CHAPTER 71: CHAPTER 71: LIFT YOUR LEG

"It’s nothing, just a twisted neck, a minor injury." Shi Su waved her hand nonchalantly. "You know, when we film, we often have to use wires, so it’s inevitable to get hurt sometimes. It’s fine, I just get to take a break for a few days and not have to go to the set, which is a legitimate reason for a sick leave."

As she spoke, she glanced towards the bedroom. Actually, her waist was a bit sore, and she wanted to lie down in Mianmian’s room for a while.

But during the day, she couldn’t take off the cervical collar, and she was a little torn about it. She couldn’t lie down, sitting was tiring, and standing was even worse; the thing on her neck was ridiculously heavy.

How would she endure this week with that thing on?

Let alone cooking; even eating would probably be inconvenient. She couldn’t have Mianmian eating takeout with her every day. Mrs. Qin was still busy with things at home and couldn’t come back to help her right now.

Shi Su was mulling over these thoughts when the man’s figure approached. She instinctively shrank back a bit and looked up at him, "What are you doing?"

Jing Jihan’s gaze moved away from the obvious bruises on her body, his eyes as cold as rolling in snow, without speaking. He had already placed his hand on the cervical collar on her neck, checked it, and gently rotated it to the right side of her neck.

"Ah! Ow, ow, ow, you’re trying to kill me—!"

Shi Su shuddered with pain and was about to look up and question him, but suddenly felt the thing that had been stuck against her cervical bone was moved away. Although it was painful, it wasn’t as uncomfortable as before.

Jing Jihan ignored her, turned around, and went to the drawer in her living room, familiarly looking for the box of bruise ointment the old doctor downstairs left last time.

So she had accidentally misaligned her cervical collar?

No wonder it hurt more than at the hospital.

Shi Su sat motionless on the sofa, watching his back. A man nearly six feet three, even when silent, carried an imposing and solemn presence. Standing there casually, he had the aura of someone who could easily earn millions in just one minute.

Why didn’t she look into his blood-stained clothes more closely back then? Why didn’t she think deeper?

But if it was just a coincidence... if she was guessing wrong...

Shi Su remained tangled in her thoughts, the man’s voice suddenly sounded above her head. "Lift your leg up."

Only then did she snap her eyes up and see he was holding the ointment, instinctively glancing at her leg, unsure, "Huh?"

Seeing her dazed expression as if she’d hurt her brain instead of her neck, Jing Jihan didn’t bother with words. He leaned down and lifted one of her neatly placed legs, resting her foot on the coffee table opposite the sofa, and opened the ointment box.

Watching the man’s slender, articulate fingers dip into the ointment and apply it to the bruise on her calf, the strange burning sensation from the ointment instantly made Shi Su want to retract her leg.

But she didn’t pull back.

The man gently pressed down on her leg, "Stay still."

Shi Su sat there rigidly, first looking at her leg, then at the man bent over applying medicine to it. Her mind replayed the two incomplete newspapers she saw in the morning.

Yu Jing Group.

The same figure.

Cliff.

Disappearance.

Suddenly feeling the burn from the ointment on her ankle as well, she quickly reached out, "I can do it myself, just give me the ointment, I can..."

Jing Jihan didn’t lift his head, his hand steady above her ankle, his tone cool and stern, "Don’t move."

Now Shi Su genuinely found it impossible to move, her neck too painful for her to do anything but stay there stiffly and mechanically in place, hearing the man’s cold voice say, "The other leg." Despite her rational mind warning against it, the intense pressure in the air left her with no choice but to silently comply and slowly lift the other leg.

After applying ointment to her leg, Jing Jihan looked at her arm.

Shi Su quickly hid her arm behind her back, "It’s not that serious on the arm, see, just some scratches and redness."

The man placed the ointment on the coffee table next to her, lowering his gaze to look at her.

Shi Su looked down at her legs, pondering, then feigned rising, "Um... could you help me? I want to rest in the bedroom for a bit, but I’m not sure how to lie down properly."

"What did the doctor say?"

"...The doctor said if it’s really uncomfortable at night, I can take it off to sleep, but it shouldn’t be off for more than ten hours."

That part was relatively humane; Shi Su’s usual sleep didn’t last ten hours.

But feeling that, because of that comment, he might not agree to let her lie down in the bedroom.

She quickly supplemented, "But it’s too heavy, and my waist and shoulders can’t bear it for long. The doctor said I can place two pillows between my head and back while resting like this."

Jing Jihan walked over, helped her up, and Shi Su took two steps forward, spreading her hands sideways, trying to balance and move forward on her own.

Just approaching the children’s room, coincidentally, her phone left on the coffee table suddenly rang.

Shi Su quickly turned around at the door, moving slowly to avoid missing an important call. After all, Chu Jiu and the others were still at the hospital, and she didn’t know how they were doing.

"Put my phone on speaker." Shi Su said, awkwardly shuffling along like a level-three disability.

Jing Jihan glanced at the caller ID displayed on the phone screen on the coffee table and casually hit the speaker button.

Jun’s voice came through, "Shi Su, are you home yet? Don’t think I don’t know about your injuries and your stubborn pride, worried I’m too much trouble for you to help upstairs. You’re not still slowly making your way up alone in the hallway, are you?"

Startled by Jun’s voice, Shi Su instinctively wanted to turn off the speakerphone but reacted too slowly, Jun’s voice continuing to play through the phone, "The police have filed a case and dispatched a community officer to investigate the situation. The car that fell into the river has been salvaged, and though it’s completely wrecked, thankfully no one was seriously hurt. What happened on that cross-river bridge? The driver and Chu Jiu said a car suddenly rushed over as if its brakes failed. The driver tried to avoid it, but moving right was too urgent, and the car in front still collided with the rail and plunged into the river. The driver of that car is in the emergency room and still unconscious, and they can’t reach his family. This crash doesn’t seem so simple... I’ll have to personally check the bridge’s surveillance footage to find out what’s wrong with that driver!"