novelraw Chapter 259: She Almost Became Deaf
Chapter 259: She Almost Became Deaf
Not far away, a group of young boys were playing video games. One of them kept glancing over at Xu Su, and his friends couldn’t help but tease him. "Binzi, stop staring. You’ve been looking all afternoon. She might be pretty, but you can’t even see her face. Are you that smitten?"
The boy named Binzi retorted irritably, "What do you guys know? I just think she looks a little familiar, but I’m not sure."
He watched for another moment, as if he’d finally confirmed something. He took out his phone, snapped a photo in Xu Su’s direction, and sent it to the chat window for ’God Xi’ in his QQ contacts. He then typed a line of text: [God Xi, this is your girlfriend, right? I remember seeing you bring her to the arcade last year.]
After he sent the message, a reply came back quickly: [Where are you guys?]
"So it really is his girlfriend!" The boy named Binzi raised an eyebrow. He’d seen Xi Zirong’s girlfriend’s full face last year. How could he let such a beautiful girlfriend sit alone in an arcade all afternoon?
’No wonder she left such an impression on me,’ he thought. He’d only seen her once, a whole year had passed, and even with her face completely covered, he had still recognized her.
Just as Binzi was marveling at his own sharp eyes, another message arrived from Xi Zirong: [Is this the arcade? Keep an eye on her for me. I’m on my way.]
Xu Su sat with her eyes downcast, staring fixedly at the cut on the back of her right hand, made by a shard from her phone. The bleeding had stopped, but because of the wound, she hadn’t put her hand in her pocket. It was now bright red from the cold.
Outside the window, the rain fell harder and harder, and the sky grew extremely dim. She didn’t know what time it was; all Xu Su felt was cold and hungry.
Suddenly, a pair of men’s feet appeared on the light gray floor in front of her. His white sneakers were damp with rain, so he must have just come in from outside. Thinking it was just another guy trying to hit on her, she didn’t even look up.
Her right hand, resting on her knee, was gently taken. The standing boy crouched down, his voice trembling slightly. "How did you get hurt?"
Xu Su’s hand flinched. She looked at the boy crouching in front of her.
After carefully inspecting her hand, Xi Zirong looked up. "Why are you sitting here? Come on, I’ll take you to the hospital for a check-up. It looks like you might have damaged a blood vessel."
He stood up and was about to pull Xu Su to her feet when his movement abruptly froze. His eyes were fixed on the right side of her face.
Xu Su had her scarf wrapped up high, hiding her entire face, but from Xi Zirong’s top-down perspective, a jarring red mark near her right eye was still clearly visible.
Xi Zirong bent down, his hand reaching for Xu Su’s scarf, trembling uncontrollably.
"Don’t..." Xu Su turned her head away to avoid him. Perhaps because she hadn’t spoken in so long, her voice was very hoarse. "Don’t look."
Xi Zirong’s hand, halfway to her face, paused for a long moment. He changed course, grabbing Xu Su’s wrist and pulling her toward the exit.
A black SUV with a four-ring logo was parked at the arcade’s entrance. Xi Zirong opened an umbrella, put an arm around Xu Su’s shoulder, and held it over them as they walked. He opened the passenger door and sheltered her as she got in, then quickly walked around the front of the car, closed the umbrella, and slid into the driver’s seat.
The rain was heavy, and he inevitably got a little wet while closing the umbrella. Without bothering to wipe his slightly damp hair, he immediately leaned over toward Xu Su the moment he was in the car.
"Susu, be good. Let me see," Xi Zirong coaxed gently, not daring to cup her face. He tentatively reached for her scarf.
Xu Su blinked. Knowing she couldn’t hide it any longer, she simply reached up, pulled down the scarf from her face, and turned her head toward Xi Zirong, exposing her right cheek to him.
After several hours, the slap mark on Xu Su’s face showed no signs of fading. Instead, the swelling had become even more frightening.
The girl’s left cheek was as fair as jade, while her right bore a swollen handprint that was turning purple and blue. The contrast between the two sides was enough to make anyone’s heart ache.
Xi Zirong stared blankly, his eyes unknowingly turning red. "Who did this?"
"...My... my biological father."
She couldn’t bring herself to say the words ’my dad’. She flipped down the car’s vanity mirror and looked at her own horribly swollen face. She wanted to smile to prove she didn’t care, to show she wasn’t that pathetic, but even lifting the corner of her mouth hurt.
After two tries, she gave up, leaning back against the seat in silence.
"Then he deserves to die!" For the first time, the boy’s voice was filled with viciousness. He said hatefully, "I don’t care who he is, he deserves to die!"
Her shoulders tightened as Xi Zirong pulled her into his arms. "Don’t be upset, Susu. A father like that isn’t worth your pain. Just ignore him from now on. Don’t give him another chance to hit you, okay?"
Xi Zirong’s eyes were bloodshot, looking as if tears would spill out at any second. He seemed even more upset than Xu Su herself.
"There won’t be a next time." Xu Su thought of the vicious words from her ’family,’ of that heavy-handed slap. She thought about how if her uncle hadn’t stopped him, there might have been a second slap, and a third.
She patted Xi Zirong’s shoulder, with no energy left to comfort him. "I’m really tired right now. Can you just let me be for a bit?"
"Okay." He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead before slowly releasing her. "You rest for a bit. I’m taking you to the hospital."
"I don’t want to go to the hospital." Xu Su shook her head. "Just drive me around for a while."
Xi Zirong didn’t listen. "No. You’re badly hurt. I won’t be at ease until you get a proper check-up. Please don’t take this lightly, okay? There are plenty of cases of people going deaf from a single slap."
Xu Su remembered that she really hadn’t been able to hear for several seconds after being hit, and her ear still ached. A chill went through her, and she stopped resisting the idea of a hospital check-up.
’I don’t want to be deaf.’
On New Year’s Eve, the Municipal People’s Hospital was surprisingly not deserted. Even during the major holiday, every department had doctors on duty.
Xi Zirong led Xu Su from the trauma department to ENT, and then for an EKG and a CT scan.
A young doctor was on duty in the ENT department. He looked at the injury on Xu Su’s face and said with a frown, "What kind of grudge is this? To give a young girl a perforated eardrum on New Year’s Eve."
’A perforated eardrum?’
Xu Su couldn’t help but panic.
She touched her right ear. Ignoring the throbbing pain in her swollen face, she could indeed feel a distinct discomfort in her ear canal.
Xi Zirong’s face was deathly pale, his lips pressed into a tight line as he barely suppressed his emotions. "Is it serious? Does she need medication or surgery? Will there be any long-term effects?"
Seeing how tense they were, the young doctor actually smiled. "Don’t worry, it’s not too serious. The perforation is small, so it will most likely heal on its own. Just be careful not to sustain any secondary injury. Still, it would be best to come back for a follow-up in a month."
The two of them let out a simultaneous sigh of relief.
’If Xu Jianbang hadn’t stopped Xu Weiping, another slap might have really made me deaf in one ear!’
At that thought, Xu Su’s heart pounded. It felt like she had narrowly escaped disaster. She had almost gone deaf!