Locking away my heart and love! Going back to 2000 to be a top student again.

Not far away, a group of young boys were playing games. One of the boys kept glancing in Xu Su's direction, and his friends couldn't help but tease him, "Binzi, stop looking! You've been staring at him all afternoon. Even if he's pretty, he hasn't even shown his face yet. Why are you so distracted?"

The boy named Binzi said irritably, "What do you know? I just thought she looked familiar, but I wasn't sure."

He looked at it for a while longer, as if he had finally confirmed something. He took a picture of Xu Su with his phone, sent it to the 'Xi Shen' chat box in his QQ list, and typed: "Xi Shen, is this your girlfriend? I remember seeing you bring her to the arcade last year."

After the message was sent, the reply came quickly: "Where are you?"

"It really is his girlfriend!" The boy named Binzi raised an eyebrow. He had seen Xi Zirong's girlfriend's full face last year. Such a beautiful girlfriend, yet he left her sitting alone in the arcade for an entire afternoon.

No wonder she was the one who had amazed him. He had only met her once, and a year had passed, yet he still recognized her even though she had her face completely covered.

Binzi was just congratulating himself on his good eyesight when Xi Zirong sent another message: "Is this an arcade? Keep an eye on her while she makes purchases; I'm coming right away."

Xu Su sat with her eyes lowered, staring intently at the cut on the back of her right hand caused by a shard of a cell phone. The bleeding had stopped, but the wound was still red from the cold because she hadn't put her hand in her pocket.

The rain outside the window was getting heavier and heavier, and the sky was extremely dark. Xu Su didn't know what time it was. She only felt cold and hungry.

Suddenly, a pair of boys' feet appeared on the light gray floor in front of her. Their white sneakers were wet with rain, so they must have just come in from outside. She assumed it was just another guy trying to chat her up and didn't even look up.

The boy, who had been standing, knelt down as his right hand, which was resting on his knee, was gently taken in his hand. His voice trembled slightly as he asked, "How did you get hurt?"

Xu Su paused slightly and looked at the boy squatting in front of her.

After carefully examining her hand, Xi Zirong looked up and said, "Why are you sitting here? Come on, I'll take you to the hospital for a check-up. It seems like a blood vessel has been damaged."

He stood up, about to pull Xu Su up, when he suddenly stopped, his eyes fixed on the right side of her face.

Xu Su had wrapped her scarf tightly around her face, completely covering it, but from Xi Zirong's vantage point, a glaring red mark near her eye on her right cheek was still quite noticeable.

Xi Zirong bent down, her hand reaching out towards Xu Su's scarf, trembling uncontrollably.

"No..." Xu Su turned her head away, her voice hoarse, perhaps because she hadn't spoken in a long time: "Don't look."

Xi Zirong's outstretched hand paused for a long time, then turned and pulled Xu Su's wrist, leading her outside.

A black SUV with a four-ring logo was parked in front of the arcade. Xi Zirong opened his umbrella, put one arm around Xu Su's shoulder and held the umbrella with the other as they walked over. He opened the passenger door, helped Xu Su into the car, walked around the front of the car, closed the umbrella, and got into the driver's seat.

The rain was heavy, and he inevitably got a little wet after closing his umbrella. His hair was slightly damp, but he didn't bother to dry it. As soon as he got into the car, he leaned over towards Xu Su.

"Su Su, be good, let me see." Xi Zirong didn't dare to cup her face, but gently coaxed her while tentatively reaching for her scarf.

Xu Su blinked, knowing she couldn't hide it any longer, so she simply reached out and pulled the scarf off her face, turning her head towards Xi Zirong and exposing her right cheek to him.

Several hours later, the slap mark on Xu Su's face showed no signs of fading; instead, it swelled up even more frighteningly.

The girl's left cheek was as white as jade, while her right cheek bore a red and swollen handprint tinged with purplish-blue. The contrast between the two sides of her face was so stark that it would break anyone's heart.

Xi Zirong stared blankly, her eyes unconsciously turning red. "Who hit me?"

"...I...my biological father."

Xu Su couldn't bring herself to say "my dad." She opened the rearview mirror and looked at her swollen and horribly bruised face. She tried to smile to prove that she didn't care and that she wasn't so pitiful, but even the corners of her mouth hurt.

After trying twice, she simply gave up and leaned back in her chair without saying a word.

"He deserves to die!" The boy's voice was fierce for the first time, filled with hatred. "No matter who he is, he deserves to die!"

Xu Su felt a sudden tightness in her shoulders as Xi Zirong pulled her into his arms. "Don't be sad, Su Su. That kind of father isn't worth your sadness. Don't talk to him anymore. Don't give him another chance to hit you, okay?"

Xi Zirong's eyes were red and swollen, as if she was about to burst into tears at any moment. She looked even more distressed than Xu Su herself.

"There won't be a next time." Xu Su thought of the vicious words from her 'family members,' the heavy slap, and how, if her uncle hadn't intervened, there might have been a second or third slap.

She patted Xi Zirong on the shoulder, too exhausted to comfort him. "I'm so tired right now, can you leave me alone?"

"Okay." He lowered his head and kissed Xu Su's forehead, then slowly released her. "Rest for a while, I'll take you to the hospital."

"I don't want to go to the hospital." Xu Su shook her head: "Why don't you show me around?"

Xi Zirong ignored her: "No, you're badly injured. I won't feel at ease if you don't get a proper check-up. Don't be careless, okay? There are many cases of people going deaf from being slapped."

Xu Su thought about how she couldn't hear anything for several seconds after being hit, and how her ears still hurt a little. Feeling a chill, she stopped resisting going to the hospital for a checkup.

She didn't want to be deaf.

Surprisingly, the Municipal People's Hospital was not deserted on Lunar New Year's Eve, with doctors on duty in all departments during the holiday.

Led by Xi Zirong, Xu Su went from the trauma department to the ENT department, and then had an electrocardiogram and a CT scan.

The ENT specialist was a young doctor on duty. He looked at the injury on Xu Su's face, frowned, and said, "What kind of grudge is this? You gave a young girl like you a perforated eardrum during the New Year."

Eardrum perforation?

Xu Su inevitably panicked.

She touched her right ear, ignoring the swelling and pain on her face, and could indeed feel that her ear canal was very uncomfortable.

Xi Zirong's face was deathly pale, her lips pressed tightly together as she barely managed to suppress her emotions. "Is it serious? Does it require medication or surgery? Will there be any aftereffects?"

Seeing how nervous they were, the young doctor smiled and said, "Don't worry, it's not serious. The perforation isn't big and it will usually heal on its own. Just be careful not to cause any further damage. But it's best to come back for a check-up in a month."

The two of them breathed a sigh of relief.

If Xu Jiandang hadn't stopped Xu Weiping from slapping her again, she might have really lost hearing in one ear!

Thinking of this, Xu Su's heart pounded, and she had the illusion of escaping death. She almost went deaf!