Ke Bei’s expression suddenly changed, and even her entire aura became sharp and fierce, radiating a combative energy, something Cheng Qian had never expected.
He hurriedly said, “It’s a check-up! I had Xiao Tian tested for hemoglobin, he’s severely anemic!”
Seeing Ke Bei’s eyes soften slightly, he signaled the store clerk standing nearby to step aside before continuing his explanation.
“Some prescription medicines can’t be bought at a pharmacy. I had arranged with a friend who works at a hospital to help me get some, and I went to pick them up.
When my friend saw Xiao Tian, he immediately said there was something wrong with his health and insisted on testing his blood. He said he feared it might be malnutrition, which could affect his growth.
I thought we might not have another chance like this later. Early detection means early treatment, so I went ahead and had him tested, it really was anemia.”
Ke Bei now realized she had overreacted, but “drawing Xiao Tian’s blood” was truly her biggest red line, no one was allowed to touch it.
She relaxed her body, hugged her son more tightly, and said in a calm tone, “Xiao Tian cannot undergo medical tests casually. Next time, any such thing must be discussed with me in advance.”
Cheng Qian looked at her deeply but didn’t reply immediately. Instead, he walked over to the cart they had left aside and headed straight for the nutrition section.
Like someone on a mission, he grabbed piles of various nutritional foods and medicinal ingredients, filling the cart to the brim.
Besides children’s health supplements, Ke Bei also saw many products suitable for women’s nutrition.
She wanted to explain a few words, noticing that he seemed displeased, but seeing his stern expression, she fell silent and swallowed her words.
The three of them then picked up some seasonings. Cheng Qian added some cigarettes and strong liquor, and then they headed to the daily necessities section.
There, they bought plenty of clothing, sufficient quantities of various daily items, toiletries, and Ke Bei also bought many feminine hygiene products…
By the time they finished shopping, the sky outside had grown dark.
Xiao Tian, exhausted, was already asleep in the shopping cart, and Ke Bei could barely lift her legs, she was reaching her limit.
Because they had purchased so much, the supermarket dispatched a box truck to deliver their goods.
Considering that the new car needed to be loaded into the space beforehand, Cheng Qian specifically chose a corner with few people and no cameras when returning with it.
The supermarket was originally built on the outskirts; during the day it was busy with people, but after dark, there were almost no pedestrians around.
So such a location wasn’t hard to choose.
With her husband covering for her, Ke Bei quickly stored the new car in the space. The three of them returned to the parking lot and drove home in their previous business van.
Once in the car, after securing their sleeping son in the back seat, Ke Bei took out her phone to order food, and noticed there were a lot of unread messages.
She casually opened one, which happened to be a transfer record.
Seeing a notification that twenty thousand yuan had been transferred, she was surprised and turned to look at her husband in the driver’s seat: “You only paid twenty thousand for the car?”
“Mm, I used twenty thousand of yours. There’s still a bit left on my card,” Cheng Qian replied calmly.
Hearing the emphasis on the word “yours,” Ke Bei realized he was still annoyed.
He was clearly upset that she hadn’t explained Xiao Tian’s situation to him earlier.
Ke Bei pressed her lips together and explained helplessly, “It’s not that I didn’t want to tell you, there were too many people around, it wasn’t convenient.”
Hearing this, Cheng Qian turned to her: “Now there’s no one else. Tell me.”
“When we were at Pingyan Bridge, you picked a bunch of mushrooms. I used them to make soup for our family dinner. Both of us drank it without any issues, but Xiao Tian… that triggered his powers.”
Cheng Qian tightened his grip on the steering wheel and asked in a low voice, “Triggered powers? Not poisoned?”
He had been recalling what Ke Bei had said earlier and already realized this must be related to the mushrooms they had collected at Pingyan Bridge.
“Not poisoned. It’s just that while Xiao Tian’s powers were awakening, his blood gained an unknown substance.”
“Unknown substance?” Cheng Qian slammed the brakes and turned to look at Ke Bei. “Be clear, what kind of substance?”
For Ke Bei, this was a knot in her heart she wasn’t willing to untangle for anyone. Even telling her own husband was extremely difficult.
She paused, calmed herself, and carefully chose her words, trying to make it as simple and clear as possible.
“No one can explain exactly what it is.
All I know is… after drinking the mushroom soup, Xiao Tian’s blood changed. It now contains something that can enhance the strength of someone with abilities.”
“This effect doesn’t just work on humans, it also works on mutated plants and animals. In fact, if they absorb enough of it, it can even help them advance.”
Ke Bei took a deep, shuddering breath. Pain and fear tightened her voice.
“There’s a scent in his blood, anyone with powers can detect it.
The stronger the ability, the stronger the temptation. They will follow the scent.
So, until we find Yunsi Grass, which can mask this scent, Xiao Tian absolutely, absolutely cannot bleed!”
Thinking of the days they had spent hiding with their son, remembering how no matter where they ran, he was eventually captured by the research institute, remembering how they injected him daily with all sorts of things and drew his blood, using him as a mobile blood bank…
Ke Bei couldn’t stop trembling all over.
Cheng Qian pulled the car to the side of the road, turned, and wrapped his wife tightly in his arms, holding her firmly to give her warmth.
His heart clenched, just hearing her words felt like being plunged into ice water, cold down to his bones.
He couldn’t even imagine how mother and son had survived those years of hardship.
Although he hadn’t experienced the apocalypse yet, Cheng Qian, as a former special forces soldier, had endured battles filled with blood and fire.
He had seen life and death, and he had seen darkness.
After learning that their son’s blood could enhance the strength of ability users, he finally understood where Ke Bei’s vigilance came from, and he understood the dangers they would face in the future.
“Don’t be afraid anymore. From now on, I’m here.”
Cheng Qian stroked Ke Bei’s hair, his voice low but resolute.
Tears immediately streamed down Ke Bei’s face.
She didn’t know how long she had been waiting for these words.
Every time she thought she couldn’t endure another moment, she would imagine her husband returning with medicine, holding her and saying: “I’m back. Don’t be afraid. From now on, I’ll handle everything.”
…
The supermarket staff helped them carry the goods upstairs and then left.
By this time, it was already close to nine in the evening, and the meals Ke Bei had pre-ordered began arriving one after another.
She closed the door, stored all the items in the space, then opened the takeout boxes on the table and called Cheng Qian and the now-awake Xiao Tian to eat.
Cheng Qian leaned over to look and saw a box of steamed egg custard, a box of pumpkin-braised tofu, a box of tender fish fillets, two boxes of rice, and a box of porridge, everything was easy to digest and gentle on the stomach.
He immediately understood that these had been specially prepared for Xiao Tian.
He reached toward Ke Bei: “Give me two of the baked flatbreads we bought this morning. I need to step out for a bit. You two eat, then wash up and go to bed early. Don’t wait for me.”
Ke Bei looked up at him, then glanced at the food on the table and explained, “I ordered your favorite Sichuan dishes too; they just haven’t been delivered yet.”
Cheng Qian smiled. “Not picky. I really need to step out to buy some medicine, and I’ll grab some more gasoline while I’m at it. With an extra car now, we need to stock up.”
Even though the plane wasn’t arriving until four in the afternoon, Zhoujia Town was still nearly a hundred kilometers from Tianshui. Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem, but as Ke Bei had said, they might miss the flight…
The most likely risk was running into trouble on the road.
To be safe, the couple had agreed that they would leave early the next morning, better to wait at the airport than get stuck along the way.
So the time left for shopping was really limited.
“Wait a moment.” Hearing her husband, Ke Bei naturally didn’t object.
She went to the kitchen, split the baked flatbreads she’d taken from the space, added the braised meat they had bought, and made two roujiamo sandwiches.
Then she took the water dispenser from the store, grabbed Cheng Qian’s cup, put in a handful of tea leaves, filled it with hot water, and handed it to him: “Drink some hot water after you eat.”
Cheng Qian was genuinely amazed.
Even though he had known that Ke Bei had already stored all the store items, he didn’t expect her to use them with such ease.
A water dispenser suddenly appearing, filled with steaming hot water, out of nowhere like this, even unprepared, still made him feel as if he were in a dream.
But there was no time to linger on that. He took the packed food from his wife and hurriedly stepped out.
The words Ke Bei had said in the car earlier weighed on Cheng Qian like a heavy stone pressing on his chest, making him feel that the medicine he had bought was not enough, especially the hemostatic and bandaging supplies, as well as the blood-boosting medicine Xiao Tian needed.
Everything else could be managed, but these were absolutely essential.
So even if he had to go across the whole city, he would buy every item he could find.
After finishing dinner and giving their son a bath, Ke Bei quickly showered herself and got busy in the kitchen.
She first started steaming rice in the rice cooker, then boiled water using the water dispenser and electric kettle.
At the same time, she had two large pots on the stove heating water as well.
Xiao Tian didn’t stay idle either. Full and satisfied from his meal, he followed his mother’s instructions, carrying a small stool into the bathroom and carefully filling every container he could find in the house with warm water from the water heater.
With her past experiences, Ke Bei naturally understood the importance of water.
Even if they wouldn’t run out of water on the way, clean water, especially hot water, was certainly scarce. Preparing extra in advance would make life much more comfortable.
If she remembered correctly, the weather would soon shift, going directly from the dry, scorching summer into the rainy season, which would last for quite a while.
In damp and chilly weather, having a cup of hot water would be a rare luxury.
And after fighting mutated beasts, being sticky and wet all over, being able to take a hot bath would feel like a paradise she hadn’t dared to even imagine.
Thinking this, Ke Bei immediately took out her phone and paid extra for a delivery to bring a large bath tub right away.
While heating water, she also took out the vegetables and meat she had bought today and began washing and prepping them.
Although her cooking skills were average, cooking the food in advance and storing it was far more convenient than trying to prepare it later when eating.
As Ke Bei busily worked, Xiao Tian suddenly shouted from the bathroom, “Mom, mom, come look! I see myself on the TV!”
Ke Bei quickly went outside, knowing this was surely the news reporting on the bridge collapse that morning. She wanted to see what the government had to say.
She walked over to her son, leaned in to look at the tablet Cheng Qian had given him, and together they watched as the TV broadcast showed doctors at the emergency station bandaging the injured.
She and Xiao Tian were not in the center of the shot, standing with their backs to the camera in a distant corner. Fortunately, Xiao Tian’s eyes were sharp; otherwise, it would have been hard to see them at all.
The news report didn’t mention the cause of the bridge collapse, only that the investigation was ongoing and updates would follow.
At that point, Ke Bei lost interest.
Just as she was about to leave and continue preparing the vegetables, a voice suddenly came from the tablet: “We interrupt with an important news bulletin! We interrupt with an important news bulletin!”
She stopped in her tracks.
Author’s Note:
Let me clarify a bit, sigh—I don’t know how it misled everyone into misunderstanding the male lead so much. In the previous chapter, the female lead said Xiao Tian couldn’t bleed or get hurt, but she never said he couldn’t be examined or have his blood tested. She didn’t expect the male lead to take Xiao Tian to the hospital, and he didn’t understand her true intention.
Earlier, the female lead mentioned that Xiao Tian’s blood had problems after eating the mushrooms, and he had been constantly monitored at the research institute, deprived of food during various tests. She didn’t have time to explain the real reason to the male lead. So he assumed the child had been poisoned.
The apocalypse was approaching, and at this point, checking the child, understanding his condition, giving the proper medicine, and being prepared was the male lead’s first instinct when his friend suggested the check. He believed he was doing the right thing.
That’s why he seemed upset when the female lead criticized him, he felt a little wronged, but it wasn’t true anger.
In short, I didn’t write this clearly before, which made readers angry, my apologies. Keep reading, and you’ll see Cheng Qian grow through experiences with his family and friends.