Li An had lived in the Li family’s old residence for many years. The young masters and young ladies of the Li family had all been brought up by his own hands.
But this was the first time he had encountered such an initiative and clingy little cub.
“Grandpa Butler, is it okay, please?”
Feng Yuan was still exerting himself to beg, his beautiful little face showing a pitiful expression, making people inevitably soften at the sight.
But Li An did not soften.
He stopped at the doorway. Before going in to find Li Ting, he first questioned the little one about everything that had happened.
Being asked by the old butler, Feng Yuan, in his milky voice, softly told everything that had happened during the night.
Children speak as if keeping a running diary.
Although Feng Yuan spoke better than other children of the same age, children could not tell what the key point of a matter was. Just talking about how delicious the takoyaki was, he repeated it several times.
Li An listened very patiently.
He patiently listened to what Feng Yuan had played and eaten that afternoon and evening. After hearing it all, his heart became completely clear.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to tell Li Ting?”
“Don’t tell him.”
“Alright.”
Li An unexpectedly agreed: “I promise you.”
When Feng Yuan saw him agree, his slightly weak little face instantly lit up with radiance.
“Thank you, Grandpa Butler!”
Feng Yuan happily gave him another kiss.
The tall one and the small one walked into the bathroom. Inside, Li Ting, who had only just finished washing, was still putting on clothes.
Li An set Feng Yuan down.
He took out his phone, lowered his head, and sent a message to Doctor Ge on his contacts list.
After that, he stepped past Feng Yuan and walked a few paces toward the bathroom door.
From the steam filling the bathroom and the temperature of the glass, Li An could roughly judge that Li Ting had taken quite a long bath.
His brows and eyes were stern. He didn’t say much, only waited for Li Ting to come out on his own.
Very soon.
Li Ting, now dressed, walked out while drying his hair and asked, “Yuan Yuan, are you asleep yet?”
Feng Yuan’s small body had already sprawled onto his little bed.
He had just vomited until he was exhausted, and now he wanted to rest.
Before Feng Yuan could answer Li Ting, Li An’s figure gave Li Ting quite a fright.
“Uncle Li, why are you here?”
When Li Ting saw him, his expression changed: “Did my dad come too?”
“The Master didn’t come.”
Li An’s pair of eagle-like eyes—aged, yet still full of intimidating force—locked firmly onto Li Ting.
Without giving any buffer, he admonished: “Young Master Ting, do you know that you are making a mistake?”
Li Ting: “…”
Li Ting had made too many mistakes. For a moment, he wasn’t quite sure: “Which one are you referring to?”
Li An’s expression instantly grew even darker.
Facing Li An was no different from facing his own old man.
With his previous temperament, he absolutely would not be speaking so calmly at this moment.
But with the situation pressing on him, he couldn’t really afford to fall out with the old man just yet…
After all, just that evening, he had promised to build an amusement park for Feng Yuan.
“Uncle Li, do you think there are too many gimmicks in this place of mine? This is called fashion. This style is what’s popular right now.”
“And as for that racing incident some time ago, it wasn’t that I lacked safety awareness; someone was trying to frame me.”
Li Ting argued point by point.
He went on for quite a while, yet never got to the real crux of the matter.
Li An also didn’t bother listening to his muddling any further.
His gaze sank deeply onto the pair—one big and one small—inside the room, but he said nothing. He went to the next room to rest.
Tonight, both the big one and the little one ought to gain a bit of a lesson.
Watching Li An leave for the next room, Li Ting raised his brows, not expecting the other to be so easygoing this time.
With just a few quick motions, he dried his hair and sat down on Feng Yuan’s little bed.
On Feng Yuan’s small bed, the bedding was already laid out, along with an air-conditioner quilt.
Seeing him obediently burrow into the covers, Li Ting felt a little surprised at his well-behaved manner.
“You sleepy?”
“Mm!”
“Do you still want to hear a bedtime story?”
“Not anymore.”
Feng Yuan, who loved bedtime stories the most, now kept his glossy, round eyes open, shook his head, and in a considerate little manner said: “It’s so late already. Little Uncle should go to sleep, too.”
Li Ting: “Alright then.”
Li Ting raised his hand, pinched his dough-like soft cheeks, and finally muttered: “Why does this little face look whiter the more I look at it?”
Such a pale complexion to the point of looking sickly definitely didn’t come from Li Sheng.
Li Ting had never taken care of children. His own childhood experience had been different from that of ordinary kids.
So even now, he hadn’t realized that his way of raising a child was somewhat wrong.
In his thinking, raising a child simply meant letting the child be happy. That was the most perfect way to raise one.
He let Feng Yuan play however he wanted, and eat whatever he wanted to eat.
This was also what he himself had wished for in his childhood.
Feng Yuan’s chubby little hand tugged at the quilt, covering half of his small face, as he watched Li Ting return to the big bed and lie down to rest.
“Yuan Yuan, do you want me to leave you a nightlight?”
“No need.”
The usually-afraid-of-the-dark Feng Yuan, for once, didn’t ask for a nightlight. He said, “Little Uncle, let’s turn off the lights and sleep.”
Li Ting gave a light “mm” and raised his hand to switch off the light.
Almost at the very instant the room went dark, Feng Yuan’s little face, which had just looked fine, surfaced with an expression of discomfort.
He lay on his side, his chubby little hand resting just above his tummy.
In the darkness, the passing of time was made clear by the ticking of the clock on the wall.
Feng Yuan pricked up his little ears. Besides listening to the clock, he was also secretly listening for Li Ting’s sounds.
As he listened, he kept tossing his little body about.
He rolled to the left, then to the right, then simply lay face down on the bedsheet, sticking his little bottom up, pressing against his tummy to sleep.
He was searching for a position that would make him feel a bit more comfortable.
While he was still trying, the not-yet-asleep Li Ting came over and lifted his covers.
“Can’t fall asleep by yourself, can you?”
Bending down, Li Ting picked up the startled little cub and carried him back onto the big bed.
He pulled the cub into his arms, closed his eyes, and with a voice that carried a hint of drowsiness, said:
“Alright, stop fussing. I’ll hold you to sleep. Go to sleep quickly.”
Feng Yuan: “…”
Feng Yuan wanted to struggle, but he was feeling so unwell that the more he struggled, the more he wanted to throw up.
Li Ting held him with one arm, while the other rested on his back, gently patting.
If not for the little expression on Feng Yuan’s face holding back discomfort, this scene might have looked quite warm.
Li Ting lightly patted Feng Yuan’s chubby little back for a while, wanting to coax him to sleep.
But Feng Yuan couldn’t fall asleep.
In the darkness, the big one and the little one, at first listen, made no sound at all.
Feng Yuan used his chubby hand to cover his mouth.
He thought that this way, he wouldn’t throw up.
But even as he covered his mouth, just above his tummy, a sharp pain flared up.
The pain grew worse and worse, showing no sign of lessening in the slightest.
From the pain, Feng Yuan’s little body quickly broke out in sweat, and he couldn’t control it. His milky voice began to whimper softly.
Li Ting was very sensitive to his whimpering sounds.
As soon as he had whimpered a few times, Li Ting suddenly opened his eyes. The next second, he directly pressed on the light.
With the light on, Feng Yuan’s pale little face, covered in sweat, immediately came into his view.
“Yuan Yuan!”
Startled by his appearance, Li Ting instantly dropped to his knees, sitting upright: “What’s wrong with you?!”
Feng Yuan had held out until now, but he had also reached his limit.
He stretched out his little hands. After being lifted by Li Ting, he arched his small body outward, trying to reach for the trash bin by the bed.
Li Ting didn’t catch his intention and blocked him slightly.
A few seconds later.
Feng Yuan clutched at his arm. Before his little face could even line up with the trash bin, he vomited a few spurts.
The yellow water he threw up splattered all over Li Ting.
After those few bouts of vomiting, Feng Yuan couldn’t hold back anymore and burst into loud sobs.
“Tummy hurts.”
“Wuwuwu, tummy hurts.”
Feng Yuan’s little crying face was wet all over. The childish, drawn-out sobbing in his milky voice tugged hard at Li Ting’s heart.
Holding him in his arms, Li Ting hurriedly slipped on his slippers and rushed out.
As he reached the doorway, the door of the next room happened to open.
Li An stood there, clothes neat and tidy, showing no trace at all of having rested.
It was as if he had already anticipated this happening.
“The hospital has already been arranged. Let’s go.”
Li Ting, dazed, followed him out.
After just a few steps, Li An stopped again, his eyes carrying a hint of exasperation as he looked at him: “You’re going just like this?”
Li Ting, holding Feng Yuan who still couldn’t stop crying, had his head completely muddled at this moment.
He stopped with Li An, not understanding what he meant.
Li An glanced at Feng Yuan’s little face, already streaked from crying, then at Li Ting, who was clumsily trying to soothe the child with his head lowered. Turning back, he went into the room to pack up Feng Yuan’s little clothes and his water cup.
“Let’s go.”
He packed up quickly and neatly, then brought the big one and the little one into the car he had parked at the door.
The car sped off.
Not long after, they arrived at the hospital. Doctor Ge took Feng Yuan, placed him on a small rolling hospital bed. While pushing him toward the treatment room, he began examining him.
“Is it here that hurts?”
“Wuwuwu, it hurts so much. Don’t touch Yuan Yuan.”
“How many times did you vomit?”
“So many times, wuwu, Yuan Yuan can’t vomit anymore, but still wants to.”
While Doctor Ge questioned Feng Yuan, Li An sat at the side, providing supplementary explanations.
“In the evening, he caught a chill after being in the wind. When his clothes got wet, they weren’t changed in time, so he got cold.”
“For dinner, he ate at the snack street. He ate a mix of all sorts of things, a few bites of everything. At night, he vomited it all up. When he vomited, nothing was digested.”
Li An’s eyesight was very sharp. Back when he first saw Feng Yuan, he had already noticed the things Feng Yuan had vomited up.
With Li An’s supplementary explanation and Feng Yuan’s reactions, Doctor Ge furrowed his brows and glanced at Li Ting.
“Both catching a chill and eating recklessly. He’s this little, how could he possibly handle it?”
Doctor Ge’s tone was not very good.
After saying this, he immediately began treating Feng Yuan.
Li An had already discussed Feng Yuan’s condition with him before coming.
At that time, he had already made a preliminary judgment.
Now, he confirmed: “Gastroenteritis needs IV infusion.”
In the middle of the night.
Feng Yuan ultimately couldn’t escape it. A cooling patch was stuck on his forehead. His chubby little hand was also hooked up to an IV drip.
Li Ting, still in his pajamas and slippers, sat by his hospital bed. The face that was always so proud was now completely darkened.
He felt defeated.
“Uncle Li, you noticed it a long time ago, didn’t you?”
Li Ting didn’t lift his head. His large hand was holding Feng Yuan’s little hand, preventing him from moving around.
Just now, when the needle was being inserted, Feng Yuan had resisted it fiercely.
His small hands and feet had flailed about, and he had cried, trying to struggle free.
Li Ting had hardened his heart, forcibly holding him down so the doctor could get the needle in.
At that moment, Feng Yuan had cried until no sound came out.
Thinking back on that scene, Li Ting’s chest felt so heavy that even his breathing wasn’t smooth.
Exhausted from crying, Feng Yuan had fallen asleep with tears still on his face.
Li Ting sat beside him, without the slightest trace of drowsiness.
He was wide awake now.
“Mm. When I went over, he was secretly throwing up in the yard.”
Li An’s mood was not calm either.
When Feng Yuan was being forcibly held by Li Ting to get the needle, Li An was standing right behind him.
Feng Yuan, pinned down and unable to run, cried as he stretched his chubby little hands toward him.
“Grandpa Butler, hug! Hug!”
“Hug Yuan Yuan!”
Feng Yuan sobbed with hiccups, pleading for help, asking him for a hug.
Li An prided himself on being a hard-hearted man.
But hearing Feng Yuan, with his hoarse little milky voice from crying, asking him for a hug, he still felt quite uncomfortable inside.
He didn’t pick up Feng Yuan. Instead, he recorded a short video of him, barely edited it, and directly sent it to Old Master Li.
Now that Feng Yuan was asleep, Li An lowered his voice, not giving Li Ting any face, and directly scolding him for his reckless way of raising a child.
From beginning to end, Li Ting didn’t refute a single word of Li An’s reprimand.
When they had arrived at the hospital, it was already past midnight.
In the latter half of the night, Li Ting didn’t let Li An stay up with him.
He told Li An to go rest, while he himself continued keeping watch by the bedside.
Feng Yuan was staying in a private hospital room.
The room was quiet and still, without a sound.
Li Ting held Feng Yuan’s chubby little hand, carefully gazing at his soft little face.
Toward this cub, from the very beginning when he was filled with malice, to now.
Don’t even mention malice anymore. Just earlier, he had practically wished he could be the one to fall ill and take the needle in his place.
“I’m sorry.”
As for what happened tonight, Li Ting knew very well. Tracing it back to the root, it was all due to his own negligence.
He had been too careless.
On Feng Yuan’s little face, there were still tear streaks. Li Ting figured he had cried too hard, and his small body was still somewhat sensitive.
When Li Ting used a wet wipe to clean his little face, the moment it touched him, even with his eyes closed, Feng Yuan reflexively let out two cries.
Every once in a while, Li Ting also had to check his temperature.
At 3:52, his temperature was 38.2°C.
At 4:30, his temperature was 37.6°C.
At 4:58, his temperature was 37.8°C.
Besides putting a cooling patch on him, Li Ting also used warm water to wipe down his little body.
At 5:30, his temperature was 37.5°C.
By six o’clock, it was 37.2°C, slowly dropping back to normal.
A little after six.
The not-yet-fully-rested Feng Yuan woke up from hunger. When he opened his eyes, the IV drip had just finished.
Seeing Li Ting by the bed, Feng Yuan pursed his lips, looking like he was about to cry but not quite.
When he was getting the injection earlier, he had struggled desperately against Li Ting, refusing to let him come near.
Now that there was no needle, he bore no grudge anymore.
His eyelids were still red, and his eyes still carried a shimmer of tears.
“Yuan Yuan’s hungry.”
“Tummy’s so hungry.”
Feng Yuan’s voice was still hoarse, yet he was already asking Li Ting for food.
Li Ting touched his face. It wasn’t hot anymore.
“Alright, I’ll go buy you something to eat. You lie here for a bit longer.”
As he spoke, Li Ting got up and went outside, preparing to buy some porridge to bring back.
So Feng Yuan wouldn’t get bored, he played a cartoon on his own phone, placed it at the head of the bed, and let Feng Yuan watch for a while.
Watching the cartoon, Feng Yuan’s attention was quickly drawn in.
Li Ting stood up and left the ward.
Just as Li Ting was fully occupied taking care of the sick little cub here, the real sickly one, on this same night, hadn’t gone to bed early either.
Sickly he might be, but not blind.
Ever since returning home, Li Sheng’s face had been growing redder and redder. Though he himself had never mentioned it, Feng Qi had seen it all clearly.
The living room was very big, and the sofa was also very big.
But when Feng Qi told Li Sheng to sit down, Li Sheng didn’t refuse in the slightest, nor did he hesitate. He sat directly at the spot right beside him.
The two locked eyes, and in their gazes surged undercurrents.
When Feng Qi lazily stretched out his hand, Li Sheng’s Adam’s apple clearly bobbed.
However, in the next second.
Feng Qi only brushed his hand across his pants to take the pillow placed beside him.
Li Sheng: “…”
Lowering his gaze to look at him, Li Sheng clearly caught a flash of slyness in his eyes.
“You did that on purpose.”
Li Sheng suddenly said, his fingers also fastening around Feng Qi’s hand.
Feng Qi didn’t dodge, nor did he pull away. He only raised his brows, lips curved in a half-smile as he looked at him: “What did I do on purpose?”
“Mr. Li, what are you talking about?”
“You saw through it.”
Li Sheng clasped his fingers around his, not letting go. That sharp, commanding face of his slowly leaned closer to Feng Qi. “You noticed my condition a long time ago, but you deliberately toyed with me.”
“Feng Qi, is teasing me like this… fun for you?”
“A little bit fun.”
Feng Qi answered honestly.
Facing that handsome face closing in right before him, he didn’t feel even the slightest sense of oppression.
He even had the leisure to keep provoking: “Li Sheng, luckily you’re not holding Yuan Yuan right now. Otherwise, if Yuan Yuan touched how hot you are, he’d definitely be shouting to take you to the hospital.”
“With your condition, if you did go to the hospital, tell me, how would they treat you?”
Li Sheng: “…”
The light in Li Sheng’s eyes darkened.
He didn’t answer. Instead, still tightening his grip on Feng Qi’s hand, he asked another question.
“You were willing to give birth to Yuan Yuan for me… does that mean—”
“Am I still to your taste?”
Feng Qi was slightly taken aback. He restrained the smile at the corners of his lips and didn’t speak for a moment.
The direction of this topic seemed like it was about to touch on old feelings.
Feng Qi, a man on the brink of death, didn’t want to mention anything about feelings anymore.
“Li Sheng.”
In an instant, Feng Qi’s mind seemed to have raced through countless thoughts. When he spoke again, his expression had returned to that faint, teasing smile.
He moved the hand Li Sheng was holding and gently slid his fingers between his.
Feng Qi shook his hand slightly and whispered, “You can borrow my hand.”
“Don’t say anything else to me.”
He didn’t want to hear any inappropriate topics, didn’t want to disrupt their current situation, and had no interest in building a new relationship.
He only wanted, occasionally, to follow his heart once in a while.
The consequences of an adult following their heart and a child following their heart were obviously very different.
The cub, who had ended up in the hospital bed because of acting on his whims, now weakly watched the cartoon, eyes fixed intently on the screen.
Li An, who had already woken up in the next room, quietly stood at the doorway, holding his phone with a video playing.
He silently aimed the camera at Feng Yuan.
