Defeated By Love

Translated by Fairy_Dust

If you enjoy the novel then please think about showing the novel some support by buying a Ko-fi~

Hearing those words, Shu Nian looked at the rehabilitation doctor and hesitantly asked: “Is that how you usually encourage him?” 

The rehabilitation doctor raised his eyebrows and smiled ambiguously in Xie Ruhe’s direction: “Yes.” 

“…” Xie Ruhe’s eyes moved slightly. He pursed his lips but didn’t say anything. 

Shu Nian thought about it and suddenly pointed to a spot in between the bars: “Can I stand here?” 

The rehabilitation doctor responded: “Of course you can.” 

After that, Shu Nian walked up and stood about three steps away from Xie Ruhe. Her expression was very serious, as if she was carrying out a task at work. 

“Just three steps, one, two, three…” Shu Nian hung her head and counted those three steps with her finger. Then, she looked at Xie Ruhe. “You can walk over here and I’ll encourage you.” 

Her tone in the latter part of the sentence was exactly the same as when she tried to seduce Xie Ruhe with candy in order to have him send her home every day after encountering that pervert. 

Xie Ruhe was taken aback and subconsciously nodded. 

After repeated training, he could stand for about a minute without any assistance but without relying on anything and taking three steps, Xie Ruhe was still unable to do it at this stage.

His hands held the parallel bars next to him. When he was ready, his upper and lower limbs exerted themselves at the same time. 

There was a feeling of numbness and pain in his thighs. 

Xie Ruhe’s sweat fell down. His masseter muscle1 tightened and his upper body was tense. It seemed like he was using his entire body’s strength, all his muscle lines were stretched taut and the blue veins were very visible. 

He slowly exhaled and let go of his thoughts. 

Because of his current state, Shu Nian became nervous and held her breath as she watched his movements. 

Xie Ruhe’s actions were slow and it even felt like looking at a stagnated picture. After a while, he raised his left foot slightly and moved forward with difficulty. 

An action that was very simple for ordinary people was extremely difficult for him. 

Shu Nian’s nose inexplicably became sour. 

Xie Ruhe regulated his breathing. He adjusted himself and began to lift his right foot. 

The second step. 

His steps were very small. 

The three steps Shu Nian had just calculated was about 1.5 meters but at that moment, Xie Ruhe had already walked two steps and that covered less than half a meter. The distance between the two didn’t seem to have shortened at all. 

After taking the second step, Xie Ruhe’s face was very pale and it was as if he were enduring some kind of great pain. 

He closed his eyes and said hoarsely: “Sorry, it hurts…” 

He wasn’t able to walk the third step. 

Obviously, he was only one step away from his goal but he just couldn’t walk the remaining distance. 

Meanwhile, the rehabilitation doctor moved a chair over and said: “Take a break and stop practicing.” 

The next moment, Shu Nian took a big step forward as if to complete the unfinished step for him. She leaned over and stood on her tiptoes to gently hug him. She patted him on his back which gave off a sense of comfort. 

A soft little body suddenly surrounded him; he could even feel her breath on the front of his chest. Xie Ruhe’s whole body was wet and sweat fell down from his jaw. 

But Shu Nian didn’t seem to care at all. 

He didn’t expect her to react in such a way. Xie Ruhe’s body was stiff in an instant and he didn’t know what to do. 

Soon, Shu Nian pulled back and looked up at him. She said: “You did a great job.” 

“…” 

“You did a great job.” Shu Nian repeated it as if it was something extremely important: “Xie Ruhe, I think you will be fine.” 

Xie Ruhe’s voice was deep: “Really?” 

“Yes.” Shu Nian patted him on the shoulder and her little white face was as stern as an old man.2“You will be alright.” 

Xie Ruhe looked at her calmly and then hummed. 

“Okay.” 

There would be times like this. 

No matter how flustered, helpless, desperate and tired, the overwhelming negative feelings would vanish in an instant and it wouldn’t be worth talking about.  

It was like the moment before the sky became brighter. 

He just needed to believe it. 

She said he would be fine so he would definitely be fine. 

Shu Nian’s birthday just so happened to be on the day before Valentine’s Day. 

February 13. 

After entering high school, Chen Hanzheng nicknamed her “bookworm” because of her personality but Shu Nian wasn’t a student who read a lot so people began to focus on the other part the name, “nerd”.3. 

Later, after learning about Shu Nian’s birthday though, he changed her name to “Er Bi”4.

Some people thought it was funny and followed suit to call her that. 

Shu Nian was very tolerant. Although she didn’t like them calling her that, she didn’t care too much and had her own way to deal with it. When others called her that, she would act like she didn’t hear them.  

One time during the break-in-between two classes, she sat in Xie Ruhe’s seat to explain a question on the test paper to him. 

A boy happened to just come back from the office and was looking for Shu Nian but he didn’t call her by her name: “Er Bi, the teacher told you to go to the office.” 

Hearing that, the tip of Shu Nian’s pen paused by she didn’t raise her eyes and continued to explain the question to Xie Ruhe. 

The boy was not patient and called again: “Didn’t you hear me? Er Bi, shouldn’t you say something after hearing me?” 

But there was still no response from Shu Nian. Instead, Xie Ruhe raised his head: “Who are you calling?” 

The boy raised his eyebrows and gestured to Shu Nian with his chin: “Her.” 

Xie Ruhe looked gloomy: “Can’t you call her by her name?” 

“What name?” The boy smiled impishly and said: “Aren’t we classmates? If I call her by a nickname then it’ll appear as if our relationship is good.” 

Shu Nian looked up and said to Xie Ruhe: “Just ignore him.” 

" "

Xie Ruhe didn’t seem to hear her though. He stared at the boy and then suddenly smiled as he leaned against back on the chair. 

“I think you look like a scumbag.” Xie Ruhe’s peach blossom eyes narrowed as if he were angry. His words were sharp and ruthless. “How about I nickname you scumbag?” 

That classmate is so mean and rude. I lol-ed so hard when Xie Ruhe roasted him, he deserved it. 

If there are any errors in the text then please kindly ping me on discord in the ‘report typos’ channel or leave a comment down below!

Thanks for reading!

Footnotes

For anyone wondering, the author was just being fancy and it means ‘he tightened his jaw’ or ‘his jaw was clenched tightly’This is supposed to show that Shu Nian is very serious and certain about what she is saying. I suppose it doesn’t translate well to English, does it?In Chinese, the two characters that make up the word bookworm is ‘book’ and ‘nerd’ 二逼 – is a vulgar word which means idiot/retard/fucking idiot, etc. The 二 here means cowardice or incompetence. The 逼 is cheap or disgusting. I left it in pinyin for the reason that it wouldn’t give the full effect if I chose idiot or retard instead. I believe it’s also a play on her birthday. Since 二 means 2 and she’s born in February the second month. The date is the 13th which is an unlucky number so it’s despised/looked down upon.