Chapter 130: A Heart-to-Heart Between Siblings

Chapter 130: Chapter 130: A Heart-to-Heart Between Siblings

Ji Huan listened to Widow Xie’s nagging as she fed Dabao some vegetables.

"Aunt Xie, Dabao might be the only family I have left in the future. He’s suffered so much since he was little. I have to dote on him and make up for everything he’s lacked."

She didn’t feel like she was spoiling Dabao at all; in fact, she felt she owed him.

The main reason was that these people had never seen how children were doted on a thousand years in the future. By comparison, Dabao was being raised as frugally as humanly possible.

Widow Xie wanted to ask: ’You’ve suffered plenty yourself, so who’s going to make it up to you?’

But in the end, she just sighed. "Even so, you can’t be too... Be careful not to spoil him rotten."

"I won’t." Ji Huan put down her chopsticks to wipe Dabao’s mouth, saying confidently, "How could a child I’m raising possibly turn out bad!"

Still, Widow Xie’s words served as a reminder for Ji Huan.

She knew Dabao was dependent on her, but it wasn’t until this whole scene today that she truly understood just how deep that dependency ran.

’And here I was, thinking I could use this chance to build his independence.’

She was gone for just one day and he refused to eat. If she had to take a long trip someday, would he go on a hunger strike?

That was something she absolutely couldn’t indulge!

However, she didn’t discipline Dabao right away.

At this moment, the joy of hearing Dabao speak trumped everything else. All other matters had to take a backseat.

When Widow Xie saw her feed the entire bowl of steamed egg custard to Dabao without taking a single bite herself, she went back to the kitchen and steamed another bowl for her.

With several other children—Xiao’an, Hua, Dacheng, and Ximei—watching with longing eyes, Ji Huan couldn’t possibly eat it herself. She divided the bowl of egg custard into four portions, one for each of them.

She herself just had half a steamed bun with some side dishes. Feeling full, she put down her chopsticks.

Hu Liang carried a lantern and escorted the two of them home.

Only after entering the house did she realize the kang bed was warm. Widow Xie had sent Dacheng over to light the fire at dusk, worried that she might return late and have to sleep on a cold bed.

Ji Huan ladled some hot water from the kitchen. After washing her face and soaking her feet, she took off Dabao’s cotton-padded jacket, quickly tucked him into the quilt, then poured out the water and slipped in herself.

Except for the night of the twenty-ninth, when Dabao was scared by the blizzard, she hadn’t shared a bedroll with him. They had always slept in separate ones since.

Tonight, Ji Huan made an exception and shared a bed with Dabao again.

She didn’t extinguish the lamp as usual, because she planned to have a proper heart-to-heart with Dabao.

The two lay facing each other. Ji Huan looked at Dabao, and Dabao looked back at Ji Huan.

His eyes were the same as ever—dark, bright, and clear as crystal, like those of an innocent child who knew nothing of the world. It was a look that suited Dabao’s age.

But was that really the case?

’When did Dabao’s thoughts become so hidden that even I couldn’t fathom them?’

Usually, he could hold her gaze for as long as she looked at him. This time, however, Dabao’s eyelashes fluttered, and he was the first to lower his head.

Ji Huan lifted his chin, making him look into her eyes.

"Dabao, let me ask you, are you still angry with me? That time on the mountain, when I hit you..."

Dabao’s extreme reaction today—his sudden breakdown, crying, screaming, and even speaking—couldn’t have been just because she came home late.

It was more like a sudden explosion after being repressed to a breaking point.

’What was it that he kept hidden in his heart, refusing to tell me, something I never even noticed, that caused him to be repressed to this extent?’

’Everything was fine before the New Year...’

Ji Huan thought it over and over. The only thing that came to mind was the incident on the mountain.

Song Jing had gone to great trouble to pull the two of them up from the gully, but Dabao had bitten him in return. Especially since he had bitten Hu Liang before, Ji Huan had been furious. She had hit him for the first time and even said some vague but harsh words.

"If there’s a next time, it won’t be just a simple beating..."

She remembered how Dabao’s eyes had immediately turned red when she said that.

But she was still angry at the time, so she hadn’t helped him process his feelings.

"Is that it?" Ji Huan asked again.

Dabao glanced at Ji Huan quickly before lowering his eyelids, but his feelings of being wronged still slipped out.

Ji Huan felt helpless. She reached out and pulled him into her arms.

"I understand. You acted that way because you were worried about me. I really shouldn’t have hit you that day, nor should I have said those harsh words... But Dabao, I was also anxious and worried. I don’t want you to become a little brat who only knows how to hurt people. I wanted to correct your bad habit, and that’s why..."

She paused, then gave up on explaining and sighed. "Anyway, it was all my fault. I’m a grown-up; I shouldn’t have lost my temper. I should be more patient with you. Please don’t be angry with me anymore, okay?"

After waiting for a moment, Dabao’s eyelids twitched.

Ji Huan pushed him a little away from her embrace and asked with a smile, "So, you’re not angry anymore? Are we all good now?"

Dabao shook his head.

Ji Huan: "Uh... did I do something else wrong that I don’t know about?"

Dabao suddenly reached out and touched the side of her neck.

"Bit. You."

Ji Huan hadn’t expected him to speak again on his own initiative.

Although his words were halting and not at all smooth, his childish voice was heart-wrenchingly adorable.

However, it was those two words that made the bridge of Ji Huan’s nose tingle.

It took Ji Huan a moment to understand what he meant.

"You mean when you bit me before we went up the mountain, is that it?"

Dabao’s eyes darted away, and Ji Huan knew she had guessed correctly.

She never would have imagined that such a small thing—biting her—would be remembered by Dabao for so long.

No wonder he had said things at the Hu Family’s home like "I’ll never do it again" and "Don’t abandon me." It turned out he had been keeping it in his heart all this time.

He wasn’t angry. On the contrary, he was blaming himself.

Because he had bitten her, he was afraid she would get angry and truly abandon him.

Ji Huan didn’t know what to say. She just felt her heart melting over and over again.

She took Dabao’s hand and guided it to her neck. The spot where he had bitten her had already scabbed over and wasn’t very noticeable.

"See? It’s all better now, isn’t it? It’s okay. I’m not mad at you anymore."

Dabao didn’t respond. He moved his hand to the side of her face, near her temple, where there was a long, thin scratch from a fingernail.

His little mouth opened. "That... I..."

Ji Huan said quickly, "This will be better by tomorrow, really. It was dark just now, you couldn’t see anything. You didn’t do it on purpose, right?"

Dabao’s eyelashes drooped, and he still looked upset.

Ji Huan patted him comfortingly. Once he seemed to have calmed down a bit, she said, "Look, Dabao. You bit me, and I hit you. I came home late today, and you scratched me. That means we were both in the wrong, right?"

Dabao stared at her and blinked.

Ji Huan said gently, "Since we were both wrong, let’s make a promise tonight, okay? I’ll never hit you again, and you can’t just bite people anymore. Deal?"

Dabao’s little brow furrowed. "To... day... didn’t bite... Liang."

Ji Huan could now easily follow his train of thought. Hearing this, she was delighted and, holding his little face, covered it with kisses. "My Dabao is so adorable!"

No wonder Hu Liang had said that Dabao hadn’t bitten anyone even when he became frantic.

It seemed he had really taken her words to heart.

Ji Huan felt both relieved and weighed down by an indescribable heaviness.

’This child... he thinks too much and is so sensitive. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.’

After putting out the lamp, Ji Huan pulled Dabao back into her arms. She rested her chin on the top of his head, patting his small body rhythmically to lull him to sleep.

As drowsiness crept in, she kissed Dabao’s forehead.

"Dabao, you are the person I’m closest to in this entire world. I would give up on everyone else before I would ever give up on you, understand?"

Dabao hugged her neck tightly and nodded. A moment later, he nodded again.