Chapter 16: Dongdong Can Fight Now

Ji Dong was overjoyed to hear that he could feed Mom. His eyes scanned the apples, cookies, and White Rabbit milk candy back and forth. Then his chubby cheeks puffed up. He did not know what Mom liked to eat and didn’t know what to feed her.

Then Ji Dong looked up at Yu Qing. “Auntie… what does Mom like to eat?” His big, bright eyes looked at Yu Qing. He was a smart little one who knew how to think.

This was thanks to Mother Qin’s education.

Mother Qin came from a scholarly family. The inheritance left by her ancestors was very abundant. Once, while delivering supplies to the army unit where Father Qin was stationed with her elders, she met Father Qin. The two became revolutionary partners. She had three sons and one daughter. Qin Zhan was the youngest. The first three children had married and had children but were not around. Qin Zhan had not married and naturally had no children. So she placed all her grandmotherly feelings on Ji Dong. At the same time, she was grateful that Ji Aihua sacrificed himself to save Qin Zhan, which made her dote on Ji Dong even more.

‘Mom likes everything, Dongdong. Feed it all to Mom’.

Ning Xin shouted silently. She had been stuck here for two years. At this point, even if someone gave her bitter herbs, she would probably say they were sweet.

Yu Qing had no idea what Ning Xin liked to eat, but she smiled and said, “Mom likes Dongdong the most. Whatever Dongdong likes to eat, Mom will definitely like too. So among these, what does Dongdong like best?”

When Ji Dong heard that, his whole body became excited. His face and eyes were full of joy. “Auntie, does Mom… really… like Dongdong the most?”

A two-year-old baby had just started to gain awareness of the outside world. When they were younger, they had no understanding and didn’t know what mom and dad meant. But now, they already understood what mom and dad meant.

Maybe when they grow up, they will not retain memories of this age, but in the moment, they did know about their mom and dad.

Other kids in the compound had both mom and dad. Only he did not. Even though grandpa and grandma treated him well, they could not make up for the role of parents in a child’s growth.

‘Of course mom likes Dongdong the most.’

Hearing Ji Dong’s question, Ning Xin gave the most certain answer. When she had just transmigrated, Ji Dong in her heart was only the child of the original owner. To her, he was a responsibility due to cause and effect. But after two years of companionship, Ji Dong had become the most important person to her in this world.

She had truly come to regard Ji Dong as her own child.

“Of course. Our Dongdong is so cute, so smart, and so obedient. Mom definitely likes Dongdong the most.” Yu Qing gave a definite answer.

Ji Dong’s little face turned red. His mouth curved up. He smiled a little shyly at first. But kids didn’t know how to suppress emotions. That shy smile slowly widened into a brilliant one.

He smiled as he picked up a White Rabbit milk candy. “Dongdong loves milk candy the most.”

After all, he was a child and the sweet scent of milk candy had an irresistible allure. Having picked out the White Rabbit milk candy, Ji Dong was ready to climb onto the bed to feed his mom. He was too small to reach his mom while standing at the bedside.

So he said to Mother Qin, “Grandma, carry me. Dongdong wants to… get on the bed to feed Mom.”

“Okay.” Mother Qin carried him onto the bed and helped him take off his shoes.

As soon as his shoes were off, Ji Dong crawled to his mom’s side using both his hands and feet.

Looking at his mom’s fair and soft face, he thought she was so beautiful, even prettier than the flowers he had seen on TV.

As he thought this, he peeled open the wrapper of the White Rabbit candy.

While he was peeling it, Yu Qing poured hot water from the thermos into an enamel cup. When Ji Dong finished peeling the candy, she said, “Dongdong, Mom is sick right now. She can’t eat the candy directly. We have to melt the candy in water to make milk water for her to drink.”

The subject’s physiological needs and bodily functions were normal, but when it came to eating, she could only consume liquid food. Even if the food was nutritionally balanced with meat and vegetables, it still had to be made into liquid form for the benefit of the subject’s health.

After all, someone who lay in bed for years without moving had a very fragile digestive system even if it functioned normally, so the food she ate had to be easy to digest and absorb.

“Okay.” Ji Dong put the unwrapped candy into the enamel cup and kept his eyes on it. He wasn’t being greedy; he just wanted to watch the candy dissolve into sugar water.

It took a bit of time for the White Rabbit candy to melt. Yu Qing then gently guided him again. “Dongdong, what have you done this past week? What did you eat? You can tell your mom.”

Little Ji Dong didn’t understand what “a week” meant. But ever since he learned to talk, Yu Qing would ask him this same question during every weekly visit. So now he understood what she meant.

He stretched out his little hands. “Mom, I can count now.”

As he spoke, he began to count one by one. “One, two, three…” 

His crisp little voice sounded like warm winter sunshine in the hospital room, warming people’s hearts. As he counted with his fingers, he looked adorably chubby. After counting to ten, Ji Dong stopped. “That’s it. Just ten…”

He only had ten fingers, so he could only count up to ten.

Mother Qin explained, “He only has ten fingers, so he can’t remember any numbers after that no matter how we teach him.”

Yu Qing said, “Then you can count his toes too. Maybe he’ll be able to remember the numbers after ten that way.”

Mother Qin paused, then couldn’t help laughing. “I’ll try that next time.”

But Ji Dong wasn’t paying attention to his Grandma and Auntie’s conversation. His little mouth kept babbling again. “Mom, I have lots of… milk candy. I’ll give them all to you.

Mom, I… I have a toy car. I’ll give it to you too.

Mom, I… I have a friend. When you… wake up, I’ll let you play with him too.

Mom, I… I ate meat today. It was really tasty.

Mom, I got into a fight yesterday. I won…”

Ning Xin’s heart tightened. Dongdong got into a fight? Was he being bullied? Ning Xin knew Mother Qin treated him very well. Not just from what was written in the novel, but also from the fact that Mother Qin had visited her rain or shine for two years and from Dongdong’s personality—she could tell Mother Qin was a good person.

But no matter how good Mother Qin was to him, he was still living under someone else’s roof. So when she heard that he had gotten into a fight, she couldn’t help but worry whether her little boy had been bullied.

Just thinking about it made her feel terrible.

In the novel, the little one had a sensitive personality. Because he lost his parents early, he longed deeply for parental love. He had a strong sense of pride but also deep inferiority. That was a personality developed from childhood.

Since he was little, others would mock him as a wild child without parents…

Thinking about this made Ning Xin feel even more heartbroken. So had her little boy already started getting bullied by other kids at this point? Already being laughed at?

She wanted to wake up. She wanted to protect him. This desire to wake up was stronger than ever. In the past, even if she had wanted to wake up, she had been resigned. But now she desperately wanted to.

“Mom… What’s wrong? Wuwuwu… Mom is crying…”

Suddenly, Dongdong, who had been happily babbling just a moment ago, began crying. He saw that tears had started flowing from his mom’s eyes. He thought she must be hurting and crying because she was sick. Wuwuwu…