After the chaos of this trip, the bus had already left. Fortunately, Lu Zhinian asked the driver to drive a business car with seven seats, and two more people could fit in it.
The four of them were concerned about Jiang Suichu's situation and sat in the back. Upon seeing this, Jiang Minghao consciously sat in the passenger seat.
Opening the door, there was a mobile phone lying on the seat.
He picked it up and sat on it. As soon as he turned around, his eyes met Lu Zhinian's.
"Yours?" Jiang Minghao handed him the phone.
Lu Zhinian said 'hmm' and took the phone.
Although Jiang Minghao was not sure about the relationship between these people and Jiang Suichu, he could clearly feel that Lu Zhinian was different from Jiang Suichu.
Tang Mi sat in the front row next to Jiang Suchu, Pei Shuo and Lu Zhinian sat in the back, and Tang Zi was alone at the back.
Tang Mi took the iodine she just bought from Lu Zhinian to disinfect the wounds on Jiang Suichu's hands. The blood-red scratches showed how ruthless the perpetrator was.
There are also a few translucent blisters on my fingers, which were burnt by the fire while trying to take photos.
There was a deep scratch on his neck, the flesh had been dug out, and Jiang Suichu throbbed in pain as soon as the iodine touched it.
"I'm sorry, I'll be gentle." Tang Mi thought she had struck too hard, and apologized guiltily.
"It's okay, it doesn't hurt, it's not your fault." She reassured Tang Mi with a smile.
In fact, it could be seen that she was really in pain, her face was pale and bloodless, and her hair was messy.
It looked like a broken rag doll.
It took Tang Mi about ten minutes to treat the large and small wounds on her body.
Tang Mi hesitated for a while before asking: "Sui Sui, is that person really your cousin just now? And that girl..."
Although I don't want to admit it, this is the fact. She looked at the scratches on her arm numbly, as if she couldn't feel any pain, "Well, my cousin and cousin."
Tang Mi was a little hard to understand. Although she had been fighting with Tang Zi since she was a child, they were always small fights. If something really happens, both parties will protect each other.
It was never like this, like they were enemies.
Lu Zhinian and Pei Shuo both knew that Jiang Suchu was an only child, but they never knew that she had a cousin.
"Why did they hit you?"
The person who asked this question was Pei Shuo. He had just seen Jiang Mingjie hugging her and letting Jiang Mingzhu beat her in the car, and all the blood rushed to his forehead.
She kept her head lowered and said, "They took my money, but I won't give it to them." Then they started fighting.
Lu Zhinian's eyes were on her from beginning to end, looking at her numb and empty eyes, as if someone had taken away her soul.
"Why did they steal your money?" Pei Shuo clenched her fists again after hearing this. Thinking of the three slaps she had just slapped on Jiang Mingzhu, her heart tightened.
An idea suddenly occurred to him. Lu Zhinian and he looked at each other. It was obvious that they had the same idea.
"Do they often beat... bully you?" When the words came to his lips, he changed his words.
They couldn't believe that if this was true, how did she get here alone all these years.
"No, today...it was an accident."
Yes, unexpected.
If Jiang Mingzhu hadn't burned her father's photo, she would still have chosen to settle the matter as before.
Jiang Minghao, who was in the front row, looked at her in the rearview mirror when he heard this, and then at Lu Zhinian and Pei Shuo. From their conversation, he probably guessed the relationship between them. But in the end he said nothing and continued looking at his phone.
He knew that today's matter was definitely more than that. The two brothers and sisters had bullied her many times over the years. She had always swallowed her anger for Grandma Jiang and would never have made things such a big deal.
Clearly she was lying.
Lu Zhinian looked at her, "Were all the scars on his hands caused by them?"
Although it was a question, his tone was very sure.
Jiang Suichu lowered her eyes and looked at the hideous scars on her back. Her voice was buzzing, "...not entirely."
Is this really the case? Pei Shuo's breath suffocated: "Where's Aunt Liyun, doesn't she care?"
Jiang Suichu's eyelashes trembled, and the fingers on his lap were clasped into the palm of his hand. She couldn't stand the look in their eyes, so she turned her head and looked out the car window.
She was silent for a long time without speaking, and for a while the only sound in the car was the wind outside the window.
She pressed her forehead against the car window and kept looking at the passing vegetation outside the car window until her eyes were sore.
Just when they thought she wouldn't answer, her cold voice sounded in the car.
"I haven't seen her for a long time." She was obviously talking about her mother, Li Liyun.
Her voice was calm, as if she was making a statement, and no emotion could be heard.
"I have been living with my grandma these years."
She didn't want to say anything else, nor did she want to see their expressions, "I'm a little motion sick and want to take a nap."
After saying that, she leaned her head against the car window and closed her eyes.
Pei Shuo originally had a lot of things he wanted to ask, but now he couldn't ask a single word. He looked at Lu Zhinian, who said nothing but shook his head gently.
Tell him not to ask yet.
No one spoke in the car, and there was silence for a moment, with only the sound of the wind howling outside the window.
Lu Zhinian spread his legs and leaned on the backrest, looking at Jiang Suchu's profile. Her cheeks were still red and swollen, and finger prints could still be seen vaguely.
Has it been like this all these years?
Lu Zhinian couldn't help but feel his throat tightening. The man who once looked like a little sun now had no light and heat all over his body.
He wanted to hug her.
——
When we arrived in the city, it was already past 7pm and almost 8pm.
Jiang Suchu didn't know when he fell asleep. When he woke up, he was still in the same position as before, tilting his head against the car window.
The difference is that her head rests on one hand.
She opened her eyes and saw the red palms that had been pressed by her. She was stunned for a moment and turned back.
When Lu Zhinian saw that she was awake, he took back his sore and numb hands with an expressionless face, put them in his trouser pockets, got up and got out of the car.
"We're here, get off the car."
Jiang Suchu got off the car behind him. She didn't know how long he had maintained this posture, but judging from his red palms, it should have been quite a while.
She was a little embarrassed, bit her lip, and said softly: "...Thank you."
She was only looking at Lu Zhinian in front of her, and didn't see the sliding rail underneath. His toes were caught, and he staggered for two steps. He rushed forward and subconsciously grabbed Lu Zhinian's arm.
"Hiss—" Lu Zhinian frowned and took a breath of air.
Lu Zhinian was just about to turn around and remind her to be careful where she steps, but it was too late and she had already pounced on him.
Resisting the tingling feeling in his arm, he stretched out his left hand to wrap around her waist, and lifted her up with one hand to steady her.
The waist tightened and loosened, and Jiang Suichu was picked up by him with one hand and placed on the small steps at the door of the car.
The height inside the car was limited, so he was hunched over and very close to her.
"Tsk~" He tutted softly, "Watch your feet when you walk."
The voice was low and deep, close to my ears.
"Oh~" Jiang Suchu touched his hot ear with some sarcasm and looked at his right arm, "Did I hurt you just now?"
Listening to his reaction, she felt that she must have hurt him.
Lu Zhinian held his breath and waited for the numbness in his arm to pass.
Lu Zhinian: "No, my hand is numb."
Jiang Suchu: "..."
"Why are you two waiting so long? Get off quickly." Outside the car, Pei Shuo saw the two of them standing at the door of the car and not getting off for a long time, so he stepped forward to urge him.
Tang Zi: "Everyone hasn't eaten yet, let's find a place to eat."
Jiang Suichu had no appetite and didn't really want to eat. "I'm not hungry. Why don't you go eat? I'm going back to school first."
Tang Mi held her back and said, "What can you do if you don't eat? Eat as much as possible."
"Yes, let's all eat together." Pei Shuo also advised her, scratching his head and saying, "We haven't had a meal together yet."
She really didn't want to eat, but when she thought that everyone was staying up so late because of her, she couldn't say no.
"I..." She went to see Jiang Minghao as a habit, wanting to ask for his opinion.
Jiang Minghao was standing downwind and lighting a cigarette. He glanced at her and knew that if he didn't take her to eat now, she wouldn't eat today or even tomorrow.
He took a puff of the cigarette, his eyes blurred by the smoke, and said, "Eat some, and I'll take you back to school after you finish."
He knew that students living on campus in No. 1 Middle School must return to school before ten o'clock.
Lu Zhinian stood aside with his hands in his pockets, watching the two of them silently.
Whether it was the tacit understanding between the two of them before or the way Jiang Suchu subconsciously asked Jiang Minghao for his opinion, Lu Zhinian saw it.
She trusted him, but she said she was dependent on him.
