The cobblestone could never have been that sharp. Someone had definitely tampered with it. What he had never expected was that after barely a year of peaceful days, someone would once again set their sights on Jiang Ci.
He was only six years old. Just how long were these people going to keep this up before they were finally willing to stop?
Lu Shiying waited until Jiang Ci had fallen into a deep sleep before gently lifting him into his arms. He found a VIP room and carefully settled the little boy beneath the covers, tucking the blanket securely around him.
Ever since Jiang Ci had come to the Lu family estate, Lu Shiying had been doing his best to play the role of a good older brother and he had managed to fatten the little guy up quite a bit.
The little boy’s face was now round and chubby, his arms soft and plump with rolls of baby fat, his skin fair and his whole body pleasantly well fed. Lu Shiying had never allowed him to suffer even the slightest grievance.
Yet because of his own negligence, because he had failed to personally inspect whether the areas inside and outside the villa were suitable for a child to play in, he had nearly lost this little brother.
Lu Shiying bent down and pressed a gentle kiss to Jiang Ci’s forehead. Then he straightened and walked outside the room, where he saw the servants standing in the corridor with their heads lowered, not daring to make a sound.
He cast a cold glance at Uncle Zhang. “Check every single worker who renovated the amusement park, everyone who delivered the construction materials and everyone who came to clear away the garbage. Go through every one of them. Their residences, names, phone numbers, contact records and employment histories, don’t leave out a single person and who was the one who put erythromycin on Xiao Ci? Didn’t I tell all of you before that he has a history of drug allergies? If you don’t know what medication he can use, then don’t apply anything to him carelessly.”
The two servants shrank their necks and didn’t dare make a sound. Auntie Chen was also so frightened that she froze, her lips trembling as she stood there without being able to utter a single word.
Lu Shiying rubbed his temples and closed his eyes briefly, his head throbbing with pain. “Fire all of them. From now on, I will personally assess every employee who comes to work here.”
The moment the servants heard that, they immediately dropped to their knees and begged for mercy. “It wasn’t me, Young Master. Please let me off. I really need this job… It was Xiao Lin who took the erythromycin. She thought it would help prevent an infection. Since the little master hadn’t been sick or even gotten a scrape in such a long time, we forgot about it…”
Xiao Lin, who was standing beside them, also burst into tears as she tried to defend herself. “I didn’t know… I didn’t hear the training instructions clearly before… Young Master, this really isn’t our fault. We had been following him the whole time. The little boy simply runs far too fast.”
Lu Shiying was already irritated beyond words. He waved his hand impatiently. “Uncle Zhang, pull up the surveillance footage. See what they were doing at the time.”
At those words, the two servants’ hearts sank.
At the time, they had thought they could let the child run around by himself for a little while so they could rest for a moment. That was why they hadn’t stayed by his side every step of the way. Instead, they had merely followed leisurely behind him, chatting among themselves.
If they checked the surveillance camera at the streetlamp near the front of the amusement park, their figures could still be seen.
Taking care of a child could genuinely be exhausting at times. Every now and then, they would slack off a little, thinking that it wouldn’t be a big deal.
Who could have imagined that their luck would be so terrible?
The child had happened to get into trouble at precisely that moment.
Uncle Zhang stepped forward and lowered his voice. “Auntie Chen only answered a phone call, which was why she failed to keep an eye on the child. Young Master, why don’t you give her one more chance…”
Lu Shiying cut him off coldly. “Have you forgotten the rules of the villa? Zero mistakes. Zero tolerance.”
Uncle Zhang said nothing more. He nodded and stepped aside to discuss the arrangements for dealing with the servants.
Auntie Chen wiped away her tears and no longer tried to argue. It was true that she had stayed on the phone for too long and failed to notice where the child had run off to.
Normally, while the little boy was at school, she was also supposed to patrol the area around the villa and inspect the condition of the roads, so there would be no danger to him.
It had been her negligence.
Outside, the sky gradually darkened and a torrential downpour suddenly descended.
The wind carried the dampness of the rain as it whistled through the cracks around the windows, coming in wave after wave of howling gusts.
It was only a little after four in the afternoon yet the sky had already darkened into a heavy, oppressive mass. The clouds churned overhead, as though someone had extinguished every light in the entire city one by one, leaving behind nothing but a vast, gray curtain of rain stretching across the world.
For some reason, there seemed to be an unusually large amount of rain this year.
Lu Shiying stood inside the hospital room, staring outside through the glass doors leading to the balcony.
The rain was pouring down in torrents, almost exactly mirroring the gloomy knot of emotions in his heart.
The sky grew darker and darker. He simply stood there motionless before the window, his entire figure swallowed by the shadows, looking utterly lifeless and desolate.
That year’s sky had been just as dark, just as oppressive.
The basement had been gloomy, cold and suffocating.
He hadn’t even known how he had managed to survive.
The sound coming from the bed abruptly snapped Lu Shiying out of his memories. He quickly walked over to the bedside and saw the little boy beneath the white cotton blanket let out two soft whimpers. He was raising a hand to rub his eyes but Lu Shiying gently pressed his arm back down.
“Don’t move. There’s a needle in your hand.”
The little boy opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was the IV bottle hanging above his head.
His arm felt numb, while the back of his hand was sore and swollen with a dull ache. His entire body felt uncomfortable.
Lu Shiying reached out and gently touched his face. “Xiao Ci, you have a fever. You’re still getting an injection to bring your temperature down, so you can’t move your hand around.”
After hearing that, Jiang Ci immediately obediently lay still. His head felt dizzy and heavy, while his stomach was already growling with hunger. He stretched out his other little hand, his voice soft and sweet:
Lu Shiying took his chubby little hand and pressed it against his own cheek. “Mm. I’m here.”
Jiang Ci blinked his round, bright eyes. As though he had suddenly remembered something, he asked in a small voice, “Brother… when someone gets hurt, if they keep bleeding and bleeding, will they eventually fall asleep and then… never wake up again and turn into a star?”
Lu Shiying froze.
Jiang Ci was already six years old. He had entered the senior class of kindergarten and had learned quite a few things. On top of that, from watching cartoons on a regular basis, he had gradually begun to form a vague understanding of what death meant.
“Mm.” He answered in a low voice.
Jiang Ci’s eyes immediately reddened. His round eyes filled with shimmering tears as he murmured softly, “Then if I become a star, I can see Mommy and Daddy…”
Lu Shiying’s heart tightened. He lowered his head and kissed Jiang Ci’s fair little hand, his voice deep yet gentle. “No. I won’t let you become a star. Would you really be willing to leave your brother all alone?”
Jiang Ci shook his head vigorously.
He had never met anyone better than Lu Shiying.
Every day, his brother made all kinds of delicious food for him, picked him up after school, built him an amusement park and taught him his lessons every day. Even when he did something wrong, his brother had never once hit him.
He didn’t want to leave his brother and he didn’t want to become a star either. Perhaps after becoming a star, he wouldn’t even be able to talk to Mommy and Daddy. He could only quietly hang in the sky, all alone and lonely.
“Xiao Ci, are you hungry? I’ll have someone bring some food over.” Lu Shiying gently stroked his head.
Jiang Ci nodded hard.
About twenty minutes later, the food was delivered. This time, it was Uncle Zhang who came.
Jiang Ci looked left and right but he didn’t see Auntie Chen. He suddenly remembered that there had once been another person who had made a mistake. That person hadn’t picked all the fish bones out properly when preparing his food and afterward, Jiang Ci had never seen him again.
“Brother… did you send Auntie Chen and the other sisters away?” Jiang Ci asked as he looked up.
Lu Shiying gently brushed aside the loose strands of hair on his forehead and said in a low voice, “Auntie Chen’s child is sick. She’s been suspended from work for a week, so I sent her home first.”
Jiang Ci immediately grew anxious. He grabbed Lu Shiying’s finger with one hand. “Brother, I was the one who fell down because I wasn’t careful. Don’t send Auntie Chen and the others away… If only I had been more careful when I was walking.”
Lu Shiying didn’t answer.
It had been Auntie Chen who had made the call and summoned the private doctor in time, which was why he hadn’t fired her immediately.
Jiang Ci tugged gently at his arm. Those soft, chubby little hands were fair and tender, so delicate that they made people instinctively want to protect and cherish them with care. The little one was both sensible and kind hearted.
Lu Shiying finally relented. “All right. Brother promises you. Auntie Chen will come back once she has finished dealing with things but the other two servants neglected their duties and they even tried to conceal what happened and shirk responsibility. People like that will not be hired again. From now on, I will personally screen everyone who comes to work here.”
Jiang Ci happily swung his little legs. “Okay!”
Lu Shiying opened the lunch box. Inside was a children’s nutritional meal, prepared relatively lightly, along with a bowl of steamed egg custard, Jiang Ci’s favorite.
Holding the bowl in one hand, he lowered his head and gently blew away the rising heat. Then, with a small spoon, he slowly scooped up a bite and brought it to the little boy’s mouth.
Jiang Ci obediently opened his mouth. While eating, he pointed at the shrimp with his little finger. “Mmm, mmm, mmm, I want this too.”
Lu Shiying chuckled softly and scooped up another spoonful of shrimp, feeding it into his mouth. The little boy’s eyes narrowed into happy crescents as he ate, his cheeks puffed up round and full, making him look just like a little hamster storing away food.
Good.
Only then did a trace of a smile appear in Lu Shiying’s eyes and all the gloom and displeasure from earlier seemed to vanish without a trace.
As long as the little one could live happily and carefree, that was all that mattered.
“Yummy, yummy,” Jiang Ci mumbled indistinctly.
Standing at the doorway, Uncle Zhang watched the warm and tender scene inside the hospital room. Seeing the young master personally feeding the little one and taking such careful care of him, watching the relationship between the two brothers grow closer and closer, he felt deeply satisfied.
The old master and madam could finally rest assured. The young master was, at long last, slowly finding his way out of the fearful shadow that had lingered over him since childhood.
Lu Shiying fed him two bowls of rice, one bowl of shrimp, one bowl of steamed egg custard and half a bowl of pumpkin soup.
The little boy hadn’t eaten for two meals since waking up, so his appetite was especially good. His little belly was stretched round and full from the food. Being sick and still able to eat and drink so well, he really was such a good, obedient child.
“Xiao Ci, when other children are hospitalized, they usually cry and throw tantrums and they don’t even have much of an appetite but even though you’re sick, you’re still being so obedient… Don’t you feel even a little wronged or uncomfortable inside?”
Jiang Ci quickly shook his head. The IV tube hanging above his forehead swayed along with the movement and Lu Shiying immediately worried that it might tug against the needle, so he reached out and gently held the tube in place.
Lu Shiying continued, “We’ve known each other for a year now, baby. You’re still just a little child. If you feel wronged, you can say so. If you’re in pain, you can cry. You don’t have to be so obedient all the time.”
Jiang Ci still shook his head.
Lu Shiying looked into his eyes. He gently cupped the little boy’s round, soft cheeks between both hands and said seriously, “In front of your brother, you don’t need to put on an act.”
Jiang Ci didn’t know many words yet but he understood the word “act.”
He thought that if he behaved a little better, he would be able to keep staying with the Lu family. He would be liked and his brother wouldn’t grow tired of him. The teachers at kindergarten also always told them that they should be good and well behaved children.
“Baby.”
Jiang Ci suddenly lifted his head, his little head tilting upward as his large eyes filled with surprise and delight. Mommy always called him that too, saying that it was a way of showing love for him; otherwise, she wouldn’t call him that.
Lu Shiying gently pinched his soft, chubby cheek. “Good baby, you have to listen to your brother.”
Only then did Jiang Ci stammer out what was truly in his heart. “I… I just wanted to be a little more well behaved, so people would like me and then Brother wouldn’t abandon Xiao Ci. If I’m not good…”
Lu Shiying interrupted him, his voice firm and decisive. “Even if you aren’t well behaved, Brother still won’t abandon you.”
Jiang Ci had a blood clotting disorder and was physically frail. If he were sent back again, there wasn’t a single person among those relatives who would be capable of raising this baby safely to adulthood. There was even a possibility that they might end up raising him to death.
Jiang Ci suddenly threw himself into his arms and burst into tears with a loud, “Waaah!”
Lu Shiying supported the arm that had the IV in it, along with the pillow, with one hand, while his other hand gently patted the little boy’s back, soothing him.
“Good baby.”
At last, he was crying.
Lu Shiying had always felt that this little boy was far too mature for his age, that he understood far too many things and knew far too much about how the world worked. If this continued, he was afraid that when Jiang Ci grew up, his personality would become just like his own, someone who remembered too much pain.
“Brother… the injection hurt so much and my wound hurt too. I didn’t dare tell you.”
“I didn’t have an appetite but I was really hungry, so I still had to eat… Xiao Ci hates being like this.”
“I hate staying in the hospital… Xiao Ci wants to go home. I don’t want to sleep here. It smells bad here.”
“I wish that every time Brother went out, you would take Xiao Ci with you…”
✦ ✧ ✦
Fleurveil
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
The translator has entered their coffee-deprived final form. (╥﹏╥)
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
← PreviousNext →
ChaptersChapter 1 · Even He, an outsider, couldn’t stand itChapter 2 · DaddyChapter 3 · Thank you for the gift!Chapter 4 · Do You want to sleep with your brother?Chapter 5 · Smart BabyChapter 6 · Life in a Wealthy FamilyChapter 7 · Genius BrotherChapter 8 · Brother’s giftChapter 9 · Xiao Ci was injured.Chapter 10 · ThoughtfulChapter 11 · Treat as treasureChapter 12 · Only recognized oneChapter 13 · Lu family coupleChapter 14 · A closed heartChapter 15 · Understanding my brotherChapter 16 · Reluctant to hitChapter 17 · UneasyChapter 18 · PossessiveChapter 19 · Teenage RebelChapter 20 Part 1 · The car accidentChapter 20 Part 2 · The car accidentChapter 20 Part 3 · The car accidentChapter 21 · My heart is racingChapter 22 · Physiological Knowledge