After saying that, Fang Bai lifted his foot to leave, but the moment he lifted his foot, a pain came from the sole of his foot.
After delivering the bath towel, the waitress, who had been standing to the side with her head down, immediately noticed the pale red stain mixed with water. She also discovered the reason for the red stain and exclaimed, "Miss, your foot is bleeding!"
-
Side hall.
Fang Bai sat on the sofa with a bath towel covering his legs. His injured foot was resting on the knee of his other leg. He looked at the cut below his foot. It wasn't a big wound, and blood was slowly seeping out.
—It hurts so much.
Her attention was focused on Ji Yuning, who had fallen into the water, and she didn't even realize when or where she had made a cut. After thinking for a moment, Fang Bai guessed that it was probably made when Ji Yuning took off her shoes and ran towards the pool.
Taking the cotton swab handed to her by the waiter, Fang Bai dabbed the blood and water around the wound, tore open a band-aid, and gently stuck it on.
Fang Maozhou looked at his daughter's slightly rough handling and asked in confusion, "Is this all you need to do? Should we disinfect it? Apply some medicine? And wrap it with a bandage?"
If Fang Bai hadn't insisted on keeping him from calling a doctor, Fang Maozhou wouldn't have been so worried.
Fang Bai put his foot down, his heel against his slipper, "It's not that serious."
After hesitating for a moment, Fang Maozhou said, "Let Dad carry you upstairs."
Fang Bai paused in her act of drying her hair with a towel. She looked towards the front yard and could vaguely hear people talking inside. "Hasn't the birthday party already started? Go ahead and get busy."
When they returned to the side hall, Chang Suyao had already taken Fang Yimu to blow out the candles, while Chen Xiandong had been left behind by Fang Maozhou to deal with Lu Lili's matter.
Fang Maozhou was very concerned about Fang Bai's injury, and was worried that something serious might happen.
Fang Maozhou: "It's not too late to go after I carry you upstairs."
back.
This word is too intimate; to Fang Bai, Fang Maozhou is a strange adult male.
Fang Bai would not agree to this proposal.
"No need." Fang Bai felt it was inappropriate to refuse, so he paused for two seconds and looked at the person who had been standing silently in place, and said softly, "Xiao Ning is here."
Fang Maozhou looked at the person who was as thin as a stick and equally soaked, and questioned, "Could she carry you?"
The tone was full of disdain, and Fang Bai couldn't refute it.
If Ji Yuning were to carry her on her back... she probably wouldn't be able to take a single step before being pushed to the ground by her.
"...Fang Bai picked up a bath towel, slowly stood up and said, "Walk on tiptoe."
Worried that Fang Maozhou would still insist, Fang Bai mimicked the original owner's tone and said sarcastically, "If you don't go out soon, people who don't know the situation might think that your marriage has broken down."
Fang Maozhou was initially surprised and delighted that his daughter hadn't argued with him today, and wanted to take advantage of her good temper to talk to her a bit more. But now, hearing that familiar tone, Fang Maozhou deflated, and the words he was about to say turned into a sigh, "...Okay, I'll go out, but I'll come upstairs to see you when I'm done with my work."
Fang Bai: "Whatever you say."
After Fang Maozhou left the side hall, Fang Bai turned to the waiter and said, "Could you please go outside and find my driver? Our clothes are in the car."
The waiter said respectfully, "Butler Chen has already made all the arrangements. The clothes you need to change into have been placed in Miss's room."
Wasn't Chen Xiandong handling things in the backyard? When were the arrangements completed?
Fang Bai was only surprised for a moment, then admired Chen Xiandong's abilities.
“Okay,” Fang Bai said to the waiter, “could you help me up?”
The waitress said "okay" and was about to step forward when someone beat her to it.
Ji Yuning raised her arm under Fang Bai's outstretched hand, as if asking Fang Bai to help her up.
Fang Bai raised an eyebrow slightly. Although she was surprised, she would not refuse Ji Yuning's offer to help her.
After Fang Bai supported Ji Yuning's arm, Ji Yuning turned to the waiter and said quickly, as if trying to hide something, "My handbag is still in the backyard, please go and get it for me."
The waiter snapped out of his daze and said, "Yes, Miss Ji, I'll go right now."
The waiter turned and headed to the backyard, while Fang Bai, supported by Ji Yuning, walked towards the elevator.
Fortunately, there is an elevator, so there is no need to walk up the stairs, but Fang Bai still aggravates his wound when walking.
Fang Bai changed his grip from supporting Ji Yuning's arm to grabbing the towel on her arm, and hissed softly, "Hiss~"
The two had already entered the elevator. In the narrow space, Fang Bai's deliberately lowered voice was amplified, and Ji Yuning could hear Fang Bai's breathing clearly.
Ji Yuning looked straight ahead and saw Fang Bai looking down at his feet through the reflection in the elevator.
It's possible that the water wasn't wiped off properly; the edges of the bandage are starting to peel up.
Fang Bai hesitated whether to tear it off, when Ji Yuning's voice rang in his ears, "Does it hurt?"
The two words conveyed no emotion whatsoever, no hint of concern or schadenfreude at her injury.
Fang Bai felt a pang of sadness and said softly, "...It's just a minor injury, it's nothing."
Fang Bai originally wanted to say, "I was injured while saving you," in order to gain favor with Ji Yuning. However, when she looked up and saw Ji Yuning, she suddenly changed her mind.
Trying to play the victim in front of children... forget it.
However, Fang Bai had forgotten that she had told the woman not long ago that 16 years old was not young. But even if Fang Bai remembered, she didn't think there was a problem, after all, she was protective of her own.
Fang Bai's answer was not what Ji Yuning wanted to hear. She thought Fang Bai would say something like, "I got hurt because of you" or "I said I would treat you well."
But Fang Bai's unexpected answer reminded Ji Yuning of the moment she saw that pool of blood, and the sudden feeling of unease she experienced.
With a "ding", the elevator arrived at the floor.
As the elevator doors slowly opened, Ji Yuning half-lifted her eyelids and said in a deep voice, expressing her confusion: "Why did you save me?"
Without a second thought, Fang Bai replied, "Of course I'm worried about you."
A strange light flashed in Ji Yuning's eyes. She was always suspicious of Fang Bai's words, but this time she felt that what Fang Bai said was true.
Although Ji Yuning wanted to deny this belief, the more she tried to deny it, the more she actually believed it.
Fang Bai tiptoed out of the elevator, only to aggravate his wound once more. The pain weighed heavily on his mind, and his pent-up anger finally erupted. "Speaking of which, I'd like to ask you something else: if someone pushed you into the water, didn't you try to dodge? You just stood there dumbfounded. Don't you know you can swim? Don't you know to stay to the side of the pool? Weren't you quite clever when you were dealing with me? You—"
Although his words were full of criticism, they couldn't hide his concern.
Fang Bai choked up halfway through his sentence.
Too much talk leads to mistakes. Given Ji Yuning's vengeful nature, if she continues to speak, she might end up writing it down in her little notebook and holding her accountable one by one in the future.
What Fang Bai didn't know was that what she thought was a roar of anger, to Ji Yuning, was just a sound twice as loud as usual.
When a gentle person gets angry, it's just like a cat waving its claws and meowing a couple of times; it has no deterrent effect whatsoever.
Author's Note:
Xiao Ji: Actually... it's all written in my diary.
Chapter 30
Fang Bai felt pain in her foot again, and her attention was drawn away from Ji Yuning.
Fang Bai silently removed his hand from Ji Yuning's arm, then, holding onto the wall, tried to walk by pushing off with his heels.
Ji Yuning silently watched Fang Bai's retreating figure, his long speech echoing in her mind.
Ji Yuning, of course, knew how to hide.
Ji Yuning's indifference to the usual profanity and insults from Lu Lili and her group didn't mean she was submissive; it simply meant she didn't care. However, when Lu Lili's actions threatened her, Ji Yuning wouldn't yield. She was merely going with the flow, in order to completely eliminate Lu Lili from her side.
In the split second that Ji Yuning turned to avoid Lu Lili, she caught a glimpse of Fang Maozhou out of the corner of her eye.
Therefore, she deliberately let Lu Lili push her into the water.
The outside world knows that she is being fostered under Fang Bai's name, and they also know that Fang Bai only feels disgust towards her. But no matter how much Fang Bai humiliates and bullies her, that is Fang family's own business. Outsiders can say what they want, but if they interfere, they are slapping Fang Maozhou in the face, not to mention pushing her, "Fang family's child," into the water in front of Fang Maozhou.
Ji Yuning was gambling—gambling that Fang Maozhou wouldn't dismiss what he saw as childish play, gambling that Fang Maozhou would think Lu Lili had slapped the Fang family in the face. But even if Ji Yuning lost her gamble, it didn't matter, since from the beginning she hadn't held any hope for the Fang family.
After falling into the water, Ji Yuning heard a few gasps. She knew it wasn't because of her. The fact that she was pushed into the water wouldn't cause any concern among others. They would just treat her like a toy, someone they could throw anywhere at will.
So when that powerful arm, like a vine clinging to her as she fell off a cliff, locked around her waist, Ji Yuning was at a loss.
Ji Yuning wasn't without opportunities to learn to swim. When Lu Xia was alive, various interest class registration forms were placed in front of her, allowing her to choose whichever she liked.
At that time, the piano and swimming registration forms were right next to each other. She didn't even look at the swimming form, but directly took the piano registration form and handed it to Lu Xia.
As a child, Ji Yuning had an inexplicable aversion to large bodies of water that had accumulated together. She always felt that one day she would sink to the bottom, with water rushing towards her from all directions, entering her body through her mouth and nose, and robbing her of her right to live. But sometimes, a voice in Ji Yuning's heart would tell her: jump in, jump in and you will be reborn. It was this constantly emerging thought that made Ji Yuning's aversion to water even stronger.
As Ji Yuning grew older, her resistance faded with time, but things that once existed can never be completely erased; they will always leave traces in her heart or body.
When Ji Yuning lost her footing and thought about the moment she was about to fall into the water, the memories that remained in her mind were awakened.
Although all the plans were made, for someone who has never been in the water, those ideas were nothing but fantasy, a forced comfort for someone who is afraid of water.
Just as she suppressed her fear and prepared to rely on herself, someone suddenly embraced her.
Ji Yuning was at a loss because she didn't expect someone to... save her.
It's like falling off a ship and drifting with the waves for days, only to encounter a fishing boat or a deserted island. Whatever it is, it represents hope.
It wasn't about saving oneself, but about being saved.
But after being rescued, she discovered that the person who brought her hope was the nightmare of the past three years. Ji Yuning couldn't describe the feeling. She felt that she was just one step away from climbing up the cliff using the vines, but when she looked up, she saw that the vines were worn down and that she would fall into the abyss again in the next second.
Seeing the woman injured while saving her, Ji Yuning immediately thought of the vine—
Fang Bai moved slowly a couple of times and felt the effect was okay. After standing still, she wanted to talk to Ji Yuning, only to find that Ji Yuning was not following her, but standing in place with her eyelids drooping, seemingly lost in thought.
Fang Bai's anger subsided considerably when he lost control and started berating Ji Yuning.
Fang Bai is often described as someone who seems to care about everything, yet also seems to care about nothing. He is gentle yet aloof, which is probably why he is not one to get angry easily. Even when he does get angry, he recovers quickly.
Fang Bai didn't know why, but after transmigrating into the book, she was often annoyed by Ji Yuning.
Looking back now, it was probably that kind of frustration of getting no response and nothing coming.
Fang Bai sniffed and said to Ji Yuning, "I don't need you to help me. I'll try to walk while holding onto the wall."
Fang Bai then said, "The clothes I prepared for you should also be in my room. Follow me."
Before Ji Yuning could hear him clearly, Fang Bai, relying on his memory, located the original owner's bedroom and then slowly walked towards the room, supporting himself against the wall.