Zhu Yi's chest heaved violently: "You deliberately lied to me? You schemed against me?!"
"If I remember correctly, you were the one who deliberately lured me here first." Ji Li held onto Ying Yunsheng with both hands, afraid that he would rush forward again, but his eyes were on the person on the ground. "Do I look like someone who is easy to fool? Or do I usually act too soft-hearted, accepting someone's tears without any reservations?"
Zhu Yi's eyes were red-rimmed, and the veins on his arms bulged out one by one.
"I'm telling you to explain things to your teacher yourself because you have excellent grades, consistently ranking in the top 20 of your grade. If you perform exceptionally well in the college entrance exam, you'll be a strong contender for Tsinghua or Peking University. Your teacher is even more worried than you about a blemish on your academic record. If you proactively admit your mistake, the grade level will definitely give you a reprimand, but that'll be the end of it. If I were to talk to them, the teacher would have to give you a real punishment to appease me, at the very least a demerit. With a punishment like that, where do you think you can go in the future?"
Ji Li looked at him: "But now, illegally restricting someone's personal freedom plus intentional injury are crimes that can be brought to court. Let's not talk about the distant past, just look at the recent past. Once this gets to the school, do you think the school leaders can suppress it? Will the teachers not know? Will the classmates not know? Will your father not know?"
Zhu Yi's breath hitched.
"How are you going to maintain your pride?"
Zhu Yi's hand trembled, and the phone instantly fell to the ground.
Ji Li knew he wouldn't do anything rash again, so he glanced at the person next to him.
Ying Yunsheng's head was lowered so his face couldn't be seen. One of his hands was being held by him, while the other hung limply at his side. Drops of blood fell silently down his body.
A note from the author:
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 26
Chapter 26
Candied hawthorn
The doctor squinted at the bloody mess in front of him, holding a squeegee in one hand and a magnifying glass in the other, and asked in bewilderment, "What happened to you? Did you press your hand into the glass floor?"
Ying Yunsheng watched the doctor treat the injury on his hand without saying a word.
Regardless of whether he agreed or not, the doctor continued picking at the shards of glass from his palm while grumbling, "Even if you were just cut with a knife, it wouldn't be this gruesome. Your palm is rotten like the surface of the moon. It hurts my eyes just looking at it. This blood has been dripping all the way from outside the hospital to inside, and no one even thought you just came from a crime scene and called the police to arrest you?"
Ji Li thought to himself that he had just come from a place that almost turned into a crime scene, and asked, "Will it be alright?"
The doctor finally removed the last piece of glass from Ying Yunsheng's palm, disinfected it, and applied medicine: "It will take at least a few months for the scar to heal completely. I think you two are still students, right? Luckily, it's only one hand. If both hands were damaged, you might as well just apply for a leave of absence and stay at home."
The suturing process was quick; the doctor was skilled and handled all the large cuts on the palm of the hand well, then wrapped it with gauze and gave a bunch of instructions.
Ji Li showed no impatience whatsoever, nodding to each of them.
After the doctor finished nagging, he finally waved him away: "Alright, remember to go get another tetanus shot."
Ji Li thanked him and then turned to ask, "Can you walk?"
Ying Yunsheng stood up.
After receiving the injection, Ji Li had to give a statement. The police had already gathered basic information over the phone, and he was released after completing the process. As for Ying Yunsheng, who had been involved in the physical altercation, the police didn't forget to give him a reprimand.
By the time the two of them left the police station, it was already past 10 p.m.
After walking several dozen meters, Ji Li spoke first: "Ying Yunsheng."
The other person didn't speak.
"Ying Yunsheng".
The other person acted as if they were deaf.
Ji Li grabbed him: "What are you angry about?"
Ying Yunsheng said, "I'm not angry."
Not angry?
He hasn't uttered a sound since the police pried open the roller shutter door with tools, and he doesn't seem lifeless at all.
“Now that the police are involved, the school will definitely know, and he will be punished.”
"I know."
“I could tell he didn’t really want to pay me back. I went there to see what he was up to. It wasn’t because I wasn’t vigilant.”
"I know."
"He told you not to hit him before because his target was me. If you really hurt him, you wouldn't even have a legitimate reason for self-defense, and you'd be the one with a criminal record."
"I know."
"You know why you're still angry?"
"I'm not angry."
“Uh…” Ying Yunsheng stopped in his tracks: “I should have followed you earlier.”
Ji Li was taken aback: "It was an accident to begin with. Even if you hadn't broken in, I wouldn't have been in any trouble. As long as he hears my conversation with the police, he wouldn't dare to do anything, even for the sake of his future."
"Can you guarantee you'll come out unharmed?"
"Well……"
“You can’t,” Ying Yunsheng said bluntly. “If I hadn’t gone in, you would have been the one who got cut by the glass.”
Ji Li didn't seem to care: "It'll be alright anyway."
Ying Yunsheng stared at him for a long time, then suddenly lowered his head and began to tear apart the layers of gauze on his left hand.
Ji Li was completely taken aback by his sudden action and quickly reached out to stop him: "What are you doing? Don't take it apart!"
"Why can't it be demolished?"
"Do you still want your hands?"
Ying Yunsheng said expressionlessly, "Anyway, it will be alright."
"Uh..." Ji Li was speechless when someone retorted to his words just half a minute ago.
Ying Yunsheng: "Do you still remember that you are a patient?"
Ji Li paused.
Ying Yunsheng knew he shouldn't have said such things; he had neither the right nor the standing to do so. But he had to say it now: "Didn't you say you were afraid of death? Wouldn't you have run away if something like this happened?"
Ji Li explained, "I only dared to go with him when I was sure that nothing would happen to me."
Ying Yunsheng interrupted directly: "So your bottom line is simply not dying?"
Ji Li subconsciously took a step back.
Ying Yunsheng stepped forward and said, "You know he dislikes you, so why did you go alone? You know there are better solutions, so why did you choose the most dangerous one? You knew beforehand that doing this might cost you your life, but you didn't consider whether you might get hurt. As long as you're still breathing, do you not care whether you're sitting in school or lying in a hospital bed?"
Ji Li's back pressed against the metal roadblock, leaving him with nowhere to retreat.
Ying Yunsheng adopted a completely aggressive stance: "You know your physical condition perfectly well, yet you still dare to use yourself as bait and risk your life? Is this how you squander the life your parents gave you?"
Ji Li finally spoke: "But that's what they expect of me."
Ying Yunsheng's words were abruptly cut off, and he froze on the spot.
“As long as a person is alive, it doesn’t matter whether they are sitting in a school or lying in a hospital bed,” Ji Li said softly. “So I have always been holding myself to the same standards as their wishes.”
Because of congenital heart disease, Ji Li was not in good health from a young age. When he was born, he lived in a sanatorium and was accompanied only by doctors, nurses and hired caregivers every day.
When he was two years old, the ward welcomed adults other than medical staff for the first time.
That was the earliest image he could recall.
Her trench coat reached her knees, and her features were stunning.
The doctor gently introduced her to him: "This is your mother."
He could already speak by then, and instinctively sat up straight, looking up and calling out, "Mom."
The woman lowered her head.
It's hard to say whether it's an innate intuition or because children haven't been exposed to the adult world and therefore see things more directly, but he always felt that the other person was looking at him more like a window, a painting, or a mirror, as if they were looking at something else through him.
Anyway, it's not about seeing him.
She ignored his form of address and asked the doctor, "When can I be discharged?"
The doctor said, "The condition has stabilized now. As long as you are careful not to have an attack, there should be no further danger."
What if the disease develops?
"In general, as long as you take your medicine on time, you should go to the hospital immediately if the condition is serious."
"What if they hadn't been taken to the hospital in time?"
"That process might be painful, so try to be careful in your daily life..."
"What if we don't pay attention to it normally? Will we only suffer? Will we die?"
"Well……"
"If it really comes to a last resort, is there any way to save your life?"
"Uh..." The woman looked at the doctor: "If that doesn't work, I can apply to extend my hospital stay so you can take care of me. Wouldn't that increase my chances of living longer?"
The doctor was stunned for a long time: "The child is still very young. If possible, my suggestion is to have him/her cared for by an elder as much as possible..."
The woman interrupted her directly: "I'm sorry, but I probably don't have that much time."
"Well……"
"Please process the relevant procedures for me directly. Select the longest hospitalization period. I can pay now, as I have other things to do later and cannot stay here for too long."
“Uh…” Ying Yunsheng stared at him without moving.
Ji Li asked, "Are you calm now?"
Ying Yunsheng remained silent.
"The anesthetic is wearing off soon." Ji Li pulled his uninjured hand and led him towards the intersection. "Does your hand hurt?"
After a long silence, a very soft apology suddenly rang out: "I'm sorry."
He paused for a moment, then chuckled and said, "What are you apologizing for? I haven't even thanked you for being willing to protect me."
Regardless of the hostility he exuded in the garage earlier, or the relentless questioning he just gave, what lay beneath was nothing more than the other person's fervent and straightforward concern.
Once Ji Li understood this, she knew that she was destined not to be angry with him.