Xu Qingqing, who had been walking around with Qin Hongying under the sun for one round after another, felt as if she was about to faint from the heat. She decided that she never wanted to travel to an island again in her life.
Lu Chuanbai had proposed several times to take Xu Qingqing back to the villa to rest.
However, Qin Hongying insisted that since Xu Qingqing had come into contact with an inauspicious object earlier, she needed to be fully exposed to sunlight to dispel the bad luck.
Ding-dong, ding-dong...
Xu Qingqing, parched from the sun, received a call from Xu An'an. As soon as Xu An'an spoke, there was a thick sob in her voice.
"Mom, come back quickly! Brother's hand is injured!"
Hearing this, Xu Qingqing's heart skipped a beat. Her distracted mind immediately snapped back, and her heart was lifted high in worry.
"How did he get injured? Where is the wound?"
"It's... it's me and..."
Xu An'an was crying so hard that she couldn't speak a complete sentence. It was Xu Yiyi who took the phone watch from her and recounted what had happened.
Hearing that Xu Yiyi's hand had been scratched by a kite string, even though it was a minor injury, Xu Qingqing was still very worried.
"Yiyi, be good. Mom will come back right away. First, ask Grandma Zhou to bandage your wound."
Hearing the words like "bandage", Qin Hongying and Lu Chuanbai immediately surrounded them. The faint smile on Lu Chuanbai's face disappeared instantly, replaced by a look of concern.
"What's wrong with Yiyi?"
"I'll tell you later. We have to go back quickly."
Saying that, Xu Qingqing turned around and walked back, no longer asking for Qin Hongying's permission.
Since the child was injured, even if Qin Hongying wanted to stop them, she couldn't.
On the other end of the phone, Xu Yiyi told the truth.
"Grandma Zhou said she still needed to prepare dinner and had no time to bandage me. She asked me to do it myself."
Hearing this, Xu Qingqing immediately frowned, feeling even more unhappy.
How could a child know the steps of disinfection and bandaging?
Qin Hongying, who had caught up, considering that Xu Yiyi was Lu Chuanbai's child, suggested, "Then you can ask Sister Qianqian to bandage you."
Since Zhou Qianqian came to stay on the island, all her expenses, including food and drink, were covered by Qin Hongying.
This was the first time Qin Hongying had asked her to do something.
"Sister Qianqian said she still needed to do her homework and had no time."
Xu Yiyi stared coldly, with a maturity beyond his age on his face. He told all the snubs he and Xu An'an had suffered.
"Her mother told me that she had already finished her homework. Where did she get other homework from?"
Hearing this, Qin Hongying became unhappy. Even she could tell that this mother - daughter pair didn't want to take care of the two children.
Xu Qingqing's face turned even uglier. After comforting Xu Yiyi to be strong, she hung up the phone and ran quickly towards home in her sandals that were not suitable for running.
"Auntie, you walk slowly. I have to go home quickly to check on Yiyi."
Lu Chuanbai was also very worried about Xu Yiyi's injury. He said a hasty word and then chased after Xu Qingqing.
Qin Hongying, who was left behind, wanted to catch up, but after walking so many rounds, she had already exhausted all her strength. She could only reluctantly follow behind.
Xu Qingqing ran home as fast as she could. She opened the door and rushed into the living room, only to see that the injured hand of Xu Yiyi was full of blood, the palm completely filled.
Seeing this, Xu Qingqing's heart ached, as if being pricked by a thin and sharp needle. She blamed herself for not taking good care of the two children.
"Yiyi, I'm sorry!"
Xu Qingqing threw herself beside Xu Yiyi. Looking at the blood in his palm, she felt as if her heart was being cut into pieces by a blunt knife.
Normally, Xu Qingqing would feel very distressed even if there was a small wooden splinter in Xu Yiyi's or Xu An'an's hand, let alone such a big wound.
"I'm sorry. It's Mom's fault for not staying by your side. Mom is not a responsible good mom!"
By the end of her words, Xu Qingqing's voice was close to a sob. She cried and picked up the cotton from the first - aid kit to wipe the blood from Yiyi's palm.
"Mom will bandage your wound right away."
It seemed that the blood was filled with pungent smoke, which made Xu Qingqing's eyes involuntarily shed tears.
Lu Chuanbai, who had run back with Xu Qingqing, was not out of breath. The bright red blood on Xu Yiyi's hand made the corners of his eyes turn red.
He directly knelt on one knee beside Xu Yiyi, his face full of distress.
"Yiyi, does your hand hurt?"
Lu Chuanbai held Xu Yiyi's other hand so tightly that the veins on the back of his hand bulged.
It wasn't until Xu Yiyi felt pain from his grip and frowned, pulling out his chubby wrist, that Lu Chuanbai realized he had been too excited.
"Dad, Mom, don't worry. My hand doesn't hurt at all."
Xu Yiyi sensibly comforted Lu Chuanbai and Xu Qingqing. Compared with the two panicked adults, the injured Xu Yiyi was much calmer.
Qin Hongying, who had returned to the villa in the heat wave, thought that Xu Yiyi had only suffered a minor injury.
But when she saw several white cotton balls stained with blood on the coffee table, she immediately covered her chest with her hand, closed her eyes, rubbed the Buddhist beads on her wrist, and kept chanting "Amitabha".
"Amitabha! Why is there so much blood?"
Qin Hongying chanted "Amitabha" several times before she calmed down a bit. But she still didn't dare to look at the blood on the table. She walked to the kitchen door and shouted at Aunt Zhou, who was pretending to be calm inside.
"Aunt Zhou, come out!"
Aunt Zhou had thought that the two children would just bandage themselves casually and the matter would be over. She didn't expect that the two children would hold on until Xu Qingqing and the others came back.
"Madam..."
This was the first time Aunt Zhou had been caught making a mistake by Qin Hongying. She nervously wiped her wet hands on her apron.
Qin Hongying loved the two children because they were Lu Chuanbai's children. She looked angrily at Aunt Zhou and said,
"I've been good to you. Even when you were late cooking sometimes, I didn't scold you. But when such a small child got injured and there was so much blood, you didn't even help him bandage the wound!"
"Do you still respect me?"
Qin Hongying's voice got louder and louder, also with a bit of her own self - interest.
She was worried that Lu Chuanbai would hold a grudge against her. After all, it was she who had pulled Xu Qingqing out, and Lu Chuanbai had been worried about Xu Qingqing and thus neglected the two children, which led to their injuries.
This was the first time Xu Qingqing had found Qin Hongying's words so pleasing to the ear. She silently helped Xu Yiyi bandage the wound.
Xu Yiyi watched Aunt Zhou, who was being scolded by Qin Hongying and couldn't even lift her head, and a faint smile appeared on his small lips.
Before Xu Qingqing came back, Xu Yiyi asked Xu An'an to squeeze his wound hard with both hands to make more blood flow out, in order to make it seem that the injury was very serious.
Who asked Aunt Zhou to neglect them just because they were children.
"Madam, I'm sorry..."
Aunt Zhou was so flustered from being scolded that she desperately looked for excuses to cover up her mistake.
"I thought that because I cooked lunch late, Master Lu Chuanbai had to order takeout. So I wanted to cook dinner earlier."
"I didn't mean to ignore them..."
"Nonsense!" Qin Hongying angrily scolded her.
"How long does it take to bandage a wound? I'd like to see how many dishes you've cooked with the time you've saved!"