latelenovela Chapter 367 The Beloved Little Sister 2
Chapter 367 The Beloved Little Sister 2
"What temperature?" Fang Youheng's voice came from behind, as steady as a rock.
Ji Xiaosong's fingers lingered on Bai Xiaotian's burning forehead for two seconds, suppressing her panic: "At least 39 degrees Celsius, he has a high fever."
She turned and rummaged through the medicine box, her movements quick and ruthless, the bottles and jars rattling loudly: "We ran out of fever reducers last week, the community hospital only sees emergency patients now, and..."
“Besides, we’re in a close contact unit, we can’t get out.” Fang Youheng continued, already taking out his phone to dial, “Jiayi, bring the electronic thermometer and children’s fever reducer from the right drawer of my study to room 2002. Quickly.”
An impatient girl answered the phone.
Ji Xiaosong was stunned for a moment: "Your daughter is home alone?"
“He’s twelve years old, he can take care of himself.” Fang Youheng hung up the phone, squatted down to check Bai Xiaotian’s condition, “Let’s try to lower his temperature with physical methods first. Do you have a towel?”
"Yes." Ji Xiaosong rushed into the bathroom, grabbed two towels, soaked them in cold water, and when she came back, she found that Fang Youheng had already taken off his protective suit and was wiping Bai Xiaotian's palms with alcohol wipes.
"You know medicine?" She wrung out a towel and placed it on her son's forehead.
“I don’t understand.” Fang Youheng said without looking up. “But I have written programs to predict the transmission routes of influenza in children and have read hundreds of case reports.”
Ji Xiaosong almost burst out laughing. This answer was so "Fang Youheng's" style. He had done the same thing when he rejected her proposal three years ago, crushing all emotional creativity with data.
Doorbell rang.
A girl with a messy ponytail stood outside the door, clutching a medicine box in her hand, but her eyes were fixed on Ji Xiaosong's live stream lighting.
"My dad said I needed this." The girl handed the medicine to Ji Xiaosong, her gaze sweeping over the phone tripod in the living room. "You're that 'Grumpy Mom Sister Song' from Douyin?"
Ji Xiaosong raised an eyebrow: "You know me?"
“We shared your video in our class group chat, ‘How to educate naughty kids using hot pot broth.’” The girl suddenly grinned. “My mom used to do that too.”
The air froze for a second.
Fang Youheng coughed and said, "Jiayi, go back to class first."
“Anyway, I pointed the camera at the ceiling.” Fang Jiayi shrugged, but leaned closer to observe Bai Xiaotian. “His face is so red, just like when I had the flu last year.”
Ji Xiaosong quickly opened the medicine box and found it was imported fever reducer: "This medicine is hard to buy now, you..."
"I stocked up on three boxes." Fang Youheng had already adjusted the dosage. "This was part of the risk contingency plan we made when the epidemic first broke out last year."
He helped Bai Xiaotian up from behind, his movements as practiced as if he were always taking care of a patient.
After taking the medicine, the boy groggily opened his eyes: "Mom... I dreamed about Ultraman..."
"Ultraman my ass!" Ji Xiaosong pinched his nose. "I told you not to stay up all night playing games!"
Fang Jiayi burst out laughing: "Your mom is even fiercer than your homeroom teacher."
With two adults flanking the child, the living room suddenly fell silent.
Ji Xiaosong then noticed that Fang Youheng's hoodie sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, revealing a long scar on his forearm.
"Work injury?" she pointed.
"I got burned while fighting a fire in the company lab two years ago, when I was trying to salvage server data." Fang Youheng said casually, "It was from the fire."
Ji Xiaosong was stunned.
She remembered the incident: a fire broke out at the Core Technologies lab, and an engineer rushed into the flames to save the core database; it was even reported in the news.
She was complaining to her colleagues at the advertising company at the time: "Code is more important than life? What kind of thought process do STEM guys have..."
The man is now sitting on her sofa, applying water to her son's chapped lips with a cotton swab.
"Thermometer." Fang Youheng reached out, and Ji Xiaosong quickly handed it to him. The electronic screen displayed: 39.8°C.
“You need to go to the hospital.” He frowned. “This temperature lasting for more than two hours could trigger febrile seizures.”
"We can't go out now." Ji Xiaosong clenched her fists. "Community regulations stipulate that residents in close contact units must stay indoors, and even ambulances require multiple layers of approval..."
She suddenly grabbed her phone and dialed a number: "Old Chen, my son has a high fever of 39.8 degrees Celsius. Can you get him a travel permit?... Yes, it's that old classmate from the epidemic prevention command center... I know you need a nucleic acid test report, could you please..."
"No need." Fang Youheng pressed down on her wrist. "I have a way."
He opened WeChat, brought up a chat window named "Emergency Protocol," and sent a piece of code that Ji Xiaosong couldn't understand.
Five minutes later, the other party replied: [Temporary medical pass authorized, valid for 2 hours, license plate number Hai A*****]
"You hacked the epidemic prevention system?" Ji Xiaosong's eyes widened.
“A legitimate interface.” Fang Youheng’s lips curled slightly. “It’s a backdoor I left for the contact tracing system I developed for the higher-ups last year. Of course, it was reported to the authorities. It can only be used this once; we can’t say what will happen next.”
He got up and put on his protective suit: "My car is in the underground parking lot. You hold the child, and I'll explain to the checkpoint staff."
Ji Xiaosong wrapped Bai Xiaotian in a blanket, then suddenly remembered something: "What about Jiayi?"
"She can..."
"I can do whatever I want!" Fang Jiayi, who had been silent all along, suddenly burst out. "Last time my mom had a fever, you also said 'I can take care of myself,' and what happened? She..."
The girl's voice stopped abruptly, her eyes red-rimmed.
Fang Youheng froze on the spot, his protective mask instantly covered in white mist.
Ji Xiaosong made a quick decision: "Jiayi will come with us. She can take online classes in the car."
She grabbed the keys and handed them to the girl, saying, "You're in charge of using my phone to film a vlog. The title will be 'A Single Mom's Adventure During the Pandemic,' it's sure to go viral."
Fang Jiayi blinked, tears still clinging to her eyelashes: "Really?"
“Really.” Ji Xiaosong had already rushed towards the elevator with the child in her arms. “Your dad goes into the system, I go through the challenges, and you record everything. We call this ‘digital extreme rescue’.”
Fang Youheng stared at her retreating figure, his eyes behind his goggles widening slightly.
*
The underground parking garage was as cold as an icebox.
Fang Youheng's black car was parked quietly, with a layer of dust on the windows.
"Haven't driven it in six months." He started the car. "Hopefully the battery..."
"Enough talk, let's drive." Ji Xiaosong settled Bai Xiaotian in the back seat, and Fang Jiayi skillfully climbed into the passenger seat, raising her phone to start recording.
As expected, roadblocks were set up at the exit of the residential area.
Staff in protective suits waved to stop him, but Fang Youheng rolled down the car window and showed his electronic pass on his phone.
"There are only two slots available here." The staff member checked the information. "There are three people in the car."
“Rules are rules, but people are flexible.” Ji Xiaosong poked her head out. “If a child has a fever of 40 degrees Celsius, can you bear to watch him wait for approval in the cold wind?”
"No means no..."
"Section Chief Wang, right?" Ji Xiaosong suddenly stared at the other party's name tag. "Our company produced the warm-up video for last year's city's epidemic prevention commendation conference. When you went on stage to receive the award, your pants zipper was undone, so I had the editor Photoshop it all out."
The staff member's expression changed drastically: "You are...?"
"Can we let them through now?" Ji Xiaosong smiled. "Or should I do a live stream on Douyin about 'epidemic prevention workers making things difficult for children with high fevers'? Two million fans are waiting to see it."
The railing was raised.
As the car drove away, Fang Youheng whispered, "You're lying. His pants weren't even..."
"The first rule of workplace survival," Ji Xiaosong said as she changed the ice pack on her son's arm. "The truth isn't important; what matters is what the other party believes."
In the rearview mirror, Fang Youheng's eyebrows were raised high.
*
There were long queues at the fever clinic of the children's hospital.
The nucleic acid test results take four hours to arrive, and the emergency room doctors are extremely busy.
Ji Xiaosong settled Bai Xiaotian in the waiting area, then turned and stopped a nurse: "Excuse me..."
"Queue up! Can't you see how many people are here?" The nurse hurried past without even looking up.
Ji Xiaosong narrowed her eyes, suddenly pulled out a makeup mirror and lipstick from her bag, quickly applied a bright red lipstick, and then messed up her hair.
"Watch this." She winked at Fang Youheng, then rushed into the examination room. "Doctor! My son is having a seizure!"
The entire consultation room fell silent instantly.
The on-duty doctor jumped up: "Bring him in!"
Five minutes later, Bai Xiaotian was already lying on the treatment bed undergoing examination.
Ji Xiaosong leaned against the wall and gave Fang Youheng a V-sign.
"Do you...do this often?" Fang Youheng asked in a low voice.
"An essential skill for single mothers." She took out a disinfectant wipe to wipe off her lipstick. "That's how I got a spot in kindergarten last time."
*
The doctor diagnosed it as the common flu, but he needs to stay under observation.
When the nurse came to draw blood, Bai Xiaotian cried his heart out. Fang Youheng suddenly pulled a USB drive out of his pocket: "Look at this."
When the USB drive was plugged into the diagnostic screen, a pixelated game interface popped up.
Bai Xiaotian looked over, sobbing, and discovered it was the hospital mod for Minecraft.
"You can have your blood drawn while you play," Fang Youheng said, handing him the phone. "You can control the little figure to walk to the pharmacy so it won't hurt."
The boy proceeded with the procedure with some skepticism, but surprisingly, he didn't cry when the needle was inserted.
Ji Xiaosong stared in disbelief: "What kind of cutting-edge technology is this?"
“Attention shifting algorithm.” Fang Youheng adjusted the game parameters. “I designed it based on the speed of pain nerve conduction… Jiayi was afraid of needles when she was little.”
He didn't take his eyes off the screen as he said this, but Ji Xiaosong noticed that his Adam's apple bobbed slightly.