Chapter 18: Ji Huaizhi Catches the Scent on Ning Shuang Part 3

“Good to hear. Do your best with training.” Ning Shuang encouraged him.

Chen Lu hemmed and hawed. “Um… Senior, that time… you never told me your name…”

Ning Shuang remembered—he’d rushed off without giving it. He’d figured they’d never cross paths again anyway.

“My bad, I forgot. I’m—” Before he could finish, Chen Lu cut in hurriedly. “Senior! I already know your name. You introduced yourself today.”

“Oh, right. So what did you need…?” Chen Lu’s head was practically buried in his chest, leaving Ning Shuang amused.

Chen Lu hesitated. “So… could I get your contact info instead?”

“Sure.” Ning Shuang pulled out his phone without a second thought, opened his WeChat QR code, and held it out.

Chen Lu quickly scanned it.

Ning Shuang approved the friend request, pocketed his phone, and said, “All set. I’m off to eat. Finish up and get back to the dorm for a nap—afternoon training’s brutal.”

“Okay!” Chen Lu’s voice brimmed with excitement, his whole demeanor buzzing. “I’ll do my best! See you, Senior!”

He turned and bolted off.

Leaving Ning Shuang thoroughly baffled.

Whatever.

He jogged over to Ji Huaizhi and noticed his sour expression. Thinking he’d grown impatient from waiting, Ning Shuang hurriedly explained, “Ran into an acquaintance and chatted for a sec. Sorry, did I keep you long?”

Ji Huaizhi frowned faintly. “It’s fine.”

He turned and walked toward the school exit. His words said one thing, but his face said another. Ning Shuang hurried to match his stride. “You tired today?”

“Not tired,” Ji Huaizhi nearly said, but as his lips parted, he changed it. “A little.”

He didn’t look like the picture of robust health. Ning Shuang thought for a moment. “Mm… I’ll treat your class to iced tea this afternoon.”

“Our class?” Ji Huaizhi echoed.

“Yeah. If I just buy for you, they’ll get the wrong idea.”

“Wrong idea about what?” Ji Huaizhi pressed.

“That we’re… close or something.”

“But we live together now.”

Ning Shuang choked. “True, but we’re just roommates sharing a place.”

Ji Huaizhi went quiet. He shot Ning Shuang a look full of quiet grievance before looking away.

Puzzled, Ning Shuang prodded, “Hey, why’d you clam up again?”

“Bus is here,” Ji Huaizhi reminded him.

“Oh, right.” Ning Shuang followed him aboard.

~~~

Ning Shuang woke from his nap and headed to the bathroom to freshen up. He found Ji Huaizhi in front of the mirror, struggling to tuck his long hair under his military cap—his technique far less practiced than Ning Shuang’s.

Ning Shuang chuckled and stepped up. “Here, let me.”

He took the cap from Ji Huaizhi’s hands, stood on tiptoe, gathered the long hair in one hand, secured it with a hair tie, and fitted the cap snugly over top.

“Thanks,” Ji Huaizhi said.

Ning Shuang stepped back, hands on hips, admiring his handiwork with great satisfaction. “No problem! I can help you with it from now on.”

It sounded like a promise. Ji Huaizhi not only took it to heart—he looked forward to it.

The first week of military training passed just like that. During this time, Ning Shuang helped Ji Huaizhi with his hair every day. At first, the weather was still quite warm, but later it turned cooler, and some students began adding T-shirts under their military training jackets.

That morning when he woke up, Ning Shuang felt a bit cold himself. Even while brushing his teeth, he didn’t forget to remind Ji Huaizhi to put on more layers.

He had a full schedule of classes that day, but the Student Union had an early morning roll call, so Ning Shuang had no choice but to leave home ahead of time.

By the time Ji Huaizhi finished changing and came out, Ning Shuang was already nowhere to be seen. He pinched the hat in his hand and stood there silently for a moment.

Down below the teaching building, the military training squads were marching in formation. Ning Shuang propped his chin on his hand, watching them quietly. Lu Yuyang poked his head over from the side and glanced downstairs too. “What’s so interesting about that? Are you reminiscing about last year’s military training or something?”

Ning Shuang shot him a look. “I’m thinking.”

“About what?” Lu Yuyang asked curiously.

Ning Shuang answered honestly. “Dunno. I just feel like I’ve forgotten something.”

Lu Yuyang scoffed and flopped back onto his desk to continue playing his game.

At that moment, Ning Shuang’s phone on the desk suddenly lit up, and several messages popped up.

【Business Class 1 – Instructor – Zhou Silu: Ning Shuang, someone from your class got hit in the head by a basketball from some second-year students during PE class.】

Ning Shuang’s hand trembled as he held the phone. Wait, he hadn’t been there to supervise for half a day—how had this happened?

【Ning Shuang: What happened? Isn’t the military training area off-limits for other grades’ classes?】

During every military training period, open spaces like the basketball courts and badminton courts were allocated to the freshmen, so other grades’ PE classes were either held in non-training areas, turned into self-study sessions, or rescheduled.

Before Zhou Silu could reply, Ning Shuang had already asked his professor for leave and was rushing toward the military training grounds.

From a distance, Ning Shuang spotted someone sitting on a bench by the roadside. The person’s military training cap was off to the side, with long hair draped over one shoulder. He was holding a hand to his forehead, sitting obediently like a student waiting for a parent to pick him up, while a few other students bent down to talk to him.

Ning Shuang jolted in surprise. The one who got hit was Ji Huaizhi?

He hurried over to Ji Huaizhi’s side. “Ji Huaizhi?”

Hearing the voice, Ji Huaizhi immediately lifted his head and met the eyes of Ning Shuang, whose face was full of worry.

“What happened?” Ning Shuang crouched down and gently peeled away the tissue Ji Huaizhi was pressing to his forehead. A smooth strip of skin on his forehead bore a wound that was still oozing blood.

The instructor pointed to a buzz-cut guy in a basketball jersey standing next to Ning Shuang. “That’s the one who hit him just now. I told him to go to the infirmary first, but he insisted I message you, the class assistant, and have you take him.”

Ning Shuang followed the instructor’s gesture and locked eyes with a pair of anxious ones. The guy quickly said, “Sorry, sorry! It’s not serious, right?! I really didn’t mean to.”

His attitude was utterly sincere. Ning Shuang sighed and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, pressing it gently against Ji Huaizhi’s forehead. “Let’s head to the infirmary first. We can talk about the rest later.”

Ji Huaizhi tilted his head up to look at Ning Shuang. Those bewildered, innocent eyes only made Ning Shuang’s heart ache more. Ning Shuang hurriedly asked with concern, “How are you feeling? Is your head spinning?”

Ji Huaizhi shook his head at first, then said, “A little.”

Ning Shuang helped him up, letting Ji Huaizhi lean most of his upper body’s weight on him. The three of them headed toward the school infirmary.

When they arrived at the infirmary, it was packed with freshmen suffering from heatstroke or other issues. As Ji Huaizhi and Ning Shuang walked in, all eyes turned to their faces.

The school doctor came over to treat the wound. Fortunately, it wasn’t deep—just a scrape from the basketball. After applying some medicine, it was bandaged up.

The guilty guy nearby visibly relaxed with a sigh of relief. “Um, how much do I need to compensate?”

Ning Shuang leaned down and asked Ji Huaizhi gently, “How are you feeling now? Still dizzy? Should we get some scans to check?”

They were extremely close, and in the infirmary filled almost entirely with the smell of disinfectant, Ji Huaizhi could still catch Ning Shuang’s scent. His throat bobbed, and his heartbeat quickened.

“It’s fine,” Ji Huaizhi said. “No problem. I’m feeling much better now.”

Ning Shuang turned to the guy. “Didn’t your class get the notice? You’re not supposed to do sports in the military training areas, right?”

Ning Shuang almost never got angry—at least, not in front of Ji Huaizhi. This was the first time Ji Huaizhi had seen him speak to someone in such a cold tone.

The guy could only bow repeatedly in apology, explaining that his basketball itch had acted up and he hadn’t expected this to happen.

Ning Shuang didn’t know what else to say. Once he confirmed Ji Huaizhi was out of danger, he let the guy go.

“Such a handsome face— a scar would ruin it.” Ning Shuang reached up and gently brushed aside some stray hairs from Ji Huaizhi’s forehead, revealing the bandaged gauze.

Ji Huaizhi pursed his lips. “Not handsome now?”

“You’re handsome, handsome. Even like this, you’re still handsome.” Ning Shuang laughed.

Because of the injury, Ning Shuang specially requested three days’ leave for Ji Huaizhi, telling him to rest well at home.

But that very afternoon, Ning Shuang received another message about a student from his class getting into trouble.

By the time he rushed to the training area, they told him the student had already been taken away by ambulance 120. Ning Shuang was scared out of his wits and immediately grabbed Instructor Zhou Silu to ask what happened.

Zhou Silu was frantic too. “He just collapsed out of nowhere. Looked like anemia, but not quite. He didn’t respond when we called out to him—I got so scared I called 120 right away.”

“Who went with him?” Ning Shuang asked. “Give me the contact info. I’ll go to the hospital now.”

“Just one student from your class, named Mo Qi. Contact him and ask,” Zhou Silu said.

Ning Shuang nodded, searching for the student’s number in his contacts as he headed out of the school. A female student chased after him from behind. “Senior, Ning Shuang Senior!”

Ning Shuang turned around, and she handed him a small white bottle. “This fell out of his pocket. Might be his medicine or something—take it with you.”

“Okay, thanks.” Ning Shuang didn’t think much of it and pocketed the vial. At that moment, the call connected.

“Hello, this is your class assistant Ning Shuang. Which hospital are you at? What’s the situation now?” Ning Shuang reached the school gate and flagged down a taxi, giving the driver the hospital address Mo Qi mentioned.

After getting the basic details, Ning Shuang hung up. As he went to put his phone back in his pocket, his fingertip brushed against the medicine bottle the girl had given him.

Ning Shuang pulled it out and shook a pill into his palm. He picked it up, and the familiar shape and smell made his pupils contract. He knew this was tied to the Miao Frontier again. This medicine had definitely been sold to the guy in his class by that vendor at the night market.

He sniffed it carefully. It used roughly the same bitter grass as Ming Qingning’s medicine, along with an overdose of thousand silk cicada grass and some other ingredients. It wasn’t for weight loss—more like something for bulking up muscles…?

It wasn’t convenient to dissolve the pill for a closer look in the car, and he hadn’t brought the gu-dissolving medicine with him anyway. So Ning Shuang asked the driver to change course and head home.

At the doorstep, Ning Shuang knocked.

Ji Huaizhi should be home by now—Ning Shuang had personally put him in the taxi back.

But after half a minute, there was still no answer. Ning Shuang had to use his key to open the door. He glanced at the shoes in the entryway—Ji Huaizhi’s slippers were still there, meaning he hadn’t come home yet.

Ning Shuang froze in place for a few seconds. He knew he didn’t have time to dwell on it, so he hurried upstairs to his room, found the gu-dissolving medicine, and looked up. There at the window was that pure white little bird again, tilting its head at him and letting out a “coo coo.”

Spotting that Ning Shuang had noticed it, the little bird flapped its wings and flew away.

With the medicine in hand, Ning Shuang hesitated for a moment, then pulled out his phone and messaged Ji Huaizhi: 【Are you home yet?】

He pocketed the phone, grabbed his jacket, and dashed back downstairs and out the door. The same taxi driver was still waiting. After getting back in, Ning Shuang received Ji Huaizhi’s reply: 【I’m home.】

Ning Shuang’s grip tightened on his phone.