawling over it.
At a snail's pace, it took two minutes to walk only a few dozen meters, and Ruyi was in so much pain that she was sweating profusely.
Seeing this, Li Jinghao mustered his courage, squatted down, and said, "I'll carry you on my back; it'll be faster that way."
Ruyi looked at the boy's broad back and hesitated, but Hao Jing kept agreeing with her and advising her not to be stubborn. Then she remembered that he had a competition to attend to and didn't want to take up too much of his time, so she leaned over.
The boy jogged along, his hand neatly placed on the girl's knee, not moving an inch the entire way, which aroused a suspicious misunderstanding.
Even so, during the run, Ruyi, who tried to increase the distance between her upper body and the other person, inevitably squeezed and rubbed against them. Hao Jing didn't know, only the person carrying her and the person being carried knew the truth.
Upon finally arriving at the infirmary, both of them blushed deeply. If it weren't for seeing Ruyi's leg, the school doctor would have almost thought they had heatstroke.
Hao Jing originally planned to stay and keep Ruyi company, but then her homeroom teacher called her and asked her to go to the administration building.
"You guys can openly bring your phones now?" The school doctor was a humorous young man, approachable and well-liked among the students. Seeing Hao Jing using her phone without any attempt to hide it, he couldn't help but tease her.
Hao Jing put her phone back in her pocket and made a face at the school doctor: "I did this for work purposes, and I got permission from the homeroom teacher!"
Then he asked Ruyi, "Are you sure you can manage on your own?"
Ruyi said yes, and told her to go quickly.
"I'll be going now, classmate. Could you please take care of Miss Xu for me? You wouldn't refuse, would you?"
She winked at Ruyi, the meaning was clear: Sister, I think this guy is pretty good, seize the opportunity!
Because she was going to the administration building, which was a different route from when she came, Hao Jing would have run into Chen Yan, who had just finished running 1500 meters and learned that Ruyi was injured and was being carried to the infirmary by a boy.
*
The school doctor first washed away the impurities from the knee wound with clean water, then had her sit on the treatment bed with her left leg raised. He handed Li Jinghao an ice pack wrapped in a towel, indicating that he should apply ice to the girl's swollen ankle. Li Jinghao carefully did as he was told, constantly checking Ruyi's feelings, afraid of hurting her.
The ice pack relieved the pain in her foot, but what scared Ruyi even more at this moment was the cotton swabs and medicine in the school doctor's hand.
The school doctor's technique with cotton swabs was gentle and professional, which was tolerable for Ruyi. However, when the medicine was sprayed, the irritating pain caused by the reaction of chemicals with the wound was beyond human control.
Ruyi gripped the bedsheet tightly, biting her lip, and tears welled up in her eyes.
Li Jinghao watched from the side, his heart clenching with anxiety.
The school doctor instructed him: "Ice your foot for another 15 minutes, then spray some Yunnan Baiyao—you should know how to use it, right? That should be about it. Don't get your knee wound wet until it heals. Spray Yunnan Baiyao on your foot twice a day, morning and evening. Avoid strenuous exercise for five days, and it's best to walk as little as possible."
Li Jinghao listened very attentively to every word.
Seeing how concerned he was, the school doctor couldn't help but misunderstand: "Alright, it's not a big deal. Your girlfriend will be fine in a few days. It's just that I support the freedom of early dating. If you acted like this in front of your homeroom teacher, you'd be exposed for sure."
Li Jinghao blushed deeply at what was said, and Ruyi quickly clarified that it wasn't what the doctor thought; they had just met that day, and the boy was simply trying to help.
"Oh, I see. This guy is really nice. He's helpful, kind, thoughtful, and polite. He's a great guy for girls to entrust their future to."
The school doctor looked at Li Jinghao, handsome and tall, then at Ruyi, who looked pitiful. Hmm, how well-matched they were.
Ruyi was unsure whether to respond to the school doctor's words or not, so she simply remained silent. Li Jinghao, on the other hand, lowered his head, his heart pounding erratically.
Chen Yan, who rushed over, overheard most of what the school doctor said and was very annoyed. He thought to himself, "How come I never knew the school doctor at No. 1 High School was such a gossip? She's so young, yet she's acting like an old hag, always trying to play matchmaker."
He pushed open the door, glanced at Li Jinghao, and stood directly in front of Ruyi. He looked her up and down to make sure there were no other problems, then frowned and scolded her lightly: "How could you be so careless? It's just a stupid long jump event, is it really worth it?"
He then asked the school doctor, "Won't it leave a scar?"
He touched Ruyi's face again, his voice as gentle as water: "Does it hurt?"
A series of actions silently declared sovereignty.
Ruyi stared wide-eyed at Chen Yan, her eyes questioning: Didn't we agree to pretend to be strangers at school?
Chen Yan returned the look with his eyes: Sorry, I don't want to pretend anymore.
Li Jinghao stared blankly at the uninvited guest; his sudden intrusion shattered the budding expectations in his heart.
He knew Chen Yan. He had many fans, was rich and powerful, and was fortunate enough to be born with good looks. He was arrogant and domineering, a true winner in life. Some boys fawned over him, some scorned him, and some sighed at him... But if you asked him if he wanted to experience his life, almost all of them would answer yes.
Chen Yan smiled politely at Li Jinghao: "Thank you for bringing my girlfriend here. Now that I'm here, you can go back to your work."
The words of thanks were spoken in a condescending manner, making the intention to get rid of the guest all too obvious.
The school doctor dug his toes into the ground and made an excuse to leave. Although Li Jinghao was reluctant to let him go, he knew he had no right to refuse and left dejectedly.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
