Rebirth: A Cinderella's Counterattack

"Mom, I was wrong, please don't cry anymore, I failed to protect Qianqian, it's okay to hit me or scold me, but can you please not scold her when Qianqian wakes up? Qianqian must be terrified, I can go and apologize to those people, but you can't scold Qianqian, she is a good kid," Luo Shufan's apology came in stutters, reaching Luo Qianqian's ears. It seemed mom was there too. This must be a big trouble.

"Mom, cough cough, brother was so brave, he protected me and Xiao Yu, cough cough, he did it all for me, please don't scold him okay, cough cough, otherwise if brother gets mad and doesn't protect me anymore, how wronged I would be," Luo Qianqian struggled to open her eyes. She had no idea how long she had been unconscious, which left her throat a bit dry. It seemed there was a reason people on TV shows always asked for water right after waking up. Luo Qianqian thought aimlessly.

"Get some water for your sister," Luo's Mom, seeing that her daughter was awake, hurried over to support the girl trying to get up, placing a pillow behind her: "How do you feel? Are you in pain anywhere? Is it a headache or something else that's uncomfortable?"

Luo Qianqian shook her head from side to side a few times and flung her arms and legs before slowly shaking her head, "I'm not feeling unwell anywhere. Mom, please don't blame brother, okay? He fought to protect Qianqian. Brother isn't a bad kid, he's a good brother. Without him, Qianqian would have been beaten up much worse."

"Mom, Qianqian just woke up, shouldn't we have her checked again?" Luo Shufan brought half a cup of water over to Luo's Mom, intending to help his sister drink, but their mom took it from him and shook her head.

"You should go to sleep, it's already past one in the morning. We'll talk when it's light out. I can take care of Qianqian. Besides, your godparents said you can go to work at any time, a delay of two or three days won't matter." Luo's Mom helped Luo Qianqian sit up, watching her daughter drink water slowly, and felt a pang of heartache, "Qianqian, do you want to sleep a bit more? It's still nighttime. If you get up, mom will buy you some tofu pudding you like, okay?"

After finishing the water in the cup, Luo Qianqian was free to look outside the window. It was a sky full of stars. Earlier, because the lights were on, she didn't notice whether it was day or night. It seemed she had slept for six or seven hours.

"Mom, sleep with Qianqian, I'm scared." Seeing her brother had already climbed onto the other bed, Luo Qianqian clung to Luo's Mom capriciously. If she didn't sleep with her, Luo's Mom would probably worry all night again. Lying down together even when unable to sleep was still restful.

But she had no idea why her brother was also up so late, nor how Xiao Yu was. She wondered if her godparents would blame her for Xiao Yu getting hurt...

As the night deepened, the three of them entered the dreamland with the cool evening breeze.

"Qianqian! How are you doing?" Before Luo Qianqian had quite woken up, she heard a familiar voice, Xiao Yu's voice. Struggling to open her eyes, she saw that her brother and mom had already cleaned up, the tofu pudding was still covered and placed on the bedside table, and Mr. He was carrying a thermos food container.

"Your godmother was worried you wouldn't have anything good to eat at the hospital, so she made me go buy this chicken early in the morning. Try some." Mr. He, grinning, stepped forward and patted Luo Qianqian on the head, "Xiao Yu worried about you all night and insisted on coming here first thing in the morning. It just so happened I don't have many classes today, so I took the day off. Your godmother was really worried."

"Thank you, godfather, for making you and godmother worry," Luo Qianqian quickly got up to take the thermos food container, then looked at Xiao Yu, who was lying on the edge of the bed with a worried expression, "Xiao Yu are you okay? I was worried all night, afraid that godfather and godmother would be angry and wouldn't let us play together anymore." She then sneakily glanced at Mr. He and stuck out her tongue.

"No way, my dad picked me up yesterday, mom was worried seeing my swollen face, but dad said you hadn't woken up, so then mom started worrying about you too, and if dad hadn't stopped her this morning she would have come as well," He Wenyu pursed her lips, "I had egg custard in the morning, but there's still chicken soup for you."

"Then let's drink it together, this food container is so big. Mom, brother, godfather, let's all have some," Luo Qianqian said as Luo's Mom took out several plastic spoons and placed the chicken soup on the bedside table. Luo Qianqian jumped down from the bed and ran to the restroom to wash up.

While brushing her teeth, she heard a 'crash' sound coming from the room. With a mouthful of toothpaste foam, she pushed the door open only to see the chicken soup brought by He's father and the tofu pudding bought by her mother spilled on the floor, steaming hot.

The familiar duo with rainbow-colored hair appeared in the hospital room, a white-haired youth and a red-haired youth.

"You got my brother arrested, so you at least have to pay us some money, right? At the very least, it has to be this amount!" The red-haired youth swung one hand, then slapped Luo Shufan across the face, "You little brat, you made me suffer half the night yesterday, today you've got to try it too!"

"So you were the one who hit my three children yesterday?" Mr. He, who had been sitting in the corner grinning and waiting for Luo Qianqian to finish washing up so the three kids could have their chicken soup, saw the soup poured on the ground, soup that his wife had gotten up early to simmer and he had not yet had a chance to taste, and was instantly furious.

No wonder the usually non-confrontational Xiao Yu, Qianqian, and Xiao Fan got into a fight; it was indeed very infuriating.

The red-haired youth subconsciously looked towards the source of the voice. Mr. He deliberately flexed his considerable muscles, and the red-haired youth instinctively stepped back two paces, opening his mouth.

The white-haired youth pointed at He's father and said, "What's the point of adults taking on kids' problems! Kids' matters should be less of your concern."

"Mommy, wuwuwu, godfather, wuwuwu, they were the ones who beat up my brother, who beat Xiao Yu, wuwuwu, Qianqian is scared, brother, wuwuwu." Luo Qianqian had a second thought, remembered the police had already intervened, and realized that regardless of age or reason, they were the victims, it was self-defense. Since an adult was stepping in, why trouble herself and be unhappy?

He Wenyu, on the other hand, didn't think that much, just seeing Qianqian cry and rush into Luo's Mom's arms made her do the same and cry as she rushed into Mr. He's arms, genuinely frightened.

"Hey, I go, you didn't cry when you saw blood last night, what are you crying for now? What are you pretending for, what kind of crap is this? Did I even lay a finger on you?" the red-haired youth said as he reached forward to pull on Luo Qianqian.

Luo Shufan, on the sidelines, had already blamed himself all night for not protecting his sister well the day before. How could he let the red-haired youth touch her again? He grabbed the fruit knife Mr. He had used to cut apples for him and his sister and confronted the red-haired youth, "Try touching my sister again and see what happens!"

"You little bastard, don't think just because you have adults backing you up that I wouldn't dare to touch you, holding a fruit knife and trying to scare who?" the red-haired youth said as he tried to snag the fruit knife.

"Hiss..."

With a 'clang', the fruit knife bounced twice on the floor and then stayed still, a streak of red on its blade.

"Brother!" Luo Qianqian didn't bother with pretending to be pitiful or scared anymore and ran to her brother's side to inspect carefully, "Does it hurt? Where are you hurt?!"

Luo's Mom, Mr. He, and He Wenyu also crowded forward, carefully checking every corner of Luo Shufan's body.

"Come on, you're checking on him for injuries I got. What the hell are you gonna find?" the red-haired youth's somewhat frustrated voice came from the side.

Everyone turned back and saw that the red-haired youth was holding his left hand over his right wrist, with his right hand half clenched into a fist.

"Phew, thank goodness my brother is okay. Otherwise, wherever my brother would've been hurt, I would've slashed the same spot on you a hundred times!" Luo Qianqian turned around and pressed the call button above the bed, "This is a hospital, you don't need to worry about dying here. But remember to pay your own medical bills. Why did you even come to the hospital without realizing it costs money? How many primary school students would you have to rob to make up for it?"

"What's happened here?" Luo's Mom turned back, and it was Officer Zhang who had contacted Mr. He and her yesterday.

"Wuwuwu, Officer Uncle, these two bad guys tried to rob us of our money yesterday, and today they came back to extort us. My brother was just eating an apple with a knife and they thought he was threatening them, insisting on snatching it from him, nearly causing my brother to get hurt, wuwuwu. If my brother got hurt, he wouldn't be able to play with me every day." Luo Qianqian hadn't seen the officer since regaining consciousness and was just improvising. She clung to Officer Zhang's leg and started wailing, while Luo Shufan hung his head, pretending it wasn't his sister making that ghastly noise.

"It's you guys again, huh? Since both of you are here, come with me to the station later. You already have multiple charges like robbery, extortion, and group fighting, and now we have to add assault with a deadly weapon to the list. It's not something that can be resolved with a mere fifteen days of detention. The station has already contacted your respective guardians. And by the way, your friends are on the upper floors. Aren't you going to check on them?" Officer Zhang picked up Luo Qianqian, who was wiping her nose on his pants, "Little sister, you were so brave yesterday. How come you've turned into such a crybaby today?"

Luo Qianqian awkwardly wiped the snot and tears that she had improvised on her face, along with some toothpaste foam that had not been cleaned off, "Officer Uncle, they bullied my brother, lock them up, especially that red-haired one who hit my brother. It's not just robbery or extortion, they also threatened and intimidated us, saying that if they see me, they would rape and kill me later. If something ever happened to me later, it would be their doing, and the same goes for my brother and Xiao Yu!"

The red-haired youth, clutching his hand, really had a hard time speaking to express his suffering; why did he foolishly provoke such a scourge?

"Exactly, daddy, what does rape and kill mean? It sounds even scarier than being torn apart by horses." He Wenyu muttered from within Mr. He's embrace.

Officer Zhang saw only the ashen-faced Luo's Mom, a grim Mr. He, and the baffled expressions of Luo Shufan and He Wenyu.