Chapter 51
For the next few days, Gu Jiao didn"t go out and only stayed at home, learning to write from Xiao Liulang and at the same time, accompanying Xiao Liulang in his rehabilitation.
Xiao Liulang didn’t seem to care whether he could walk properly again or not. Gu Jiao already discovered this before the surgery, which made her wonder what he had experienced in the end. It was as if he was dead inside, no longer holding any love and enthusiasm for life at all.
Back then, Feng Lin was worried that he would have an accident during the surgery, on the other hand, he agreed without saying another word, which didn’t stem from bravery nor fearlessness, but from being apathetic to whether he died or not.
But Gu Jiao would not let him die, nor let him remain disabled.
"It"s time to exercise." Gu Jiao finished cleaning up the house and went to Xiao Liulang"s room.
Now that she no longer regarded herself as an outsider, she didn’t even bother knocking on the door.
Xiao Liulang"s expression instantly turned ugly.
Not because she didn"t knock before she came in, but because he didn"t want to exercise at all.
Gu Jiao had guessed that he would have this kind of reaction, but she didn"t give him the slightest chance to refuse. She walked over to him and pulled him up from his chair. Not only did she enter his room so casually, but also pulled him in a too familiar way. Seriously, men and women should keep appropriate distance!
Xiao Liulang had a slight wrinkle between his eyebrows, but how could he cope with just one foot? In the end, he was dragged out of the house by Gu Jiao.
"My crutch." Xiao Liulang said.
Gu Jiao raised an eyebrow and said, "From today on, there will be no crutches."
Xiao Liulang glanced at her and said faintly, "I can"t walk without my crutch."
Gu Jiao crossed her arms over her chest, saying charmingly, "I’m here to help you walk. I will be your crutch!"
Don"t think she didn’t notice it. Every time he used his crutch, he didn"t recover well. He put all his weight on the crutch, so that his right foot didn"t get any exercise at all.
Xiao Liulang frowned.
Gu Jiao smilingly said, "If you want your crutch, go back into the house by yourself."
With his right foot having no strength, how could he get back inside? His only choice was to jump with his left foot.
But at the thought of that scene, Xiao Liulang gave up decisively!
Xiao Liulang"s signs of slacking off whenever he was using his crutch was thus put out by Gu Jiao.
He could put his weight on the crutch with ease, but he couldn’t do the same on Gu Jiao"s soft little body, because——
"Husband, don"t press on me all the time. You must learn to exert yourself."
"Yes, that"s it!"
"Use a bit of strength again! I’m going to be crushed by you!"
"This kind of thing, how can you just leave it to a woman?!”
Xiao Liulang gritted his teeth and said, "... Just a bit, lend me just a bit of strength!"
What messy words you were uttering! Could you just keep your mouth shut?!
Xiao Liulang was forced to walk seriously. Usually, he could go back and forth for more than ten times without gasping for breath, but now a few roundtrips were enough to make him feel like dying. The just Gu Jiao also stipulated that the number of steps per day he should make should not be less than a hundred.
After taking a hundred steps, Xiao Liulang was soaked in sweat all over.
Gu Jiao took a handkerchief and wiped his sweat for him, "Husband, do you feel sore all over, like having been run over by a big carriage? Are you too tired to move, can’t even lift your fingers, and your legs keep shaking..."
Xiao Liulang: “…”
Xiao Liulang was finally done with today’s suffering, and now it was his turn to torment Gu Jiao.
"Have you practiced writing today?" He asked sternly.
Gu Jiao, who was still gloating a second ago, suddenly froze.
Xiao Liulang found a little pleasure of revenge at this moment. He narrowed his eyes and said, "You let me walk so much every day, but you don’t even practice writing. Including yesterday, you still haven"t written a hundred words."
Gu Jiao scratched her little head irritably!
She hated writing calligraphy! Especially the characters of the State of Zhao that have so many strokes!
Xiao Liulang let out a “heh” and said, "If you don"t finish writing it today, you have to double it tomorrow. You will have to write two hundred characters."
Gu Jiao retorted, "Then you will take two hundred steps tomorrow!"
Xiao Liulang: "I won"t do that."
Gu Jiao: "Then I won"t write!"
Xiao Liulang: "Whatever you want."
Gu Jiao：“…”
It really didn’t matter whether she learned to write or not, but he must be rehabilitated, otherwise he would be a cripple all his life.
In the end, Xiao Liulang wasn’t at all concerned about being a lame. He glanced at Gu Jiao faintly and went back to the house with a triumphant expression.
Xiao Liulang actually figured out that Gu Jiao didn"t like writing. At first, she was just curious about the words on the prescription and might have been carried away by a whim, but after she tasted the boring calligraphy practice, she backed out.
He was certain that Gu Jiao wouldn’t write so many words.
Who knew that the next day, he would see a little person sitting cross-legged on his bed as soon as he opened his eyes. With both arms crossed over her chest, she had an angry expression just like a grumpy little wild cat, staring at him with two huge dark circles under her eyes.
"What are you doing?" Xiao Liulang looked at her in astonishment. He had no idea how long she had been here. Don’t tell him she just stared at him like that while he was sleeping?
Gu Jiao grunted coldly, took out a thick stack of paper with characters written on them from behind her, and threw them in front of him in a mighty and domineering manner, "Man! These are the words you want!"
Xiao Liulang looked at the characters on the papers, then at the dark circles under her eyes, he frowned and said, "You haven"t been up all night writing these, have you?"
How many words did she write? Had she gone crazy or what?!
Gu Jiao was like a small beast finally baring its fangs, "A thousand words! Today, give me a thousand steps!"
Xiao Liulang: "..."
Thereupon, the chaotic days of the small Gu Family had begun. Apart from cracking melon seeds, eating sweets and teasing Xue Ningxiang"s little son, the elderly woman"s daily pleasure was to watch the two of them torture, hate and attack each other.
"JiaoJiao, Liulang is one step short!" The elderly woman, who was watching the bustle, didn’t dislike making it more fun.
Gu Jiao rushed out of the kitchen with a kitchen knife in hand.
Looking at the kitchen knife enough to chop a cow to death, Xiao Liulang was sorrowful!
Back then, she was a bashful little girl who had her head bowed in the midst of wind and snow, waiting for him to put a cloak on her, but he was actually wrong…
…...
In a twinkling of an eye, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month was over, and Tianxiang Academy had opened again.
Xiao Liulang got up early and packed up his things.
After such a long time, the academy dormitory should have been repaired by now. Once he lived in the dormitory, he would no longer be forced to walk by Gu Jiao.
Gu Jiao didn"t say a word when he packed up his things.
She routinely sent him to Second Uncle Luo’s cart and handed him his crutch. Before he left, Gu Jiao seemed to have recalled something, she smiled and said to him, "Oh, that’s right. I"ve been too busy recently, I almost forgot to mention one thing. It"s not convenient for you to practice walking in the academy, so I talked about it with the Dean the last time I paid him a visit. For several months, you don"t have to stay in the academy, not until you... recover."
Xiao Liulang: This was a bolt from the blue!!!
Not long after Gu Jiao left, Gu Xiaoshun came.
Gu Xiaoshun sat down next to Xiao Liulang and asked, "Brother-in-law, what are you doing with that baggage?” Gu Xiaoshun only brought a book bag with him.
Xiao Liulang simply couldn"t tell him that he was set up by his sister. He asked instead, "You won"t live in the academy?"
Gu Xiaoshun replied, "Since brother-in-law won’t be living there, of course I won"t either! I will accompany you! If something happens on the way, there can be someone to take care of you.”
He was the number one bully in this countryside after all, so protecting his brother-in-law and all wasn’t a big problem!
Xiao Liulang held back his anger, "Why didn’t you tell me about it earlier?"
"Big sis won"t let me talk, she said she would give you a pleasant surprise!" Gu Xiaoshun spread out his hands, smiled happily and said, "How is it brother-in-law? Are you pleasantly surprised? Is it unexpected?"
Xiao Liulang"s teeth rattled. Gu! Jiao!
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JiaoJiao: Aye! O(∩_∩)O~