Chapter 709: A Bit Difficult
Noah burrowed into Judith Pierce’s arms. "No, no needles! It hurts, it hurts..."
Judith Pierce held him and said softly, "Don’t be scared, don’t be scared. Aunt Fiona’s needles don’t hurt at all. Didn’t Noah say he’s a big boy? Big boys aren’t afraid of pain, you know."
"Really?" Noah was still a little scared. He looked at the slender silver needle and couldn’t quite muster his courage.
Walker Grant spoke up from the side. "Be a good boy and let Aunt Fiona examine you, and I’ll buy you a toy robot dog."
Noah turned his head to look at him. "A toy robot dog?"
"Yeah, they’re a lot of fun."
Noah looked at Fiona Linton, clenched his little hands into fists, and shut his eyes. "Okay, you can do it now!"
"Pfft..."
Fiona Linton was so amused by the little guy’s expression of grim resolve that she couldn’t help but laugh. She reached out and ruffled his hair. "How can you be so cute? Don’t worry, it won’t hurt at all. My technique is like magic, you’ll see."
Then, taking him by surprise, she inserted the silver needle into an acupoint on Noah’s leg.
After a moment, Noah still hadn’t felt anything. He opened his eyes in confusion. "Hey, it doesn’t hurt."
Fiona Linton twirled the needle, a smile playing on her lips. "Pretty amazing, right?"
"Aunt Fiona, you’re amazing!"
Noah truly didn’t feel any pain, so he wasn’t as scared anymore. Instead, he began to watch her movements intently.
Fiona Linton inserted needles into several more acupoints on his leg, checking each one in turn. Then she discarded all the needles and said, "Alright, all done."
Noah laughed. "It really doesn’t hurt!"
Walker Grant asked, "Want to go play outside?"
Noah looked at him, pleasantly surprised. "Can I? The housekeeper said it’s cold outside."
"Then just bundle up." Walker Grant instructed the housekeeper to take Noah outside for some fresh air.
Once the little one had gone, Judith Pierce couldn’t help but ask, "Fiona, how is it? Can he be cured?"
Fiona Linton’s expression grew serious. "It’s not that my technique is that good," she said. "It’s that he’s truly lost his sense of pain."
Those movements she made while twirling the needles were meant to test Noah’s pain tolerance. The result was that he felt nothing at all.
"That makes things difficult." Fiona Linton’s brow furrowed.
Judith Pierce’s face went pale, and her shoulders slumped in defeat. "Then what do we do... He’s only three years old. He’s so little. Is he going to be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life?"
Fiona Linton said, "Aunt Jensen, please don’t get ahead of yourself. Let me observe him for a few days and try the acupuncture. We also need to run another full-body examination. I have to assess the complete situation before I can say anything."
"Okay, okay..."
Judith Pierce nodded, but her heart was still filled with sorrow.
"Mom."
Walker Grant spoke in a low voice. "He’s very young; he can’t understand your emotions. Don’t show so much of what you’re feeling in front of him. It will affect him."
A child that young doesn’t understand. If Judith Pierce always looks at him with pity in her eyes, he will slowly grow sad and insecure.
"I know, I know." Judith Pierce nodded repeatedly and stood up to go to her room. She needed time to process her emotions.
Fiona Linton frowned. "The child you mentioned before—the one poisoned by his own mother. That’s him?"
"Yes." Walker Grant nodded.
Fiona Linton gasped. "How could someone be so vicious?" she said. "She’s ruined his life."