Pats Little Shrike's Tail - Chapter 106

Chapter 106

“The doctor checked today and said my injury isn’t serious.” Shan Ling held the phone box and asked curiously, “Why did you buy me a new phone?“

She was planning to buy one herself after being discharged.

“I was afraid you’d be bored without a phone.” Shen Qingyi sat by the bed, looking at Shan Ling’s exposed left foot, which was tightly bandaged and didn’t look as minor as she claimed.

Shen Qingyi glanced at Shan Ling and whispered, “Does it hurt?“

Shan Ling shook her head: “It actually doesn’t hurt, as long as I don’t move. And thankfully only one foot is injured. I didn’t know how I was going to manage going to the bathroom today.“

Recalling last night, the little fat bird standing on the car seat on one leg, Shen Qingyi could roughly imagine how she managed to go to the bathroom today.

“Rest well, and don’t move around,” Shen Qingyi instructed Shan Ling, “Your wound can’t get wet. I’ll be here with you these days.“

Shan Ling looked at Shen Qingyi and asked, “How is the shop… doing?“

With such a big fire, almost everything must have been burned.

Fortunately, the shop belonged to Shen Qingyi herself, the land belonged to Shen Qingyi herself, and no neighboring shops were affected. It was only a loss of a lot of money.

“The shop has insurance. We’ll see how much can be reimbursed, and the suspect has been caught, so he will also pay some compensation,” Shen Qingyi wasn’t too concerned about the compensation issue; she just thought the whole process would be extremely troublesome.

Shan Ling widened her eyes: “That must cost a lot of money, right?“

Regarding this, Shen Qingyi estimated it would start at seven or eight hundred thousand yuan.

The shop’s renovation, the damage to the walls, various coffee machines—all added up, it would surely exceed a million.

Shen Qingyi originally thought that opening a coffee shop was just something to keep herself busy, and she didn’t intend to make much money. She was satisfied if the monthly earnings covered the utility bills and paid Nuonuo and Shan Ling’s salaries.

Now that it had come to this, Shen Qingyi wondered if the money she had earned recently could even cover this deficit.

But at least no one was hurt, which was a blessing in disguise.

“You don’t need to worry too much. I’ll handle it,” Shen Qingyi reassured Shan Ling, smiling at her, “Aren’t you going to unbox the phone? It’s a gift from me.“

“You didn’t have to give me one. I could have bought it myself,” Shan Ling was also very curious about the phone Shen Qingyi bought her. She opened the box and was dazzled by the latest model phone.

This… isn’t this the latest model phone Nuonuo often raves about?

She heard the lowest configuration cost almost ten thousand yuan. Shen Qingyi bought such an expensive phone for her so casually.

“Is this… very expensive?” Shan Ling quickly closed the box and said to Shen Qingyi, “I thought the phone I had before was quite good. It was very smooth to use. There’s no need to buy something so expensive.“

Shen Qingyi glanced at Aunt Jiang and Jiaojiao who were washing their hands in the restroom, then looked back and said, “Expensive things last longer. Don’t argue with me.“

Just as Shan Ling was about to object, Shen Jiaojiao came out holding a pork floss egg roll, shouting happily to Shan Ling and Shen Qingyi, “Jiejie, let’s share the cake! One for you, one for me, one for Xiaoling Jiejie, and one for Aunt Jiang.“

Seeing one piece left in the box, Jiaojiao struggled: “Who gets the extra piece?“

Shen Qingyi leaned back in her chair and said, “Give it to Xiaoling. She’s injured and should eat more.“

“Right,” Shen Jiaojiao said decisively, “The milk tea is for Xiaoling Jiejie too. Eating more helps you recover faster!“

Seeing how serious little Shen Jiaojiao was, Shan Ling didn’t refuse. She genuinely liked the pastries from that shop, which Shen Qingyi must have gone out of her way to buy.

After finishing the sweets, Shen Qingyi stayed with Shan Ling for a while, helped her activate the phone and insert the SIM card, and asked her to call Nuonuo to let her know she was safe.

Since the shop was burned down, Nuonuo had nothing much to do for now, so she decided to visit Shan Ling at the hospital tomorrow and discuss the shop’s affairs with Shen Qingyi.

In the evening, the four people had dinner in the room and played for a while before Shen Hongjun’s driver came to pick up Aunt Jiang and Shen Jiaojiao to go home.

Little Shen Jiaojiao looked reluctant to leave. She even used her little wits to beg Shan Ling to let her sleep in the hospital, but Shen Qingyi simply grabbed her by the collar and tossed her out.

After all the ‘outsiders’ had left, only Shan Ling and Shen Qingyi remained in the room.

Shen Qingyi sat by the bed, looking at Shan Ling, who was in much better spirits than last night, and said to her, “Tell me about it—about you being a little mountain sparrow.“

After a full day of digesting the information, Shen Qingyi had temporarily accepted that her ‘bedmate’ was a little nature spirit.

However, she was still very curious. Generally, little nature spirits hide in the deep mountains, so why would Shan Ling run off to a big city? What was she planning to do?

“Not all little nature spirits live in the mountains,” Shan Ling told Shen Qingyi seriously, “Actually, many little nature spirits now have human forms, and their habits are similar to humans. For example, in my family, my parents are both mountain sparrows, but they still have to live and work and study like ordinary people.“

Mountain Sparrow Village has its own kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, and high school, mainly because they are afraid that the immature little nature spirits might accidentally reveal their secrets to ordinary people, which would cause trouble.

Therefore, underage nature spirits generally cannot attend school outside. They can only truly leave the village after taking the college entrance exam and getting accepted into a university elsewhere.

“Then what if people from your village form a family with ordinary people?” Shen Qingyi looked at Shan Ling, asking with a serious gaze, “Do they tell their partners about themselves?“

“There’s no rule saying you can’t tell, but it’s still a very troublesome thing to reveal,” Shan Ling explained to Shen Qingyi, “And if people from the village marry and have children with outsiders, the children born will be ordinary humans. Only when people from the village marry and have children with each other will little mountain sparrows be born.“

Just like in Shan Ling’s family.

“That sounds… quite reasonable?“

“Our village is quite large. We have schools, a hospital, a village committee, markets, and malls—just not as big as the ones in the city,” Shan Ling said with a smile, “If there’s a chance, I can take you home to see. My parents would definitely like you.“

Shen Qingyi’s eyes flickered slightly, then she nodded and said, “Okay.“

The two talked more about the little nature spirits. Shen Qingyi learned that Shan Ling was considered a ‘minority,‘ one of those who could receive bonus points in the college entrance exam, which was truly magical.

After a full night’s rest, Shen Qingyi woke up early the next morning. She went to an alley near the hospital to buy breakfast. The hospital cafeteria was too bad, and Shen Qingyi couldn’t stand it. She believed Shan Ling probably couldn’t either.

Buying a basket of soup dumplings and two fried dough sticks, and packing two bowls of soup, Shen Qingyi and Shan Ling solved the breakfast problem.

When Shan Ling’s attending physician came for rounds, he gave Shen Qingyi some precautions.

“No contact with water, and don’t let the wound get contaminated. The first week is crucial. The burn area is not small, so pay extra attention.“

The attending physician was a man in his fifties. He told Shan Ling, “You’re a young girl. Leaving scars on your leg can be unsightly, so you must be careful.“

Hearing that she might have scars on her leg, Shan Ling looked at her tightly bandaged leg and quickly asked, “Will I definitely have a scar?“

“That depends on your recovery,” the old doctor signed his papers and smiled at Shan Ling, “Fortunately, it’s your leg. Even if you have a scar, you can cover it with socks. Don’t worry, young lady. You should relax and rest well now. We’ll worry about other things after your injury heals.“

Shen Qingyi felt the same way. It was just a scar; this was already very fortunate.

After the doctor left, Shan Ling looked at her foot, sighed faintly, and whispered, “I should have flown a little higher back then…“

Shen Qingyi gently stroked her head. When Aunt Jiang came yesterday, she had already helped Shan Ling trim her scorched hair. Now, apart from her bangs looking a bit awkward, there were no visible traces of scorching.

“Listen to the doctor. Focus on healing the injury first,” Shen Qingyi picked up a hairpin nearby. Shen Jiaojiao had left behind a small carrot-shaped children’s hairpin yesterday. Shen Qingyi, seeing Shan Ling’s awkward and messy bangs, picked up the small carrot hairpin and clipped her bangs back.

“Hmm?” Shan Ling touched her bangs and asked curiously, “What are you doing?“

“This will look better,” Shen Qingyi coaxed her.

“Really?” Shan Ling was skeptical.

Just as the two were debating whether the carrot hairpin looked good or not, they heard the sound of the hospital room door opening.

Nuonuo poked her head in first. Upon spotting Shan Ling and Shen Qingyi, she sighed in relief. She walked in carrying a basket of fruit and milk, looking at Shan Ling and saying, “Xiaoling, are you okay? I heard the boss say you were hit by a car after escaping the fire. You scared me to death.”

Shan Ling instinctively glanced at Shen Qingyi, who looked completely composed, then ‘hmm-ed,’ and turned back to Nuonuo, saying, “I was scared too. I woke up in the hospital. Thankfully, I managed to contact Yiyi.”

Nuonuo clearly believed the story. She looked at Shan Ling’s leg and said sympathetically, “What’s going on? You injured your waist during the New Year, and now you’ve burned your leg. Xiaoling, is this your Ben Ming Nian (Zodiac year)?”

Shan Ling didn’t understand the term ‘Ben Ming Nian‘ and looked curiously at Shen Qingyi.

“Some people believe that during your Ben Ming Nian, you offend the God of Age, and that year will be very unlucky. Wearing red underwear can ward off evil and avoid disaster,” Shen Qingyi explained.

Shan Ling suddenly understood, and she turned to Nuonuo very seriously and said, “This isn’t my Ben Ming Nian. Besides, what you’re saying is feudal superstition and should be discouraged.”

Shen Qingyi looked at Shan Ling with a strange expression, wondering is it really okay for you, a little nature spirit, to call someone else’s belief feudal superstition?

Nuonuo didn’t mind. She and Shen Qingyi sat down on either side of Shan Ling. After looking at Shan Ling with distress for a long time, she said with emotion, “Thank goodness you’re okay. You don’t know, the boss was like a madwoman that night. I couldn’t stop her. I just saw her desperately rushing into the fire.”

Shen Qingyi froze, and said uncomfortably to Nuonuo, “It’s all over. Why talk about that?”

Nuonuo, however, laughed, “I know, Boss. You definitely didn’t tell Xiaoling that you rushed into the fire, so of course, I have to be the one to tell her.”

She turned to Shan Ling and said, “Xiaoling, you have no idea how important you are in our boss’s heart!”

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