At the sports field, chaos erupted as students and teachers rushed over due to the sudden incident. Several volunteers helped another girl stand up and headed towards the infirmary. Li Shuang Jiang and Zhao Ming Qi ran over quickly, while Wang Zhe Zi jogged towards them.
Tao Zhi kept her eyes tightly shut, her heart filled with despair.
It didn’t matter anymore since Jiang Qi Huai had already seen everything.
She no longer cared who else saw her after this.
In that moment, the sixteen-year-old girl quickly searched through her brief yet long sixteen years of life and realized there had never been a moment of greater social death than this.
Nothing could be more devastating than having your crush see your ugly thermal underwear.
Nothing at all.
The young girl simply lay down on the track with her eyes closed, looking peaceful.
Li Shuang Jiang panicked: “The boss is lying down! She collapsed! Where’s Fan ge! Ji Fan!!!”
“He’s at the registration on the other side,” said Zhao Ming Qi. “Let’s take her to the infirmary first. If she didn’t hit her head and only has external injuries, it should be fine.”
“But she collapsed!!” Li Shuang Jiang squawked in panic, almost breaking his voice. “Quick, quick, let’s take her there now.”
Jiang Qi Huai glanced at the girl’s thoroughly reddened ears and quietly pulled down her uniform pants leg. He slipped one hand under her knees and moved the other up, about to lift her in his arms when Jiang He Sheng reached out, gently touching his arm, and said softly: “Let me.”
Jiang Qi Huai paused and looked up.
Jiang He Sheng frowned worriedly at Tao Zhi before looking up: “You probably don’t know where the infirmary is.”
Jiang Qi Huai shifted his gaze away and stood up with her in his arms, walking forward: “I know. Go mind your own business.”
The boy’s voice carried an undisguised cold impatience. Jiang He Sheng was taken aback, his hand dropping as he watched their retreating figures and raised an eyebrow.
Tao Zhi kept her eyes closed as the boy carried her in his arms.
Near noon, the sunlight cast a gentle warmth on her eyelids, creating a dark red in her vision. Tao Zhi’s eyelashes fluttered as she listened to the voices around her growing more distant, the surroundings gradually quieting down.
Her head rested against his chest, the boy’s warm body temperature pressing against her ear. His heartbeat transmitted through his clothes and muscles. His steps were steady, footfalls light. Tao Zhi began to wonder if she had eaten too much lately and gained weight.
Just as she was regretting whether she should have eaten less braised pork last night, Jiang Qi Huai said quietly: “There’s no one around anymore. You can open your eyes.”
Tao Zhi remained motionless, hanging limply in his arms, playing dead.
Jiang Qi Huai suddenly loosened his arms, pretending he was about to drop her.
Tao Zhi felt herself falling and instinctively opened her eyes wide, quickly raising one arm to tightly hook around his neck, afraid of falling.
Her body slid down slightly before he caught her securely in his arms again.
Tao Zhi looked up and glared at him angrily: “How can you tease an injured person like that!”
Jiang Qi Huai glanced down at her, noting she seemed quite energetic, so she probably hadn’t hit her head: “Why are you still playing dead?”
“I wasn’t playing dead,” Tao Zhi stubbornly insisted, “I just fainted earlier, I don’t remember anything.”
She pulled her hand back, accidentally brushing his uniform collar, and hissed in pain.
The girl’s eyelashes still carried traces of moisture as she pitifully held her palm in front of her face, carefully blowing on it.
Although this princess could be quite temperamental at times, she wasn’t the type to be dramatic. Previously when her arm was scratched in a fight, she hadn’t even flinched.
It seemed she must have fallen quite hard this time.
Jiang Qi Huai pressed his lips together, no longer in the mood to speak.
The infirmary wasn’t far from the sports field. Jiang Qi Huai seemed very familiar with the school and took a shortcut.
Inside, the girl who had crossed the track earlier sat on a bed. She appeared to be from the school’s cheerleading team, wearing their uniform short skirt. Her long socks were torn and her knee was badly scraped. The school nurse was treating her while nagging: “Crossing the track during a race, you kids are really getting bold these days. You’re lucky you just got scraped. What if you had hit your head? Now you’re crying? Now you know it hurts? What were you thinking at the time?”
The young girl was crying with red eyes, apologizing quietly.
Jiang Qi Huai set her down on another bed: “Does your bottom still hurt?”
The pain in her tailbone had subsided somewhat, but being asked like this felt rather embarrassing.
Tao Zhi shook her head, glancing at the girl next to them whose legs looked long and beautiful in white knee-high socks.
She thought of her own ugly thermal underwear.
The comparison made it even worse.
She sat on the bed, swinging her feet: “Her legs look really nice.”
Jiang Qi Huai followed her gaze to look at the girl, his brows furrowing with obvious irritation.
He didn’t say anything, just silently looked over, making Tao Zhi even more dejected.
All boys are visual creatures. Who would prefer ugly thermal underwear to pretty knee-high socks?
She suddenly said in a very small, depressed voice: “My legs are pretty too.”
Jiang Qi Huai turned to look at her.
The young girl hung her head dejectedly, like a wilted little animal.
He raised his arm and grabbed the white curtain hanging by the bed, pulling it shut with a whoosh to block the view between their side and the other. He crouched by the bed, grabbed her ankle, and took off her athletic shoe.
“What does she have to compare with you?” His voice was soft.
Tao Zhi stared down blankly.
The boy lowered his eyes, placed her athletic shoe on the ground, then lifted her pant leg.
Tao Zhi braced herself on the bed surface and pulled her leg up further, somewhat resistant.
Jiang Qi Huai said quietly: “Don’t move.”
She stopped moving.
The pink thermal underwear showed again, and Tao Zhi found it unbearable to look at, so she simply turned away.
Jiang Qi Huai very gently rolled up her thermal underwear, revealing a slender ankle that was reddened. He looked up at her expression of resigned despair, not understanding what strange things this girl had in her head: “What’s so bad about looking at this?”
Tao Zhi turned her head away, pouting: “It’s just ugly.”
“Where’s it ugly?”
“Everywhere.”
The green rabbit stared with round eyes, its paws on its hips, standing triumphantly on a flower. The more he looked at it, the more it resembled a certain someone. Jiang Qi Huai’s lips curved: “Then give it a name.”
Tao Zhi awkwardly turned her head: “Who?”
“The rabbit,” Jiang Qi Huai said, “Let’s call it Ugly.”
Tao Zhi: “…”
Tao Zhi’s ankle was slightly sprained, nothing serious that wouldn’t heal in a few days, but the scrapes on her hands were deeper.
The school nurse checked quickly, cleaned and disinfected the wounds before bandaging them. Both her hands were wrapped in gauze, looking like two white steamed buns.
Once the pain subsided, the girl became lively again.
Jiang Qi Huai told Wang Zhe Zi that Tao Zhi would forfeit her afternoon competitions. Although she had qualified for the finals in the 400 meters with first place in her group, she wouldn’t be able to participate.
As the sports meet continued, she lay on the infirmary bed, feet propped up, feeling somewhat bored: “Your Highness.”
Jiang Qi Huai looked up.
Tao Zhi was listless: “I have nothing to do.”
“Then sleep.”
“I can’t sleep,” Tao Zhi drawled, trying to trouble him, “Tell me a story.”
“…”
Jiang Qi Huai sat by the bed, leaning against the footboard and raised an eyebrow.
Tao Zhi glanced at him from the corner of her eye, waiting for him to get annoyed and start sarcastically mocking her.
After a while, Jiang Qi Huai began speaking slowly: “Six kings fell, four seas became one; Mount Shu stood tall, E’pang Palace rose. Stretching over three hundred li, blocking sun and sky. Mount Li curved north then west, straight to Xianyang.”
“…”
Tao Zhi turned her head, somewhat speechless: “This is your idea of storytelling?”
“Six kingdoms fell, the world unified, E’pang Palace was built,” Jiang Qi Huai said unhurriedly. “How is this not a story?”
A study god will always be a study god, with a different mindset from ordinary people like them.
Tao Zhi rolled her eyes and gave him a mock salute.
Tao Zhi stayed in the infirmary until the sports meet ended.
After Ji Fan finished his events, he came to see her in the infirmary. Seeing her pitiful state, the boy started laughing at her. Tao Zhi raised her hand to hit him, but the boy quickly caught her arm, his touch gentle as he frowned: “Take it easy with the roughhousing, your hands are already like this and you’re still not staying still? If you don’t behave, I’ll call Old Tao and have him come pick you up directly.”
Tao Zhi said carelessly: “He doesn’t have time, he’s busy.”
Tao Xiu Ping had unusually stayed home instead of traveling for business recently, but he seemed very busy. Sometimes he wouldn’t appear until dinner time. When Tao Zhi studied late into the night and went downstairs for food when hungry, she would only then see him return home.
He didn’t say anything about it, so Tao Zhi didn’t ask much. Adults’ worlds always had many worries.
Moreover, she now had her own goals. Every day she chased after the knowledge points she had previously missed, desperately trying to reach that person’s level already felt very challenging.
After the sports meet ended, the entertainment activities for the first semester of second year high school came to a close. The brief happy times were over, and everyone returned to mechanical studying, preparing for midterm exams.
Jiang He Sheng basically came to teach two to three classes per week. Tao Zhi learned incredibly fast and made amazing progress. Not only did the school teachers notice her changes, even the students clearly felt her transformation.
Tao Zhi never borrowed assignments or test papers from anyone to copy again.
She had to make up for all the coursework she had missed while keeping up with the current school progress. With midterms approaching, she felt there was never enough time, wishing she could split one hour into two.
Sometimes Jiang He Sheng didn’t understand why she pushed herself so hard. He told her several times that she could take it slowly since she was only in second year and had a year and a half left, no need to rush.
Tao Zhi listened but didn’t say much.
If she just wanted to return to normal academic performance, she wouldn’t need so much pressure.
But that wasn’t her goal.
Jiang Qi Huai stood at the peak, and she had to climb to the summit too.
Time flew by quickly, the withered autumn leaves were swept away as winter approached.
Midterm exams were scheduled for the last week of November. Unlike monthly tests where all subjects were completed in one day, starting from second year, experimental First High School arranged midterms and finals exactly like the college entrance exam schedule to help students get used to the testing rhythm early. The exams were spread over two days.
The day before the exam, even Ji Fan was a bit nervous, but Tao Zhi had calmed down.
Unlike last time when she desperately tried to raise her English score to 140, this time she couldn’t neglect any subject.
Tao Zhi’s exam room number was the same as last time, but her seat number had moved up by more than ten spots. There were still no familiar faces in her exam room.
The first subject’s exam time was much later than during monthly tests. Tao Zhi got bored waiting in the exam room, so she went to look at the first exam room.
In the first exam room, almost everyone had arrived. Some were doing last-minute reviewing, while others rested with their heads on the desks. Jiang Qi Huai sat in the first seat by the door, while Li Si Jia was in the last seat of the first exam room.
The two were at opposite ends, quite harmoniously.
Tao Zhi pouted, feeling somewhat unhappy.
She had only secretly peeked inside, but Jiang Qi Huai saw her. Tao Zhi leaned against the wall in the hallway when her phone vibrated in her pocket.
Tao Zhi took out her phone and looked.
[A Secret]: Come in.
Tao Zhi typed slowly.
[Zhi Zhi Grape]: Why don’t you come out instead.
She waited a while, ears perked up listening.
There was a slight sound from the classroom as Jiang Qi Huai walked out. Seeing her leaning against the wall, he said somewhat helplessly: “Why aren’t you staying in your own exam room? What are you doing here?”
Tao Zhi blinked, suddenly standing on tiptoe and raising her arm to lightly touch his forehead with her fingertips.
The school had turned on the heating, making the girl’s fingers comfortably warm. Her fingertips were soft with a warm sensation.
Jiang Qi Huai didn’t dodge, standing motionless in front of her letting her touch him as he looked down: “What are you doing?”
“Absorbing some of the study god’s divine power,” Tao Zhi said mysteriously with her eyes closed, “After all, I’m going to score 700 points this time.”
Jiang Qi Huai narrowed his eyes: “You can reach that this time?”
Tao Zhi lowered her hand, opened her eyes and shook her head, saying honestly: “I don’t think so.”
“But you can give me a discount,” she looked at him expectantly, “You give family prices for tutoring, so giving an exam discount would be reasonable, right? You have to be fair, you can’t treat people differently, just give me a 10% discount?”
She seriously presented her unreasonable arguments one after another, making it hard not to laugh.
Jiang Qi Huai leaned sideways against the wall looking at her, his lips curving into a smile, his eyes clear and gentle: “Alright then.”
He raised his hand, curling his index finger to lightly tap her forehead: “Discount given to you, do well on the exam.”
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