Chapter 43: Central Hospital

Yu Shixue asked nonchalantly, "Do you know who the mastermind behind this is?"

Within Sike Academy, there were only those two who found him unpleasant.

Ling Wu looked out the window and answered irrelevantly, "What if I know? What if I don't?"

"Yu Shixue, it's not like a dog raised by your family has come out to bite people, so I don't need to file a complaint with you."

Yu Shixue only just realized that someone could make his name sound so pleasant; he tilted his head, looking at Ling Wu's blurred reflection in the car window, the faint glimmer in those eyes seemingly revealing a helplessness that could be felt through that tone.

He even had a fleeting impulse to blurt out that as long as you complain to me, I will take care of it.

But at the same time, he knew Ling Wu would not do such a thing.

Ling Wu was like warm, calm seawater, capable of both carrying a boat and overturning it, while his own fortitude and decisiveness were the surging, turbulent side of the ocean.

Yu Shixue looked straight ahead, his profile cold and handsome, his contours sharp and distinct: "Ling Wu, have you always been like this?"

"Like what?" Ling Wu was suddenly a bit curious.

Yu Shixue looked at the young man's eyes and evaluated, "A heart full of solitary courage, never bending or bowing."

Clearly, the exterior was cold and soft, like a handful of snow; although icy and bone-chilling, it could still be held in the palm of one's hand and wantonly molded into any shape one desired.

Yet the heart within was as hard as a rock.

Unaware of the times, a body of stubborn bones.

The black Cayenne drove along the road, the scenery outside the window receding rapidly, and Yu Shixue said softly with thin lips: "Being too rigid makes one prone to breaking, being too soft leads to decadence; only by balancing hardness and softness can one accomplish things."

Ling Wu's expression shifted: "My teachers once used this phrase to warn me, but in a certain sense... I might never reach that realm."

A certain sense?

What sense.

Yu Shixue: "Your teachers?"

There were two parts of inquiry in his words.

Ling Wu's voice sounded in the cramped space: "You know, I lived among the common people before; it's normal to have apprenticed under two teachers."

"They were both ordinary people, farming two mu of land, working at sunrise and resting at sunset."

"You..." Yu Shixue seemed to want to ask something else, but his phone ringtone interrupted him.

"Ding ding ding..."

Ling Wu saw him answer the phone without putting it on speaker; he didn't know what was said on the other end, but within a few seconds, Yu Shixue frowned, his face turning gloomy: "Where are you?"

"Stay where you are and don't move, I'll come pick you up right away."

Ling Wu asked: "Do you need me to get out of the car?"

"No need." Yu Shixue pulled at his collar irritably: "The kid at home is being restless."

Ling Wu raised an eyebrow: "Your younger brother?"

Yu Shixue: "How did you know it was a boy?"

"Don't misunderstand, this isn't my stereotype." Ling Wu said thoughtfully: "I just happened to hear a saying: teenage boys are even shunned by dogs."

Yu Shixue: "..."

"Quite incisive."

The car turned and drove in another direction.

About ten minutes later, it stopped beside the cross-river bridge.

The window rolled down, and standing on the street was a boy with a shoulder bag, dyed blonde hair, looking sunny and handsome, with long legs and outstanding features, drawing the gaze of passing pedestrians.

He saw the stopped Cayenne, walked over with long strides, and pursed his lips: "Brother, you came to pick me up?"

Yu Tingyun decisively pulled open the car door, lifted his eyes to meet half of Ling Wu's beautiful profile, his round apricot eyes gleaming, and pulling on the seat back, he leaned over to ask Yu Shixue: "Brother, which brother is this?"

Yu Shixue gave him a cold look: "Don't you have a mouth? Can't you ask yourself?"

"Oh."

Yu Tingyun curled his lips.

"Hello, my name is Yu Tingyun, the younger brother of that annoying guy over there." He reached out his hand to greet him: "How should I address you?"

Ling Wu shook his hand briefly: "Ling Wu."

Yu Tingyun chattered away: "Wow, Ling Wu brother's name is really nice, are you very close with my brother? How do you know my brother?"

Yu Shixue leaned in unconsciously; he also wanted to know what Ling Wu would say.

Ling Wu: "We are classmates."

Classmates, a relationship that could be distant or close, as ethereal as mist.

"Hmm." Yu Shixue's voice dropped a degree: "Not just anyone can have a connection with me; we are just classmates, I saw he was pitiful, so I gave him a ride."

That was what he said, but his tightly pressed lips and displeased tone did not express it that way, as if telling Ling Wu to hurry up and deny it.

The next second, he heard Ling Wu say: "Young Master Yu is right."

The air in the back seat seemed to grow heavier.

Yu Tingyun was first surprised that his brother could say so much at once, and then marveled that someone could actually talk back to Yu Shixue; it was truly strange.

He lazily began to play with a Rubik's cube, not wanting to touch Yu Shixue's bad luck at this moment.

That would lead to terrible luck.

The atmosphere grew heavy just like that.

Yu Shixue spoke out of the blue: "Where are you going?"

"I'll take you."

Ling Wu: "Me?"

Yu Shixue: "Yes."

【Ding! Advanced Task triggered: Important plot node detected, please have the Host head to the Central Hospital to pay for Grandma Liu's surgery and medical expenses for the villain (0/1)】

【Advanced Task completion reward: 500 points】

Grandma Liu?

Ling Wu closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again, his eyes were clear: "I am going to the Central Hospital."

Yu Shixue looked at him. Central Hospital? Was it because those people had caused him trouble and he was injured?

He had originally seen that Ling Wu's complexion and lips were very rosy, not looking like someone who was injured, so he had preconceived that the bloodstains on his shirt belonged to someone else.

Or perhaps he had suffered some internal injury?

Yu Shixue had just wanted to ask, but Ling Wu turned his head away; he became even more furious, asking, asking, asking, what was there to ask?

You care about others, but do they care about you?

They have already drawn a clear line with you; what is there worth asking about a classmate relationship?

"Hmph."

A cold snort escaped from his nostrils, and he said to the driver: "Turn around, go to the Central Hospital."

"Yes, Young Master."

The car fell silent again in an instant.

Only the sound of Yu Tingyun turning a Rubik's cube could be heard. He looked at the scrambled Rubik's cube in distress, held it up in front of Ling Wu, and asked: "Do you know how to play with a Rubik's cube?"

Ling Wu: "I can try."

The youth took the Rubik's cube, and in less than 30 seconds, he had restored all six sides to be perfectly neat, then returned it to Yu Tingyun: "Done."

"So amazing!" Yu Tingyun said with admiration: "Brother Ling Wu, are you a professional?"

Ling Wu smiled awkwardly: "An amateur hobby."

Yu Tingyun took his arm: "Then will you teach me?"

Ling Wu said truthfully: "There are formulas for this; you can find them with a search on the internet, it is not hard to learn."

"....... Ah?" Yu Tingyun said with disappointment: "Is that so, but I wanted you to teach me."

In the interval of the conversation, the car stopped at the entrance of the Central Hospital.

Driver: "Young Master, we have arrived."

Yu Shixue grabbed Ling Wu's wrist and said: "You get out of the car on my side."

At the end, as if feeling it was inappropriate, he added: "It is closer this way."