Chapter 6: The Trump Card

  At the beginning of the new semester, Qiao Yu was still acting abnormal, sitting in the dormitory staring at his phone with a restless mind.

  Ji Xiu has been quiet for a whole holiday, and it's been several days since school started, but there is no sign of her.

  Before, she would suddenly pop out and call his name with a smile while he was walking in school. There were so many "encounters" on the small paths of the campus, in classrooms, and in the cafeteria. But now, no matter how hard he tries to search for her figure, it's nowhere to be found.

  It wasn't until then that he realized, perhaps there weren't as many coincidences in this world after all. So-called coincidences were always the result of one person secretly putting in some effort, and naturally, the other person would never know.

  Qiao Yu called out to Lin Chen who was getting ready for class, "Let's have dinner together tonight, and bring your sister along too."

  Lin Chen was about to respond when he saw Qiao Yu hesitate and then say, "Might as well call all of them from their dormitory too."

  Lin Chen smiled but didn't answer, turned his head to glance at the other two in the dormitory, then stared at Qiao Yu with a profound meaning.

  Xiao Ziyuan and Wen Shaqing exchanged a glance, also looking at Qiao Yu with profound meaning.

  Qiao Yu looked away somewhat awkwardly, "It's just... lively with so many people."

  This meal ultimately didn't come off, but a few days later, Qiao Yu still met with Ji Siyue.

  During the interview for transferring to the Architecture Department, Professor Fu Hongmian called up his favorite student Qiao Yu. The old professor was a bit of a rogue and before they started, he teased Qiao Yu, "Later on, just give me a signal with your eyes when you see someone you like, and we'll arrange for her to be your daughter-in-law."

  "It seems like I've thought of something else," he added, "This is only for you, junior sister. The other senior sisters are still reserved for your junior brother."

  The other teachers present were all junior students of Fu Hongmou, wanting to laugh but not daring to.

  Qiao Yu looked at other teachers stifling laughter with red faces and couldn't help but laugh, lowering her head to look at the interview list in her hand.

  The order of the interview was 'random', and Ji Siyu was arranged relatively later. After interviewing a few people, Qiao Yuhao rarely felt some oppressive anxiety, and when he finally got to the person in front of Ji Siyu, he felt inexplicably tense again.

  The boy in front of him said something he basically didn't hear, when the boy went out, he heard a voice calling "Ji Si Xuan" at the 'door', and his line of sight was stuck on the 'door'.

  That figure quickly pushed the door in, unlike the usual light footsteps, but one jump at a time, with bandages wrapped around her right foot. When she saw Qiao Yu, she smiled for a moment and then quickly put on a serious expression and sat properly in the chair.

  That smile seemed a bit distant, a bit calm, and also... too serious to Qiao Yu. It was as if he had just returned from a holiday, and everything felt somewhat different.

  Soon a teacher asked, "Little girl, what's wrong with your foot?"

  Ji Siyuan replied straightforwardly, "The thermos exploded and scalded me."

  "Why don't you use a cane?"

  Ji Siyun wrinkled her nose in distaste, "Using a crutch is too ugly."

  Several teachers laughed for a few moments before getting down to business and asked several more professional questions.

  Qiao Yu looked at her unhurried and composed response, seemingly well-prepared, completely unlike the careless and unreliable impression she gave when they were studying together before. Her answers were much better than those of the previous competitors.

  Several teachers exchanged glances and nodded before asking routine questions.

  "Why did you choose to attend medical school in the first place?"

  Ji Siyun let out a light cough and spoke extremely quickly, "Slip of the hand."

  “……”

  Ji Siyuan's gaze swept over the faces full of incredulity and added, "Really was a slip of the hand..."

  "Why did you transfer to the architecture department? Isn't the medical school 'good enough'?"

  "Do you know Lu Xun? Do you know why Mr. Lu Xun gave up medicine and turned to literature?"

  "Why?"

  "The exam in medical school is really too difficult."

  Hahaha...

  "This little girl is quite interesting."

  After Ji Siyuan left, several teachers started discussing.

  Teacher A: "This little girl seems a bit unreliable, she even got her volunteer report wrong."

  Qiao Yu: "It just looks like it, her grades are quite high, should be okay."

  Teacher B: "Hmm... these few pictures are actually painted quite well."

  Qiao Yu: "Mmm, it's clear that you have some foundation."

  Teacher C: "The medical school is transferring over, and the span is quite large. The basic courses have not been studied, and it's unclear whether they can keep up after the transfer."

  Qiao Yu: "She's very clever, should be no problem."

  Teacher A: "Well, this is also true, her grades are the best among these few people."

  Qiao Yu: "Right, right."

  The teacher made a comment, and Qiao Yu unconsciously added a sentence in a low voice, and the atmosphere became somewhat strange after a few sentences.

  Fu Hongmou, who had been silent all along, looked up at him and asked, "What are you doing?"

  Qiao Yu awkwardly rubbed his nose, "Nothing's going on, just...just discussing official business."

  The old professor had seen it all and chuckled as he teased him, "I think you're just being unreasonable to people but reasonable to things, huh? Do you know him?"

  Qiao Yu hesitated for half a day, smiled and nodded, "Yeah, I know him."

  The old professor suddenly realized, "Fancy her?"

  Qiao Yu didn't expect the professor to be so direct and was taken aback for a moment, "Huh?"

  "Ji Siyun's 'intersection' homework has your handwriting shadow in it, don't think I can't see it. Didn't we just say that if you like something, speak up? The old professor picked up his pen and drew a few strokes on the paper, not forgetting to greet the other teachers, "This one is passed, call the next one."

  Several teachers nodded in agreement, while Qiao Yu continued to make a scene with a black face.

  When Qiao Yu found Ji Si Xuan in the school hospital, she was sitting on a bed by the window receiving an IV, her head tilted to look outside, lost in thought. Her uninjured leg was propped up on the side of the bed, gently swaying back and forth. Hearing footsteps, she turned her head to see Qiao Yu, but didn't show any surprise, instead smiling properly and calling out, "Qiao Shixiong."

  This one sentence made Qiao Yu's heart skip a beat, it was hard to get her to call him "Shixiong" before, she always cheerfully called him Qiao Yu without any respect.

  Qiao Yu stood in front of her, responded with a "yes", and didn't look at her, but instead lowered his head to adjust the speed of the IV drip, speaking softly, "Does it still hurt?"

  Ji Siyuan stared at her injured foot, "It doesn't hurt anymore, I just don't know if it will leave a scar. If it leaves a scar, then I won't be able to wear pretty skirts in the future."

  Her voice was somewhat disheartened, but Qiao Yu didn't know how to comfort her. He bent down to remove the bandage from her foot and asked, "Is it serious?"

  Ji Siyun dodged slightly without leaving a trace, and smiled mischievously, "Gotcha! It's not serious, and I have a scar-free physique, so I definitely won't leave any scars."

  Qiao Yu looked at her and suddenly spoke up, "It's been a long time since we last met."

  Ji Siyuan laughed and said, "Big brother, have you gotten amnesia? Didn't we just see each other during the interview earlier?"

  The medicine in the IV dripped down drop by drop, and Qiao Yu seemed to hear his own heartbeat. "I'm saying that it seems like I've only seen you once recently."

  Ji Siyun was taken aback for a moment, then laughed again, "Yeah, I got fat from eating and being lazy during the holidays, it's too ugly to meet you."

  Qiao Yu glanced at her, not knowing if it was because of the injury, but she didn't just lose weight, her palm-sized small face seemed to have lost a lot of flesh, and what worried him even more was her casual tone.

  He slightly furrowed his brow and muttered in a low voice, "Not ugly, not one bit."

  The surroundings suddenly became quiet. Qiao Yu was originally a quiet person, usually it was Ji Siyu who teased him into speaking, now Ji Siyu had also become quiet, and for a moment the atmosphere was somewhat awkward.

  At this time, the infusion room was quiet with no one around, only the sound of the air conditioner blowing wind in her ears. Ji Si Xuan seemed to have no intention of breaking this silence either, ignoring Qiao Yu and lowering her head to play games on her phone listlessly.

  Qiao Yu turned to look at the IV drip, the 'medicine' dropping one drop at a time. When he counted to 298, Ji Si Xuan's voice slowly rose above the game music. Her fingers kept jumping on the screen, her voice carrying a hint of distraction. "That day I went to find you with water, when the thermos exploded, I saw a girl standing under the tree confessing to you. You smiled and shook your head so gently. At that moment, I seemed to see another self, so humble, so... overestimating myself. Suddenly I realized, maybe to you, I'm no different from others. How you treat me is how you'd treat others. It turns out, you really don't like me."

  Qiao Yu looked at Ji Siyun, perhaps he had never seen her speak so seriously before, and he couldn't bear to interrupt her. It wasn't until the game over sound effect went off that Ji Siyun finally lifted her head from the phone screen and looked at him with a calm expression, saying "So, Qiao Shixiong, I give up, and from now on I won't bother you again."

  Qiao Yu listened quietly, without any reaction under Ji Siyu's gaze. He soon raised his head to glance at the IV bottle, "It's finished, I'll go call a nurse to remove the needle for you."

  Having finished speaking, she turned around and went to call the nurse.

  Ji Siyuan stared at the calm figure with gritted teeth.

  Damn it! Qiao Yu, I've even used my trump card, and it's still not working?! Are you a man or not?!

  The nurse pulled out the needle. Ji Siyuan pressed her hand against the back of her hand to stop the bleeding, and at the same time, she listlessly used her uninjured foot to reach for her shoe.

  Qiao Yu looked for a few seconds, then quickly bent down to pick up the shoe, and then half-knelt in front of her, gently pulling her foot onto his knee, bowing his head seriously to put on her shoes.

  His profile is gentle and delicate, his voice is soft and pleasant to the ear. "Since I met you, I've always seen you as a joke, so I didn't give you a serious answer. Besides, who would be like you, so bold in public and confessing to someone like that?"

  Qiao Yu raised his head and looked at Ji Si Xuan with a somewhat amused expression, then lowered his head to tie his shoelaces.

  "I haven't helped any other 'girl' put on shoes, except for my sister." Long and slender fingers nimbly tied a bow, and only then did Qiao Yu raise his head to look at Ji Si Xue again, still maintaining the half-kneeling posture. "I'm not as great as I seem on the surface, I have many small flaws, no particularly good qualities, don't understand romance, am not very good at taking care of people, a bit dull, and won't say sweet nothings. Being with me might not be as great as you imagine."

  He paused for a moment, and when he spoke again, his voice was soft and clean, with a hint of a smile, "I haven't said these words to any other 'girl', including my sister."

  At this time, Ji Siyu was already stunned.

  Qiao Yu suddenly smiled, his painted eyebrows and eyes instantly filled with tenderness, "If you really like it, I can go learn, I think it shouldn't be difficult, right?"

  The sun sets in the west, she sits on the edge of the bed, he kneels in front of her, one hand pinching one of her feet resting on his knee. The boy smiles with a clear and bright expression, the girl's face is slightly red and her eyes are wide with wonder, because she lowers her head, her fine long hair falls down, and the wind blows, gently floating beside the boy.