The Sickly Beauty Gives Up Struggling [Rebirth] Chapter 15

When the evening self-study bell rang, Li Rong returned to class while Cen Xiao left again, possibly to find Jian Fu.

Over an hour later, Jian Fu and Cen Xiao came back together. Cen Xiao looked as composed as ever, but Jian Fu’s jacket was unbuttoned, and beads of water clung to his short, bristly hair. Whether it was from the evening mist or sweat from exertion, no one could say.

Jian Fu’s lingering aggression seeped into the classroom air. Only after a few students from the front row cast silent glances his way did he reluctantly tone it down.

Instead of heading back to his seat to rest, Jian Fu walked straight to Li Rong’s desk, grumbling. “Seriously, what kind of lousy relatives do you have? Eating like humans but not speaking like them—such bad luck.”

Jian Fu was even angrier than Li Rong.

Though he admittedly had biases against Li Rong and didn’t want Cen Xiao to get too close to him, he still despised those who kicked others when they were down—especially those who had previously benefited from the Li family and now trampled on him without hesitation.

They were worse than beasts.

Li Rong, however, had already lived through this once. The anger and sorrow from his past life had been ground into dust by the wheels of time, leaving no trace behind. Now, even Jian Fu’s sympathy couldn’t stir a shred of grievance in his heart.

For someone who walks alone, grievance is the most useless emotion.

Li Rong looked up at Jian Fu. His gaze caught the harsh glare of the fluorescent lights, which reflected softly in his dark pupils like serene white flames burning deep in the ocean.

With a faint, dry smile on his pale lips, he said, “Thank you. You’ve worked hard.”

Jian Fu froze for a moment, unsure of how to react. Awkwardly, he rubbed his nose with the back of his hand.

He had stormed up to Li Rong with righteous indignation, ready to tear into him, but all his fiery energy seemed to land on a soft, fluffy cushion, leaving him feeling clumsy and boorish.

He had always been the type to grow stronger when faced with opposition. Since childhood, he thrived on confronting the tough and stubborn. Yet, faced with someone who smiled gently and spoke politely, he found himself at a complete loss.

“Geez, I’m only doing this for my brother’s sake. Who needs your thanks?” Jian Fu grumbled with a stiff face before stuffing his hands into his pockets and walking away, anger entirely dissipated.

Cen Xiao had been watching the entire exchange from the side. His voice turned cold as he remarked, “If you smile at him a few more times, he’ll be tripping over himself to do things for you.”

Although Jian Fu refused to admit it, Cen Xiao could tell he didn’t dislike Li Rong as much as before.

Li Rong shot a dissatisfied glance at Cen Xiao, not at all happy with his remark. “You make it sound like I’m some kind of manipulative demon.”

Cen Xiao raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you?”

Li Rong turned to face him, locking eyes for a second before his lips curved into a faint smile. But his expression turned mock-serious, and he snapped, “Then you better be careful. Demons love to harm people.”

After snapping back at Cen Xiao, Li Rong gritted his teeth and took a deep breath, slowly moving his arm.

He tentatively raised it, swinging it up and down to test the dull pain radiating from his shoulder.

Gu Tian’s punch had landed squarely on his joint. Now, any slight movement triggered sharp pain, but he forced himself to adapt in order to increase blood flow and disperse the bruising.

Thinking about his experiences since his rebirth, he realized that while he had avoided some past misfortunes, he had also taken more hits this time around.

Seeing Li Rong grimace in pain, Cen Xiao said in a low voice, “Go to the infirmary.”

Li Rong shook his head and continued moving his arm. “No need,” he muttered.

The infirmary wouldn’t be much help for minor injuries like this; in the end, it was something he had to recover from on his own.

Cen Xiao remarked, “You used to be pretty pampered.”

Li Rong replied irritably, “That was before. Now I’m all alone—who would I be pampered by?”

He had spent seventeen years being pampered, but everything changed at seventeen. From then on, peace and stability were out of reach.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought of escaping. In fact, in his past life, he had spent most of his time running away—first by tormenting his body to numb the pain in his heart, and later by burying himself in academic research, closing his eyes and ears to everything else.

But the hydrogen cyanide leak in the hazardous chemical lab had been a rude awakening.

Escaping was pointless. The shadowy threats lurking in the background would never disappear. The moment he got too close to uncovering the truth, he would be eliminated without hesitation.

As the evening self-study session ended, the classroom building came alive with chaos, like a pot of popcorn bursting into action.

The math teacher packed up his materials and left without a backward glance, while the students quickly gathered their things and streamed out of the classroom.

It was their third year of high school, and most of them were attending extra classes after school. At 8 p.m., they still had to rush off to private tutoring sessions that would last until after 10.

The students hurriedly tidied their desks and bolted for the exit, eager to avoid getting caught in the stairwell by the crowd.

Li Rong had nothing pressing to do at home, and it would be hard to find a cab at this time. Rubbing his sore shoulder, he slumped over his desk to rest his eyes.

The din of chatter, laughter, and arguments—like a discordant symphony—was instinctively filtered out, leaving him in silence.

Eventually, the noise subsided. Li Rong opened his eyes slightly, sat up, and turned his head, only to find that Cen Xiao was still there.

Somehow, the classroom had emptied out, leaving only the two of them. Even Jian Fu had left.

Fiddling with his keychain, Li Rong raised an eyebrow and teased, “You’re not thinking of escorting me home, are you?”

Having someone accompany him home was certainly better than taking a cab, though he knew their houses were in completely opposite directions.

Cen Xiao didn’t respond. Instead, he got up and closed the classroom door.

Li Rong froze mid-fidget, his breathing hitching slightly as his expression turned uneasy.

Closing the door when it was just the two of them was a strangely private gesture, though both of them knew the classroom wasn’t truly private. At least four security cameras were trained on the room, though it was unlikely anyone was monitoring them live at this hour.

“What are you doing?” Li Rong asked, clutching his keychain tightly in his palm.

“Take off your shirt. Let me see your shoulder,” Cen Xiao said, gesturing at him with a tilt of his chin.

Li Rong remained silent for a while, tension creeping into his nerves. He couldn’t help but point out, “We’re in a classroom.”

Cen Xiao tilted his head, raising an eyebrow. “I just want to check your shoulder, not do anything else. What’s the big deal? We’re both guys.”

Li Rong thought, You’ve got some nerve saying that.

Sure, they were both guys, but what you want to do, don’t you know in your mind?

“There are cameras everywhere,” Li Rong retorted flatly. “What else could you do?”

Cen Xiao chuckled, his gaze trailing down from Li Rong’s face to his chest, hidden behind the desk.

“What do you think I want to do?”

Unfazed, Li Rong slowly zipped his jacket up a little higher and replied dryly, “I don’t think anything.”

He had shared far more intimate moments with Cen Xiao, so he could freely undress in front of him. But that didn’t mean he was willing to act shamelessly under the scrutiny of surveillance cameras.

“Let me take a look.” Cen Xiao fished out a box of Yunnan Baiyao patches from his pocket and tossed it onto the desk.

This brand had been wildly popular six years ago, praised for its ability to alleviate pain and reduce bruising. 

Clearly, Cen Xiao hadn’t gone to join Jian Fu in dealing with Gu Tian but had instead gone out to buy medicine for him.

“Don’t…” Li Rong instinctively tried to stop him, but his meager strength was no match for Cen Xiao, who easily pinned his wrists.

Li Rong had become adept at assessing situations. Knowing there was no escape, he simply resigned himself to it, not even bothering to resist further. 

He turned his face away, allowing Cen Xiao to tug down the loose collar of his oversized school jacket, exposing his left shoulder.

Zip!

The zipper slid quickly to the bottom, the fabric loosening and falling apart in seconds.

His jacket hung limply around his elbows, and the inner shirt bunched up at his arms.

Li Rong felt the cold air prickling the bare skin of his shoulder and chest. Instinctively, he tensed his muscles, his tongue rolling aimlessly inside his mouth.

Cen Xiao stood silent for a long time, staring.

Li Rong’s shoulder was badly bruised, a large patch of bluish-purple discoloration blotched with tiny blood spots from broken capillaries. Beyond that, his skin was pale and smooth, his slender bones delicately visible. Though lean, the lines of his muscles were clean and defined. As he tilted his head, his prominent collarbone became even more pronounced, while faint traces of veins appeared on the underside of his arm, which hadn’t seen much sun.

The scene was too candid, so much so that it made Cen Xiao feel oddly self-conscious.

His gaze lingered on Li Rong’s exposed shoulder. Even the injury seemed to accentuate his fragility and allure.

The empty classroom was silent except for the uneven rhythm of Li Rong’s breathing. Each inhale and exhale caused his delicate collarbone to rise and fall, right under Cen Xiao’s watchful eyes.

“Are you putting it on or what? I’m freezing,” Li Rong muttered quietly, breaking the awkward atmosphere.

“Don’t move.”

Cen Xiao roughly tore open the packaging, pulled out a patch, and peeled off the protective backing.

The strong smell of medicinal herbs quickly filled the air. Being the closest, Li Rong felt the sharp scent sting his sinuses and heat his eyes.

Cen Xiao pressed the patch onto Li Rong’s bruised shoulder.

His fingers, warmer than Li Rong’s skin, brushed lightly over him, the sensation like a searing brand on already tense nerves. Li Rong involuntarily stiffened even further.

As soon as the patch was in place, Cen Xiao quickly zipped up the jacket.

In his haste, he didn’t smooth it out properly, leaving the fabric rumpled around the collar—making it look like something inappropriate had just occurred.

If he was imagining improper scenarios, Cen Xiao likely was too.

The air was thick with awkward tension.

Li Rong tilted his head back, staring at the ceiling in exasperation, and tried to make small talk to diffuse the mood. “Oh, by the way, while you and Jian Fu were out, Yang Fenfang came in and mentioned there’s going to be a parent-teacher meeting. If you don’t want to attend…. you’d better find an excuse soon.”

Cen Xiao’s family was notorious for avoiding such events. In the two years Li Rong had been in the same class as him, not once had Cen Xiao’s parents shown up for a parent-teacher meeting.

In contrast, Professor Li and Professor Gu had always been cooperative with the school, never missing an opportunity to attend Li Rong’s meetings, no matter how busy they were.

But this time, of course, they wouldn’t be there.

Cen Xiao looked at him, noticing the momentary flicker of blankness in his expression. He almost reached out to pat him on the back but stopped mid-motion.

Despite Li Rong’s frequent displays of vulnerability and ready smiles, Cen Xiao could see through him. His calculating mind was sharp; he didn’t care about anyone or anything except his objectives. If necessary, he would even turn his blade against Cen Xiao.

Yet, in moments like this, when Li Rong wore the expression of a lost kitten, Cen Xiao’s heart inexplicably softened.

“Li Rong,” Cen Xiao called softly, his hand hovering for a moment before retreating.

“Hmm?” Li Rong replied absently.

“Who says you’re all alone, with no one to be pampered by?” Cen Xiao asked in a low voice.

Li Rong blinked, his mind taking a moment to catch up. The question referenced his earlier complaint.

Looking up at Cen Xiao, he paused for a beat, then a sly glint flashed in his bright eyes.

He lazily leaned back, ignoring how his jacket slid further off his shoulder.

“You’re right,” he drawled with a smirk. “You should treat me better—you owe me.”

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