Chapter 6, Chapter Six: Wounded
With a loud "bang," the vase struck Jiang Jizhou's brow bone, shards flying everywhere, and blood slowly trickled down his forehead, dripping onto the ground.
Yu Bai was terrified by what he saw, and almost fainted from the bloody wound on Jiang Jizhou's forehead.
Jiang Jizhou seemed oblivious to the pain. He licked his lips and gave Uncle Jiang a defiant smile. The blood flowing down his forehead outlined his sharp jawline, making him look both arrogant and decadent.
Seeing this, Uncle Jiang was furious and cursed him, "You unfilial son, I don't have a son like you."
"Tch." Jiang Jizhou scoffed. "Were you this worried when my mother died?"
Hearing Jiang Jizhou mention his deceased wife completely ignited Jiang Shu's anger. His face contorted with rage as he strode towards Jiang Jizhou, ready to attack him.
Yu Bai had just recovered from the shock of the vase when she saw this scene. She instinctively rushed to Jiang Jizhou, stood with her back to him, spread her arms like an angel spreading pure white wings, and protected Jiang Jizhou behind her. She cried out, "Uncle Jiang, please don't hit my brother anymore."
Yu Bai was a head shorter than Jiang Jizhou, her slender and frail body swaying precariously, yet she stood firmly between the two men, trying to stop the fighting.
Jiang Jizhou looked down and saw the girl standing in front of him like a female warrior. His heart stirred slightly. She was kinder and stronger than he had thought, rather than just weak and vulnerable.
Upon seeing Yu Bai, Uncle Jiang regained some of his rationality. He took a few steps back, trying to quell his anger.
Just then, Aunt Chen came over and quickly told Yu Bai to take Jiang Jizhou away while she went to persuade Uncle Jiang.
Yu Bai turned around, grabbed Jiang Jizhou's hand, and led him upstairs to Jiang Jizhou's room.
This was her first time entering Jiang Jizhou's room; it was clean and empty.
"I'll go get the first-aid kit."
Yu Bai turned and left.
But Jiang Jizhou stopped him, saying, "No need."
Yu Bai frowned slightly. "Why? You're still bleeding."
Jiang Jizhou looked up. "Can you?"
Yu Bai's eyes widened. How dare he look down on her? Putting everything else aside, Yu Bai was quite skilled at treating these kinds of wounds. She had been bullied frequently in the past, so treating these kinds of wounds was a piece of cake for her.
"I can."
Jiang Jizhou remained skeptical, but it wasn't until Yu Bai's soft hand touched his forehead that he realized Yu Bai possessed this skill.
"hiss--"
The tweezers holding the cotton ball paused for a moment, and Yu Bai asked softly, "Does it hurt a lot? Hang in there."
"Hmm." His voice was restrained.
They were very close, so close that Jiang Jizhou could see the fine white down on the edge of Yu Bai's lips, like morning dew falling on rose petals, delicate and beautiful.
Her long, black hair hung down to her chest, swaying gently as she loosened her grip on Jiang Jizhou's bandages, brushing against his nose with a ticklish, floral scent.
Jiang Jizhou was momentarily captivated by Yu Bai's alluring floral fragrance until he heard Yu Bai say, "It's done."
He then woke up as if from a dream.
"Thank you." He lowered his eyes, his raven-feather eyelashes casting a shadow, and he seemed a little off.
Yu Bai thought that he was probably still hurt by what happened to Uncle Jiang and needed time to heal. As an outsider, she had no right to pry into his privacy, so Yu Bai simply said, "Then you should rest well, I won't bother you anymore."
She tiptoed out of the bedroom, preparing to close the door.
"Don't do that again next time."
Jiang Jizhou suddenly spoke, his expression inscrutable, and Yu Bai's heart skipped a beat.
"I'm just afraid you'll get hurt." Yu Bai's eyes darted away. "I would have done the same to anyone else."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Jizhou smiled and said, "Whatever you say."
After a moment of silence, Yu Bai met Jiang Jizhou's deep gaze through the crack in the door. She closed the door, cutting off his view.
Jiang Jizhou didn't go to class in the afternoon; he locked himself in his bedroom the whole time.
Mingjing and the others were quite concerned about Jiang Jizhou's absence from class. They asked Yu Bai in groups of three or five, but Yu Bai brushed them off by saying he was sick.
Mingjing was exceptionally warm towards Yu Bai. At first, Yu Bai wondered if she also liked Jiang Jizhou, but during their conversation, Yu Bai discovered that she was just very curious and had a strong gossip-loving nature. She was also the class's unofficial "gossip promoter."
It shouldn't be called a mirror, it should be called a trumpet. Yu Bai was both amused and exasperated by Mingjing.
The afternoon flew by, and Yu Bai spent most of her time in her seat except when getting water or going to the toilet. Occasionally, Ming Jing would come over and talk to her, vividly recounting the gossip in the class.
School at Nancheng No.1 Middle School ends at 7 p.m.
By 7 p.m., it was dusk outside, and the sky looked like a vast sea of oranges, with everything bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun.
Yu Bai followed the crowd out of the classroom, but was stopped by several tall girls. They wore heavy makeup and rolled-up hems of their school uniform skirts, revealing their fair thighs.
Yu Bai's face turned deathly pale in an instant.
The scenes of being bullied in the past reappeared before my eyes, exactly the same as the current situation.
She was stopped by several upperclassmen.
"Hey, deaf guy, you don't know you have to pay protection money unless I tell you."
"Slap—" A slap landed on Yu Bai's face. Yu Bai's face burned with pain, and he covered his face with his hand, his body trembling uncontrollably.
"Why waste words with her? A few beatings will teach her a lesson."
"Not only deaf, but also despicable."
Vicious words followed one after another, occasionally interspersed with a few heavy slaps. Yu Bai hung his head, his long hair disheveled, his face red and swollen, looking utterly pathetic.
Thinking of this, Yu Bai's body trembled like a sieve again, and her red lips turned white.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
The girls looked at each other, puzzled.
The girl's words pulled Yu Bai out of his nightmare.
She mustered a sliver of strength and asked, "Is there something you need?"
Upon hearing this, one of the girls shyly handed Yu Bai a love letter, saying, "I heard you are Jiang Jizhou's sister. Please give this to him."
Yu Bai was taken aback; so that's what it was about.
It was a false alarm. The pain of being bullied had become muscle memory for her; it was a nightmare she couldn't shake off.
Taking the love letter, Yu Bai sighed inwardly, "Jiang Jizhou is really popular, how come so many people like him!"
This was the first time in Yu Bai's life that he had delivered a love letter for someone. He hesitated for a long time in front of Jiang Jizhou's bedroom door but still didn't knock.
Yu Bai didn't dare to refuse the strange girl because they looked like they were not to be trifled with, but she also didn't dare to bother Jiang Jizhou because he had just argued with Uncle Jiang today and had injured his head. Yu Bai felt that if she did that, he would definitely dislike her.
Yu Bai lowered his head and pressed it against the door, letting out a screeching sound like a groundhog in his mind.
"Maybe I'll give it to him tomorrow," Yu Bai decided, preparing to turn and leave, but the door opened.
Yu Bai's head lost its support and fell forward. She subconsciously reached out to grab something, but it was Jiang Jizhou's arms. The next second, she bumped into his chest, which was so hard that Yu Bai let out a soft groan before falling into his arms.
Caught off guard, Jiang Jizhou staggered back a step, grabbing the door frame to steady himself.
Looking down, he saw Yu Bai's fluffy head pressed against his chest.
Yu Bai jumped back, putting distance between herself and Jiang Jizhou. She lowered her head, not daring to look at Jiang Jizhou, her face so hot that an egg could be fried on it.
Jiang Jizhou leaned against the doorframe and chuckled, "What? You want to throw yourself into your brother's arms?"
Yu Bai bit her lip, knowing she was in the wrong.
She didn't speak, but handed over the love letter in her hand, saying, "It's for you."
He then quickly explained, "It was written to you by a girl I don't know, who asked me to give it to you."
Jiang Jizhou frowned, his tone turning colder, "You agreed even though you don't know me?"
Yu Baixing's eyes widened, brimming with tears.
"I'm afraid of being bullied."
Jiang Jizhou didn't understand why she was so afraid of being bullied. Who would bully her anyway?
"Whatever." He brushed past Yu Bai, preparing to leave.
But Yu Bai tugged at the corner of her clothes, cautiously, like a wounded young animal—it must be a rabbit.
Jiang Jizhou turned his head, and the corridor light fell into his eyes, shimmering with tiny fragments of light.
"Love letter," she whispered.
Jiang Jizhou felt like teasing Yu Bai, so he moved his handsome face closer to her, which startled Yu Bai so much that her dark eyes rolled around, unsure of where to look.
"Then you should ask your brother." Jiang Jizhou said casually.
So, he saw Yu Bai's face turn even redder, more beautiful than the peach blossoms in March.
"No, I'm leaving." Jiang Jizhou pretended to leave, scaring Yu Bai.
"No." Yu Bai gripped his clothes even tighter.
After a long standoff, Yu Bai reluctantly said, "Please."
Jiang Jizhou smiled broadly, "So good."
He took the love letter from Yu Bai's hand, walked to the trash can, and threw it in.
Yu Baishi was left alone, frozen in place.
Because Jiang Jizhou threw the love letter into the trash can without even reading it, Yu Bai was terrified until the next day in class, fearing that the girls would come looking for her and take their anger out on her. So she kept praying silently.
Fortunately, nothing happened until the end of the entire day of classes the next day, and Yu Bai was able to put her mind at ease.
After school, Jiang Jizhou was going to play billiards with his classmates and asked the driver to take Yu Bai home.
Yu Bai lingered in the classroom for a while because he was studying the most challenging physics problem. When he looked up, he found that the classroom was empty.
Remembering that the driver was still waiting for him outside the school, Yu Bai quickly packed his things and left.
When those girls suddenly appeared, Yu Bai's heart pounded like a drum, but he still pretended to be calm on the surface.
"Did you give the love letter to Jiang Jizhou?"
Yu Bai answered truthfully, "I gave it to them."
What did he say?
Yu Bai said tactfully, "He read it and said he didn't want to be in a relationship."
Why bother asking an innocent bystander like her? Shouldn't this kind of thing be asked of Jiang Jizhou, the person involved? Yu Bai lamented that she had truly been struck by a bolt from the blue.
"Really?" The girl's face was full of disappointment.
Yu Bai nodded obediently, "Mm."
"Yu Bai?" A casual voice came from outside the classroom.
The group looked outside together and saw Jiang Jizhou.
Wasn't he off playing pool? A sense of confusion arose in Yu Bai's heart.
Standing at the classroom door, Jiang Jizhou saw several girls surrounding Yu Bai, who was sitting on a stool holding her schoolbag, looking pitiful as if she wanted to run away but didn't dare to. He couldn't help but frown.
"What are you doing?" He felt a surge of inexplicable anger.
When the girls saw Jiang Jizhou, they immediately started talking all at once.
The girl who delivered the love letter stepped forward, her face flushed with shyness, and softly explained to Jiang Jizhou, "I wanted to ask Yu Bai about me..."
"I don't know you," Jiang Jizhou interrupted her, frowning and speaking coldly, "let alone like you."
Then, Jiang Jizhou looked at Yu Bai and said calmly, "Go home."
A note from the author:
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Bai Bai and the dog are getting closer and closer.
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