After Transmigrating As The Mother Of The Pitiful Female Supporting Character in a Campus Novel - Chapter 21

Qin Zhijin arrived at exactly the right time; the family doctor lived far away and wouldn’t be able to make it for a while. There were plenty of children’s medications in the medicine cabinet, but Xia Shibai usually treated her own illnesses with hot water and improvisation; she had no idea which medications children should avoid, which ones were effective, or what the proper dosage should be.

The door opened, and before Qin Zhijin could speak, Xia Shibai grabbed her hand and led her up to the room.

With Qin Zhijin present, the previously anxious Xia Shibai began to calm down; the electronic thermometer was pulled from Xia Yaozhou’s armpit, and the fever was indeed high, nearly 38.6°C.

The little girl lay on the bed, her lips parched and cracked from the fever; Qin Zhijin peeled a children’s cooling patch from the kit and applied it to Yaozhou’s forehead. Seeing the little girl manage to open her eyes and look at her through her stupor with a piteous whimper, Qin Zhijin felt slightly more at ease.

“I called the family doctor, but they probably won’t be here for another forty minutes.” Seeing Qin Zhijin hesitate, Xia Shibai thought the medicine cabinet lacked what she needed. “Should we just carry her to the hospital?”

“No need.” Hearing that the family doctor was still forty minutes away, Qin Zhijin knit her elegant brows slightly. “We won’t wait for them then; let’s give her some fever reducers.”

After a bit of effort, Xia Yaozhou woke up to drink some water and curled back into her quilt to sleep; she slept much more peacefully than before, without frequent shivering.

Gu Mingyi stood by the bed with red eyes, her hands nervously clutching her nightgown; to stay out of the adults’ way, she stood by the side of the bed, staring fixedly at the little girl whose face was flushed with fever.

On the bed, Xia Yaozhou’s breathing was so shallow it felt as though she might leave this world at any moment.

She was like a kite in the sky that would break its string and fall if one’s hand let go.

After saying those things in the afternoon and watching Xia Yaozhou cry, call her a liar, and run away, Gu Mingyi had struggled with whether or not to apologize. But Gu Mingyi felt she hadn’t said anything wrong—people do die, and Xia Yaozhou was just throwing a tantrum.

For a time, she was also angry; after returning home in low spirits, Xia Yaozhou’s dejected and frightened expression appeared before her eyes no matter what she did, making it impossible to even focus on her books.

Her bedroom window faced the Xia house directly; the room, where the lights had long been turned off, was plunged into darkness, yet Gu Mingyi lay in bed unable to sleep, tossing and turning.

As soon as she closed her eyes, she thought about how she had made Xia Yaozhou cry out of anger; when she opened them, she thought that perhaps she really had spoken too harshly. She hesitated for a long time, torn over whether to tell Qin Zhijin, but feared the adult would think it was just a trivial childhood spat not worth mentioning.

Or perhaps the adults would side with Xia Yaozhou and think her way of speaking lacked the innocence a child should have.

Neither scenario was what Gu Mingyi wanted, so the matter weighed on her until the middle of the night. She never expected this would cause Xia Yaozhou to develop a high fever; catching a flicker of light through the French windows from her bed, she rolled over and climbed out of bed.

The lights in the Xia house stayed on for a long time, and only then did Gu Mingyi panic; putting aside her internal conflict, she went to knock on Qin Zhijin’s door, her voice uncontrollably thick with a tearful sob.

Even now her hands and feet were icy; even though the residual air conditioning in the room was gone, goosebumps still rose on Gu Mingyi’s arms from the cold.

Qin Zhijin tucked the quilt around Xia Yaozhou, walked around the foot of the bed, and slowly knelt beside Gu Mingyi, gently squeezing the soft skin of her hand. “Don’t worry too much; Zhouzhou will get better soon after taking the medicine. You’re still a child, and children shouldn’t stay up late. How about I carry you back to sleep?”

Gu Mingyi shook her head and choked out, “No, I’m not going back, I’m scared.”

Qin Zhijin looked at the usually quiet and composed Gu Mingyi and reached out to stroke her cheek, knowing the child was truly frightened. She didn’t force the issue of sending her back; instead, she picked Gu Mingyi up and looked apologetically at Xia Shibai. “Is there a spare room here? Let Xiao Yi stay for the night, otherwise she’ll just worry about Zhouzhou back home.”

“She can sleep directly in my room; I probably won’t sleep tonight anyway.” Xia Shibai hurried to lead them to her bedroom.

Just as Qin Zhijin placed Gu Mingyi on the bed, the girl looked up at Xia Shibai standing behind Qin Zhijin and said with forced composure, “Auntie Xia, I have something to tell you, it’s about Zhouzhou.”

Xia Shibai was startled and instinctively looked at Qin Zhijin, who only gave a small smile and a shake of her head, stepping aside to give her the spot by the bed.

Before leaving the room, Qin Zhijin leaned toward Xia Shibai’s ear and whispered, “Talk with her here for a bit; I’ll go watch over Zhouzhou in the other room. Please…”

The words ‘Please’ were soft and lingering, making Xia Shibai’s ear itch.

After the woman left her side, Xia Shibai reached up to touch her ear; the three words seemed to linger by her ear, making her heart flutter strangely.

However, Xia Shibai soon put this strange feeling out of her mind.

Having come from an orphanage herself, she naturally knew that when children speak, they hope for the respect they deserve from the listener. Therefore, whether facing Xia Yaozhou or Gu Mingyi, she pushed her listening skills to what she considered their limit.

Initially, Gu Mingyi felt apprehensive, fearing that if Auntie Xia knew Xia Yaozhou’s current state was caused by her inappropriate words, she would hate her and never let Xia Yaozhou play with her again.

The expected condemnation did not fall upon her; on the contrary, she received Xia Shibai’s comfort.

“This isn’t your fault.” Xia Shibai pulled a wet wipe from the nearby drawer to clean the tear stains off Gu Mingyi’s face, patiently comforting her. “It’s normal; what you said wasn’t wrong, and what Zhouzhou said wasn’t wrong either.”

“The two of you simply had a collision of different ideas. Zhouzhou getting sick doesn’t have much to do with you; her body was originally quite weak and hadn’t recovered properly, and I let her run wild outside these past few days, which led to the cold and fever.”

“There’s no need to feel guilty over this; just as you said, birth, aging, illness, and death are normal parts of life, and Zhouzhou getting sick is just a small, common occurrence.”

Xia Shibai knew Xia Yaozhou’s personality; once she woke up, she would likely throw a tantrum at Gu Mingyi. She might seem to have a big temper, but she was actually very easy to coax.

Xia Shibai patted Gu Mingyi’s back and briefly taught her a couple of tricks; finally, she added gratefully, “I should also thank you for letting me know Zhouzhou’s true thoughts. I always thought her reluctance to study was due to a lack of interest. Now that I know, I can face this issue together with her.”

“Auntie is very grateful to Xiao Yi, and Zhouzhou will be grateful to Xiao Yi too.”

Xia Shibai finally got the child settled to sleep and tip-toed out of the room, closing the door; as she turned around, she nearly collided with someone carrying a faint, fresh fragrance. If she hadn’t braced her hand against the doorframe to steady herself, Xia Shibai would have crashed right into her.

“Is she asleep?” Qin Zhijin also realized the distance between them was too close and quickly stepped back slightly; her bright eyes swept over Xia Shibai’s limbs, which seemed to not know where to place themselves, and she felt a sense of amusement.

Was it really this awkward for the woman to be around her?

“She’s asleep.” Xia Shibai nodded, thinking about the things the children worried about and finding it somewhat funny. “I don’t know what goes on in that little head of hers all day and night, all sorts of strange fantasies.”

“A child’s world is just like that, full of imagination. Something very small in an adult’s eyes is like Mount Tai collapsing in theirs—a major event that threatens their very being.” Qin Zhijin pointed out the conflict between Xia Yaozhou and Xia Shibai with surgical precision. “It seems the little one is still very afraid of losing you; it hasn’t changed at the root, and it will have a bad influence on her future schooling, employment, and personal independence.”

“You should find another way to guide her properly; mere companionship is clearly no longer enough to satisfy Zhouzhou’s need for security.”

Xia Shibai sighed in frustration. “I’m struggling with that too, but educating a child is never a simple task.”

Teaching by word and deed, leading by example, caring for children—these principles are easy for everyone to write down. Educators talk about how this and that should be done to raise a child, but only when actually doing it do you realize it’s difficult beyond measure.

She had questioned the idea that “pushing a child is worse than pushing oneself,” but now she understood it and was becoming it.

Truth be told, Xia Shibai had really thought that if Xia Yaozhou truly couldn’t be helped up, then she wouldn’t push; she would just work harder to expand the Lansui Group so that Xia Yaozhou could live better than others just on “fund management” and “bank interest.”

“True…” Qin Zhijin felt the same way; even a “genius child” like Gu Mingyi would have her own troubles while growing up.

The two adults looked at each other, seeing infinite exhaustion in one another.

Successive sighs echoed in the hallway.

When the family doctor arrived, they measured Xia Yaozhou’s temperature again, which had dropped to 37.5°C; it wasn’t a big problem anymore.

“She took the fever reducer and the temperature has come down; it’s not a major issue. Let her get a good sleep, and have her drink plenty of warm water when she wakes up. I’ll prescribe some medicine to be taken once a day, one hour after a meal; make sure she wears an extra jacket normally to protect against the wind.” The family doctor had also rushed over in a hurry, with two mismatched socks on; seeing the child was fine, their worry subsided, and sleepiness rushed in.

“Her body is still a bit weak; she looks like she’s gained a few pounds, but after a few days of this illness, she’ll likely lose them again.” The doctor thought for a moment. “Small, frequent meals, add more protein, cut out snacks for now, and make sure she eats proper meals.”

“Alright, I understand, thank you for your hard work.” Xia Shibai understood.

The family doctor left after prescribing the medicine.

Qin Zhijin filled the kettle downstairs and brought it up to the second floor to boil; the cat-themed bottle used for water was filled halfway with cold water, to ensure there would be hot water to mix in as soon as Xia Yaozhou woke up.

After the two sat in silence for a moment, Xia Shibai covered her mouth as she yawned; the dim light fell upon her, casting a weary image.

All night, Xia Shibai had been running around frantically over Xia Yaozhou’s situation; now that she had stopped, her strap nightgown hung halfway off her shoulder, leaving a large area of delicate skin on her collarbone and chest almost completely uncovered. The silk nightgown was naturally lustrous, making her look incredibly charming with even the slightest movement.

Not to mention the way Xia Shibai was currently leaning against the wardrobe door with a languid, exhausted air.

With just one look, Qin Zhijin felt the surrounding air grow stifling; it felt so hot to her that she did the exact opposite—she grabbed her zipper and pulled her jacket all the way up to her chin, dropping her hands back into her pockets.

The sound of the zipper drew Xia Shibai’s gaze.

She raised an eyebrow slightly, and only after seeing Qin Zhijin’s slight embarrassment did she retract her gaze, laughing softly. “Is Dr. Qin not hot? The air conditioning isn’t on in this room.”

“No… not hot.”

Qin Zhijin’s hands inside her pockets scratched at the inner lining, wishing she could find a hole in the floor to crawl into.

Why on earth did she mindlessly pull up her zipper!

Xia Shibai nodded upon hearing this, simply assuming Qin Zhijin had a weak constitution and was afraid of the cold, and didn’t ask anything else.

After another moment of silence between them, Xia Shibai suddenly remembered the variety show Yao Yao had shown her.

She had reserved two spots, thinking from the start that she would have Qin Zhijin take Gu Mingyi along as well.

There were two selfish reasons.

First, Gu Mingyi wasn’t in school yet and had a great understanding of basic subjects; a little genius girl participating in this show would allow their two groups to team up and share points.

Thinking of this reason made Xia Shibai feel a bit guilty; it would be good enough if they didn’t hold them back.

Second, among the four families, besides sponsors like Xia Shibai, the others would certainly be celebrity families from the entertainment industry; Xia Shibai feared Xia Yaozhou would be excluded, and then participating in the variety show would have the opposite effect.

Now, Xia Shibai thought of a third point.

Qin Zhijin’s face was no worse than those favored female celebrities in the entertainment industry.

Most importantly, Qin Zhijin’s face appealed to Xia Shibai a bit more.

In her previous life, the female colleagues she worked with in the office basically all followed celebrities—mainland, Korean, Japanese, Thai—but none were ever quite beautiful enough for Xia Shibai. Conversely, Qin Zhijin, wearing a white coat and no makeup, struck Xia Shibai as incredibly beautiful.

Xia Shibai said exactly what was on her mind.

“Huh?” Startled by the sudden question that muddled her thoughts, Qin Zhijin looked up in a daze. “This…? I don’t know, I might have to discuss it with Song Ling.”

“Xiao Yi’s mother.” Moreover, Song Ling hadn’t successfully divorced Gu Chen yet, so they might even need to ask for Gu Chen’s opinion.

Otherwise, this point could easily be seized upon by Gu Chen’s lawyer and used as evidence to fight for Gu Mingyi’s custody.

Seeing Qin Zhijin’s confusion, Xia Shibai smiled to put her at ease. “It’s okay, there’s no rush; you can also ask for Xiao Yi’s opinion.”

“Alright.” Qin Zhijin nodded. “You’ve been busy all night, why don’t you go sleep too? I’ll stay here and watch over Zhouzhou.”

“How could I do that, you’re a…”

“I’m a doctor.” Qin Zhijin interrupted Xia Shibai. “No one is better at pulling all-nighters than a doctor.”

“When I was a rotating intern, the intensity was much higher than this.”

Xia Shibai opened her mouth, but for a moment could find no words to refute Qin Zhijin; finally, she said apologetically, “Then I’ll have to trouble you.”

“It’s no trouble, go to sleep; if anything happens, I’ll call you.” Finally, Qin Zhijin didn’t forget to reassure her. “I’m a pediatrician; I’m more suited for this than you.”

With Qin Zhijin saying this, it wasn’t right for Xia Shibai to play the game of polite refusal.

It wasn’t a solution for both adults to stay up all night together here; someone would need to watch the two children tomorrow as well.

After thanking her once more, Xia Shibai found another room to sleep in; since it was only for one night, there was no need to be too particular.

The moment she hit the bed, Xia Shibai felt an boundless exhaustion; the back of her head throbbed, and her body sinking into the mattress felt like it was constantly falling—like falling from a cliff into an abyss. The palpitation made her want to startle awake from a dream, but it only caused countless points of light to appear in the pitch-black emptiness before her eyes.

The points of light moved, rushing toward her at high speed; the heart-sinking feeling of falling gradually settled.

Control over her limbs slowly returned; gradually, she seemed to be able to command her body again.

Her consciousness was as clear as in the real world.

The points of light increased, gradually occupying the “black curtain” before her eyes.

A flash of intense light, and Xia Shibai found herself in a hallway; cicadas buzzing, large trees, a school building, and a ringing bell formed the world she was physically immersed in. It was like a dream, yet if it were a dream, she could clearly hear the passing students discussing classroom content.

If it were real, everything seemed to be guided; she unconsciously walked closer to a teenage girl.

At the far end of this hallway, sunlight filtered through the green foliage into circular patches of light on the floor tiles; a teenage girl stood with a book on her head, leaning crookedly against the wall, holding up a paper that read “I skipped class, I was wrong” with both hands. Her delicate oval face was filled with indifference and impatience.

As if sensing something, the girl looked straight down the hallway through the groups of students.

Her eyes met Xia Shibai’s.

When the girl turned her face, Xia Shibai saw her features clearly and couldn’t help but gape, her mind filled with confusion—”Wait, how did her daughter get so big in a flash?!”

There were indeed rumors that a fever could stimulate growth in children, but growing into a fourteen or fifteen-year-old all at once! Wasn’t that a bit too much? she was completely unprepared!

Just as Xia Shibai wanted to comfort herself by thinking she must have the wrong person, someone came out of the office wearing a teacher’s uniform and a name tag, shouting at the girl who was slumping.

“Xia Yaozhou, if your attitude remains this improper, you can go to the Academic Affairs Office yourself and apply for a suspension. Go home and let your parents educate you properly before coming back. Our class cannot accommodate a ‘great deity’ like you.”

Xia Yaozhou’s view was blocked by the homeroom teacher; she lowered her eyes slightly and smiled. “Teacher… why would you have me go apply for a suspension myself? I, simply, won’t.”

“If you have the ability, then expel me; I don’t care.”

“Xia Yaozhou!”

“I’m here, teacher.” Xia Yaozhou held the paper in one hand and steadied the textbook on her head with the other, shifting slightly to the side. “Teacher, I’m not deaf, I can hear you; there’s no need to call my name so loudly.”

“There are only seven hundred people in the entire grade, and you ranked seven hundredth… you were so lazy you didn’t even fill in your exam ID number; is this an IQ issue? This is a problem with your study attitude!”

“I… didn’t bring a 2B pencil.”

“Then ask someone to borrow a lead!”

Yaozhou said innocently, “My popularity isn’t good; no one would lend me one.”

The homeroom teacher: “…Is that your reason for skipping class?”

“Ah, well not exactly.” Xia Yaozhou took the book off her head, leaned her body forward, and looked past the teacher as if searching for something, but her gaze found nothing strange besides the students in uniforms and the teachers who had just finished class.

“The physics teacher told me to ‘roll out,’ so I rolled.” Xia Yaozhou pursed her lips slightly, her eyes curving—she looked extremely well-behaved, with no sign that she had seven large zeros on her report card. “But I didn’t expect that I would ‘roll’ so far~”

The homeroom teacher was beyond furious; if the treatment for teachers at this private middle school weren’t so truly good, Xia Yaozhou wouldn’t have even needed to anger her—she would have submitted her resignation and left the field of education the moment she saw Xia Yaozhou’s name on the roster!

Standing nearby, Xia Shibai’s fists also clenched tight.

Ah—

Xia Shibai would absolutely not allow Xia Yaozhou to become this extremely ‘chunibyo’ teenage girl! It made one’s teeth itch with anger!

The homeroom teacher had no other way and repeated the well-worn clichés once more to Xia Yaozhou, telling her that the third year of middle school was a crucial period. “You can’t degenerate like this just because your mother doesn’t care about you; your life is your own, and you must be responsible for yourself.”

“Mhm…” Xia Yaozhou gave a soft grunt, appearing well-behaved on the surface, but feeling uneasy in her heart.

A premonition of danger rooted deep in her soul made Xia Yaozhou instinctively lean her head back against the wall.

Why did she feel… like she was about to get hit?

That strange feeling from earlier was constantly intensifying.

Xia Yaozhou even felt as if someone were standing beside her, staring at her.

The homeroom teacher finished and told Xia Yaozhou to stand there until school let out in the afternoon. “After you eat dinner tonight, remember to attend evening self-study!”

“I heard you.” Xia Yaozhou grit her teeth.

It wasn’t that she was actually being well-behaved, but rather it was too eerie; the atmosphere around her was so strange that she had goosebumps on her arms.

It felt as though a large palm were ready to fall upon her at any moment to educate her.

In fact, Xia Yaozhou’s premonition wasn’t wrong, because Xia Shibai already wanted to break off a branch from the lush green tree outside the hallway to give a lesson of ‘Mother Xia Teaching her Daughter’ behind the teacher’s back.

But the reason she didn’t carry it out was that Xia Shibai couldn’t touch anything solid.

Was this… a dream? Xia Shibai wasn’t quite sure.

As soon as the homeroom teacher left, the fourteen-year-old Xia Yaozhou grabbed her books and paper and bolted.

She wasn’t stupid; she wasn’t going to stand there obediently until school let out—moreover, that spot made her particularly uncomfortable; she had to run.

It was haunted!

Xia Shibai was initially worried about being barefoot in the dream and that running would be inconvenient, but she only thought to herself, “When the little brat is fourteen or fifteen, she’s quite fast on her feet; long legs and a thin waist, completely different from the way she used to circle on short little legs when she was small.”

The next second, Xia Shibai appeared beside Xia Yaozhou, who had thrown her books over the wall and was preparing to climb over it while in her uniform.

Xia Shibai wore a smile and clenched her fists.

“You little brat! You didn’t listen to a single word the teacher said!”

Halfway over the fence, that strange feeling appeared again; Xia Yaozhou scrambled to get down from the railing, but her uniform pants got caught on the wire mesh, leaving her stuck in mid-air, unable to go up or down.

“That student, what are you doing? Come down quickly! Which class are you from?”

As soon as she heard the voice, Xia Yaozhou knew it was an old acquaintance who caught her; ignoring the fact that her pants would be ruined, she yanked them away directly, her arms and legs getting scratched by the sharp ends of the wire mesh.

Landing steadily, Xia Yaozhou picked up her physics book and ran down a small path, moving as fast as a rabbit, cursing as she ran. “Talk about bad luck, what kind of ghost or demon has its eye on me, following me like a lingering spirit!”

Xia-Ghost/Demon-Shi-Lingering-Spirit-Bai was once again teleported to Xia Yaozhou’s side.

“It’s your mother.”

The fifteen-year-old Xia Yaozhou couldn’t hear Xia Shibai speaking but could feel it; fortunately, she had run far enough, turning into an alleyway to retrieve her bicycle. From a hidden slot under the bicycle seat, she pulled out half a pack of soft cigarettes and a lighter; she lit one and blew smoke onto her fingertips, then lit two more and bowed piously to the empty air.

“Brothers and sisters, uncles and aunties, I haven’t done anything against my conscience—I just skipped a few classes, didn’t fill in my exam ID, fell asleep as soon as class started, never turned in homework, and don’t get along with my classmates. Every day I’m either on the way to seeing a parent or have already called one, but I promise, I’m a law-abiding citizen.”

Xia Yaozhou babbled nonsense, “Injustice has a head and debt has a master; go find whoever offended you. If it was that cold-hearted woman Xia Shibai who offended you, I’ll take you to the Lansui Group; you can torture her all you want, and help me get some revenge while you’re at it.”

“Between me and that woman, it’s just two words: not close.”

Xia Shibai: “…?”

No, are you sick?!

Xia Shibai, who “dreamed” that Xia Yaozhou had become a delinquent girl: I must have woken up too fast; is Xia Yaozhou sick?!

The sick Xia Yaozhou: Someone is imitating my face, someone is imitating my report card, and someone is even trying to steal my mom!

The fourteen-year-old delinquent girl Xia Yaozhou: Don’t call me; an unrestrained me is truly happy, ah— (gets educated with a rap on the head).