Ning Zhi quickly put down her chopsticks and reached out to Lu Jue.
Lu Jue pushed her away and, unprepared, she felt a few steps backward.
Ning Zhi was baffled.
Lu Jue had always been quiet and docile. But it was difficult for him to control himself when he had one of his episodes.
"Wuuu…" Ye Zhigao, sitting across from him, stared to cry. "I'm scared."
Song Ruo quickly put her arms around her son's head so he wouldn't be able to see Lu Jue during his episode.
Mother Lu's eyes reddened. She wanted to have the servants to go and force stop Lu Jue from banging his head against the table.
Ning Zhi went up to Lu Jue again and put her hand in front of him. "Lu Jue, I almost fell onto the ground when you pushed me."
Lu Jue stopped.
"But I know you didn't do it on purpose." Ning Zhi touched Lu Jue's forehead. It was already bright red in color.
Lu Jue's eyes lowered and he said all of a sudden, "Bleeding."
Huh?
Ning Zhi looked down. She had stepped on the broken fragments and her foot was now bleeding.
Lu Jue held Ning Zhi's hand and he repeated. "Bleeding."
Ning Zhi, "That's right. I am bleeding. Can you accompany me into the bedroom to put some medication over it?"
Lu Jue stood up. "Sure. Go."
Mother Gu quickly had someone brought some medication upstairs.
Inside the room, Ning Zhi carefully applied the medication. She never liked pain. All of her attention was on Lu Jue earlier so it was just now that she started feeling the cut.
Lu Jue stood in front of her in a daze. Watching Ning Zhi carefully cleaning her wound, he said, "Sorry."
Ning Zhi looked up in surprise.
Lu Jue's eye lips fluttered as he looked down, as though he was feeling bad.
The dining room table had already been cleaned up. Ye Zhigao, crying from being frightened, was taken home by Song Ruo.
Ning Zhi saw Mother Lu sitting on the couch with reddened eyes when she went downstairs.
"How's Xiao Jue doing?" Mother Lu still looked worried.
Ning Zhi sat down next to her. "He's alright. He's now reading in the study."
Mother Lu nodded. What she said next, however, made one's heart ached. "Ever since he was a child, I have always been worried. When he was a child, he rolled down the stairs one time without the teachers noticing. He suffered a few fractured ribs from that fall."
She looked at Ning Zhi and carried on. "A normal child would start bawling but Xiao Jue didn't make a sound. It was until he was running a fever that night and was taken to the hospital did I learn about that."
Some autistic patients cannot feel pain. That is because their cerebral cortex are not able to receive the signals.
It is dangerous for a person to not be able to feel pain.
Ning Zhi listened to Mother Lu quietly.
"Ever since he had rolled off the stairs, he resented being touched even more. Normal children will be coquettish to their parents but Xiao Jue only likes to sit around and zone out on his own. He is unlike a normal child who enjoys being around their parents…"
Ning Zhi could picture little Lu Jue sitting in a corner by himself.
Mother Lu's voice was filled with self-blame. "It was my fault. I didn't have enough people around watching out for Xiao Jue. Ever since the kidnapping, Xiao Jue had become quieter and withdrawn completely. Now he loses control of himself easily whenever he is stimulated or if there is anything out of the ordinary."
When they brought Lu Jue home, he was covered in bruises and injuries.
Mother Lu couldn't imagine how he was tortured by the bad guys.
It was getting late in the night.
After talking to Mother Lu, Lu Jue had already showered when Ning Zhi returned to the bedroom, still in his bright red pajama.
His bangs were wet and stuck to his forehead. He seemed docile and his delicate brows and eyes looked a little childish.
Ning Zhi walked over to the bed and then laid down on it.
Lu Jue kept his mouth shut and looked at her without making a sound, obviously still didn't like her sleeping in his bed.
"I'm injured." Ning Zhi lifted her foot with the band-aid. "I want to sleep in the bed."
After a long while, there was no black cloud with lighting appearing in his indicator.
Pleased, Ning Zhi pulled her let back.
Lu Jue ignored Ning Zhi, laid down straight in bed, and closed his eyes.
Ning Zhi did not fall asleep right away. She asked Overlord, "You mentioned before that Lu Jue's autism can be cured. Is that true?"
Overlord: [Host, I do not lie.]
"How will we cure him?"
The frequency of Lu Jue's episodes had been increasing. At this rate, it would become more and more difficult to collect little suns. As a matter of fact, he just might hurt himself to a point that he would die from self-inflicted injuries before she was able to collect enough little suns.
After all, Lu Jue died from self-inflicted injury in the novel.
Overlord: [There is a reason why Lu Jue's autism is getting worse. You will be able to cure him using the little suns.]
Ning Zhi hesitated, "I have to use the little suns to save Lu Jue?"
[That's correct. You have one little sun right now. Do you want to use it to help Lu Jue or to get back 1% of your halo?]
Ning Zhi turned her head and looked at Lu Jue, whose eyes were shut tightly. "I choose Lu Jue."
As soon as she finished saying that, it went dark in front of her.
When she opened up her eyes again, Ning Zhi found herself standing inside the living room.
Wasn't she lying in bed just a moment ago? Did Overland have the ability to move her to a different location instantly?
Mother Lu walked over. She had on a delicate dress and she looked young.
"Mom." Ning Zhi greeted her but Mother Lu walked right passed her as though she couldn't see her.
Ning Zhi called out to her again and, once again, gotten no response.
Mother Lu walked over to the stairs and bent down. That was when Ning Zhi noticed a little boy sitting next to the stairs and quietly putting together a puzzle on the floor.
"Would you like Mommy to pick you up?" Mother Lu reached over and picked the child up.
Ning Zhi was shocked.
That was Lu Jue. No, that was Lu Jue when he was young!