Chapter 173: Chapter 171: Eat Whatever You Want
Lin Ruoxi nodded. ’That’s what I was thinking, too.’ Every time she saw Chen Tingting hanging off Xue Rui, she felt a little unhappy...
Now that Xue Rui had said so, she went and did it.
Lin Ruoxi walked over, took Chen Tingting by the arms, and peeled her off of Xue Rui.
Chen Tingting craned her neck to look up at Lin Ruoxi. She finally understood now. Lin Ruoxi actually had two identities at school, and she was only a year or two older than her.
Chen Tingting puffed out her cheeks and stood on her tiptoes, trying to make herself look taller. But even at her maximum height, she was still quite a bit shorter than Lin Ruoxi...
Xue Rui was speechless. Chen Tingting’s actions were so obvious; she was clearly very self-conscious about her height.
He smiled and said to Chen Tingting, "Eat more. Maybe you’ll have another growth spurt."
"I have no appetite." The thought that Xue Rui was about to graduate and she wouldn’t see him at school anymore put Chen Tingting in a very bad mood.
Lin Ruoxi noticed the girl was unhappy. She brought Chen Tingting a small piece of cake and said in her soft, gentle voice, "Eating cake will make you feel better."
"Huh?" Chen Tingting was taken aback.
’Is this girl really the same person as the imposing "discipline monitor" she was used to seeing?’
Before, she never even dared to meet Lin Ruoxi’s gaze. But now, why did Lin Ruoxi seem so... blank?
’This girl is so strange,’ Lin Ruoxi thought. ’She’s always thinking about how to climb onto Xue Rui’s back. Is it really that fun?’
She had never been carried on someone’s back before, so she didn’t know what it felt like...
"Why do you always want to climb on Xue Rui?" Lin Ruoxi asked blankly.
Chen Tingting answered decisively, "Because I like him."
"So liking someone means you have to climb on them?" Lin Ruoxi murmured. She had learned something new.
Chen Tingting didn’t know how to explain it to Lin Ruoxi. She asked in a low voice, "Do you have someone you like?"
Lin Ruoxi froze. Mei Lili used to ask her this all the time.
She had looked up what "like" meant online. She liked eating with Xue Rui, working with Xue Rui, sleeping with Xue Rui...
She lifted her eyes to look at Xue Rui.
’Is this what it means to like someone?’
At that moment, Lin Ruoxi’s gaze was soft and smiling, as if all her emotions were blooming just for the man reflected in her eyes.
Chen Tingting’s heart skipped a beat. ’How did another powerful rival appear?’
「...」
’These two...’ Xue Rui thought. ’One has a screw loose, and the other has a one-track mind...’
He had no idea how Chen Tingting had gotten so attached to him. He figured maybe it would be better once she grew up a bit.
’I hope so.’ Xue Rui wasn’t very confident about it.
His phone vibrated in his pocket. He took it out and saw it was a call from a landline number.
"Hello?" Xue Rui answered casually.
"Is this Xue Rui? This is the Municipal People’s Hospital. An old lady took a fall..."
Xue Rui said dismissively, "Can’t you scammers come up with something a little more sophisticated?"
The young woman on the other end of the line was stunned. "What scam? We found a business card on the old lady with your number on it. It says Happy Elimination Co., Ltd..."
"Which hospital? I’m on my way." Xue Rui’s expression instantly turned serious. Those were business cards he had printed a long time ago. He had only ever left one box of them under the coffee table at Lin Ruoxi’s house.
"Actually, the patient is fine, nothing serious..."
Xue Rui hung up the phone, walked over to Lin Ruoxi, and whispered, "Mrs. Wang fell. We need to go to the hospital to check on her."
When Lin Ruoxi heard this, it was as if her soul had been ripped from her body. She stood frozen in place, her gaze vacant, and her face turned deathly pale.
Xue Rui sighed and patted Lin Ruoxi’s shoulder. "She just fainted. It’s nothing serious. Let’s go."
"Okay." Lin Ruoxi came back to her senses. Looking at Xue Rui’s tall figure from behind, she felt an unprecedented sense of security.
’As long as Xue Rui is by my side, everything will be okay.’
Xue Rui asked Director Wang for a leave of absence, but Director Wang insisted on driving them to the hospital.
The First People’s Hospital, Inpatient Department.
Xue Rui frowned. Mrs. Wang was usually fine at home. How did she suddenly end up being sent to the hospital?
Even if she had fainted at home, Lin Ruoxi would have had to go back to find her. Who sent her to the hospital?
Entering the fourth floor of the inpatient department, Xue Rui found a nurse and asked about it. She said the patient had been sent to the emergency room first. It was just a dislocated arm, and since it wasn’t serious, she had been moved to the inpatient department.
As for Lin Ruoxi, she had already rushed over to where the old lady was.
"What is wrong with you? Why did you help the old woman? Haven’t you ever watched TV?" a man in his fifties berated someone.
A plainly dressed, middle-aged woman said, "The old lady fell right there. I couldn’t just pretend I didn’t see it. My conscience wouldn’t let me..."
"Your conscience wouldn’t let you? Our son is getting engaged in a few days! If we get extorted, and our son can’t get married, will your conscience be fine then?" The man kept slapping the back of his hand as he spoke.
"Exactly! What if that old lady claims you pushed her?" someone else chimed in.
The onlookers were clearly divided into two camps, but most of them sided with the man, believing it was better to avoid trouble.
"I know..." The woman’s voice trailed off. What everyone was saying was starting to scare her.
As Xue Rui was listening from the side, a passing nurse commented:
"Why don’t you go in? The old lady who fell is in 402."
Seeing Xue Rui asking about the old lady, the woman hurried over and asked, "Are you the old lady’s family?"
Xue Rui nodded politely. "I am. Where did you find her after she fell?"
「...」
Director Wang had intended to help Lin Ruoxi handle the incident, but seeing how maturely Xue Rui was managing things, he decided to check on Lin Ruoxi’s guardian first.
"Then you can give me the money later. I paid for the hospitalization costs upfront." The woman pulled out a stack of bills from her worn-out shoulder bag.
"I paid three thousand yuan. I’m not trying to extort you! The old lady fell on her own," the woman said loudly.
Xue Rui sighed. ’Mrs. Wang really ran into a kind-hearted person.’
’Who dares to help an elderly person these days?’ He pulled out eight thousand yuan from the cash he had just withdrawn. "The extra five thousand is for your trouble and lost wages."
"I can’t take this! I only make sixty yuan a day..." The woman tried to refuse for a long time, but eventually, she couldn’t resist Xue Rui’s earnest insistence and accepted the money.
The man and the other onlookers were stunned. Xue Rui had actually forced five thousand yuan on the woman.
"We can’t let good deeds go unrewarded," Xue Rui said with a smile.
He couldn’t change the world, but he could at least give a kind person a small reward...
"See? I told you good people get rewarded," the woman said, showing off the money to the man.
Xue Rui’s eye twitched. He really didn’t know what to say. Should he encourage her to keep doing good deeds? Or advise her to be more careful next time?
Director Wang witnessed everything from the doorway. He thought that Xue Rui was truly a student of upstanding character, one who encouraged positive social conduct.
By the time Xue Rui entered the hospital room, he found that Mrs. Wang was already awake, with Lin Ruoxi sitting quietly by her side.
However, Xue Rui noticed Director Wang turning to leave. He called out, "Director Wang, where are you going?"
Director Wang whispered, "Since she’s alright, I’ll go buy some get-well gifts first. I need to visit her on behalf of the school."
"I’ve got things covered here," Xue Rui nodded.
After Director Wang was out of earshot, Xue Rui walked over with a stern face. "Mrs. Wang, you really know how to make trouble for me. Why would a perfectly fine person like you go out?"
He had just asked about what happened. The woman who brought Mrs. Wang to the hospital was a cleaning lady in their residential complex. While she was downstairs collecting cardboard boxes, she happened to see Mrs. Wang fall down the stairs and land on the pile of boxes she had collected.
Thankfully, the boxes cushioned her fall. Otherwise, who knows how badly she would have been injured.
As for fainting, the nurse said it was caused by shock, and she would be fine after a few days of rest in the hospital.
Mrs. Wang said weakly, "Xixi’s laundry fell down. I wanted to hurry down and get it before the wind blew it away."
Hearing this, Lin Ruoxi’s face filled with self-blame. She looked at Xue Rui with teary eyes. "I’m sorry, it’s all my fault. Please don’t argue with Grandma, okay?"
Xue Rui was holding back a lot of harsh words he wanted to say to Mrs. Wang, but he was met with Lin Ruoxi’s gaze first.
He felt incredibly frustrated. He gritted his teeth and said, "Mrs. Wang, just eat well and drink well. And for heaven’s sake, stop worrying about things."
Lin Ruoxi found it strange. Xue Rui was technically saying something nice, but why did it sound so uncomfortable?
Mrs. Wang chuckled. When it came to her granddaughter, Xue Rui’s efforts were like punching cotton.
Since Xue Rui knew nothing serious had happened, he called Yu Minlan and asked her to come keep Lin Ruoxi company at the hospital.
A woman passing by the room glanced back at Lin Ruoxi. "Xixi? What are you doing at the hospital?"
"Hello, Aunt Fan." Lin Ruoxi greeted her politely. "Grandma fell, so I’m here with her."
"Old Mrs. Wang?" The woman, whose surname was Fan, looked over in surprise and came in to chat with them.
"I was just here to see a relative..."
「...」
Xue Rui didn’t pay it much mind. That’s how it was in a small city; you could run into acquaintances anywhere. The woman was most likely from Hua Village.
Before long, Director Wang returned with two teachers. One of them was even holding a digital camera...
’Right, gotta document the work.’
’Director Wang is really something else,’ Xue Rui thought. ’How else would he have become a director?’
Yu Minlan also arrived at this moment, also carrying get-well gifts. Hers even had the Agricultural Bank’s logo on them.
Xue Rui gave her a surprised look. "You’ve gotten smarter?"
Yu Minlan followed Xue Rui’s gaze and instantly understood. She explained in a low voice, "Our bank manager ordered this."
Xue Rui pinched the bridge of his nose. ’Now it all makes sense.’
"Mrs. Wang, I’m here to visit you on behalf of the school. Lin Ruoxi at our school..." Director Wang chattered on and on with Mrs. Wang.
Facing the camera, he deliberately placed a hand on Mrs. Wang’s shoulder, put on a benevolent smile, and even gestured for Lin Ruoxi to lean in closer to him.
"..." Xue Rui was speechless. He nudged Yu Minlan beside him. "What, are they going to take a picture of you later, too?"
Mrs. Wang looked flustered and uneasy. She was truly overwhelmed by the attention.
She had only taken a small fall. Why were so many people coming to visit her?
She turned to look at Xue Rui, only to find him watching her with a wide grin. "Eat well and drink well."
The last time she was hospitalized, no one had come to visit besides her granddaughter...
After the group of people left, Mrs. Wang let out a sigh of relief. ’Being visited is so exhausting...’
A patient in the next bed asked curiously, "Old lady, what’s wrong with you? Why are so many people visiting?"
Mrs. Wang gave a wry smile. "I just took a fall. It’s nothing serious."
"What did the doctor say?" asked the family member of the person in the next bed.
Lin Ruoxi thought for a moment. "Eat well and drink well."
That’s what Xue Rui had told her.
The man visiting the patient in the next bed was shocked. ’Doesn’t that mean it’s almost over for her? How can this young girl not even understand what that means?’
He walked over to Mrs. Wang and whispered, "When the doctor says ’eat well and drink well,’ it means you should eat whatever you want, because you won’t be able to eat it later..."
