When Ye Wanwan opened her door, Su Tong just happened to open hers as well. Their eyes met, and they saw worry reflected in each other’s gaze.
The crying continued, and Ye Wanwan pointed to the room across the way, "Is that Zhenzhen crying?"
"Mhm," Su Tong nodded and had already taken the initiative to walk over and knock on the door.
"Yingling!" Su Tong called the name of Zhao Yingling.
At that time, Zhang Xuehan also came out from the other side, "What’s going on?"
Zhang Xuehan’s hair was still a bit messy, and it was obvious that she had just woken up. Trailing behind her was a little carrot top, who rubbed his eyes and said, "Why is my little sister crying so early in the morning?"
Before anyone could respond, Xiao Yu spoke up for himself, "Did her aunt hit her?"
The crying from inside persisted, and the expressions of the mothers outside were grave. Su Tong knocked on the door even harder, "Zhao Yingling, what’s wrong with Zhenzhen?"
Though they didn’t know what exactly had happened, the child’s crying was so distressing that they had to see what was wrong.
Time ticked by, and still no one came to open the door. Su Tong raised her hand, prepared to knock again, when the door finally opened, and Zhao Yingling appeared.
And with the door now open, Zhao Zhenzhen’s crying grew even more poignant.
"What happened? What’s wrong with Zhenzhen? Why is she crying so heart-wrenchingly?" Su Tong’s brow furrowed as she asked anxiously.
It wasn’t just Ye Wanwan, it seemed that every woman, after becoming a mother, couldn’t help but rise with concern when they heard a child crying so heartbreakingly.
"Auntie, what’s wrong with sister Zhenzhen? Why is she crying so painfully?" Xiao Yu asked from behind as well.
Zhao Yingling gave an embarassed smile, "Zhenzhen’s feeling a bit unwell."
"Unwell? Where does it hurt? Do we need to go to the hospital?" asked Su Tong with a frown.
Zhao Yingling seemed to have a hard time deciding, as if even the decision of whether or not to go to the hospital was out of her grasp.
With some annoyance, Su Tong chided, "If it’s serious, you should hurry and take her to the hospital! What are you hesitating for?"
A flicker of impatience crossed Zhao Yingling’s brow, but it vanished quickly as she took a deep breath and explained with a smile, "It’s nothing. She started feeling unwell yesterday, and she’s throwing a tantrum because she’s grumpy and woke up in a strange place."
By the time they had finished speaking, Zhao Zhenzhen’s crying had already weakened. Zhao Yingling said with a smile, "See, now she’s stopped crying."
As she spoke, Zhao Yingling made way for them to see inside the room. At that moment, Zhao Zhenzhen was standing by the bathroom door, still in her pajamas, with her hair in disarray and tear streaks on her face, looking quite a mess.
Zhao Yingling continued, "She has a bit of a fever. I’ll just give her some cold medicine in a little while."
After looking at Zhenzhen for a moment, Su Tong turned back to Zhao Yingling, "If it gets worse, take her to the hospital. Children aren’t good at expressing themselves, sometimes crying and fussing is their way of telling you they’re feeling unwell."
The talkative Xiao Yu chimed in from the side, "Yeah, when I’m not feeling well, I just keep crying and crying, and then Mom takes me to the hospital to get an injection!"
Zhang Xuehan nudged the chatty little boy, signalling for him to stop talking so much.
"Alright, if she still feels unwell later, I’ll take her to the hospital," Zhao Yingling promised with a smile.