The Little Bookworm Marked Her Ex-aunt - Chapter 25 Come Here, Wipe Yourself Clean

Chapter 25 Come Here, Wipe Yourself Clean

Shu Yue froze for a moment, took off her glasses, rubbed her eyes, and put them back on. The off-road vehicle was still the same off-road vehicle, and the woman was still the same woman.

“Miss Ji?” She could not believe her eyes.

Ji Shiyi’s smile remained on her lips: “It’s me.”

Shu Yue stood up from the stone stool and walked to the car: “Why are you here?”

Ji Shiyi bent down to open the passenger door for her: “Get in first, then we’ll talk.”

Shu Yue was confused, but the door was open, so she sat inside.

“Seatbelt,” Ji Shiyi reminded.

As Shu Yue lowered her head to pull the seatbelt, Ji Shiyi’s voice sounded near her ear.

“I had a meeting with government departments in Lu County. It just ended, and I thought I’d stop by to check on things. Then I got your call.”

“Did you drive here yourself?” Shu Yue asked.

Ji Shiyi shook her head: “I have a driver. I told her to rest at the hotel first. She drove the whole way these past two days. It’s not far from here, so I came alone.”

Seeing Ji Shiyi, Shu Yue felt deeply guilty: “Miss Ji, I’m sorry. I lost Shiyi.”

Ji Shiyi raised her hand and flicked Shu Yue’s forehead hard. The sound was loud, without any softness, causing Shu Yue’s eyes to widen instantly in pain. She instinctively raised her hand to cover her forehead.

Shu Yue didn’t dare to speak. Her palm still protected her forehead. She held back but couldn’t help saying: “But this really was my…”

“Apologize one more time and see what happens.”

Ji Shiyi’s tone carried a hint of scolding. The hand that had just flicked Shu Yue’s forehead lifted again, as if ready to give her another flick if she dared to say those three words again.

Facing Ji Shiyi’s cold gaze, Shu Yue swallowed the words stuck in her throat and said softly: “Miss Ji, let’s find Shiyi first.”

Seeing her timid look, Ji Shiyi lowered her hand. Her fingertips tapped the steering wheel lightly. After a few taps, she closed all the windows and slowly shut the sunroof.

“Shu Yue, release some pheromones.”

“Huh?”

Shu Yue’s mind went blank: “Now? Here?”

Ji Shiyi looked at her: “I’m looking for Shiyi. I can’t sense her right now. Let me borrow your pheromones to try. Know what a router is? It’s like that.”

Shu Yue never thought she’d be a Wi-Fi hotspot one day.

She adjusted the threshold on her bracelet and actively released some pheromones.

Ji Shiyi frowned and stopped her immediately: “That’s enough.”

Shu Yue quickly stopped and adjusted the bracelet back.

She turned to look. Ji Shiyi had her eyes closed. Soon, she opened them, released the handbrake, stepped on the gas, and steered the car in one direction.

After many twists and turns, the car stopped at a narrow intersection.

“Get out,” Ji Shiyi said, pulling out the key.

Shu Yue opened the door, followed closely behind her, and walked down a narrow path.

The path grew narrower, leading into a forest.

Shu Yue’s brows furrowed with worry.

How could Shiyi end up in a place like this?

“Shiyi? Shiyi?” Shu Yue called the kitten’s name.

Once didn’t work, twice didn’t work, but she didn’t give up.

Finally, Ji Shiyi stopped walking.

A faint meow sounded.

A calico kitten emerged from the forest, its fur messy and covered with leaves.

Shu Yue felt a surge of relief, like surviving a disaster.

“Shiyi!” She rushed forward, crouched down, and held the kitten, checking immediately for injuries.

Shiyi meowed pitifully, snuggling into her arms, enjoying this rare affection.

After Shu Yue hugged her tightly, Shiyi put on a teary-eyed, wronged expression, like a child, lying back in Shu Yue’s arms.

Shu Yue carefully removed all the debris from her fur.

“You’re okay, you’re okay.”

Shu Yue was filled with lingering fear.

Compared to her panic, Ji Shiyi seemed too calm. She glanced at the dramatic cat and continued walking into the forest.

Shu Yue didn’t understand what she was doing.

“Miss Ji!”

After following a few steps, she was stunned.

In the messy forest, a man with a hunting rifle lay on the ground. His hands bore bloody bite marks, and his head was covered in bl00d, likely from hitting a rock.

She saw Ji Shiyi step forward and touch under the man’s nose.

“Not dead,” Ji Shiyi said.

Shu Yue sighed in relief, then looked around. Not far away, a small bird with reddish tail feathers huddled helplessly, its immature wings stained with bl00d, its beak trembling, chirping in fear.

It was a juvenile crested ibis.

It was injured.

What had happened here was obvious.

Shu Yue wanted to take back her sigh. A poacher—better off dead.

Shu Yue didn’t dare act rashly and called Zhou Miao immediately. Hearing this, Zhou Miao’s voice turned serious.

“Little Yue, send me the location. Take photos and videos, and report the ibis’s condition to me.”

Shu Yue kept her distance, observed the bird, and reported everything.

Zhou Miao was silent for a while, then said to Shu Yue: “We’re coming right away. I’ve reported to the Forestry Bureau and Wildlife Protection Agency. Its injuries can’t wait. Little Yue, treat it first.”

Shu Yue instinctively shook her head: “Teacher, I can’t. I…”

“You can,” Zhou Miao said. “You helped me save a white egret during your freshman summer, remember? Shu Yue, believe in yourself. Stop bleeding, stabilize, keep warm—three principles. You remember, right?”

“Shu Yue?”

Shu Yue’s face paled: “Teacher, I remember.”

She looked at the frightened, pained white bird and took a deep breath: “I’ll… I’ll try.”

Shu Yue handed Shiyi to Ji Shiyi.

Ji Shiyi asked: “Anything I can help with?”

Shu Yue looked around: “I need a few flat branches.”

As she spoke, she took off her cotton short-sleeve shirt. Her sports bra and fair skin almost glowed in the sunlight. Normally, Shu Yue would feel embarrassed in this state, but now she couldn’t care. After removing her shirt, she tore the fabric and approached the ibis.

The ibis screeched repeatedly, flapping its wings to escape but only hopping in place.

“Don’t be scared,” Shu Yue crouched down. “I’m not like him. I’m here to save you.”

She extended her hand, letting the ibis smell her scent.

“I’m not like him. Look.”

Faint pheromones lingered on her hand.

The ibis calmed down inexplicably, its eerie yellow eyes staring at Shu Yue.

Shu Yue moved closer, gently pressing the torn shirt against the injured area, applying pressure for hemostasis and bandaging. She took the branches Ji Shiyi handed her, using them as a splint to stabilize the ibis’s injury.

She wrapped the ibis with the remaining cloth and held it to her chest: “Miss Ji, let’s go.”

Ji Shiyi nodded, followed behind Shu Yue, glanced back at the unconscious man, and then at the innocent-looking cat in her arms.

Halfway back, Shu Yue met Zhou Miao. Zhou Miao immediately transferred the ibis to a professional insulated box and checked its condition.

“You did well,” Zhou Miao said to Shu Yue. “We’re taking it to the village vet station now. The Forestry Bureau is coming soon. Little Yue, go back and don’t catch a cold.”

After Zhou Miao had Lin Chu drive the ibis to the vet station, Shu Yue stood in place, feeling the breeze. Her back was drenched in cold sweat without her realizing it.

A warm jacket with a faint fragrance draped over her shoulders.

“Get in the car for a bit?” Ji Shiyi said. “I’ll drive you back.”

Shu Yue lowered her gaze, saw the jacket, and gripped its edges tightly.

“I’ll go back first,” Shu Yue said. “I want to change and check on the vet station.”

Ji Shiyi said: “Okay.”

When Shu Yue reached the vet station, people from the Forestry Bureau and Wildlife Protection Agency were there. The police were there too, having taken the poacher to the hospital in handcuffs.

“His wounds are strange,” the police said. “They look like some wild animal caused them.”

“Wild animal?” Zhou Miao didn’t understand. “Is there a history of wild animals around here?”

The police shook their head: “Not in all these years.”

Shu Yue stood quietly listening, her gaze occasionally on the police and Zhou Miao, but mostly on the ibis being examined.

“Second-degree wing injury,” the vet station staff said after the check, sharing with everyone. “Linear ulna fracture, two flight feathers broken. It can’t glide long distances for now. It may need treatment and observation for a while. Its condition isn’t suitable for long-distance transport. I’m worried the journey will worsen the injury.”

The Forestry Bureau discussed and asked: “Teacher Zhou, you’re an ibis expert. Can you help care for it? We’ll send staff to assist.”

“Of course, no problem,” Zhou Miao didn’t refuse the opportunity. She was confident. “Can my student join? She found this ibis today.”

“Of course,” the Forestry Bureau staff said gratefully to Shu Yue. “Student Little Shu, right? Without you today, we wouldn’t know what to do.”

“Since news of the ibis’s return spread, plus this one, we’ve caught two poachers here.”

“Why?” Shu Yue asked.

The Forestry Bureau staff gave a bitter smile: “These past two years, some superstitious rumor spread, saying eating ibis meat grants longevity, or it’s good for recovery after childbirth. Plus, their feathers are beautiful. Some superstitious tycoons think collecting their feathers brings wealth.”

“I bet this guy today is with the same group as last time,” another Forestry Bureau staff said. “Last time didn’t work, so they came back.”

Hearing this, Shu Yue felt heavy-hearted.

She looked at the white bird in the temporary insulated box. It was so innocent, targeted only because of human greed and baseless superstitions, nearly becoming someone’s meal or trophy.

“But Student Little Shu, why were you there today?” the police asked Shu Yue during the statement.

Shu Yue glanced at Ji Shiyi, who stayed by her side, and the cat in her arms.

She couldn’t mention the spirit entity.

“I was looking for my cat,” Shu Yue said. “I finished work today, went home, and found the cat gone. I searched everywhere. Later, I saw some cat fur by the road and followed it.”

The police sighed: “Your cat’s quite spirited. If not for it, who knows what would’ve happened to this ibis.”

Shiyi heard the praise, wagged her tail smugly, letting it sway in the air.

The police asked more harmless questions, and Shu Yue answered. As another discoverer at the scene, Ji Shiyi was questioned too. Twenty minutes later, Shu Yue and Ji Shiyi were let go.

“Thank you for cooperating,” the police said.

Shu Yue bowed slightly: “No need to thank. It’s what we should do.”

Outside the police station, Shu Yue looked at Ji Shiyi, then at Shiyi.

Ji Shiyi asked: “What?”

Shu Yue pointed out worriedly: “Miss Ji, Shiyi’s paw seems injured. There’s some bl00d.”

She’d been too focused on the ibis earlier to check Shiyi closely. Now, from a third-person view, she noticed details missed when holding Shiyi earlier.

Shiyi looked down, saw the red near her paw pad, and quickly curled her paw, as if shy.

Ji Shiyi said calmly: “She’s fine. Probably just got some bl00d on her.”

Shu Yue heard this, thought of the bl00d by the rock, and agreed logically, but she still worried.

“Miss Ji, should we check Shiyi and give her a bath? She ran far today, and that man’s bl00d isn’t clean…”

Shiyi, hearing two certain words, prepared to struggle and escape.

Ji Shiyi held her down.

“Sure,” Ji Shiyi said. “Wash her at your place?”

There were no pet stores in the village, and the county was too far.

“Okay,” Shu Yue agreed. “Let’s go back first.”

Shiyi stared in disbelief.

“I don’t want a bath!”

Ji Shiyi carried her toward the car, her hand gently but firmly pinching Shiyi’s neck, a warning disguised as affection.

“You think you have the right to negotiate now?”

“Meow! No bath, no bath, just no bath! Put me back in your mind and release me again. Why do I need a bath?”

She was a spirit entity, not a real cat.

Toss her in the mental sea, rinse her twice, and she’d be good as new, right?

Why make her suffer in the real world?

Ji Shiyi didn’t hide her disgust.

“Because I think you’re dirty.”

Shiyi whimpered.

Shu Yue turned to look: “Shiyi, are you uncomfortable anywhere?”

Shiyi nodded her little cat head, reaching her paws toward Shu Yue.

Shu Yue glanced at Ji Shiyi, and with her permission, took Shiyi into her arms.

Shiyi immediately clung to Shu Yue’s neck with both paws, whimpering coyly.

Ji Shiyi couldn’t stand the act, stepped into the car, and said: “Let’s go. Back to bathe her.”

Shiyi’s body stiffened, trying to use her cuteness to win Shu Yue’s sympathy and dodge the bath.

Shu Yue pinched her dirty paws.

“You need a good wash,” she said. “Don’t worry, Sister will clean you very, very clean.”

Shiyi: …!!!

Come save me, meow!!!

Half an hour later, Shiyi, pinned in a basin by Ji Shiyi’s fingertips on her head, looked like a wrung-out rag, her fluffy fur sticking wetly to her body like a tight suit.

Shu Yue’s fingers rubbed Shiyi’s legs.

Such muscles.

Normally unnoticeable, Shiyi was a muscular little cat.

Under Ji Shiyi’s coercion, Shiyi endured for a long time. When the bath reached its final step—blow-drying—she couldn’t take it anymore.

Spotting Shu Yue reaching for the hairdryer, Shiyi bolted from the basin, leapt onto the high sink, and shook off water everywhere.

Shu Yue, passing by innocently, got soaked.

Ji Shiyi didn’t fare much better.

Her casual outfit was speckled with water marks.

They looked at each other, one holding a hairdryer, the other a towel for Shiyi.

“Miss Ji, your clothes—”

“Shu Yue, your face.”

Speaking simultaneously, they paused, and two helpless smiles appeared in the room.

“Miss Ji, should we still blow-dry her?”

“Forget it,” Ji Shiyi said. “Can I borrow a bath towel? I’ll buy you a new one later.”

Shu Yue handed her a gray long towel from the bathroom: “Just use it.”

Ji Shiyi spread the towel on the tile floor, which Shu Yue mopped twice daily.

She pointed at the towel and said to Shiyi: “Come here, wipe yourself clean.”

Shiyi hesitated, then slunk over, rolling on the towel, occasionally lying on her back, paws up, twisting to rub.

Shu Yue laughed.

“Don’t move.”

Ji Shiyi’s cool voice made Shu Yue freeze instinctively.

The woman’s fingertips reached over, brushing Shu Yue’s forehead, flicking away a tiny water droplet about to fall into her eyes.

“Thanks,” Shu Yue said softly.

She glanced at Ji Shiyi, hesitated, and said: “Miss Ji, want to change clothes? You’re all wet.”

Their body types weren’t too different. Shu Yue was slimmer, Ji Shiyi curvier. Shu Yue thought her clothes would fit Ji Shiyi. Her wardrobe was full of loose styles, the kind you could slip on and go.

Ji Shiyi didn’t like the feeling of wet fabric clinging to her skin either. She nodded: “Thanks.”

Shu Yue walked to the corner, pulled out her suitcase. She hadn’t brought many clothes. It was summer, and a 26-inch suitcase held everything.

Shu Yue picked out two short-sleeve shirts.

“Miss Ji, which one do you want?”

To Ji Shiyi, the shirts were nearly identical, just different colors. One had a small logo on the chest, the other was plain.

“This one,” she chose the one in Shu Yue’s left hand.

Shu Yue handed the shirt to Ji Shiyi and turned around.

“Done.”

Shu Yue turned back. The loose shirt, baggy on her, fit Ji Shiyi snugly. Paired with her simple yet striking platinum pearl necklace, Shu Yue suddenly thought the phrase “clothes make the person” should be reversed.

On her, the shirt was ordinary. On Ji Shiyi, it was captivating.

Ji Shiyi suddenly asked: “Is this the one you wore when you came to the hotel to find me?”

Shu Yue didn’t remember at all. She shook her head honestly: “I don’t know.”

Ji Shiyi tugged the shirt’s fabric, sniffed it, and smiled faintly.

“Hmm, it’s the one.”

For some reason, Shu Yue felt like Ji Shiyi was sniffing her, making her ears tingle, her teeth clench. An alpha instinct stirred briefly, then she suppressed it quickly, as if nothing happened.