Fear of food

Chapter 21 Mother
The elevator ascended rapidly, the floor display numbers constantly changing: 10, 11, 12...

The closer Chen Qi got to the 16th floor, the more nervous he felt, like he was "returning home with trepidation."

Ding!
The elevator came to a smooth stop on the 16th floor. Chen Qi walked quickly to the door of apartment 1601 and unlocked the door with his fingerprint.

As soon as he pushed open the door, a gust of wind blew in, making Chen Qi shiver and get goosebumps all over his body.

He tiptoed into the house, closed the door, and stood in the entryway for a while until his eyes adjusted to the darkness before taking off his shoes and walking into the living room.

Taking off your shoes isn't for cleanliness, but to reduce the noise of your footsteps.

Everything in the house was still as he knew it, but for some reason, it seemed to have lost some of its warmth.

The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Chen Qi looked toward the master bedroom and saw that the door was wide open, guessing that no one was home.

My mother always sleeps with the door closed, and early September is when the lingering summer heat is at its peak. In this weather, even if you don't turn on the air conditioner, you at least need to use a fan to sleep.

But Chen Qi did not hear the sound of the fan.

He quietly entered the master bedroom and, sure enough, saw that the bed was empty.

Chen Qi breathed a sigh of relief: "Looks like Mom went out to look for me."

He relaxed completely, his steps became casual, and he quickly walked to his room.

"The backup machine should be in the desk drawer..."

Chen Qi went straight to the desk, and just as he was about to open the drawer, he suddenly felt that something was wrong.

Out of the corner of my eye, I seemed to catch a glimpse of a dark shadow...

He turned his head to look at his bed, and his eyes met a pair of eyes!
Chen Qi's heart jumped into his throat, and in an instant, cold sweat soaked his entire body!
Even after he clearly saw the person on the bed, the horror in his heart did not subside. He opened his mouth, his voice dry, and asked:
"Mom, why are you here?"

Before his mother could answer, Chen Qi took a few steps back, pressed the switch, and turned on the room light.

The glaring light made him squint instinctively, but his mother, Zhang Qin, seemed completely unaffected by the sudden change in light and kept her eyes open.

“I’m waiting for you to come home,” the mother said softly. “Dr. Zhao called me.”

Chen Qi was filled with doubt and suspicion; his mother's behavior seemed rather abnormal.

She appeared too calm.

By the light of the lamp, Chen Qi carefully examined his mother, as if trying to find something unusual about her.

However, at least on the surface, the mother seemed to be doing as usual.

Chen Qi took a deep breath and asked, "Mom, are you going to send me back to the hospital?"

Instead of answering directly, his mother looked Chen Qi up and down several times before smiling and saying, "Not bad, you've gained weight."

She stood up and walked to Chen Qi, tilted her head back and cupped his face in her hands, as if trying to squeeze flesh out of his thin face, but she failed.

“My son has grown up. Without realizing it, he’s already so much taller than his mother.”

Chen Qi's stiff body relaxed slightly. When he was a child, his mother always liked to pinch his chubby little face. In his mother's heart, he probably never grew up.

The mother put down her hand and sighed softly, "What I did before was indeed problematic. You are an adult now and have your own ideas. I should respect your opinion."

Chen Qi was slightly stunned, as if he could see his enlightened and reasonable mother from the past returning.

He asked, "What about the hospital..."

“If you don’t want to go, then you don’t have to,” the mother said readily. “If the child is homesick, what mother would bear to send him away?”

"But we have a deal, you have to eat well. If I find out you've lost weight again, I'll have to send you back."

Chen Qixin happily grabbed his mother's hand: "Mom still loves me the most!"

"Alright, your dad'll get jealous if he hears this." Zhang Qin smiled and pushed Chen Qi away. "Are you hungry? There are still dumplings at home, do you want Mom to make some for you?" "No need, I've already eaten a full meal tonight."

"Okay, then you should get some rest. It's getting late, and Mom needs to go to sleep too."

As he watched his mother leave the room, the smile on Chen Qi's face gradually faded.

My mother was surprisingly easy to talk to, as if nothing was wrong with her, just like always.

But, is it really so?
Am I overthinking it?

Chen Qi remained uneasy.

He opened the backpack he had brought back, looked at the wild foods inside, his eyes flickered, and then, as if he had made up his mind, he took out a sponge cake.

Only half a day had passed since he ate the jianbing guozi, and he did not feel hungry at all.

However, he still took a bite out of half of the sponge cake!
As Chen Qi chewed, he walked to the door, his gaze fixed firmly on the direction of his mother's room.

"If there's something wrong with my mom, how could she not remain indifferent when I eat wild food?"

Will there be any reaction?

Chen Qi held his breath and even slowed down his chewing.

But even after he had chewed slowly and swallowed the whole egg cake, there was no sound from his mother's room.

Chen Qi's tense nerves relaxed a little.

"I hope I'm just overthinking it."

Just as Chen Qi breathed a sigh of relief, a loud knocking sound came from the front door!

Chen Qi's gaze sharpened, and he quickly stuffed the remaining half of the sponge cake into his mouth and swallowed it whole.

The knocking stopped abruptly.

"Are these the neighbors, attracted to protect their food?"

"It seems that the food protection mechanisms of wild foods are still effective outside of hospitals."

"So... it wasn't just the hospital staff who had the problem."

"Then why was Mom spared?"

At this moment, the mother, Zhang Qin, also came out of the room and said nervously, "Why is someone knocking on the door so late?"

She called out towards the front door, "Who is it!"

No one answered.

Zhang Qin turned on the light in the entryway, went to the front of the security door, and looked out through the peephole.

He muttered to himself, "Who on earth is so rude..."

She turned to Chen Qi and warned him, "I didn't see anyone. They might be up to no good. Don't go out tonight."

But Chen Qi's eyes were wide open, and his hands hung limply at his sides, as if he had seen a ghost.

"You child, why do you look like you've lost your soul?"

Zhang Qin turned around and locked the security door. When her back was to Chen Qi, the hair on the back of her head was parted, revealing a pale face!
It was like the face of a dead person, devoid of color, with eyes tightly closed and lips pressed together, making it impossible to discern gender.

But when Chen Qi looked at that face, he saw his eyelids tremble and slowly open.

A pair of lifeless eyes appeared, and when Chen Qi met their gaze, it was as if he had sunk into an icy pool, and his whole body went cold.

As if sensing Chen Qi's gaze, the man's lips curled into a slight smile, revealing a strange expression to Chen Qi.

Chen Qi felt as if his spine had been removed, his body went limp, and he leaned weakly against the wall behind him, his heart turning ice-cold!
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(End of this chapter)