Chapter 68: The System's Backer Arrives to Settle Scores

Although Regiment Commander Lin knew that the old uncle before him was furious because of the child's illness, the question he asked filled him with shame.

Regiment Commander Lin lowered his head and explained with a trace of remorse, "Uncle, letting the secret agent break free was our dereliction of duty. The two soldiers lacked vigilance, and they have already been sent back to write self-criticisms and are confined! As for using the child as bait..."

Regiment Commander Lin paused, finding some things difficult to explain too bluntly. He could only say, "Earlier, when we were apprehending other traffickers, those traffickers blended in with the local residents. As a result, the wrong person was accused, and some townspeople even thought we had wronged an innocent person and protected those hypocritical individuals. To prevent a recurrence..."

Jiang Zhuguo raised his hand to stop him. Having just seen Xiaxia lying on the bed, his heart ached terribly. The moment the question left his lips, he knew he had overstepped. Calming down immediately, he cut off Regiment Commander Lin's explanation: "Matters concerning organizational secrets do not need to be shared with a common citizen like me! I only want to tell Regiment Commander Lin that this child is fated with our family. Although adopted, we treat her as our own biological granddaughter. I don't want anyone giving her the cold shoulder because of this!"

Regiment Commander Lin quickly explained, "No, no, absolutely not!"

Jiang Zhuguo said no more. "Thank you for your trouble regarding the child today!"

With that, he turned and walked toward the ward.

As soon as he reached the doorway, Jiang Zhuguo saw his youngest son standing there with a look of guilt.

Jiang Zhuguo sighed, took a few steps forward, walked up behind him, and kicked him squarely.

With that single kick, the man was sent stumbling directly into the ward.

Jiang Xiaxia, still in a deep sleep, did not sit up with her usual alertness.

Jiang Zhuguo looked at his son, who kept his head bowed, and clicked his tongue. Before he could speak, he heard his old wife chime in, "This is not your fault!"

Jiang Jing's lips moved, but before he could speak, Jiang Hua continued, "The fault is ours. Knowing full well that you have no children and don't know how to communicate with them, we still entrusted Xiaxia to your care. That was our dereliction of duty!"

Jiang Zhuguo let out a cold snort. "What? Did we not raise him back then, so he has no memory of it? When he was little and asked us questions, if we thought something wasn't right, we just brushed him off. If he wasn't happy, we told him that acting like that would ruin the reputation of the Jiang family?"

Jiang Jing was so scolded by his parents that he couldn't lift his head. "Dad, Mom, I was wrong! I messed this up!"

Jiang Zhuguo sneered, "You didn't do anything wrong. You, Squad Leader Jiang, treat everyone equally. A child not even ten years old is just a soldier in your eyes. You were merely commanding troops, how could you be wrong?"

Jiang Hua frowned and looked at Jiang Zhuguo with displeasure. "Keep your voice down! Don't wake Xiaxia!"

Jiang Zhuguo pressed his lips together and said no more.

The room had barely been quiet for a few seconds when a weak yet exceptionally heartwarming voice sounded, "Uncle, right! Xiaxia wrong!"

The moment she saw the little girl wake up, Jiang Hua hurried forward and looked at her anxiously. "Xiaxia?"

"Grandma!"

Jiang Xiaxia now felt that her body wasn't burning quite as fiercely, but the system inside her head was clanking and whirring as if it had reverted to the system of this era.

The little girl pouted aggrievedly. "Hurts!"

Turns out being a human is so terrifying; when you get sick, your head hurts and your throat hurts.

"It won't hurt once the fever breaks!" Jiang Hua stroked the little girl's still-warm head with heartache. "When Xiaxia gets well, Grandma will take you to eat big meat buns, okay?"

"Grandpa will take you too!" Seeing the little girl wake up and noticing that she only spoke to his wife and ignored him, Jiang Zhuguo hastily chimed in.

Jiang Xiaxia turned her sore neck with difficulty and looked at her grandfather. "Grandpa, sick, go see!"

Jiang Zhuguo's eyes instantly turned red. He reached out, wanting to stroke Jiang Xiaxia's head, but worried that his rough hands might hurt the child, he quickly said, "Grandpa isn't sick, I just choked on something a second ago!"

"Go, see, sick, uncomfortably!" Although Jiang Xiaxia was extremely weak and her voice lacked any strength, she still stubbornly persisted, staring straight and earnestly at Jiang Zhuguo.

Jiang Zhuguo felt a sour ache in his heart, and tears welled up in his eyes.

The child was suffering so much, yet she still remembered that he had just coughed.

"I'll go! Grandpa will go in a little while!" Jiang Zhuguo looked at the little girl with a reassuring expression.

Only then did Jiang Xiaxia look away, this time turning her gaze to Jiang Jing.

When she first passed out earlier, she had vaguely heard her grandparents say that Xialin and Lin Shengwen were also sick.

She knew it was her fault for causing the two human pups to fall ill.

In the end times, people like this would be driven out of the base.

Yet her uncle hadn't been angry. When her fever was so high it felt like her system was about to crash, he had held her tight without minding that she was all dirty and grimy.

"Uncle, Xiaxia was wrong!" Jiang Xiaxia looked at Jiang Jing, her eyes filled with unease and guilt. "Sorry! Don't, be angry!"

Jiang Jing stepped forward with reddened eyes, wanting to reach out, but remembering how burning hot the little girl had felt in his arms earlier, he pulled his hand back.

However, the tiny, thin hand lifted up right at that moment.

Seeing this, Jiang Hua made way, looked at Jiang Zhuguo, and said, "I'll accompany you to see the doctor. Third, stay here and take care of her!"

Jiang Zhuguo didn't want to leave, but seeing his wife's expression, he nodded. Before leaving, however, he didn't forget to give Jiang Jing a warning glare.

Out in the corridor, Jiang Zhuguo consoled his wife, "From what I can tell, Xiaxia isn't really angry with the third boy! And the third boy truly knows he was wrong."

Jiang Hua sighed, "But if the two of them keep interacting the way they do, tonight's incident is bound to happen again!"

Two toddlers bringing a sleeping toddler along on a journey by themselves in the middle of the night—anyone who heard of it would be frightened weak at the knees.

Fortunately, they didn't run into any other bad people along the way, otherwise wouldn't those three children have been eaten down to their bones?

"Let them have a good talk!" Jiang Hua thought for a moment, looked at Jiang Zhuguo, and said, "Still, Xiaxia really needs to start reading some books!"

Jiang Zhuguo nodded, his mind beginning to ponder the matter of sending the child to school.

Inside the ward, Jiang Jing held Jiang Xiaxia's tiny hand and lowered his voice. "It was Uncle's fault. Uncle knew you wanted to support Grandma and really wanted those banknotes, so Uncle shouldn't have forced you to return them! Uncle apologizes to you! Making our Xiaxia do so much work without getting any reward!"

Ah, talking about money!

A spark of color returned to Jiang Xiaxia's eyes, and her weak voice gained a bit of strength. "Then, will you give it back to me?"

Jiang Jing: "..."

The moment money was mentioned, it seemed even more effective than a fever-reducing injection!

"That money has already been turned in, so we certainly can't get it back! But since Xiaxia helped us do a good deed, Uncle will give you a reward!" As Jiang Jing spoke, he pulled three large-denomination banknotes from his pocket and handed them to her. "This is Uncle's reward for you!"

Jiang Xiaxia knitted her little brows and looked pitifully at her uncle. "Uncle's, is Grandma's!"

Three seconds later: "Grandma's money given to Grandma?"

What kind of reward was this? Wasn't this just taking Grandma's money to feed Grandma?

Did Uncle think her fever had made her stupid? She couldn't even figure this out?

*(The system, fiercely holding a brick, glared at the trembling author who was hugging a keyboard: They! Click! To urge for chapters!)*
*(The cowardly cat, curling into a ball and daring not let baby Xia worry her head further: I'll write, I'll write, they want more chapters so I'll write, writing like crazy, keep those bricks... far away from me!)*
*(Baby Xia, holding a brick with dissatisfaction, approached the cowardly author with a stern little face: You had typos, apologize!)*
*(The cowardly author prostrated in a grand kowtow to everyone and apologized: I'm sorry, it's all the author's fault! It's all the cowardly cat's fault! I'm sorry! Repenting~~~~)*