Savior?

Jimo felt fine when he arrived at the library. Then he bent down to take a book from a shelf.

With a creak.

He threw out his back.

"..."

He hadn't expected his current body to be so fragile that lifting a grown man would throw out his back.

He couldn't spare the time to exercise now, either.

He tried to move, but it hurt so much that he couldn't even stand up straight, let alone settle down and read.

The thought of wasting more time going to the infirmary left Jimo feeling irritated.

But he had no choice.

Fortunately, the infirmary wasn't far from the library. Holding his lower back, Jimo slowly made his way over.

The doctor knew him and was a little surprised to hear that he had thrown out his back at such a young age. He took an X-ray of Jimo and held it up to the light.

"It's nothing serious. Were you bending over to lift something heavy?"

Jimo nodded. "About a hundred-odd jin, I think."

The doctor shook his head disapprovingly. "Why are you students lifting such heavy things for no reason? Don't lift anything heavy for a while. I'll prescribe you some medicine. You're young, so you'll be fine after a few days' rest."

The doctor sprayed some medicine on his lower back and applied a medicinal patch.

Jimo pulled his clothes back down, and it really did seem to hurt less.

After saying goodbye to the doctor and leaving the infirmary, Jimo headed to the cafeteria with two books in hand.

He still had to keep writing when he got back with his dinner.

Jimo's mind was full of the proposal. Somehow, halfway there, he caught sight of Ke Yueyi and He Zhenglin eating on the second-floor terrace.

Ke Yueyi sat facing his direction, his head slightly lowered.

Jimo didn't even slow down. With no intention of going over to say hello, he silently turned his head and hurried toward the cafeteria, pretending he hadn't seen them.

Jimo didn't know that the moment he turned his head, those dark green eyes lifted and fixed firmly on his retreating figure.

He Zhenglin followed his gaze and curled his lips. "Aren't you going to give that little schoolmate of yours a warning?"

"Come to think of it, he must have seen you just now, but he didn't come over to say hello. How interesting."

"He should be punished a little."

The sun was about to set. In its fading light, dark clouds gathered, thick and heavy.

Jimo looked up. Was it about to rain?

For some reason, there were far more people than usual around the cafeteria today. In particular, a lot of people were gathered by the exit. Jimo thought it might be because F4 was here.

The thought only flashed through his mind. Jimo didn't care at all, so he didn't notice how many people had their eyes on him.

Even if he had noticed, he wouldn't have cared. He had become somewhat immune to those looks lately.

"Hey, you..."

The moment Jimo stepped into the cafeteria, someone finally called out to him.

But it was too late.

Jimo keenly sensed that something was wrong and instinctively moved to dodge to the side, but his injured back slowed him down.

That brief delay was all it took.

"Splash—"

A bucket of water poured down from above the door, drenching Jimo squarely on the head.

"Wow! What a show."

Some people around him spoke up, some expressed surprise, and even more looked up at the second-floor terrace on the sly.

Jimo was soaked and chilled to the bone. He ground his teeth, never expecting such vicious bullying to happen to him.

There had been no time to dodge, so in the urgency of the moment he could only shield the books in his hands. Fortunately, they hadn't gotten wet.

The plastic bucket rolled across the floor, then rolled back to Jimo's feet.

His face cold, he stepped on the bucket and looked around, meeting all sorts of gazes.

Jimo wanted to take off his glasses and wipe them, but held back. "Who put the bucket here?"

A special-grade student in the crowd stared at him, lips moving. The student was just about to speak when a companion covered the student's mouth and dragged them away.

"Don't get involved. Hurry up and go!"

Jimo waited a few seconds. No one there answered him, but they gathered around him, whispering and pointing.

Winter was nearly here, and the weather had long since turned cold. The casual sweater he wore had soaked up water and become very heavy.

Jimo put down the books and raised his hands to wring out his sweater, squeezing out quite a bit of water.

Waiting any longer wouldn't get him anywhere. Jimo picked up his books and started to leave.

He had been drenched for no reason, and he wasn't going to let it go. If they wouldn't tell him, he could come back another day and look for surveillance footage himself.

At some point, the talk around him had gradually died down, and an unusual silence fell inside and outside the cafeteria.

Everyone was staring behind Jimo. Their gazes were so conspicuous that he couldn't help stopping.

Jimo heard footsteps and paused. He was just about to turn around when a dry, light jacket was draped over him.

A deep voice sounded beside his ear. "Careful, you'll catch a cold."

Jimo met those dark green eyes. Before he could speak, he sneezed, right on cue.

"Achoo..."

The onlookers sucked in a collective breath. Oh my god, what were they seeing?

Ke Yueyi had actually draped his jacket over that nouveau riche guy! The rumors were all true!

That nouveau riche guy really knew how to hook people.

Not long before school started, also in the cafeteria, Ke Yueyi had poured wine over the nouveau riche guy. How had things progressed so quickly?

The way they beat their chests and stamped their feet, it was as though a beautiful flower had been stuck in a pile of cow dung like Jimo.

Without anyone saying a word, Jimo knew what they were thinking.

Jimo appeared to smile, but his expression was cold. "Brother, you're here too."

He handed the jacket back. "I'm already soaked through, so a little longer won't make a difference. It wouldn't be good if I got your jacket wet."

Ke Yueyi didn't take it, leaving Jimo's hand suspended in midair. He wiped Jimo's wet cheek with the pad of his finger. "I'll give you an explanation."

He didn't say it loudly, but everyone heard him clearly.

Ever since the bucket of water came down, nearly everyone present had been watching Ke Yueyi's attitude toward Jimo. That would also determine what kind of life Jimo would lead on campus from then on.

Of course, that was what those people thought.

"Thud!"

Someone knelt before them.

"Brother Yi, s-sorry. We were trying to prank a special-grade student. We didn't expect him... Brother Mo to suddenly come over."

"It happened so suddenly that we didn't have time to stop Brother Mo."

The place was completely silent. Ke Yueyi was looking at him.

Everyone was looking at him.

They wanted him to give a response, whatever it might be.

If he knew what was good for him, he should take the way out Ke Yueyi had offered him.

But Jimo was genuinely a little lost. All of a sudden, he didn't know what expression he should put on.

Should he keep up the timid, cowardly persona as he had before?

Or should he simply kick the person in front of him over?

If Ke Yueyi hadn't stepped in, he could have gone back, changed into dry clothes, then taken a little time out of his heavy schoolwork to track down the culprit and give them a satisfying beating.

But with Ke Yueyi stepping in for him, the matter seemed to have risen to another level.

Wherever he went, people looked at him through tinted glasses, even though he and Ke Yueyi barely knew each other.

Now that something like this had happened today, they would only be tied together more closely.

What was more...

Jimo had known from the beginning that Ke Yueyi had deliberately waited until he was drenched before coming over to play savior.