"Brother, you came back. Your Little Treasure suddenly threw a tantrum!"
"What happened?" Lu Tingxiao asked in a low voice.
"I don’t know what happened. When he woke up, he started trying to find someone. I thought maybe he was searching for Ning Xi, so I told him that the pretty auntie had left. After saying that, he started going wild. Little Treasure really seems to like Ning Xi, he wouldn’t listen to anyone and became like this!"
This was the first time in a while that Little Treasure was this emotionally unstable.
After hearing the whole story, Lu Tingxiao went to Little Treasure.
The kid became alarmed and shrank back after noticing his approach. His eyes were reserved and cautious. He wouldn’t even acknowledge his own father.
Lu Tingxiao stopped three steps shy of Little Treasure and calmly said, "When your second uncle said Auntie left, that’s exactly what he meant. She is well physically, and only left the hospital to go home. She did not die and leave this world, not like your grandmother who died and never came back. Do you understand?"
Lu Tingxiao could only be this patient and speak so much with his son.
Lu Jingli was speechless. "Are you kidding me? I only said two words 'she left', and he imagined so much?"
Actually, it wasn't strange at all for Little Treasure to have an erratic state of mind, since he had been traumatised and frightened by seeing Ning Xi fall.
After hearing Lu Tingxiao's explanation, Little Treasure stopped screaming, and instead remained motionless on the windowsill.
Lu Tingxiao then took out a note. "She wanted me to give this to you. Do you want to look at it?"
Little Treasure paused, and like someone flicking on a switch, he raised his head and spread his arms, indicating for Lu Tingxiao to pick him up.
Lu Jingli: "…"
All the doctors and nurses present: "…"
Everyone had worked so hard to the point of near collapse, yet Lu Tingxiao had handled the situation with a single note?
Before, when Lu Tingxiao had asked Ning Xi to write a note, Lu Jingli had felt his brother's action was meaningless; however, he was now impressed.
Lu Tingxiao picked up his son and sat down on the sofa before he handed the note to him.
Little Treasure impatiently took the note. He had already long learned how to read and write.
"Darling, thanks for saving me, you're amazing…"
Seeing the words on the note and the little drawing of a heart on the back, his eyes glittered, his face flushed red and he couldn’t help but smile, puffing his cheeks up. His face was undeniably adorable.
Lu Jingli looked like he had seen a ghost. "Bullshit, am I going blind, brother? Our Little Treasure actually smiled! I can’t remember how long it has been since he last smiled! What did Ning Xi write in that note?"
Lu Jingli tried to take a peek, but Little Treasure hid the note away like it was treasure.
But Lu Jingli had already seen it. It was just a simple message, and yet it could bring such happiness to Little Treasure? This Ning Xi was really not simple!
Lu Tingxiao did not say anything, and only looked at his son with a gentle gaze.
Now that Little Treasure was awake, Lu Tingxiao brought him home after canceling all his business matters just so he could accompany his son.
…
Late at night, at the Platinum Residence No. 8.
In a large, cold and cheerless living room, two people — one big and one small — sat at a dining table facing each other, their expressions just as cold.
Lu Tingxiao: "Eat."
Little Treasure wouldn’t listen.
Lu Tingxiao: "I’m saying it one last time."
Little Treasure remained unmoved.
Lu Tingxiao: "Do you think by refusing to eat, you can successfully threaten me?"
Little Treasure, like an old monk sitting in meditation, was completely immersed in his own little world, hardly reacting to anything from outside.
The father and son pair continued to face off against each other.
One hour later…
Lu Tingxiao dialed his brother Lu Jingli’s number. "Send Ning Xi’s address to me."
In the end, starvation proved to really work.
Lu Jingli was efficient, and immediately sent Ning Xi’s address to his brother’s cellphone, followed by a bunch of questions trying to satisfy his gossipy nature, which Lu Tingxiao of course ignored.
This time, without Lu Tingxiao even saying a word, Little Treasure immediately followed suit after noticing his father pick up a coat and his car keys.
Lu Tingxiao glanced down at his son walking next to him, and had no choice but to pick him up in his arms. "Just this once."