By the time I finished the porridge, my tears had finally stopped.

“Was it good, Qingqing?” Aunt Zhou’s eyes were hopeful, uneasy.

I broke into a smile and nodded firmly.

She let out a breath of relief.

Then turned and gave Zhou Haiyan another punch.

“You little brat, when has your mother’s cooking ever failed?”

“……”

Zhou Haiyan clutched his arm, his eyes full of resentment.

I couldn’t help the corners of my mouth lifting, then, realizing that wasn’t right, quickly pressed them back down.

The man’s gaze swept over me with an unreadable look.

“……”

Aunt Zhou went to the bathroom and brought back a basin of water.

She returned with a warm towel and gently wiped my face, lingering a little longer around my eyes.

“Crying like this, and you’re still such a pretty little kitten.”

I pressed my lips together, the tips of my ears turning red.

She said, “In a bit, we’ll go get a small checkup done. The doctor said your right ear is a little inflamed, we’ll get an X-ray, it won’t hurt. As for the cost—that little punk got you hospitalized, he’s got plenty of money, of course he’s paying. Grown man like him, doing wrong and not taking responsibility, I’d be ashamed to death in his place.”

Zhou Haiyan was clearing away the bowls and chopsticks without looking up. “Right, right, right.”

The X-ray was quick.

The doctor looked at the grayish image, his tone grave.

“This child’s right ear was injured before. It’s been left untreated for too long—the eardrum perforated without timely treatment, and now it’s been struck with force multiple times, injury on top of injury. It’s complicated. All we can really do is reduce the current inflammation with medication.”

“Can surgery cure it?” Aunt Zhou’s brow furrowed tightly.

“The success rate is very low. Not recommended.”

It seemed to be a result no one had expected.

After leaving the hospital, everyone was silent the whole way.

But I didn’t want them to be unhappy because of me.

The hearing in my right ear had been slowly declining—something I’d noticed a long time ago.

When I was five, my father’s slap ruptured my eardrum.

My mother wanted to take me to the hospital, but on the way, my father grabbed the money to gamble with.

He said I didn’t have the constitution to be delicate but sure had the sickly habits of one, making a fuss over the smallest thing and running to the hospital all the time.

My mother was too weak-willed—all she could do was hold me and cry, then have me take two anti-inflammatory pills.

At first, the ear hurt—hurt so much I couldn’t sleep the whole night.

There was always a swollen, throbbing feeling inside, and it would grow hot.

I hugged my mother and told her I was in pain. She patted my back and told me to hurry up and close my eyes—once I fell asleep it would be fine.

I tried, but it didn’t help; the pain only seemed to grow worse.

I said, Mom, it still really hurts.

There was no more pity in her eyes, only impatience and suspicion.

She said, earning money isn’t easy for me, can’t you stop being so delicate and unreasonable?

But I really wasn’t lying. It really, really hurt.

But no one paid it any attention.

So all I could do was endure it—endure it until I bit my fingers bloody, endure it until the webbing of my hand was bruised purple from my own teeth.

That method worked. Eventually it really didn’t hurt anymore.

Because the pain had already become a habit.

Night after long, unbearable night, reminded me again and again that I was a child no one cherished.

But now, this long-overdue tenderness—I’d actually seen it, in them.

That realization nearly made my chest tighten until I couldn’t breathe.

I took a few deep breaths and pushed the feeling back down.

I put on a smile, my voice still somewhat hoarse.

“Actually, it’s not that different from being a normal person. And besides, having one and a half working ears is really cool!”

Aunt Zhou turned her head away, the corners of her eyes glistening.

Zhou Haiyan pulled his hand from his pocket and covered my ear, his voice almost inaudible.

“Yeah. Really cool.”