The Reborn Sidekick Rejected The Male Lead-Chapter 35 - Saved a Minor Third
Chapter 35: Chapter 35: Saved a Minor Third
Chapter 35 -35: Saved a Minor Third
So, after her mother finished her IV in the morning, she would go back to catch up on some sleep in the afternoon, and at night she would accompany her mother in the hospital through the difficult nights.
She and her father would take turns staying with her, and sometimes her aunt would take leave to stay with her mother at night as well.
When Lu Jingqiu arrived at the hospital, Aunt Wei had just left her mother’s ward. It was a single room, and Jingqiu didn’t know what Aunt Wei had said to her mother, but she seemed very happy at the moment.
“Mom, why are you so happy today?”
Zhou Lanping had lost a lot of weight compared to the previous month, her complexion was dull and lackluster, but she always had a smile on her face, “Your Aunt Wei just came by and said that a young doctor has joined the hospital, a handsome young man. Qiuqiu, Mom just had a glance, indeed, he is quite good-looking, and I was thinking of getting you…”
Lu Jingqiu suddenly realized what her mother was about to say and hurriedly interrupted, “Mom, I have some good news to tell you today.”
“What’s the good news?”
“Today, an editor from the children’s publishing house came to talk to me about drawing illustrations, a set of thirteen pictures for a children’s picture book. If they are satisfied with my work, I could get more than thirty yuan for it.”
“Oh, that’s really good news. Qiuqiu, since you have work, then go home and concentrate on your drawing, Mom has your dad here.”
“I can draw anywhere. Being here not only lets me accompany Mom, but it also saves our family’s electricity, right?”
Zhou Lanping laughed, “How much electricity can you really save?”
Even though she said that, Zhou Lanping was still very happy. She was in a good mood, and she ate more for lunch in the afternoon.
Fearing that she wouldn’t be able to digest the food well, Lu Jingqiu accompanied her mother for a walk in the hospital’s backyard. Along the way, they encountered many doctors from the hospital. Walking through the short corridor and greeting people along the way took them more than ten minutes.
To avoid encountering more acquaintances, Zhou Lanping took her daughter to a cool pavilion in the backyard where fewer people were around.
“Ah, being hospitalized is not comfortable, I’d rather be at home.”
“Mom, at home, you can’t get IV treatments, and the pain would be worse.”
“I don’t see much of a difference. It’s mainly about nutrition. As long as I can eat and keep up with nutrition, the bacteria grow slowly. My problem is that I can’t eat and therefore can’t get proper nutrition.”
“Mom, how about I make you porridge? Porridge is easy to digest. I can add some nutritious things to the porridge, that would work too. Tomorrow, I could go to the market to see if there is any shrimp for sale, or even fish would do.”
Zhou Lanping shook her head, “I don’t like it. There’s not much time left for me, Qiuqiu. Let me just eat normal meals. The local delicacies here, I won’t be able to enjoy them much longer and I don’t want to have any regrets.”
“Mom…”
Zhou Lanping said, “I understand my body, and Doctor Zhang hasn’t kept anything from me. I am clear about the extent of my illness.”
The thought of the foreseeable outcome suddenly filled Lu Jingqiu with sadness.
Zhou Lanping silently patted her daughter’s back. Right now, all she could do was to properly guide her husband and daughter, hoping that after she passed away, the two of them wouldn’t fall apart. No matter who was missing, life would have to go on.
“Qiuqiu…”
“Yes, Mom? Did you hear any sound?”
“Sound? What sound?” “It sounds like a kitten’s cries.”
The mother and daughter heard the faint cries of a kitten in the pavilion.
Following the sound, they arrived at a patch of grass. The meowing was clearer now, and it sounded quite pitiful. Jingqiu stepped forward to part the grass and discovered a very small kitten inside, with three others beside it, already stiff.
“Mom, it’s a little calico kitten, so tiny, look.”
Zhou Lanping came closer and squatted down, a newborn kitten with its umbilical cord still wet. “This one was just born, with the placenta still attached. This must be the mother cat’s first litter, probably a premature birth. And the other three little ones?”
“They are still.” Jingqiu noted the many ants climbing all over them.
“It’s quite pitiful. Where could the mother cat have gone?”
Zhou Lanping quickly took out her handkerchief from her pocket and gently lifted the little calico.
Lu Jingqiu carefully checked the three kittens, confirming they had no signs of life left. She then found a stick, dug a small hole beside them, and buried them.
Zhou Lanping brought Lu Jingqiu back to the ward. They had never kept a cat at home, so they weren’t sure exactly how to take care of the kitten.
Leaning on her years of nursing experience, Zhou Lanping quickly asked Lu Jingqiu to pour some warm water into a basin and gave the kitten a bath, also to warm the kitten up quickly.
After the bath, she wrapped it in a towel right away.
This content is taken from fгeewebnovёl.com.
Zhou Lanping went to the nurses’ station to get an IV bottle, came back and filled it with warm water, and placed it next to the kitten to help it warm up.
“Mom, we’ve been fussing over it for quite a while and it hasn’t made a sound, it’s very well-behaved.”
“Oh dear, it’s so small, how do we take care of it?”
In her previous life, Lu Jingqiu acquired a cat when she was in her thirties. It was a munchkin cat that she bought from a pet store when it was over three months old. She had a bit of experience.
But back then, there were ready-made cat litter and cat food available. Now, where to find those?
She only knew that kittens drink goat milk powder, but it was hard to find goat milk now.
Zhou Lanping said, “It doesn’t have to be goat milk; you can give it some Malted Milk to drink.”
Lu Jingqiu quickly shook her head, “Malted Milk has too much sugar; kittens can’t eat it.”
Zhou Lanping asked, “Then what does it eat?”
Lu Jingqiu looked at the soup left over from the afternoon, “Let’s give it this for now. It’s still warm. I’ll go outside and see if there are any baby bottles for sale.”
Zhou Lanping shook her head and handed the little cat to Lu Jingqiu, “I’ll go. The supply and marketing cooperative might not have them. I’m familiar with the people in every department; I’ll go ask around.”
After Zhou Lanping left, Lu Jingqiu held the little cat in her arms and walked around the room for half an hour like she was coaxing a child before her mother returned.
At that time, she had acquired a syringe: “Mom, did you find one?”
Zhou Lanping came back with a smile, “No, I got a syringe from the department. It’s so small; I thought this should work.”
“A syringe will do.”
Zhou Lanping checked on the little fellow, then drew some warm broth into the syringe and placed it near its mouth. When the kitten came into contact with it, it began to suck reflexively.
Seeing it could drink, the mother and daughter who had been toiling for hours finally showed a smile filled with maternal love.
“Mom, if this little kitten survives, let’s keep it, okay?”
“Okay.”
When Lu Xianrun finished work and came to the ward, he saw the mother and daughter cuddled on the hospital bed looking at something, “Are you better now?”
Lu Jingqiu looked up and waved Lu Xianrun over, “Dad, come and see what this is!”
Lu Xianrun took a few steps closer and saw the kitten in his wife’s arms, he frowned, “Where did this come from?”
Zhou Lanping said, “We rescued it from behind the hospital; it seems to have just been born.”
The family had never kept pets, not even a dog, and Lu Xianrun was somewhat averse to the idea, “Why keep it? Animals are very dirty, and you’re not in a condition to touch a cat now.” He moved to take it away from Zhou Lanping’s arms.
The mother and daughter hurriedly held on to each other to protect it, “We’ve given it a bath; it’s very clean.”
Lu Jingqiu also liked the kitten and couldn’t bear to give it up, “Dad, the kitten is so pitiful. If we don’t feed it, it will die.”
Lu Xianrun looked at the mother and daughter, helplessly said, “We don’t have the energy to take care of it now.”
Zhou Lanping said, “I can. We’ll just keep it in the ward. Usually, we can feed it some rice soup or something. If we can keep it alive, we’ll keep it; if we can’t, then we won’t.”
“You’re at the army base during the day and can’t come here; Qiuqiu also can’t stay with me all the time. I’m very bored in the ward all day long. Having something small to keep me company won’t make me feel so lonely.”
With Zhou Lanping putting it that way, a sense of guilt filled Lu Xianrun’s heart. His wife was sick, and he couldn’t stay by the bedside to take care of her for long, a failure on his part as a husband: “If you want to keep it, then let’s keep it.”
