The Fake Girlfriend is Online - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Sprained Ankle

“Jump, Bully Mu. I’ll catch you.”

The night wind was a bit chilly, blowing Qing Moran’s hair into a mess. She stood with her arms outstretched, looking up at Mu Jinxuan perched on the wall, the smile on her lips no longer as polite and distant as usual.

The moonlight illuminated their profiles, and the streetlights brightened the area around the wall. Mu Jinxuan smiled and said, “Then catch me steady—don’t back away.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Mu Jinxuan leaped, throwing herself into Qing Moran’s embrace.

It was a perfect scene: a short-haired girl standing beneath the wall smiling tenderly, while another girl plunged downward to be caught in a full embrace. If one were to ignore the muffled groan that Qing Moran let out afterward, it would have looked exactly like a scene from an idol drama.

“Ouch, holy crap!” Qing Moran let out a soft cry.

She had caught her steady enough, but who could have predicted that under the force of the impact and her own backward step, Qing Moran’s left foot would land right on a stone? With their center of gravity already unstable, both girls tumbled to the ground. To make matters worse, Qing Moran had twisted her ankle.

“Hiss… get off me.” Qing Moran pushed at Mu Jinxuan, who was pinned on top of her.

After the fall, Mu Jinxuan had landed flush against Qing Moran. Smelling the faint fragrance of her hair, she didn’t even have time to feel embarrassed by their position before Qing Moran frowned and pushed her away, clutching her ankle.

“What’s wrong? Let me see.” Mu Jinxuan scrambled up, kneeling beside her to roll up Qing Moran’s pant leg.

“Don’t touch it!” Qing Moran grabbed her hand, rolling up the fabric herself. She watched as her ankle began to swell at a visible speed.

Mu Jinxuan crouched there helplessly, filled with immense regret for jumping so recklessly into her arms.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I didn’t think this would happen. Does it hurt? Let me blow on it for you.” Mu Jinxuan leaned her head close to the ankle, wanting to blow on it to soothe the pain.

Qing Moran looked helplessly at the panicked Mu Jinxuan. The girl’s eyes, which had already cried earlier today, were still red; it looked like she might start dropping “golden beans” (tears) again at any second.

“It’s fine. Help me get the medicine bottle from my bag.” Qing Moran pushed Mu Jinxuan’s head away from her ankle and handed over the backpack she had been wearing.

“The white bottle inside.” Qing Moran adjusted her ankle’s position, trying to find a more comfortable angle, while guiding Mu Jinxuan to the medicine.

Mu Jinxuan rummaged through the bag and quickly found a bottle of Yunnan Baiyao spray. She didn’t have time to wonder why Qing Moran carried such medicine with her; she immediately started spraying it on the ankle.

“Okay, that’s enough, really enough.” Qing Moran snatched the bottle back. She suspected that if Mu Jinxuan kept spraying, her entire leg would be covered in the stuff.

“Give me a hand.”

Mu Jinxuan carefully helped her over to a nearby flower bed to sit, then turned as if to head toward the house.

Seeing Mu Jinxuan seemingly about to leave her and enter the building, Qing Moran stood up impulsively and grabbed the edge of her clothes, accidentally jarring her injury: “Wait! Hiss.”

Hearing the cry of pain, Mu Jinxuan hurried back to support her, scolding loudly: “Dammit! Sit down and don’t move!”

“Where are you going? You’re not allowed to leave,” Qing Moran interrogated her fiercely.

“I was just going in to see if the water is still running. If it is, we should rinse it with cold water for a few minutes.” Mu Jinxuan didn’t quite understand why Qing Moran reacted so strongly to her leaving for just a moment.

“No, if we go, we go together. I’m not staying here alone anyway.” Qing Moran glanced sideways at their surroundings. Only a sliver of light filtered over the wall, but because the wall was so high, most of the light was blocked out. Right now, they were surrounded by shadows.

Mu Jinxuan looked at her and suddenly burst out laughing: “Qingqing, you’re not actually scared, are you?”

“Shut up, who’s scared? Also, don’t call me Qingqing—it’s gross.” Her secret caught out, Qing Moran’s face turned red. Fortunately, it was too dark for either of them to see the other’s expression clearly.

“Fine, fine. Then we go together. Get on.” Mu Jinxuan stopped teasing her and turned around to squat in front of her.

“What for?”

“Don’t you want to be with me? Get on. I’ll take you in to see if the tap still works.” Mu Jinxuan turned her head and smiled.

Qing Moran was silent for a moment before slapping Mu Jinxuan’s shoulder and climbing onto her back: “Little Xuan, the carriage is ready. Set off.”

“Understood!”

The two searched the house only to find that not a single tap produced water. Now, they had to go to the hospital for a check-up.

Mu Jinxuan stood at the courtyard gate with Qing Moran on her back, staring at the locked door. They had climbed over the wall to get in, but with Qing Moran’s sprained ankle, climbing out was out of the question.

“So… are we stuck?” Qing Moran poked her head over Mu Jinxuan’s shoulder to look at the closed gate, feeling an urge to curse.

“Seems so,” Mu Jinxuan adjusted the weight on her back, then suddenly remembered something. “Wait, no. I think I remember a spare key being kept in the yard.”

“Where?” To Qing Moran, this sounded like a literal lifesaver.

“Let me think.”

Mu Jinxuan carried Qing Moran around the yard, trying to recall memories from ten years ago to find the key’s hiding spot.

“Hey, maybe put me down first.”

“But I thought you couldn’t bear to leave me?”

“Get lost.”

Mu Jinxuan set Qing Moran back on the edge of the flower bed. They turned on their phone flashlights; Qing Moran was in charge of blind direction based on “sixth sense,” while Mu Jinxuan did the physical searching.

Mu Jinxuan searched for twenty minutes but couldn’t find it. She was getting frustrated enough to swear.

“Holy crap, Bully Mu, where exactly is your family’s key?”

“I’d like to know too.” Mu Jinxuan straightened her back, kicked a rock in front of her, and walked back to Qing Moran.

“Why are you back? Keep looking!” Seeing her approach, Qing Moran kicked out at her with her good leg.

“Let me rest and try to remember. Watch out for that foot, or you’ll kick something else.” Mu Jinxuan turned to the other side of the flower bed to sit, but suddenly froze.

“Now what? If you’re not resting, go find the key.” Qing Moran waved her flashlight at the motionless Mu Jinxuan.

“Qingqing… why didn’t we look at this flower bed to begin with?” Mu Jinxuan reached out and hooked a key hidden inside. The position was actually quite easy to spot, but they simply hadn’t looked there.

“……” For the first time, Qing Moran felt her sixth sense was total garbage.

After finding the key, they hurried out of the residential area and hailed a taxi to the hospital. They got an X-ray for the ankle; by the time the dust settled, it was already 10 PM.

Mu Jinxuan had been frowning even before entering the hospital, and she hadn’t let up since. She looked as fierce as someone coming to settle a debt with the doctors.

While waiting for the results, Mu Jinxuan pulled out her constantly vibrating phone. Qing Moran leaned over to look and burst out laughing when she saw the contact name.

“Imperial Brother?” (Huang Xiong)

She didn’t expect the usually intimidating Bully Mu to have such a funny contact name.

Mu Jinxuan glared at her before answering: “Hello, Brother… I’m at the hospital with Qing Moran… Nothing’s wrong, really. It’s Qing Moran’s ankle, I brought her here… No need to come, yeah, we’ll be back after the check… Fine, let Brother Qing come then. We’ll be a while… Okay, bye.”

Watching Mu Jinxuan hang up, Qing Moran teased her: “Your ‘Imperial Brother’?”

Mu Jinxuan’s face turned red at the mention of the contact name: “So what? Everyone has contact nicknames!”

“I don’t.”

“As if! Let me see.” Mu Jinxuan reached out to check Qing Moran’s contacts, trying to save some face.

“Here.” Qing Moran didn’t hesitate, unlocking her phone and handing it over.

Mu Jinxuan flipped through the address book only to find it completely empty. There wasn’t even a number saved for her parents.

Mu Jinxuan looked at her strangely: “Qingqing, are you a monster? There’s no one. Do you just memorize every number?”

“This elder sister of yours is a genius.” Qing Moran tilted her head, offering no explanation as to why she hadn’t saved a single person.

“Next patient, Qing Moran.”

Just then, the doctor called her name. Mu Jinxuan quickly helped her up and into the room.

As they entered, before the doctor even looked up, he frowned. It seemed there was an unpleasant smell in the air; he raised a hand to rub his nose.

The doctor reviewed the film. Fortunately, there was no ligament or bone damage. He prescribed some topical medication, gave a few instructions, and that was it.

Mu Jinxuan took the prescription to get the medicine, leaving the mobility-impaired Qing Moran in the emergency room.

Sitting in his chair, the doctor removed his mask and asked, “Kid, that friend of yours isn’t here to start trouble, is she? She didn’t look very happy the whole time.”

Qing Moran thought back. Ever since they gave the hospital address to the taxi driver, Mu Jinxuan had been surrounded by a low-pressure aura. Thinking back to when she had a fever and refused to go to the hospital—at the time, Moran thought she just wanted to see Gu Qing specifically. But now, it seemed she genuinely loathed hospitals.

“Ah, it’s fine. She’s probably just too worried about me,” Qing Moran answered casually.

A moment later, Mu Jinxuan returned with the medicine. After clarifying the dosage, they left the emergency room.

“Gu Qing will be here to pick us up soon. Your leg is out of commission, so let’s rest here and wait for him. Let him drive you home—it’s too late to take a taxi comfortably,” Mu Jinxuan whispered in her ear while supporting her.

“Okay, let’s go.”

“Huh? Go where? We can just wait for Gu Qing here.”

“Let’s wait outside.” Ever since she realized Mu Jinxuan’s aversion to hospitals, a voice in Moran’s head was screaming to take her away from here.

“But it’s cold outside, and you shouldn’t walk on that leg.” Despite her words, Mu Jinxuan clearly wanted to leave.

“Then carry me.” Qing Moran smiled, a wave of tenderness overflowing from her expression.

Looking at Qing Moran, Mu Jinxuan couldn’t help but smile back. This seemed to be the first time since that incident that she didn’t feel pure hatred for a hospital, even if she still didn’t like them.

Mu Jinxuan carried Qing Moran out. While it’s common to see people being carried in a hospital, a cool, short-haired girl carrying a cute-type girl was bound to attract attention.

They entered the elevator, which was crowded as usual. To prevent anyone from bumping into Qing Moran’s foot, Mu Jinxuan stood sideways in the corner, shielding her.

“Hey, look.” Inside the elevator, a girl nudged her companion and pointed toward the two of them.

The companion looked over, her eyes widening from surprise to “red hearts.” She excitedly slapped her friend’s arm in secret.

Finally, the elevator reached the first floor. Mu Jinxuan carried Qing Moran out, saying, “Did you see that? Those two girls were staring at us. What was their deal?”

“Maybe they just saw how beautiful I am,” Qing Moran replied casually, fiddling with her phone on Mu Jinxuan’s back.

Mu Jinxuan glanced back and saw her playing with her phone. She deliberately loosened her grip for a split second before catching her again. Qing Moran shrieked in fright and squeezed Mu Jinxuan’s neck tightly.

“Holy crap! What was that? You scared me to death!” This time, Qing Moran put the phone away and refused to let go of Mu Jinxuan’s neck. Mu Jinxuan just let out a hearty laugh.

The two girls following them out saw this scene and excitedly pulled out their phones to take a picture.

Honk! Honk! Honk!

The two heard a car horn and looked up to see Gu Qing getting out of a vehicle.

“Brother Qing, you’re finally here! Open the door quick, my arms are about to break.” Mu Jinxuan shouted for him to open the door so she could put Qing Moran inside.

“What is wrong with you two? You were fine when you left. How did you end up like this?” Gu Qing opened the door, but the moment they got close, he stepped back as if sensing a dangerous chemical.

After gently placing the “lame” Qing Moran in the backseat, Mu Jinxuan looked at the distancing Gu Qing with confusion.

“Brother Qing, what are you doing?” Mu Jinxuan asked.

“Dammit, where did you two go? You reek of ‘crap’.” Gu Qing looked at them with pure disgust.

Hearing this, both Mu Jinxuan and Qing Moran raised their arms to sniff. Qing Moran didn’t smell anything at first, so she grabbed Mu Jinxuan’s sleeve and took a whiff. When a “charming” scent hit her nose, Qing Moran’s face instantly darkened. She finally understood the doctor’s expression in the emergency room.