CoP CH 7

From that moment, Sui Cannong was struck with inexplicable agitation. —It was a feeling of unease which presented itself sneakily in the shadows of his mind.
“Martin. William. You boys take care of the glass on the floor.” Sui Cannong saw Ji Ling looking up at the clock, and followed by saying to the students around him,
“Everyone, go back to working on your labs. There are still twenty-five minutes before the end of class.”
The students dispersed, each returning to their experimental tables.
The troublemaking boys who tried to slip away with their brooms still in hand were caught by Sui Cannong and given a verbal lashing. Once he was done reprimanding the boys; Sui Cannong turned his attention back to Ji Ling. Ji Ling stood over the sink by the corner of the room washing the wound on his forearm.
Several girls approached him asking if they could help him. Ji Ling shook his head no, and motioned for them to return to their work. Then he lowered his eyes and stared at the wound on his forearm.
Ji Ling always gave Sui Cannong a very special feeling. He was tranquil. As if even the passage of time would slow in his presence.
The blood on his arm was being diluted and spread by the flowing water, but for a moment, there was no way to stop it. Once the water flow stopped, the blood seeped out again.
Sui Cannong saw Ji Ling frowning, hesitated for a moment, and pulled out two or three tissues from the paper box by the pool, about to press them directly onto the wound.
Sui Cannong’s heart raced, and he quickly took a big step forward, grabbing Ji Ling’s wrist.

“Don’t move for now, Mr. Ji.” Sui Cannong took a deep breath, “Let’s go back to my classroom first. I’ll take care of it a bit, and if it’s not enough, we can go to the infirmary.”

Ji Ling looked a bit taken aback.

After a while, he lowered his head to look at Sui Cannong’s hand gripping his wrist, slowly nodded, and said, “Thank you, and sorry for the trouble.”

“No, I should be the one to say that,” Sui Cannong replied.

He had just accepted the other party’s ore and weapons yesterday, and today he owed them a big favor.

If Ji Ling hadn’t helped block the explosion of that beaker, and it had splashed onto an unsuspecting female student nearby, or if Ji Ling’s injury had been on his face or eyes instead of his arm… Sui Cannong couldn’t even bear to think about it.

Ji Ling’s wrist was slender, and faint blue veins could be seen. Fortunately, the wound wasn’t deep; it was just that the blood wouldn’t stop flowing for a while, looking rather alarming.

The first aid kit in the classroom had cotton swabs and adhesive bandages. Sui Cannong carefully supported Ji Ling’s wrist with one hand, using a cotton swab to wipe the blood seeping around the wound.

Unsure if he was applying the right pressure, he asked, “Does it hurt?”

Ji Ling didn’t respond for a long time.

Sui Cannong was taken aback and looked up. He thought Ji Ling might have gone numb from the pain, so he quickly stopped his movements and asked, “What’s wrong? Did I press too hard?”

Only then did Ji Ling come back to his senses.

He shook his head slowly and replied, “… Not at all.”

Sui Cannong instinctively frowned, “How can it not hurt—”

“Mr. Sui, I think you should be making your return to the lab right now. You needn’t waste any more time on me,” Ji Ling interrupted Sui Cannong after hesitating for a moment. “I’m really fine; I tend to bleed quite dramatically. I assure you it only appears more serious than it truly is.”

His words came out quickly, and Sui Cannong was stunned for a moment before he reacted.

Sui Cannong put down the cotton swab and said, “Alright, if you don’t want me to treat it, then let’s go to the infirmary now?”

Ji Ling was silent for a long time.

Sui Cannong didn’t say anything more, just continued to apply pressure to the wound for a while. When he looked up again, he found Ji Ling staring at him.
Before Sui Cannong could react, he saw Ji Ling blink and quickly avert his gaze.

“Mr. Sui, you should go check on the students first,” Ji Ling spoke again after a while. “Some groups should have finished their experiments by now.”
Sui Cannong didn’t understand why Ji Ling kept trying to push him away, but he also realized that the distance between them seemed a bit too close.
Especially since Sui Cannong was still holding Ji Ling’s wrist. For someone about his caliber of shy, it’d indeed be difficult for them to handle others hanging around in close proximity.
Sui Cannong glanced at the clock behind him and saw that there were indeed five minutes left until class ended.
“Okay, please keep holding this to your wound,” Sui Cannong let go of Ji Ling’s hand and said, “I’ll go take a look, leave them some homework, and come back as soon as possible.”

Ji Ling looked at him and nodded.

However, as soon as Sui Cannong stepped out the door and hadn’t walked far, he suddenly remembered that he had left the preview homework he printed for the students on the desk.

He felt a bit dazed that morning, but could only sigh and turn back toward the classroom.

From a distance, Sui Cannong saw Ji Ling still sitting in the same spot in the classroom.

For some unknown reason, Sui Cannong paused for a moment and finally stopped in front of the window at the back.
Through the window, he saw that Ji Ling’s face showed no expression, just staring intently at the wound on his forearm.
Ji Ling hesitantly removed the cotton swab, first observing the condition of the wound.
Then he extended a finger, seemingly wanting to touch the wound, but ultimately hesitated and withdrew his hand.
Sui Cannong then saw Ji Ling staring blankly for a while.

—In the next second, his eyelashes fluttered, and he revealed a faint smile, akin to a dragonfly grazing the surface of a pond; all while focused on his arm.

–

Ji Ling got up early.

He first logged into the game because the ore on the map refreshes every two days.
Ji Ling wanted to make sure to collect them as soon as they refreshed to maximize his gains.

Sui Cannong accepted the one hundred pieces of ore he had gifted him last night, and Ji Ling was very happy.

In fact, Ji Ling had a total of three hundred seventy-two pieces of ore in his backpack at that time, but he hesitated for a moment and ultimately didn’t give them all away because he felt Sui Cannong wouldn’t accept them.

After agreeing with Sui Cannong to meet at the biology classroom door the next day, Ji Ling had some trouble sleeping.

At two o’clock in the morning, he went to the kitchen, slowly opened and closed the refrigerator door repeatedly, feeling as if his cheeks were still very hot.

So, Ji Ling gulped down a large bucket of iced cola.

Her stomach felt a bit uncomfortable, but he lay in bed and fell asleep in that bloated sense of satisfaction.

After waking up, Ji Ling set three goals for herself for the day—

First, to avoid any awkward silences when speaking.

Second, to do his best to help Sui Cannong.

Third, to ask Sui Cannong if he would like to continue playing games with him tonight.

Actually, everything went smoothly at first. Ji Ling felt like he wasn’t as clumsy in his speech as before, and he indeed helped Sui Cannong improve the efficiency of that lab class.

—Until that beaker suddenly exploded.

When Ji Ling noticed the scratch on his forearm, his instinct was to hide the wound, but when he looked up, he found Sui Cannong standing at the door and had already noticed his injury.

He thought, after all, he had caused him trouble.

It did hurt a bit, and Ji Ling’s blood coagulation function had never been very good. However, Ji Ling believed he was there to help Sui Cannong today, and he didn’t want to leave the impression that he was a troublesome person.

Ji Ling emphasized many times that it was a “minor injury” and “didn’t hurt at all,” urging him to go back to the classroom to continue checking on the students’ progress, but it seemed Sui Cannong didn’t take it in.

Sui Cannong’s palm felt very warm.

While cleaning Ji Ling’s wound, Sui Cannong looked very serious. His brows and eyes were strikingly beautiful, and Ji Ling couldn’t help but steal a few more glances.

At the moment Sui Cannong walked out of the classroom, Ji Ling felt his heartbeat finally return to a relatively normal pace.

He lowered his head and looked at his wrist, feeling a bit at a loss because the warmth from Sui Cannong’s palm seemed to still linger on his skin.

Ji Ling actually wanted to touch his wound again, but he felt his hands weren’t very clean, and touching it again might bring trouble to Sui Cannong.

When he looked up again, he saw Sui Cannong standing at the door. Ji Ling retracted the faint smile on his face and returned to his usual calm demeanor.

Ji Ling called out, “Mr. Sui?”

But Sui Cannong didn’t meet Ji Ling’s gaze.

He just walked into the classroom, rummaging through his desk, and after a while, he said, “It’s fine, you can continue resting. I just forgot to take their homework.”

Sui Cannong’s expression seemed normal, so Ji Ling didn’t think much of it and stood up as well.

“I have a class next period,” Ji Ling said, “I need to go too.”

Sui Cannong paused for a moment and said, “Wait a bit, your wound—”

“It’s not bleeding anymore.” Ji Ling knew Sui Cannong was busy and didn’t want to trouble him further, so he said, “I have band-aids in my classroom, you don’t need to worry.”

Sui Cannong looked at him and after a moment said, “Okay.”

So the two of them walked a short distance down the hallway together. Sui Cannong’s expression seemed a bit distracted, as if he was lost in thought, and Ji Ling didn’t want to disturb him.

But Ji Ling knew this should be his last chance for the day.

He hesitated for a moment, looked up, and finally said what he had prepared for a long time.

“Mr. Sui,” Ji Ling asked, “I want to get a better weapon for my Petite butterfly, so do you have time tonight to take me to do some weapon quests?”

Ji Ling was afraid Sui Cannong might not want to, so he cautiously added, “And I dug up some more ore yesterday, I can give you some more today.”

Then Ji Ling saw Sui Cannong pause for a moment.

Sui Cannong turned his head, his expression seemed a bit complicated, and after a while, he said, “Of course, that’s fine.”

“Actually, you don’t need to give me more ore.” Sui Cannong paused and added, “Just come help me tidy my world, you know, like before.”

Ji Ling lightly responded with an “mm.”

He lowered his head, pretending to be calm as he focused on his shoes.

“It’s okay,” Ji Ling said.
“I can help you build the house, and I can also give you the ore because I don’t need the ore.”

The class bell suddenly rang, playing a piano piece lasting about ten seconds. The bell was loud, so Sui Canong didn’t say anything more, and Ji Ling also remained silent.

When the bell ended, they reached the fork in the corridor.

Ji Ling looked up and said to Sui Cannong, “Goodbye, Mr. Sui.”

Sui Canong was silent for a moment and replied, “Goodbye.”

Then they both turned around at the same time.

At that moment, Ji Ling felt very good. He calculated in his mind that the electromagnetism class for the twelfth grade had been going on for about a week and a half, so it was time to give the students a surprise quiz.

Ji Ling did not notice that Sui Cannong had stopped behind him.

He was never made aware that Sui Cannong suddenly turn around and silently stare into his disappearing silhouette for a long, long time.