Chapter 29: Taking Leave
After Long Qinxin left, Lu Zhiyin was alone in the infirmary again.
She touched her abdomen. She felt much more comfortable after eating some food. However, the pain in her body had not disappeared.
“…”
Long Qinxin’s apology and her offering food to her flashed through her mind.
Was she and herself the same kind of person? Also not used to communicating with others? Lu Zhiyin felt that Long Qinxin had some similarities with her.
What happened just now gave Lu Zhiyin a good impression of Long Qinxin.
Compared to Leng Qingqiu and Qin An, Long Qinxin was indeed much more normal…
She touched her jaw, Lu Zhiyin looked at the ceiling, she didn’t know what she should do now, she felt a bit lost.
Should she continue to try to win over Leng Qingqiu? Leng Qingqiu’s favorability towards her wasn’t low, but in her eyes, she still seemed like a stranger.
Or, was that not favorability at all?
She touched her forehead again. It was burning hot.
“…”
Pressing her lips together, Lu Zhiyin said nothing. She sat on the hospital bed, closed her eyes, and waited for Leng Qingqiu to find her.
…
While Lu Zhiyin was in the infirmary, Leng Qingqiu was sitting in her seat in the classroom.
She held a pen in her hand, spinning it smoothly at her fingertips, Leng Qingqiu looked at the corridor outside the classroom.
On the podium, the teaching teacher was rambling about content that was clearly written in the textbook, completely ignoring the empty seat next to Leng Qingqiu.
Her childhood friend was not well-regarded by the teachers, Leng Qingqiu knew this clearly.
Lu Zhiyin’s grades were not good. Due to her leg problems, she couldn’t contribute much in other areas, so it was normal for her not to be liked.
Leng Qingqiu recalled what she had seen Lu Zhiyin look like earlier.
The white-haired girl was slumped messily in the stairwell, dark red blood flowing from the back of her head.
Her wheelchair was at the classroom door, far from where she had fainted.
This time, Qin An seemed to have bullied Lu Zhiyin particularly badly.
Leng Qingqiu remembered that Lu Zhiyin had not been so seriously injured before.
Lost in thought, Leng Qingqiu began to doubt her previous inaction in not extending a hand to the girl.
Why choose to watch? This question didn’t have just one answer.
Didn’t want to offend Qin An and make things difficult for herself? That was one reason, but what else?
It was probably dissatisfaction with the ambiguous behavior between Lu Zhiyin and Long Qinxin.
Leng Qingqiu had secretly witnessed Long Qinxin applying a band-aid to Lu Zhiyin.
She didn’t want her childhood friend to get too close to others.
“…It’s just because I don’t want her to tell others about my crime.”
Talking to herself, Leng Qingqiu tightened her grip on the pen.
After she finished speaking, the teacher on the podium glanced at her but said nothing.
People were divided into different classes wherever they were, and it was the same in school, Leng Qingqiu thought. If Lu Zhiyin had been distracted now, she might have been driven out of the classroom.
Squinting her eyes, Leng Qingqiu still hadn’t figured out how to face Lu Zhiyin next.
Time passed by the minute, and before she knew it, the school’s afternoon classes were over, and it was time to get off school.
Students in the classroom began to walk out one by one, and Leng Qingqiu also stood up.
She picked up Lu Zhiyin’s schoolbag, hesitated for a moment, and then put it back into the desk compartment.
Putting on her own bag, Leng Qingqiu left the classroom, walked downstairs slowly, and then came to the door of the school’s infirmary.
Outside the door, Lu Zhiyin’s wheelchair was parked quietly at the entrance, intact.
Pushing open the slightly ajar iron door, Leng Qingqiu entered the infirmary.
She pulled aside the curtain, and the frail, white-haired girl appeared before her eyes.
On the hospital bed, Lu Zhiyin, with a flushed face, turned her head and looked at Leng Qingqiu at the door, a little dazed.
“…”
Pressing her lips together, Lu Zhiyin remembered what Long Qinxin had said, and she knew Leng Qingqiu would come to find her.
It was just that Lu Zhiyin didn’t expect Leng Qingqiu to come so late. She had already heard the bell for class ending.
Looking at Leng Qingqiu, the expression in Lu Zhiyin’s eyes kept changing. She didn’t know how to talk to Leng Qingqiu.
Complain, or something else?
“…I’m sorry for the trouble.”
After thinking for a long time, Lu Zhiyin felt that she had no right to complain about Leng Qingqiu. Seeking advantage and avoiding harm was human instinct. She shouldn’t take it for granted that Leng Qingqiu should save her.
On the contrary, Leng Qingqiu had put in a lot of effort to bring her to the infirmary, so she should apologize to Leng Qingqiu instead.
Well… although she wasn’t in a good mood when she apologized.
“Mm.”
Leng Qingqiu responded with a soft “Mm,” and her understated reply made Lu Zhiyin feel even more awkward.
She was really not polite at all. Lu Zhiyin had thought Leng Qingqiu would say something polite like “it’s okay.”
But she couldn’t blame Leng Qingqiu either.
With her head bowed, Lu Zhiyin clutched the sheet beneath her and remained still.
“…”
Looking at her timid childhood friend in her field of vision, Leng Qingqiu smiled silently, walked to the bedside, and reached out to touch Lu Zhiyin’s forehead.
It was burning hot.
After a moment of thought, Leng Qingqiu took Lu Zhiyin’s hand.
If she didn’t want Lu Zhiyin to get closer to others, she would bind herself more tightly to her, making her unable to leave her.
With that thought, Leng Qingqiu spoke.
“Zhiyin, rest at home for the next few days, I’ll take leave for you for a few days, and then return to school next Monday?”
As Leng Qingqiu finished speaking, Lu Zhiyin was stunned again.
She blankly looked up.
“Ah…? Oh, okay… I… I understand.”
Lu Zhiyin was first a little confused, but when she came to her senses, she readily agreed to Leng Qingqiu’s suggestion.
She indeed needed some time to sort out her thoughts and her energy. Resting at home for a few days was really great.
Moreover, she wouldn’t have to worry about encountering Qin An at home for a few days and wouldn’t be abused for no reason.
As for the drawbacks, there should be some, she wouldn’t be able to see Long Qinxin and couldn’t advance the progress of winning over Long Qinxin.
But that didn’t matter, as Lu Zhiyin didn’t plan to win over Long Qinxin first anyway.
Thinking about many things in a short period, her muddled brain was almost overloaded, so Lu Zhiyin didn’t realize when Leng Qingqiu picked her up.
“Ah… it hurts…”
Leng Qingqiu’s arms cradled Lu Zhiyin’s thighs and back, accidentally touching the wounds sustained from rolling down the stairs, causing Lu Zhiyin to cry out in pain.
Leng Qingqiu ignored Lu Zhiyin’s cries of pain, she placed Lu Zhiyin on the wheelchair and then pushed her towards the school gate.
“Let’s go home.”
Behind Lu Zhiyin, Leng Qingqiu held the increasingly familiar wheelchair handles and unconsciously slowed down her pace, so that the wheelchair wouldn’t be too bumpy.
