Chapter 15: Attic

The attic wasn't full of junk as she had imagined.

It was a dovecote filled with all kinds of pigeons, and there was a very large window.

Many wealthy families would raise pigeons, and some would even specially train competition-level pigeons to participate in competitions. It seemed that Old Mr. Cheng also had such a hobby.

She looked at the pigeons. Their flapping sounds were deafening, echoing through the attic. Cheng Heng had been locked up with these pigeons before, so was that why he became afraid of them later?

If they didn't lock him up in the attic, would he not be haunted by this sort of thing in the future?

The next day was a weekend. The two children didn't have to go to school. Cheng Tai was doing his homework in his room, while Little Cheng Heng was sitting in the study and drawing alone. At this point, his drawing ability was already very strong.

"Little Heng, why aren't you doing your homework?" Zhou Miao sat on the sofa at the side and looked at Cheng Heng, puzzled.

Little Cheng Heng paused for a moment before taking out his homework from his bag. Every question on it had been done, the handwriting was neat, and the process was clear. Although Zhou Miao's mathematics was not particularly good, she could still see that Cheng Heng's answers were almost 100% correct.

"Amazing!" She praised him.

Little Cheng Heng pouted, his face was a little red, and the corners of his mouth curled up in a little smile.

"He likes to be praised so much when he's young. He's so adorable!" Zhou Miao thought.

"Little Heng, do you miss your Daddy and Mommy?" Zhou Miao asked.

Mother Cheng and Father Cheng had gone on a business trip for about a week, and she didn't know if Cheng Heng missed them.

Little Cheng Heng looked at her with a puzzled look.

"What I meant is, since you haven't seen Daddy and Mommy for a long time, do you suddenly want to see them? If you want to, we can give them a call. Shall we?"

"Young Master, it's time for lunch." The young maid from yesterday called out to Cheng Heng to come for lunch.

The Cheng family's lunch was in the style of light congee and side dishes. There was ginseng shredded chicken congee, saffron pork ribs soup, stir-fried cabbage…

However, Zhou Miao's sharp eyes discovered that Cheng Heng's bowl only had a simple, shredded chicken congee and pork rib soup, and did not have those tonics specially bought for him.

This was what the two servants had said yesterday. They had gone too far! They were receiving salaries, yet they still abused the employer's child!

"Young Masters, I'll bring the desserts."

Shuping used a cloth to carry the boiling hot white fungus soup. It was still steaming hot, probably just taken off the stove.

Zhou Miao furrowed her brows. What kind of situation was this? Couldn't they cool it down a little?

For some reason, Shuping's hand slipped, and the entire bowl of soup fell on Cheng Heng. Little Cheng Heng only looked at them in a daze and did not move.

"Aunt Shuping, you should help my brother apply some medicine." At this moment, Cheng Tai was acting like a little master.

Shuping brought Cheng Heng upstairs. The servants' room was next to the attic.

She was taking Cheng Heng to the servants' room to apply medicine?

Shuping took out the medicine and haphazardly pulled up Little Cheng Heng's clothes to smear some medicine randomly on his wound.

The sharp-eyed Zhou Miao saw that there were many green and purple bruises on Cheng Heng's body, as if they were all caused by being pinched.

The next second, Shuping pinched him hard. "You're causing trouble for me every day, you troublemaker." 

Little Cheng Heng looked at her without saying a word, but he pushed her hand away when she wanted to apply the medicine on him again.

Shuping was furious. She yanked him up as if she wanted to give him a slap.

"What's wrong? You're not satisfied with me serving you?" She pushed Cheng Heng into the attic next to her and scolded fiercely, "If you weren't born in such a rich family, who would care about you?"

Zhou Miao's jaw was about to drop from shock. This servant was way too arrogant. She pulled Little Cheng Heng's hand and tried to push this woman away, but the child's strength was too weak, and he was still ruthlessly thrown to the floor.

The door to the attic was closed with a loud bang, leaving only the sound of the pigeons flapping their wings.

Such noises frightened Cheng Heng. He slowly squatted down, trembling and screaming.

Shuping seemed to have gone far away, and no one here could help Cheng Heng.

Was this how he was bullied by the servants in the past?

"Little Heng, Little Heng, look at me!" Zhou Miao shouted loudly, and slowly took the small child into her arms, covering his eyes. "Look at Sister Angel. Don't be afraid, don't be afraid..." 

Cheng Heng was comforted by her actions and stopped screaming, but he still trembled slightly.

"Look, they're just little birds. They won't hurt you. Look." She held Cheng Heng in her arms and left a small gap for him to see outside. The pigeons simply flew in and out of the skylight and did not come near the two of them.

Suddenly, a pigeon swooped down as if it was going to peck Cheng Heng.