OEBSAS |Chapter 4

Wang Shufen accompanied Cai Yalan to the ward, and when they got there, they saw that the brat from her own family was chattering away nonstop.

And the child on the bed was listening quietly.

“You little brat, why do you have so much nonsense? Don’t disturb Xiaozhou’s rest.”

She was the type whose mouth was hard but whose heart was soft, and when she saw the injuries on Chen Baizhou’s body, she really felt a bit heartache.

“Mom, why hasn’t Auntie Chen come?”

Wang Shufen didn’t want to hurt Chen Baizhou’s feelings, so she replied, “Something urgent came up at her home, so she couldn’t come over.”

Actually, if you thought about it, the real reason was obvious enough. It was nothing more than that Bo Meijuan didn’t dare provoke Chen Yusheng’s anger.

If Chen Yu complained to Chen Changjian, she wouldn’t have any good days.

“Xiaozhou,” Cai Yalan opened the insulated lunch container and scooped out a bowl of fragrant lean pork congee, “sit up and drink some.”

Chen Baizhou was flattered beyond belief. In a panic, he was about to prop himself up with his hands and sit up, almost knocking the IV needle askew, but fortunately Shao Xian held him down.

“Lie down. I’ll raise you up.”

What raise you up? Chen Baizhou didn’t understand at all, but that didn’t stop him from obeying.

Shao Xian came to the foot of the bed, bent down, and turned the crank, and the head of the bed really slowly rose up.

Qian Wenjie looked at him with admiration. “Shao Xian, you know so much!”

Wang Shufen also praised, “Second Young Master is really sensible. Wenjie, you should learn from him more.”

Cai Yalan modestly said, “He’s usually naughty too, making a racket all day long, but these past few days he’s just become a little more sensible.”

As she spoke, she scooped up a spoonful of congee, blew it cool, and held it to Chen Baizhou’s lips.

Chen Baizhou had been hungry for two days. Smelling the congee, he had long since been unable to resist swallowing his saliva, but he still controlled himself and first said in a small voice, “Thank you, Auntie.”

Only after he finished did he carefully swallow it down.

“Mom, let me do it. You’ve been running back and forth all this time, you’re tired.” Shao Xian took the bowl of congee and said seriously.

Seeing that her son was so sensible, Cai Yalan felt both heartache and comforted.

“All right then, take good care of your new friend yourself.” Cai Yalan had a children’s fund under her name, and she had always been full of maternal affection toward little kids, so naturally she also approved of Shao Xian’s actions today.

Her son was sensible enough, but he had never really had any thoughtful friends. Now that he was主动 helping someone else, of course she would fully support him.

Shao Xian sat by the bedside and fed him spoon by spoon. Every time Chen Baizhou took a sip, he said thank you once in his heart.

The bowl of congee was finished very quickly, and Shao Xian asked, “Want another bowl?”

Chen Baizhou shook his head. His right eye, though swollen and ugly, clearly held gratitude in it.

He had never felt this warm before.

After a while, the doctor came. Seeing that Chen Baizhou was already awake, he went out to the hallway and said to the two ladies, “The child’s injuries aren’t actually that serious. He’ll be fine after some rest. It’s just that having been abused for so long, there may probably be psychological problems… Which one of you is the child’s mother?”

Cai Yalan and Wang Shufen looked at each other, but neither answered the question.

The doctor probably also guessed something and didn’t ask further, only saying, “The child can go home tomorrow morning.”

The two of them both nodded.

After the doctor left, Wang Shufen couldn’t help muttering, “What a sin, that kind of home really can’t be returned to.”

Cai Yalan also secretly sighed.

Beside the hospital bed, when Shao Xian saw that Chen Baizhou’s right eye had been staring at him the whole time, he couldn’t help saying, “Your eye is still swollen. Close it and rest.”

“Yeah, yeah, Chen Baizhou, doesn’t it hurt to keep it open?” Qian Wenjie asked curiously.

Chen Baizhou didn’t want to close it. He knew that after he went home, he would once again face darkness, and now that he had the chance, he wanted to look at the appearance of light a little longer.

He couldn’t bear to close it, but disobedient children weren’t likable, so he had no choice but to force himself to slowly close his eyes.

“Xianxian, come out for a moment.” Cai Yalan opened the door and called out once.

Shao Xian immediately stood up and went out, and the door was closed.

Chen Baizhou suddenly opened his eyes and stared tightly at the ward door. He became sad again in his heart. Had he left? Would he never see him again?

“Chen Baizhou, I told you to close your eyes. Why did you open them again?” Qian Wenjie couldn’t help but say with concern.

Chen Baizhou acted as if he hadn’t heard him.

Outside the ward, Cai Yalan asked seriously, “Xianxian, the doctor said Xiaozhou can be discharged tomorrow morning, you…”

“Mom, he got hurt in our house. How about letting him stay at our place for a few days, and talk about it after his injuries heal?” Shao Xian said hastily.

He wasn’t stupid. Because Chen Yu had bullied Chen Baizhou and lost face because of him, if Chen Baizhou went home tomorrow, there was no telling whether he’d be bullied even more miserably by Chen Yu.

Let him recover first before talking about other things.

Cai Yalan had the same idea. She couldn’t stand seeing others abuse children, and naturally was unwilling to let Chen Baizhou go back.

Of course, since Chen Baizhou was ultimately a child of the Chen family, at most she could keep him for a few days under the pretext of letting him recover.

As for calling the police, Cai Yalan hadn’t not thought about it, but this matter wasn’t realistic.

First, outsiders couldn’t interfere in other people’s family affairs; second, when parents “discipline” children, or when bullying occurs between children, the police also find it quite difficult to handle; third, the other children who had bullied Chen Baizhou that day were also involved, and most of the residents in the villa district were people with status and reputation, so they simply didn’t want to get dragged into it.

Wang Shufen watched from the side and sincerely felt that the Shao family mother and son were both beautiful and kind-hearted, and she couldn’t help but feel a bit closer to them.

After Shao Xian made up his mind, he pushed open the door and went in, directly meeting Chen Baizhou’s suddenly brightening right eye.

“Chen Baizhou, are you willing to stay at my house for a few days?”

He asked directly, and instead stunned the little kid on the bed.

Seeing that he didn’t make a sound for a long time, Shao Xian asked again.

“W-willing.” Chen Baizhou’s voice was as faint as a mosquito.

He felt like the greedy fisherman in a fairy tale, getting a little wealth and then coveting more. He felt that he was too despicable, with dirty blood flowing in his body, yet he was praying to be treated kindly by others.

“Xianxian, Aunt Wang and I have something to do, so we’ll head back first. We’ll come back later to pick you and Wenjie up and take you home.”

Cai Yalan gave the instructions, then picked up the insulated lunch container and left together with Wang Shufen.

Inside the ward, Shao Xian tried to guide Chen Baizhou into normal conversation.

“How old are you? What grade are you in?”

Chen Baizhou paused, then said in a low voice, “Ten. Fourth grade.”

“Same as me!” Qian Wenjie said excitedly when he heard that. “Which school do you go to? I’m a new arrival, but my mom said she helped transfer me to Yuying Primary School, fourth grade Class Three. What about you?”

Chen Baizhou didn’t say anything.

Shao Xian’s mind moved. He smiled sincerely and said, “My name is Shao Xian, Yuying Primary School, fourth grade Class One. You should also be studying at Yuying Primary School, right? Which class?”

Chen Baizhou’s voice was very small. “Class One.”

“Wow, both of you are in Class One, then I also want to go to Class One!” Qian Wenjie said unhappily.

But Shao Xian froze.

If there were no special circumstances, the class a student was in basically wouldn’t change, which meant that he had been in the same class as Chen Baizhou for several years, and yet he actually had no impression of him at all.

He had just asked the kid which class he was in, and just thinking about it made him feel embarrassed.

“Sorry, I don’t really remember the classmates in my class.” Shao Xian showed a bit of apology on his face.

That was indeed true. When he was in school, aside from his deskmate and a few class officers who looked familiar, he basically couldn’t accurately call the names of the other classmates.

And from fifth grade onward, his deskmates had all been Qian Wenjie alone.

Chen Baizhou nodded slightly.

“Shao Xian, do you think it’d be okay if I also went to Class One?” Qian Wenjie still refused to give up and asked his newly made friend.

Shao Xian gave a fair suggestion: “You just changed schools, and the class assignments have already been arranged. Changing again would probably be inconvenient, and right now it’s June, almost the end of the term. Changing back and forth also won’t mean much. Better to wait until next semester and move to Class One then.”

“That makes sense!” The frown between Qian Wenjie’s thick eyebrows relaxed.

Chen Baizhou lay on the bed, his right eye tightly closed, his brows knitted into a knot, as if he was enduring something.

Seeing this, Shao Xian couldn’t help asking with concern, “Where does it hurt? I’ll go call the nurse.”

“I want to use the toilet.”

Shao Xian immediately stood up. “Then get up, I’ll take you there.”

“But there’s a needle in my hand.” Chen Baizhou had never had an IV since he could remember, so for a moment he couldn’t turn his thoughts around.

Just as Shao Xian was about to laugh, he heard Qian Wenjie also scratching his head and asking, “Yeah, then what do we do?”

… Two little fools.

He walked over and reached out to hold the stand and lift it up. “That’s enough like this.”

“Shao Xian, you’re so smart!” Qian Wenjie once again showered him with rainbow flattery.

Shao Xian sighed. Young man, that’s just because you’ve experienced too little.

Chen Baizhou couldn’t help but look at him with admiration and whispered, “Thank you.”

The three of them went to the bathroom together. Chen Baizhou was just about to use both hands to undo his pants when Shao Xian pressed him down. “Don’t move your right hand randomly. Be careful of blood backflow.”

Qian Wenjie asked curiously, “What’s blood backflow?”

Chen Baizhou didn’t ask. He was very obedient to Shao Xian, and undid his pants with one hand, then started to urinate.

He was used to it from the school public toilets, so having two more people beside him wasn’t anything to be embarrassed about.

Shao Xian glanced over curiously. Mm, not much worse than his own, still pretty okay. He unconsciously ignored one thing: the child in front of him was severely malnourished and skin and bones, so although he was of this size now, he might not be later.

After Chen Baizhou put on his pants, he obediently washed his hands and lay back down on the hospital bed.

Qian Wenjie still refused to give up. “Shao Xian, what exactly is blood backflow?”

“Go ask the nurse sister.” Shao Xian was too lazy to answer.

He chose to ignore it and turned to look at Chen Baizhou, only to see that Chen Baizhou also had one eye wide open with a strong thirst for knowledge.

“Fine. Blood backflow means that when you’re on an IV, if your hand moves around randomly, the blood in your body will flow backward into the needle tube.”

“Why would that happen?” Qian Wenjie was like the embodiment of ten thousand whys.

Shao Xian: “…I don’t know either.”

Better to give up explaining. The more he explained, the more endless it became.

Even though he hadn’t been able to answer it, the two children still admired him. Qian Wenjie praised him directly, while Chen Baizhou expressed it more implicitly.

After a while, the infusion was finished, and Cai Yalan and Wang Shufen came together to pick up Shao Xian and Qian Wenjie.

There was a nanny in the hospital watching over Chen Baizhou, so Shao Xian was also at ease.

“Xiaozhou, Auntie will come pick you up to be discharged tomorrow morning, okay?” Cai Yalan said gently.

Chen Baizhou obediently nodded.

After returning to the residential compound, Qian Wenjie reluctantly said goodbye to Shao Xian. “Shao Xian, can I come to your house and play with you tomorrow?”

Only after seeing Shao Xian nod in agreement did he happily go home.

In the hospital, Chen Baizhou closed his eyes, his mind full of Shao Xian’s appearance.

Since he could remember, what had been inflicted on him was either beating or scolding.

Bo Meijuan had always thought he was a burden, cursing him day and night for being a bastard child, with dirty blood flowing in his body.

After marrying into the Chen family, in order to curry favor with the Chen father and son, she humiliated him even more and more, as if doing so would let her stand on the same side as the Chen family, as if it would prove that she was one of the Chen family.

A twisted psychology created a perverted family environment.

Chen Changjian was busy with work and often not at home. Sometimes he would forget to transfer money to Bo Meijuan, and then Bo Meijuan would punish him once, using that to bribe Chen Yu into speaking well of her in front of Chen Changjian and giving her money to spend.

Ridiculous and sad.

At home, at school, everywhere there were Chen Yu’s malicious voices and fists and feet, but there had never been anyone willing to reach out and help him.

This was the first time he had ever touched warmth.

Shao Xian was like a wisp of warm winter sunlight, shining into his cold, dark heart.