Chapter 23: Punishment

After a while, the banging on the iron door stopped.

What replaced it was the sound of a lock being opened.

“Bam—”

“!”

“He… He Rou? Is that you?”

Cheng Ruo’s foot hadn’t even stepped out yet, but there He Rou was, lying completely naked below.

Her body was covered in wounds.

Scattered around her were torn clothes, most of them ripped beyond use.

“Don’t… don’t come near me…”

He Rou wanted to say those words, but the pain in her throat only allowed her to whimper.

Cheng Ruo rushed forward quickly, and on the way, she casually slipped off her own school jacket.

“He Rou… how did you end up like this…”

Cheng Ruo had seen many scenes of school bullying before, but she always just glanced and walked away.

But now, she really hadn’t expected this.

He Rou had only just arrived at this school today.

She’d only been here for one class.

Earlier, when He Rou walked out during the break, Cheng Ruo had noticed.

But she wanted to sleep, so she only glanced outside once, noting the direction He Rou went.

When class started, He Rou still hadn’t returned.

From that moment, Cheng Ruo felt something was off.

Skipping class on the very first day?

Either she was tough as nails, or something had happened.

Someone like He Rou—clearly the latter.

So during lunch break, she gave up eating and searched the entire school.

Finally, with no results, she went to tell the class teacher.

But what she got was…

He Rou had taken leave.

Someone had done it for her.

So, for the rest of the afternoon, she stopped searching.

But the more time passed, the more Cheng Ruo felt something was wrong.

He Rou’s belongings hadn’t even been put away yet.

And it was just one break period.

More importantly, she had someone she needed to serve.

That inevitably led her to think of school bullying.

Even though they’d only met today.

But considering that face was easy on the eyes, and the serendipity of it all, she still went looking after school.

From the storage room to the bathroom, from the bottom of the first-floor staircase to the abandoned classroom.

In short, she checked every place where someone could be locked up.

After all, that was the most common form of bullying she’d encountered.

The rooftop was the last place she searched.

If it wasn’t there either, she would have given up.

So she swiped the key to the rooftop door from the office and came here.

But she didn’t expect—

She got results.

But there were two.

One good news, one bad news.

The good news was that she guessed right.

He Rou had indeed been bullied and locked on the rooftop.

The bad news was that He Rou seemed to have been raped, and her condition was pretty dire.

“Don’t… don’t touch me…”

He Rou was terrified that Luo Yun would find out about her being helped.

But her voice was so soft, and she’d struggled for ages to even get those words out.

But Cheng Ruo ignored her.

She draped her school jacket over He Rou.

Then, among the scattered clothes, she found the underwear and helped He Rou put it on.

“Tsk… it hurts…”

“Bear with it. You don’t want anyone else to see you naked, do you?”

Cheng Ruo’s movements were very careful.

But when she saw the state down there, her heart skipped a beat.

She didn’t know if it was external or internal injury, but in short, it was a bloody mess, and blood was still flowing out steadily.

After wrapping her entire body in clothes, Cheng Ruo picked He Rou up and headed down.

“To the infirmary. Don’t look around. School’s out, but there might still be people in the building.”

“Thank you…”

He Rou buried her face in the crook of Cheng Ruo’s neck.

Luo Yun’s orders had already been disobeyed.

So now, she could only enjoy the moment and feel grateful to the person who saved her.

The infirmary was soon reached.

Since it was after school, the school nurse had already gone home.

Cheng Ruo found some medicine herself and treated her.

After everything was cleaned up.

He Rou lay on the hospital bed.

“You can’t stay the night here, you know. Just rest a bit, then we’ll have to leave. So… what are you going to do now?”

“I… I’ll figure something out. Anyway, thank you so much.”

“Your condition is really serious. If I hadn’t been so persistent in looking for you, and you’d stayed there all night, you’d have gotten a stroke from the cold by morning.”

“If that really happened, I wouldn’t trouble anyone.”

“Hey… to be honest, when I first saw you, I wanted to throw you off the rooftop right away. But those railings were too high.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Sometimes death is better than living. Because this year, I can’t help you, silly girl. In this school, no matter who it is, I can’t afford to provoke them. Except me…”

Cheng Ruo raised her hand and pointed to her head, “I’ve got some mental issues. Most people try to stay away from me. And I’m a good student, so the school hasn’t expelled me.”

“Are you having a hard time every day too?”

“At least I’m happier than you.”

“…”

—

The sky had turned dark.

Luo Yun held a flashlight and a school uniform in her hand, staring at the wide-open rooftop door and the empty spot where someone had been lying.

Rage surged straight up to the heavens.

“”

A pet she’d cultivated for three whole years, and in one afternoon, it dares to disobey its master.

Angry. Very angry.

She decided that once she found that person, she would break their legs first.

Then she’d give them an extra-long vacation and make them stay home every day, naked, crawling around, doing all the chores.

—

“It’s already late. Maybe you should go first. It’s really not good to keep having you take care of me…”

He Rou looked out the window at the pitch-black darkness, worrying that the other person might come back for a counterattack.

It would be bad if Cheng Ruo got dragged into this.

“Yeah… I can’t really take you out in this state. I’ll go first. If you really plan to stay here all night, turn off the lights so the patrolling guards don’t see you.”

Then Cheng Ruo stood up, poured a glass of water for her, and walked out.

The infirmary was left with only He Rou.

She looked at the glass of water beside her, and a sour feeling welled up in her chest.

The silence didn’t last long.

Just as He Rou was about to endure the pain and get out of bed to turn off the lights…

“Bam—”

The infirmary door was kicked open.

Luo Yun stormed in with a furious expression.

He Rou, who was struggling to get off the bed, turned her head at the commotion.

Her expression instantly froze.

“Nice going…”

Luo Yun spotted He Rou at once.

“I’m sorry!”

He Rou immediately abandoned the idea of getting up and sat quietly back on the hospital bed.

“You’re really something, He Rou. Been here one day and already hooked someone, have you? You dare to toss aside your master’s orders.”

Luo Yun held an iron rod in her hand and was moving quickly toward He Rou.

He Rou’s body stiffened the moment she saw her, and as the object in her hand came crashing down on her, fear and pain once again consumed her whole being.

“I’m… I’m really sorry. I’ll never do it again. Please don’t do this… I’m sorry!”