Resentment

  Qin Feng told the comrades at the base about the location and then carried Lin Peipei back to the dormitory. The people who went up the mountain came back one after another. Lin Haotian couldn't leave now, so he handed Lin Peipei over to him. When Qin Feng left, Lin Haotian patted his arm, implying "Brother, I'm leaving my sister in your care, take good care of her."

  Qin Feng sent Lin Pei Pei back to the dormitory, settled her in the bathroom, helped her bring in the luggage she had brought, and put everything she needed within reach. Still feeling a bit uneasy, he casually asked, "Can you take care of yourself?" Only after asking did he feel that this sentence was somewhat ambiguous, his face turned red, and he felt a bit uncomfortable. Seeing Lin Pei Pei nod, he said another sentence, "I'll come to carry you out after I'm done washing," and then exited the bathroom. Outside the door, he let out a breath, looked down at himself, and hurried back to clean up.

  Lin Pei sat on a stool in the bathroom, looking at her swollen ankle, which was as big as a pig's trotter. She moved it slightly and felt a sharp pain. In her heart, she was both annoyed and depressed. Why did she always get into trouble whenever she saw water? Last time, she got splashed all over, this time she fell into the water, it was so dark! Too dark! When she went back, she had to check the almanac carefully, or next time when taking a boat ride, who knows if she would fall into the sea. Luckily, Peak (Feng) brother was there this time, but what if he wasn't there next time? Who could save her then? She must check it thoroughly, not just one book, but several books. Yes, that's what she decided to do! And she'll also invite Wen Jia along.

  Alas, Lin Mei, you're really good at making excuses. If you knew you were being schemed against, wouldn't you say that your eight characters don't match with that person and have to check the Yellow Calendar carefully?

  Lin Pei Pei struggled to clean herself in the bathroom, Qin Feng had already finished washing and was waiting outside for a long time. Knowing that she had difficulty moving and couldn't go in to help her, he could only anxiously wait outside, his nerves stretched taut, ready to rush in as soon as he heard her cry out in distress. When he heard her call out to him, he hastily walked into the bathroom and carried her out.

  Qin Feng put Lin Peipei on the bed and sat down on a low stool beside it, putting Lin Peipei's injured foot on his thigh. He pressed his fingers against the swollen area, furrowing his brow slightly. The ankle was dislocated, and while it would be easy to reset, it would also be very painful. Qin Feng worried that Lin Peipei wouldn't be able to bear it.

  "Peipei, your ankle is a bit dislocated. I'll help you put it back in place later, it might hurt a bit, so bear with it."

  "It's nothing, just get on with it, I can bear... Ah!"

  Qin Feng took advantage of her distraction while speaking, and with a sudden force, "crack", the bone was reset. The intense pain that followed caused Lin Peipei's body to arch back and then fall forward, landing on Qin Feng's body, and she even bit his shoulder with her teeth, although not very hard, but still able to feel the trembling of her teeth.

  Qin Feng remained still, allowing Lin Pei to bite his shoulder, his hand pressed on the wound on her ankle, feeling the pain she was enduring at that moment, and his heart ached with hers. He wished he could transfer this pain to himself. After a while, thinking that the pain should have eased somewhat, he poured some medicinal wine into his palm and gently massaged the injured area.

  Lin Peipei leaned on Qin Feng's shoulder, slowly coming out of the intense pain, releasing her bite on his shoulder, but not lifting her head, continuing to lean on him, feeling him massaging her feet. The scent she had smelled earlier when he was carrying her down the mountain wafted into her nose again, accompanied by a faint smell of shower gel. She remembered that this scent had been familiar to her since she was very young, when Qin Feng often carried her around everywhere. Lin Peipei's mind flashed with some scenes: Qin Feng leaning over her crib, watching her; sitting in a stroller, letting Qin Feng feed her clumsily; being taken out to play by her two older brothers and falling asleep on Qin Feng's back... It seemed that in her memory, the memories of sticking to Qin Feng were more than those of her own brother Lin Haotian.

  Lin Pei's heart suddenly felt a deep sense of grievance, grieving for the departure of Qin Feng and his family back then, whose sudden change had turned her world upside down overnight; grieving that she had made her greatest effort to meet the conditions promised by Qin Feng at that time, but there was no news from him for over a decade; grieving that now when they met again, she could no longer cling to Qin Feng's side like in the past; grieving for the unnecessary pain she suffered today. She just felt very aggrieved, and the numerous emotions suppressed in her heart for many years burst out like a flood, tears gushing out uncontrollably, and soon wetting a patch on Qin Feng's shoulder.

  Qin Feng knew that Lin Pei Pei was crying and thought she was still in pain from earlier, so he comforted her, "It's okay, it won't hurt for long, in a few days you'll be back to normal."

  Lin Peipei didn't stop crying because of his comfort, instead she hugged his neck and cried loudly. Qin Feng also understood that it wasn't just about the pain in her foot, but also about the sadness that had been pent up in her heart for years. He let out a sigh, wrapped his arm around her body, and quietly let Lin Peipei vent in his arms.

  Dà Péi Pé cried for a while, finally lifted her head up, saw the big patch of wetness on Qín Fēng's shoulder, felt a bit embarrassed, lowered her head and didn't dare to look at Qín Fēng. Qín Fēng knew she was uncomfortable, so he deliberately lowered his head to look for her eyes, and teased her, "Let me see what this crybaby looks like... really ugly!"

  "Brother Feng, you're so despicable! You made me cry and now you're laughing at me. Hmph! I'm not going to talk to you anymore, bad person!"

  Lin Pei was teased into forgetting her embarrassment, and she started to pout like a child. Qin Feng saw that his goal had been achieved and stopped teasing her, continuing to help her massage her ankle.

  In the evening, before it gets dark, all team members return to the campsite, as required by Lin Haotian. For safety reasons, everyone must return before dark; those who return after dark will have their scores invalidated. Therefore, everyone returns to the campsite according to the rules, and Lin Haotian records each person's score separately, marking the end of this project.

  At night, Lin Haotian prepared barbecue food for everyone. A group of people gathered around, and Lin Peipei also participated, but she didn't need to lift a finger. Two handsome men automatically brought the roasted food in front of her. Other team members came over to offer water, and some even sent over paper towels. In short, they made sure she wouldn't go hungry due to her limited mobility.

  The comrades at the base, considering Lin Peipei's situation from earlier that day, took apart a wheel from a handcart and attached it to a wooden chair, creating a simple wheelchair for Lin Peipei's convenience. Although they were making amends, Lin Peipei accepted it calmly, after all, she was injured while with them.

  Su Mei returned and also heard about Lin Pei Pei's situation, feeling a bit nervous. After hearing that the comrades at the base were still unclear about the cause of the collapse, she slightly put her heart at ease. When she pulled out the wooden piece, she saw Qin Feng and Lin Pei Pei walking together, laughing and chatting. She only wanted to create some obstacles to annoy them, but didn't expect the result to be so severe. Now she's a bit worried that the comrades at the base will find out the reason, afraid that Qin Feng and Lin Hao Tian will know, while also comforting herself that the wooden piece has been thrown into the small stream, maybe it's already been washed away by the water, even if they drain the stream, they might not be able to find it. She calmed herself down with self-encouragement, putting on a very worried expression, and went to get close to Lin Pei Pei.

  "Ah, Lin's sister, how could this be? It's all my fault, I walked too fast. When I passed by that place, I felt something was off, but didn't have time to remind you. I thought with Qin Feng around, you wouldn't stand so close to the edge..."

  Lin Pei Pei found Su Mei's self-blame a bit inexplicable, thinking to herself, "If you really wanted to remind me, how could you possibly not have made it in time?" The place where they met was just a few steps away from the other location, so how could she possibly not have made it? Although Lin Pei Pei thought Su Mei's words were strange, she didn't think much of it, but her impression of Su Mei did change. She couldn't help but think that this older sister had some exceptional acting skills.

  The next day, the project in the camp continued, and Lin Peipei couldn't join in the fun anymore, so she just watched from the side. Sometimes, her teammates' actions while completing the project made Lin Peipei laugh uncontrollably, but even though she couldn't participate personally, it didn't bore her. In the evening, when they returned home, Wu Shulan saw Lin Peipei being supported by Qin Feng as she walked in the door and was startled, anxiously asking what had happened. After listening to Qin Feng's brief account of the incident and hearing that the dislocated joint had been reset, she felt a bit relieved, but still wanted Lin Peipei to go back to the hospital with her for another check-up tomorrow. Lin Peipei agreed.

  Qin Feng put down Lin Peipei and said he wanted to go back to the dormitory first, so he left Lin's house. After returning to the dormitory, he sorted out the things he brought with him, took a shower, washed his hair, changed his clothes, and went out again. On the ground floor, he met Su Mei, who had been waiting there all along. Qin Feng simply asked her why she hadn't gone home yet, and then left, but was called back by Su Mei.

  "Qin Feng... you... are you interested in Lin Haotian's sister?"

  Su Mei finally asked the question that had been bottled up in her heart.

  "It's none of your business who I like."

  Qin Feng turned around coldly and looked at Su Mei.

  "What about me... Do you know how many years I..."

  "I don't know what you've been thinking all these years, nor do I want to know. Although we were classmates and now colleagues, that's all there is to it. Do I need to understand your thoughts more? You just need to do your own job well. Or do you think you can't handle the current work? If you feel burdened, you can apply for a transfer or ask me to help you talk to Haotian?"

  Qin Feng didn't wait for Su Mei to finish speaking, and instead said a lot of things in one breath, leaving Su Mei stunned and at a loss. After Qin Feng finished speaking, he didn't pay attention to her again, turned around and left.

  Su Mei was stunned by Qin Feng's words, leaving her mind a complete blank. She hadn't expected that her attempt to clarify the relationship between Qin Feng and Lin Pei Pei, as well as confess her feelings, would be met with such a response. The words contained clear rejection and estrangement, as well as a warning with obvious intent. She felt extremely flustered at this moment, even struggling to distinguish left from right as she walked. In the next instant, a fierce anger ignited within her heart - it was all because of that damned Lin Pei Pei! You came back and stole my Qin Feng away from me! Why did you have to come back? Why didn't you fall to your death yesterday?! Lin Pei Pei...

  Su Mei was silently cursing Lin Peipei in her heart, her fingers clenched so tightly they were white and bloodless, her facial features twisted into a grotesque grimace.