Chapter 10: Yao Xing Academy 10 Part 1

School Infirmary.

The school doctor seemed to recognize Lu Zhou and showed no surprise at his injuries all over his body. Instead, when he saw Xun Ji supporting him, a trace of astonishment appeared on his face.

“Doctor, he’s injured. Apply some medicine to him first.” Lu Zhou pointed at Xun Ji and said.

The school doctor wondered if he had misheard. With these two standing together, it was obvious at a glance who was injured, wasn’t it?

“I’m injured?” Xun Ji was equally puzzled.

Lu Zhou grabbed Xun Ji’s right hand and spread it out in front of the school doctor. There was a small cut on the palm with a tiny splinter of wood still embedded in it—likely from when Xun Ji had smashed the door with the Wooden Stick earlier.

The school doctor hesitated to speak but eventually used tweezers to remove the splinter and applied some iodine to the wound.

That was close; if he hadn’t applied the medicine soon, it would have healed already.

Lu Zhou watched him finish applying it before sitting down to let the school doctor treat his own wounds.

“It’s good that nothing vital was hit. Just apply the medicine and rest for a few days, and you’ll be fine.” The school doctor carefully applied medicine to Lu Zhou’s wounds and sighed. “With your skills, couldn’t you have found an opportunity to escape? Why do you always have to clash head-on with that group? Every time you fight, my infirmary is packed full…”

As he spoke, he suddenly remembered that the leader of “that group” was sitting right in front of him. He nervously glanced at Xun Ji.

Xun Ji lounged half-reclined on the infirmary bed without proper posture, playing with his right hand that had iodine applied to it with his left.

Earlier, he had clearly mentioned the humiliation from their first meeting, and Lu Zhou had clearly reacted to his words, but the Daily Tasks prompt hadn’t popped up. Did that mean the same trick only worked once?

Xun Ji pondered if there was a once-and-for-all way to farm Daily Tasks when he suddenly heard the school doctor exclaim in surprise.

“Lu, this injury on you—wasn’t caused by being beaten, was it?” He pointed to a spot on Lu Zhou’s shoulder.

On the thin shoulder, a palm-sized purple-black bruise stood out shockingly.

“There’s one here too, and here.” The school doctor frowned as he discovered several similar wounds on the inside of Lu Zhou’s forearm and on his back.

“This is frostbite.” Xun Ji leaned over to look. “How did you get this?”

“That’s right, it’s frostbite!” The school doctor’s eyes widened. “Lu, did they…”

“No.” Lu Zhou unnaturally pulled his clothes together. “It has nothing to do with them. I did it to myself by accident.”

“How careless do you have to be to cover yourself in frostbite?” Xun Ji didn’t understand. “Were you sleeping in a freezer at night?”

“Lu, this injury needs to go to the hospital right away for specialized frostbite ointment. Let me write you a note…” The school doctor chattered on.

“I’ve already been to the hospital, and I got the medicine.” Lu Zhou lowered his gaze, not sure who he was saying it to. “It’s nothing serious.”

The school doctor had no choice but to give him some more instructions on precautions before letting him leave.

Xun Ji and Lu Zhou walked side by side toward the academic building. Lu Zhou walked slowly due to his injuries, so Xun Ji accompanied him at a leisurely pace. The afternoon class bell had already rung, and all the students were in their classrooms. The tree-shaded campus path was quiet, with only the rustling of the wind.

“You’ve been missing in the mornings lately. Are you going to work?” Xun Ji asked Lu Zhou.

This intel had come from the System earlier, which said that Lu Zhou got up at three in the morning every day and went out. After school in the evening, he always returned to his room first, rustled around for a bit, then ate with Xiao Ting, did homework, coaxed Xiao Ting to sleep, studied competition problems by himself, and went to bed promptly at ten.

No matter how much he loved studying, no one got up at three. Connecting it to what Luo Xunan had said before about Lu Zhou working part-time to support the family, Xun Ji guessed that his schedule and injuries stemmed from the job. The System’s “rustling around” was probably him applying medicine to himself.

For some reason, Lu Zhou didn’t really want Xun Ji to know about his part-time job. But living under the same roof day after day, it was impossible to hide, and he didn’t want to lie to Xun Ji either.

So he nodded. “Yes.”

“What job?”

“…Moving ice.” The boy’s youthful voice carried into Xun Ji’s ears with the rustling wind. “Delivering for an Ice Factory. Every morning, load the frozen ice blocks onto the truck and deliver them to the fresh produce stalls at the farmers’ markets.”

No wonder he had to get up so early. No wonder he was covered in frostbite.

Xun Ji frowned slightly. “Why choose this kind of job? There are easier part-time gigs you could do after school. I don’t believe you couldn’t find one.”

“It pays well.” Lu Zhou said. “And in the evenings, I want to spend more time with Xiao Ting. After Mom passed away, she always cries awake at night.”

“Did you do this before too?” Xun Ji meant before his mother died.

Lu Zhou shook his head. “Before, I did hourly jobs after school. They didn’t pay as much; they were just a drop in the bucket for the family expenses back then.”

“So when your family had high expenses, you did hourly jobs, but now when there’s not much to spend on, you’re doing heavy labor instead.” Xun Ji didn’t understand. Lu Zhou didn’t have to pay for food or lodging now—why work so hard to earn money?

Lu Zhou’s steps gradually slowed to a stop as he looked at Xun Ji’s back. That back walked a distance before realizing Lu Zhou hadn’t followed and turned around to look.

People shouldn’t chase after the sun; that was a lie from mythology. But the pain of skin scorched by the sun’s heat was addictive. Even knowing it was unattainable, one still delusionally wanted to get closer, even closer.