Qu Jingwan got up early the next morning to help Auntie Zhang prepare breakfast. She made porridge for Ji Chi and would bring it to the hospital when she visited him later.
Seeing the lady busying herself in the kitchen to prepare breakfast, Madam Ji could not help but feel touched. She called, “Jingwan, Baby’s illness has nothing to do with you; don’t blame yourself too much for it.”
Upon being called by the older woman, Qu Jingwan turned and smiled. “Auntie, it’s my fault for letting him go through such pain. I should’ve picked up more knowledge about caring for children; I actually didn’t know that honey and onion could cause a stomachache. His honey juice was even made by me…”
She became sadder and quieter as she said that. She just stood there and sobbed with her head lowered as though she had committed a mistake.
The older woman hurried to her side and hugged her. She gently patted her back lovingly. “Alright, alright. My good lass, I know that you’ve been doing your best to take care of the boy. Stop crying; if those two do anything to you, don’t worry as you still have me. I will make sure that they can’t bully you.”
“Auntie, you don’t have to protect me from them as it’s clearly my fault for letting Baby drink honey juice. It’s truly my fault.”
“You’re really not to blame. Look at you; you must’ve not slept well last night because of this matter. See; you have dark circles under your puffy eyes. Stop crying, or else you won’t look good.” The older woman consoled her softly.
“Whether I look good or not isn’t important; what matters is Baby needs to recover.” She kept her head low as she sobbed. Grief covered her face as she pretended to be full of guilt.
Madam Ji trusted her completely.
“Baby is doing fine now, so you have to take good care of yourself, too. If you don’t, who can take care of him when he’s back? He trusts you so much.”
“I’m thinking of leaving the house; I’m scared that he’ll—”
“No way. Listen to me: Stay in my family. You’re the future daughter-in-law whom I recognized, and even Pei Ge’s pregnancy can’t change this.”
“But I—” Qu Jingwan handled it just right as she retreated to advance.
“Say no more; just listen to me. If you dare to move out here, I’ll just invite you back. You can’t possibly bear to see an old lady like me run to your family to fetch you, can you?”
“Look at what you’re saying; how dare I trouble you?” She smiled with tears in her eyes.
“That’s right; if you’re afraid of troubling me, then listen to me and stay here to look after my grandson. What do you think Pei Ge can help me with? It’s enough as long as she doesn’t make me worried. If she weren’t pregnant , I would’ve gotten my husband to chase her out.”
She frowned when Ji Ziming’s father was mentioned. “Why haven’t I seen Uncle Ji since I got here?”
“He went to the US to visit an old friend who is gravely ill. He’s not the only one who went there; some of his friends went as well since it’s more fun that way.”
“Then, when will he be back?”
“Don’t think about it; he won’t be back anytime soon. The company still has my son while our home has you and me. He won’t do anything even if he’s back.”
The older woman supported her to the dining table and pulled a chair for her to sit. She poured a glass of milk and passed it to her. “Come; let’s not care about others. It must’ve been tough on you to prepare breakfast early in the morning. Have some milk, and we’ll go to the hospital to visit Baby afterward.”
“Mhm.” She nodded.
“Grandma, sister and I want to go too,” An An told Madam Ji as he drank his milk. “We want to go to the hospital to visit little brother.”
“Sure. Let’s head there together once we’re finished eating.” The older woman nodded in agreement.
“Ran Ran, grandma will pour you a glass of milk, okay?” She sat back on her seat and smiled at her granddaughter when she saw that her glass was empty.
“Don’t want; I want to bring it to my second brother.” The girl shook her head as she blinked her beautiful eyes. Looking at the carton of milk in her grandmother’s hand, she said, “Let’s bring milk to my second brother. He’s at the hospital, so he doesn’t have milk to drink there.”
“Ran Ran, be obedient and listen to grandma. The hospital has everything, so we don’t have to bring the house’s milk there. Auntie here has prepared porridge for your brother.”
“Didn’t you just say that the hospital has everything? Why are we bringing porridge, then?” The girl looked at her grandmother, and the suspicion in her eyes made it difficult for her to believe the older woman’s words.
“This…” Madam Ji had no answer for that, though she tried looking for one.
“It’s like this; auntie here prepared porridge for Baby because she’s concerned about your brother. Just like when you’re ill, your mother brings you to see the doctor, makes you drink medicine, and then cooks your favorite dishes. Your mother cares about you, and it’s the same with your auntie. She can’t bear for your brother to eat the hospital food, so she specially prepared porridge for your brother. Do you want to eat her porridge, too? If you want, auntie here will specially make you one once we’re back today.”
“Hmph! I don’t want to!” The girl pouted. She was not interested in Qu Jingwan’s porridge. The dishes her mother made were the best in the world.
“Then, can I bring milk to my second brother? The milk in the hospital definitely doesn’t taste great. I care about my second brother, too. Grandma, can I?” Madam Ji was not immune to her granddaughter’s cutesy act.
“Alright, alright, alright. Our lass is concerned about her brother, so just bring it. When he sees us visiting him later with so much food, he’ll definitely be very happy.”
“Oh, yeah! Big brother, grandma agreed.” The girl clapped and looked excitedly at An An. “Are you bringing anything to our second brother?”
“What should I bring?” Looking at the table of breakfast, he realized that there was nothing else he could bring for Ji Chi.
“Mhm… How about you bring this? What do you think of this?”
The boy was nonplussed when he was his sister pointing at a bowl.
“What use will it be if I bring a bowl? Who brings a bowl when visiting patients, anyway?” He shook his head profusely to express his disapproval. While his sister was silly, he was not. He would not do such an embarrassing thing. Was he asking for food if he actually brought a bowl to visit his brother?
