ACBAM 16: Injured

Because he had arranged to meet Jian Lexin at 11 a.m. directly at the shopping street, Su Shijin set an alarm for 9 a.m. before going to bed, planning to get a full night’s sleep before getting up.

But plans can’t keep up with changes.

A little after eight in the morning, Jian Lexin called in tears, saying he had to go back to the law firm to work overtime today.

Working overtime is completely normal for a lawyer, especially since Jian Lexin has only been in the industry for less than two years and still has a lot to learn. When his boss told him to come in today, he could only grunt and struggle, unable to squeeze out a single word of refusal, and had no choice but to agree with tears in his eyes.

Since he agreed to work overtime, he had no choice but to bail on the date with Su Shijin, so he called crying to apologize, “Wuwuwu I’m really sorry, we already made plans, but the boss said there’s a case and wants me to tag along to take a look…”

Su Shijin patiently listened to him cry and complain for over ten minutes, gently comforting him, “It’s okay, if you’re free next Sunday, we can still hang out.”

Jian Lexin sniffled and said, “As long as you’re not mad at me, I’ll definitely apologize properly next time!”

Su Shijin had originally wanted to tell him about his upcoming marriage to Gu Weiyang, but worried it might affect his work today. After thinking it over, he said, “Alright, if it works out—there’s something else I need to tell you next time anyway.”

Jian Lexin was immediately curious. “What is it? Can’t you tell me now?”

Just as he finished speaking, Su Shijin heard a man’s voice come through the phone, “Jian Lexin, come to my office.”

The voice was low and cold, and it sounded vaguely familiar.

Jian Lexin instantly went quiet like a student being called on by a teacher, only managing a couple of muffled hums in response.

The man had probably walked out of his line of sight, because Jian Lexin then lowered his voice and whispered into the phone, “The boss is calling me, I’ll hang up for now.”

Before Su Shijin could reply, he hurriedly ended the call.

Su Shijin leaned against the bed, frowned as he thought for a while, and finally recalled where that vaguely familiar voice came from.

It was that Lawyer Xie whom He Lian brought over last night.

Su Shijin had left quickly at the time and only caught a few sentences from Lawyer Xie, but he was certain that the voice matched exactly with the one on the phone.

And considering Jian Lexin suddenly said he had to work overtime today, it made him think of what happened last night, too.

Su Shijin: …

He fell silent for a moment.

So, Jian Lexin’s sudden overtime today was actually related to his hospital matter?

Su Shijin pressed his hands together and silently offered an apology to Jian Lexin in his heart.

—

It was still early, so after canceling the alarm he had set, Su Shijin went back to sleep and didn’t get up until eleven.

Too lazy to cook lunch, he ordered delivery and noted for it to be left at the door, then went into the bathroom to take a shower.

By the time he finished showering and blow-drying his hair, the food had just been delivered not long ago, still warm when he brought it inside.

Su Shijin sat cross-legged on the living room carpet and laid out the food he had ordered on the dining table. After carefully picking out a good variety show to watch while eating, he finally opened the meal boxes, split the chopsticks, and officially began his lunch.

Su Shijin ate very slowly when watching TV. Sometimes he would keep a mouthful of rice in his mouth, chewing slowly, and wouldn’t remember to swallow until the funny part of the show had passed.

The variety show ran for an hour, and so did his meal.

After finishing, Su Shijin tidied up the coffee table and put the takeout containers into a trash bag to take downstairs and throw away.

He wasn’t used to leaving leftover food waste until the next day to throw it out. It always made him feel like the room would start to smell.

While downstairs, Su Shijin ran into a stray dog from the neighborhood. It was a large white dog with dirty fur, looking a bit like a Samoyed, but also like a Samoyed mix.

As soon as the dog saw Su Shijin, it started barking. When he threw out the trash and walked toward it, the dog tucked its tail and backed away, barking, not letting him get close.

Su Shijin could only squat down at a distance, gently curling his fingers and saying, “Come here.”

Dog: “Woof woof woof woof woof.”

It was barking furiously, and from the tone, it definitely didn’t sound like anything polite.

Seeing its tightly tucked tail, Su Shijin withdrew his hand, resting his chin in his palm with a helpless look. “Come on, I only snipped your balls. Do you really have to hold a grudge this long?”

Dog: “Awooo woof woof woof woof!”

It seemed triggered by certain words, barking even more wildly. The tail that had been tucked now swinging uncontrollably.

Su Shijin tried to explain, “Snipping your balls was for your own good, seriously.”

Dog: “Awooo awooo woof woof woof woof woof woof awooo!!”

It sounded even angrier now, like it was really letting loose on him.

Su Shijin let out a helpless sigh.

This dog in the neighborhood was one of many strays during the stray dog surge a couple of years ago, when the city issued a regulation requiring all strays to be neutered and marked. At the time, many nearby animal hospitals were doing free neutering for strays, since most vets could easily tell whether a dog was a stray, and pet owners rarely tried to pass off their pets as strays.

Su Shijin had lured the stray to the hospital with a sausage, personally performed the neutering surgery on it, and even fed it canned food, letting it recover at the hospital for several days before releasing it—only after it was well enough to take off the cone of shame.

Who would’ve thought this dog could hold such a grudge. After recovering and being sent back to the neighborhood, it instinctively lowered its head to lick its balls, only to suddenly realize that they were gone.

From that moment on, the dog remembered Su Shijin. Every time it saw him from a distance, it would bark and curse at him.

Su Shijin was honestly a little hurt by it. After all, he used to feed the dog regularly, and it used to be pretty friendly with him.

By comparison, the other stray dogs he snipped weren’t nearly as petty. This one, who ate the most of his dog food, turned out to be the fiercest after getting snipped.

“Bark all you want, eunuch dog,” Su Shijin said deliberately, trying to provoke it.

The dog didn’t understand what “eunuch” meant, but instinctively felt it wasn’t anything good, and immediately started barking even more fiercely—“woof woof woof!”

Su Shijin squatted there in the neighborhood trying to communicate with the dog for over ten minutes, until his legs started to go numb. Only then did he stand up and stomp his feet.

“You wait right here for me,” Su Shijin snapped, throwing down the threat.

The stray dog followed him from a distance, still barking and grumbling nonstop, only stopping when Su Shijin walked into the apartment building. Then it let out two drawn-out howls and sprawled out on a patch of grass in the sun, acting like it had just driven off a bad guy—looking every bit the picture of a victorious hero.

But its relaxing sunbathing hadn’t lasted more than a few minutes before that person showed up again!

The stray dog let out a startled howl and sprang to its feet, baring its teeth at him on instinct.

The next second, Su Shijin slowly pulled a sausage out of his pocket and, right in front of it, began peeling open the wrapper bit by bit.

Stray dog: “Woof… uh awooo whimper whimper～～～”

Instant face-turn—its tucked tail popped right out and started wagging like crazy. Its hips swayed and face full of shameless flattery.

“Whimper whimper, awooo, whimper whimper～～”

The stray dog whined in a high-pitched voice, acting all cute. Its little paws cautiously inching closer to Su Shijin.

“You really don’t learn your lesson, huh.” Su Shijin was nearly laughing at its over-the-top performance. “Forgot you lost your balls last time because you ate one of my sausages?”

The stray clearly remembered none of that. It just kept wagging its tail and circling him, begging for attention, practically ready to roll over and expose its belly for a belly rub.

In the end, Su Shijin’s heart softened. He couldn’t bear to keep teasing it, so after peeling off the wrapper, he fed it the whole sausage.

The stray dog guarded its prize, dragged the sausage to the side and finished it there. Then it came back over to sniff Su Shijin’s hand, confirming there wasn’t a second sausage.

The next second, its expression flipped on the spot—“Woof woof woof woof woof woof——”

Su Shijin was startled, lost his balance, and stepped on a nearby rock.

“Hiss…”

He drew in a sharp breath and fell backward onto the grass.

Something didn’t feel right.

Su Shijin pulled up his pant leg and looked at his left ankle.

It looks like he had twisted it.

—

In all his years, this was actually the first time Su Shijin had ever sprained his ankle.

The culprit was that ungrateful dog who ate his sausage and then turned on him.

Su Shijin felt completely betrayed—his heart thoroughly broken by it.

His pants were stained with dirt from the grass. Su Shijin braced himself and tried to stand, but the moment he put any pressure on his left foot, a sharp and piercing pain shot through it.

Su Shijin really didn’t have a high pain tolerance—what felt like a one out of ten to others always felt like a three for him. Just those few small movements had already brought a mist to his eyes from the pain.

Pressing his lips together, Su Shijin sat on the grass for a moment to catch his breath. Then, thinking it was better to get the pain over with quickly than to drag it out, he planted his hands on the ground and pushed himself up in one go.

That stabbing pain shot up from his ankle straight to his brain in an instant. If it hadn’t been for a nearby tree that he managed to grab onto just in time, he seriously feared he would’ve fallen again and made things worse.

The stray dog seemed to realize it had caused trouble and its barking gradually quieted down.

Su Shijin wasn’t in the mood to deal with it anymore. Holding onto the tree, he brushed the dirt off his pants, then took out his phone and called a ride to the hospital.

He wasn’t sure exactly what was injured, and he didn’t have any anti-swelling medication at home. Whether he liked it or not, he had no choice but to make the trip.

In about three minutes, the car he had called arrived at the entrance of the neighborhood.

Su Shijin called the gate guard to explain the situation and had the car let in. Then, with his left foot barely touching the ground, he slowly made his way to the roadside step by step, politely declining the driver’s offer to help him and getting into the back seat on his own.

It was such a short distance, yet the pain had sweat breaking out across his forehead.

All the way to the hospital, Su Shijin continued to refuse the driver’s help, insisting on walking through the entrance at a snail’s pace.

Even the hospital security guard started to come over to assist, but Su Shijin wasn’t comfortable with physical contact from strangers and had to turn him down again.

It wasn’t until a surprised voice called out not far in front of him, “Su Shijin?”

Su Shijin looked up in a daze and met Gu Weiyang’s gaze.

“What are you doing here? Did you hurt your foot?” Gu Weiyang had a stack of report forms in his hand, which he casually folded and stuffed into his pocket as he quickly walked over.

He crouched down in front of Su Shijin and gently lifted the hem of his pants to take a look.

The ankle, wrapped in a sock, was already visibly red and swollen, making his brows knit together involuntarily.

“How did this happen? Never mind, I’ll take you in first.” Before Su Shijin could even process why he was seeing him here, Gu Weiyang had already turned around and crouched in front of him, reaching a hand back. “Come on, I’ll carry you in.”

The eyes of people nearby turned toward them, and even the security guard who had just offered to help was now standing aside, watching the scene unfold with interest.

Su Shijin’s cheeks flushed slightly, and he poked Gu Weiyang’s back a little awkwardly. “No need, get up—I can walk on my own.”

Gu Weiyang didn’t move. He said, “Not a piggyback? Then should I carry you in?”

Su Shijin choked up, unable to imagine what that scene would even look like.

Maybe the pain had really short-circuited his brain, because it didn’t even occur to him to ask Gu Weiyang to borrow a wheelchair or a crutch or something.

Under Gu Weiyang’s almost overbearing kindness, Su Shijin slowly lowered himself down, looped his arms around his neck, and said, with the tips of his ears flushed bright red, “Th-then… piggyback it is.”

Once Gu Weiyang had his hands under the backs of his thighs and lifted him onto his back, Su Shijin leaned in close to his ear, a little embarrassed, and whispered softly, “Thank you.”