"I bumped my foot on the closet door! I wasn’t paying attention, and when I stood up, I slammed into it! It hurts so much!" He Zhilan said pitifully, biting her lip and pointing to the half-opened closet door, "Big brother, it’s bleeding~"
"You’re not getting any younger! Why are you still so clumsy? Other people call themselves brave, but you just like to hit things! What’s the point of having such big eyes if you’re not going to use them to look around?" He Teng scolded her while bending down to look at her injury. He Zhilan’s perfect skin was now marred by a gash and a missing chunk of flesh, with blood streaming down. It pained him just to look at it.
"You’re scolding me when I’m already hurt." said He Zhilan, tears brimming in her eyes. "It really hurts, you don’t even comfort me and yet you’re scolding me!"
"You’re overreacting!" He Teng retorted stubbornly, but seeing He Zhilan crying in genuine pain, he couldn’t utter another word. "Alright, alright! Let me help you to the bed to sit down. I’m going to find you a band-aid."
In the end, He Teng rummaged around but found nothing. He had to make a trip to the Chen Family to ask Chen Zheng for a couple of band-aids.
"Does it hurt?" He Teng asked, watching He Zhilan twitch in pain, feeling a twinge of distress himself.
He Zhilan nodded, "It hurts a lot."
"Good! You deserve it! Only when it hurts can you learn. So, in the future, you won’t repeat these same mistakes!" He Teng bluntly said these words and then very gently, very cautiously, applied the band-aid to He Zhilan’s wound.
By the door of the room, He Zhongguo was also awoken by the noise from He Zhilan slamming into something. By the time he got dressed and came over to check the situation, he heard He Teng’s previous statement and he couldn’t help but laugh, "Having a child makes one conscientious, even the most careless of people become careful. Your mother was even more careless than Zhilan, but once she had you guys, no one could surpass her in being meticulous."
Seeing the sympathy in He Teng’s face, He Zhongguo also showed a satisfied smile, "That’s how it should be, if your wife is hurt, you, as her husband, should feel distressed! But based on your conversation earlier, has it been discussed between you two to have children?"
Without waiting for them to respond, He Zhongguo continued, "That’s good! While I’m still young and healthy, you should have children soon. I’ll have more time to spend with your child. It’s good for Zhilan to have children at her age too!"
"Don’t worry, Dad, my big brother and I have already decided that we’ll have a child as soon as I graduate!" He Zhilan didn’t give He Teng the opportunity to speak, directly answering He Zhongguo, then pushed a perplexed He Teng aside and hopped to the door where He Zhongguo was, "Dad, big brother brought back breakfast for us this morning. Is second brother awake yet? Let’s eat breakfast! The bean curd juice from the army is the best!"
At He Zhilan’s words, He Zhongguo beamed with happiness.
Only after she ushered her father to the washroom did He Zhilan go to see He Da.
Actually, He Da was also awake, but he was just slower in getting dressed. After greeting He Zhilan and asking about what had just happened, seeing that it was not a big deal, He Da exhaled in relief and joked that He Zhilan was becoming more and more confused as she grew older.
"That’s not true!" He Zhilan protested in a soft voice.
"No, no, my mistake!" He Da quickly shook his head, "The truth is, whenever you’re around big brother, you become as confused as a three-year-old, but as soon as you’re away from him, you’re prudent and cautious like an old granny."