Back to 1988 48

Chapter 48: Benefactor

Ji Bai’an also ran over to their bedroom to see them. Mi Yang’s leg had already been treated with medicine, and the blood on his mouth had been wiped away. He was sitting there while Bai Luochuan held his knee and blew on it. When he saw Ji Bai’an come in, he was a little embarrassed and pulled his leg back, whispering, “It’s really fine now.”

Ji Bai’an took two steps in and said carefully, “What’s wrong with Mi Yang? Why did he suddenly fall?”

Bai Luochuan was in a bad mood and didn’t give his cousin a good look. He gave him a shove and said with a cold face, “Get out. Take your bugs and go!”

Ji Bai’an retorted, “What bugs? Those are silkworms!”

Bai Luochuan said, “Mi Yang is most afraid of these things. Why did you stuff them in his desk drawer!”

Ji Bai’an was about to say a few more words in rebuttal, but when he heard him say that, he immediately turned to look at Mi Yang. His gaze moved from his knee to his face, and he frowned. “You’re afraid of silkworms?”

Mi Yang was a little embarrassed and didn’t dare to meet his gaze. He had successfully hidden his fear of bugs in his previous life, and Bai Luochuan had never known. Who would have thought that now everyone would know.

Ji Bai’an was silent for a moment, then apologized to Mi Yang, “I’m sorry.”

Mi Yang waved his hand. “It’s fine, it’s nothing. I was just careless.”

Bai Luochuan said impatiently, “You’re still speaking up for him!”

Ji Bai’an’s face was not as ugly as before. He came over and seriously looked at Mi Yang’s wound. After confirming that it was not very serious, he wanted to reach out and touch it but was unceremoniously slapped on the back of the hand by his cousin, who scolded, “You still dare to touch him? Are you looking for a beating?”

Ji Bai’an withdrew his hand, not minding the red mark on the back of it at all.

Mi Yang saw it but just averted his gaze and didn’t say anything.

When Auntie Wu found the silkworms in the trash can, she was also startled. Only then did Bai Luochuan remember that he hadn’t dealt with the culprit. Since Mi Yang was afraid of these soft, squirming worms, Bai Luochuan naturally also grew to dislike them. He was about to throw them out in a cardboard box when Mi Yang stopped him. “Let’s take them to our class, to the class monitor. Our class can still use them to write their observation diaries.”

Although Bai Luochuan was not happy, he still nodded in agreement. “Alright.”

Ji Bai’an had been watching the silkworms. Hearing Mi Yang say that, he also breathed a sigh of relief. He got a new box, put the few silkworms in it, and also brought down the large bag of mulberry leaves. Bai Luochuan, probably afraid that he would play some other trick, didn’t let him take them. He took both the silkworms and the mulberry leaves. “Give them to me. I’ll take them to the classroom.”

After Ji Bai’an gave them to him, his gaze was still fixed on the cardboard box for a long time, looking a little worried.

Mi Yang consoled him, “It’s fine. Our class monitor is very nice. I’ll have her take pictures for you. She’ll take good care of them.” He remembered that Ji Bai’an had also raised similar insects before. He had seen them once. It seemed to be some rare species of spider. Mi Yang was quite afraid of those and hadn’t looked closely, but Ji Bai’an took care of these small animals without any discrimination, always with a gentle expression.

Ji Bai’an looked up at him and suddenly said, “I got those for you. You said before that you had an observation class, so I got them for you.”

Mi Yang shook his head. “No need. I don’t want them.”

Ji Bai’an insisted, “But I already got them for you, specially brought them all the way from the south.”

A trace of guilt appeared in Mi Yang’s eyes.

Ji Bai’an tilted his head and smiled at him, a cunning glint in his eyes. “You remember, I went to a lot of trouble to get these for you. Even if you don’t want them, you have to accept the sentiment, you know?”

Mi Yang: “…”

Ji Bai’an, probably having given the gift, felt very comfortable and was still asking Mi Yang, “If you don’t want this, do you want a katydid? What else do you observe?”

Mi Yang said with a stiff upper lip, “No, I don’t need those. I’ll just look at the silkworms.”

Bai Luochuan had just come back. He had recently become obsessed with an encyclopedia and had read a lot about insects. When he came in and heard Ji Bai’an pestering Mi Yang, he immediately snorted. “The teacher told us to observe silkworms to observe complete metamorphosis insects. Katydids are incomplete metamorphosis. What’s the point of looking at that?”

Ji Bai’an was very interested. “What’s metamorphosis?”

Bai Luochuan wanted to show off a little, but seeing him constantly leaning towards Mi Yang, he couldn’t help but give him a shove. The two cousins already had some anger in their hearts. Bai Luochuan felt that he hadn’t settled the score for Mi Yang’s injury just now, and Ji Bai’an felt that his cousin had thrown away the “gift” he had gone to so much trouble to get. The two of them pushed each other back and forth, on the verge of a fight. Mi Yang, an injured and disabled patient, could only stand in the middle on his tiptoes and try to mediate.

He had just lost a tooth and was speaking with a lisp. He had been trying to stop them for a long time when one of the cousins suddenly laughed. The other one also stopped fighting and started to laugh at Mi Yang. Ji Bai’an even asked Mi Yang with an expectant expression to say a few more words. This time, Bai Luochuan didn’t stop him and glanced at Mi Yang, also chuckling.

Mi Yang: “…”

You’re the perverts! Haven’t you ever lost a tooth!

At night, Bai Luochuan took care of Mi Yang, getting up several times to apply ointment to his wound. Mi Yang tried to persuade him twice, but when he couldn’t stop him, he couldn’t be bothered to manage him and let him do as he pleased. The young master Bai applied the medicine several times, which made it a little late. The next day, when they went to class, both of them were yawning from sleepiness.

However, the silkworms brought to the class were very popular. The little class monitor especially liked them. She changed them to a clean new cardboard box and then placed them on a small table at the back of the classroom, where they became the class pets.

The biggest pleasure for the children of the first class of the third grade was to go and see the silkworms after class. Some of the bolder boys would even gently touch them. The girls would hide at first, but seeing them rustling and gnawing on the mulberry leaves, they couldn’t help but watch with wide eyes. After all, they were raised in their own class, and gradually, they didn’t think they were ugly anymore and were quite proud of them.

The silkworms’ mulberry leaves were from Ji Bai’an, but many of them were dry mulberry leaves. After all, they were afraid of them spoiling. But the dry mulberry leaves had reduced the silkworms’ appetite. Although they ate, each one had visibly lost some weight.

Sun Qian found a way to get some fresh mulberry leaves from his family, and the supply was finally replenished. His popularity in the class soared, and he was very proud. Sun Qian had always donated the most when they had donation drives, but even fifty yuan didn’t give him such a great sense of honor as he had now. He was like a little hero of the whole class, extremely proud.

Except for Mi Yang, everyone in the class gradually gathered around to watch the silkworms.

Mi Yang only dared to watch from a distance. If he got within ten steps of them, he would run away.

Sometimes, the other male students would joke with him and deliberately push Mi Yang to go and see the class pets. Mi Yang’s face would turn pale with resistance, and he would hold onto Bai Luochuan’s sleeve very tightly, shaking his head. “No, I can see clearly from here. My eyesight is very good.”

The male students were still jeering. The young master Bai, seeing Mi Yang holding onto him with both hands, finally stood up. “Don’t make him look. Do you still want Mi Yang to highlight the key points for you?”

The little fatty was the first to let go with a grin and even helped to block them. “Stop bothering Mi Yang. Everyone, disperse!”

Tang Xiao took out a four-wheel drive car, and everyone swarmed to “race” them. This cartoon was very popular recently, and many people had bought a small four-wheel drive car to race together. Tang Xiao had the most cars, with five or six of them.

Bai Luochuan had already started playing with these when they first came out. His family had even specially set up a four-wheel drive car track, about five or six meters in a loop, so he was not very interested in these. He stayed behind to help Mi Yang with his observation homework.

Mi Yang wrote a couple of sentences, then started to rub his eyes. Bai Luochuan leaned a little closer. “What’s wrong with your eyes? Do they hurt?”

Mi Yang shook his head. “No, it’s just that my left eye keeps twitching. But a twitching left eye means wealth, so it’s a good thing.”

Bai Luochuan was curious. “Then what about the right eye? What does a twitching right eye mean? Something bad?”

Mi Yang said with a straight face, “A twitching right eye is not accurate. You can’t believe it.”

Bai Luochuan lay on the desk and laughed for a long while.

Mi Yang’s little pseudo-scientific theory had some truth to it. That night, he saw the person he wanted to see the most.

Mi Zehai was discharged from the hospital. Cheng Qing accompanied him back. The couple didn’t go anywhere else. They hadn’t even had time to put down their things before they went to the Bai’s house to pick up their son. Mi Yang had just come back with his small schoolbag. Hearing the adults’ laughter in the living room, his eyes instantly lit up, and he ran over. Sure enough, Mi Zehai and Cheng Qing were sitting on the living room sofa with a smile. When they saw him, they were also pleasantly surprised.

Cheng Qing beckoned to him. “Yangyang, come!”

Mi Yang ran over and hugged her, rubbing against her a couple of times. Cheng Qing then held his little face, looked up at him, then lowered her head and gave him a kiss, smiling. “You’ve grown a little taller. It’s only been a few days, and you’ve grown up.”

Mi Zehai also tried to hold his son and said with a chuckle, “He’s also gotten fatter. Sister Luo has taken better care of him than we have. We’ve really troubled you.”

Mi Yang didn’t dare to move and pushed his shoulder, wanting to get down, for fear of touching his dad’s abdominal wound.

Cheng Qing was also chiding Mi Zehai for using too much strength. “You still have to be careful. The wound has just healed.”

Mi Zehai was young and strong, at a time when he was not lacking in strength. He usually carried dozens of kilograms as if it were nothing, and load-bearing training was even less of a problem. Picking up a little kid like Mi Yang was nothing. But since his wife had said so, he immediately obediently restrained himself.

Mrs. Bai was also smiling. She had already packed Mi Yang’s things. Seeing that the child was also back, she nodded. “I was going to have you all stay for dinner, but seeing that Yangyang is also homesick, you can go back first. In a couple of days, our two families can have a meal together to welcome you back.”

This time, Mi Zehai was not polite and readily agreed. It seemed that his relationship with the Bai family had improved a lot.

Mi Yang saw this and, holding Cheng Qing’s hand, didn’t ask much, just with a hint of curiosity. His dad usually avoided the Bai Luochuan’s family, for fear of causing trouble for himself and his superiors. How had he suddenly come around?

After they went back, Cheng Qing found that the house had already been cleaned, and there were fresh vegetables and meat in the kitchen. As she tied her apron, she said with emotion, “Sister Luo must have had someone prepare this. She’s so thoughtful and so good to us.”

Mi Zehai wanted to help and rolled up his sleeves. “Yes, Brother Bai’s family is very good.”

Cheng Qing glanced at him and suddenly smiled. “What, you’re not calling him Political Commissar anymore?”

Mi Zehai sighed. “If it weren’t for him coming in time and sending me to the hospital for treatment, I probably wouldn’t be here now. I’m a grateful person. No matter what his position is, I’m determined to call him ‘big brother’.”