Uncertain if Jiang Ni had injured her bones, Assistant Cheng did not dare to move her recklessly and let her rest on a chair by the pool for the time being.
The hotel was equipped with a medical team capable of handling some emergencies.
"I should be fine, can Assistant Cheng ask the driver to take me back to the hotel?"
She still had an important phone call to make in a little while.
Assistant Cheng did not agree, "Please wait a moment, I have already sent for the hotel's doctor. Let them check if you have injured your bones first, and if not, after your wounds are treated, I will take you back."
Unable to communicate successfully, Jiang Ni gave up struggling. After all, the other party meant well.
Before the doctor arrived, Jiang Ni first received a video call from Qin Jijing.
Her phone was still on the ground, presumably not having reached her, so he called Assistant Cheng directly.
After Assistant Cheng answered, she immediately handed it over to her.
"..." Jiang Ni reached out to take it, and the camera accidentally swept over her leg before flipping back to her face.
Once the screen was facing herself, she saw just how disheveled she looked at the moment.
Her eyes were rimmed with red, her hair wet from water and clinging to her cheeks, with trails of water still visible on her face.
Before Qin Jijing could speak, he saw the opposite side of the screen go dark, the lens covered by someone.
He paused, asking in a deep voice, "Where are you hurt?"
"I just bumped my leg when I was coming out of the water and going up the steps..."
Jiang Ni covered the lens tightly, with only her muffled voice coming through; the slight trembling at the end suggested she must be in great pain.
He hadn't seen her injury clearly a moment ago, "Did it hurt the bone?"
"Not sure, the doctor hasn't, hasn't come over yet, but I feel it's probably fine, it's just bleeding a bit."
"Let me see it."
"..." Jiang Ni did not move.
"It's quite ugly, forget it. It's not that serious."
"Cheng Yun." His patience was running thin, and he wasn't going to entangle with her, he simply called out to Assistant Cheng. Jiang Ni hadn't reacted, but the latter understood and reached out to her.
The phone was taken back, and Jiang Ni blinked in confusion until she saw Assistant Cheng holding up the phone, aiming the camera at her.
"!"
Assistant Cheng was standing in front of Jiang Ni, so the viewpoint was from above, showing the girl draped in a towel over her shoulders, wearing a thin black swimsuit underneath, with a bow design at the chest that hardly concealed the swells beneath.
With just a glance, Qin Jijing averted his gaze to look at the wound on her leg.
After stabilizing the phone, Assistant Cheng seemed to realize it wasn't very polite and took a few steps closer, aiming the camera at Jiang Ni's injury.
Because she had just been soaking in water, her fair skin had a moist, pinkish tint; her legs were pressed together, with her hands awkwardly covering something above her knees.
Jiang Ni genuinely felt embarrassed and took the phone herself, directing it towards her knee.
This angle was less embarrassing.
Yet her toes were still curled up from nervousness.
Looking at the man's emotionless face in the screen, she steadied her voice, "It only looks more serious, but it seems like it's not much."
The man gazed at her right leg, still oozing blood, and remained silent for a moment, "What about your left leg?"
Jiang Ni shifted to the other leg, "This side isn't scraped."
"Does it hurt?" He noticed that she dared not move her right leg, but could still stretch her left leg.
"A little." It was also bumped, just without visible wounds.
Based on the location of the injury, he roughly guessed what had happened, "Did you miss a step?"
Jiang Ni closed her eyes in defeat and responded softly, "Yeah."
"Not watching where you're going, when did your eyes move to the top of your head?"
"..."
The man's tone was cold and firm, tinged with resentment. Accustomed to his lazy Beijing accent, Jiang Ni felt uncomfortable hearing his now aggressive tone.
Already embarrassed, she was now too ashamed to speak.
Her temper flared, and she simply ignored him.
Knowing that young girls are all concerned about their pride, but he hadn't expected her to be so delicate that she couldn't even handle a single rebuke.
Seeing this, Qin Jijing's chest rose and fell, but he didn't say anything else to her. After all, he thought, fearing pain as she did, she wouldn't want such a thing to happen herself.
He asked Cheng Yun to take the phone away and gave a few instructions.
Before long, Assistant Cheng brought over a bathrobe, "Let me help you put this on."
Jiang Ni thanked him.
During the examination, she curled up in pain on the chair, occasionally drawing a sharp breath.
The doctor bandaged her right leg, "Fortunately, the bones are not injured."
Jiang Ni breathed a sigh of relief.
Suddenly, a voice sounded abruptly, "Check her left leg too, it's also quite bruised."
Jiang Ni looked up in alarm, only to realize that Assistant Cheng was still holding the phone.
The video seemed to have never been disconnected.
Meeting her gaze, Qin Jijing pursed his lips and asked her, "Is there anything else wrong with your body?"
Jiang Ni couldn't see the screen, only hear his voice. After a pause, she shook her head, "No."
"Jiang Ni."
He called her by her full name.
Jiang Ni was startled.
"Are you sure about that?"
After thinking it over, she still shook her head, that place wasn't very convenient.
Then, she heard his voice through the screen, tinged with a hint of intimacy, saying to her, "Alright, I will check it personally when I return."
"..."
----
Until she got in the car to go back to the hotel, Jiang Ni had not yet recovered from what Qin Jijing had said a moment ago.
"Wait a minute, this doesn't seem to be the way back to the hotel?" Jiang Ni turned to look at Assistant Cheng.
"Mr. Qin said it's not very convenient for you to stay alone in the hotel, so he asked me to take you to his place first."
Even though this was a part of her plan that was bound to happen sooner or later, its suddenness made Jiang Ni somewhat uneasy.
"This doesn't seem right."
"Don't worry, Mr. Qin doesn't stay at home. There are servants at his personal residence to take care of you."
Noticing Jiang Ni still wanted to refuse, Assistant Cheng said, "This is Mr. Qin's intention, if you have any issues you can contact him."
"Then I..."
"But now Mr. Qin is with a guest and it's not convenient at the moment."
His words left her without any retreat. "Okay then."
Assistant Cheng wasn't lying; after hanging up the phone, Qin Jijing hurried back to meet Chris.
The latter was an elder, and an old friend of his parents. It wouldn't be good for Qin Jijing to keep him waiting too long.
"Is there trouble at work?" Chris asked, waving away his apology and not seeming to mind much.
"No, just some personal matters."
Chris raised an eyebrow, "A woman?"
Qin Jijing just smiled and did not answer.
"Seeing how anxious you were just now, she must be no ordinary woman," Chris, despite his age, still enjoyed teasing the younger generation.
Especially someone like Qin Jijing who appeared so reserved.
"Let me guess, a girlfriend?"
Qin Jijing poured tea for him, his voice slow and steady, "Not yet."
Chris watched him as he set down the covered bowl and took a handkerchief to carefully wipe away the tea drops on his fingertips, his eyes holding a confident smile, "But soon she will be."