Chapter 4: What if she wants to eat the shaking fan?
The next morning, Zheng Yi was woken by the alarm clock. After waking up, it took a long time before he walked out of the room with a messy hair. Breakfast was already set on the table, and Xiang Li was putting on his coat.
"Mom, do you miss Jiang Hao?" Zheng Yi asked while rubbing his eyes.
Xiang Li didn't stop buttoning his shirt: "I'll go to her house later to call her and take her to school. Don't you have a pre-school placement test today? Eat quickly and go to school by yourself after eating. Don't be late."
Zheng Yi said "oh", sat down, grabbed the brown sugar bun and stuffed it into his mouth: "Then keep an eye on her, don't let her go under the car to look for the cat again."
"I got it. Go ahead and eat yours." Xiang Li tidied up his clothes, picked up the key and went out.
Zheng Yi ate his breakfast alone, still thinking about how Jiang Hao had cried the night before, feeling a bit irritated. Having already been a bit of a sleepover, he quickly finished his breakfast, grabbed his schoolbag, and rushed out the door.
Xiang Li walked to the door of Jiang's house and knocked. The door opened and it was his step-grandmother.
"Auntie, I came to wake her up and take her to school."
Step-grandmother moved aside a little. "I think she had a fever last night and hasn't gotten up yet. Are you going to check on her?"
Fever? Xiang Li's face changed.
"You have a fever? How high? Is it serious?"
"It's a bit hot, I gave him some medicine to reduce the fever. It's normal for children to have a fever, as it kills bacteria and viruses."
Just give her the medicine and that's it? Xiang Li was completely puzzled. She didn't bother to be polite and pushed the door open and walked in: "I'll go see her."
She went up to the second floor and walked towards the small room on the north side. When she opened the door, it was indeed stuffy and hot. Jiang Hao wanted to curl up in bed, her face flushed, her lips chapped, and her breathing rapid.
Xiang Li reached out and touched his forehead, which was terribly hot!
"Why didn't you send him to the hospital when he was so burned?!" Xiang Li couldn't suppress his anger.
The step-grandmother followed him to the door and thought Xiang Li was making a fuss: "Why go to the hospital? It's a hassle for the child. He'll be fine after taking some medicine and getting some sleep. He needs to sweat! You don't understand."
"I don't understand, only the doctor knows. This temperature is wrong! We must go to the hospital!" Xiang Li stopped talking nonsense with her and bent down to hug Jiang Haoxiang. Jiang Haoxiang was picked up and yelled in pain without opening her eyes.
Xiang Li was anxious and angry, so he tried to move his hands as gently as possible, picked up the child and walked out.
"Hey! You!" Step-grandmother shouted from behind.
Xiang Litou didn't even turn around: "I'll take her to the hospital!"
My temperature was taken at the hospital and it was 38.6 degrees. The doctor examined me and said, "Your tonsils are festering and your blood count is high. This is an acute bacterial infection. You need to be hospitalized and given fluids."
Xiang Li looked at Jiang Haoxiang, who had cried for a while during the blood draw and was now unconscious on the hospital bed. She was a small ball curled up on the white bed. Xiang Li remembered the way Jiang Haoxiang was born, also a small ball curled up on the white bed. She was happy then, but now she felt sad.
After completing the admission procedures, paying the bill, and placing Jiang Haoxiang on the bed, the nurse arrived to administer the IV. By the end of this flurry, it was already nearly noon. The medicine was still dripping into Jiang Haoxiang's veins, several bottles needed to be administered, and two of them could only be slowly infused.
Xiang Li sat down on the chair beside the bed, took out his cell phone and called Jiang Cheng.
"Xiang Li? What's wrong?" Jiang Cheng's voice came.
He had always been a little afraid of Xiang Li, thinking she was too overbearing. He hadn't liked Lin Ran's relationship with Xiang Li back then, believing it would corrupt the gentle Lin Ran. A woman, a powerful figure in the business world, divorced her husband to pursue her career and even forcibly prevented him from seeing their son. What kind of woman was that? Jiang Cheng despised this kind of woman. But he also feared interacting with her.
Xiang Li didn't exchange pleasantries. "Jiang Cheng, I have two things to tell you. First, the cat that Lin Ran left behind, Mimi, was let go by your current mother-in-law and can't be found. Second, it seems she's had a high fever since last night, almost 40 degrees Celsius. Your family just gave her a fever-reducing pill, but no one's taking care of her. I'm in the hospital now, and I just arranged for her to be admitted."
Jiang Cheng's voice on the other end of the phone was obviously nervous, but the first thing he asked was: "What's wrong? Is it serious?" He automatically ignored the first question.
Xiang Li suppressed his anger. "Acute bacterial infection, tonsil suppuration, and he's receiving IV fluids at the hospital. The doctor said that if he'd been brought in later, it might have been more troublesome."
"Oh, he's in the hospital. That's good, that's good." Jiang Cheng breathed a sigh of relief. "Xiang Li, I'm sorry to bother you again this time! How much is the medical bill? Just tell me and I'll transfer it to you. Ask me to reimburse you. Don't worry."
Xiang Li felt a surge of anger rising to his head as he heard this. Was this a matter of whether or not the claim would be reimbursed?
Zheng Yi rushed to the first grade as soon as school was over at noon. He didn't know if Jiang Hao had recovered from her tears yesterday. He had to watch her eat.
He ran to the back door of Class 3, Grade 1, and looked in. The classroom was noisy and the children were packing up their things. He glanced around but didn't see Jiang Haoxiang.
Did he go to the toilet?
He ran to the girls' restroom and waited for a while. Several female classmates looked at him as if he were a pervert. Zheng Yi didn't have time to explain. After waiting for a while, no one came out.
He had no choice but to go back to the classroom and grab a fat kid who was about to leave: "Hello, do you know where Jiang Hao wants to go?"
The little fat man shook his head: "She didn't come this morning."
Zheng Yi was stunned for a moment. Overslept? He remembered that Jiang Haoxiang had this habit back in kindergarten, unable to get out of bed and simply skipping the mornings. He scratched his head, not thinking too much of it. He headed to the cafeteria first; he had to take another exam in the afternoon after finishing the morning exam.
When school was over in the afternoon, Zheng Yi still hadn't seen Jiang Haoxiang. This was a bit strange.
Jiang Hao seemed a little willful. She overslept this morning, but given her personality, she'd definitely come in the afternoon and study even harder, trying to make up for what she'd missed that morning. Giving up on the jar wasn't her style. Zheng Yi felt uneasy.
"Teacher," he found Jiang Haoxiang's homeroom teacher, "Didn't Jiang Haoxiang come this afternoon?"
The head teacher knew him and knew that he was Jiang Haoxiang's brother. He nodded and said, "Jiang Haoxiang has asked for sick leave."
Zheng Yi's heart skipped a beat. She was fine last night, but she did have a runny nose. Could she have caught a cold while looking for the cat? He felt a little guilty. He had noticed Jiang Haoxiang had a runny nose, but he only remembered to remind her to wipe it. Why didn't he remember to remind her to take her medicine? Zheng Yi was a little annoyed with himself. He quickly took out his cell phone and called Jiang Haoxiang.
"Hello, the number you dialed is turned off."
He was a little panicked, wondering why the phone was turned off, and quickly called his mother. The call was quickly connected.
"Mom, where's Jiang Hao? Her teacher said she's on sick leave and her phone is turned off. Do you know what happened to her?" Zheng Yi spoke quickly.
Xiang Li sighed on the other end of the phone: "In the hospital. I feel like I have a fever and need to be hospitalized. Come over, it's on the third floor of the pediatric inpatient department."
Zheng Yi hailed a taxi and headed straight for the hospital. He found himself on the third floor of the pediatric ward, opened the door, and immediately saw Jiang Haoxiang lying on the bed. There was a needle in her wrist, and her face was still a little red. Xiang Li was not there.
Jiang Hao wanted to see him come in and blinked.
Zheng Yi walked to the bedside. Seeing that Jiang Hao was fine, he felt relieved, but he didn't know what to say for a moment: "Are you feeling better?"
Jiang Haoxiang said nothing, just staring at him. Her eyes slowly turned red, and then, big tears rolled down her cheeks. She had been holding it in all day. In the hospital, when Aunt Xiang Li and the doctor asked her if she felt any discomfort, she stubbornly shook her head and said no. When the injection hurt, she just bit her lip. But when she saw Zheng Yi, she collapsed.
Zheng Yi felt so uncomfortable because of her tears that he hurried over, a little flustered. Finally, he simply reached out and gently held Jiang Haoxiang's head in his arms.
"Oh, don't cry. It will be fine once the fever goes away. It's okay." He patted her back like a scholar.
Jiang Hao wanted to bury her face in his school uniform short sleeves and sobbed. Zheng Yi hugged her, feeling the area of his shirt quickly getting wet. He was no good at comforting people, racking his brains for words, and began to resent his poor academic performance. Now he couldn't even offer a word of comfort. If only An Fengyang were here—his class representative for Chinese.
"Do you want to eat anything? I'll buy it for you."
Jiang Hao wanted to sob and didn't answer.
"So what would you like to drink?"
Jiang Haoxiang still wanted to cry.
"Do you want to watch any cartoons? I can show it to you on my phone." Zheng Yi continued to work hard.
Jiang Haoxiang finally raised her tearful face and said while hiccuping, "I want to eat pistol legs, drink mango sago, and watch that cooking cartoon, woooo."
Zheng Yi heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing this. "As long as there's a request, it's easy!"
"Okay, okay! Wait!" He quickly took out his phone, found the cartoon "Maze Rice", switched to the latest episode, and stuffed it into Jiang Hao's hand that hadn't received the injection, "Take it and read it."
Then he found Jiang Haoxiang's phone, and sure enough, it was out of battery and turned off. He plugged in the charger and charged it.
"Just watch cartoons here obediently. I'll go downstairs and buy you some pistol legs and mango sago. I'll be back soon." Zheng Yi gave his instructions before leaving.
Zheng Yi ran to the elevator and pressed the down button. The elevator door opened, and he was about to rush in when he bumped into someone coming out.
"You're here so soon?"
"mom?"
Xiang Li was holding two takeout bags, one of which contained what looked like a tomato and egg dish, and the other contained a cheese hot dog stick.
Zheng Yi looked at the food in his mother's hands and scratched his head. Xiang Li, noticing his son's anxious rush, raised an eyebrow. Mother and son exchanged a glance, and instantly understood. They were all too familiar with Jiang Hao's style of ordering food, craving this and that.
Xiang Li handed the bag to Zheng Yi: "Come on, take this inside. She won't be able to finish all the food if you buy so much."
Zheng Yi didn't take the bag: "What if she wants to eat that? I'll go buy it. If she can't finish it, I'll eat it."
Xiang Li didn't stop him and let Zheng Yi go down to buy it.
Jiang Haoxiang was engrossed in watching a cartoon about a dwarf warrior bargaining with a monster while eating a hot dog on her phone. Seeing Zheng Yi come in, her eyes lit up. "Where's my pistol leg? Where's my mango sago?"
Zheng Yi looked at Xiang Li smugly: "I told you, she still wants to eat this! Luckily I went to buy it."
Xiang Li was working on his computer and didn't want to pay any attention to these two bastards.
Jiang Haoxiang was getting an injection in his right hand and holding food in his left hand, and his movements were a bit clumsy.
Zheng Yi looked at it for a moment, then went to the bathroom to wash his hands. When he came back, he took the box of tomato and egg rice, opened the lid, and opened the disposable chopsticks before handing it to Jiang Haoxiang. "Don't just eat junk food. Eat something."
Jiang Haoxiang took Zheng Yi's hand and opened his mouth to catch the spoonful of rice he fed him. Zheng Yi resigned himself to his fate and became the feeder.
While feeding her, Zheng Yi had to be careful not to drop rice grains on her, and he was so busy that he was sweating.
He had never served anyone like this before, but seeing Jiang eating so happily and temporarily forgetting the sadness of being sick and losing the cat, he felt that it was not unbearable.
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