Cheng Zongyang asked in a low, pained voice:
"Were you scared?"
The little girl nodded, then shook her head. Her muffled voice choked with sobs as she asked:
"Brother, what happened to Father? Mother is crying, too. I called for him, but he didn't answer me, and now Mother isn't answering me either..." Her voice dissolved into sobs.
Hearing the little girl's muffled cries grow louder against his chest, Cheng Zongyang stroked her head, picked her up, and comforted her.
"Yun'Er, Father is just hurt and sleeping. He's okay. He can hold you when he wakes up. Mother is just worried about him; she would never ignore you."
He walked into the main hall, where a room full of people sat in heavy silence.
Clearly, the day's events had been too great a shock for them. It was a small mercy that the children weren't scared senseless.
Cheng Zongyang then looked at his two aunts and said with a smile:
