“Doctor, may I return to the dormitory?” inquired Jiang Tan, who had maintained silence.
His face bore no expression, and his voice carried indifference. Both in appearance and tone, he did not appear particularly insistent.
Given his lack of insistence, Dr. Hu responded cautiously, “No, you can only leave when the observation period concludes.”
Numerous peculiar emergency cases had been admitted today.
This trio was just one instance; several others lay in the ward. All were accidents, seemingly normal at first glance, but upon closer inspection, their experiences revealed strange and irrational aspects.
Jiang Tan did not press the matter further. After the refusal, he continued to half-lean against the bedside, closing his eyes for a brief rest.
However, Ren Feiyu noticed a subtle frown on his face.
So, this individual did have emotions, but his expression of them was restrained and elusive.
Ren Feiyu silently marveled at this discovery when Dr. Hu remarked, “Ren Feiyu, not to criticize you, but…”
The phrase “not to criticize you” typically precedes criticism.
Ren Feiyu cooperatively lowered his head. Regardless of right or wrong, securing a good attitude seemed advisable. “Um…”
Dr. Hu continued, “The spirit of risking your life to save a classmate is commendable…”
Ren Feiyu nodded as if agreeing, but…
Dr. Hu added, “However, jumping into the water without knowing how to swim is too dangerous!”
“Um… um?” Ren Feiyu looked up, instinctively defending himself. “I can swim…”
“Even if you can swim, it doesn’t necessarily mean you can rescue someone,” Dr. Hu retorted impatiently. “There are scientific methods for water rescue; you can’t just act recklessly.”
Ren Feiyu’s voice weakened, “I didn’t act recklessly…”
Dr. Hu’s intensity increased, “You didn’t act recklessly? Then why did you end up choking on water like this? If you stayed in the water a bit longer, you could have been in real danger, do you understand?”
Ren Feiyu wanted to explain that he followed the standard procedure for rescuing someone, but the unexpected reverse lock embrace by the other person complicated things.
Nevertheless, the doctor mentioned that the classmate couldn’t recall anything about the water situation and even thanked both of them. Raising these points might sound like blaming the other person, which didn’t seem appropriate, especially since the classmate likely didn’t act intentionally.
Amidst a jumble of thoughts, Ren Feiyu convinced himself once again, “Um, I understand.”
His voice resembled the buzzing of a mosquito, prompting Dr. Hu, feeling a bit reluctant to be too harsh, to sigh and soften his expression.
However, on the adjacent bed, Jiang Tan suddenly interjected, “His method of rescuing is correct—holding the drowning person from behind under the armpits and quickly floating to the surface. The entire process is quite standard.”
Ren Feiyu looked at Jiang Tan in surprise.
Had he observed the rescue? Perhaps that was why he promptly intervened after the accident.
Yet, Jiang Tan speaking up for him now caught Ren Feiyu off guard.
Dr. Hu was puzzled, “The method is correct? Then how…”
“I can’t be certain,” remarked Jiang Tan, “but in my view, that classmate briefly regained consciousness in the water. It might have been a reflex action that led him to grab onto the other student, disregarding everything and turning the rescue into a situation where both were in danger.”
Dr. Hu fell into silence, deep in thought.
“No, I need to go check on this.” She turned and hurried out, but just before reaching the door, she turned back and reminded them, “Stay here and observe carefully. Don’t leave until it’s time.”
With the school doctor’s departure, the observation room returned to a slightly awkward silence.
Ren Feiyu looked at Jiang Tan, “Um…”
At that moment, Jiang Tan’s phone suddenly rang.
He glanced at the name, confirmed who it was, then answered, “Wang Ye.”
Ren Feiyu obediently kept quiet and listened to Jiang Tan saying on the other end, “Yes… but you have to wait… I’m at the school hospital… I…”
Beep beep beep.
Jiang Tan uttered three and a half sentences, just eleven words, before the communication was abruptly ended from the other side.
Ren Feiyu watched as Jiang Tan put his phone away. His profile showed no sign of displeasure from the abrupt end of the call. Only then did Ren Feiyu cautiously speak up, “Um, thank you for…”
Jiang Tan turned to him, looking indifferent, “You’ve said that several times.”
“I meant just now,” Ren Feiyu said, “Thank you for explaining to Dr. Hu.”
“I didn’t help you. I just stated the objective facts,” Jiang Tan said. “Also, your rush to rescue was indeed reckless. At that time, you had already called for help, and two lifeguard teachers were on their way. You could have handled it more properly than you did.”
Ren Feiyu’s head lowered more and more as he was being criticized. He felt extremely wronged, but instinctively apologized, “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again…”
Jiang Tan shook his head with extreme rationality, “No need to promise me. Your life is your own, and you have the absolute right to handle it as you see fit.”
Ren Feiyu: “…”
This was too difficult to talk about.
However, things always had two sides. Although Jiang Tan was difficult to talk to, he was calm and decisive. Ren Feiyu couldn’t help but admire his control over his emotions, especially since he tended to explode at every little thing.
Even though it was hard to converse with him, Jiang Tan possessed qualities Ren Feiyu longed for but knew he could never have.
For this, Ren Feiyu had to muster up the courage.
“Good Samaritan, can I add you on WeChat?”
After the swimming pool incident, Lin Wu listened to the entire story through the voice connection that was accidentally left on the ground but not disconnected. Even after Ren Feiyu fumbled back to his phone and, with a hoarse voice, assured everyone he was fine, Lin Wu couldn’t rest easy. He hung up the call and went straight to the school hospital.
Upon pushing open the door to the observation room, he saw Ren Feiyu holding his phone, looking foolishly happy, staring at the guy on the adjacent bed, “Good Samaritan, I sent you a friend request. Accept it.”
Okay, this guy is really fine.
The other guy noticed him first and looked up.
Following his line of sight, Ren Feiyu also looked and saw his roommate, “Hey? Why are you here?”
Lin Wu walked over with no good temper, “I came to see the expert who can swim his way into the school hospital.”
Ren Feiyu mumbled, “I was saving someone…”
Lin Wu remarked, “Yeah, and then you saved yourself too.”
Ren Feiyu pouted, and the joy of adding Jiang Tan on WeChat vanished into thin air.
Seeing Ren Feiyu looking timid, Lin Wu’s heart softened. He casually patted him on the back and ruffled his hair, saying, “Alright, as long as you’re okay.”
Ren Feiyu had been quite resilient until just now. Lin Wu’s comforting words snapped the tension in his heart. Unable to control the surge of frustration, especially in front of familiar faces, he blurted out, “I didn’t expect him to suddenly hug me in the water… really… it was all going smoothly before that…”
Lin Wu didn’t quite understand, but he could tell that Ren Feiyu was genuinely upset; his voice was on the verge of breaking.
He quickly patted Ren Feiyu on the back and whispered, “Hold it in. Cry when you get back to the dorm. There are people around here…”
This reminded Ren Feiyu.
The Good Samaritan was still here, and he was making a fool of himself in front of him!
“Lin Wu, this is Jiang Tan from the School of Mechanical Engineering, my life-saving Good Samaritan!” Ren Feiyu pushed his roommate away, waved his arm toward the bed next to him, welcoming him as if he were a guest. He was spirited, and his voice was loud.
Lin Wu: “…”
Your expression changed too quickly.
“Buddy, thank you.” Lin Wu turned to Jiang Tan and said, “I’m Lin Wu, from the School of Environmental Studies.”
Jiang Tan nodded briefly, a shallow acknowledgment. He didn’t seem to have any intention of repeating his name or department, as Ren Feiyu had already introduced them.
The indifference from Jiang Tan made Lin Wu feel a bit uneasy, but one had to judge people by their actions, not their personalities. Jiang Tan had indeed saved Ren Feiyu. Whether he had a good or bad personality was irrelevant—they weren’t becoming friends. Lin Wu couldn’t interfere in someone else’s business.
However, Ren Feiyu seemed entirely unconcerned about any issues with the Good Samaritan. He stared at Jiang Tan as if he were looking at a male god.
Was there such a gloomy male god? He had no vitality, fair skin, and even his lip color was pale. As Lin Wu looked at him, for some reason, he kept thinking of a deep winter dusk.
“What’s going on? Why are you in the hospital again?” The door to the observation room was pushed open once more, and a person entered with a gust of wind.
As soon as this person entered, the entire observation room felt cramped. Not only was he tall, but he also exuded a strong presence, giving off the vibe of a gang leader with his entourage trailing behind him.
The key point was his hairstyle, which looked like someone from the streets.
He had a distinctively tough buzz cut, relying on his good looks to be willful… You wait!
Lin Wu’s eyes widened suddenly.
A dense fog.
Under the wall.
Rejecting a senior sister.
Brushing the cat.
Two cents…
Wasn’t this the guy who didn’t like people!
What was his name again? Wang Ye?
As soon as he entered, he headed straight for Jiang Tan, without bothering to look around. After sizing up for a while, he frowned, “You’re really fine?”
Jiang Tan remained calm, “I was fine from the beginning.”
Wang Ye’s expression seemed as if he had been deceived, “Then why didn’t you say that on the phone?”
Jiang Tan raised his phone, displaying the bright call duration on the screen, “Call duration: 9 seconds.”
Wang Ye: “…”
Lin Wu wondered why the call was dead while the person was alive. If they hung up and called back, wouldn’t that solve it? However, it seemed like these two students didn’t intend to continue discussing this topic. They seemed to accept that a “one-time call” was perfectly reasonable.
The senior sister that Wang Ye confessed to was from the School of Mechanical Engineering, and Jiang Tan, whom Wang Ye visited, was also from the School of Mechanical Engineering. Lin Wu followed this train of thought and guessed that Wang Ye was also from the School of Mechanical Engineering and might even share a dorm with Jiang Tan, just like he and Ren Feiyu.
So, weren’t these two also getting along well, just like buddies?
Or was it that buddies didn’t count as people?
While Lin Wu was pondering, Wang Ye’s gaze suddenly swept over, as if he just noticed there were people here.
Lin Wu was frightened, and he didn’t know why he felt guilty. Even if he was recognized, he hadn’t deliberately eavesdropped. He was undoubtedly a well-intentioned third party. Besides, Wang Ye hadn’t lost any face at the time; it was the senior sister who had rejected him. Even if he were seen, it shouldn’t be a big deal.
However, trying to control reflexes was difficult.
Lin Wu could only attribute it to Wang Ye’s temperament. He looked fierce and fierce, appearing as though he might not be easy to deal with—What are you looking at? What’s it to you?—and would fiercely smash a bottle on your head if you said something wrong.
But Wang Ye’s gaze easily slid past him, and there was no particular reaction.
Instead, Ren Feiyu immediately enthusiastically introduced himself, “Hello, I’m Ren Feiyu, from the School of Environmental Studies. Thanks to Jiang Tan for jumping into the water to save me; otherwise, I would have been done for!”
“Oh,” Wang Ye casually replied, “Wang Ye, from the School of Mechanical Engineering.” Then he withdrew his gaze, grabbed a chair, and sat down next to Jiang Tan’s hospital bed.
Lin Wu: “…”
They really seemed like good buddies; their personalities were well-matched. Not even a “Hello, Wang Ye, from the School of Mechanical Engineering” from Jiang Tan. At least Wang Ye had replied with six words, including an “Oh.”
