Chapter Thirteen: Moved

  "Just in time, there's no one in front of you, so I'll sit here." Yu Xiangqian grinned mischievously, "Also good to help the boss take care of you." "What are you talking about, fatty Yu?" I blurted out, oh no, how did I let his nickname slip out? I smiled awkwardly and said: "Don't mind, I think calling you fatty fish is quite endearing, what do you think, Qiao Hui?" Qiao Hui giggled on the side: "Exactly, fatty fish is really fitting." Yu Xiangqian rubbed the back of his head: "Fatty fish, hehe, it's indeed fitting. Alright, I acknowledge it. Now, let me ask you guys a question instead." Qiao Hui asked puzzled: "What do you want to ask? You're not going to give us nicknames too, are you?"

  Fat Fish hastily waved his hand: "No, I don't have that skill. I was asking you guys, did the boss help you carry your stuff this morning?" I nodded: "Yeah, what's up?" Yu Xiang said exaggeratedly: "Really... didn't you know? Last night, the boss brought his luggage to my house! I thought, why is he suddenly so enthusiastic? Turns out he was waiting to help you!" After finishing speaking, he chuckled mischievously and said: "Shouldn't I start calling you 'sister-in-law'?" I slapped him on the head: "You keep spouting nonsense, I'll ignore you from now on."

  Yu whispered mysteriously, "I still have something to say, do you want to know?" I pretended not to care and said, "*Whatever, let's just ignore him and read our books." He hastily waved his hand, "Don't ignore me, I'm about to tell you!" He cleared his throat in a pretentious manner and lowered his voice, saying, "Did you notice? Something is off with Lao Da?" "Off? No, nothing's wrong!" Yu immediately put on a distressed expression, "Lao Da, you're so pitiful! If you hadn't insisted on helping that girl move her luggage last night, you wouldn't have gotten hurt."

  "What? Injured?" I exclaimed. Seeing people looking at us, I quickly lowered my voice and said, "You'd better tell me what's going on! How did he get hurt?" Fat Yu smiled slyly again: "Hey, I told you, you still care about my old man." I pretended to hit him, and only then did he speak seriously: "Last night when the boss was delivering luggage, he accidentally fell and almost rolled down to the single-plank bridge. Luckily, he grabbed a stone beside him, or else... That's what happened, his hands and legs were injured, and he lost a lot of blood. He can really endure it, and he still managed to deliver the luggage. I asked him why he was in such a hurry last night, but he wouldn't say. Now I know, it turns out he wanted to free up his hands to help you carry your luggage. Alas! What a devoted old man!"

  I stood there, stunned, my mind racing with thoughts. Xiao Yang had actually gotten hurt to help me. I hadn't even noticed when I came this morning. And he did it all just to put my heart at ease, letting me treat him like a brother. Alas, I'm going to owe him after all. My heart feels heavy, with a hint of sweetness, a hint of weight, but mostly filled with gratitude. In my past life, I was indeed a true Cinderella, unremarkable in every way, never thinking that someone would actually treat me so well. But I'm destined to be unable to repay him... what should I do?

  Qiao Ni waved her hand in front of me: "Yun'er, what's wrong with you? The teacher is here, quickly put away your book." I came to my senses and took a look, indeed the teacher had arrived. This was the Liu teacher that my dad had mentioned. Around fifty years old, medium build, looking quite kind and gentle, but who knows if he's a smiling tiger. In my impression, this Liu teacher seemed to care about me quite a bit. I quietly put away my book and sat up straight, listening to Liu teacher give us our first lesson of the new semester. Generally speaking, it was warning us that being in the graduating class is very important, not allowing us to be distracted by things unrelated to studying, we must seize every second, forget to eat and sleep, and study diligently... Look at how serious I am, actually I wasn't listening at all, these are all things that I knew from my future experience as a teacher, no need to listen to know what the teacher would say.

  I'm now thinking about Xiao Yang getting hurt, I'll go see him after class. "Yin Ruoyun!" "Present!" The teacher is calling my name with a smile: "I heard you're good at drawing, so come be our class's propaganda officer. From now on, the blackboard newspaper and study column will be handed over to you." I'm taken aback: "Teacher, who told you?" The teacher is also taken aback, probably didn't think I'd ask back: "You can't draw?" "Oh, actually I can." "Then that's settled." The teacher gives a sly smile, "You have this talent and it can't be wasted, right?" "Oh, okay then." I nod obediently, feeling depressed in my heart, what did this old dad tell the teacher?

  Finally, the class was over, and I pulled Qiao Wei out of the classroom. Yu Baozi followed behind us, and as we walked, I said to him, "Yu Baozi, go take a look at Xiao Yang and ask him to come out for a bit. We'll be on that small hill over there." Yu Baozi replied enthusiastically, "Got it! I guarantee the mission will be accomplished!" Qiao Wei and I arrived at the small hill near the classroom toilet, and after a while, Yu Baozi came running back excitedly. I looked up to see Xiao Yang slowly walking towards us from behind. Upon closer inspection, his legs seemed to have lost some of their former agility, but it wasn't noticeable if you weren't paying attention. My eyes began to well up with tears, and I blinked hard to hold them back.

  Xiao Yang walked over with a faint smile: "What's going on? Who bullied my little sister? Look, her eyes are all red." As he spoke, he turned his head and glared at Fat Yu, "Be honest, was it you?" "Ahh, my big brother, do I have the guts to do that?" Fat Yu quickly put on an innocent face. I anxiously said: "It has nothing to do with him, let me see your hand." After finishing speaking, I didn't care about anything and grabbed his hand to examine it. Ah? I took a cold breath, only to see that the palm of his hand had been scraped raw, revealing the tender flesh inside. My tears could no longer be held back: "You idiot, why did you go over the bridge at night? Don't you know how dangerous that is? Who asked for your help?" As I spoke, I sniffled and scolded him: "Is there anywhere else? Quickly let me see!"

  Xiao Yang awkwardly withdrew his hand, hastily saying: "It's nothing, just a small injury, it'll be fine in a few days. I used to get hurt all the time when I was in the mountains. This little injury is no big deal." He turned around and glared at Pang Yu again, "You're just making a fuss." Pang Yu shivered with fear, his face twisted in distress, saying: "Big sister, please stop crying, or others will think we're bullying you." Seeing Pang Yu's chubby face scrunched up like a bitter melon, I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

  Fat Fish let out a long sigh and said with a flattering tone to Xiao Yang: "Boss, look, she's smiling now. It's not my fault, right?" Xiao Yang coldly snorted: "Don't make it a habit."

  Fat Fish smiled and said: "Thank you, boss. I'd like to report one more thing, just now, Ruo Yun classmate gave me a nickname called Fat Fish. Please, boss, investigate, reporting is complete." After finishing, he also saluted with an unstandard military salute. What a big treasure.

  "Oh, fatty fish? It's really fitting. Alright, I'll call you that from now on." Xiao Yang smiled with the corners of his mouth.