Good Baby C05

Chapter 5

The reason why Li Datiao didn’t want to hold his hand anymore was that both of his hands had developed frostbite. They were now torn, festering, and looked particularly frightening at first glance.

When An An saw this scene, he froze on the spot. Even the lollipop that Li Datiao had just given him to calm him down couldn’t be held steady in his hand.

This time, it wasn’t an act of deliberately pretending to be pitiful; there was no need for any disguise. Tears began to fall in large drops.

Li Datiao usually helped An An get dressed when Fan Chunxiang was busy. He had long been familiar with the routine of dressing a child.

However, a human child feels so fragile that every time, Li Datiao was extra cautious, afraid that his rough movements might hurt him.

This time was no exception. Li Datiao was entirely focused on dressing An An until the tears dropped onto his hand.

Li Datiao froze instantly. When he looked down, An An’s little nose was already bright red.

Seeing that his father was looking at him, An An probably felt a little embarrassed and buried his head in his father’s arms, continuing to cry softly.

Li Datiao couldn’t hear any sounds, but he could sense that An An was crying quite badly from the trembling of his shoulders.

He gently patted An An’s back with his large hand, signaling him to stop crying.

In the next moment, Li Datiao suddenly realized that An An couldn’t understand complex hand gestures. As a grown man, he felt a bit discouraged, continuing with the clumsy and even somewhat amusing actions to comfort this little troublemaker.

When An An saw his father’s frostbitten and cracked hands, it felt as if his heart had been twisted. His crying grew so intense that his body trembled slightly.

At that moment, the sound of a door opening came from outside. Fan Chunxiang walked in carrying a large bag, sweat visible on her face from the effort in the cold winter.

At that moment, Li Datiao felt as if he had seen a savior. He quickly unzipped his coat and wrapped An An, who was only halfway dressed, inside it before rushing out.

Seeing how urgently he was acting, Fan Chunxiang thought something major had happened. She casually dropped the bag on the side and walked over.

When she saw An An crying so pitifully, she reached out to check his forehead for fever. Once she confirmed he didn’t have a fever, she breathed a sigh of relief and told Li Datiao to go back inside.

Fan Chunxiang was much more skilled at comforting the child than Li Datiao. An An quickly calmed down in her arms and explained the reason behind his tears.

“Dad, it hurts.”

He pointed to Li Datiao’s hand, and both adults followed his gaze.

Li Datiao had been out cleaning the streets early in the morning, occasionally picking up some cardboard. His hands had been exposed to water and wind, resulting in frostbite every year, which he had long been accustomed to.

He hadn’t hugged An An earlier because he remembered someone had said that frostbite might be contagious.

Li Datiao didn’t know much, so he believed it, fearing that An An might get frostbite too.

He didn’t dare hug him or hold his hand, just watching helplessly from the side.

A family like theirs was used to this kind of thing by now.

But seeing An An crying so heartbreakingly, Li Datiao’s heart ached. He couldn’t feel the pain in his hand, but each tear that fell was like a stab to his heart.

Li Datiao gestured to An An, showing that he didn’t feel any pain, but An An couldn’t understand. By the end, exhausted from crying, An An’s little face was still scrunched up in distress.

After calming An An down, Li Datiao went to the store in the afternoon and bought a few pieces of candy to make up for it.

Their family didn’t have much, but they never thought about depriving the child.

An An, who usually loved all kinds of snacks, stubbornly refused the candy this time. He turned his head to the side and said to Fan Chunxiang:

“Dad, buy medicine.”

He was smart enough to know that when hurt, medicine was needed.

He also thought to himself that if he didn’t eat the snacks, the saved money could be used to buy medicine for his dad. His dad’s hand would probably heal soon.

No matter how busy Li Datiao was nearby, An An refused to eat.

That evening, Li Datiao went to the pharmacy and bought the cheapest frostbite cream.

Before going to bed, he washed his hands with hot water and applied the ointment in front of An An.

The ointment cost twelve yuan, and Li Datiao felt quite heartbroken. But seeing An An, who was secretly watching from the blanket, with eyes full of stars, Li Datiao couldn’t help but smile.

The city didn’t have many rules at the moment. As the lunar month approached, many people had already started bringing fireworks and preparing preserved meats for the holidays.

In previous years, Fan Chunxiang would buy some things in preparation for the new year. But this year, with An An, she bought even more and picked a good day to make sausages.

The sausages and cured meats were hung in the yard to dry and quickly started to release oil.

An An, who was curious about everything in the world, spent his days staring at the sausages and cured meats.

Fan Chunxiang thought he was just craving them and would gesture to him that he had to wait.

An An could understand some basic sign language and knew that his mother was telling him the food could be eaten later. Though he was just curious, he unconsciously swallowed his saliva.