Chapter 82: Nosebleed

I had always thought that with Little Witch Xu Xin’s skills, my punch would, at best, force her to dodge—there was simply no way I could land a hit. So when my fist connected squarely with her nose, I was so startled that I nearly jumped out of my skin.

With a miserable cry, Little Witch collapsed to the ground, clutching her nose, crouching and unable to make a sound for some time. Bewildered and anxious, I asked, “Hey! Are you alright?”

She looked up, eyes brimming with tears, and sobbed, “What… what are you doing? Hitting me out of the blue! Ow! Blood! I’m bleeding!” She opened her hands, revealing them smeared with blood, which was still streaming from her nostrils.

Little Witch, both furious and frightened, quickly tilted her head back to stop the nosebleed.

Flustered, I reached out to wipe the blood from her mouth, apologizing, “S-sorry! I thought you were about to hit me, so I tried to block you. I didn’t mean to…”

She let out a half-exasperated, half-amused huff. “Why would I hit you? Honestly! And what’s the use of wiping with your hand? There’s a pack of tissues in my pocket—get it for me.”

Left with no choice, I shook the blood off my hands and reached into her pocket to search.

“Not that one—it’s on the other side!”

Switching hands, I finally found half a pack of tissues, took one out, and wiped her face. She took the tissues, pulled one out herself, rolled it up, and stuffed it into her nose. After a flurry of activity, we managed to stop the bleeding.

Xu Xin, still looking upwards, said hatefully, “Tang Qian, remember this! If my nose ends up crooked, you’re not getting away with it! It hurts like hell.”

As I wiped the blood from my hands, I replied helplessly, “Alright, alright, it’s my fault. But you once hit the back of my head so hard I couldn’t stop bleeding. My head still hurts! Let’s call it even—we’re square now.”

Just as I finished speaking, a van pulled up beside us. Erhei and his gang jumped out, fussing, “Whoa! Xin, what happened? Did this old guy mess with you? I’ll beat him to a pulp!”

They moved to surround me, ready for a beating. Xu Xin quickly waved her hand, “Wait!” Rubbing her nose, she forced a bitter smile. “It has nothing to do with him—I tripped and hit myself.”

“Really? How come there’s so much blood? Does it hurt?”

The group immediately clustered around her, all showing concern. I didn’t know why Little Witch was covering for me, but it was clear she didn’t want to cause trouble now. The world is truly full of surprises—could my four belt lashes really have reformed a notorious troublemaker like her? Unbelievable!

Seeing her so miserable, I couldn’t just leave her. At the very least, I should take her to the hospital. Besides, my head still ached—I needed a check-up myself.

So I said, “Enough talk, help your Xin get in the van. We need to get to the hospital.”

Erhei snapped, “Do I need you to tell me that? Cut the crap!” Then, more solicitously, he added, “Xin, let me help you up?”

Xu Xin smacked his hand away. “Don’t touch me!” She then walked to my side, affectionately took my hand, and whispered, “You promised my brother you’d take care of me. I don’t care—you’re going with me.”

I could only nod, shake her hand off, and say, “Alright, let’s get in the van.” With that, I climbed in first and sat in the back row.

I noticed the gangsters all wanted her to sit in the front, but she shook her head and walked straight to my side. As soon as she sat down, she winced and stood back up, holding on to my shoulder and kneeling on the seat.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

She blushed with embarrassment and leaned in to whisper, “It’s your fault! My butt hurts too much to sit.”

She had a point. “Then just lie on the seat.”

“How would that look? They don’t know my butt is injured—lying down would seem weird! And if I lie flat, how can I lift my head? My nose is still bleeding!”

I sighed. “You can’t sit, you can’t lie down—what do you want to do? Maybe you’ll have to squat.”

“I don’t care! You caused all these injuries—you’re responsible!”

“What’s the use of that? I can’t feel the pain for you!”

She snapped, “Just spread your legs and let me lie between them!” She said this, turning her head away so I couldn’t see her expression.

I was stunned. “Uh… isn’t that a bit much?”

She turned back, feigning anger. “What do you mean, ‘a bit much’? Think of another way to make me comfortable then! I’m not blaming you for making it impossible for me to ride, and now you won’t even let me lie on you?”

I was tongue-tied. I knew it seemed improper, but with her insistence, it almost felt right. While I was hesitating, she forced my legs apart and lay down between them. Supporting herself with her thighs and waist, she kept her butt off the seat, avoiding any pain. Lacking a place to rest her head, she grabbed my arm to use as a pillow and closed her eyes contentedly.

I could only smile wryly. Well, she’s just a kid, and even though this position was a bit intimate, it wasn’t too embarrassing. Besides, with her butt and nose both injured, maybe this really was the only way she could feel comfortable.

But this cozy posture was enough to make the four gangsters’ eyes pop out. How could they understand? This was the same “old man” they’d been ordered by Xu Xin to beat up and kidnap, and who’d nearly been tormented to death by the infamous Little Witch. How did everything change after just a meal? What on earth had happened?

The van soon left the mountains and got onto the main road. Even with her eyes closed, Little Witch’s pride and delight were impossible to hide. As the van bumped along, she kept adjusting her position for comfort until, eventually, she was nestled completely in my arms, lying on her side.

I was in a bind—pushing her away felt wrong, so did holding her. And every three seconds, Erhei would turn to glare at me, making things even more awkward.

After a while, I glanced down at Xu Xin again, only to find her eyes open, gazing at me dreamily. When she saw me looking, she quickly closed her eyes, two red patches blooming on her cheeks.

A sudden sense of foreboding filled me.

At last, the van drove into the city and stopped in front of a hospital. Xu Xin seemed almost reluctant to get off me. After we got out, she stopped Erhei and the others from following. She pulled a thick roll of cash from her jacket pocket, counted out forty bills, and handed them to Erhei. “Erhei, thanks for your help today. As agreed, a thousand each—here, count it. That’s it for now. Head home early; I’ll be staying here a few days.”

Erhei replied, “Xu Xin… we don’t do this for the money. And that old guy… is it safe for you to be with him?”

Xu Xin grinned, shoved the money into his hand, and said, “Don’t call him ‘old guy’! Next time, call him Brother Tang! Alright, I’m going in with Brother Tang. See you!”

She waved them off, then naturally took my arm and smiled, “Brother Tang Qian, shall we?”

I shrugged her off. “Don’t get so close! I’m still scared of you, alright?” I strode toward the hospital entrance. Xu Xin pouted but quickly followed, taking my arm again. “I want to! I insist!”

Bickering and tugging at each other, we entered the hospital. After X-rays and checkups, I was relieved to find my brain wasn’t seriously injured—the wound was from a blow with something like a stick, and after some medicine and bandaging, I was fine. I did have other bruises, though, so I picked up some ointment—Little Witch would need it too.

Her nose, thankfully, wasn’t broken, but the diagnosis was severe soft tissue damage and ruptured blood vessels. When all was done, I checked my watch. Good grief—it was already five twenty-five in the morning, nearly dawn.

The first thing I did after leaving the hospital was pull out a cigarette and search my pockets for a lighter. Xu Xin, grinning, took one out of her pocket, flicked it, and held out a flame.

So my lighter really was with her. Not wanting to let her light my cigarette, I snatched it back, lit up myself, and took a deep drag. Bliss.

Xu Xin sniffed disdainfully, muttering, “Hopeless smoker!”

After a few puffs, I hailed a cab. Xu Xin asked, “Where are we going?”

“Where else? Home to sleep!” I snapped.

“But my sister’s flight lands at nine thirty—I need to pick her up.”

I did the math. There were four hours until nine thirty. If we went home to sleep, it would take about twenty minutes to get there, then with washing up and all, it’d be six by the time we could sleep. But getting to the airport would take over an hour, meaning we’d only get two hours of sleep—and that was when my family would be waking up and asking questions. How would we sleep? If we went to the airport now, it’d be too early—what would we do for two or three hours?

I said, “Didn’t your brother say your sister would come pick you up? Just sleep at my place till she arrives.”

Xu Xin rolled her eyes. “Please! My sister’s a huge celebrity! The moment she gets off the plane, there’ll be a swarm of reporters. How could she come pick me up? Of course I have to find her. Don’t you want to get rid of me sooner?”

She had a point. I spread my hands helplessly. “But it’s too early to go to the airport. What do we do?”

Xu Xin pondered a moment, then glanced around. Suddenly she brightened, pointing ahead. “How about we get an hourly room and rest for a bit?”

I followed her finger and saw a small hotel nearby, its neon sign glowing: Cozy Inn.