Chapter 36: Making an Exception for Her
Suddenly, a violent spasm shot through his right thigh, and the color drained from his face.
Shanshan had been grinning widely, but her smile vanished the moment she saw what happened.
She gasped and hurried over, crouching down to gently touch Ling Anxun’s thigh.
"Uncle."
She whispered, her voice laced with obvious concern.
"Your leg isn’t better yet? Does it hurt really, really bad?"
’Such a nice uncle... why does he have to suffer like this?’
The more she thought about it, the more her heart ached for him, and she subconsciously clutched the hem of her dress.
"This little bit of pain is nothing."
Ling Anxun forced a smile, his face a little pale.
He forced himself to sit up straight, not wanting to look weak in front of the child.
"But look at you. Your face and hands are covered in scrapes. All dirty and red... does it hurt? Should Uncle take you to the hospital?"
"Shanshan’s not hurt!"
She tilted her little face up, her eyes sparkling brightly.
"Shanshan is the bravest kid in the whole wide world! Even braver than a little hero!"
Zhang Yunhua leaned in, bending over to get a closer look at the scrapes on Shanshan’s face.
A few shallow scratches ran across her cheek. They weren’t deep, but they were still worrying to see.
She sighed, feeling a pang of pity, then turned to Ling Anxun with an accommodating smile.
"A child’s skin is so delicate. What if this leaves a scar? What will she do when she’s older? Perhaps... could I trouble you to take her to the hospital, sir? Just to get it checked, for our peace of mind."
"Okay then."
Shanshan nodded, her little face set in a serious expression.
"Since Uncle and Auntie both say so, Shanshan will go along."
Her obedient and mature demeanor made Ling Anxun chuckle.
He couldn’t resist reaching out to gently ruffle her hair.
Just then, Cao Jiajia and a group of others came running over in a panic.
The moment Liu Yingzi saw her daughter, her legs gave out, and she collapsed to the ground.
Her lips trembled, and it was a long moment before she managed to speak.
"Jiajia... is it really you... is it really you..."
"Mama! Mama, I’m scared!"
Cao Jiajia flung herself into her mother’s arms, clinging tightly to her neck.
"Someone grabbed me and hit me," she wailed. "They were trying to take me away! I don’t know them! I don’t know them!"
"You wretched child! Why were you running off like that? If you hadn’t, would you have been taken?!"
Liu Yingzi slapped her daughter’s back as she cried, her voice trembling uncontrollably.
"Do you have any idea how scared I was? I thought I was never going to see you again!"
The other parents nearby were doing the same, hugging their children one moment and scolding them the next, their emotions a complete wreck.
Cao Jiajia cowered in her mother’s embrace, crying from the injustice of it all.
She knew her mother was just worried, but the slaps left her back stinging.
"I didn’t run off by myself..."
she said between sobs, her voice halting.
"It was Dad who told me to go... so I went... and then... and then they grabbed me..."
Liu Yingzi’s hand, which had been raised, froze in mid-air. She went completely still.
She snapped her head down to stare at her daughter, her eyes wide with shock.
"You... say that again?"
Through her sobs, Cao Jiajia recounted the whole story.
Her telling of it was jumbled—one moment she was talking about her dad, the next about someone covering her mouth.
But Liu Yingzi understood.
It felt as if a cold, cruel hand had seized her heart, and she began to tremble.
Liu Yingzi grabbed her daughter’s hand and stormed home.
She was going to confront Cao Daqiang and demand to know what the hell he was playing at.
How could he send their daughter into a kidnapper’s van!
Cao Daqiang was on the sofa, chain-smoking, a cigarette clutched in his hand.
He already knew Ling Anxun had gotten involved in the search.
Panic had seized him the moment he heard the news.
He was just waiting for Liu Yingzi to come home with the child.
He had to put on a show—act like a grief-stricken father.
The moment Liu Yingzi walked in with their daughter, he lunged forward.
He dropped to his knees right in front of Cao Jiajia and swept her into his arms.
"My poor baby girl! Where did you go? Daddy almost thought he’d never see you again! Whoever dares to touch a single hair on my daughter’s head, I’ll fight them to the death!"
He played the part of a doting father to perfection.
Tears and snot streamed down his face as his trembling hand stroked his daughter’s hair.
He even pointed out the smudges of dirt on their daughter’s face to Liu Yingzi, his voice choked with emotion.
"Look at her, she’s so hurt! It’s breaking my heart!"
Standing in the doorway, Liu Yingzi watched her husband sobbing as he held their daughter, and her resolve began to waver.
’Could I have been wrong about him?’
But then Cao Daqiang suddenly looked up and roared at her.
"So you finally decided to come home? You’re her mother, and you can’t even keep an eye on your own child! If she had really been lost for good, could you have taken responsibility for that?!"
Liu Yingzi’s hands clenched into fists.
She was well aware that she usually doted on Jiajia far too much.
but had neglected to teach her about rules and boundaries.
Now that this had happened, she, as the mother, truly couldn’t shirk her share of the blame.
Just like that, any thought of blaming Cao Daqiang vanished.
Instead, she lowered her head and admitted her fault.
"It’s my fault for not raising her better... I shouldn’t have let her be so willful."
The rims of her eyes reddened, and her voice was filled with self-reproach.
「Meanwhile.」
After they got back from the hospital, Zhang Yunhua started thinking about taking Shanshan to visit Ling Anxun again.
She mentioned it to Yang Dapeng while washing vegetables at the kitchen counter.
"You know, we were so rude yesterday. A man in his position saved our daughter, and we didn’t even thank him properly, let alone bring him a gift. It’s weighing on my conscience."
"Oh, that’s right! We still have that high-quality tea we set aside last year. Since we’re free today, let’s go see him again. We can have Shanshan thank him in person, too."
As she spoke, Zhang Yunhua was already heading inside to rummage through their things for the tea caddy.
Yang Dapeng immediately nodded in agreement.
He was already deeply grateful, but things were so chaotic yesterday that he hadn’t had a chance to think it through.
Now that Zhang Yunhua brought it up, it was exactly what he’d been thinking.
"Yes, of course we should go. The man saved Shanshan. As her parents, we have to teach her to be grateful."
The family of three quickly got ready and drove back to the hospital.
Shanshan was wearing a little pink and white cotton dress, her hair tied in two pigtails.
In the car, she hugged a small teddy bear and chattered away, asking one question after another.
"Are we going to see that handsome uncle?"
"Is he going to be okay?"
Just as they reached the door to the room, Xiao Zhou recognized them but held up a hand to stop them.
"Sorry, the Chief isn’t in a good mood right now. You probably shouldn’t go in."
"What’s wrong? Were the test results not good?"
Zhang Yunhua’s heart skipped a beat, and her voice grew tense.
Xiao Zhou smiled wryly.
"It’s not just that."
He didn’t elaborate, and Yang Dapeng was tactful enough not to ask further.
There were a lot of rules on the team; some things you just didn’t ask about.
Before he could finish, the door suddenly opened.
An upright, imposing figure appeared in the doorway.
Ling Zhiyu, dressed in a military uniform, spotted Shanshan instantly, and his eyes lit up.
He knew what had happened the day before, and he knew how many rules his uncle had bent for this little girl.
The little girl in front of him was dressed even more adorably today.
The hem of her pink dress swayed gently, and her little patent leather shoes were polished to a shine.
Her cheeks were plump and round, and her eyes shone like black grapes.
The corners of Ling Zhiyu’s mouth turned up in an irrepressible smile.
He crouched down to her level, his voice incredibly gentle.
"You must be Shanshan, right? Do you remember the uncle who’s lying in there?"