Power Up, Artist Yang!

Yujia had her ankle checked on by a fairly old woman running a small apothecary near the edges of the city. The female physician prescribed her some ointment, wrapped a tight roll of bandages around the sprained area, then advised for Yujia to simply rest and give the ankle time to heal on its own. 

When Yujia first heard that the ankle would take nearly a month to completely heal, she was startled at first. It didn't seem like something quite so serious to her. Yet she recalled the sound of tearing she heard whenever she tripped, as well as the extreme pain and bruising, realizing that the physician probably gave her an accurate estimate.

After the checkup, it was back to Zixu carrying her to Lingxin. 

Along the way, though they never got to have that banquet of food they had talked about in the forest, Zixu bought two red-bean pastries that just came out of the rustic oven they were cooking in. They were piping hot, even when holding them through the paper wrapping the vendor sold them in, so Yujia could only hold it delicately while waiting for them to cool down enough to an edible temperature.

By the time that they reached Lingxin, Yujia was in excellent spirits. 

Ye Yunhe had not been.

To avoid the spectating looks of bystanders, Yujia and Zixu purposefully chose to use the side door to get into the villa. Even though it was all too early for many people besides the early vendors to spot them in the city, they didn't want to take the risk of having some early-bird students spotting them.

Who knew that out of all people, Ye Yunhe would be sitting on the steps of the side-door, an unpleasant scowl on his face?

Upon recognizing him, Yujia widened her eyes and waved her free hand. "What are you doing, sitting out here, Senior Brother?"

Yunhe looked over at the two of them approaching him, standing up. "What am I doing here? I should be asking… what he and you were doing! You were missing for the entire day!"

Yujia shrunk her head back. "We— it wasn't a whole day. Just most of the afternoon and… night."

"Right, so a day." Yunhe glared at Zixu. "What are you two doing right now?" He gestured his head at the fact that Zixu was giving Yujia a piggyback ride. "You better not have done anything to my Junior Sister."

Zixu kept a blank expression. "She twisted her ankle. I'm simply here to escort her back home."

"Your ankle?" Yunhe immediately fixed his attention back on Yujia. "What happened? How bad did you sprain it? Did you already go see a physician?" He didn't give her a chance to respond, looking back at Zixu. "You can let her down now. I'll carry her to her room."

"This—" Yunhe was wordless for a second, then followed behind.

Yujia, eyebrows furrowed, whispered into Zixu's ear, "Why didn't you let me down? Yunhe could've brought me back."

Zixu didn't turn around, answering quietly, "It would be troublesome for you to get off and on again. This way, your ankle won't be disturbed."

Yujia pursed her lips, but didn't say anything after that. 

…

Zixu dropped her off at her room, letting her take a seat at a chair, before stepping back. The two of them bid farewell, and Yujia was left alone with Yunhe.

The moment Zixu left the room— Yunhe didn't send him off, which was surprising for the usually polite Senior Brother of hers— Yujia frowned at Yunhe. 

"Senior Brother, I thought you were encouraging of my relationship with him?" she asked, honestly confused at why Yunhe was just so hostile at Zixu.

"I was. Until you decided to go missing for an entire night. I respect Junior Brother Yu, but… I now realize that I don't trust him entirely," Yunhe answered her, in his usual straightforward manner. "He didn't do anything inappropriate to you, right?" he then instantly jumped to ask.

Yujia held her hands up defensively, eyes widening. "No. No, no, no." 

"Good. No more than holding hands until after marriage," Yunhe lectured.

"You sound like a mom." Yujia laughed.

Yet at that moment, she recalled how last night, Zixu pressed a kiss to her forehead. Her heart skipped a beat, and she blinked that image away. Now was not a good time to think about that.

Meanwhile, Yunhe didn't laugh. He continued, expression still unmoving, "I'm serious, though. If he does anything, just tell me, and I'll—"

"Okay, I get it, Senior Brother." 

"Also, you promised me yesterday to critique my painting at the end of the day."

Upon hearing Yunhe say that, Yujia slowly blinked.

Had she… promised him that?

Her brain rewinded to the past as she pieced together memories of possibly— just possibly— promising Yunhe that she would give him a solid critique of his painting. And then, she found a memory of possibly— just possibly— throwing all recollection of that promise aside once she heard that Yu Zixu wanted to go on a walk with her.

Ah. Shoot.

So she had really promised her Senior Brother that. 

Yujia winced and put on an awkward smile. "Is this why Senior Brother is mad? Because I forgot about that promise, right? And not… me vanishing for almost twenty-four hours."

"Well." Yunhe paused for a second. "Both," he finally admitted.

"Then, I am deeply sorry." She bowed as her smile transformed to a more teasing one. "Let this junior sister go critique it right now to make up for it?" 

She stood up, then realized the moment she did so that standing up suddenly on her own was not a good idea, because of a certain ankle that just had to be sprained. If not for Yunhe, who reached forward to assist her quickly, Yujia would've toppled on the floor and probably sprained her good ankle, for good measure.

As she gripped his arm, shakily, Yujia sat back down.

"You know what?" She looked at Yunhe, sighing deeply. "Do wheelchairs exist?"