Chapter 23

In the infirmary.

The school doctor spotted a boy carrying a girl in. He quickly instructed the boy to put her on the cot. After looking at the girl clearly, he realized that she looked a little familiar.

“What’s wrong?”

Before Tao Yi Xi could answer, Gu Jing Yuan said, “She fainted during physical education class.”

“What strenuous exercise did you have to do?” 

Gu Jing Yuan solemnly replied, “Frog jumps.” 

The school doctor, “…”

Tao Yi Xi was embarrassed and whispered, “Doctor, my… erm is coming soon.” 

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His timbre was very low, “You should stop moving.”

His hand rested unnaturally on the back of her neck, before bringing the rim of the cup towards her lips. She stared blankly at him. Although he looked very grim, his ears were turning red.

Seeing that she made no move to drink, his tone became colder, “Are you going to drink or not?”

Tao Yi Xi’s lips parted slightly and he attentively fed the liquid into her mouth bit by bit. The slight overflow of water-dampened the corners of her lips; like a dew-stained flower, moist and delicate, making people want to pluck it.

Gu Jing Yuan stared for a couple of seconds before looking away again.

The school doctor eyed both of them, ‘young lovers sure are cute.’

As he was not bound by the stringent educator’s guidelines, his thinking was different from the rest of the teaching faculty. With regards to young love, his views were quite open.

Seeing how serious the boy was, he meticulously added, “Girls usually experience discomfort during their menstrual periods. On top of that, her health is relatively poor, hence, she experiences stronger symptoms. You should take more care of her in the following days to come.”

Gu Jing Yuan finally knew what was up with her since this morning. His ears turned bright red, as he solemnly nodded, “I understand.”

Tao Yi Xi, who was rarely embarrassed, “Doctor, I can take care of myself.”

“You can what? The last time you came to me heavily injured, scaring others half to death. Yet, you still put on a brave front despite the pain.” 

Gu Jing Yuan was stunned. Remembering her pitiful act after falling to the ground was particularly clear in his mind. It turned out that she was really injured.

The school doctor continued to add, “Also, stop staying up so late at night. Look at your dark eye circles, it looks like you applied smoky eye makeup.”

Seeing such a dainty child suffering he could not help but to nag a couple more words.

“Yes, yes.”

Gu Jing Yuan, who was listening silently at the side, did not buy her obedient act at all.

After resting a bit more in the infirmary, Tao Yi Xi thought of her remaining classes and wanted to leave. 

“Doctor, I’m feeling better now. Thank you.”

“It’s nothing. Remember to take better care of yourself.”

“Yes.”

Gu Jing Yuan noticed that her gait was still a little unstable.

“Tch.”

Lifting her up from behind, Tao Yi Xi looked at him in astonishment.

“What are you doing?”

“Helping you.”

Though she did not struggle in his arms, she felt troubled, “But what if someone sees us?” 

Initially, he thought she would refuse him. The corner of his mouth curved slightly, “Don’t worry, more people have already seen us on our way to the infirmary.”

Tao Yi Xi pursed her lips. If it was not for their ‘sibling ties’, she was afraid they would have already made headlines on the forum again.

Unlike his anxious stride just now, he was currently walking leisurely. Separated by just a thin layer of clothing, he could feel her soft skin underneath, tender enough to tempt people to touch.

The only thing was that she was too thin. Her frame was so small that her skeletons seemed to be protruding out.

Fortunately, it was currently lesson time, so the corridor was void of students. But when he was about to reach their classroom, she tugged at his sleeves, “You should put me down now.”

Gu Jing Yuan did not embarrass her further as he gently placed her down. After he was sure that she was stable on her feet then did he release her. Before lazily following her into the classroom. 

As the teacher’s beloved student, Tao Yi Xi was smoothly sent back to her seat. As for this iron, who could not become steel¹Hating iron for not becoming steel means feeling resentful towards somebody for failing to meet expectations. Teacher was referring to Gu Jing Yuan as the iron., Gu Jing Yuan, was punished to stand for the remainder of the lesson.

She secretly handed him a handwritten summary of comprehension pointers with a post-it note pasted on top. 

[These are all the pointers that need to be memorized. I’ve heard that standing while memorizing increases efficacy.]

Gu Jing Yuan’s mouth twitched, ‘little white-eyed wolf²An ingrate..’

After tearing off the post-it note, he spotted another sentence at the back.

[Thank you.] 

In a better mood, he slid the note into the pages of his book before lowering his head and silently began to go through the pointers she wrote down.

After the bell rang, signaling the end of class and everyone sent the teacher off, Zhou Zhi hurried to Tao Yi Xi’s side.

“Yi Xi, how are you feeling now? What happened just now?”

“I passed out due to low blood sugar.”

“You scared me to death! If only I knew this would happen, I would’ve asked the teacher for leave on your behalf earlier.” Zhuo Zhi did not expect the situation to become so serious. 

In turn, Tao Yi Xi was comforting Zhou Zhi when Gu Jing Yuan turned towards her and stretched out his hand, “Water bottle, and brown sugar.”

“Later, I’ll brew it myself.” 

Unlike just now, everyone’s glaze rested on them. She did not want rumors to start spreading.

“Tch.” To and from the infirmary, he was the one carrying her. He was not oblivious to how frail she was.

Too lazy to continue arguing with her, he relied on his height and long arms and easily grabbed her thermos cup and a piece of brown sugar from under her desk with ease. Then, he walked out of the classroom gracefully.

Zhou Zhi was stunned while watching his series of actions, “I didn’t expect your brother to be so nice.”

“I didn’t expect it either.” She stared at his disappearing back thoughtfully.

He was quick and soon the thermos cup was returned to her hands. In his other hand, he held a bottle of mineral water.

“It’s ready to be drunk.”

She held the bottle and lightly blew before attempting to take a sip. There was no hot steam whiffing from the mouth of the bottle. Sure enough, when the tea entered her mouth, it just felt slightly warm.

“Um…”

“What’s wrong?”

“It wasn’t soaked enough.” Tao Yi Xi unknowingly bit into a small piece of ginger covered in undissolved brown sugar. The pungency of the ginger was still very strong.

The temperature of the water was not hot enough. Hence, this time the tea was not brewed evenly.

He frowned, “I’ll make a new cup for you.”

“No need, I just need to shake it.” She closed the lid and shook it gently while he watched on carefully at the side.

These few days, he did not allow her to refill her own bottle of water. He always did it wordlessly. On top of that, he was unbelievably obedient. Whenever she passed him a handwritten test, he would proactively start attempting them. 

“We have a printer at home.”

“I know, but writing it down is also quite fast. You should quickly do the questions.”

After handing him the worksheets, she went about doing her own things. He also focused and did his papers.

Recently, the modules started to become more difficult. He spent more time analyzing the question before he cracked his neck and penned his answer down.

“Hey-”

Upon turning his head, it seemed that at some point, she had laid on the desk and fallen asleep. The warm light next to the desk illuminated her face. She was probably really tired as her breathing was quite deep.

He lowered his head slightly and the two became a little closer.

She had been very tired these days.

Even if she was feeling well, on top of her own studies, she had to be responsible for his studies as well. How could she not be tired?

She could have used her looks to enjoy riches just like her mother, but she did not use this shortcut given to her in life.

Idiot.

While he was lost in thought, his eyes became attracted to the mole under her left eye. Every time she smiled, the tiny mole would always catch his attention. Slowly looking upwards, her thick eyelashes looked like two small fans, which made people want to touch and verify if they were as soft as imagined.

Unable to hold himself back, his fingertips gently brushed against them. It caused a slight itch, and it was as wispy as he had expected. 

He wanted to touch it again.

But seeing her eyes lids trembling, he immediately picked up the pen and sat down with his back straight. He stared intently at the book in front of him, not daring to move a single muscle.