Chapter 9: You Have a Home in Jiangzhou?
Once Sui Mi sat down, she realized this really was an excellent corner.
The streetlamp stood directly in front of her, and the lush trees to one side blocked the occasional cool evening breeze.
Her back was to the circular plaza behind them.
The laughter and chatter of the teenagers playing there faded behind her.
Sui Mi shifted her feet. Seeing Xi Jianbai follow her over, she kicked off her shoes and muttered under her breath, embarrassed.
“I really didn’t think it hurt at first. I guess sitting in the restaurant so long numbed it.”
“I was about to head home, too. Good thing you had a bandage.”
“Why do you even carry something like that around…”
The hand she reached out to take the bandage was dodged by Xi Jianbai.
Sui Mi stared blankly, eyes wide, thinking he hadn’t caught on. She waved her open palm again and reminded him, “The bandage.”
Xi Jianbai lowered his gaze to her delicate, fair palm.
“Let me.”
Sui Mi: “You do… Huh? What do you mean, let you?!”
Xi Jianbai had already bent his knees, crouching halfway in front of her, elbows resting on his knees, his back steady, not wavering in the slightest.
He kept his head down, showing Sui Mi only a fluffy black crown of hair.
The man was cold as ice, but his hair was unexpectedly soft, bangs falling lightly over his brows and eyes.
The next second, his hand closed around her ankle.
The young man’s fingertips were warm, roughened with a layer of thin calluses. His thumb hooked into the hollow below her ankle bone, long fingers crossing her skin, tightening slightly.
The instant his scorching palm pressed fully against her, Sui Mi felt like a kitten grabbed by the scruff of the neck.
From that small patch of contact, a jolt of electricity shot through her, leaving her whole body prickling with an indescribable numbness.
She curled her fingers and instinctively pulled her leg back. “I can do it myself…”
“Don’t move.”
Xi Jianbai’s voice was deep.
The force of his grip was just right. The web of his hand locked onto her ankle bone—not tight enough to hurt, yet leaving no room to resist or escape.
Circling her foot. Pulling it closer.
Sui Mi had already kicked off her sneakers herself.
Xi Jianbai brushed his thumb over the skin near her Achilles tendon, slipped it under the cuff of her sock, and pushed it down a bit to reveal the red, scraped wound.
His brow furrowed ever so slightly.
His pale eyes darkened, fixed on the injury for several seconds, as if looking at something unacceptable and unpleasant.
“…It’s just a bump. Not serious, right?”
Sui Mi was almost infected by his grave, frost-laden expression—she nearly believed she had contracted some critical illness requiring immediate amputation.
She looked closely.
A tiny wound that hadn’t even bled.
The kind where, if they rushed to the hospital at breakneck speed, the doctor would say, “Why did you come so late? The wound is practically healing itself.”
Sui Mi suspected Xi Jianbai had a condition where seeing others get injured gave him phantom pain.
In her previous life, she’d once gone hiking in the mountains for inspiration and slipped. Nothing major—just her thigh and knee hitting a tree trunk, leaving a large bruise.
When she got home, hopping on one foot and limping through the door, she said goodbye to the friend who’d driven her. She turned around and came face-to-face with Xi Jianbai’s pitch-black expression.
Terrified, Sui Mi stood at attention like a primary school student.
Then she was stripped of her right to hop around. She was pinned to the bed to rest, living a life where clothes were handed to her and meals were served to her, spending every day lying in bed playing games and reading manga until she fully recovered and not a trace of bruising remained on her leg.
Honestly, the days were pretty great.
Just as Sui Mi was reminiscing, she heard Xi Jianbai let out a low hum.
Verbally agreeing with her claim that it wasn’t serious.
Yet his hands didn’t relax in the slightest.
Applying a bandage should take two seconds, but he solemnly pulled another small packet of wet wipes from his pocket.
He drew one out and meticulously wiped his fingers, as if performing pre-surgical disinfection.
After wiping thoroughly, he took another and cleaned the skin around her wound.
Only then did he finally tear open the bandage packaging.
Sui Mi breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, Finally, we can stick it on.
Then she realized she’d relaxed too early—
Xi Jianbai held the bandage, carefully aligning the angle and position, as if unable to tolerate the slightest flaw, like a neat freak with OCD.
Sui Mi: “…”
Sui Mi moved her uninjured left foot forward and gave Xi Jianbai’s bent knee a light, gentle kick. Her tone was soft and sweet. “Is that good enough?”
Xi Jianbai was kicked, and his movement paused.
His bangs obscured his eyes and brows; all that could be seen were the faint blue veins tensing on the back of his hand. His fingertips pinched the edge of the bandage with slight force.
His chest rose and fell twice, and a muffled hum rolled from his throat.
Afterward, wearing a face as cold as ice, he slapped the bandage precisely over the wound.
Sui Mi regretted kicking him immediately after doing so.
The person in front of her wasn’t her ex-husband-in-waiting; he was an unfamiliar fellow alumnus.
He was also helping her out of kindness.
Was he holding back anger?
Sui Mi secretly glanced at his profile. Waiting until Xi Jianbai released her foot, she bent down slowly, pulled her sock up properly, and put her shoe back on.
Her dark apricot eyes blinked, lips curling up in a coy smile, her voice incredibly soft. “Thank you.”
Xi Jianbai remained crouched in place, motionless for a moment.
His Adam’s apple bobbed. He responded with a single word.
After a pause, he added, “Don’t get injured again.”
-
The wound wasn’t large to begin with. With the bandage applied, there was no pain whatsoever when walking.
Sui Mi still had the leisure to appreciate the skateboarders practicing in the open space. Wheels rumbled across the ground, hems fluttering in the wind with a carefree, elegant arc.
She watched for a while.
A girl with one hand casually tucked in her pocket glided smoothly past her.
After skating a certain distance, the girl suddenly turned back, meeting Sui Mi’s gaze.
Sui Mi hadn’t processed what happened yet.
The girl stepped on the tail of her board, deftly turning around to return. She lifted her baseball cap, revealing smiling eyes and brows.
“Want to try?”
Sui Mi felt a twinge of interest. “What if I don’t know how?”
“I’ll teach you. It’s very simple,” the girl said, leaning in and hooking her finger with Sui Mi’s. “Come on, give it a try.”
The few people behind the girl looked up, clapping and whistling, egging her on: “Try it! Try it!”
Sui Mi wasn’t shy either. She boldly moved forward.
“Actually, I learned a little bit.”
She took the skateboard the girl offered, her eyes curving gently. She raised her hand to indicate a tiny amount. “But I fell a few times afterward, so I stopped learning.”
Sui Mi always adhered to the life philosophy of never forcing herself: if you fall somewhere, lie down there.
This applied to skateboarding as well.
Others persisted despite the pain of falling. Sui Mi, upon falling, gave up with a clear conscience.
The girl asked with a laugh, “How far did you learn? Ollie?”
Sui Mi shook her head.
“I learned how to stand on the board.”
She placed the skateboard down and lightly jumped onto the rolling board.
“Turning.”
She exerted force with her feet, guiding the board to turn nimbly, tracing a smooth arc on the ground.
“Jumping.”
She timed it perfectly, jumping off with both feet simultaneously, spinning around on the small board.
The series of moves showed obvious unfamiliarity, but she was beautiful, with long legs and arms, possessing an innate sense of lightness and grace.
Low score for technical difficulty, high score for freedom.
The girl applauded first, and the others cheered loudly, praising Sui Mi as a genius.
Amused by their exaggerated tone and words, Sui Mi smiled, her eyes curving. Suddenly, her gaze shifted, landing on Xi Jianbai standing not far away.
He stood silently under the tree, eyes unblinking, fixed on her direction.
Perhaps it was an illusion cast by the reflection of the streetlights, but his pale eyes seemed to ripple with agitation, or perhaps quietly burning flames.
The sensation of gliding against the wind was too free and unrestrained.
Without thinking, Sui Mi exerted force with her feet, adjusting her direction to skate toward him.
She originally intended to playfully scare him.
But unexpectedly, as the skateboard broke through the wind, approaching at high speed, the young man remained completely still. His gaze acted as an anchor point, fixed on Sui Mi, without the slightest intention of retreating.
This guy! Wasn’t he afraid of getting hit?!
Sui Mi was stunned. Terrified of actually colliding with him, she quickly extended her leg, frantically dragging it along the ground to try and stop the momentum.
But she was inherently unskilled. In her panic, both her body and the skateboard wobbled.
The girl and her friends chased after Sui Mi, shouting loudly, “Jump off the board!”
Sui Mi obeyed, preparing to jump to the side.
Xi Jianbai finally moved. He stepped aside to make way, reaching out in a fluid motion to hook her.
Thud.
The skateboard crashed into the tree trunk with a dull sound, flipping sideways with a snap. The wheels underneath continued to spin idly.
Sui Mi was completely enveloped in Xi Jianbai’s embrace. Her heartbeat was still erratic, pounding in her ears.
She instinctively gripped the fabric of his chest tightly, feeling as though her soul was still floating behind her, chasing after her.
Until, amidst her rapid breathing, a faint, crisp scent drifted into her nostrils on the wind.
Such enduring Xi Jianbai.
Such familiar mint hard candy flavor.
Not changed in the slightest.
At first glance, it was cold and pungent. Only upon close proximity could one detect the subtle warmth smoothed out by body heat.
Three years of living together, sharing a bed, had influenced Sui Mi far more than she realized.
Her body had long since become accustomed to Xi Jianbai’s temperature and scent.
Thus, reflexively, she softened, not rushing to pull away, but instead pressing closer to his chest.
When she lifted her face, the corners of her eyes drooped pitifully.
“Why didn’t you dodge…”
Sui Mi complained softly, the trailing end of her sentence sticky and coquettish, stretched out like fluffy kitten paws scratching lightly against someone’s heart.
“…”
Xi Jianbai’s breath hitched imperceptibly. His long lashes lowered, hiding pupils that resembled those of a predator before the hunt, dilating slightly.
A distance he had never imagined.
Through the thin fabric, body heat transmitted intimately.
He could barely control himself from tightening his arms. His thin lips parted, his voice so low and faint it threatened to scatter in the wind.
“I…”
“Are you okay!” “Did you get hurt?”
The girl and her friends rushed up, voices overlapping in concerned inquiries. Upon seeing the posture of the two, they slammed the stop button.
Oh.
Ouch.
Stinky couple.
Sorry for disturbing.
They were about to politely retreat when the last person arrived late, their voice booming without restraint, “What’s wrong? Did you twist your ankle? Can’t stand up? Do you need to be carried?”
Everyone: “?”
Sui Mi: “?”
Sui Mi: “!”
Sui Mi sprang backward violently, stumbling several steps back.
As the cool evening breeze blew away the body heat and scent acquired from the other person, her apricot eyes glanced at the skateboard, then at Xi Jianbai’s cold face.
“…”
Whoosh. A pink mist of blush spread instantly from her cheeks to her ear tips.
Good heavens, what was she doing?!
This wasn’t her husband!!!
Sui Mi even lost the courage to peek at Xi Jianbai’s expression. She turned her face away, struggling to stabilize her voice, apologizing to the girl: “Sorry, I couldn’t control it. I crashed into the tree.”
“How much does it cost? I’ll pay you.”
The girl waved her hand generously, picking up the skateboard. She gave it a casual glance and laughed, “What problem could there be? The impact wasn’t heavy. This board isn’t that fragile.”
“How about this.”
She suddenly flipped her hand, pulling a flyer from the pocket of the friend beside her, and eagerly handed it to Sui Mi.
“I see you have quite a talent. Want to check out our skateboarding classes? There’s a discount if you sign up now!”
Sui Mi: “.”
No wonder she was so enthusiastic in inviting her.
It was a sales pitch!