Li Yunlan was alarmed. “Who’s hurt? What happened?”

Zhou Xiaoling had Lin Zihao set her down gently on the sofa. A sharp twinge shot through her back, making her grimace. After catching her breath, she gave her mother a rough account of the incident.

By the end, Li Yunlan was furious. “How dare they! Spreading such vile lies—how utterly malicious!”

She grew angrier the more she thought about it. “Who are those two? I’m going to give them a piece of my mind!”

Wincing, Zhou Xiaoling quickly held her back. “Mom, it’s alright—we didn’t exactly lose out. One of them is still in emergency care, the other had his leg broken when big brother threw him. Second Brother is at the hospital handling it.”

Then she sighed in frustration. “I just panicked in the moment. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have let myself get hit.”

Lin Xiaoxiao had also found it strange—Zhou Xiaoling was usually quite capable in a fight. But now it made sense: her only thought had been to protect Lin Zihao. She hadn’t been thinking about defending herself.

Li Yunlan was still worried about her daughter. “Is the injury serious? Do you need to be hospitalized?”

Zhou Xiaoling shook her head quickly. “No, no, it’s not that bad. The doctor said it’s just superficial. I’ll be fine after resting at home for a few days.”

Lin Xiaoxiao had another concern. She turned to Zhou Hua’an. “Have the families of those two men shown up? Are they going to be difficult?”

Zhou Huai’an nodded. “They’re there. It could get complicated.”

In fact, it was because the families seemed troublesome that Zhou Xiaocheng had insisted he bring Lin Zihao and Zhou Xiaoling home, while he stayed behind to deal with the situation.

Li Yunlan felt they were clearly in the right. “Why should it be complicated? They started it! We haven’t even confronted them about Xiaoling’s injury yet!”

If anyone should be asking for compensation, it was them.

Lin Xiaoxiao gently tried to calm her. “Mom, it’s not that simple. The main problem is that one of them is still fighting for his life. If he dies, this becomes a homicide case, not just a street fight.”

Li Yunlan fell silent. She hadn’t considered that. She looked anxiously at Zhou Hua’an. “He… he isn’t really going to die, is he?”

Zhou Huai’an shook his head. “It’s too early to tell. We’ll know more tomorrow. But don’t worry—Xiaocheng can handle things there. You should all get some rest.”

Lin Xiaoxiao picked up An’an, who had fallen asleep on another sofa, and followed Zhou Huai’anupstairs.

Li Yunlan helped Zhou Xiaoling up to her room, sighing softly. “Why did this have to happen now? Your father and grandfather are both out of town and won’t be back until New Year’s Day.”

Zhou Xiaoling managed a weak smile. “It’s alright. If he dies, worst case, they’ll arrest me.”

“Don’t talk like that!” Li Yunlan scolded gently. “You foolish child.”

Seeing everyone head upstairs without him, Lin Zihao quietly followed Zhou Xiaoling.

Li Yunlan only noticed him at the bedroom door. “Zihao, wait downstairs for a bit, alright? I’ll cook you some noodles—you haven’t had dinner yet. Uncle Zhou isn’t home tonight, so you’ll have to sleep alone, okay?”

Lin Zihao shook his head without hesitation. “No. I want to stay with Sister. I can take care of her.”

He knew Zhou Xiaoling had been hurt protecting him, and now he was even more devoted to her.

Seeing the earnest, slightly lost look in his eyes, Zhou Xiaoling couldn’t refuse. “Mom, he had a real scare today. Let him stay in my room tonight—he can sleep on the floor.”

Li Yunlan disagreed. He was still a man, and even if he were her cousin, it wasn’t proper for them to share a room.

Before she could say anything, Zhou Huai’anemerged from his room. He walked over, took Lin Zihao firmly by the arm, and said, “Come on. Downstairs. You’ll sleep in my room tonight.”

Lin Zihao didn’t dare argue. He obediently followed Zhou Huai’andown.

“Don’t be too hard on him, Big Brother,” Zhou Xiaoling called after them. “He was terrified last night too.”

At the hospital, Zhou Xiaocheng was dealing with Li Chunhua’s and Wei Guoqiang’s parents.

Wei’s mother was crying hysterically. “If anything happens to my son, I won’t live either! I’ll call the police! They should be arrested! They should pay with their lives!”

Zhou Xiaocheng remained calm. “There’s no need to be so upset yet. The doctors are doing everything they can. You’re free to contact the police, of course. But until the investigation is complete, we can’t be sure who bears greater responsibility.”

“What investigation?” she wailed. “The ones who beat him are responsible! How can you say they might be right?”

Zhou Xiaocheng waited for her sobs to subside slightly. “Li Chunhua has already given a detailed account of how he was injured, and what happened tonight. The doctors and police were present. I believe you’ve heard the sequence of events.”

Wei’s mother paused, wiping her tears. She had indeed heard the story—from Li Chunhua himself, in front of the police. Part of her was annoyed at the boy for being so honest.

But after a brief silence, she started wailing again. “Fine, we said the wrong things first! But that doesn’t mean you can beat someone half to death!”

Zhou Xiaocheng let her cry. Li Chunhua’s parents were also making a scene, arguing that a few harsh words didn’t justify such a violent response.

Eventually, Zhou Xiaocheng stopped explaining. This case wouldn’t even land on his desk anyway. He was only here to discuss compensation on behalf of Zhou Xiaoling and Lin Zihao.

It was true that injuring someone was wrong, and compensation was due. But they had also slandered Zhou Xiaoling, and for that, an apology was necessary.

If they refused to talk reasonably and wanted to make a bigger scene, he was prepared to wait.

Worried about Zhou Xiaoling’s injury and the potential legal trouble, Lin Xiaoxiao decided to take a day off to see how things unfolded.

The next morning, Zhou Xiaoling woke up feeling even more pain in her back. She could only move slowly, careful not to make any sudden movements that might pull the injured area.

As she made her way gingerly downstairs, she found Lin Zihao waiting at the foot of the stairs, his face full of guilt and anxiety. Watching her slow, painful descent, he flinched each time she sucked in a sharp breath.

“I’m sorry, Sister,” he blurted out. “I won’t ever run away again.”

He hadn’t slept well, tormented by the memory of Zhou Xiaoling taking a blow meant for him. It was a feeling he couldn’t put into words—a sharp, cutting pain in his heart.

Zhou Xiaoling couldn’t help but smile at his earnest, simple expression. There was something genuinely endearing about his sincerity.

Standing two steps above him, she reached out and patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. Just promise you won’t run off again.”

Lin Zihao nodded obediently. “I won’t, Sister. I promise.”