“Mr. Han, are you coming to see the rime?” Xu Yan greets with a smile.

“Secretary Xu, are you coming too? Siqi, I have told you that the scenery here is beautiful. It’s worth your trip.”

When Fu Zhengzheng looks at them again, she sees Qiao Keren holding Han Siqi’s arm and smiling like a flower.

There is no expression can be seen on Han Siqi’s face. He just lets Qiao Keren lead him over.

“Ah, Siqi, it is this lovely boy again. What’s his name?” Qiao Keren tilts her head to wave at Fu Xing, and looks back to ask Han Siqi.

“I will not tell you,” says Fu Xing.

Xu Yan hurries to answer, “Miss Qiao, his name is Xingxing.”

The two dimples of Qiao Keren immediately appear. “Xingxing. What a lovely name. Hello, Xingxing.”

However, Fu Xing doesn’t look at her. He goes aside to play with a puppy in a girl’s hand.

“Fu Xing, don’t be rude. Greet Miss Qiao.” Fu Zhengzheng immediately scolds her son. Although she doesn’t like Qiao Keren, she has to teach Fu Xing to be polite.

Fu Xing, who is greeting the puppy, reluctantly says to Qiao Keren, “Hello, Miss Qiao.”

After saying that, he suddenly claps his hands and laughs. “Look, Mommy, Miss Qiao’s dress is exactly the same as the dog’s!”

Fu Zhengzheng immediately criticizes her son, “Don’t talk nonsense. They are just of the same color.”

Several strangers burst out laughing after hearing their conversation.

Realizing that she has made a slip of the tongue, Fu Zhengzheng immediately shakes her hands and apologizes, “Miss Qiao, I’m sorry, I don’t mean that.”

Qiao Keren, who has recovered from embarrassment, shakes her head with a smile. She puts her gloves in her handbag, and then touches the puppy while asking Fu Xing softly, “Xingxing, do you like playing with dogs? I like it too.”

Fu Xing doesn’t answer Qiao Keren. He moves in front of her, trying to squeeze her hand away, so that she cannot touch the puppy.

The tame puppy suddenly struggles to jump out of its master’s arms and barks wildly at the same time.

“Ouch!” Fu Xing shivers with fear and Qiao Keren is frightened too. She drags Fu Xing backward, fearing that the puppy may hurt them.

However, when she takes a step back, she slips over and almost falls flat on her back.

“Watch out!” Fu Zhengzheng, who stands the nearest to Qiao Keren, immediately rushes to catch Qiao Keren’s hand.

She thinks that if she catches Qiao Keren, her son will be fine.

Just in the blink of an eye, probably because Qiao Keren is frightened, her hands that hold Fu Xing loosen and shake aimlessly. Being pulled by Fu Zhengzheng, Qiao Keren falls askew on the shore, thus being saved.

Being loosened, Fu Xing leans backwards like a kite with a broken string. There happen to be gapped guardrails behind him, so he falls down the dam.

“Fu Xing—” Fu Zhengzheng’s look changes and she rushes directly to Fu Xing. When she manages to hold him, they roll down like a ball.

“Xingxing—”

“My God!”

“There are people falling into the river!”

“Help!”

For a moment, there are all screams and cries for help from the shore.

Han Siqi stands a little far from Fu Zhengzheng and her son. When he finds there is something wrong and rushes over, it is already late. He kneels down on the dam but fails to catch them, and only to watch them rolling down.

Xu Yan and Xiao Yicheng go pale. They both want to catch them but are a step late.

Fu Zhengzheng, who has lost control of her body, holds her son and tries to protect his head. When they roll to the middle of the dam, they are cushioned by a wild sapling, but then slide down the sapling again. When they roll down, Fu Zhengzheng quickly releases one hand to catch the sapling.

With the loud bang, the ice under her feet cracks. Fortunately, the sapling keeps them safe for the time being.

Fu Xing tugs Fu Zhengzheng’s clothes tightly. When he looks up and sees the crowd above them, he says in terror, “Mommy, I’m terrified!”

“Don’t be afraid. Someone will come to our rescue soon!” Fu Zhengzheng says through gritted teeth. Her one hand clutches the sapling while the other hand holds Fu Xing tightly.

“Get out of the way! Get out of the way!” Several policemen elbow people out of the way. Ji Muxian, the leader of these policemen, quickly observes the situation before he pulls a rope in the hands of a policeman and ties it around his waist. Then he squats down and slides down directly.

“Ah!”

There is another cry from the crowd.

Ji Muxian stops near Fu Zhengzheng and takes over Fu Xing.

But because Fu Zhengzheng moves her body, the little sapling is uprooted and her body moves down rapidly. As she instinctively reaches out her hand, her arm is seized by Ji Muxian.

“Hold fast!” Ji Muxian shouts in a low voice.

Fu Zhengzheng slightly nods.

The people on the shore all cheer and help pull the rope.

When they move upwards to the middle of the dam, someone in the crowd suddenly shouts, “There’s a bomb! Run!”

“Ah!”

The crowd is in a tumult again and people all flee in disorder. Therefore the rope is obviously loosened, causing the three people slide down. What’s worse, half of Fu Zhengzheng’s body has fallen into the icy river.

The rope suddenly stops sliding and moves up again.

As soon as they come ashore, Fu Zhengzheng lies on the ground to hold Fu Xing, and nervously checks his body with her trembling hands. “Fu Xing, are you okay?”

Probably because of excessive fright, Fu Xing’s whole body shivers, and he hasn’t said a word for half a day.

Fu Zhengzheng holds her son tightly in her arms and comforts him with tears, “Don’t be afraid. It is all right. It is all right.”

As a surgeon, Xiao Yicheng has rushed over to do the most basic examination for them. Soon he says with relief, “Luckily, it is just skin trauma.”

Xu Yan also comes to hold the two persons. Hearing what Xiao Yicheng said, she bursts into tears. “It is all right, it is all right. You have scared us to death.”

Ji Muxian takes a thick military overcoat from his colleague and sends it to Fu Zhengzheng. Then Fu Zhengzheng stands up slowly, but Ji Muxian waves his hand first, saying, “Don’t say anything. Take your son home quickly. He is frightened.”

“OK.” Fu Zhengzheng wraps Fu Xing in the overcoat and picks him up with Xu Yan and Xiao Yicheng.

“There’s a police car over there, and someone will take you home. See a doctor yourself.” After saying that, Ji Muxian goes away in a hurry.

Before having time to thank him, Fu Zhengzheng and others run quickly to the car.

Han Siqi stands aside with a gloomy face and remains motionless for quite a while.

Ji Muxian, who has gone far away, suddenly returns. He comes to Han Siqi and pats him on the shoulder before turning and walking away.

Han Siqi looks at Ji Muxian’s back with complicated eyes, but says nothing. He glances at the direction where the police car leaves, and then goes to Qiao Keren, who squats pitifully under a tree.

*

With all her body getting very dirty, Fu Zhengzheng comes home with Fu Xing, which frightens Chen Qiaolan. After repeatedly confirming that they are okay, Chen Qiaolan rushes upstairs to bring them clean clothes and serve them hot water.

Chen Qiaolan feels sorry to look at Fu Xing who regains color of his face after a long time. She says, “Master Siqi said that you should not go out, but you insisted on playing outside secretly. You don’t drop the idea until you get hurt.”

Seeing that Fu Xing is not hurt seriously, Fu Zhengzheng gets up to see Xu Yan and Xiao Yicheng off.

Xu Yan walks out of the courtyard together with Xiao Yicheng. She turns and chokes with red eyes, “Zhengzheng, take good care of Xingxing and call us if you need.”

Fu Zhengzheng nods, “OK, I will. Don’t worry. Thanks for your help today.”

“We didn’t help much. Thanks to those policemen!” Xiao Yicheng can’t help praising.

Xu Yan immediately says, “Thanks to Mr. Han! When the crowd was in turmoil, he tried to elbow the crowd and demonstrated how to step on the rope with our feet. Otherwise, if we came to pull the rope when people all ran away, you would have fallen into the river.”

Han Siqi? Hearing that, Fu Zhengzheng isn’t grateful. If they hadn’t met him, they wouldn’t have met Qiao Keren. Without Qiao Keren, maybe the accident would not have happened.

“Yes, I almost forget about Mr. Han!” Xiao Yicheng pats his head and says, “I think Mr. Han really likes Xingxing. I saw him rush to save you, but it was a little late. Besides, when the policemen came with the rope, I saw that he wanted to grab the rope, but he was pushed away by the policemen.”

“Did Mr. Han want to go down and rescue Zhengzheng and Fu Xing?” Xu Yan says honestly with surprise, “I didn’t see that. I was only concerned about Zhengzheng and Fu Xing by the river.”

Fu Zhengzheng says with a smile, “Since Fu Xing calls him Daddy, there is more or less affection between them. I need to accompany Fu Xing and I will call you if something goes wrong.”

“Well, OK. Remember to apply some medicine on yourself.” After saying that, Xu Yan leaves with Xiao Yicheng.

When Fu Zhengzheng returns to her room, Fu Xing has fallen asleep in Chen Qiaolan’s arms.

Chen Qiaolan carefully puts down Fu Xing and says to Fu Zhengzheng, “I need to go and make herbal tea for Fu Xing to help him get over the shock.”

“Thank you, Aunt Chen.”

Fu Zhengzheng is grateful. When she looks back and sees Fu Xing trembling in sleep, she immediately comes to hold him and says softly, “Don’t be afraid, Xingxing. Mommy is here.”

Then her tears fall down. Fortunately, Xingxing is fine. If there were something wrong with him, how could she live in the world?

She gently strokes Fu Xing’s brow that furrows, and her heart softens into a ball.

At this moment, her task, Nian Xi, Han Siqi, even her parents and brother can be temporarily abandoned. Her world is all about her son in front of her.

Maybe because Fu Xing is tired, he sleeps soundly and doesn’t wake up for three hours.

Fu Zhengzheng is a little relieved and there is finally a faint smile on her face.

She hopes that when her son wakes up, all he remembers are the happy things of today.

The door of the room opens. Fu Zhengzheng thinks it is Chen Qiaolan who brings herbal tea, so she says softly, “Aunt Chen, Fu Xing has not woken up yet. How about keeping it warm first?”

Finding that there is no sound behind her, she turns around and finds it is Han Siqi.

Han Siqi pushes her aside and stoops down to look at Fu Xing for quite a while, and then gently tucks Fu Xing up. When he turns around, he says coldly, “Why didn’t you listen to me and stay at home?”

Knowing that he will ask, Fu Zhengzheng answers in a low voice, “I have freedom.”

“Freedom? Because of the freedom you want, Fu Xing got hurt. Now you are happy?”

Hearing that, Fu Zhengzheng is also angry. “If we had not met you, how could Xingxing have been hurt? What’s more, please make it clear that Fu Xing is my son! When he got injured, I felt worse than anyone else!”

“You are really good at finding excuses.” Han Siqi glances at her disapprovingly and says, “How shall I evaluate a person who puts a bet on her blood son?”

“What do you mean?” Fu Zhengzheng doesn’t understand.

Han Siqi reaches out to hold her chin, saying scornfully, “Do you like our Han family so much?”