Noticing Ling Ling's movements, Wu Chengyue, who was feeding the little girl, turned to the window as well. He saw Lin Qiao standing there, smiling at Ling Ling faintly.
He immediately turned back to observe Ling Ling's reaction. Seeing that the little girl wasn't trying to hide, he was delighted, and then he turned back to look at Lin Qiao through the window.
Lin Qiao had been observing Wu Yueling as well. She found the latter's pupils shrunk slightly when she saw her, and then the girl quickly turned her eyes away.
She was only meters away from the little girl, so she could read her mind. She felt that the girl wasn't close to her anymore, but she didn't seem to be afraid of her either.
She glanced at the other things in the room and noticed a grass doll and a large ball of fur on the bed. The rabbit might have sensed Lin Qiao's vibe. Once she looked at it, it hopped off the bed and jumped toward the door.
The rabbit was swift. Within a blink of an eye, it had already disappeared from the bed.
As the rabbit ran off the bed, Wu Yueling instantly had her expression changed. She glanced at the floor near the door in a panic, then uneasily looked at the window.
She liked the rabbit very much, but she was aware that it didn't belong to her. It was Zombie Mommy's rabbit. No matter how much she liked it, she didn't own it.
She was a smart kid who understood everything that Wu Chengyue told her. She surely knew that she shouldn't take the things that didn't belong to her without permission.
Even though Grey the rabbit had been keeping her company the whole time, she always knew that it didn't belong to her. So now, seeing Grey run away, she didn't attempt to make it stay as the other kids might, but felt a little sad and reluctant to part with it.
It was like a good friend of hers was leaving her.
Wu Chengyue looked at Ling Ling's sad eyes and asked her with a smile, "Ling Ling, do you want your Zombie Mommy to come in? If she's here, big fat Grey won't leave you."
The little girl's eyes glowed. She looked at her father and hesitated, not nodding to agree immediately. Wu Chengyue encouraged her with his eyes instead of urging her.
A short while later, Wu Chengyue slowly stood up and put the bowl on the nightstand, then looked at the little girl while slowly moving toward the door.
As Wu Yueling made no strong reaction to his movement, Wu Chengyue relaxed slightly.
Once he opened the door, the rabbit darted out, then turned left and hopped onto Lin Qiao's foot like a huge, fluffy ball.
Lin Qiao dropped her head to look at the large rabbit that she hadn't seen in a while. The rabbit always came to her. Wasn't it afraid that she might skin it and eat it?
After giving the rabbit a glance, Lin Qiao walked into the room. The rabbit followed closely behind her, keeping itself less than ten centimeters away from her.
Seeing her come in, Wu Yueling automatically flinched. But then, she stopped moving upon seeing Lin Qiao close the door behind her.
Lin Qiao didn't approach her, but stayed by the door, then bent over and picked up the big rabbit.
The rabbit was very heavy now. Lin Qiao found it in the past July and kept it as a source of food. However, she didn't eat it, but kept it until now. The rabbit had become big and fat, yet was nimble. It was mutated, so it was, of course, much bigger than normal rabbits.
It weighed at least ten kilograms now.
What a fat rabbit!
"It has gained some weight. Ling Ling, what did you feed it with?" Lin Qiao weighed the rabbit with her hand and pet it with her other hand, feeling the soft, fluffy fur against her palm.
Ling Ling soon turned her eyes to the rabbit.
It was a good thing that Ling Ling was still sitting by the bedside quietly when Lin Qiao got into the room. Lin Qiao felt that things would be a lot better if Viney was there. She didn't really know how to make kids happy, but Viney was good at it.
She carried the rabbit and slowly moved to the end of Ling Ling's bed, then put the rabbit on the bed. Then, she took some fresh vegetable leaves out of her space to feed it.
The rabbit held the leaves with its pair of forepaws and began eating with a great appetite.
Wu Yueling was distracted by the rabbit and began watching it eat.
Outside, Duan Juan and Xiao Licheng were quietly looking into the room through the window. Seeing that Wu Yueling made no strong reaction when Lin Qiao went in, they both sighed with relief. Then, they glanced at each other and stepped away from the window together.
"Ling Ling is fine with Miss Lu staying in the room. She really likes Miss Lu," Xiao Licheng sat down on the chair in the hallway. He wondered what Miss Lu did to Ling Ling back when she took the girl away from her father. Why did the little girl like her so much? The girl was much closer with her than with Meng Yue, who kept her company the whole time.
Duan Juan folded her arms and leaned against the wall, glancing down at Xiao Licheng and staying silent. At that moment, Lin Hao came over and saw the two of them by the door.
He walked to the window and looked inside, sensing the good atmosphere in the room, then turned to say to the two, "I guess Ling Ling is only willing to let those two get into her room. I wonder if Chief can convince her to come out."
"Do we need her to come out?" Duan Juan looked at him and asked, "Isn't she willing to come out?"
Lin Hao nodded and said, "We need to think of a way to let her go home. Not even Chief Wu can bring her out of this room. She gets emotional once she leaves the room."
"Why didn't he bring her out while she's sleeping?" Duan Juan didn't understand.
Lin Hao shook his head and said, "That won't work. If she woke up to find herself in a completely strange place, her fear would be triggered. That would only worsen her condition. The best way is to bring her out when she's awake. She needs to adapt to the environment step by step."
"Ah, I see…" Duan Juan said, "That's pretty troublesome…" While speaking, she turned to look into the window.
Lin Hao shrugged and responded, "Mental problems are troublesome. They can be triggered by any external factor at any time."
The other two nodded in agreement.
"In fact, Miss Lu could make a perfect mother for Ling Ling. Sadly, our Chief still hasn't won her heart," Xiao Licheng said regrettably.
On hearing that, Lin Qiao and Duan Juan both fell into silence with a slight frown. They both clearly knew about Lin Qiao's past, especially Duan Juan, who used to be in her squad.
In fact, they both felt that the atmosphere between Lin Qiao and Wu Chengyue had become different from before in the recent few days. However, because of what happened to her in the past, Lin Qiao wouldn't easily open herself up, not even if she had truly fallen for him.