chapter17

  After getting off the car at the entrance of the residential area, He Sheng walked too slowly, so Yuan Zhi carried her on his back again as they headed inside. The sky had already darkened, and the streetlights stretched their shadows out to be very long. He Sheng leaned against his back, staring blankly at the ground where their shadows were sometimes long and sometimes short.

  Suddenly remembering something, he patted Yuan Zhi's shoulder and said urgently, "I've never come back so late before, Wu Shu must be worried. Will she call Brother Yan like last time?"

  "No, I called ahead." He furrowed his brow and tilted his head, "You'd better behave yourself."

  He Sheng hastily pressed Ang's head, which was like a small chicken, into his shoulder pit. Yuan Zhi said that this way her weight would be evenly distributed on his back, and it would be much easier to walk.

  She quieted down and then said:

  "Who told his parents to name him Sushi."

  He Shuang's eyes rolled and she immediately understood what he meant. Yan Bo had bought it for her to eat before, but she didn't like the taste. However... "Isn't sushi made of rice?"

  "Is there a difference between rice and flour? Aren't they both just filling?"

  "Of course there is a difference, rice is grain by grain, while dough is in its early stage..."

  Yuan Zhihui quickly replied: "Also one by one."

  He Sheng said seriously, "That's powder, powder and grains are different."

  "It's all the same to me."

  From He Sheng's point of view, all she could see was his sharp and pretty chin, as well as the lines on his face that stretched out from it. She stared at his chin and insisted, "It shouldn't be called a flour ball, but rather a rice ball."

  I like calling dough "noodles".

  He Sheng whispered: "This is wrong."

  Yuan Zhi was annoyed by her and said in a bad tone, "So much nonsense, believe it or not, I'll throw you away?"

  He Sheng suddenly became honest.

  Yuan Zhi put him down at the door and asked, "Can you walk steadily?"

  "Alright!" He Sheng stood up straight and was about to grab the backpack hanging from his chest, but Yuan Zhi slapped his hand away. "I'll help you carry it in, let's go!"

  He Sheng walked slower than usual, and his back was slightly hunched, but it was hard to notice if you didn't look closely.

  As soon as she opened the door and entered the house, Wu Shu was busy cleaning up in the kitchen. Hearing the sound, she hurried out, "Are you back? Have you eaten yet?"

  "I've eaten outside."

  Aunt Wu nodded, looking at his bruised mouth corner and frowned: "You got into another fight?"

  "It's okay."

  "You're really good at flattering people."

  "No, I was riding a bicycle at someone's home and wasn't paying attention when I crashed into a tree."

  Aunt Wu didn't quite believe it and turned to He Sheng, "Do you know about this? Is it really like that?"

  He Sheng hadn't lied much, and the last time he did, Yan Bai scolded him so severely that it left a shadow on his mind. He swallowed hard, his fingers clutching at his hem as he nodded, "Really, I saw him crash into the tree with my own eyes, his whole mouth was smashed in."

  Wu Shu didn't have as much insight as Yan Bai, although she felt something was strange, but she didn't say anything else. The two quickly went upstairs and returned to their respective rooms.

  He Shuang took the change of clothes to the bathroom, her movements were very inconvenient, and even slightly raising her hand made her feel dull pain. After taking off her clothes, she had already broken out in a thin layer of sweat. She licked her dry lips, stood in front of the mirror, turned around, and saw that on her bony back, there was a bruise that had already turned dark, with some swelling at the edges. That person really hadn't held back when hitting her.

  He adjusted the water temperature and stood under the showerhead, avoiding his injured area as he slowly washed up. Even with great care, some water still splashed onto his wound, and the lukewarm water stung him so much that he shivered. After finishing his bath, which had already taken over half an hour, he felt more exhausted than after a school cleaning day.

  Wearing a white face and good clothes going out, immediately saw Yuan Zhi sitting on her bed head, leisurely gnawing on a small chicken leg.

  "Come quickly." Yuan Zhi beckoned to her, picked up the shopping bag by his feet and put it on the bed. "Choose what you want to eat yourself, fill your stomach first."

  There are snacks and drinks in the shopping bag, which is Yuan Zhi's usual snack to fill his hunger. Today it can only be used as a makeshift dinner.

  He Sheng walked over and sat opposite him, took a bun and started nibbling on it.

  The layout of this room is similar to that of Yuan Zhi's, but the area is about half smaller. He Sheng came here for the first time after he arrived.

  After finishing another drumstick, Yuan Zhi felt full and looked at He Song who was still nibbling on his bread. "Your back will probably hurt for a few more days. Tomorrow when we go to school, walk with me and I'll help you carry your backpack."

  He Sheng lifted his head from the bread, with breadcrumbs at the corner of his mouth. "It's okay, I can get it myself."

  "Are you holding on? The morning train is so crowded that it's impossible to fall off, just do as I say, did you hear?"

  He Sheng nodded obediently.

  Yuan Zhi leaned back against the headboard with his hands clasped behind his head and nudged her with his foot, "Hurry up and eat."

  He was also just out of the bath, his hair still damp, wearing only a blue bathrobe with a loose belt around his waist, and nothing else to obstruct the view of his chest.

  He Shuang looked at the foot that he had kicked over earlier, which was now lazily resting on her bedside, with a fair and smooth instep and plump toes, more delicate than hers. Her mouth moved a few times before she said, "Why are your feet so cold?"

  "It's no wonder you're cold dressed like that." Yuan Zhi reached out and pinched her face, "Are your hands cold?"

  "Cold." He said and looked at his feet again.

  Yuan Zhi noticed her gaze, "What's with always looking at my feet?"

  He Xiang silently lifted his own foot up a bit, "Better looking than mine, and whiter too."

  Yuan Zhi smiled and stretched out his hands in front of her, shaking them back and forth. "Who's more handsome, me or you?"

  "Yours."

  Yuan Zhi stretched his neck and pointed at his own face, "Who's more handsome, me or you?"

  He Sheng still tells the truth: "Yours."

  Yuan Zhi raised an eyebrow, his eyes full of charm, with his hands clasped behind his back, "Isn't that enough? Which part of my body is uglier than yours?"

  He also nodded and said with a silly expression, "They say you're the prettiest in the whole school, even prettier than the girls. It seems like there are even boys who have a crush on you."

  Yuan Zhi was taken aback, and his face immediately turned black. As a man, he couldn't be happy about such a lift-off. His joyful mood suddenly turned upside down, and he kicked He Song again, "Shut up and eat."

  He Sheng hastily lowered his head and started eating silently again.

  He didn't stop until he had devoured two buns and a bottle of juice.

  Yuan Zhi pulled out a tissue and leaned over to wipe her mouth, "Full?"

  "Hmm." He Song took the tissue from his hand and wiped it a few more times before throwing it into the trash can by his feet.

  "After you've eaten, turn around and lift up your clothes." Yuan Zhi sidled over to the bedside cabinet, picked up a small plastic bag containing the ointment prescribed by the doctor earlier, "I'll apply the medicine for you."

  He Sheng's eyes widened in surprise, and when he realized that the other person was not joking, he hastily shook his head, "No, no, I can do it myself."

  "Are you getting enough yourself?"

  "It's enough to get, it's enough to get."

  Yuan Zhi snorted, "Then you try making a back-scratching gesture first."

  He Sheng looked at him with a difficult expression, and even just putting his hand on the buttocks would hurt, let alone going up.

  "Is it not possible?" After a while, Yuan Zhi spoke faintly, "Then don't show off and just turn around."

  He Shuang was so anxious that she couldn't move, "But you're a boy!" She was ignorant, but she understood that it was not okay to lift her clothes in front of the opposite sex, let alone at the age of thirteen.

  "What's wrong with you? I won't do anything to you, and yet you think you're so precious just because you look a bit better than me." Yuan Zhi saw that she didn't react, so he glared at her and shouted: "Faster!"

  He Sheng was so anxious that he almost cried, his forehead started sweating again, and he whispered: "It's really impossible."

  Yuan Zhi gazed at her coldly, his sharp eyes full of menace. "You won't take it off? You want me to do it myself?" He tossed the plastic bag aside, rolled up his bathrobe sleeves and approached her. "Alright, I've never undressed a woman before, today's a good practice."

  He Shuang shrunk his neck, watching as the smooth white hand like a pearl was about to touch his clothes. He closed his eyes and shouted out loud: "I'll take it off!"

  Frightened to the point where her voice was trembling, Yuan Zhi couldn't help but glance at her with a smile, sat back down and took the medicine in his hand, shaking it gently, tilting his chin up, "Hurry up."

  He Sheng's butt moved back and forth, and his clothes were lifted several times without success. Yuan Zhi said, "I'll help you lift it up, and then you can hold onto it yourself."

  He Sheng sat down with his knees bent, his face buried in his lap, and his hands placed beside his neck to prepare himself. Yuan Zhi lifted up his clothes, and when the gruesome wound appeared before his eyes, his originally calm expression could no longer be maintained. His Adam's apple rolled up and down, and his gaze complicatedly stared at the back of her head. After a brief pause, he squeezed some ointment onto his hand and applied it to the wound bit by bit.

  The cool ointment touching his wound made He Song involuntarily shudder, and Yuan Zhi stopped in his tracks. "Hurts?"

  "A bit." She said in a low and even tone: "It's as if I've been tied up by an immortal during the autumn."

  Two days ago, Chen Jiayin brought a small cactus from home to play with and was pricked several times.

  Yuan Zhi's movements became even more gentle, and he blew softly on her, "Will this be better?"

  "Uh-huh."

  Yuan Zhi squeezed some more ointment onto his hand, "Let's see if you'll still be showing off in the future."

  "Just don't fight in the future."

  "Do you want to fight again and still block me?"

  He Sheng thought for a moment and said, "If I see it, I'll still help you."

  Yuan Zhi thought this person was just lacking in common sense, stupid to the point of death, and didn't know how to learn from his mistakes. The hand with the medicinal paste slowly moved down to He Song's waist, and the body under his hand started shaking again.

  He stared blankly, "Still hurts?"

  "No." He Song said with a stifled tone: "Itchy, you touched my itchy spot."

  "Your body is a landmine, can't touch anywhere, just endure it."

  Yuan Zhi said gruffly and continued with his work, wiping it clean before putting the medicine in a bag. "Let it air dry first, don't take down the clothes yet, to avoid getting them dirty."

  "Hmm." He Song buried his head and didn't move, the slightly curved back making his joints more prominent. Yuan Zhi looked around and said, "How did you get so thin? It's like no one has been feeding you properly."

  "She's gotten fatter than before." She turned her head, "Fatter by four pounds."

  "Alright, put your clothes down!" Yuan Zhi gave her another helping hand.

  Everything has been dealt with. Yuan Zhi is ready to return to his room. He gets up and points at the snacks, "These are for you, eat them if you're hungry." Then he walks out.

  He Shuang grasped the hem of his bathrobe, "Aren't you going to put on some ointment?"

  Yuan Zhi also got hurt, apart from his face, he probably has injuries on his body as well.

  "I'm fine, why so particular?"

  "What if you get disfigured? Then no girl will like you."

  "Tsk!" Yuan Zhi glared at her, "How can you talk like that? Want another scolding?"

  He lowered his head slightly, only suspending his black and white eyes to look at him, "Still need to apply medicine."

  The two of them stared at each other for a long time, and Yuan Zhi was annoyed by her. He sat back on the bed with a sullen face, took the medicine without a mirror, and applied it to his face. The ointment was too much and he didn't control the amount, so he directly poked it into his mouth. He scrunched up his eyebrows and spat out saliva for a long time.

  Jian He sat with his knees tucked in, staring blankly ahead, unmoved. Enraged, he bellowed: "Watching a show, are you? Won't even lend me a hand?"

  "Oh oh oh!" He Sheng responded in succession, not even bothering to wipe his own mouth as he hastily handed him a tissue and then lightly applied the ointment with his fingers.

  Yuan Zhi glanced sideways at He Song, who was focused on applying medicine to himself, and snorted coldly, barely satisfied.

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