Jiang Wang carried her directly to the infirmary.

Because of his knee injury, he had just left the infirmary. When the school doctor turned and saw him, before he could even ask “Why are you back again?” he noticed the soaking wet girl in Jiang Wang’s arms.

“What happened?” the doctor asked, stepping forward.

Jiang Wang only said: “Fell in the water.”

“The temperature just dropped. Don’t catch a cold. There’s a blanket inside. Cover up first.”

Jiang Wang carried Shi Niannian straight into the inner compartment of the infirmary, placing her on the bed and shaking open the blanket to wrap her up tightly.

“Are you cold?”

She shook her head: “It’s… fine.”

Jiang Wang laughed softly: “Then why are you shivering?”

Shi Niannian looked up, her dark eyes watching him.

Calm and gentle.

Water marks clung to her eyelashes, unclear if tears or water from the pond. The redness at the corners of her eyes hadn’t faded.

“Thank you,” she said softly.

Jiang Wang turned his head away, clearing his throat awkwardly.

The school doctor came in and asked, “Are there any injuries or abrasions?”

Shi Niannian opened her palm, showing a red mark at the base of her hand. It happened when she was pushed into the pond and instinctively tried to grab onto something.

It wasn’t serious, just some scraped skin with a few streaks of blood.

Jiang Wang frowned, biting down hard on his jaw, his jawline tightening.

The doctor went out and returned with disinfectant alcohol: “It might hurt a little, bear with it.”

“Mm.”

The school doctor sat on the edge of the bed, using medical cotton soaked with alcohol to gently wipe Shi Niannian’s injured palm.

Jiang Wang stood to the side, watching Shi Niannian’s expression.

The young girl lowered her eyes, seriously watching the doctor’s movements, without frowning or showing any sign of pain, very calm.

She looked a bit silly, with reactions half a beat slower.

Jiang Wang silently hooked the corner of his mouth.

He walked over and ruffled her hair, his tone carrying a barely detectable coaxing: “I’ll go get some things, wait for me here.”

—

A few days ago, when preparing for the basketball match, because training often soaked his clothes, Jiang Wang had left two clean outfits at school.

When he returned to the classroom, he saw Jiang Ling arguing with Cheng Qi, her face red and fists clenched.

Xu Fei had probably told everyone what happened after returning to the classroom.

As soon as Jiang Wang walked into the classroom, everything around him quieted.

Shi Niannian was still lying in the infirmary. He didn’t have time to deal with Cheng Qi at this moment, so he walked straight through the crowd to his seat and pulled out a T-shirt from his backpack.

Jiang Ling quickly ran over: “Jiang Wang, where is Niannian now?”

“Infirmary.”

Jiang Ling widened her eyes: “Is she injured? Is it serious?!”

“It’s alright, just some abrasions.”

Jiang Wang bent down to pick up the thermos on Shi Niannian’s desk and headed out.

When he returned to the infirmary, the little girl was holding a cup of Banlangen herbal medicine.

“Change into this shirt first,” Jiang Wang said. “Don’t catch a cold.”

“Thank you.”

Shi Niannian finished the cup of medicine, tilting her head back, and took the shirt from him. Her wrist was slender and fair, with water marks not yet dry.

Jiang Wang turned and walked out the door.

The school doctor found a pair of hospital pants in the cabinet by the bed and turned up the air conditioner: “Just wear these pants for now, and hang your clothes under the air conditioner to dry.”

The school doctor shook his head: “How did you fall into water in this weather? You’re too careless.”

Shi Niannian smiled and softly thanked him again.

The shirt Jiang Wang gave her was a black T-shirt, completely plain black except for a brand logo on the chest, and very loose.

Shi Niannian went to lock the door and changed into a T-shirt.

Jiang Wang was very tall. Shi Niannian, at 1.6 meters, only reached his shoulder when standing next to him.

The T-shirt loosely covered her, with the hem covering half her thighs and the sleeves hiding her elbows, almost the same length as Shi Niannian’s dress.

She then put on the hospital pants the doctor gave her, blue and white vertical stripes, very light in color, and also very long, dragging on the ground.

Shi Niannian looked down at her mismatched clothes and sighed very lightly.

She was too short.

She had to bend down and roll up the pant legs three times.

Just as she finished changing and placed her original wet clothes on a hanger under the air conditioner, someone knocked on the door from outside. Jiang Ling’s voice came through: “Niannian, are you okay?”

Shi Niannian opened the door and went out: “I’m fine, don’t… worry.”

Jiang Ling was stunned when she saw her outfit: “Niannian… you look only 1.5 meters tall dressed like this.”

“…”

A deep, magnetic laugh came from the other side.

Jiang Wang leaned against the wall, looking at her clothes and pants, also laughing, walking forward unhurriedly, raising his hand to press on top of her head: “Why are you so short?”

Shi Niannian lowered her eyes, tugging at her pants, defending herself without much confidence: “The clothes are… too big…”

—

After her clothes dried, there was a large stain left on them, making them unwearable. Shi Niannian had to ask for a bag to put the dirty clothes in and returned to the classroom wearing a jacket over the T-shirt.

Jiang Wang was afraid she would catch a cold and originally wanted to give her the slightly thicker clothes he was wearing, but Shi Niannian refused no matter what, so he had to give up.

Fortunately, the walk back was near the end of the noon self-study period. The teaching building was quiet, with everyone either sleeping or buried in homework. There was no one in the corridor, so they didn’t attract attention.

As they passed the office, Cai Yucai happened to come out.

He must have just finished resting, without glasses, with a red mark pressed on the side of his face.

He squinted for a while, then raised his eyebrows: “Shi Niannian! What happened to you? Why are you wearing hospital clothes?”

His voice was too loud. Jiang Ling quickly pulled him and shushed him: “Teacher Cai! Lower your voice!”

So Cai Yucai asked again in a suppressed voice: “What happened?”

Jiang Ling angrily said, “It was all Cheng Qi’s doing!”

For the next five minutes, Jiang Ling vividly described how Cheng Qi had bullied Shi Niannian and how vicious Cheng Qi’s group was.

Cai Yucai knew that Cheng Qi was not a good student, but he didn’t expect her to be this vicious.

He put on a stern face and said seriously, “I understand. I’ll talk to her later.”

Cai Yucai had something to discuss with Jiang Wang and Shi Niannian, so he asked Jiang Ling to return to the classroom first and asked them to come to the office.

Our school will participate in a physics competition in November. Your physics scores in this monthly exam are among the top in your grade, so the teacher wants to send you two to participate.

“Students from all over the country will attend this competition, but the exam location is in this city. The school will arrange transportation to take you there. In the coming period, the school will conduct competition training during evening self-study sessions. You may need to find extra time to focus on other subjects, but this physics competition will be very helpful for the subsequent comprehensive university admission process!”

After saying this, Cai Yucai folded his hands under his chin and looked at them eagerly.

“So, will you participate?”

Shi Niannian nodded: “Yes.”

Cai Yucai nodded with satisfaction and turned his eager gaze to the other side: “Jiang Wang, what about you?”

“…Fine.”

—

Shi Niannian entered the quiet classroom through the back door as the noon self-study session was ending, not attracting much attention except from a few people in the last row.

Chen Shushu scolded the boys who were laughing behind her and borrowed clothes from a female friend who lived in the school dormitory for Shi Niannian.

From leaving the office until the last self-study class in the afternoon, Jiang Wang hadn’t returned.

Shi Niannian looked at Jiang Wang’s neatly folded T-shirt in her drawer, hesitated for a long time, then took out her phone from her backpack and walked out of the classroom.

The most recent call was from Jiang Wang.

She recalled how Jiang Wang had hit that person earlier and wondered if there would be consequences.

She didn’t want to cause trouble for Jiang Wang because of her.

Though the incident at noon was serious, everyone seemed unclear about what exactly happened. Cheng Qi and her group hadn’t come in the afternoon, and the situation with that Class 9 student was even less clear.

She walked alone to the staircase at the far side of the teaching building, sat on the top step, and dialed Jiang Wang’s number.

It was an English song.

It rang for half a minute with no answer.

Shi Niannian put the phone back in her pocket without redialing, hugged her knees to her chest, and buried her head down.

She was very uncomfortable with people being so nice to her. She came here after graduating from middle school. Because her parents were busy with work and her younger brother had that disease, her parents said they couldn’t take care of her. So her father arranged for her to attend No. 1 Middle School here and live at her uncle’s house.

She wasn’t sure exactly what kind of care she needed that was so troublesome, or why they threw her like garbage into this completely unfamiliar city at that time.

But she didn’t ask.

She always stuttered when she spoke.

Her uncle’s family treated her exceptionally well, something she had never experienced in her previous decade-plus of life.

And now there was Jiang Wang.

…

Suddenly, a loud shout rang in her ears.

Wang Jianping’s voice: “Jiang Wang! How can you bully your classmates like this at school? Where have you put the school rules?!”

The young man stood in front of him, eyelids drooping, showing no reaction, calmly saying: “Ah, I resolved it off campus.”

“You think you’re right?! Does being off campus mean you can bully classmates? I know your father is on the school board, but you can’t disregard school rules like this, can you?”

Jiang Wang frowned a bit impatiently.

Wang Jianping’s voice was really loud and penetrating.

In the corridor during the last self-study session of the afternoon, students quickly poked their heads out of the windows to look.

They were promptly shouted at by Wang Jianping: “What are you looking at?! Self-study time!”

Several heads quickly went back in.

Cai Yucai ran out of the office, saw Shi Niannian at the end of the corridor: “Quickly go back to the classroom! I’ll explain to Teacher Wang!” Then he ran over.

—

“Teacher Cai! This isn’t just about whether a child is impulsive! They may have been wrong first, but Jiang Wang shouldn’t have hit people like that, don’t you agree?”

“Hit people? Where are they now?”

“Just called the school doctor to check. I’ll go see if it’s serious later.”

…

Wang Jianping and Cai Yucai’s voices reached the classroom.

Jiang Ling turned her head: “Niannian, did Jiang Wang go after Cheng Qi and her group again?”

Shi Niannian didn’t speak.

Jiang Ling added with schadenfreude: “Serves them right! Who told them to bully you?”

When Jiang Wang returned to the classroom, all eyes were on him. He looked up, and everyone quickly lowered their heads.

The school bully’s authority had returned.

Jiang Wang sat back in his seat and asked, turning his head: “Did you call me earlier?”

“…Mm.”

He laughed: “Worried about me, huh?”

He didn’t look like someone who had just been scolded.

Shi Niannian looked at him without speaking, then, after a while, asked: “Did you go find… Cheng Qi?”

He casually made a sound of “Hmm?” without intending to answer.

“Are you… Injured?”

He raised his eyebrows, leaning on his elbows to move closer to her, the young man’s presence enveloping her.

During self-study, no one was really focused on their work; all were secretly listening to the conversation at the back, so the two spoke in very low voices.

After leaning over, Jiang Wang was even closer.

“You’re worried about me?”

“Mm.”

Jiang Wang was stunned.

Shi Niannian lowered her eyes and said slowly: “They are… very bad.”

Jiang Wang laughed.

He thought to himself, the worst one is right in front of you now.

“Alright.” He nodded and tore a piece of paper from his notebook. “Did you hear Wang Jianping scolding me just now?”

She nodded.

“Did you hear him tell me to write a self-criticism?”

She nodded again.

Jiang Wang put the paper on her desk: “Then you write it for me.”

Shi Niannian looked at the paper on the desk, a bit confused: “What?”

“You write it for me.” Jiang Wang said self-righteously. “Tell me, wasn’t I punished because of you?”

Shi Niannian felt something was off, but still nodded and said: “Yes.”

“Then shouldn’t you write it for me?”

“But I don’t… know how to write it,” Shi Niannian said.

Jiang Wang raised an eyebrow and pointed at himself: “Do I look like someone who knows how?”

Shi Niannian looked at him seriously and said: “Aren’t you… supposed to be very experienced?”

“Shi Niannian.” Jiang Wang sighed, probably because no one else dared to talk to him like this. “You’re very brave now, even daring to mock me?”

“…”

Isn’t that the case? Shi Niannian thought to herself but didn’t say it out loud.

“Fine, you’re the boss.” Jiang Wang sighed, taking a pen from Shi Niannian’s desk. “I’ll write it myself.”

His tone was quite aggrieved.

Shi Niannian found it amusing and reached out her hand to take back the paper: “I’ll… write it for you later.”