After seeing the ‘prickly hair’ bug on the ground, Zhan Xi’s scalp tingled. He was already so grown up, yet he was still afraid of this little thing.
When he was a child, he got stung by this thing and it hurt for four whole days.
Now, his own unlucky child got stung on the hand, and he didn’t even dare to imagine how painful it must be.
“Wuwuwu, Dad, my hand hurts.”
The little child was already crying, his face turning red. He held up his swollen hand, and his crying pierced Zhan Xi’s heart.
Huo Lin’s face was tense, filled with regret.
If only he had stopped it a bit earlier, Ningning would never have touched this thing in the first place.
Zhan Xi knew how dangerous the ‘prickly hair’ bug was, so after picking up the little child, he quickly ran towards the tricycle. He took a few steps before turning back and calling out, “Xiao Lin, keep up!”
This sudden turn of events made them all lose interest in playing further.
Zhan Xi bought water and toothpaste by the roadside, and after rinsing the little child’s hand, he applied toothpaste, a folk remedy with minimal effect.
The little child cried uncontrollably; this time he was really in a lot of pain.
After handling it with a makeshift method, Zhan Xi got back in the car.
He called Ludwig while on the road. On the phone, Zhan Xi’s voice remained relatively calm, but the crying of the little child in the car’s cargo area, completely exposed, reached Ludwig’s ears.
“I’ll send a car to pick you up.”
Before hanging up the phone, Ludwig said to Zhan Xi, “Dr. Jean will be here before you arrive.”
Ludwig arranged for a car and a doctor. All Zhan Xi could do was drive the tricycle even faster.
It took about twenty minutes of driving.
The car sent by Ludwig caught up with them, and the little child, who had been crying the whole time, now had a pale face.
Zhan Xi continuously used cold compresses to alleviate the pain for the little child. He lowered his head and comforted the child, saying, “Dr. Jean is already in the palace, baby. You will soon feel better.”
Resting against his father, the child had cried to the point of exhaustion. He buried his face in his father’s embrace, with only the back of his head visible.
Soon, they arrived at the palace.
Dr. Jean took a look at the child in Zhan Xi’s arms, without much ado, he directly took the child and placed him on the sofa to begin treatment.
Ludwig and Ai Wei stood in front of the sofa, watching.
Ai Wei’s eyes were filled with distress as she looked at Zhan Xi and asked, “How did Ningning get stung?”
Zhan Xi clenched his fists and replied, “He mistook the hairy caterpillar for a fuzzy caterpillar and wanted to catch it and bring it back in a box to raise.”
Before catching it, Zhan Xi had thought it was good for the child to have a bit more courage, so he could grow up to be a brave man. Now he regretted it, hoping that his child would have a little less courage, at least being a little less bold would make things safer.
Ai Wei sensed the self-blame in Zhan Xi’s words, so she lowered her voice and said, “I have been stung before too. These small insects are hard to guard against. It’s not your fault that Ningning got stung.”
Zhan Xi remained silent, his gaze fixed on Jean.
Dr. Jean’s main duty was to serve as the private physician for the Crown Prince. He had come to the palace when the Crown Prince was just born. As the Crown Prince’s personal doctor, he was skilled at handling various problems that young children might encounter.
Even with the sting from a hairy caterpillar, Dr. Jean had a way to treat it.
He handed an ointment that had been applied once to Zhan Xi, saying, “Apply this five times a day. It’s fine to apply more. It’s made from traditional medicine and has no side effects.”
Zhan Xi took the ointment, hesitatingly asking, “Is it enough to just apply this? Does it have pain-relieving effects?”
“Yes, this has pain-relieving effects. It’s not available in the market yet. I recently developed this medicine, and it happens to be useful for Ningning.”
Thanks to Dr. Jean’s medicine, the little child’s pain was greatly reduced.
However, being stung by insects, even if the best doctors in the world were present, could not guarantee an immediate restoration of the hand to its previous state.
“His hand would still feel a slight sting, but compared to the previous intense pain, this sensation is very mild. Also, for the next few days, don’t let his hand touch anything too cold or too hot. Once these few days pass, his hand will be fine.”
“I’ve noted down all of this.”
Zhan Xi carefully took note of Dr. Jean’s words and earnestly thanked him.
Dr. Jean smiled and said, “No need to thank me. It’s my duty.”
The little child, who had gone through so much trouble, sat on the sofa, holding a small shark-shaped pillow, and looked at his hand that had been applied with ointment, with damp eyes.
“It’s hot.”
“It’s okay. It won’t be hot in a little while.”
Dr. Jean rubbed the child’s head and rewarded him with a candy.
After Dr. Jean left, the child looked at the adults surrounding him and couldn’t help but cry a little in grievance.
This time, the tears were not because of the pain but because he felt wronged.
Ai Wei bent down, picked him up, and didn’t mind the tears on his little face. She leaned closer and gently kissed him, saying, “Our little one, Ningning, you’re so pitiful. Next time you want to raise a caterpillar, we’ll have your brother find one for you, okay?”
The child pressed his beautiful aunt’s cheek against his face and spoke in a soft, hoarse voice, “Auntie, Ningning is sleepy.”
Ai Wei guessed that he had cried for too long and was tired, so he only started feeling sleepy now.
“Alright, Auntie will take you to bed.”
Ai Wei took the little child to sleep. The place where the child slept was on the bed in the emperor and empress’s bedroom.
Zhan Xi wanted to accompany the child a little longer, but he felt a little embarrassed to stay in the bedroom for too long.
“Zhan Xi, have dinner here tonight. I’ll ask the kitchen to prepare more food to give Ningning a good meal.”
Ai Wei and Ludwig seemed to have the same misconception about raising children. They felt that the child had been wronged, or suffered, or even burdened, and needed some form of compensation.
This compensation, in its literal sense, referred to food.
Zhan Xi hesitated for a moment, but eventually agreed.
The poor little child really had a tough time this time. It’s okay for him to eat a bit more good food and make up for it.
Since the little child had to stay in the palace, Zhan Xi was also forced to stay here. With nothing to do, he ended up having a conversation with Ludwig.
They were discussing bugs, but they weren’t talking about the bug that stung the little child. Instead, they were talking about the missing Zerg King.
“Both the Zerg king and Ningning share one common characteristic: they have no mental fluctuations. Zhan Xi, I have a guess in my heart.”
When Ludwig said this, a guess also emerged in Zhan Xi’s mind.
Almost simultaneously, they both said, “The Zerg king is related to Ningning.”
This shared guess made both of their faces somewhat solemn.
“This and this are both possible places where the Zerg king might appear. I discovered on Ouyun Star that the Zerg king can devour its own kind, and the ones it devoured were also Zerg queens.”
“He must be doing something that goes against the rules of the Zerg race, and it must bring him great benefits.”
Ludwig analyzed calmly, “Perhaps he is using this method to strengthen himself.”
“We cannot let him continue. The sooner he dies, the sooner we can be at ease.”
Zhan Xi spoke seriously, “I will have someone from the barren planet go and take a look at these places.”
As they discussed matters, time flew by quickly.
Zhan Xi vaguely learned a bit about Ai Wei being exposed to the public, although this matter was already under control.
Still, he asked, “Has the situation with Queen Ai Wei been settled now?”
“Yes, it has been settled.”
Ludwig said it this way, but he actually understood better than anyone that the current calm was only temporary.
They stayed in the palace until dark.
After the little child woke up, Zhan Xi applied the medicine again in his hand and he was then carried to the dining room to eat.
His little hand was wrapped in gauze. Although Dr. Jean said it didn’t matter whether it was wrapped or not, the little child weakly insisted on wrapping his hand.
Now, with the gauze-wrapped little hand, it appeared as if he had experienced a major accident.
He sat in a chair, holding up his gauze-wrapped hand, his voice weak: “I can’t eat by myself anymore.”
He wrapped his right hand in gauze, so now he said he couldn’t use a spoon.
In order to let the weak little child eat, Huo Lin, who was closest to him, brought his small bowl and personally fed him.
They stayed until the night in the palace. The little child originally didn’t want to go home, but then he thought about Uncle Ling Qi being alone at home.
Now Uncle Lulu, Auntie Ai Wei, and everyone in the palace knew that Ningning was a patient, except for Uncle Ling Qi!
The little child’s pockets were filled with food and his father carried him, walking towards the door.
His head rested on his father’s shoulder as he looked at the uncle, aunt, and brother behind him, waving his little hand.
“Ningning will come for a meal tomorrow too!”
After saying this, the little child felt that his tone had become higher, not quite matching the condition of a patient. So, he cleared his throat and spoke again, “Ningning will miss you all.”
This time, his tone was clearly weaker.
Zhan Xi held the little child firmly as he listened to his movements and walked briskly outside.
They finally arrived outside.
The little child sat in the cargo area of a tricycle and took the opportunity on the way to video chat with Wagner.
Wagner was greatly shocked by his gauze-wrapped little hand.
After listening to Wagner’s consolation, Ningning finally put his little hand down contentedly.
After discussing the issue of his injury, Wagner, still feeling frustrated, said to the little child, “Ningning, we haven’t found the missing rolling beast from our zoo yet. I can’t take a picture of it for you.”
Upon hearing this, Ningning’s chubby face wrinkled with unhappiness.
He reproached angrily, “The rolling beast must have been kidnapped by a bad person! This person is so evil!”
***
The author has something to say:
Injured Ningning: Ningning is very weak.
