Chapter 32

“Damn it.” The roommates rushed over in a fury. Xu Nuo was fuming even more, glaring daggers at the girl who had tripped Yue Bai. “Are you out of your mind? You actually stuck your foot out to trip her?”

“Who are you cursing at?” The other girl fired back, her temper flaring.

The atmosphere grew thick with tension as people from Yue Bai’s class and the opposing team surged forward.

“What’s all this noise?” the referee bellowed. He crouched down beside them.

Yue Bai’s ankle was swollen badly.

“Quick, take her to the school infirmary,” the referee said, waving over two people.

Xu Nuo hurried over with her two roommates to support Yue Bai, who was sitting on the ground, enduring the pain without a word.

“Little Bai, are you okay?” Xu Nuo asked with a furrowed brow as she gripped Yue Bai’s arm, trying to help her up.

“I’m… fine,” Yue Bai replied, her face deathly pale as she forced the words out.

A fine sheen of sweat covered half her forehead. With their help, she put all her weight on her good leg and slowly rose from the ground.

“I’ll carry you to the infirmary,” one of the boys volunteered, stepping forward.

“No need, thank you,” Yue Bai said. Her lips were as white as her face, but she shook her head, refusing his offer.

Leaning on her one good leg, Yue Bai hopped toward the basketball court’s exit. As she brushed past the opposing players, the girl who had tripped her shot a disdainful glance at Yue Bai’s half-lifted foot and sneered, “A bunch of shortcut-takers with physiques worse than everyone else’s.”

“What did you say?” Wang Yi demanded, stepping forward indignantly. The girl’s blanket insult ignited the anger of the entire Art College team.

“Am I wrong?” The girl let out a cold laugh. “Art students who only know how to game the system—otherwise, how could you get into A University? In your dreams.”

“You’re not an art student?” Xu Nuo’s eyes went wide with disbelief as she stared at the girl.

The Sports Committee Member had said from the start that their opponents were from Visual Communication Class 1.

“Who’s an art student?” The girl scoffed. “We’re from the Architecture College.”

At those words, every eye in Yue Bai’s class turned sharply toward the Academic Commissioner.

The Sports Committee Member was stunned too. He pulled up the match notification and saw that in the attached document below, Visual Communication Class 1 had been replaced with a freshman class from the Architecture College.

“Why did it suddenly change to the Architecture College?” the Sports Committee Member wondered, puzzled as he examined the new file. It explained that they had temporarily added a few friendly matches with Architecture College freshmen.

What was supposed to be an internal Art College basketball game had turned into a matchup against the Architecture College.

Chen Han glared venomously at the girl who had tripped Yue Bai. “Think you’re hot stuff just because you’re from Architecture? Does that give you the right to bully people?”

The referee was just a student himself, caught off guard by the sudden chaos. He didn’t know what to say and simply stood silently on the sidelines.

“We just can’t stand how you scored tens of points lower than us and still got into A University,” the tripping girl repeated smugly.

Cold sweat beaded more thickly on Yue Bai’s forehead. The prolonged standing made her good leg ache terribly, while the throbbing in her swollen ankle battered her iron will.

“It hurts,” Yue Bai whispered, gripping Xu Nuo’s arm.

“What a bad luck,” Xu Nuo muttered. She stopped arguing with them, helped Yue Bai off the court, and had a classmate bring over an electric scooter to take her to the infirmary.

Because of Yue Bai’s injury, Xu Nuo and the others discussed briefly. They decided Xu Nuo would ride the scooter with Yue Bai to the infirmary, while Chen Han and Zhao Yu walked there.

“Hang in there, Little Bai. We’ll be at the infirmary soon,” Xu Nuo said anxiously inside the campus grounds, careful not to go too fast.

“Mm,” Yue Bai replied, tiny bite marks visible on her lower lip.

The first rehearsal wrapped up, and Sang Wan rolled her shoulders. For some reason, her chest had felt stuffy from the very beginning, a bad premonition lingering in her mind.

“Is it over?” Sang Wan asked Wen Mo, who was sitting up front directing.

“There’s still some other procedures,” Wen Mo replied, glancing at the printed pages in her hand. “But your part is done.”

“Then I’ll head out first,” Sang Wan said. She grabbed her jacket from the back of the chair and slipped it on.

Once outside the rehearsal hall, Sang Wan checked the time. Yue Bai’s basketball game wouldn’t be over for a while yet.

Her long, thick lashes fluttered. The uneasy feeling grew stronger, urging her to quicken her pace.

“Sang Wan?” An electric scooter pulled up beside her, and Hua Yun propped himself up with one leg on the ground. “Rehearsal over already?”

“Just my part,” Sang Wan said. She wasn’t in the mood for small talk but stopped out of politeness. “Isn’t there an Arts Institute basketball friendly today? How come you didn’t go watch?”

“It wasn’t our class’s turn. Today it’s the Arts Institute freshmen against the Architecture College freshmen, so I skipped it,” Hua Yun explained.

Sang Wan frowned. She remembered Yue Bai telling her it was an internal Arts Institute basketball game. How had the Architecture College gotten involved?

“You know how things are between us and Architecture—they’ve always been bad. Last year’s basketball game nearly turned into a brawl. No idea why they added Architecture matches at the last minute this year,” Hua Yun said with annoyance. Then he glanced at her. “Where are you headed? Want a ride?”

“The basketball court. To check on the Arts Institute game,” Sang Wan replied without hesitation. She swung her long leg over and settled onto the back seat.

Hua Yun turned the scooter around and asked curiously, “Since when are you interested in that kind of thing?”

“Just bored,” Sang Wan said, lowering her head slightly. She stared at the chat on her phone. Apart from Yue Bai’s message at the start saying the game was beginning, there had been nothing else.

Five minutes later, they reached the basketball courts. Sang Wan thanked Hua Yun and hurried inside.

Several games were underway across the courts, and Sang Wan had no idea which one Yue Bai was in. She found a referee, asked around, pinpointed Yue Bai’s match location, and rushed over.

The heaviness in her chest was almost unbearable. Sang Wan took a breath. As she drew nearer, she saw two groups arguing—no sign of Yue Bai in the crowd.

The referee was wedged between them, trying to mediate.

“Funny, right? If you can’t win fair and square, don’t play. Resorting to dirty tricks—aren’t you embarrassed?” one side jeered.

“Who are you calling dirty?” someone from the other side shot back, lunging forward.

“…”

“Enough! The game’s over. Everyone clear out. Take your complaints to the counselor—don’t disrupt the other matches,” the referee snapped, his head pounding from the hassle.

The teams for the next game were already waiting outside the court. The arguing groups couldn’t hog the space any longer and dispersed amid mutual barbs.

Sang Wan’s expression darkened. She was certain one of the arguing groups was from Yue Bai’s class—she had a vague impression of her classmates from her last visit.

But Yue Bai wasn’t there. Sang Wan’s brow throbbed.

“Excuse me, classmate—where’s Yue Bai from your class?” Sang Wan asked, stopping a girl.

The girl was still in a foul mood from the argument, her tone impatient. “The school infirmary.”

“The infirmary? Why?” Sang Wan’s breath hitched as she pressed urgently. She knew it was irrational, but she hoped Yue Bai was fine—that she’d just gone to accompany someone.

The girl looked up. Upon recognizing her, the anger on her face vanished instantly. “Senior Sister Sang?”

“Yes,” Sang Wan forced out. “Why did Yue Bai go to the infirmary?”

Wang Yi’s anger flared right back up at the question. She jabbed a resentful finger toward the Architecture College group that had already left the court. “Near the end of the game, they were losing badly and didn’t have possession. One of their girls stuck her foot out—Yue Bai didn’t see it and landed right on it. Her ankle swelled up huge. They sent her to the infirmary not long ago.”

Wang Yi spilled it all in one breath, then wiped at her mouth and continued. “And they had the nerve to mock us afterward. Even funnier—they denied it was on purpose. Who buys that? We have video: that girl clearly stuck her foot out deliberately. There was plenty of space, but she timed it perfectly for Yue Bai’s landing spot.”

Sang Wan’s head buzzed as if it had exploded. Her mind went blank in an instant, and she could no longer maintain her smile. Everything that followed happened on instinct.

By the time she snapped out of it, she had already messaged Hua Yun to take her to the infirmary.

Wang Yi opened WeChat—they’d just added each other—and sent over the unedited video.

In the infirmary, Yue Bai sat on a sofa chair with her swollen ankle elevated. The school doctor examined it carefully, then applied an ice pack.

Xu Nuo paced back and forth nearby. She couldn’t bear to look at Yue Bai’s pained expression and kept her eyes fixed on the doctor’s hands. “Doctor, how’s her foot?”

“Too early to say for sure. Might be fractured—we’ll know after the X-ray,” the doctor replied from the computer.

A University had top-notch medical equipment, and the on-campus infirmary handled most issues.

“But how did she twist it so badly? It’s swollen like this,” the doctor remarked during the wait. The infirmary was quiet with few patients.

“Someone tripped her,” Xu Nuo said, feeling the bad luck all over again. She spat in disgust. “Zero sportsmanship.”

The doctor hadn’t expected that. “Tripped? Surely not on purpose.”

“Who knows!” Xu Nuo sneered.

Yue Bai clutched her phone, staring pitifully at the dark screen with no desire to unlock it. The pain from her ankle throbbed through her brain, leaving it numb.

“Little Bai, play on your phone for a bit to distract yourself,” Xu Nuo suggested.

Yue Bai shook her head. She had no heart for that at all; the pain assaulting her brain was not something that could be easily diverted.

“Don’t you have something to do later? You should head back first,” Yue Bai said, forcing the corners of her mouth into an utterly hideous smile.

Xu Nuo pursed her lips. How could she feel at ease leaving Yue Bai here alone at a time like this? “I’m worried about leaving you by yourself.”

Yue Bai nodded with a bitter smile.

The school infirmary fell into a brief silence.

“Little Bai.” The quiet was shattered as Sang Wan burst into the room, her face etched with panic. When she caught sight of Yue Bai’s leg propped up high on a stool, a dizzying wave crashed over her, and her heart twisted viciously in her chest.

“Senior Sister.” Yue Bai hadn’t expected to see Sang Wan here and called out right away. But as she registered the injury on her foot, she subconsciously tried to cover it.

“Hiss.” The slight motion sent a tingling pain shooting across her scalp.

“Don’t move.” Sang Wan hurried anxiously to Yue Bai’s side and glanced at Xu Nuo.

“Little Bai, now that Senior Sister Sang is here, I’ll take off,” Xu Nuo said, sensing the shift in the air and tactfully stepping aside.

“Okay,” Yue Bai replied with a nod.

Once Xu Nuo had left, Sang Wan carefully examined the swollen ankle. When she looked up, the raw heartache in her eyes was plain to see. Her cool fingertips brushed lightly against it, but fearing she might cause more pain, she yanked them back in an instant.

“Does it hurt a lot?” Sang Wan asked, her fingertips curling tight as she fought to steady the tremor in her voice.