Chapter 559: Midnight dreams of Little Qi (2) (1/2)

Chapter 559: Midnight dreams of Little Qi (2)

Six-year-old Little Qi saw more people than he ever had in his life after Head Elder Ling took him to the medical academy. He never realized the world could be so loud and didn’t smile the entire day. The first night, all he got was a bowl full of medicine, which left his stomach rumbling before bedtime hit. He snuck out to knock on Head Elder Ling’s door.

“Head Elder Ling, Little Qi is hungry…”

“You have to call me ‘daddy,’” Head Elder Ling didn’t even open the door as he shouted from the other side.

Little Qi didn’t want to, but simply dropped the issue to insist, “I’m hungry…really hungry!” Head Elder Ling was annoyed by his disregard and didn’t reply immediately, causing Little Qi to renew his knocks on the door. “I’m hungry!”

“Little Qi, be good. If you go to sleep, you won’t feel hungry anymore,” Head Elder Ling went through the motions without losing his temper.

“I’m too hungry to sleep,” Little Qi said pitifully.

“Then go drink a bit of water. Your daddy said you can’t be allowed to eat,” Head Elder Li replied.

Little Qi stopped talking. As he looked towards the brilliantly illuminated medical academy, he suddenly missed his dark little thatched cottage. He was about to leave when Head Elder Ling added faintly, “If you dare to steal food to eat, you’ll never see your daddy again.”

“I wouldn’t do that!” Little Qi huffed back ferociously. But there was no reply from within the room. Little Qi stood there for a long time with no response from inside. He hastily went to knock on the door. “When is my daddy coming?”

“Your daddy’s gone into seclusion and won’t be out for a month,” Head Elder Ling replied honestly.

Little Qi didn’t like Head Elder Ling, but he didn’t leave either. He ended up sitting in front of the door for an entire night. Without his daddy there to coax him, it was very hard to fall asleep. Eventually, he drifted off and had a dream of his father’s gentle voice. “Qi’er, be good….Qi’er, good, good…”

The next day, he drank a single bowl of medicine for each of his three meals. If he didn’t drink, he wouldn’t be able to see daddy; if he stole food, it was the same penalty. Even the smartest and most obedient six-year-old couldn’t take a scare like that, but neither could they deal with such hunger! Little Qi grit his teeth and foolishly held out for three days and three nights. Finally, he collapsed in front of Head Elder Ling’s door on the fourth day.

Head Elder Ling had been keeping an eye on his movements the entire time and knew that he had fainted. He immediately opened the door to check his pulse, only to feel delighted. The results were exactly as he and the Academy Head Gu had predicted. If the child made it past the next three days and nights, he would only be able to eat medicine for the next few years.

Head Elder Ling fed Little Qi his medicine along with some sugar water at the same time. One day later, Little Qi regained consciousness and almost mistook Head Elder Ling for his father. He was on the verge of calling out ‘daddy’ when he swallowed the words again. Instead he mumbled, “Little Qi will be good… Little Qi will be good…”

He quickly fell unconscious again, allowing Academy Head Gu to slip out from the side and personally take his pulse.

“Things are progressing very smoothly,” Academy Head Gu murmured in a low voice.

Head Elder Ling was thrilled. “Academy Head, don’t worry. He won’t be able to escape from my grasp.”

“He won’t run away,” Academy Head Gu was certain. After raising this child for six years, he was very clear on how much the boy depended on him. A single ‘you’ll never see daddy again’ was enough to threaten him to behave. After two more days of sugar water and medicine, Little Qi suddenly woke up and felt something strange with his stomach. But he couldn’t figure out what. He sat blankly by the edge of the bed and rubbed his abdomen.

“So hungry….” he muttered.

At this moment, Head Elder Ling sent in a table full of rice and dishes, its delicious aromas quickly filling the room. Little Qi was already hungry, but the scents nearly drove him mad. He stared at the food while swallowing his drool. Still, he neither asked nor begged to eat. He knew he wasn’t supposed to.

“Little Qi, you can eat something today. Come over,” Head Elder Ling finally spoke.

Little Qi was starving, but he didn’t approach the food. Instead he asked cautiously, “If I eat…will I still be able to see daddy?”

“You will!” Head Elder Ling chuckled.

Thrilled beyond words, Little Qi stopped asking questions for fear that Head Elder Ling would retract his promise and went over to devour the meal. Even adults would turn voracious after starving themselves for so long, to say nothing of a little child.

Little Qi hadn’t eaten much before his stomach started feeling uncomfortable, but he bore the discomfort to keep eating, gobbling everything in his wake. He had no idea when he’d be able to get a meal again. If I eat a lot of food and store it in my tummy, I won’t get hungry as quickly.

But gradually, the discomfort in his stomach grew. It felt swollen, cramped, and stuffed, almost as if he wanted to throw up but couldn’t. Even his breathing grew slow and labored. Finally, he set down his chopsticks to shoot Head Elder Ling a pleading look. He felt…awful!

Head Elder Ling only looked at him coldly as he waited with indifference.