Translated by Team DHH at Most Majestic You
Chapter 22 Part 1
Cheng Yang was never a serious person. When he walked, he would either hang onto Li Cang or slide backwards as if he were moonwalk, whenever he felt like showing off. Qianxi had jokingly said that he had better not walk at night or he’d draw all the ghosts to him.
What happened was that the ghost didn’t show up, but he had run into those rowdy kids. The end result was even worse than running into the ghost.
The diagnosis by the doctor was ‘minor bone fracture.’ It usually took about a week in a cast to heal. The fracture was on the weakest finger, the pinky, it wouldn’t affect his ability to take care of himself in daily life. However, it would restrict his mobility on a keyboard.
At this critical moment, a minor issue would be amplified into a major concern.
Xu Jimo only spoke once the entire time to let Cheng Yang rest. Then he went out the room to make a phone call.
The R.Y people knew they were outsiders and left the room as well. The remaining people in the room looked at each other, unsure of what to do. Under the current situation, it would be impossible for Cheng Yang to continue competing. Their only hope was that the organizer would let them replace Cheng Yang with a subst.i.tute. And that a.s.sumed they could find a suitable subst.i.tute on such a short notice.
Li Cang tugged Qianxi’s sleeve, indicating that she should go out to check on Xu Jimo. Qianxi looked around and found that everyone was looking at her as if they had put all their hopes on her. What could she do…...comfort him?
That fact remained that he had an injured finger and injuries like this took time to heal. There wasn’t any magical pill to let him recover overnight. If there was such pill, she would try her best to get one no matter how expensive. But the reality was that even if they could find a subst.i.tute, it would take time for the new member to mesh well with the old members. The pressure of playing an official compet.i.tion had much higher stakes than playing the wild card rounds. Now they had to face this incident, it was hard on their psyche…..
In any case, there wasn’t a good solution.
Qianxi exited the room, carefully closing the door behind her. Xu Jimo was at the end of the hallway, calling the organizer.
The organizer spoke like a bureaucrat, “According to our rules, you can’t change players in the middle of a compet.i.tion. Even under special circ.u.mstances, you can only replace a player from the official subst.i.tute list which you registered with us prior. As far as I know, your team hasn’t put any subst.i.tutes on your registration form.”
“The official games haven’t started yet.”
“Each team’s list is set from the preliminaries. You can’t make any changes.”
……
He called another number, only to explain the same thing again in English.
Qianxi stood some distance away and the creases on his forehead grew and grew. He suddenly punched the wall, a loud crack echoed down the hall as bone met the wall. The sudden noise startled Qianxi.
Xu Jimo turned his head when he heard Qianxi gasp, “Did I scare you?”
“No……” Qianxi, out of professional habit, checked his hand. Indeed, he had sc.r.a.ped his knuckle. “Since we’re in the hospital, I’ll disinfect it for you?”
His voice was deep, “Qianxi.”
“I know. You’re upset.” She nodded as if nothing had happened. “I’m not going to say any words of comfort. So you don’t have to pretend you’re alright while you’re still upset.”
Qianxi held his hand and imitated what he had done before and slid her fingers into his. “You have to take care of problems one step at the time. Now the first step is to take care of this cut. Alright?”
She pulled Xu Jimo into one of the rooms and bent over to clean his wounds carefully while talking, “I just lied to you.” She lowered her head to disinfect with cotton swab. “I was a little scared, just a little.”
After she finished disinfecting the wound, she applied a bandage and carefully pushed the edges firmly down. Then she raised her head, “Shouldn’t you be like surgeons who cherish their hands? I had a professor before who had to wash his hands at least twenty times every day. Sometimes, when we were discussing my thesis, he would become restless and have to go out to wash his hand before we could continue.”
Xu Jimo knew she was using the joke to comfort him, but he found it difficult to laugh.
He spoke lightly, “I haven’t acted this way for a long time.”
After his retirement, his personality had changed quite a bit. Even his old fans would say that his gaming style had changed a lot. He used to be aggressive, arrogant, and willing to take big risks for big rewards. Nowadays, he finally learned to look at the big picture and play it safe with patience.
Yet, unconsciously his old self still surfaced occasionally.
It was true, old habits did die hard.
“Oh, really?” She pretended to be frightened. “You’re not making it up? It can’t be…...that you are the kind of person who pretends to be gentle but actually is so irritable that he would hit others with no reason?”
He turned his head sideways and actually smiled.
Qianxi was encouraged by this reaction, shaking his hand while asking, “Are you?” He pulled her closer and asked in a low voice, “So you like that type of person?”
The warmth of his breath tickled her ear…...She couldn’t help quivering a little, “How could I……”
Xu Jimo lowered his head, his hair rubbed against her raised neck, and buried the head on her collar bone. He smelled deeply, “If you like it that way, it could be done.”
Qianxi stiffened up, afraid to move even an inch, and raised her head to avoid looking at him. When Xu Jimo turned his head, Qianxi closed her eyes and unexpectedly felt a nip on the side of her neck.
Ah, it hurt……
He was just trying to scare her, but he wasn’t able to control his force. Her shoulder was as fragrant and warm as an apple pie out of the oven. The sweet smell lingered around his nose tempting him to kiss her. The light bite turned into licking; a playful punishment turned into unconscious craving. All the worry, anxiousness, anger, and frustration inside him seemed to rush out of his throat turning into a desire to deepen the kiss.
Qianxi felt out of breath, while his was very clear. His heavy breaths set fire to her blood vessels on her neck and the warmth quickly seeped into the rest of her body.
It seemed like he was venting.
After a long while, when he finally released her, it seemed that his distress had subsided quite a lot.
However, the person who helped to calm him down had a burning red face. Qianxi glanced at him then turned to run away. As she was running out out the door, she ran into Li Cang and Wei Lai who come to check on them since they hadn’t returned in some time.
Translated by Team DHH at