Ou Mucen’s movements were quick!
But, he hadn’t expected that as soon as he had taken off his hat, the small child he held in his arms cried out, "Ouch!"
Upon hearing this word, Ou Mucen’s fingers immediately halted, he quickly lowered his head, and that’s when he finally saw the swollen red bulge under his tiny hat on the child’s small forehead.
Heavens, what happened?
Seeing this, his heart ached fiercely, and in an instant, his face turned an iron shade of blue, "What happened? How did this get ?"
At first, Ye Xiaobao wanted to keep it hidden, but suddenly, when he saw that his uncle had noticed and even asked him, he didn’t know why, the child who never acted spoiled in front of his mother suddenly felt wronged. His big eyes reddened, and large tears started tumbling down!
"Yeah, on the bus, I lost my balance when getting off and just... bumped into..."
Sitting there, he looked at him for a very long, long time, then suddenly, he reached out forcefully and hugged him tight against himself.
It was an awful feeling, mixed with guilt, heartache, and discomfort, as if something was pricking his heart. He had lived for so long but had never felt so terrible.
He was only four years old. To come to find him, the child had ridden the bus alone. Mucen didn’t know where he had come from, but he did know how crowded those buses were and how dangerous they could be.
Yet he had come all the same, and upon arrival, he even tried to hide the bumps and bruises he got along the way, not wanting him to see...
Ou Mucen felt a heavy constriction in his chest, his large palm stroked the child’s tiny back for a long time, before he mustered a hoarse voice, "It’s okay, uncle will get a doctor to apply some medicine for you soon, and it’ll heal quickly."
Ye Xiaobao immediately nodded obediently in his embrace, "Mhm, Uncle, I came to bring you something."
"This..." The child held out in the embrace unfolded his delicate little hand.
Ou Mucen lowered his gaze and only then did he notice that in his palm lay a piece of white jade. The jade, roughly half the size of his palm, was Mutton Fat Jade of fine quality. However, its shape...
"What is this?" He saw the unpolished carvings and what seemed like red stains on it, and couldn’t help but take it from his palm.
Ye Xiaobao looked at it, eyes wide open, "Mom carved it, Uncle, Mom has been unhappy these days, she stays in her room every day carving this, carving so many of them."
"Yeah, Uncle, did you have a fight with Mom?"
Ou Mucen held the half-finished piece of jade in his hand, and without reason, his fingers paused slightly, "Did she tell you that?"
Ye Xiaobao shook his head, "No, Mom doesn’t talk, doesn’t say anything, but I saw she looked very sad when she secretly watched the news about you, Uncle, did Mom make you angry again?"
The four-year-old child didn’t really understand adult grudges, but he was smart. He knew something must be wrong when he saw his mother lock herself in that upper room, not coming down for several days, not talking to, nor seeing anyone.
And he hadn’t told his uncle yet that when Mom came home that day, she hadn’t slept at all the entire night but sat by the window sill, staring out into the dark night, lost in thought, occasionally crying.