Chapter 54 What Is This

Xu Zhixia let out a dissatisfied hum and turned to walk into the kitchen, only to hear a sudden clatter followed by the sound of ceramic shattering on the floor.

"Ouch!"

I instinctively stood up from my chair, but immediately sat back down, trying to convince myself to ignore her and mind my own business.

Soon, I saw Xu Zhixia emerge from the kitchen, her left hand tightly gripping the web of her right hand as bright red blood trickled down between her fingers.

Xu Zhixia's features were contorted in pain. Looking at her somewhat helpless expression, a wave of exasperation washed over me.

I put down my bowl and chopsticks, walked up to her, and pulled her left hand away. "Let me see how badly you're hurt."

There was a cut about three centimeters long on the web of her right hand. Fortunately, it wasn't too deep, and stitches at the hospital wouldn't be necessary.

After checking the wound, I pulled her toward the first-floor bathroom.

Not understanding what I was about to do, Xu Zhixia reacted with strong resistance.

"Jiang Jian, what are you doing? Let go of me?!"

"Xu Zhixia, besides Pei Zhixing and the Xu Corporation, would you please try to fit a few other things in that brain of yours? How on earth can you injure yourself this badly just by dishing out some porridge?!"

Pulling her in front of the bathroom sink, I instructed her with a cold face, "Wait for me here, and don't let the wound touch tap water."

Perhaps intimidated by my forceful attitude, Xu Zhixia nodded obediently and said nothing more.

I fetched the first-aid kit, brought it into the bathroom, and used saline solution to flush her wound.

Stung by the saline, Xu Zhixia tried repeatedly to pull her hand back. "It hurts so much! Jiang Jian, are you doing this on purpose?!"

"Stop whining. If you can't even handle simple saline, what would you do if the wound were deeper and required hydrogen peroxide? That burns even worse. Care to try?"

With that, I took the bottle of hydrogen peroxide out of the kit and made a motion to unscrew it as if to pour it onto her wound.

Xu Zhixia shrank her neck back in fear. "Y-You wouldn't dare!"

Of course I wouldn't deliberately exact revenge on Xu Zhixia over something like this; I wasn't that twisted. Rolling my eyes, I put the hydrogen peroxide back.

After thoroughly cleaning the wound with saline, I applied iodophor to disinfect it. Xu Zhixia winced sharply, but before she could cry out, a sharp glare from me forced her to swallow the sound.

After ten-odd minutes, the wound was finally dressed. The very next moment, however, Xu Zhixia suddenly slumped against me. Out of sheer instinct, I caught her in time.

"What's wrong with you?"

Xu Zhixia shot me an irritated glare. "My foot hurts and I couldn't stand properly. You didn't actually think I was throwing myself into your arms, did you?"

Hearing her mention foot pain reminded me, and I looked down at her feet.

"Your foot healed that fast?"

Xu Zhixia hadn't expected me to ask. She froze for a second before replying with an unnatural expression, "It's not healed..."

When she suffered a dislocated ankle during a landslide in the mountains back in her hometown, it should have taken at least a week or two of rest before she could walk on it. Seeing her walking around with ease in high heels over the past couple of days had completely slipped my mind.

"When it comes to courting death, nobody beats President Xu."

Faced with my sarcasm and cynicism, Xu Zhixia glared at me angrily. "What do you mean by that? It's just a dislocation, it doesn't affect me."

"If I stayed in bed for half a month over such a minor injury, heaven knows how those guys would use it to undermine me behind my back."

I knew very well who "those guys" in Xu Zhixia's words were—her paternal cousins.

"Aren't you afraid of leaving behind permanent damage? It wouldn't sound very good if the heiress of the Xu Corporation ended up disabled."

Xu Zhixia gritted her teeth. "None of your business! Shut your crow's mouth!"

With that, she somehow mustered the strength to shove me away and stumbled out of the bathroom.

I slapped my forehead. I must have been out of my mind; it was entirely redundant of me to care about her.

After packing up the first-aid kit and stepping out of the bathroom, I found that Xu Zhixia had already vanished, presumably heading off to the company.

The half-eaten meal on the dining table had gone cold. Since I had no appetite anyway, I couldn't be bothered to reheat it.

The kitchen floor was a complete mess, littered with broken bowls and plates, alongside the trail of blood droplets Xu Zhixia had left behind.

I initially thought about cleaning it up myself, but a second thought crossed my mind: why on earth should I clean up Xu Zhixia's messes?

I took out my phone, searched for a housekeeping app, and booked a professional cleaning team to come over.

Then, I sent the photos of the kitchen and the payment receipt to Xiao Zhu along with a voice message.

"Xiao Zhu, Xu Zhixia caused this mess. She needs to reimburse the cleaning fee. Transfer the money to me first, and then go collect it from her."

The reply came swiftly: "Got it, Brother Jiang."

Xiao Zhu handled things efficiently and transferred the money right away.

After a moment of thought, wishing to avoid any extra trouble for myself, I acted out of "boundless mercy" by gathering all of Pei Zhixing's belongings scattered throughout the villa and moving them into Xu Zhixia's bedroom before the cleaning crew arrived.

The cleaning team consisted of seven people wearing matching uniforms and carrying various pieces of "equipment."

"The second room on the left in the second-floor hallway—nobody is allowed in there. Everything else is fair game."

"Understood, sir."

I sat on the living room sofa, watching them go about their work in an orderly fashion.

A little while later, Xiao Zhu called me. As soon as I answered, Xu Zhixia's furious voice blasted through the receiver.

"Jiang Jian, who gave you permission to hire cleaners? Don't you know—"

"Stop. I've already packed up everything that needed collecting, so you can rest easy about that. Did you expect me to clean such a filthy house myself?"

"You actually dared to touch Zhixing's—my things? Did you even consult me?!"

"Since I'm back, do I need your permission for everything I do? The cleaners haven't left yet, so I wouldn't advise you to keep yelling at me about this over the phone."

"Jiang Jian, haven't I told you before not to hire cleaners? You're supposed to clean it yourself!"

"Xu Zhixia, you said it yourself—that was in the past. What makes you think the current me would still be the same as before? Keep dreaming."

"Then why did you help me with my..."

Hearing her say that, I couldn't help letting out a cynical laugh. Lowering my voice, I said, "Xu Zhixia, I think I need to make something clear to you: I only treated your wound because I couldn't stand looking at your foolishness."

"You didn't even know how to deal with your own injury, just standing there staring blankly like an idiot."

"Xu Zhixia, if any stranger had gotten hurt in front of me, I wouldn't have stood by and done nothing. You surely don't think I'm still in love with you, do you?"

After I finished speaking, an eerie silence fell over the line. Just as I was about to hang up, Xu Zhixia's voice rang out once more.

"Jiang Jian, how dare you call me an idiot! Have you got a death wish?!"

"You think I, Xu Zhixia, care for the love of a pathetic wretch like you? Your love is just as cheap as you are, and the mere sight of you makes me sick!"

"Mm-hmm, President Xu is always right. I'm terribly sorry to subject President Xu to feeling sick for a bit longer."

With that, I hung up directly, tossed my phone aside on silent mode, and ignored it.

Heh. Narcissism at its finest.