WSL Chapter 8

“…”

What was she saying?

How embarrassing.

Gu Jia Nian stood on one foot, adjusting her balance like a clumsy clown.

Then she watched as Chi Yan stood up and walked towards her.

She wanted to explain a bit more about dirtying the carpet, saying she could take it home to clean.

But she saw him come up to her, a fleeting look of surprise flashing across his face, which was originally filled with irritation and an aura of keeping distance from others.

Chi Yan steadied her swaying shoulders with his hand and gently helped her sit back on the sofa.

Ignoring completely that the blood had thoroughly stained the carpet.

Gu Jia Nian sat dumbfounded, lifting her foot with her toes curled, watching him squat down and examine her foot.

Feeling uncomfortable, Gu Jia Nian tried to retract her foot, but he clicked his tongue disapprovingly, lifting her ankle firmly, “Don’t move, the more you move, the deeper it clamps.”

The skin on her ankle felt the chill of his fingertips sensitively, causing Gu Jia Nian to involuntarily shrink back, but he held her even tighter.

“I said don’t move.”

“Oh.”

Gu Jia Nian’s face inexplicably began to flush, trying her best to suppress the urge to curl her toes.

Chi Yan frowned for a moment, then dragged over a small table beside him to support her foot: “It’s clamped deep, forcibly removing it will tug at the wound. Keep this position and don’t move, wait for me.”

“Okay.”

Gu Jia Nian wiped away her tears, enduring the pain and fear, sitting stiffly with her foot elevated and staring at the crab eye to eye.

Fortunately, the force of the crab’s claws seemed to have closed the wound, and the blood no longer flowed outward, making it not as messy as before.

Chi Yan soon returned with a basin of water and a first aid kit, squatting down and placing her foot in the water, then taking out a pair of tweezers from the kit, gently tapping on the crab shell.

“Hold on.”

Gu Jia Nian heard a rare comforting tone in his voice, which made her heart inexplicably ache. She sniffed and nodded, “Okay.”

Sensing the presence of water around, the crab gradually relaxed its guard, and the stubborn claws slowly released their grip.

Gu Jia Nian held her breath, waiting for the right moment to quickly retract her foot as the crab crawled into the water.

“Hiss…”

With the absence of the crab’s clamp, blood spurted from the wound, and the pain hit her directly. Gu Jia Nian couldn’t help but gasp for air.

Quickly, Chi Yan pressed a piece of gauze onto her foot.

Then he humorously asked her, “What happened? Where did the crab come from?”

“Ten fingers connected to the heart” probably applies to toes too.

Despite the piercing pain, Gu Jia Nian answered his question distractedly, “I caught it myself in the river.”

“So what? Did you bring them to accompany you while reading?”

He still had the mood to tease?

“No,” Gu Jia Nian pouted, “I originally wanted to bring them to cook for you for dinner. But I saw you were in a bad mood, so I didn’t say anything and just put them beside the sofa. Who knew it would crawl out on its own and target my toes…”

“Is that my fault then?”

Gu Jia Nian didn’t respond.

After a few jokes, they actually managed to get through the worst of the pain. The wound began to gradually numb, or perhaps her brain had adapted.

The bleeding also stopped.

Chi Yan then removed the gauze and took out iodine, cotton swabs, and more gauze from the first aid kit.

“The wound is deep, let’s treat it first, then we’ll go to the hospital later. Can you handle the wound yourself?”

Gu Jia Nian actually had never treated a wound before.

But she still nodded and took the cotton swab dipped in iodine from him, trembling as she wiped the wound. As soon as the cotton swab touched the wound, the pain surged back, and her hand involuntarily recoiled.

Gu Jia Nian gritted her teeth and tried again a few times, but couldn’t get it right. With repeated rubbing, the blood that had just stopped began to flow again.

She looked up, embarrassed, at Chi Yan.

But she was too embarrassed to ask for his help again.

Chi Yan didn’t say anything, just took a new cotton swab, poured more iodine, squatted down, and began to help her treat the wound.

His movements were swift and decisive, without any hesitation.

The cotton swab seemed to become the roughest thing in the world, and every fibre’s contact with the wound was infinitely magnified in her mind.

Raising his head, Chi Yan looked at the cold sweat on her forehead and her lips, which were bitten white, and slightly slowed down his movements, kindly saying, “If it hurts, just shout out, it’s okay to cry too.”

Gou Jianian struggled to relax her tensed features. “…It’s just okay, not particularly painful, and I don’t want to cry.”

But her hand was squeezed into the armrest of the sofa.

“You’re young and still care about saving face,” Chi Yan chuckled, glancing at her while lightening his touch.

After thoroughly cleaning around the wound, the painful process of disinfection finally passed, and Gu Jianian breathed a sigh of relief.

But after the pain subsided, another feeling that she hadn’t had the energy to deal with surged into her brain.

Gu Jianian involuntarily lowered her head.

There were only tens of centimeters between them.

With his head down, Chi Yan was carefully wrapping the gauze around her foot, occasionally the cold fingertips would touch her skin.

It tickled a bit.

Gu Jianian’s heart suddenly began to beat wildly, as if it wanted to burst out of her chest.

Some kind of ambiguous emotion that had been vague before now surged in this unusual touch.

Her gaze uncontrollably fell on his face, holding her breath as she observed his expression.

He furrowed his brows, his gaze focused, just very earnestly wrapping her wound.

The distinct features of his eyebrows, eyes, nose bridge, and sharp jawline.

Gu Jianian’s gaze hurriedly moved down, landing on the prominent collarbones under his fair neck.

The shape was like a pair of pristine wings.

Gu Jianian’s gaze paused there for a few seconds, and she suddenly felt an indescribable strange sensation in her heart.

She abruptly moved her eyes away, raised her hand, and discreetly bit the joint of her curled index finger.

The air became so still it was almost unbearable.

After wrapping the final layer of gauze around her foot, Chi Yan observed whether the gauze was secure. Suddenly, the sound of unlocking came from the door.

Someone pushed the door open.

A young man in a black T-shirt, casually kicked off his shoes at the door, and walked in barefoot, muttering, “Not replying to WeChat, phone turned off, haven’t you died in the wilderness? If you’re not dead, at least respond, so I don’t have to go through the trouble of collecting you…”

“…Holy cow?”

The man’s gaze crossed over the tall brass mirror at the entrance and landed in the living room.

Then his gaze stiffened as it moved back and forth between the two figures sitting in the corner of the living room—one high and one low, and finally settled on Chi Yan.

—He was kneeling on the ground, his head down, one hand still holding the girl’s foot.

From his angle, he could only see her pant legs overlapping with his sleeves.

The warm yellow light from the reading lamp illuminated them, giving off a sense of devout harmony.

“Chi Yan, is she… your girlfriend?”

The man looked at Gu Jianian incredulously, scrutinizing her from head to toe for a long time, stuttering, “She’s… she’s so cute? You never go out, where did you find a girlfriend? Don’t tell me…”

His pupils shook, and he blurted out, “You bought her online, right? Was it free shipping?”

Gu Jianian froze on the spot.

Surprisingly, she didn’t immediately retort.

But Chi Yan let go of her foot, stood up, and kicked him, “Are you a beast? Can’t you see she’s injured?”

Only then did the man notice Gu Jianian’s foot wrapped up like a rice dumpling and the bloody gauze on the ground.

Seeing this dire situation, he finally became more serious and asked her, “Little sister, what happened? Is it serious?”

Looking at the culprit lying quietly like a chicken in the basin, Gu Jianian bit her lip and felt too embarrassed to say.

If it were just a bump or scrape, that would be one thing, but being pinched by a crab… that sounded too humiliating, right?

However, seeing her embarrassed expression, the man’s face suddenly froze, then his mouth trembled as he leaned toward Chi Yan, whispering something.

Gu Jianian didn’t hear what he said, she just saw Chi Yan’s face darken instantly as he pushed him away, scoffing, “What’s going on in your head all the time? She’s a kid from the next door, not even of legal age yet.”

Then he asked him, “Did you come here by car?”

The man nodded, “Why?”

“That’s good, then you can take her to the hospital in town later.”

Chi Yan turned his head again and said to Gu Jianian, “I’ll call your grandmother.”

As he spoke, he walked to the desk and picked up his phone.

Gu Jianian instinctively perked up her ears, listening to his faint conversation with her grandmother, trying to discern his tone when mentioning her.

Suddenly, a hand reached out in front of her.

Gu Jianian looked up, and the handsome guy in the black T-shirt smiled kindly, his white teeth dazzling, “Sorry about earlier. I’m He Ji Tong, Chi Yan’s cousin. Just call me Brother Ji Tong.”

Chi Yan’s cousin?

Gu Jianian glanced at him with surprise, carefully scrutinizing him, then nodded inwardly.

Although their styles were completely different, there was a resemblance in their features, evidently superior family genetics.

After hesitating for a moment, she reached out her hand and shook it gently, “Gu Jianian.”

“Jianian? That’s a nice name.”

He Ji Tong sat down on the carpet, propping his chin on his arm, curiously examining her.

Gu Jianian was particularly uncomfortable with being scrutinized by others, feeling very awkward, so she lowered her head, spread out her books, and buried her eyes in the pages, trying to avoid eye contact with him as much as possible.

He Ji Tong finally spoke, “Jianian, are you still in high school? Not of legal age yet?”

Gu Jianian sneakily glanced behind the desk.

Chi Yan had finished his call and was turning around to walk towards them.

Without changing her expression, she raised her voice slightly, “I’ll be of legal age next month.”

Skipping the first question altogether.

He Ji Tong was about to ask again when Chi Yan pulled him up from the carpet.

“Don’t bother her. You go turn the car around first.”

“Who’s bothering her? I’m just worried she’s shy. Since I’ll be taking her to the hospital alone later, shouldn’t I get to know her a bit now?”

He Ji Tong grumbled irritably, “And besides, you have to tell me where the town hospital is, right?”

Chi Yan remained silent for a while.

He Ji Tong shrugged, took out his phone, and decided to look it up himself.

But Chi Yan suddenly changed his mind, “I’ll change clothes and go with you guys.”

As soon as he finished speaking, He Ji Tong stared at him dumbfoundedly, then stammered, “You’re going out? Today?”

Chi Yan couldn’t be bothered to respond, so he went upstairs on his own.

He Ji Tong stared at his back with a strange expression, then shrugged at Gu Jianian, “Since moving to this godforsaken place last year, he hasn’t been out for almost a year, even if the sky were falling, he wouldn’t care. Sometimes I even wonder if he’s been bitten by a vampire and turned into one in some deep forest.”

Gu Jianian couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

Then she heard him mutter, “…I didn’t expect him to say he’s going out, and on today of all days.”

Gu Jianian caught onto two words keenly.

“Today… is there something special?”

He Ji Tong paused for a long while before slowly saying, “Today is his grandfather’s death anniversary. Chi Yan’s grandfather passed away a year ago.”