Novel Bin Chapter 367 - It's You
Chapter 367: It’s You
Su Xiaobei was sprawled on the floor, and tears were forming in her anguished eyes, threatening to spill at any time.
Xiao Luo was still at the trash can saw this, and he immediately dashed toward Su Xiaobei like a gust of wind and helped her up from the floor.
“Daddy…sob, sob…”
The little girl’s face was twisted in pain, and tears kept on rolling down her cheeks.
Su Canye also saw Su Xiaobei fall on the floor and immediately turned around, abandoning his task of delivering the sweat towel. Feeling anxious for the little girl, he asked, “Little princess, are you hurt?”
“My knee, my knee hurts…” the little girl said, sniveling.
Xiao Luo quickly rolled up her trousers to check, and there was a little bruise and some abrasion on her delicate skin. There was a thick layer of serum and traces blood where her skin had been scraped off, and it wasn’t a pretty sight. The pain inflicted by such a wound would give Su Xiaobei a burning sensation. Xiao Luo often suffered from such injuries when he was young, and so, he knew what she was going through.
“Ice Face, stay here and take care of her. I’ll go get some anti-septic cream from the pharmacy.”
Su Canye’s conduct was a revelation—he was extremely concerned about her injury and showed he cared very much about this niece of his. After checking on his niece, he hurriedly ran out of the gym. It was the first time Xiao Luo had seen him behave this way.
Suddenly, the man who knocked Su Xiaobei down shouted, “Hey, little girl, don’t you look where you’re running? And you… you must be her father. Who allowed you to take her into the kendo gym? How can you allow her to run around, do you think this is a children’s playground? Luckily, I pulled back in time, or else she’d be badly hurt. Don’t you know how to raise a child?!”
Not only did he reprimand Su Xiaobei, he even went on to rebuke Xiao Luo haughtily.
Su Xiaobei was traumatized, and she couldn’t hold back her tears any longer. She had been careful not to run into anyone as she skipped down the gym; after all, everyone was larger than her. Su Xiaobei knew for certain that she did not cross his path, so she couldn’t figure out how she bumped into this man.
Su Xiaobei was confused, and distress was written all over her tiny face as she teared up. Seeing the little girl in such a pitiful state was heart-wrenching.
Xiao Luo felt provoked, and his anger was rising. He saw the entire incident from where he was disposing of the tissue. Su Xiaobei was a safe distance away from this man’s path, and even if he did not notice Su Xiaobei, there was absolutely no way that they could’ve bumped into each other. He could only have done it deliberately. This wasn’t a kendōka he was looking at; the man was behaving more like a thug.
“Venting your anger on a three-year-old child after losing a sword duel? Is this what you understand by the kendo way?” Xiao Luo sneered, intent on making an issue as he stood up and questioned the man harshly.
When he heard that, the man became furious. The muscles on his face twitched as he scowled, “What did you say, kid? I dare you to say that again!”
He was already infuriated from the humiliating loss, and he wasn’t about to let some youngster still wet behind the ears question his kendo way. How could he possibly tolerate this?
“Daddy, let’s go, please…”
Su Xiaobei whispered to Xiao Luo as she held back her tears and tugged at his shirt. The angry man looked intimidating, and she was frightened just by looking at him. She didn’t wish to stay there even for a second longer.
Xiao Luo turned around, giving her a kind, gentle smile, and said, “Wait, Daddy still has a few things to do.”
When the man saw Xiao Luo turning to Su Xiaobei and speaking in a soft tone, he thought that Xiao Luo was being meek and backing off in fear. He suddenly became more boisterous and yelled, “What, you wish to leave? You are not going anywhere until you apologize for that rude remark you made about me!”
He was deeply embarrassed by his loss and saw this as a means to regain his dignity in the kendo gym. His haughty voice reverberated through the entire kendo gym.
The crowd that was gathered around the victor, the kendōka identified as “Crane,” was attracted by the commotion and cast eyes in their direction.
“Xiao Luo?”
A startled voice came from someone among the crowd—the man, “Crane,” took off his head protector to reveal a decent-looking face with a gentle countenance. He was sweating, and his head was drenched from the vigorous sword fight, and he was, unmistakably, someone that Xiao Luo knew—Guo Qinghe.
Xiao Luo was a little startled, but he quickly regained himself and nodded with a half-smile. “So, it’s you, class head.”
Xiao Luo suddenly recalled that Guo Qinghe was a keen kendo practitioner even back during university days and had the character ‘Crane’ embroidered on his tasset. He should’ve expected to see Guo Qinghe in a place like this.
Class head?
Senior brother Qinghe knows this guy?
The kendo students were surprised, and those who initially wanted to express their opinions immediately held back. They wanted to know Senior Brother Qinghe’s stand before they decided for themselves which side they would take.
“Yes, of course. You didn’t tell me that you’re coming to Xiahai; it seems like you have no intention to see me.”
Guo Qinghe patted Xiao Luo’s arms as he made the snide remark. It seemed like he was chiding Xiao Luo for not contacting him—like it was ragging during university days. When he saw Xiao Luo, he had mixed emotions, and he was not happy about meeting him again. He turned to look coldly at the man, “Fly,” and asked, “Liu Fei, what happened just now? Why are you shouting?”
Liu Fei had a nasty scowl on his face and was gritting his teeth, but from the look in his eyes, it was apparent that he was in awe of Guo Qinghe. He was feeling miserable after losing the duel 0 to 10, but, at the same time, he feared Guo Qinghe for the very same reason. He cautiously recounted the incident, albeit with some embellishments to justify his innocence. According to his version, Su Xiaobei wasn’t looking as she ran wildly about the gym, and she was the one who bumped into him. Taking the moral high-ground, he even raised Xiao Luo’s part in not exercising his responsibility as her guardian.
“It’s a child’s nature to be active. If she wasn’t looking at where she was running, couldn’t you avoid her? Liu Fei, you can’t be shirking away from the blame now, have some sense and take more responsibility!” Surprisingly, the girl whom Su Canye liked, stepped forward, and criticized Liu Fei. But of course, her reaction was an emotional one, as she was merely taking Guo Qinghe’s side on the matter. She expected that Guo Qinghe would know how to defend Liu Fei.
The others nodded in agreement.
“Yeah. You’re too petty, Liu Fei. How can you argue with a child?”
“Thank goodness, she’s fine. Had you hurt her, Senior Brother Qinghe should punish you.”
“Just because you lost the duel, that doesn’t mean you can vent your anger on a child.”
Liu Fei was red-faced as the crowd launched into a tirade condemning his actions. Even his ears were flushed a deep red, and his nostrils were steaming up.
Guo Qinghe frowned, waved his hand, and said, “Perhaps, it’s not Liu Fei’s fault.”
When he said that, the students of the kendo gym, and especially Liu Fei, were taken aback. Wasn’t Senior Brother Qinghe and the man before them ex-classmates? Why was he siding with Liu Fei instead?
Xiao Luo was dumbfounded, and he snorted audibly.
Guo Qinghe smiled and said aloud, “The kendo gym prohibits the entry of children under the age of five. This rule aims to allow our kendōkas to train with peace of mind and avoid accidental injuries. Since a child had been brought in here, her parent should be responsible for looking after her and not letting her run around. Therefore, from this perspective, Liu Fei wasn’t at fault; it is the fault of this old classmate of mine.”
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