"That’s what happened, sorry, Mom and Dad, I shouldn’t have kept it from you." Xu Nian’an hung his head in apology.
Xu Qinghe clenched his teeth as he looked at him, and launched into a tirade, "Nianhua was in an accident, how could you make decisions on your own and not tell us?"
Zhuangzhuang, who had been playing with his toys, was startled by the loud noise all at once.
Zhou He immediately picked up Zhuangzhuang to soothe him.
Xu Qinghe took a deep breath, lowering his voice for fear of scaring his grandson again, saying, "How could you keep such a major thing from us."
"Nian’an, Mom doesn’t agree with what you did either."
Ji Ying looked at Xu Nianhua with concern, then at her leg.
Xu Nianhua quickly explained, "Mom, my leg is better now, look, I can walk and jump."
As she spoke, Xu Nianhua stood up to prove her leg was better and deliberately hopped a few times.
Ji Ying, frightened, pulled her back down and said, "It takes a hundred days to recover from bone and muscle injuries, no, I’ll go buy more big bones tomorrow, to stew for you to drink."
"Mom, my second brother has bought me lots of nutritious chickens, ducks, and big bones, I’m almost sick of them, I’m really better," Xu Nianhua stressed repeatedly.
Ji Ying gave her a stern look and didn’t care about those things, she looked at her tied-up hair and said, "Let Mom see your wound."
"Hair has already grown over it, better not to look." Xu Nianhua didn’t want them to see it; with seven stitches, the wound must be unpleasant to look at.
If Ji Ying wasn’t afraid of touching her wound, she would have done it herself out of annoyance.
"Nianhua, neither your mom nor I saw the accident, and now you won’t even let us see the wound?" Xu Qinghe looked hurt and let out a long sigh, "Sigh, children grow up and have their own ideas, we’re old."
"Dad, that’s not what I meant."
"You’re still young, where have you gotten old!"
Without any choice, Xu Nianhua quickly untied the hairband and brushed her hair to the side to reveal the centipede-like scar and the short hair.
"That must have hurt so much."
Upon seeing the wound, Ji Ying’s eyes instantly reddened.
Xu Qinghe stared at it for a long time, unable to say a word for quite a while.
Xu Nianji, on tiptoe, also had a look and then glared at Xu Nian’an, seemingly blaming him for not telling her right away.
Zhou He, having calmed Zhuangzhuang down, also took a peek and consoled, "Mom, those who survive a great disaster are destined for good fortune later, our Nianhua is sure to be very blessed in the future. We still have plenty of chickens and ducks at home, we can nourish Nianhua with one each day."
Zhou He’s words gained Ji Ying’s agreement.
After a while, as Xu Qinghe and Ji Ying’s emotions settled, he continued asking, "Nian’an, you’re saying that those thousand yuan were for buying the wheelchair and nutrients for Nianhua?"
"Yes." Xu Nian’an nodded vigorously, as if pounding garlic, for fear a slow response would incur further displeasure.
"I, I just thought, even though Nianhua saved Yining, Yicheng and his siblings helped us a lot, we couldn’t just wait for them to do everything, right?" Xu Nian’an meekly explained, "Luckily I bought it a day early, or else Yicheng and his siblings would have brought a wheelchair too."
"You did alright in this matter." Xu Qinghe gave him a stern look and said discontentedly, "Yicheng and his siblings are very good, and they’ve helped us. The incident where Nianhua saved Yining was just an accident, we can’t blame them for everything."
"Yingzi, let’s invite Yicheng and Yining over for dinner tomorrow. They’ve taken care of Nianhua for so long, we ought to express our gratitude," Xu Qinghe said solemnly, showing that he regarded the matter with great importance.