Chapter 26
The shade of the trees by the river was dense. Morning sunlight filtered through the gaps between the branches and scattered across the ground, gilding both their shadows with flecks of gold.
After running for more than ten minutes, Xie Zhitang began to struggle a little, breathing lightly.
Seeing sweat on her face, Xin Geling slowed her pace. “Do you want to rest for a bit?”
Thinking of how she had said she had “trained at the gym,” Xie Zhitang stubbornly remained silent and smiled. “No need. Let’s keep running.”
Xin Geling looked at her for a while, then continued running with her, only slowing her steps by quite a lot.
They ran for another ten minutes before finally stopping and ending the morning run.
Seeing that Xie Zhitang was sweating more and more, Xin Geling hesitated briefly, then handed her the towel. “Wipe it off.”
Xie Zhitang bit her lip in embarrassment and reached out to take it, trying to preserve her dignity. “It’s a little hot outdoors.”
Because there was no air conditioning like in a gym, that was why she was sweating so much.
Xin Geling did not suspect anything else. She only gave an “mm” and looked around. The morning sun had indeed risen, so it was normal for it to be a little hot.
Seeing that Xin Geling did not doubt her, Xie Zhitang relaxed. Lowering her brows, she used Xin Geling’s towel to wipe her sweat.
Although she was not sweating heavily, there were many places where sweat had appeared—her forehead, temples, and neck, all beaded with fine, dense perspiration.
Xie Zhitang tried her best to keep elegant as she wiped the sweat away. After wiping, she quietly touched the dampness in the center of the towel with her hand.
It was a little wet…
Would there be a smell…
Would Sister dislike it…
Xie Zhitang felt troubled while inwardly regretting why she had not brought a towel of her own.
Xin Geling saw her holding the towel with both hands, brows faintly furrowed, motionless and lost in thought, so she asked, “Done wiping?”
As she spoke, she naturally took the towel from Xie Zhitang’s hands. Unexpectedly, Xie Zhitang was suddenly startled like a rabbit, and in the blink of an eye, she snatched the towel back.
Xin Geling looked at her in confusion.
Xie Zhitang spoke with an open, poised expression. “Sister, how about I wash it for you before giving it back?”
Xin Geling had thought she had snatched it back because she had not finished wiping. Hearing this, she found it funny inside. As she took the towel back, she explained, “No need to go through all that trouble.”
The towel was taken back again. Xie Zhitang subconsciously wanted to snatch it back once more, but in the next second, her hand forcibly stopped in midair. She saw Xin Geling use the towel without any disgust to wipe her face, then her neck and the back of her neck.
The side she used was even the same side Xie Zhitang had just used to wipe her sweat…
Xie Zhitang’s expression went from complicated to dazed.
Her ears gradually turned red.
Xin Geling spread the towel out into a strip and hung it around her neck. Then she picked up her thermos from the stone table in the park, unscrewed the lid, and handed it to Xie Zhitang. “Do you want a sip of water?”
Xie Zhitang never refused anything she gave. “Sister, do you mind if I drink directly from the mouth of the bottle?”
Xin Geling said, “I don’t mind. Drink.”
Although she had guessed Xin Geling would answer this way, Xie Zhitang still could not help smiling.
She raised her head and took a refined, graceful sip.
Xin Geling stood beside her. Her gaze briefly paused on Xie Zhitang’s lifted swan-like neck, and after a few seconds, she consciously looked away out of self-restraint.
“Sister’s water tastes very good. A little sweet,” Xie Zhitang said, handing it back.
“Does it? It’s just cooled boiled water from home.” Xin Geling took it and drank most of the bottle herself.
She screwed the cap back on and was the first to step forward. “Let’s go back.”
Xie Zhitang said, “Okay.”
Just as Xie Zhitang followed her out of the park and stepped onto the narrow cobblestone path, perhaps because her new shoes did not fit, or perhaps because she had not gotten used to them yet—
She twisted her ankle.
Her body pitched forward and bumped into Xin Geling’s waist.
“What happened?” Xin Geling immediately turned around and subconsciously held both her hands to stop her from falling to the ground.
“…I twisted my ankle.” Xie Zhitang’s face was full of embarrassment. She gripped Xin Geling’s arm tightly, trying to use her strength to stand.
Seeing that her face had gone pale, Xin Geling helped her sit on a nearby bench. “Are you okay? Which ankle did you twist?”
Xie Zhitang felt that she had thoroughly embarrassed herself today. “My right foot.”
Xin Geling’s gaze moved downward. With that one glance, she saw Xie Zhitang’s two well-proportioned legs, her small, rounded knees, and below her ankles, a pair of white running shoes, with a tiny bit of white lace from her socks showing.
“Is it serious? Should we go to a clinic?”
Xie Zhitang braced her hands on her knees and bent down. “I probably just twisted it a little. It’s nothing serious. I’ll rest for a bit.”
Xin Geling silently withdrew the hand she had originally reached out with and placed it on her knee. “All right.”
She was just about to stand when sharp-eyed Xie Zhitang noticed her movement and reached out to grab Xin Geling’s wrist.
“Sister, I think it still hurts a little.” She let go very quickly.
Xin Geling looked down at her from above. She had intended to look at her foot, but unexpectedly, Xie Zhitang was still bent over and looking up. With one sweep of her gaze, Xin Geling saw that faintly visible shadow.
Xin Geling immediately turned slightly to the side and looked away. After thinking for a few seconds, she turned her back and crouched in front of her. “I’ll carry you back.”
Xie Zhitang was stunned. She had not expected Xin Geling to crouch down and carry her at all. She had only not wanted to refuse the goodwill Xin Geling had shown earlier when she had wanted to rub her foot.
But… seeing the back exposed before her, thin yet upright, looking capable and strong—
It seemed not bad either.
Xie Zhitang said reservedly, “Will it trouble you too much?”
Xin Geling said, “No. Get on.”
In a corner no one could see, the corners of Xie Zhitang’s mouth curved upward. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Xin Geling’s neck.
A pair of hands slid beneath the bends of her knees. Those were hands that had killed someone, pushed a heavy barbecue cart, grilled barbecue, repaired refrigerators, and patched floors. Now they slipped under the bends of her knees and touched her skin.
One of those hands was even holding the thermos, supporting the bend of her knee with only the strength of the wrist.
As Xin Geling suddenly lifted her and stood up, Xie Zhitang felt herself press even more tightly against her back in that instant.
A warm current surged through her chest, and Xie Zhitang tightened her arms around her slightly more than before.
Xin Geling walked out of the park and stepped onto the pedestrian path by the road. “Let’s go.”
Xie Zhitang gave an “mm” in her throat.
On one side of them was the riverbank. Several white ducks were swimming in the water, quacking in the distance.
“I might have had a bit of an unlucky start today.” Xie Zhitang tried to salvage her image a little. “When I’m usually at the gym, I don’t twist my ankle like this.”
Nor was she so weak that she needed someone to carry her.
Xin Geling looked at the road ahead. The park in the old residential complex was old too. The riverside railing and sidewalk had more than ten years of history, and some of the bricks on the sidewalk even protruded unevenly.
She had no choice but to avoid them, step off the sidewalk, and walk along the roadside.
Because this was an old residential area, very few cars passed by, and there were no large trucks either. On the road, there were mostly elderly people exercising in groups of two or three.
Hearing Xie Zhitang’s words, Xin Geling smiled. “Outdoors really does have many more dangers than the gym. You might bump into something, trip, twist your ankle, or it might rain. It’s normal that you weren’t used to this environment for a while and twisted your ankle.”
After thinking for a moment, she added, “Just pay more attention next time.”
After all, she could not provide Xie Zhitang with conditions like a gym.
If a girl could exercise, it was still better to exercise more when possible.
Hearing this, Xie Zhitang suddenly realized that Xin Geling might never have doubted the truth of her words.
Because she had even found reasons to explain it for her. Both openly and subtly, her words implied that outdoor exercise was still worth trying more often.
For a moment, Xie Zhitang did not know what to say. “Then I’ll keep running with Sister tomorrow.”
Xin Geling’s gaze swept over the legs beneath her eyelids. The combination of white shoes and slender ankles inexplicably had a kind of beauty.
She had not noticed it before. It might also be because she rarely bought white shoes.
“Tomorrow, we’ll run a little slower.”
Xie Zhitang: “…”
After Xin Geling carried her for a short while, they suddenly ran into Grandma Chen, who had come out to exercise.
“Good morning, Grandma Chen.” Xin Geling greeted her familiarly.
Grandma Chen stood in front of her. Because of a blind spot in her angle of view, she could only see Xie Zhitang’s exposed legs, hands, and shoulders. Her eyes blurred for an instant, and she almost thought the person on Xin Geling’s back was not wearing clothes.
Just as she secretly complained in her heart about why this person was not wearing clothes, Xin Geling walked closer, and only then did she see clearly that the person was wearing clothes.
“…” Silently, she swallowed the complaint back down and pretended she had never thought it.
“Little Xin, who are you carrying?”
Xin Geling said, “Xie Zhitang. She twisted her ankle, so I’m carrying her back.”
Xie Zhitang lifted her head from one side of Xin Geling’s shoulder, smiled at Grandma Chen, raised her hand, and greeted her. “Good morning, Grandma Chen.”
Grandma Chen said, “You, you, you—”
Grandma Chen said “you” for a long time without managing to form a sentence. Lin Huailan hated Xie Zhitang, but her daughter was now close to Xie Zhitang. If Lin Huailan found out later, who knew how angry she would be?
Forget it. Little Xin was probably close to her because she had learned from Grandma Chen that Xie Zhitang had helped Lin Huailan over the years.
Grandma Chen shook her head. “You two be careful. Don’t let your mom see.”
With that, she walked past them with her hands clasped behind her back, also making it clear that she would not tell Lin Huailan.
Xin Geling and Xie Zhitang both turned their heads at the same time to watch her leave.
Xin Geling continued walking. “Grandma Chen told me some things about you.”
Xie Zhitang was surprised. “You know everything?”
Xin Geling said, “Yes. Grandma Chen said that you came to see Ms. Lin over the years, but Ms. Lin didn’t appreciate it, so you turned to Grandma Chen and helped under her name.”
Xie Zhitang said, “The places where I could help Auntie were too limited. When Auntie lost her job, I had no way to help her.”
Because at that time, she had also been a student. She did not have a job and was not financially independent. She could not help Auntie with anything.
When Auntie was in pain and mentally absent, she had also had no way to find a psychologist to counsel her, causing her emotions to become more and more unstable during that period.
Xin Geling was silent for a moment. “The fact that you came to see her was already very good.”
She also did not expect Xie Zhitang, who had just started university, to have much ability to support Ms. Lin, who had been emotionally unstable.
“Sister, I’m sorry…” Xie Zhitang knew that thinking of the period when Auntie’s emotions had been unstable would hurt Xin Geling. That had been not long after she was imprisoned. Auntie had suffered a heavy blow and had never managed to recover from it.
As her daughter, how could she possibly not worry or feel hurt?
But even if she was hurt, in her heart, she was probably only blaming herself for failing her mother, not blaming anyone else.
Xie Zhitang was also very clear that Xin Geling consumed all of her emotions on her own and never let them spill out and affect others.
But that was precisely what made Xie Zhitang’s heart ache even more. Even if Xin Geling blamed every mistake on her, she would feel a little better.
“No need to say sorry. It’s all in the past.”
Xie Zhitang knew that Xin Geling was once again trying to lessen her guilt toward their family. She was so good that it was simply… impossible to describe.
Resting her head on Xin Geling’s shoulder, Xie Zhitang closed her eyes deeply and sighed softly.
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