Chapter 5
Pedestrians in brightly colored clothes come and go on both sides of the wide and clean road. Most of them have a relaxed look and complain about going to work, without the heavy feeling of exhaustion that residents in the chaotic area have just felt from just living.
Birds chirped, the afternoon sun shone through the swaying trees, and a light blue taxi stopped in front of the Aoife Hospital.
Yin Zheng, who received the message from the terminal upstairs, picked up Jiaojiao, who was sitting on the hospital bed, with one hand, picked up the luggage that had been packed long ago with the other hand, and turned to go downstairs.
This morning, Jiaojiao had another lung examination. After finding that there was nothing wrong, the doctor gave her a diagnosis that she could be discharged from the hospital.
After receiving confirmation that he could be discharged from the hospital, Yin Zheng completed the discharge procedures efficiently, packed his luggage, and called a taxi on the Internet.
On the way out of the hospital, the doctors and nurses we met would greet Jiaojiao with a smile when they saw her.
"Jiaojiao has been discharged from the hospital."
"You're wearing such a cute outfit today."
"Remember not to get sick after you go out, or you'll get a shot."
Jiaojiao, who was lying on Yin Zheng's shoulder, looked at them ignorantly with her dark eyes. Although she didn't quite understand what they said, she could feel the kindness of Jiaojiao as she slowly bent her eyes towards them.
That little boy looked so cute in the eyes of the medical staff who knew his condition.
By the time they successfully got into the taxi, Jiaojiao's little hands were full of candies.
His hands were small, and two candies almost filled up his hand, but he still tried hard to take five candies.
In the taxi, Jiaojiao, who was sitting in the car, put all the candies in her little hands on her belly, then pulled Yin Zheng's hand over and spread it out to start sharing the candies.
You take one and I take one, and after two rounds there is still one left.
Jiaojiao pinched the remaining colorful fruit candy, looked at it, and then placed it in Yin Zheng's palm.
There were five candies, three of them were in Yin Zheng's hand, and he only had two in his own hand.
The car was driving on the road, with the shade of the trees and the sunlight falling in through the car window alternately. Under the alternating light and dark, in the big hand with thick calluses on the joints, which looked very rough, lay three colorful candies that looked out of place.
Yin Zheng sat back in his chair, looking down at the candy in his hand. The taxi happened to pass a section of road shaded by trees. The large shadow fell on his face, like a sketching pen, making his profile more profound and even the look in his eyes clearly depicted.
Yin Zheng felt a little stunned and puzzled that the child put the last candy in his hand.
Jiaojiao, who was sitting next to him, tilted her head as she looked at his outstretched hand, then raised her little hand to hold his fingers, and slowly clenched his outstretched hand into a fist, carefully hiding the candy in her palm.
The moment Yin Zheng completely grasped the candy, his fingers trembled as if burned, and he grasped the child's hand, which he had not had time to retract, into his palm.
The little hand being held was white and clean, with a light pink on the joints. Against the backdrop of the little hand, the faintly visible old scars on Yin Zheng's finger joints looked even more hideous. They seemed so out of place when placed next to the little hand that had no scars at all except for the purple pinholes.
In that instant, Yin Zheng subconsciously let go of his hand, as if he was letting go of something that did not belong to him, but Jiaojiao's little hand tightly grasped his index finger, as if she was holding something very important.
Yin Zheng's eyes moved, and his gaze fell from the white and tender little hand holding him to the furry little head shaking in front of him.
Jiaojiao, sitting in the car, shook her little head happily, thinking that her father was playing with her.
He firmly grasped Yin Zheng's suddenly opened hand with his right hand, and then used his other hand to push Yin Zheng's fingers back one by one, holding the little hand holding his index finger and the candy in his palm.
The taxi drove past the tree-lined road. The bright white sunlight fell in from the car window, spreading across her bright and fluffy black hair. Her long eyelashes like crow feathers cast shadows under her eyelids. When she raised her head to look at him, her dark eyes were like black pearls exposed to the sun, fragile and precious.
This particularly intense scene made Yin Zheng's heart tighten slightly, and the quietly arising desire to protect was wrapped around his heart, becoming more and more deeply wrapped around it with the movement of his heartbeat.
The taxi stopped outside the chaotic area, as if it was afraid of being labeled as a slum driver and refused to enter the slum area.
After the car stopped, Yin Zheng got out first, then bent down and carried Jiaojiao out of the seat, and then went around to the back to get the luggage.
A hover car passed by in the sky. Jiaojiao, who was in Yin Zheng's arms, looked up at the hover car passing by in the sky.
Yin Zheng, who noticed this, raised his hand and touched the back of his head, saying in a low voice, "Do you want it?"
The price of the hover car is very expensive and the purchase qualification is limited.
Because of this, hover cars are rarely seen in the outer city, and you can occasionally see two or three in the inner city. I heard that there are more hover cars in the sky above the central city than vehicles on the ground, and there are special lanes for hover cars.
Hearing his voice, Jiaojiao looked back at him in confusion. Meeting the confusion in his eyes, Yin Zheng was speechless. It was obvious that the child did not understand what it was and looked up only out of curiosity.
Not long after entering the chaotic area, the two arrived at Yongxiang.
Yin Zheng walked very fast. He could reach a distance that took others ten minutes in just three. This speed didn't affect him even if he was carrying Jiaojiao and the luggage. Even Jiaojiao didn't feel the bumps while sitting on his arm.
After entering Yongxiang and walking for five minutes, you will arrive at Yin Zheng’s residence in the chaotic area. In front of you is a detached cottage with a small yard outside.
After opening the door and entering the house, Yin Zheng put Jiaojiao down, and then began to pack the seven or eight bags of things in his hands. It is no exaggeration to say that these things all belong to Jiaojiao.
In addition to clothes, there was a pile of baby supplies, including shower gel, shampoo, body lotion, baby cream, and two cans of milk powder.
Yin Zheng remembered that the child always carried a milk bottle on his back every time he went to pick up bottles. He thought that he liked to drink milk powder, so he bought two cans.
During his two days in the hospital, he even took time to return to the chaotic area. He had to raise the child until he found reliable adoptive parents for the child.
So he took advantage of the time around midnight when the children would not wake up at random and went back to his residence in the chaotic area to prepare some small wardrobes and beds.
When he came back, he casually took back the bottle that Jiaojiao liked to carry on her back from Laizi's house.
This bottle is much larger than ordinary bottles, almost as high as Jiaojiao's shoulders. It is obviously not for drinking milk, but for Yin Zheng, of course he has to take back the things that the child likes.
While Yin Zheng was packing his things, Jiaojiao walked up, took the bottle from the table in the living room, put it on her back, and then followed Yin Zheng closely.
Yin Zheng noticed it when Jiaojiao caught up. He glanced at the bottle on the child's back and then looked away, hanging the child's tiny clothes in the newly bought wardrobe.
Opposite the childlike wardrobe was a warm-colored bed. Yin Zheng had looked up beds for toddlers online. It was a small bed with railings on both sides to prevent children from rolling off.
Judging others by his own experience, Yin Zheng felt that such a small bed was not spacious enough for sleeping, and that the children could not even roll around on it. So he bought an adult bed and added railings to it himself.
He not only added railings on both sides, he added railings on all four sides of the bed to prevent children from falling off the end of the bed if they sleep too freely.
Although he knew from spending two days with the child in the hospital that the child's sleeping posture was not unruly but rather very obedient, he still did this just in case.
It was already afternoon when everything was sorted out. Yin Zheng picked up Jiaojiao, who was following him, and put him on the sofa in the living room, telling him to sit well.
Then he went to the kitchen, made a bottle of milk with milk powder according to the instructions, came out and handed it to Jiaojiao who was sitting obediently on the sofa.
Jiaojiao, holding the bottle in both hands, blinked in confusion, looked at the bottle in her hands, and then turned her head to look at the bottle on her back.
Exactly the same~
He blinked in amazement, lowered his head and took a sip of the bottle in his hand. As the sweet taste of milk slid into his throat, Jiaojiao shook his short legs with joy.
Yin Zheng, who was preparing dinner in the kitchen, glanced at the child who was sitting on the sofa drinking milk obediently, then looked away and started cooking according to the recipe.
He was used to living a rough life alone, so as long as he could eat something, no matter if it was compressed biscuits or burnt alien meat, he would eat it.
Now that he had a child, he had to start thinking about food. Yin Zheng couldn't tell whether it was troublesome or not, but he didn't feel bored at all.
Jiaojiao, who was sitting on the sofa drinking milk, looked at the bottle in her hand, lowered her head and puffed up her cheeks to take a big sip, then slid down from the sofa holding the bottle with most of the milk left. She ran into the kitchen with her short legs, raised her fair little face, and handed over the bottle in her hand: "Daddy~"
Yin Zheng, who was cooking, said: "..."
He must change this habit!
Yin Zheng thought silently as he cooked with a bottle of milk in his mouth amidst the smoke and fire.
Yin Zheng spent an hour and a half to cook a meal, and the dishes he made had a variety of flavors, sweet, sour, bitter and spicy.
Finally, Yin Zheng picked up Jiaojiao, who was eating with tears in her eyes but still kept saying "Daddy~", from the dining table, and walked into the kitchen to cook another pot of white porridge.
The moonlight at night poured into the yard. Two figures, one big and one small, squatted at the door, holding bowls of porridge with a mushy smell and drinking them.
When washing dishes after dinner, Jiaojiao kept asking to help. Yin Zheng, who was busy washing dishes, carried him out three times, but he always ran back with his short legs.
In desperation, Yin Zheng could only give him a dry rag and let him stand on a high stool to wipe the washed dishes dry.
Jiaojiao, who was assigned the task, had shining eyes. She rolled up her sleeves and wiped the bowl very vigorously, making it make a squeaking sound.
Yin Zheng clicked his tongue lightly at the harsh creaking sound, but there was no impatience in his intact right eye. He even kept an eye on Jiaojiao who was scrubbing diligently on the high stool, so that he could be the first to catch anything that happened.
It was already very late after washing the dishes. He should have prepared to take a shower and go to bed, but after Yin Zheng glanced at Jiaojiao's pale and thin arms and legs, he chose to give up this difficult action.
In the bathroom, Yin Zheng specially installed a small washbasin for Jiaojiao next to the sink. The small washbasin just fits Jiaojiao's height, so she can wash her hands and brush her teeth without standing on tiptoe. There is also a small mirror for her to look at herself.
Jiaojiao didn't know how to brush his teeth, so Yin Zheng squatted on the ground with his own toothbrush and patiently demonstrated to him, asking him to follow his movements and learn.
Jiaojiao understood what he meant, took the small toothbrush, squatted on the ground, and put her head back to put the toothbrush in her mouth.
“…………”
Looking at Jiaojiao who was squatting in a small heap in front of him and almost fell on her butt because she looked up at him to learn how to brush her teeth, Yin Zheng was silent for a long time.
After brushing his teeth with great difficulty, Yin Zheng began to teach him how to wash his face.
Wash your face——
Jiaojiao, who rarely understood what he meant, used her little hands to make a face-washing gesture: "Daddy, Jiaojiao~"
Yin Zheng, who was holding a towel, turned his head to look at him, and then saw him turn on the faucet, scoop up some water with his little hands and splash it on his face.
Looking at him with water all over his head and face, Yin Zheng couldn't tell for a moment whether he was washing his face or his hair?
Yin Zheng reached out to turn off the water, took the towel and covered the head of this troublesome kid and rubbed it for a while. After wiping off all the water on his face and head, he took him back to the room by the back of his collar to change clothes.
After changing into pajamas, Jiaojiao was carried into the bed with railings on all sides, and lay down obediently and covered with a small quilt.
Before Yin Zheng left and turned off the lights, he waved his little hand: "Daddy~"
"Well, good night."
Yin Zheng responded with a "good night", turned off the lights, left the door ajar and turned to leave.
Late at night, except for the moonlight quietly coming in from the window, the whole room was quiet.
Jiaojiao woke up from his sleep when he felt the urge to urinate. He rubbed his eyes and climbed out of bed in the dark using his hands and feet. The bed was too soft, making him a little shaky when he walked.
With the help of moonlight, Jiaojiao successfully walked to the end of the bed, but then found herself blocked and unable to get out.
He tilted his head and looked at the railing in front of him in a daze, then stepped forward and stood on tiptoe to try to reach the top of the railing, but failed.
Jiaojiao, who was experienced in this area, used the same strength he had in rummaging through a trash can, gathered all his strength and jumped up, and luckily he reached it.
After reaching the railing, he used his short legs to try to flip over, but he lost his balance and fell headfirst from the railing.
In another room, Yin Zheng, who was sleeping soundly on the bed, opened his eyes instantly after hearing the sound of something heavy falling to the ground. His eyes were sharp and he didn't look like he had just woken up.
He quickly got up from the bed and walked quickly to the next room. When he opened the door, he saw Jiaojiao sitting on the ground crying in the moonlight.
Yin Zheng, who forgot to leave a gap for the railing: "..."
In the living room, under the bright white light, a huge red and swollen bump appeared on his fair forehead, almost occupying half of his forehead.
Jiaojiao lay in Yin Zheng's arms with red eyes, clutching Yin Zheng's clothes tightly with her little hands, pursing her lips, not crying or shouting, but just crying.
This silent and restrained crying made Yin Zheng frown as he gently pressed a cold towel on his forehead, feeling suffocated.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com