Chapter 17: When You’re Unlucky, Even Cold Water Sticks in Your Teeth

Besides that, he bought bananas and apples for Aunt Zhao as a thank-you gift for watching Wanning.

He would likely need her help looking after Wanning often in the future, and he couldn’t comfortably expect her to do it for free with a clear conscience.

When he stepped out of the supermarket, Chen Liyang was carrying three large bags of food, having spent four hundred and fifty Yuan in total.

If his hands hadn’t been too full to carry more, he would have bought even more.

As he was walking home, a sharp voice suddenly cried out, “Out of the way!”

Before Chen Liyang could even react, an electric scooter slammed straight into him.

Dammit, getting hit while walking on the sidewalk. When bad luck strikes, even cold water gets stuck between your teeth^[1].

The heavy force of the impact knocked Chen Liyang violently to the ground. The groceries in his hands spilled everywhere, and something tore into his calf, causing blood to pour out profusely while cold sweat broke out across his forehead from the pain.

“Are you blind? Can’t you see a whole living person right here?” Chen Liyang cursed furiously. Who had he pissed off to deserve this?

The driver was a man around thirty years old. He scrambled off his electric scooter and hurried over to check on Chen Liyang’s injury, apologizing earnestly. “Man, I’m so sorry! I don’t know what happened to my scooter, but the brakes suddenly failed and I couldn’t stop in time.

“Can you stand up?”

“I don’t care why you hit me, but I’m injured because of you, so you have to take full responsibility for this.” Chen Liyang had never extorted anyone in his life.

However, the other party was undeniably at fault here. He wasn’t some saintly white lotus^[2] who could just forgive someone after getting plowed into like this.

The man nodded repeatedly in agreement. “Of course, that’s only fair! I’ll take you to the hospital right now to stop the bleeding and get an X-ray checked out.” With that, he helped Chen Liyang to his feet.

Chen Liyang couldn’t put any weight on his injured leg, making it quite a struggle to stand up.

Looking at the groceries scattered all over the ground, items like the apples were definitely bruised beyond eating.

So while the man helped gather his belongings, he immediately said, “You’ll have to compensate me at full original price for anything that got ruined.”

“That’s only right. But the most important thing right now is getting to the hospital. Can we negotiate the rest after?”

It was only because the man showed a good attitude, admitting his fault without shirking responsibility, that Chen Liyang refrained from cursing him out further.

Otherwise, given his past temperament, he would have cursed eighteen generations of the guy’s ancestors by now.

Still, with this crash, he wasn’t sure if he could make it back in time to cook dinner.

After loading the bags onto the scooter, the man helped Chen Liyang onto the seat and headed straight for the nearest hospital.

They quickly arrived at Fifth Hospital. Chen Liyang’s leg was no longer bleeding, but anything sharp enough to tear through jeans and leave his calf dripping with blood had clearly left a deep wound.

In the emergency room, as the doctor treated the wound, loud howls of pain occasionally erupted from Chen Liyang.

Because the wound was deep, it required stitches, but the doctor hadn’t administered any local anesthesia.

By the time more than a dozen stitches were put in, Chen Liyang’s clothes were completely drenched in sweat.

After stitching him up, the doctor also tended to the bruises on his face, applying some ointment to boost circulation and relieve blood stasis so he would heal faster.

Finally, the doctor warned him not to let the wound touch water for the next few days to prevent infection.

After going home, he should change the dressing every three days, which could be done at a local clinic without needing to make special trips back to the hospital.

The man thanked the doctor before taking Chen Liyang to get an X-ray.

Getting an X-ray required waiting in line. Chen Liyang checked the time and realized it was already six o’clock before he knew it.

The two brothers, Zhou Chengxi and Zhou Chengbei, were still in elementary school and got out at four thirty. As long as they didn’t fool around on the way, they should have been home long ago.

This made Chen Liyang anxious. “Why don’t we skip the X-ray? I’m in a rush to get home and cook dinner for my kids.

“Just compensate me a bit of money. I won’t ask for much, one thousand Yuan will do.”

“You have kids?” The man was surprised. It was hard to blame him; Chen Liyang’s appearance didn’t look like that of a father at all.

To be honest, when he realized he had hit a guy with dyed yellow hair, bruises all over his face, and dressed like a hoodlum, he had been terrified.

He had thought someone like that would definitely be hard to deal with and would try to extort him for every penny.

Who knew that after throwing out a single harsh remark at the beginning, he had handled everything strictly by the book without making things difficult for him.

That was what had allowed his tense nerves to settle down.

Now, hearing that he had kids and was still anxious to get home and cook despite being injured, he was clearly a good father. You truly couldn’t judge a book by its cover.

However, the man had his own selfish motives too; once the X-ray was taken, Chen Liyang wouldn’t be able to use this incident to blackmail him later.

It served as protection for both sides.

“Yeah, I have kids. Quite a few, in fact, five of them!” Chen Liyang spoke with pride, not feeling at all that having five children was a daunting thing.

Sure enough, the moment he said this, the surrounding people couldn’t help but look over at him.

In an era of skyrocketing prices and stagnant wages, having children had become a monumental task.

After all, times had changed. You couldn’t just throw food at a kid and call it a day like in the old days.

These days, everyone insisted that children couldn’t lose at the starting line^[3]. As a result, most families chose to have only one child, though some had two.

Having three was already rare, let alone five; just hearing that number was terrifying.

Some people even wondered if this blond guy had had so many children just trying to get a son.

Did he have a throne to inherit^[4] at home?

The man was also shocked by Chen Liyang’s mention of five kids. He was thirty years old, had gotten married just last year, and his wife was currently at home waiting to give birth.

He and his wife had already agreed that regardless of whether this baby was a boy or a girl, they would only have this one.

Even with just one, thinking about raising and educating a child in the future felt like an immense amount of pressure.

Who could have guessed this guy was bold enough to have five? Did he have mountains of gold and silver at home?

Then again, looking at his outfit, it didn’t look like his family owned a mine^[5] either.

Yet no matter what Chen Liyang said, the man still insisted he get an X-ray before heading home.

Chen Liyang knew the man was afraid he might try to extort him later, so he had no choice but to sit there and wait.

That wait lasted half an hour. Meanwhile, at five thirty, Zhou Chengdong, Zhou Chengxi, and Zhou Chengbei got off school and returned home.

Seeing no one home, at first they thought their little sister was sleeping in her room and Chen Liyang was in his own room.

But when they went into their eldest brother’s room and found their sister wasn’t on the bed, their hearts sank with a terrible premonition.

Not caring whether Chen Liyang would get angry, they rushed to his room and pushed the door open.

It was completely empty, with not a soul in sight.

Panic turned Zhou Chengbei’s voice hoarse, his face as pale as snow. “Third Brother, could he have sold little sister?”

“Let’s keep looking. Maybe she’s playing by herself in some corner.” His voice sounded steady, but his trembling hands betrayed how terrified he truly was.

The two of them immediately turned the house upside down, searching not only under the beds and inside the wardrobes, but even through the kitchen cabinets.

They checked every spot where a person could hide, but they still couldn’t find their sister.

Now they truly panicked.

“Little sister really is gone! What are we going to do?” Zhou Chengbei choked out, his voice thick with tears.