Chapter 41: A Twist of Fate

When Mo Qi glanced at her phone, she saw six missed calls from Sister Xiaoling and one from Xiao Zhang. She looked down at little Bao, still sleeping in her arms, and called Sister Xiaoling back.

Before she even heard the ringtone, the call was answered.

“Mo Xiaoqi! You took little Bao without calling me! Are you looking for trouble?” Sister Xiaoling’s furious roar came through the phone. Mo Qi hurriedly pulled the phone away from her ear.

Mo Xiaobao stirred, lifted his head sleepily, and mumbled, “Mom, is that Aunt Xiaoling?”

Sister Xiaoling heard the muffled voice on the other end and immediately softened her tone. “Is little Bao sleeping? Did I wake him up? Mo Xiaoqi, why didn’t you tell me he was napping?”

Mo Qi couldn’t help but laugh and cry at once. It was her own fault for not interrupting Xiaoling’s lion’s roar in time.

“Aunt Xiaoling.” Mo Xiaobao scrambled up, reaching out his hands. Mo Qi handed him the phone.

“Bao, you’re already going to sleep now? Did you have dinner?” Sister Xiaoling’s voice was now gentle as ever. “Did Mo Xiaoqi take good care of you? Or do you want to come over to Auntie’s house instead?”

Mo Qi twitched her lips. “Sister Xiaoling, don’t even think about stealing my son. No way.”

Mo Xiaobao’s cheeks flushed as he kissed Mo Qi on the cheek, then spoke into the phone, “Aunt Xiaoling, don’t be mad at Mom. She’s already bleeding.”

“Bleeding? What happened? Mo Xiaoqi, did someone bully you during the competition?” Sister Xiaoling immediately sounded angry. “Don’t be afraid, tell me, and I’ll teach them a lesson for you!”

Mo Qi asked little Bao to put the phone on speaker and said, “Sister Xiaoling, don’t get upset yet. I’m not that easy to bully.”

“You’re not? You always were!” Xiaoling insisted, “Any time someone bullied you, you just swallowed it down. You nearly drove me mad so many times, and you still have the nerve to say that.”

Mo Qi rubbed her brow in exasperation. The old Mo Qi might have preferred to keep the peace and endure things, but the person she was now—if others didn’t cross her, she’d let them be. If they did, she’d hit back twice as hard.

Enduring things? What nonsense!

“Not anymore,” Mo Qi said, pinching little Bao’s lovely cheek. “If I’m not strong, how can I protect Bao?”

“You should have thought like this sooner. So how did you get hurt?”

“Mom got hurt to protect me,” little Bao chimed in proudly.

Mo Qi laughed and kneaded little Bao’s cheeks as if they were dough. Little Bao, obedient as a kitten, let her do as she pleased while explaining into the phone how his mother was injured.

When Sister Xiaoling heard the story, she was moved as well. “You two haven’t eaten yet, have you? I’ll go buy dinner and bring it over, just wait.”

“Sister Xiaoling, don’t trouble yourself. The hospital has patient meals.”

“Hospital food is no good for someone who’s hurt. Just wait!” And with that, Sister Xiaoling hung up, not giving Mo Qi a chance to refuse.

Little Bao patted Mo Qi’s hand comfortingly. “Aunt Xiaoling is always so fierce.”

Mo Qi smiled. “She’s not fierce, she just treats us like family. She really cares. Do you need to pee?”

Little Bao nodded. Mo Qi patted him on the bottom. “Go on, do it yourself. I’ll call Uncle Xiao Zhang back.”

“Okay.” Little Bao climbed off the bed, slipped on his shoes, and headed for the bathroom.

Mo Qi called Xiao Zhang back.

“Hello, Brother Xiao Zhang? Sorry, I fell asleep just now and missed your call.”

“Oh, Mo Qi, here’s the thing. Brother Shen has something important tonight. I have to work overtime, so I probably won’t be able to bring you dinner.”

“No problem, you do what you need to. I have a friend coming by soon with food.”

“That’s good. Honestly, Ren De Hospital may be one of the top hospitals in B City, but their patient meals really aren’t tasty.”

“Hehe, hospital meals are all about balanced nutrition. They’re pretty much the same everywhere.”

They chatted a little longer before hanging up.

“Bao, are you alright by yourself?” Mo Qi put away her phone and called toward the bathroom.

“Yeah, I’m done.” Little Bao came out a bit embarrassed. “The toilet here is just like Aunt Xiaoling’s place. It’s hard to pee.”

Mo Qi nodded in agreement. “I don’t like toilets either.”

Mom always understands. Whatever he doesn’t like, Mom doesn’t like either. Little Bao beamed as he wiped his hands and climbed back onto the bed. “Mom, let’s not have a toilet at home anymore, okay?”

“Okay. We’ll stick with our squat toilet and let those toilet sellers go out of business.”

Little Bao giggled, snuggling happily into his mother’s arms.

When Sister Xiaoling arrived with dinner and saw mother and son cozily chatting on the bed, she was both envious and a little jealous.

She treated little Bao as her own son, and he liked her too, but it was never as close as when he was with Mo Qi.

“Enough cuddling, come eat dinner,” she said, shaking the large insulated food container in her hand. “Signature dishes from the chef at Imperial Cuisine Pavilion. Satisfied?”

Mo Qi didn’t know the restaurant, but from the name alone, it was clear it wasn’t someplace ordinary people could just walk into.

“Sister Xiaoling, you really shouldn’t have.”

Sister Xiaoling set up the small dining table over the hospital bed and raised her slender brows at Mo Qi. “What do you mean by that, girl? Are you treating me like family or not? If you’re polite with me again, I’m telling you, from now on we’ll go our separate ways and never bother with each other again! So annoying!”

“Hehe, don’t be mad, Sister Xiaoling,” Mo Qi said, sidling up to take her arm with a bright smile. “I’m a public figure now, you know—I have to keep up a good image at all times. But since it’s just us here, pretend I never said that rubbish before—just let it go!”

“You show-off.” Sister Xiaoling smiled, flicking Mo Qi’s smooth forehead, and opened the food containers to set out the dishes.

Everything was light and suitable for someone recovering: black-bone chicken and lily bulb soup, two stir-fried vegetable dishes, a cold appetizer, and a tray of pastries.

“Come here, Bao, eat with Aunt Xiaoling,” she said. Little Bao obediently moved to her side and nestled up.

As she helped little Bao to some food, she said, “I only watched the live broadcast of ‘Let Dreams Soar’ at eight o’clock. Wasn’t today the competition? How did you have time to pick up little Bao?”

“They call it a live broadcast, but it’s not really live,” Mo Qi explained, putting down her soup bowl. “We recorded yesterday, then they edited it, and it aired tonight.”

“I don’t get all that,” Sister Xiaoling said, waving her hand. “Why didn’t you tell me in advance? I could have taken little Bao to see you compete.”

“The audience spots for the first competition were by ticket scramble, so it was a hassle. Plus, it was really noisy—not suitable for little Bao.”

“That’s true.” Those crazy fans scream louder than a siren—definitely not good for a precocious, quiet boy like little Bao. Sister Xiaoling nodded in agreement.

“But your performance was really wonderful,” she said with satisfaction. “The applause and cheers from the audience are a real recognition of all your hard work these years.”

Mo Qi only smiled. What she wanted was far more than a bit of applause and cheers from the crowd.

As Sister Xiaoling spoke and helped little Bao to more food, her phone rang in her bag.

“I’ll take this call,” she said, glancing at the screen without avoiding Mo Qi. “Hello, Sheng Erdan, what is it?”

Mo Qi had heard Sister Xiaoling mention this man—Sheng Erdan—many times. He’d been pursuing her for years and worked as a field reporter.

“What?” Mo Qi couldn’t hear what was said on the other end, but she saw Sister Xiaoling’s brows knit and her expression change.

“I understand. Thank you,” Sister Xiaoling said, and hung up, turning to Mo Qi. “Mo Qi, are you dating Shen Yijue?”

“No.”

“Sheng Erdan’s closest buddy just told him that Dongdu Entertainment snapped photos of you and Shen Yijue leaving the apartment together this morning. They’re putting it on the front page tomorrow.”