Xue Rui's attention had been fixed on Lin Ruoxi, so he reacted in an instant. He dashed over and caught her in his arms, preventing the frail girl from falling onto the hard rubber track.
Class Three, jogging right behind them, astutely broke formation and detoured around the pair.
"What's wrong?" Xue Rui subconsciously gave her a little shake. The girl in his arms was gasping for breath, unable to answer.
He simply scooped her up in a princess carry and brought Lin Ruoxi to the side of the field.
Countless students on the field watched the scene unfold. They couldn't help but find it strange; they had never seen anyone faint during morning exercises before.
"Lin Ruoxi fainted!" someone from the back of the formation shouted.
Hearing that Lin Ruoxi had fainted, the female class monitor of Class Two hurriedly left the formation and jogged over to Xue Rui.
"Guo Qingqing?" Only then did Xue Rui remember the female class monitor's name.
Guo Qingqing said, her face full of self-reproach, "Lin Ruoxi went to the bathroom to throw up several times last night. I wanted to take her to see a doctor, but she refused to go."
Guo Qingqing felt terribly guilty. As the class monitor, she had noticed something was wrong with her classmate and had planned to deal with it the next day, but she had completely forgotten about it by the time she woke up that morning.
The gym teacher in charge of morning exercises rushed over. "What happened to this student? Who is your homeroom teacher? I'll contact them."
"Teacher Xue's number is 131..."
"Guo Qingqing, I'm taking her to the infirmary," Xue Rui said, his expression dark. He picked up Lin Ruoxi and started walking off the field.
You couldn't really blame Guo Qingqing for this. Any other student would have asked the class monitor for leave, but Lin Ruoxi hadn't. She had endured her discomfort, all for the sake of being "like everyone else."
'Idiot.' A pang of sorrow struck Xue Rui as he felt Lin Ruoxi's weight in his arms. He had never held a girl this light.
Lin Ruoxi was quite tall, about 1.7 meters. A girl of her height should have a healthy weight of at least 120 pounds.
But the girl in his arms felt as light as a feather, probably weighing only around 100 pounds.
'What kind of life have you been living?'
Xue Rui noticed the girl's breathing gradually steadying and her complexion improving, so he wasn't overly worried.
Lin Ruoxi had only fainted. He guessed it was probably low blood sugar; after all, for a girl this frail, it would be stranger if she *didn't* pass out.
Along the way, he ran into several teachers just arriving for work, and Xue Rui asked them for directions to the infirmary.
As it turned out, the infirmary door was shut tight. The doctor hadn't arrived for work yet...
However, a teacher called the school doctor, who said they would be at the school right away.
The infirmary was located right next to the school's south gate, which was the main entrance used by students coming and going.
So Xue Rui sat down in front of the infirmary door, holding Lin Ruoxi. He supported her upper body with one arm, letting her lie across his lap.
It was already six-thirty, and the day students were arriving on campus. Many of them gave Xue Rui strange looks.
After all, their own romantic relationships were kept secret. They wouldn't dare hold hands on campus in broad daylight, let alone embrace someone. What Xue Rui was doing was simply outrageous.
But as they got closer, they saw that the girl in Xue Rui's arms wasn't Gu Muxue. And things weren't what they had imagined; it looked like the girl had fainted.
"Morning, Brother Rui. Who's that you're holding?" a girl greeted him with a grin, using the nickname his guy friends used.
"A classmate of mine. She fainted during morning exercises," Xue Rui replied casually.
"That weak? Even though us day students don't have to do morning exercises, I did them in middle school and never saw anyone faint."
Surprised, the girl stepped forward to get a better look, reaching out to brush Lin Ruoxi's hair away from her face. Xue Rui slapped her hand away. "What are you looking at? Get to class."
"Tch. Just hope Gu Muxue doesn't see you," the girl scoffed. She pulled a meat-filled flatbread from her huge backpack and shoved it at Xue Rui. "You haven't eaten, have you? Here."
Then, huffing and puffing under the weight of her big bag, the girl headed for her classroom.
"Thanks," Xue Rui said. He glanced at her huge backpack, which was surprisingly stuffed with all sorts of breakfast items: steamed buns, scallion pancakes...
Xue Rui figured she was probably using her privileges as a day student to bring in breakfast for others and earn a little extra cash.
'Gu Muxue? Why would I care if she sees me?' Xue Rui thought, taking a bite of the meat-filled flatbread. The girl's comment made no sense.
He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a local Hedong snack, and he ate with great satisfaction. The flaky bread was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, filled with braised meat and savory juices that left a lingering, delicious taste after just one bite.
There he was, with a girl lying across his lap, supporting her with one arm while gnawing on a flatbread sandwich with the other...
Crumbs from the flatbread fell onto Lin Ruoxi's face, making her long, curved eyelashes twitch instinctively.
Lin Ruoxi gradually regained consciousness. Her face felt itchy, as if tiny bugs were crawling on it.
When she cautiously opened her eyes, she saw Xue Rui's profile. And then she realized—she was lying in his arms.
'I... I think I fainted?'
Lin Ruoxi quickly shut her eyes again, pretending to still be unconscious. She didn't dare move, terrified that Xue Rui would realize she was awake.
She didn't even know why she was afraid of being discovered. 'If I pretend to be asleep forever,' she thought, 'is he just going to keep holding me?'
Xue Rui casually tossed the plastic bag the flatbread had been in onto the ground, then suddenly noticed that the face of the girl in his arms was covered in crumbs.
'Uh... good thing she's not awake. Better wipe this off.'
Unaware that Lin Ruoxi was already awake, he gently brushed her hair aside and carefully wiped away the crumbs from his meal, erasing the "evidence of his crime."
After wiping away the crumbs, Xue Rui finally got a good look at Lin Ruoxi's face. His breath hitched, and his heart began to pound uncontrollably.
One reason was that it reminded him of the tragic sight from that other night. The other was... her face was breathtakingly beautiful.
With no trace of makeup, her natural beauty was so captivating he couldn't look away.
Lin Ruoxi had an oval, "melon-seed" face. Her full, perfectly sculpted nose looked as if it had been carved by a master craftsman. Her lips were small and delicate. With her eyes gently closed, her eyelashes quivered slightly. A single beauty mark under the corner of her left eye only made one's heart ache with a desire to cherish her.
Her long-term malnutrition had left her skin a cool, pale white, stirring an uncontrollable protective instinct in anyone who saw her.
'If this face were seen by everyone, countless guys at school would go crazy. Gu Muxue's title as the school belle might even be at risk.' Xue Rui sucked in a sharp breath.
On second thought, both girls were stunning, but their styles were completely different. Gu Muxue was the classic "goddess" type, while Lin Ruoxi... how to put it? She was more like a Lin Daiyu.
"Maybe they could be co-school belles. They're each beautiful in their own way," Xue Rui muttered.
Lin Ruoxi had been awake for a while and had heard every word he muttered. Her cheeks couldn't help but burn.
Xue Rui touched Lin Ruoxi's forehead and immediately grew tense. He had thought she had simply fainted. 'Why is she suddenly running a fever?'
'Damn it, this is getting more complicated,' he thought. 'Where the hell is the school doctor?!'
...
「At the school gate.」
Gu Muxue stepped out of an Audi, smiling and waving to the person in the back seat. The smile in her eyes was as brilliant as peach blossoms in early spring.
Paying no mind to the stares around her, Gu Muxue glanced around and caught sight of Xue Rui out of the corner of her eye.
She didn't enter the campus. Instead, she stood rooted to the spot outside the main gate, watching, her mind a tangled mess.
'What is Xue Rui doing? And who is that girl in his arms?'
'Why? Just yesterday, he was climbing over the wall to buy me a cupcake…'
'Have I been giving him the cold shoulder for too long? Does he not like me anymore?'
'But...'
Gu Muxue suddenly felt as if her favorite teddy bear had been snatched away by someone else...
Even if she wasn't playing with it at the moment, it had always been by her side, and she had subconsciously assumed it was hers.
'At least... at least until after graduation...'
'But now...'
An inexplicable feeling of being wronged made her nose tingle, and the world before her began to blur. Her long, slender legs felt as if they were filled with lead.
The gate was just a few steps away, yet it felt as if an endless abyss had opened at her feet, and she couldn't bring herself to take a single step forward.