Chapter 120

After the last class of the afternoon ended, the sky was already pitch dark, Xia Xi was in a good mood; even though the line in front of the spicy numbing fragrant hot pot stall was full of people, she still walked over.

After waiting a long time, she finally got to the front; she held a stainless‑steel tongs in one hand and a basket in the other, picked the dishes she liked and passed them to the window for the auntie to weigh: "Medium spicy, thank you."

After receiving her number ticket, Xia Xi stepped out of the line and waited patiently for her number to be called.

The other three roommates had already served their food and were sitting down to eat. Xia Xi, tired from standing, sat down beside them, and Wang Qiuyu handed her a new pair of disposable chopsticks, letting her take a bite of her own food first.

Xia Xi picked up a fried squid ring, chewed it slowly, and curled the corner of her mouth: "Zhao Yinshu went through all that trouble and still lost; I wonder where she's hiding now, her face probably green with anger."

She won.

During class, the final voting results came out, and Zhao Lei glanced at them for her.

She won by a narrow margin, having a lead of over ten votes over Zhao Yinshu, and secured the position of cheerleading team captain.

Earlier at noon, seeing that Zhao Yinshu had nearly a hundred more votes than her, she thought her chances of winning were slim, but a few hours later she turned the tide against the odds, showing that her luck was not bad.

Zhao Lei raised her chopsticks and pointed in a direction: "You weren't wrong; her face really is green with anger."

Xia Xi instinctively turned her head, following Zhao Lei's gesture, and saw Zhao Yinshu wearing a black Peter Pan‑collared woolen skirt; the girl beside her looked somewhat familiar… it was Zhou Xiaoyu.

Zhao Yinshu linked arms with Zhou Xiaoyu, her face green, stretched out long, almost dragging on the ground.

"She gets along really well with Zhou Xiaoyu?" Zhao Lei also noticed Zhou Xiaoyu.

"No wonder." Xia Xi chuckled, "Zhao Yinshu came at me with arrows right from the start; I was wondering what I'd done to offend her—maybe she's also an admirer of Xu Yanfeng, and in the end she's just trying to give her close friend a chance to shine."

Wang Qiuyu wagged her index finger, speaking solemnly: "Looking for a showdown? No. Flipping over? Yes!"

Zhao Lei snorted, nearly spitting out the rice in her mouth.

Wu Qinglu also laughed.

How could Zhao Yinshu be so sure she'd win, insisting on a public vote? Although Xia Xi's pursuit of Xu Yanfeng had annoyed a group of girls who admired him, there's a saying: "Beauty is justice," and she still has plenty of admirers.

Leaving appearance aside, her personal charm is also evident.

This time Zhao Yinshu has basically lifted a stone only to drop it on her own foot.

"Number thirty‑six! The spicy numbing fragrant hot pot for number thirty‑six is ready!"

The auntie in the window was calling out, Xia Xi flipped over her number ticket and saw it was hers. She went to pick up her order, carrying it back: "I got extra; let's eat together."

After eating a full dinner, Xia Xi walked slowly, occasionally glancing at her phone.

"Hey, watch out!"

A male student behind her was shouting; she felt the voice getting close, her heart tightened, she hurried to move aside, but she was still hit. She fell sitting on the curb, one hand braced on the ground, her ankle sprained, her calf twisted as well, causing intense pain.

Her phone flew out, the screen shattering into a spiderweb pattern; Xia Xi couldn't get up for a while. The roommate walking ahead of her was terrified, quickly squatting to help her, and shouted at the cyclist: "How are your eyes grown? Can't you watch where you're going?!"

The male student was also startled; there were people on both sides of the road, he was overconfident, thinking he could squeeze through the gap, only when he got closer did he realize it was a bit difficult; he shouted "Watch out!" but still couldn't avoid her.

He dropped his bike, came over to check on Xia Xi: "Fellow student, sorry, how are you?"

The male student lowered his gaze, met a beautiful face that made his breath catch for a moment, and recognized her as Xia Xi.

Xia Xi was in so much pain that sweat beaded on her forehead, and she didn't want to talk to him.

Her roommates helped her to the infirmary; the doctor examined her and said, "It probably isn't a bone injury, but if you're uneasy, it's best to go to the hospital for an X‑ray to be safe."

Before long, Xia Xi's ankle had swollen up like a steamed bun, her calf was all red; she endured it without crying out, but sweat kept wiping away and then reappearing on her forehead.

That male student also followed her over, saying his name was Jiang Yunfan, from the Accounting Department of the School of Economics and Management. Seeing Xia Xi's injury, he advised: "Go to the hospital. If there really is a problem, it can be caught early to avoid any lasting aftereffects."

Zhao Lei and the others looked at Xia Xi, waiting for her to decide.

Xia Xi also leaned toward going to the hospital for a checkup; she always values her health and doesn't dare be careless.

Jiang Yunfan pulled out his phone to call a ride‑hailing car; seeing Xia Xi had trouble walking, he tugged down his pants, bent low and squatted in front of her: "It's not close from here to the school gate; you're not convenient, let me carry you."

Xia Xi refused, insisting on walking herself; she hobbled to the school gate, and the driver grew impatient waiting.

Zhao Lei stayed behind to accompany Xia Xi to the hospital, while Wu Qinglu and Wang Qiuyu helped them carry their backpacks back.

At the hospital they took an X‑ray; the good news was no fracture, the bad news was a strained ligament. Xia Xi looked at her highly swollen ankle, pain making the corners of her eyes red, and asked the doctor: "How long until it heals? I still need to dance."

"Dance?" the doctor exclaimed, his expression saying she was being reckless, "I'd advise you to stop all strenuous activity and rest properly."

Xia Xi couldn't help but vent her anger at the male student who had hit her; she turned and glared fiercely at that Jiang Yunfan.

Jiang Yunfan felt terrible, apologizing over and over, bending his waist lower than ninety degrees.

The doctor prescribed a topical medicine; Jiang Yunfan ran back and forth paying, fetching the medicine from the pharmacy, then returned to hand it to Xia Xi and apologized again, his face and ears red: "I'm really sorry; if you're not able to come to class, I can take responsibility for picking you up and dropping you off."

Zhao Lei snatched the bag holding the medicine and snapped, "Don't get your hopes up; we'll take care of Xia Xi ourselves."

"Xia Xi, this is my contact information; if you need anything, you can reach me anytime." Jiang Yunfan pulled up a WeChat QR code on his phone and handed it to her to scan.

Xia Xi stood on one leg, half her weight pressing on Zhao Lei, and said in a flat tone: "My phone broke."

Jiang Yunfan: "Sorry, I'll compensate you with a new phone."

"No need, it's just my bad luck; let's not see each other again." Xia Xi was in a terrible mood, and her tone naturally wasn't good.

She had finally passed the cheerleading tryouts, won the vote, and obtained the captain position—who would have thought a misfortune would strike from the sky, injuring her leg. For now, forget being captain; even dancing will have to stop.

As the saying goes, extreme joy begets sorrow; how happy she was before dinner, now she is just as sad.

After returning to the dorm, Xia Xi was almost crying from anger; she took a hurried shower, and with her roommates' help, she struggled to climb onto the bed and lie down, then kicked her good leg in the air to vent her fury.

Wu Qinglu came over and patted the bedside rail, speaking gently: "Xi Xi, if you need anything, just call us; don't worry about being a bother."

Xia Xi said thanks, picked up her phone and held it to her face; she had lied to Jiang Yunfan—the screen wasn't broken, only the tempered film was, and after peeling it off it worked fine. She found the person in charge on QQ, explained the situation, and quit the cheerleading team.

Zhao Yinshu got a free benefit; now she can become captain as she wished.

Xia Xi really suspected that Jiang Yunfan might be an "assassin" sent by Zhao Yinshu—how coincidental that she had just become captain and then met with an accident.

I'm done for.

I can't dance in front of Xu Yanfeng anymore.

I've been practicing in vain these past few days.

She felt she could still dance decently.

Zhao Lei and the others all said she looked especially pretty when she spun around in her short skirt.

All ruined.

Xia Xi tossed her phone aside and closed her eyes, devoid of any will to live.

Sushe, Chen Mian sat on the bed, frowning in confusion, gripping the edge of the mattress as he said to his roommate: "I just saw a message—Xia Xi quit the cheer squad."

Yu Tingbo chimed in: "Why? She didn't join the cheer squad just for our Feng, did she? And she even won the vote, could be captain—how could she just quit like that?" Saying this, he suddenly froze, looking at Xu Yanfeng's bed, suspecting he'd done something: "Young Master Xu, did you again target Xia Xi?"

Xu Yanfeng rarely gave a response: "It's not my business, I didn't provoke her."

He also wondered why Xia Xi had quit, but he didn't ask directly, feeling that Chen Mian, who couldn't keep his mouth shut, would tell him. Sure enough, Chen Mian asked around in that whatever group and found the answer.

"Holy shit, someone said they saw a guy on a bike hit Xia Xi after school this afternoon; she got injured and was taken to the hospital."

Xu Yanfeng's brow furrowed slightly, quickly returned to normal, then after two seconds furrowed again, this time more noticeably.