ISWMQ – Chapter 131

After a long time of comforting, Chu Feiliang’s heart finally calmed down completely.

She looked down at Rong Guang’s soft and moist eyes, her fingers gently tracing the side of her face, finally brushing slowly through her hair and resting on the back of Rong Guang’s neck.

Rong Guang squinted, sensing that Chu Feiliang had added a bit of pressure and was gently massaging her.

She hadn’t felt particularly tired, but after Chu Feiliang’s massage, she suddenly felt a wave of drowsiness.

She squinted and said, “Sister, are you really not tired?”

Chu Feiliang gave the same answer as before, shaking her head gently. She placed her other hand lightly over Rong Guang’s eyelids, feeling the ticklish sensation of eyelashes brushing against her palm. She said, “I’ll watch you for a while.”

So Rong Guang snuggled deeper into her embrace, wrapping her arm around Chu Feiliang’s waist as she slowly drifted off to sleep.

Chu Feiliang watched her quietly, her fingers continuously stroking Rong Guang’s back gently, until the moon was high in the sky, and the lights of the city outside the window brightened and then went out, finally returning to a state of silence.

She finally looked at the faint glow of the small lamp left on in the room, gently pressed her fingers to the space between her eyebrows, and let out a long, slow breath.

Chacha’s wounds were healing well.

An injury to the muscles and bones takes a hundred days to heal. The neck brace had to stay on for at least two months. During these months, Chacha needed someone to carefully look after her daily needs—eating, dressing, and living.

Rong Guang had originally wanted to hire a caregiver, but considering Chacha’s personality, she hesitated for a moment before saying, “I should probably tell Grandma.”

When Chacha was little, her grandma had taken care of her a lot. Back then, the elderly in the village had all helped look after Chacha. Changing diapers and bathing the child were things the village elders would do for Chacha on the side when they went up the mountain for a stroll.

As a child, Chacha often ran around the village wildly in just a diaper. If anyone saw her, they would lend a hand; it was just a small favor.

Chacha wanted to shake her head, but she couldn’t move her neck much, so she swayed her whole body instead and said, “Don’t tell Grandma. Grandma will worry. She’s old, she can’t handle the shock.”

These were the exact words Rong Guang had told her not long ago.

Rong Guang was taken aback by Chacha’s words and couldn’t help but laugh.

Chacha looked at the fragrant and tender stewed pig’s trotter in her bowl, paired with rice. She took a big bite and, looking at Rong Guang, mumbled indistinctly, “Sister Guangguang, are the results of the paternity test out yet?”

“Soon,” Rong Guang said. “A normal agency takes about a week. Uncle Zhang asked someone to help, so by my calculation…” Rong Guang glanced down at the date. “It should be today or tomorrow.”

Chacha shook her head nonchalantly, forgetting to even chew the meat in her mouth.

Rong Guang smoothed her hair and asked, “Chacha, do you want parents?”

This time, Chacha furrowed her brow and thought for a long while before finally saying hesitantly and slowly, “…I do.”

Rong Guang quietly held Chacha’s hand.

Three days passed. The bruises from Chacha’s fall had already turned yellow, with only large patches of unresolved bruising remaining on her chest, abdomen, and around the joints of her waist.

These areas weren’t usually touched, and Rong Guang couldn’t bear to make Chacha suffer again, so she only applied medicinal oil to promote blood circulation and disperse the bruises, without letting the doctor massage the bruised areas to break them up—that would be too painful.

Chacha could endure it, but she couldn’t bear to let Chacha be in so much pain.

Fortunately, after three days, those large, frightening purplish bruises had gradually faded a little, and Chacha no longer blurted out “it hurts” from time to time.

Chacha thought for a moment, a look of confusion and vulnerability flashing across her face. She said, “But Sister Guangguang, I’m about to turn sixteen. What’s it like to be sixteen for other people? Can you still act spoiled with your parents? Will they take me to McDonald’s and KFC? Will they give me a Doraemon plushie for my birthday? Can they hold my hand while we go shopping, help me bathe, brush my teeth, wash my face, and wash my feet?”

Every single thing Chacha mentioned was something Rong Guang had been personally doing for her recently.

Rong Guang’s eyes reddened a little as she pulled Chacha’s head into her embrace.

Weren’t these the very things that, in her past life, Chacha had clumsily and meticulously noted down in a notebook, trying to do them one by one?

She made a soft promise, “Even if you go to a new home, you can still be yourself. You can do whatever you want. If they make you unhappy, you can come home anytime. I’ll always be here, and I’ll always be your sister.”

Chacha finally responded with a sound of agreement, nuzzling her head against Rong Guang’s chest.

Outside the door, Chu Feiliang glanced back at Zhang Nanchuan and Pei Lingxi, who were standing nervously beside her. She led them a few steps further away before lowering her voice to ask, “Can you do it?”

Pei Lingxi said, flustered, “Yes… I definitely can. Xixi… Chacha, when she was little, I was the one who always took care of her. I took care of everything. I’m very familiar with all her habits. Even if… even if her habits have changed with age over the years, I’m still her mother… I can slowly get familiar with them again.”

Zhang Nanchuan nodded silently and said, “I will also do my best to cooperate.”

In his bag was the paternity test report he had just picked up.

The accuracy of the parental relationship was as high as ninety-nine percent.

It was already a settled matter.

After the initial ecstasy, Zhang Nanchuan now felt a little apprehensive.

Chu Feiliang nodded and said, “Chacha is a very simple girl. She doesn’t have any other hobbies, just Doraemon—oh, Doraemon is that robot cat. No matter what it is, as long as it’s Doraemon merchandise, she’ll like it if you give it to her. Coincidentally, this year is the tenth anniversary of Doraemon, and the officials have been running warm-up events for a long time. If you’re really sincere… my suggestion is that the two of you take Chacha on a trip this year.”

Pei Lingxi listened intently, looking so nervous it seemed she wished she could take out a pen and write it all down.

Chu Feiliang said with a smile, “Do you know how I pursued Rong Guang back then? By winning over Chacha first—Chacha is especially easy to win over. Give her five yuan at a time. Of course, I was free.”

As Pei Lingxi listened, her mouth fell slightly open, a trace of bewilderment flashing across her face.

Chu Feiliang crossed her arms, chuckled twice, and said, “Sorry, I’ve been a little too happy these past two days.”

Zhang Nanchuan’s mood was finally lifted a little by her. Hearing this, he snorted and said, “When is there a day you’re not happy when Rong Guang is by your side?”

“A little too happy these past two days,” indeed.

Could that be called “a little”?

She was so happy she was about to fly to the sky.

After such a major incident with Chacha, the first thing Rong Guang did after confirming Chacha’s condition was to soothe Chu Feiliang’s emotions.

She even agreed to Chu Feiliang’s unreasonable demand to stick to her twenty-four hours a day.

In all his life, he had never seen anyone act spoiled as shamelessly as Chu Feiliang.

Who acts spoiled by following someone to the bathroom, insisting on holding hands on the way there, and refusing to let go even after the person has gone inside, insisting on squatting outside the door to wait?

He suspected that if Rong Guang hadn’t gotten angry, Chu Feiliang would have actually stared at Rong Guang inside the bathroom stall.

Simply… shameless!

Chu Feiliang’s self-confidence lately was simply unprecedented.

Hearing this, she gave a disdainful sneer and looked at Zhang Nanchuan, saying, “Shameless or not, as long as it works, what’s the point of having face?”

Pei Lingxi watched Chu Feiliang walk away leisurely with her hands behind her back, then squeezed Zhang Nanchuan’s hand.

Zhang Nanchuan had been about to follow her. He froze when she grabbed him, instinctively stopping. He asked in a low voice, “What’s wrong?”

“I think…” Pei Lingxi said thoughtfully, “Xiao Chu has a point.”

Zhang Nanchuan paused, then shamelessly asked for advice, “How so?”

Pei Lingxi pursed her lips and said, “That child, Chacha… although I don’t know her well, her situation is definitely different from a normal child’s. We can’t judge her by conventional standards. I’ve seen so many children over the years, and I know Chacha is actually very smart. She’s not the ‘strange child’ that people might perceive her to be. Therefore, we can’t treat her like ordinary parents would.”

Zhang Nanchuan had always known what kind of person he was.

Hearing her, he got a little anxious. “Can you be a bit clearer?”

“To build a good relationship with Chacha, you have to be able to have fun with her from the very beginning.” Pei Lingxi’s eyes lit up slightly. Looking at the things she and Zhang Nanchuan were carrying, she instantly lost the desire to go in. “I’m going to the mall again. You can take these things in. Chacha definitely won’t like them.”

They were all flashy things that young girls liked.

Dresses, jewelry, even a full set of cosmetics—she had bought them all. At the time, she only thought that most girls would like these things, but she had completely forgotten that Chacha’s interests probably lay elsewhere.

Compared to these useless things, a one-yuan ice cream from a street vendor might be more likely to pique Chacha’s interest!

Zhang Nanchuan stood dumbfounded in the bustling corridor, holding a large box of Barbie dolls.

After a long moment, he pulled the suitcase and followed her again. “Let’s go check the figurine section. There’s an anime city in B City, I heard…”

The voices outside faded into the distance. Only then did Chu Feiliang let out a soft laugh, take Rong Guang’s hand, and lead her into the room.

Inside, Chacha was listening to music. This was a therapy suggested by the doctor, although Chacha fell asleep every time she listened. However, sleep was also good for her recovery, so for the past few days, Rong Guang had simply used it as a lullaby for her.

“You can rest assured now, right?” Chu Feiliang hugged Rong Guang, sitting on the sofa and whispering in her ear.

Rong Guang had actually been on edge these past few days as well.

She certainly knew Zhang Nanchuan’s character, and she also knew that Pei Lingxi was a successful woman with a good reputation.

But being successful in one’s career doesn’t mean one knows how to be a parent.

If Chacha found her parents, Rong Guang hoped that her new parents would dote on her and cherish her, not just suddenly appear, claim to be her biological parents, and start dictating her life.

Rong Guang nodded and said very seriously, “I’m relieved.”

At first, she had even been prepared to leave Chacha a large inheritance, enough for her to live on for the rest of her life.

Now, it seemed that wouldn’t be necessary.

Seeing Rong Guang’s earnest expression, a thought that Chu Feiliang had been suppressing for days resurfaced. Her voice instantly dropped an octave as she said softly, “Then why don’t you care more about me? You’ve only been paying attention to Chacha these past few days, completely ignoring me… I’ve had a fever for several days, Teacher Rong. I’m so pitiful…”

As she spoke, she buried her head in the crook of Rong Guang’s neck, sniffled, and her voice took on a tearful tone. “Quick, feel me, see if I have a fever…”