Seeing Xiaoling limping, I couldn't feel gloating anymore. Looking at the blood on the shards and imagining the scene, it was indeed quite dangerous. I don't know how deep or long her wound was, but it must have been quite serious, otherwise she wouldn't be limping like that.
I carefully collected the broken toilet bowl pieces one by one and piled them in a corner of the bathroom. I didn't know where else to put them. After finishing all that, I went back to the living room and watched TV absentmindedly.
Xiaoling didn't come out of the room for more than ten minutes. Her expression was still somewhat painful, and it seemed that she was indeed seriously injured.
"How's the wound?" I asked instinctively. Seeing how much pain she was in, I couldn't bring myself to smile.
"I can't see it, but there's some blood. Maybe she cut herself?" Xiaoling forced a smile at me.
"Do you think the wound is deep? Should we go to the hospital to get it bandaged and treated?" I suggested to Xiaoling.
"The wound isn't very deep, but there might be a shard stuck in it." After saying that, Xiaoling walked towards the bathroom, still limping.
"Did you pull that fragment out?" I asked again.
"How can you pull it out if you can't see it?" Xiaoling glared at me.
"How could you be so stupid? You could have used a mirror to look at yourself..." After giving the suggestion, I suddenly realized that my words were a bit inappropriate, since the shard was stuck in her butt. Thinking about this, I couldn't help but blush.
"I've tried, but I still can't see it!" Xiaoling shook her head, and when she noticed that I had picked up all the fragments, she subconsciously glanced back at me.
"When I came over, I saw a community hospital downstairs, right by the roadside. I'd better take you there to get it treated. It's hot now, and you might get infected if you're not careful," I advised Xiaoling.
"No need, it's too much trouble." Xiaoling shook her head again.
"It's no trouble. If you're worried about trouble now, what if you get an infection later, or if that fragment grows into your flesh and needs surgery to remove it? That would be even more troublesome." It wasn't that I was really concerned about her; it was mainly because this whole thing started because of me. If she goes to the hospital to get it done and everything's alright, I'll feel more at ease.
"It's so late now, will there still be anyone at the community hospital?" Xiaoling seemed to be somewhat persuaded by my words.
"There should be, right?" I thought for a moment and blurted out, "Community hospitals should have staff on duty 24 hours a day."
After hesitating for a moment, Xiaoling finally nodded. She took a small bag and followed me out the door.
As Xiaoling went down the stairs, she cried out in pain with every step. After five or six steps, she seemed unwilling to move any further. It seemed that she was indeed seriously injured. With so much pain, could she have broken her bones?
Reaching out to help her was indeed a bit awkward. Firstly, I'd never been physically intimate with any girl before, and secondly, the current relationship between us was rather strange... Sigh...
"Can you help me up?" Xiaoling looked like she really couldn't hold on any longer and asked me for help.
"This...isn't this a bit inappropriate?" I looked at Xiaoling with unease.
"What's wrong with it? I didn't expect you to be so old-fashioned. What era are we living in?" Xiaoling said, looking at me with a strange expression.
I shook my head, took two steps forward and helped Xiaoling. Xiaoling put one hand on my shoulder and the other on the handrail of the stairs. I supported her waist and helped her hop down the stairs.
Being so close to a girl, and even having physical contact, was a first for me. I was incredibly nervous, but I didn't want Xiaoling to notice, so I didn't say a word. Luckily, Xiaoling's attention was focused on going down the stairs, and she didn't notice that I was sweating profusely next to her.
"I'm exhausted." Xiaoling was clearly struggling to walk; she wasn't tired, but in pain.
"I'll carry you on my back." After a while, I made a decision: carrying her down might make things less tiring.
"Okay," Xiaoling agreed without hesitation.
I squatted down, and Xiaoling leaned on my shoulder. With a little effort, I lifted her up on my back. She wasn't very heavy, and for someone like me who pays attention to exercise and is quite strong, carrying her downstairs was no problem at all.
"You're really strong." After I carried Xiaoling on my back, her voice sounded less pained, and I could even hear a hint of pride in her tone.
"Carrying you is a piece of cake," I said, pursing my lips.
"Hehe, I knew that back in high school."
How did you know?
"During the school basketball game, you were shirtless, and I could see you were all muscle..." Xiaoling suddenly stopped talking.
"You noticed that? Why are you watching me if you're not watching the game?" After I said that, I felt that my words were a bit inappropriate, but I couldn't figure out exactly what was wrong with them.
"The girls don't know anything about playing basketball; all they're doing is commenting on who's the most handsome and who's the most muscular..."
"Boring..." I shook my head, not wanting to continue the topic, mainly because I felt a little embarrassed.
The community hospital was just a short walk away. After we got to flat ground, although Xiaoling said several times that she wanted to get down and walk by herself, I insisted on carrying her all the way into the hospital.
It's called a hospital, but it's really just a clinic. There are only a few rooms. It's quite late now, and there aren't many people in the hospital anymore. There's only one middle-aged male doctor on duty.
Upon seeing us enter, the male doctor stood up: "Are you here for a medical consultation?"
"Okay." I nodded and then put Xiaoling down from my back.
"Sit down." The male doctor sat down and then pointed to the chair next to him.
"She can't sit," I explained to the male doctor.
"What's wrong? Is something bothering you?" the male doctor asked Xiaoling.
Xiaoling hadn't said anything, so I had to speak again: "The toilet at home is broken, and she... got scratched there by the toilet, and there might be some shards stuck in it."
"Oh, I see." The male doctor smiled, then stood up. "Carry her to that room, I'll treat her wound."
"I can walk by myself." Xiaoling blushed and limped into the room. The doctor followed her in and left the door slightly ajar.
I sat outside, waiting listlessly, as memories of high school surfaced one by one. Xiaoling was now my stepmother! What a cruel twist of fate! Something that only happens in novels and TV shows had actually happened to me.
Just as I was sitting there lost in thought, Xiaoling suddenly pushed open the door and rushed out. When I looked at her, I saw that her face was flushed with embarrassment.
"Let's go, we're not going to get treatment."
"What's wrong?" I looked at Xiaoling with a puzzled expression.
"Let's go back." Xiaoling looked at me somewhat uneasily.
The male doctor also came out of the room. Seeing my puzzled look, he quickly explained, "Her wound is on her buttocks. I just asked her to take off her pants so I could apply some medicine... She might have misunderstood..."
Hearing this, I couldn't help but laugh and grabbed Xiaoling, who was about to leave: "If you don't listen to the doctor, how can he treat you?"
After hearing what I said, the doctor quickly added to Xiaoling, "Yes, all the nurses here have gone off duty. Is he your family member? If you're worried, you can have him come into the room with you."
"No way." I quickly shook my head. She was taking off her pants to apply the medicine, how could I be inside? Wouldn't that be incredibly embarrassing? After saying that, I immediately felt like I was being hypocritical... Actually, I've always been very curious about women's bodies... It's just a guy's nature.
"I won't get treatment." Xiaoling shook her head resolutely, grabbed me, and quickly fled the hospital. Although she was still limping, no outsider could tell that she was injured when she left the hospital.
"Slow down..." The doctor chased after me from inside, carrying some medicine and cotton swabs. After catching up with me, he handed them to me. "If her wound isn't treated, it will get infected. If you find it inconvenient, you can go back and treat it yourselves."
I took the medicine and cotton swabs the doctor handed me, and casually took out my wallet from my pocket: "How much?"
"No money needed, no money needed." The doctor smiled, turned and walked towards the hospital, shaking his head as he went.
"You're the one who's really old-fashioned, calling me feudal. What's wrong with letting a doctor check on you and treat your wound?" I said to Xiaoling dismissively, a sense of schadenfreude creeping into my heart once again.
It seems that she was injured because of me, and I felt more schadenfreude than anything else.
"It was so embarrassing... As soon as he came in, he made me bend over on the bed with my butt sticking out, and then he made me take off my pants..." Xiaoling lowered her head, looking very annoyed.
"How can he treat your wound if you don't take your pants off? Is he going to use his internal energy to force the fragments out?" I mocked Xiaoling.
"Forget it, forget it, I'm not going to get treatment here anyway." Xiaoling shook her head like a rattle drum.
I looked towards the entrance of the residential area and said, "Then I'll take you to a big hospital to get checked out and find a nurse to help you."
"No need, I'll figure something out myself once I get up there." Xiaoling pouted again.
"Okay then, but if you get infected and need surgery later, don't blame me for not advising you." I quickly shirked all responsibility.
"Why would I blame you? You've already helped me a lot." Xiaoling stopped and turned to look at me.
I pursed my lips, then turned my back and squatted down in front of Xiaoling: "Shall I carry you up?"
"I'm so sorry to trouble you so much," Xiaoling said to me after she got on my back.