Su Lu’s heart skipped a beat, which made her turn somewhat rigidly.
Looking towards the passenger seat, she saw that sharp profile turning towards the mother and son in the backseat.
Su Lu’s expression froze, and her brows began to furrow, "Why are you..."
Before she could finish her sentence, Bo Jingshen had already passed a paper bag from the front seat.
"Haven’t had breakfast yet? I brought something for you," Bo Jingshen said, his gaze first resting on Su Lu’s face. After lingering there for a few seconds, it shifted to Zhao Xiaole’s face.
When looking at Zhao Xiaole, his gaze wasn’t as deep and complex as before. The emotion was simpler and more evident, his eyes becoming gentle.
"Xiao Le, I bought your favorite kids’ meal, the one that comes with a toy," Bo Jingshen said.
But the paper bag in his hand was pointed directly at Su Lu.
Su Lu initially didn’t reach out to take it, but Bo Jingshen’s gaze was intense and persistent, keeping it right in front of her when she didn’t take it.
He pursed his lips and said in a low voice, "You need to check if there’s anything Xiao Le can’t eat, otherwise I won’t be at ease."
Su Lu might not have any lingering psychological effects from before, but Bo Jingshen himself had a profound psychological shadow. Whenever he closed his eyes, he saw his son’s face turn blue from difficulty breathing, right in front of him, a cut opened on his neck.
It was as if someone had sliced open his own chest.
Xiao Le looked at Su Lu with hopeful eyes, behaving well without reaching out by himself.
Su Lu didn’t want to disappoint her son, she took the bag and checked it, "There’s nothing in here that he can’t eat."
Then, she handed the paper bag to Zhao Xiaole, saying as she did so, "Xiao Le is allergic to mango, taro, and yam, mostly it’s just skin allergies, it generally doesn’t affect breathing to a serious extent."
Now that her son was fine, Su Lu was able to view the previous incident calmly.
She spoke, pausing for a few seconds, then continued, "Last time was an accident, nobody wanted it to happen, but it’s not necessary to treat it as a catastrophic event, lest it terrifies the child unnecessarily."
Bo Jingshen blinked, seemingly not quite catching on, but he still hummed in response.
Su Lu continued, "Children get sick, they have small bumps and bruises, but they also recover quickly and heal."
Her words actually made sense, everything was , you can’t abstain from all food just because of choking.
It’s not feasible to deprive a child of the joys of childhood, to keep them from running and playing out of fear they will get injured.
This world is inherently filled with dangers; you always want to protect your child, but you also know you can never protect them completely because there are moments you can’t see.
Rather than trying to protect your child completely, it’s better to teach them to avoid dangers, so when you’re not watching, they know how to protect themselves.
In this respect, Su Lu was doing quite well.
After all, she wasn’t a first-day mother; she had figured these things out over days of experience and reflection.
But it was clear Bo Jingshen was still a novice.
Only now did he belatedly digest the meaning behind Su Lu’s words, merely nodding his head, but inside he couldn’t help but ponder, was Su Lu... trying to comfort me?
Bo Jingshen didn’t dare to conclude rashly, nor did he feel too good about himself, he wasn’t that confident.
Moreover, last time when the child was in danger, Su Lu knew how harsh her words had been to him; as the person involved, how could he possibly not feel it?
Every word was like a knife.
Zhao Xiaole had already opened the paper bag and took out the well-packed, still warm food.
He placed the children’s meal in front of himself, then opened a hamburger wrapper and handed it to Su Lu, "Su Xiaolu, here’s your hamburger."
"I’m not eating. You eat it," Su Lu slightly turned her head.
Zhao Xiaole pouted, "But... I don’t eat dual-layer cheeseburgers, the pickles in it taste awful, I don’t like them."
Zhao Xiaole pouted as he said this, and Su Lu couldn’t help but lift her eyes and glance at the man in the passenger seat.
Su Lu’s favorite was the dual-layer cheeseburger; she had once insisted that Bo Jingshen try a bite of her bitten burger, but after trying it, he completely blacklisted it because he really disliked the taste of the pickles inside.
How else could one explain that genetics are indeed quite magical? Before this, Zhao Xiaole and Bo Jingshen had never met, yet there was an inexplicable genetic tether.
Like Bo Jingshen, Zhao Xiaole tried it only once and never wanted to try it again because of the pickle taste.
She was the only one who liked the pickles, and it was very clear that Bo Jingshen had bought this burger for her.
Su Lu reached out, took it, and bit a small piece.
Zhao Xiaole smiled as he ate, continuously beaming at Bo Jingshen without taking his eyes off him.
Bo Jingshen folded the napkin neatly and handed it to him, then, after a moment of hesitation, couldn’t help but ask Su Lu worriedly, "Could eating this be bad for his wound recovery?"
"You’re worried about this now?" Su Lu looked up at him as if to ask, "What were you doing earlier?"
Bo Jingshen didn’t counter, just pursed his lips slightly, visibly concerned as he glanced at the bandage on Zhao Xiaole’s neck. It was his first time being a dad, so he didn’t know the right way to do it, just felt the child might like it, so he bought it.
Now, belatedly realizing it, with the wound still on the neck, he wondered if eating fast food was not a good idea.
Su Lu took another small bite of the burger, "Forget it, every time he recovers from being sick, I treat him to some junk food to cheer him up, it’s from his own monthly allowance anyway."
Bo Jingshen hesitated for a moment, "He has a monthly allowance for junk food?"
Bo Jingshen understood and seemed to find it somewhat amusing, the corners of his mouth curving up slightly.
"I’ll learn," Bo Jingshen said.
"Hmm?" Su Lu gave him a look.
"I’ll learn how to take care of the child," Bo Jingshen stated.
Su Lu, upon hearing this, seemed to recall her own past hardships, her lips curled in a smile, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes, "Now there’s nothing much to take care of, sometimes he even takes care of me instead. The hardest time has already passed, where were you then?"
The slight curve on Bo Jingshen’s lips became somewhat strained.
Su Lu didn’t mean to deliberately hurt him, it was more of a self-mockery, but even her self-deprecating words inadvertently hurt Bo Jingshen. After speaking, she realized this too and took a deep breath, "Forget it, ignore what I said."