Chapter 33

As she watched Shang Yan rise and leave, Su Miao Miao’s breath caught, her heart suddenly aching in her chest.

Her face turned pale.

In her mind, she quickly recalled the scene described by Qi Wenyue earlier—An ambulance, blood on the ground, a stretcher stained red…

For a moment, Su Miao Miao felt her mind go blank.

Almost without thinking, she pushed herself up from the bench to intercept—

“Shang Yan!”

—

The girl’s voice, tinged with tears, was like a heavy lock, instantly stopping the boy in his tracks.

Shang Yan turned back.

Meanwhile, not far from the bench, Su Miao Miao’s legs were in too much pain to support her. She stumbled as she tried to stand up.

Shang Yan’s pupils constricted.

Instinctively, he took a quick step forward, reaching out to grab the girl’s hand and pulling her back to him.

Re-stabilizing her, Shang Yan’s face darkened.

“You want to lose your leg?!”

—

Su Miao Miao couldn’t hold back the tears of pain any longer. His sternness immediately caused her eyes to well up.

With a mixture of grievance and frustration, she glared at him.

Under the weight of her teary gaze, Shang Yan’s imposing aura instantly weakened.

—

The hand supporting the girl’s lower back involuntarily loosened its grip.

They stood in silence for two seconds.

Shang Yan’s lips twitched slightly. When he spoke again, the hostility in his eyes had faded, replaced by resignation.

“Kid, you might as well just annoy your master to death, hmm?”

Su Miao Miao choked up for a moment.

A few seconds later, she lowered her eyelashes, her voice softening.

“I… I want to… sit back down.”

Following her request, Shang Yan carefully guided her back to the bench, gently supporting her lower back as she sat down.

As Shang Yan was about to stand up, he felt a light tug on the tail of his shirt.

Lowering his head, Shang Yan saw a delicate hand tightly gripping the hem of his deep black vest. The owner of the hand kept her head lowered, her chestnut curls cascading down and framing her pale face. Her petal-like lips were pressed tightly together, perhaps from the pain.

Feeling helpless, Shang Yan gently released her hand and then bent his knees again, half-crouching in front of the girl with lowered eyes.

—

Her black, curly eyelashes pressed against her pale eyelids, already dampened by the tears she had been holding back.

“…”

Shang Yan’s breath caught in his throat. It felt as if someone had stuffed cotton wool into his windpipe, making him feel suffocated and his chest ache.

The surge of hostility he had just suppressed rose up once again.

Just this time, the girl seemed particularly sensitive. Even before Shang Yan showed any change in expression, she reached out and placed her hand on the boy’s elbow.

“You don’t have to…”

Her voice sounded panicked, her beautiful deer-like eyes lifting, pupils dark and moist.

Shang Yan took a deep breath, suppressing all his volatile negative emotions.

Then he said softly, “I won’t do anything.”

“…,” Su Miao Miao looked at him uneasily.

Shang Yan raised his hand, squatting in front of the girl, he ran his fingers through her long hair.

“I’m just here with you.”

After a moment of locking eyes, the girl seemed to finally find enough reassurance from the gaze.

She slowly let out a small sigh of relief, lowering her gaze again.

Her eyes glanced over Shang Yan, who was half kneeling in front of her, and saw a delicate shoe print on his black trousers.

Su Miao Miao held her breath, whispering, “…I dirtied your pants… I’m sorry.”

As she spoke, she slightly bent down, trying hard to extend her fingertips to help him brush off the dust on his black trousers.

Her slender fingertips were grabbed by someone and pulled back.

Shang Yan sighed.

“As long as you don’t move now, when your leg is fine, you can step on it as much as you want.”

Su Miao Miao was taken aback.

The numb pain that had been persistently throbbing in her calf seemed to ease a lot in just a few sentences.

Outside of the two, the other students who were watching were now dumbfounded.

—

Witnessing Shang Yan go from silence to eruption, and then back to silence in an instant…

It felt terrifying, like being at the top of a roller coaster with your head pointing towards the ground.

After all, when Shang Yan walked towards Chu Ming and the others just now, everyone thought that the rumored gruesome scene, the most terrifying of all, was about to happen right in front of them.

They could never have imagined that Shang Yan, in that state, could be pulled back from the brink of madness by just a few words from the girl.

And many people, with complex gazes, looked pale at the new team member standing behind Chu Ming.

“Chu… Captain Chu…” the new team member’s voice trembled, “What… what should I do… will Shang Yan spare me…”

Chu Ming frowned deeply, not rushing to speak, just silently staring at the two figures sitting and kneeling on the sidelines of the basketball court.

Before today, he had heard of the reputation of the sophomore in Class Two.

However, he had never believed in rumors, things that nobody had seen the truth of.

Until just now.

In those eyes that seemed to have stripped away all human emotions, he began to doubt his disbelief in his past.

“The Grim Reaper of Sanzhong High,” maybe it wasn’t just a joke or a jest after all.

….

He might truly be a complete “madman”.

“Don’t provoke him now,” Chu Ming turned slightly, whispering to the new team member who was already in a panic. “Once it’s confirmed that the girl you injured is okay, I’ll take you to apologize properly.”

“Okay… okay, Captain Chu…”

Chu Ming: “You go back first, I’ll stay here and check on that girl’s condition.”

“Yeah… Thank you, Captain Chu.”

After they finished speaking, the new team member couldn’t wait to run off.

Chu Ming turned back, looking somewhat worriedly at the girl on the bench.

Soon, the old school doctor from Sanzhong’s infirmary rushed over with his medical kit.

After a thorough examination, the school doctor sighed in relief and took off his glasses.

“There’s nothing major, don’t worry… and no bones are injured.”

“…”

Shang Yan clearly didn’t quite believe his words.

Where his gaze fell, the girl’s ankle was already swollen and bruised, contrasting terribly with the slender fairness of her leg.

The old school doctor seemed to understand the chill in Shang Yan’s eyes and reluctantly stood up.

“This girl’s physical condition is rather poor, and she seems to be sensitive. Even a little force can leave red marks on her body—so that’s why the injury looks so terrifying now.”

The old school doctor paused, then spoke again with some disapproval.

“And you, student, why are you glaring at me like that? It’s normal for an examination to hurt, and I didn’t cause this injury, did I?”

The team member who had brought the old school doctor over, coincidentally one who had heard the “intimate” exchange between master and disciple earlier, chuckled awkwardly at the words.

“Sorry, doctor, this girl is our Brother Yan’s precious apprentice, he’s just really worried.”

“…”

The old school doctor’s eyebrows twitched.

Staring at Shang Yan for a few seconds, he turned his head and asked, “Is this Shang Yan?”

“Oh… um, yes,” the team member hurriedly confirmed.

Without another word, the old school doctor took out some anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving topical medications from his medical kit, along with sterile cotton swabs, and placed them next to the bench.

“You can apply the medicine yourselves, and if there’s no problem, don’t bother me again.”

With that, the old school doctor grabbed his medical kit and left even faster than he had come.

As he walked away, he could still be heard muttering to himself—

“Luckily I asked, otherwise applying the medicine later might really hurt, and I’d end up disassembling my old bones…”

“Hehe—”

The team member who had called the old school doctor couldn’t help but laugh, but immediately regained composure and covered his mouth to suppress it.

“…”

Shang Yan glanced at him, then bent down and held the bench where the girl was sitting.

“I’ll take you back to the classroom, or back to the training group?”

The girl thought for a moment, looking up at him, “There’s a dictation in the next English class, let’s go back to the classroom.”

“Yeah.”

Shang Yan responded, hooking his hand under the girl’s bent leg while the other hand wrapped around her back, lifting her sideways.

Su Miao Miao gasped in surprise and instinctively reached out, hooking her hand around Shang Yan’s neck.

As their skins touched with a warm temperature, the girl’s fair cheeks quickly turned rosy.

“I can… do it myself…”

“Do what?”

Shang Yan lowered his eyes, his black pupils carrying an undeniable coldness.

Su Miao Miao: “…”

Here it comes again.

The real culprit…

Seeing the girl meekly lowering her head, Shang Yan’s lips unconsciously curved downwards.

“Take the medicine back to the classroom.”

Having informed the others in the team, Shang Yan carried the girl and walked straight out of the stadium.

The onlookers exchanged glances, their facial expressions becoming uncontrollable.

Two minutes later.

The bell rang for the end of class, and the remaining students in the stadium also dispersed.

Chu Ming stood in place, staring somewhat inexplicably in the direction the two had left.

The older team members ran over, seeing that Chu Ming was unharmed, and heaved a long sigh of relief.

“Just heard you almost got into a fight with Shang Yan, scared me there. I really thought something big was about to happen.”

The old team member spoke, strangely following Chu Ming’s gaze forward.

“Chu, what are you looking at so intently?”

Chu Ming withdrew his gaze.

After a pause, he simply asked, “What’s the relationship between that Su Miao Miao you mentioned before and Shang Yan?”

The old team member’s expression froze for a moment, then exaggeratedly covered his mouth and whispered, “No way, Chu, has your millennia-old heart finally been moved?… You’re really thinking about that new girl in our sophomore year!?”

Chu Ming looked at him helplessly.

“The one who just got hit by the ball is Su Miao Miao.”

“Oh, that explains it! Why Shang Yan got so furious!” the old team member said. “Chu, you can rest assured, they’re not in that kind of relationship. Don’t you know how much gossip there’s been in our grade?”

Chu Ming: “Stop beating around the bush.”

The old team member sheepishly said, “It’s just that as soon as this girl entered the school, she joined the computer training group, and Shang Yan is the leader. He’s really skilled in computers, so their teacher asked him to mentor the newbies, and that’s how they became master and apprentice.”

“Master and apprentice…” Chu Ming repeated.

Turning his head to look at the sports field gate where the two had left, Chu Ming unconsciously frowned.

Is it really just master and apprentice…?

*

When Shang Yan carried Su Miao Miao back to the classroom, the bell for the end of the first afternoon class had just rung.

Having avoided being surrounded all the way, Su Miao Miao felt much calmer. When she entered the classroom, there was no one there.

Shang Yan placed the girl in his arms on the seat behind their desk, gently supporting her injured leg in his palm, and placing it on his own chair.

The jeans were rolled back up. Even though he had anticipated it, Shang Yan’s brows instinctively furrowed a bit upon seeing the grotesque and frightening bruises.

“Is it still hurting badly?”

He furrowed his brows and looked at the girl.

Su Miao Miao hesitated for a moment, then shook her head slowly.

Shang Yan’s frown deepened, “Don’t lie.”

“…” Su Miao Miao obediently nodded.

“There’s a bit,” she reached out, using her slender thumb and forefinger to indicate a very short distance, “it hurts.”

Shang Yan helplessly lowered his eyes to look at her.

“It might hurt more when I apply the medicine later.”

“…,” the girl’s face paled at this remark.

After seemingly undergoing a long period of self-psychological guidance, she looked at Shang Yan with a stiff face.

“I can endure it, I won’t cry.”

Shang Yan frowned and smiled, feeling both distressed and amused.

In no time, the basketball players in the class had already brought the medicine given by the school doctor back to the classroom.

Shang Yan took it, glanced at the expiry date and manufacturer, his expression becoming somewhat uncertain.

The boy next to him observed his expression and cautiously spoke, “I asked earlier, the infirmary only had this much stock… I don’t know which small pharmaceutical company it’s from, and it’s the first time I’ve heard of the name.”

“…”

Shang Yan’s gaze slightly darkened.

After a few seconds, he leaned down and whispered to the girl, “I’ll buy you another one from a pharmacy outside the school. Don’t move until I come back, okay?”

Su Miao Miao wanted to say something, but she swallowed it back.

She nodded lightly.

Shang Yan’s eyes relaxed, and he quickly turned and left the classroom.

…..

When Qi Wenyue and others returned to the classroom, they saw the girl in the front row sitting quietly with one short leg raised, waiting obediently in her seat.

Qi Wenyue scanned the surroundings and noticed Shang Yan was not in his seat. She breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly walked to Su Miao Miao’s side.

“My darling Miao Miao, did you have a falling out with our physical education class?” she said, carefully holding onto the edge of the desk and avoiding touching the girl’s leg, then lowered her head to look for a moment.

“…No good, it looks so painful,” Qi Wenyue straightened up, “Where’s Brother Yan? Why isn’t he here, and did he not give you the medicine?”

Seeing Qi Wenyue’s features almost scrunching up, Su Miao Miao’s heart softened.

She lightly lowered the corners of her eyes, “Shang Yan said he’s going to buy another dose of medicine from outside the school.”

“That’s right… those crappy medicines from our school’s infirmary, who knows how long they’ve been there, the effectiveness must be poor…”

After muttering to herself, Qi Wenyue couldn’t help but glance at Su Miao Miao’s injury, but she quickly averted her gaze in shock.

Su Miao Miao couldn’t help but smile lightly, her lips curling up.

“It’s not that painful anymore.”

“Really?” Qi Wenyue said with a pained expression, “That’s good…”

Su Miao Miao’s gaze flickered slightly, and she asked strangely, “Why hasn’t your desk mate come back?”

“Oh, her, she went to wash her hands—oh, she’s back,” Qi Wenyue turned around and vigorously waved towards Liao Lanxin, who was entering the classroom through the front door, “Desk mate, come here quickly, look at our Miao Miao, she was hit by one of the new players from the school basketball team… I really want to go confront them!”

Liao Lanxin didn’t say anything, she walked to the desk.

She placed the plastic bag she was holding in front of Su Miao Miao.

Qi Wenyue: “What’s this?”

“It’s from the school basketball team,” Liao Lanxin said calmly. She looked at Su Miao Miao, “They said you might not be feeling well today, so they’ll wait until another day when your leg is better to come and apologize in person.”

Su Miao Miao was taken aback for a moment, somewhat surprised.

She reached out and took the plastic bag, looking inside—All the swelling-reducing and pain-relieving medicines, gauze, bandages, and so on, were all there.

Qi Wenyue also saw it and pursed her lips.

“Their attitude of reflection isn’t bad.”

Liao Lanxin glanced at her.

A faintly amused expression appeared on her face.

“Oh… weren’t you going to confront them? You can still catch up with them now.”

Qi Wenyue hesitated for a moment, feeling a bit intimidated at the last moment, “Well, since their attitude of reflection is so good, we should… forgive and forget, right?”

Liao Lanxin nodded indifferently, then walked back to her seat in the next row.

“You said it yourself, just don’t regret it.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Nothing,” Liao Lanxin calmly sat down, “It’s just that these things were specially sent by Chu Ming, the captain of the school basketball team.”

Qi Wenyue: “???”

Without another word, Qi Wenyue turned and ran out of the classroom.

“…”

Su Miao Miao hadn’t reacted yet, and Qi Wenyue was already gone from the doorway.

She hesitated for a moment, then turned back and curiously asked Liao Lanxin.

“These… were sent by Chu Ming?”

“Yeah,” Liao Lanxin nodded.

“He said it’s a professional medicine for sprains and injuries that the school basketball team always keeps on hand, so they quickly got you a dose… It seems like he even wrote a note with some instructions for you?”

Su Miao Miao turned around to rummage through the medicine bag, and indeed found a plain white piece of paper inside, seemingly torn directly from a notebook. However, the black ink on it was elegantly written.

The content listed detailed precautions for different stages of recovery, meticulously written down one by one.

While Su Miao Miao was reading the instructions on the paper, Liao Lanxin behind her looked at her thoughtfully.

A few seconds later, Liao Lanxin lowered her head.

She flipped through a couple of pages of the book in front of her before casually asking, “Miao Miao, did you know Chu Ming before?… He seemed quite worried about your injury.”

“Um?”

Su Miao Miao, returning from her thoughts on the precautions, thought for a moment before shaking her head, “I don’t know him. Today in P.E. class was the first time we met.”

A hint of doubt flickered in Liao Lanxin’s eyes.

Su Miao Miao furrowed her brows again, somewhat helplessly murmuring, “But, I definitely need to stay far away from the school basketball team in the future.”

“Huh?” Liao Lanxin asked curiously, “Why?”

Su Miao Miao hesitated, “…During your running exercise today, when I was sitting on the steps under the basketball court, I almost got hit by their basketball. The ball even rolled to my feet…”

Su Miao Miao looked disheartened, “I don’t even know if it was the ball that hit me later.”

Liao Lanxin’s eyes flickered.

“These kinds of things happen often, you really need to be careful in the future… But, who went to pick up the ball?”

Su Miao Miao didn’t hesitate, speaking frankly, “It should be Chu Ming. I saw the same phonetic spelling on his basketball jersey.”

“…No wonder.”

Su Miao Miao was puzzled, raising her head, “No wonder what?”

Liao Lanxin smiled, “Nothing.”

She was about to lower her head when she raised it again with the pen held against her chin.

“Oh, by the way, where’s Shang Yan?”

Su Miao Miao’s hesitated, looking at the medicine bag on the table.

“He went to buy new medicine.”

A hint of amusement flashed in Liao Lanxin’s eyes.

After a few seconds of thought, she said lightly, “Then let me give you a friendly piece of advice.”

“?”

“After you finish reading the note Chu Ming wrote for you, it’s best to put it away and not let Shang Yan see it.”

“…?”

Su Miao Miao thought for a moment, then suddenly understood.

“They mentioned it, did Master and the school basketball team have a conflict?”

Liao Lanxin smiled faintly.

“Even if there wasn’t one before, I guess there will be one soon.”

—

Except it won’t be with the basketball team, it will be a personal conflict with Chu Ming, the captain of the basketball team.

Thinking back to the somewhat terrifying reaction Shang Yan had when facing Chu Ming and the others in class earlier, Su Miao Miao nodded with lingering fear.

She turned back and tucked away the paper filled with precautions, casually slipping it into a textbook.

After hesitating for a moment in front of the bag of medicine, despite feeling a bit guilty, Su Miao Miao still handed them to Liao Lanxin.

“Um, could you please help me throw this away?”

Liao Lanxin was a bit surprised.

“What’s wrong?”

“Shang Yan went to buy medicine outside the school, it should be quite troublesome,” Su Miao Miao whispered, “I don’t want him to feel like he wasted his trip.”

Liao Lanxin was stunned for a few seconds before coming to her senses.

She stared at Su Miao Miao.

“?”

Su Miao Miao felt a bit uncomfortable under her gaze.

“No problem, I’ll take care of this for you,” Liao Lanxin sighed and put the medicine bag back into her desk drawer.

Su Miao Miao relaxed and turned away.

The pen on the paper paused for a moment, and Liao Lanxin couldn’t help but mutter to herself.

“No matter who encounters this, it’s like having a peach blossom disaster in one’s fate… Hmm, really unfortunate.”

…

Due to the leg injury, Su Miao Miao had to reduce joint movements, so she had to stop attending the training group’s activities again.

The training group seemed to be preparing for a new competition, keeping everyone busy. Shang Yan had no free time to accompany Su Miao Miao to self-study, and she often couldn’t find him in the classroom for half a day.

However, even with the busyness, he never missed bringing her a glass of milk in the morning and having her lunch delivered to school every day.

In addition to this, over the past two weeks, Su Miao Miao had been continuously receiving another form of “care.”

“Qiqi…”

At Qi Wenyue’s strong insistence, Su Miao Miao had already begun to get used to this somewhat intimate nickname for her.

“…I really can’t accept this anymore.”

Qi Wenyue: “It’s just a hot compress bag. Your leg was injured by them, so it’s only right for them to help you heal. If you don’t accept it, Chu Ming and the others will feel uneasy.”

Su Miao Miao felt helpless.

“But I’m already healed.”

“Well, I told Chu Ming this morning when I received it, so he probably won’t send these to you anymore.”

Qi Wenyue shook the hot compress bag in her hand.

“This is the last one.”

Su Miao Miao could only take it and place it on her desk.

Qi Wenyue stood up.

“Mission accomplished, I’m off to do the midday exercise.”

“Okay.”

The students in the entire corridor had all gone downstairs to run, leaving the classroom quiet with only Su Miao Miao.

Feeling a bit bored, she leaned her head on her hand and gazed at the deep blue sky outside….

Today seems to be the deadline for the training group’s project submission. I wonder if Shang Yan and the others have finished it…

As Su Miao Miao was thinking, she suddenly heard three knocks on the front door of the classroom.

She was startled and turned her head to look.In the quiet corridor, a tall and slender boy stood there, smiling at her.

“Hello, Su Miao Miao.”

Su Miao Miao was stunned for a moment.

“…Chu Ming?”

“Do you know me?”

“That day when I picked up the ball, I saw your name on your jersey…”

Still in a daze, Su Miao Miao instinctively answered the question.

Then she realized, “Why are you…?”

“I came to the administrative office to submit some forms for the team, and I stopped by.”

Chu Ming smiled and gestured to himself.

“Can I come in?”

Su Miao Miao hesitated for a moment before nodding.

Chu Ming walked up to her.

“How did the cold and hot compress bags that Qi junior sister gave you work?”

“I’ve used them, and they did make me feel much better,” Su Miao Miao nodded, “Thank you.”

“I can’t accept your thanks for this,” Chu Ming said with a wry smile, his tone full of apology, “It was the fault of our new team members, causing you such an injury. We feel very sorry about it.”

“No need to worry about it.”

“We agreed before to come and apologize to you together, but today I happened to be passing by Building 3, so I came over to apologize in person.”

Su Miao Miao quickly waved her hand, “No need to be so polite, I’m already fine.”

Chu Ming nodded, “I also heard from Qi junior sister this morning that you’re basically back to normal, so I dared to delay you.”

His gaze fell on the girl’s ankle, and he asked, “Is it completely healed now?”

“Um… It seems to be fine,” Su Miao Miao hesitated.

Under Chu Ming’s serious scrutiny, she felt a bit uneasy and admitted truthfully, “But occasionally it still hurts a bit.”

Chu Ming’s smile faded.

He frowned.

“Let me take a look. For us basketball players, sprains and injuries are pretty normal occurrences, and I’ve become quite experienced in this area over the years.”

“Um…?”

Su Miao Miao was still dazed, but Chu Ming had already squatted down beside her seat and reached out to pull up her jeans.

“Wait—” Su Miao Miao instinctively pulled her leg back.

Before she could say anything, a low and slightly stern male voice suddenly came from the direction of the classroom door—

“What are you doing?”