Lin Nuo’er widened her eyes, looking as if she’d just seen a ghost. “What? Little Zhezi, y-you… you’re going to carry me?”
Gu Zhe shot her a glance and crouched down in front of her. “What? I’m 1.8 meters tall, carrying you is a piece of cake.”
“Hmph, letting you carry me is your honor!” Lin Nuo’er snapped back with her usual sass, but deep down she was still hesitant.
In the past, even if she had a problem with her studies or needed help recruiting people for an event, Gu Zhe always kept his distance like a stranger. He was never outright rude, but Lin Nuo’er could clearly feel his polite avoidance.
And the reason for that—though Gu Zhe never said it—was something she understood very well. Even though Song Yihan often went around with Duan Mingdong, she absolutely wouldn’t allow any girl to get too close to Gu Zhe. It was a textbook example of double standards.
Even if Lin Nuo’er was secretly fuming, she had no position or right to express her feelings.
“You don’t have to care what that woman Song Yihan thinks. I have nothing to do with her anymore.” Gu Zhe said it flatly.
Lin Nuo’er wasn’t someone who could hide her emotions. Her tangled expression gave away everything in her heart. And how could such thoughts escape the eyes of someone like Gu Zhe, who had already experienced so much in life?
Blood was still seeping from the wound on her leg, staining her jeans bright red. Gu Zhe frowned and said, “Hey, Lin Nuo’er, you’re not the traditional type, are you?”
“You don’t actually think just because I carry you, you’ll get pregnant or something, right?”
Lin Nuo’er took the bait and shot back, annoyed, “What a joke! When I was knocking down rows of guys at the dojo, you were still playing house with Song Yihan!”
“I’ll get on! But you better be ready. I’m afraid you won’t be able to control yourself!”
“Don’t collapse halfway and cry for mercy!”
As she spoke, Gu Zhe suddenly felt a soft weight on his back. A light body pressed against him, and a pair of slender arms wrapped around his neck. Her left leg hooked around his waist, while her injured right leg hung slightly unbalanced.
Even so, Lin Nuo’er’s long-term training gave her a well-proportioned frame, so Gu Zhe didn’t struggle at all to lift her.
Feeling the masculine warmth radiating from Gu Zhe’s back, Lin Nuo’er’s face flushed red. She had never imagined getting this close to Gu Zhe. No, this was already zero distance. Any closer would be… negative distance.
Soon, the two of them arrived at the campus infirmary. The strong smell of disinfectant made Lin Nuo’er wrinkle her nose in discomfort.
“Gu Zhe, maybe I should just go back and treat it myself. This kind of scratch is nothing for me…”
Gu Zhe interrupted her, “Enough, just listen to me.”
His commanding tone immediately shattered all her hesitant thoughts. People are funny—sometimes, the closer they get to hospitals, the more uneasy they feel. And the closer they are to getting an injection, the more afraid they get.
“Don’t be scared. I’ll stay with you the whole time.”
It was strange how words could have such comforting power. After hearing Gu Zhe’s voice, Lin Nuo’er’s anxiety quickly faded.
The infirmary nurse was a middle-aged woman with curly hair, engrossed in a soap opera when they arrived. When she glanced at the bloody wound on Lin Nuo’er’s leg, she gasped, “Oh dear Lord, how did it get this bad!”
Most of the time, students in school didn’t have serious injuries. If anything urgent happened, they’d usually be rushed straight to a hospital. So in many schools, the infirmary was just for show—staffed by people with connections, handing out cold medicine to everyone.
Fortunately, Jiangzhou University’s nurse actually knew her stuff. Seeing Lin Nuo’er’s condition, she immediately pulled out gauze and a bunch of medicine bottles and tools.
After confirming there was no bone damage, she swiftly began treating the wound.
“You young people nowadays really don’t take care of yourselves. Sure, scrapes like this will heal, but if it leaves a scar, you’ll be stuck with it for life!”
“You’re such a pretty girl. If a scar ends up on your leg, how will you wear skirts in the summer?”
Lin Nuo’er instinctively shook her head, “Aunt, it’s fine. It’ll heal quickly.”
What she meant was that she’d been doing taekwondo since childhood, and injuries like this were nothing to her.
But the nurse misunderstood and glanced at Gu Zhe standing nearby, smirking slightly.
“Still, even if you’ve got a boyfriend now, you have to take care of yourself! A scar would be terrible for a girl!”
“What?”
“Ah!”
“Ah…”
Lin Nuo’er’s face turned completely red.
If she had no feelings, she could’ve easily laughed it off and explained the misunderstanding.
But when someone has quietly harbored feelings for another for years—so long that they’ve forgotten what that feeling is called, treating their longing as mere habit—how could they stay calm?
After all, Gu Zhe was someone she had felt guilty toward for a long time.
Seeing the usually bold and carefree Lin Nuo’er now flustered like a steaming teapot, Gu Zhe couldn’t help but find her adorable. She always acted like she didn’t care, but deep down, she probably yearned for love more than anyone.
Otherwise, why would she have, in that moment, picked up the ring discarded by Song Yihan and worn it without hesitation?
Just to be his bride, even once.
This… was the kind of girl worth cherishing and protecting for a lifetime.
Gu Zhe spoke up, “Sorry, it’s my fault. I won’t let her get hurt again.”
“From now on, I’ll take good care of her!”
“That’s more like it!” the nurse smiled as she looked up at this handsome young man.
Good looks and a strong sense of responsibility.
She had to admit—they really were a perfect match.
The same words, heard by different people, bring completely different emotions.
Just when Lin Nuo’er had finally calmed down, her heart was once again thrown into turmoil. The tone in Gu Zhe’s voice didn’t sound like he was explaining something to the nurse… it sounded more like…
A promise.
A promise made to her—for a lifetime.