When Lu Ping woke up again, he was no longer lying down—he was sprawled out in the school’s Infirmary.
He lay prone on the sickbed, surrounded by a curtain. Through the pure white curtain, he could vaguely make out three figures standing in the Infirmary.
Among the three silhouettes, one was tall and upright, likely male based on the height, while the other two were considerably shorter.
One of the shorter figures spoke, and Lu Ping recognized her as the Infirmary teacher: “Meng, please describe what happened again.”
Meng Xin’s voice rang out: “Teacher, I was memorizing English in the small garden by the back gate when a cat brought a mouse. I was so scared I couldn’t move. Classmate Lu Ping grabbed a broom to hit the mouse, but he slipped into a puddle and fell. Then…”
“Then,” the boy interjected, “my senior called me and said Lu Ping had passed out, so I rushed over and brought him to the Infirmary.”
Hearing the familiar voice of his desk mate, Lu Ping, who was behind the curtain, shifted slightly. But that movement immediately tugged at the wound on his butt, sending a sharp pain through his tailbone. Caught off guard, Lu Ping let out a cry of pain.
“Lu Ping? You’re awake?” From outside the curtain, the tall figure immediately strode over. The next second, the curtain was pulled back, revealing Shen Yuze’s face.
The young man’s brows were slightly furrowed, his worry plain in his eyes. In all the time Lu Ping had known him, he’d never seen such an expression.
Wanting to cheer him up, Lu Ping painfully extended a hand and gave him a “V” sign. Unfortunately, his butt hurt too much, and the accompanying smile quickly turned into a grimace.
Seeing him still trying to joke around despite the pain, Shen Yuze’s face frosted over again: “Lu Ping, your butt doesn’t hurt anymore, does it?”
“It hurts…” Lu Ping said pitifully. He reached out to grab Shen Yuze’s sleeve, but Shen Yuze—whether out of anger or something else—didn’t let him. Undeterred by the rejection, Lu Ping continued, “I feel like my butt isn’t two cheeks anymore—it’s four.”
The Infirmary teacher and Meng Xin followed her in, Meng Xin’s expression full of concern. No wonder they said good-looking people had an advantage—even their worry looked beautiful.
The Infirmary teacher asked Lu Ping: “Classmate, besides your butt hurting, are you dizzy? Meng Xin said you fell on your back. Did you hit the back of your head?”
“Uh,” Lu Ping checked carefully, “my head hurts a little, and my hands do too.” He added softly, “But compared to my butt, nowhere else really hurts.”
When he fell, his hands had instinctively braced against the ground, so his palms and elbows had various degrees of abrasions, which the Infirmary teacher had already treated. As for the injury on his butt, she hadn’t gotten to it yet.
The Infirmary teacher immediately said she needed to examine Lu Ping’s butt. Meng Xin, realizing this wasn’t appropriate for her to witness, quickly stepped back, allowing the teacher to redraw the curtain.
As the teacher pulled the curtain, Shen Yuze stood right by the bed, not moving an inch.
Teacher: “Shen, why don’t you wait outside too.”
Shen Yuze clearly heard her but pretended not to, remaining stock-still. Lu Ping puffed out his cheeks but didn’t have the heart to shoo him away.
They were both guys, after all—having Shen Yuze see his butt wasn’t a big deal… right?
The school uniform pants were athletic style with an elastic waistband. With Lu Ping prone on the bed, the teacher pushed up his shirt with one hand and pulled his pants down to below his butt with the other.
The stretchy waistband caught at the top of his thighs, and suddenly Lu Ping felt a chill on his butt cheeks—his underwear had been pulled down too!
Though rationally he knew the Infirmary teacher was nearly fifty and seeing his butt was no big deal, all the blood still rushed to his head. He buried his entire face in the pillow, like an ostrich with its head in the sand.
As he lay there pretending to be dead with his eyes closed, a hand suddenly reached over and pulled him out of the pillow before he suffocated himself.
“Shy now, are we?” Shen Yuze’s hand gripped the back of his neck, tapping it lightly with his knuckles. “Where was that brain of yours when you were playing hero to save the beauty?”
Lu Ping muttered: “What kind of hero saving the beauty is this? Who uses their butt to save anyone?”
Shen Yuze ignored him.
Shen Yuze’s gaze flicked to Lu Ping’s butt. Lu Ping’s skin wasn’t particularly fair—he’d run around shirtless on the streets as a kid—but his butt was strikingly white. The two round cheeks were exposed to the cool air, with shallow dimples at the base of his spine.
But Shen Yuze had no time to admire it now. Between Lu Ping’s butt cheeks, a large bruise of blue and purple spread outward, with red spots of subcutaneous bleeding beneath the skin, looking especially glaring.
Seeing such a large bruise on Lu Ping’s butt, the Infirmary teacher said at once: “This isn’t just a simple fall. It’s very likely the tailbone is injured. I suggest going to the hospital for an X-ray as soon as possible.”
Lu Ping never imagined that chasing a single mouse would land him in the hospital!
Hearing they needed to go to the hospital, Meng Xin outside the curtain spoke up quickly: “Junior Lu got hurt protecting me. I’ll cover the hospital costs.”
Lu Ping: “No need…”
“No need.” Shen Yuze cut in, his tone brooking no argument. “I’ll handle this. No need to trouble senior.”
Lu Ping let out an “Ah?” not understanding why Shen Yuze was taking responsibility. This incident had nothing to do with Shen Yuze from start to finish—why was he stepping in?
…Could Chen Miaomiao have been right? Had Shen Yuze and Meng Xin developed feelings over time, and he wanted to help her out?
Just thinking about it made Lu Ping inexplicably irritable.
Lu Ping: “Ultimately, this was my own carelessness. I hurt myself, so I’ll handle my own medical care. No one needs to take responsibility.”
Meng Xin: “How can that be? If I hadn’t been scared of the mouse…”
Shen Yuze: “Lu Ping, your injury is this serious—how are you going to get to the hospital alone? Don’t be stubborn.”
The three argued over the minor matter, each insisting they should take responsibility, none willing to back down.
As they argued fiercely, the Infirmary teacher, who had been watching for a while, spoke up.
“Ahem… no need to argue anymore.” The teacher said, “The school has student insurance for every student. Since this happened on campus, the insurance will cover it.”
Lu Ping, Shen Yuze, Meng Xin: “…”
…
In just a single month, two ambulances pulled into the gates of Jiaojiang No. 1 Middle School, stopping at the Infirmary.
The first time was for Shen Yuze’s food allergy, which rumors twisted into poisoning. This time, it was Lu Ping’s butt injury, and he was carried out on a stretcher.
The ambulance took him to the nearest People’s Hospital. Along the way, Lu Ping covered his face with his uniform, not wanting other patients to see his ridiculous state.
Shen Yuze ignored his protests and accompanied him to the hospital. He even pulled strings to get Lu Ping into the same room he’d stayed in before.
The X-ray results came back quickly—Lu Ping’s tailbone was cracked and required three days of bed rest lying prone.
The tailbone’s location was tricky; it couldn’t be immobilized with a splint, and walking or sitting easily aggravated it.
Hearing this, Lu Ping’s brows knotted: “But I have classes… I can’t just lie at home forever.”
“For classes,” the doctor said, “put a hollow seat cushion on your chair. If you can’t find a suitable one, a kids’ swim ring works. You should be grateful—it’s just a crack. A full fracture there would require tricky surgery.”
Lu Dad and Lu Mom, upon learning their son had fallen at school, closed up their stall and rushed to the hospital.
Learning there was no major issue and he just needed bed rest, Lu Mom breathed a sigh of relief.
Lu Mom had worried herself sick the whole way, her heart pounding, until she saw Lu Ping: “Pingping, we got a call from Teacher Wu saying you fell and passed out at school. She wasn’t clear on the phone, so we thought you’d hit your head. We didn’t realize it was just your butt.”
Lu Ping: “What do you mean ‘just your butt’? Mom, butts hurt too!”
Lu Mom: “Little Wusun, butts have lots of meat. You didn’t cry when you fell on wood as a kid—now it hurts?”
Lu Ping huffed and fell silent.
Lu Dad had been hospitalized here before for lumbar surgery, crammed into a six-bed ward with an extra cot. But his son’s current room was a private single with its own bathroom—clearly not for ordinary folks. Seeing Shen Yuze bustling about nearby, he understood the good care came thanks to him.
Unfortunately, Lu Dad couldn’t speak Mandarin well and could only mumble his thanks in the Jiaojiang dialect.
A cracked tailbone was a minor injury. As the doctor said, bed rest would heal it in time. Lu Dad and Lu Mom decided to take Lu Ping home to rest.
This trip to the South Shore, Lu Dad had specially driven their second-hand Wuling Hongguang. It might look beat-up, but it was tough—great for hauling veggies or people. He planned to have Lu Ping lie in the back seat for the ride home.
When Shen Yuze saw the weathered Wuling in the parking lot, he wondered if it had just come back from the front lines.
As Lu Dad reversed out, the trunk rattled and banged nonstop—the rear shocks seemed nonexistent.
Shen Yuze: “…Better take my car. I’m afraid Lu Ping’s crack will turn into a fracture on this ride.”
And so, Lu Dad and Lu Mom led the way in their second-hand Hongguang, while Lu Ping lay sideways in the back of the Shen Family’s Cayenne, smoothly heading toward the North Shore.
What they didn’t know was that as their cars left the hospital, a red sports car brushed past them and pulled into the parking lot.
The scissor doors rose slowly, and a stylishly dressed beauty stepped out.
She removed her sunglasses and glanced back at the receding Cayenne. Because Lu Ping was in the back, she didn’t notice him, her attention fixed on Shen Yuze in the passenger seat.
If Lu Ping had seen her, he would have recognized her—she was Wang Shiya, Shen Yuze’s father’s mistress!
Wang Shiya pondered for a moment, then pulled out her phone and dialed.
“Shen Zong, it’s Shiya.” The beauty smiled sweetly. “I’m at the hospital for a check-up and happened to run into Yuze. Is he sick? We’re family, after all—should I go see him?”
…
The Cayenne followed the Wuling Hongguang slowly toward the North Shore.
Lu Ping had spent quite some time at the hospital, arriving home past nine at night. Luckily, the neighbors were all indoors, so no one noticed the Cayenne’s arrival.
The car stopped outside the courtyard gate. Lu Ping painfully climbed up from the back seat, shakily supporting himself on the door, hobbling as he prepared to get out.
On flat ground, he could manage, but his room was on the second floor. Just thinking of climbing the stairs made his butt ache in advance.
Lu Dad, feeling sorry for him, wanted to carry his son up.
But Lu Dad was under 1.7 meters tall, while Lu Ping was nearly half a head taller. Looking at his father’s broad but hunched back, Lu Ping shook his head repeatedly: “Dad, your son’s too big for you to carry. I’ll just hold the railing and take it slow.”
Lu Dad pretended to be angry. “Who said I can’t carry you? Even if you grew to two meters tall, you’d still be my son. What kind of father can’t carry his own boy?”
With that, the middle-aged man squatted down.
Just then, Shen Yuze walked over to the father and son. “Uncle, didn’t you have surgery on your back? You shouldn’t strain yourself. Let me carry Lu Ping.”
Lu Ping: “Huh?”
Shen Yuze: “What, you think I can’t handle it?”
“No, but…”
“Or would you rather I carry you bridal-style?” Shen Yuze said. “I could do that, but going up the stairs, you might not see the steps and we’d tumble.”
The thought of Shen Yuze carrying him bridal-style like in some TV drama made Lu Ping’s fragile sense of shame explode. How else would he carry him? Princess carry? This wasn’t an idol drama!
In his haste, Lu Ping made his choice. “F-Fine, then carry me on your back.”
Only after saying it did he realize—why did he have to choose between his dad and Shen Yuze? The Shen Family’s driver was built like a tank and doubled as a bodyguard. Why not have the driver uncle carry him upstairs?
But Shen Yuze gave him no time to regret. He immediately turned his back, crouched low, and gestured for Lu Ping to climb on.
Shen Yuze was tall with long legs. Lu Ping wrapped his arms around him, stood on tiptoe, and awkwardly hoisted himself onto the boy’s back.
Once Lu Ping steadied himself, Shen Yuze gripped the outside of his thighs, his arm muscles flexing. Lu Ping suddenly felt weightless as Shen Yuze lifted him fully.
The sudden loss of weight made Lu Ping uneasy. He didn’t dare lean back for fear of falling, so he instinctively pressed closer to Shen Yuze. The boy’s shoulders were straight and firm; Lu Ping’s arms looped around his neck, his dangling hands resting right against Shen Yuze’s chest. Through the school uniform, he could feel the strong thud of his heartbeat.
“Am I too heavy?” Lu Ping asked sheepishly. “Why’s your heart beating so fast?”
“…Not heavy,” Shen Yuze said as he straightened up, lips pressed thin. “Hold on tight.”
With that, Shen Yuze carried Lu Ping and strode toward the Lu Family’s small building.
An An wasn’t home today. Before heading to the hospital, Lu Dad and Lu Mom had left the little girl with relatives. She was probably asleep by now. If she saw her brother hurt, she’d cry her eyes out for sure.
These self-built village houses had higher ceilings than standard apartments, so the stairs from the first to second floor had over twenty steps.
Shen Yuze kept a steady pace, planting each foot firmly before taking the next.
Lu Ping’s chin rested on his shoulder, his warm breath brushing Shen Yuze’s neck.
Lu Ping wondered if it was his imagination, but Shen Yuze’s heartbeat seemed even faster now.
Heh, serves him right, Lu Ping thought. Shen Yuze never exercises. Backing someone up isn’t even cardio, and his heart’s already racing!
The twenty-plus steps passed quickly. Shen Yuze had been to Lu Ping’s house before and knew where his room was. He pushed open the door, flicked on the light, and delivered Lu Ping to his bed.
The moment Lu Ping hit the mattress, he flopped prone. The movement made him hiss in pain.
This was Shen Yuze’s second time in the room. Little had changed since last time, except for one new addition—a photo frame on the desk. In the picture, two boys stood shoulder to shoulder, staring intently at the camera, with a lazy old horse behind them.
The sky was clear, the boys full of youthful vigor. It was the snapshot they’d taken at the Horse Ranch.
Shen Yuze picked up the frame, his fingers lightly tracing the edges… Not a speck of dust. Lu Ping must wipe it down every day. They’d taken two photos that day at the ranch; Shen Yuze kept the other one framed in his study. Knowing Lu Ping treasured it too warmed his heart like sunlight.
As Shen Yuze admired the photo, Lu Ping suddenly remembered something from his prone position on the bed.
“Right, Shen Yuze.” He twisted awkwardly to look at Shen Yuze’s back by the window. “How did you know my dad had back surgery and can’t strain himself?”
“…” Shen Yuze paused for a few seconds, then set the photo down. “You forgot? You told me.”
“I did?” Lu Ping was baffled. “When?”
Lu Ping wasn’t one to complain. When Lu Dad had his surgery back in his first year of high school, Lu Ping rushed to the hospital after school every day to spell his mom at the bedside. Even then, he never told classmates or teachers about it.
He hadn’t vented to anyone back then—let alone Shen Yuze, who’d only transferred in a month or so earlier.
Shen Yuze turned, facing Lu Ping with a calm expression. “Your memory’s terrible. When I was hospitalized before, you came to visit and told me then.”
His demeanor and tone were so certain, and Lu Ping wasn’t the most confident sort. Shen Yuze insisted he’d said it, so Lu Ping let himself be led along in confusion.
Did I really tell him?
But why would Shen Yuze lie?
If I didn’t, how did he find out?
No way he investigated me!
The jumbled thoughts flashed through his mind. Before Lu Ping could sort them out, Shen Yuze changed the subject.
“Lu Ping, take off your pants.”
“Okay… Wait, what?!?!?!”
Lu Ping’s mind went blank, all stray thoughts vanishing.
The boy clutched his waistband like a virtuous youth about to be taken advantage of. Nervously, he asked, “W-What are you going to do?”
“What else?” Shen Yuze picked up a tube of ointment, his slender fingers unscrewing the cap with elegant ease—even such a mundane task looked pleasing when he did it. “Help you apply the medicine, of course.”
