Chapter 26: The Awakening of the Darkness Chef

"Who's there, what happened? What's the situation?" The nurse arrived belatedly and immediately noticed the crowd's various expressions upon entering.

"Someone here has injured their hand; please, could you bandage it up, nurse sister?" Luo Qianqian sweetly pleaded with the nurse, leaning on Officer Zhang's shoulder.

Officer Zhang's face was full of question marks. Why was he called an uncle and she called a sister, even though they were about the same age? Did she look younger than him? For the first time in his two years on the job, Officer Zhang wondered if he looked old.

"You're awake, huh? Feeling any discomfort? You were covered in blood yesterday, which gave us quite a scare. But after cleaning you up, it turned out you had a swollen face with no wounds, unlike the one who came later with a big cut on his face, needing eighteen stitches." The nurse, delighted that such a little child called her 'nurse sister' instead of 'nurse auntie,' took Luo Qianqian's hand who was lying on Officer Zhang, examined it, and even checked her temperature.

"Hey, auntie, the injured one is me, get it? If you keep asking her, I'm going to bleed out and die here!" Red Hair, feeling utterly ignored this whole time, was in a foul mood, pushing aside White Hair to stand in front of the nurse, showing his still-bleeding hand.

So inconsiderate! That was the nurse's first reaction upon hearing this.

"First off, this little sister is my patient, and it's only right for me to care for her; secondly, if you want to be bandaged, go register and pay the fee; and lastly, even if you were cut ten or eight more times, you wouldn't bleed out from such wounds. Didn't you learn anything in biology? Could capillary bleeding cause you to bleed to death? Or is there some abnormal air pressure in here? Have some common sense, will you? You're all grown up..."

"Pfft~" Luo Qianqian couldn't help wanting to clap in praise upon hearing the frank nurse's words.

"Then I'll take them to register. Conveniently, we still have beds available upstairs." Officer Zhang set down Luo Qianqian, who was happily holding hands with the nurse, "Get a thorough examination. Since there are witnesses proving that your actions were in self-defense, all these medical expenses will be reimbursed, and have those two kids checked out as well." Officer Zhang winked playfully at Luo Qianqian before turning to pick up White Hair and dragging Red Hair out of the ward.

"What witnesses? Don't tell me it's those school security guards who showed up late because they were out walking birds or feeding fish. If they had shown up earlier, my brother wouldn't have gotten hurt. I can't trust them," Luo Qianqian pondered hard but couldn't think of anyone else besides the security guards, considering that at that time, everyone who should have been going home had gone home, and everyone who had evening classes were at school. Why would passersby on the road bother getting involved?

"Don't know, don't care. It's just as well to check on the head injury you sustained from your fall last time. I've felt like you became a completely different person after that fall, much more sensible and even keen on studying." Luo Shufan wasn't concerned about those details and insisted on taking his sister to see if her brain had been damaged and somehow misaligned upon impact.

Brother, your brain must have been eaten by a zombie, Luo Qianqian thought silently.

Dragged around for a slew of examinations by Luo's Mom and her brother, Luo Qianqian spotted Officer Zhang rounding the corner and shouted, "Police Uncle!" before slipping away from her mother and brother and running over to Officer Zhang.

Officer Zhang, seeing Luo Qianqian's distressed little face and then looking at Luo's Mom holding a stack of examination forms and Luo Shufan with a bottle of water, seemed to understand what was going on and picked up Luo Qianqian.

"What's the matter, don't want to be checked anymore? Look, your little friend has even more test items than you, and your brother has been with you the whole time. Why don't you want to anymore?"

Even though a hospital visit in this era doesn't necessarily cost half a year's salary, many of the procedures were still advanced and quite expensive.

Seeing the concerned expression on her mom's and brother's faces, Luo Qianqian couldn't say anything else, only, "I'm hungry. My breakfast was spilled, and I haven't eaten anything."

"Then let's get the examination done quickly, so you can eat some tasty food after. Uncle will buy you something delicious and wait for you in the ward. The sooner you finish the examination, the sooner you can eat," Officer Zhang comforted Luo Qianqian by patting her on the head, knowing that being healthy and problem-free was what any parent would wish for their child.

"Okay, goodbye, Police Uncle." The moment Officer Zhang put Luo Qianqian down, Luo Shufan grabbed her.

"Stop running, you have to get the blood test eventually, it's just a quick pinch. No matter how much you stall, you still need to get the blood drawn, there's no escaping it."

Only then did Officer Zhang realize that the look he received earlier was a call for help, the kind a child who's scared of needles might give. However, as a police officer, he was powerless in this situation.

Luo Qianqian, on the verge of tears, was dragged away by Luo Shufan. Luo's Mom gave Officer Zhang a nod before following her son and daughter out.

After a tumultuous hour or so to complete all the tests, they returned to the ward. He Wenyu was already eyeing the cream cake that Officer Zhang had brought, nearly ready to dive into it.

"Qianqian, you're finally back. Uncle Policeman said we should wait for you to finish your tests so we can eat together. I've been waiting for you for so long." He Wenyu looked at Qianqian's pained face, slightly bewildered, then noticed the cotton swab pressed tightly in Luo Qianqian's right hand. "Qianqian, are you still bleeding?"

"I don't dare to look..." Luo Qianqian, her eyes on He Wenyu and sniffling, was on the brink of tears.

"Then let me check for you." He Wenyu, forgetting about the cake, hurried over to Luo Qianqian, intent on removing the cotton swab.

"No, I'm scared..." Luo Qianqian found her sudden fear of blood in her twenties incredible, but her fear of needles had been a constant.

"Xiao Yu, don't bother with her. I've told her several times already, and she just won't let me look. Even when I tell her it's healed, she doesn't believe me," Shufan muttered from behind Luo Qianqian. She gave her brother an unhappy look.

"Qianqian, come here, Mommy got you a Band-Aid. Look out the window, and Mommy will take off the cotton swab and put a Band-Aid on for you, alright? That way Qianqian can use her hand to eat the cake," said Luo's Mom, arriving slightly late with a few Band-Aids and an alcohol swab in hand.

"Okay." It's not for the cake, the cake is too rich and not tasty, I just can't feel my hand anymore. That's what Luo Qianqian was thinking.

Luo's Mom carefully removed the cotton swab, which had become slightly stuck to the skin from the dried blood at the injection site, wiped the blood around the puncture with the alcohol swab, dried it, and gently applied the Band-Aid.

While wiping with the alcohol swab, Luo Qianqian instantly felt goosebumps, reminiscent of the feeling she got when the nurse prepped her skin for the needle.

"Alright, all done. Go eat, I'm going to check if your reports are ready," Luo's Mom said, placing the extra Band-Aids on the bedside table, smiling at her daughter's clenched eyes and frowning little face, and gently caressing her cheek.

"I'll take a look too. You guys go ahead and eat," He's father said, standing up to accompany Luo's Mom.

"Brother, you and Xiao Yu go ahead and cut the cake. I need to use the bathroom. I haven't even had a chance to wash my face this morning." Luo Qianqian, seeing the two hovering around the cake, hurried into the bathroom: Brother, Xiao Yu, I'll make sure you get to eat even better cakes in the future!

This silent decision would later lead Xiao Yu down the path of a chef, for the sake of both families' kitchens and many people's stomachs.

Only, this was unknown to the trio at that time.