Doctor Lu Always Wants To Steal My Baby! Chapter 69
byChapter 69 The First Day After the Fight
“Papa!” Seeing He Chen enter, He Leyan immediately ran out of the living room and hugged him in the entryway.
“Leyan.” He Chen picked up the little one, hugged him tightly, rested his chin on his soft little shoulder, and only let go after a moment. “Is your tummy better?”
“Mhm!” He Leyan nodded, his small hand touching He Chen’s face. “Papa, are you okay?”
For some reason, when He Chen saw his big eyes, the emotions he had been suppressing threatened to overwhelm him.
“Papa is fine, just too busy.” He put Leyan down and looked at Xiang Zhe, who was sitting at the dining table, head bowed and avoiding eye contact. “Have you met Uncle Xiao Zhe? Uncle Xiao Zhe is part of our family now.”
He Leyan nodded obediently. Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly turned back to the doorway. “Daddy.”
Lu Changqing nodded and walked in.
For some reason, he was completely drenched. He Chen saw his appearance and hesitated to speak.
“Dean, is it raining outside?” Wen Yi tactfully stood up to fetch a dry towel, wondering inwardly: He said he was waiting for Commander He, so how did Commander He come back first while he was left outside in the rain?
“Daddy, are you cold?” He Leyan asked worriedly.
“No, I’m not.” Lu Changqing stroked his head, took the towel Wen Yi handed him, and said, “I’ll change. You all eat first.”
With that, he bypassed He Chen and headed upstairs.
He Chen remained silent, leading Leyan toward the dining table.
Wen Yi felt strange again: something seemed off between the two of them.
In all these years, Wen Yi had never seen the Dean look so disheveled in public, drenched in the rain like this…
Elder Fang, however, glanced at He Chen, who looked distraught and was reacting slower than usual.
Elder Fang didn’t know Xiang Heng, but he could guess that Xiang Heng was somewhat important to He Chen.
He didn’t say much. It was hard to recover quickly after such an incident. He simply called out, “Come, come, let’s eat. Have some hot soup first. Dean Lu will be down soon.”
As he ushered everyone, including He Chen, to start eating, he turned his attention to the other distraught person. “You’re Xiao Zhe, right? How old are you? What are you studying…”
Under the efforts of Elder Fang and Wen Yi, the dinner table finally returned to normal operation. Lu Changqing also came downstairs quickly and took his seat, with Leyan sitting between him and He Chen.
Leyan was very sensitive. He felt that Papa was not right, and Daddy was also not quite right, like two heavy stone statues sitting on either side of him…
“I learned a new children’s song. Papa, do you want to hear it?” He, who was usually very quiet during meals, suddenly spoke.
“What song?” He Chen mechanically forced a smile and asked.
“Little Doggy Good Boy.”
He Leyan said, shaking his head rhythmically, breaking his usual reserve, and began to sing: “Little doggy~ good boy, little doggy~ good boy, smart~ and lively, naughty and cute…”
“That’s great.” He Chen cheered up a little and rubbed Leyan’s head.
“I have another one!” Seeing that Papa seemed a little happier, He Leyan tried even harder, even pulling in the innocent He Moyan—
“Clap your hands, clap your hands, hide your eyes—” He paused here, looking expectantly at He Moyan.
He Moyan stiffened for a moment, put down his chopsticks, and covered his eyes with both hands.
“Clap your hands, clap your hands, hide your ears—”
He Moyan was expressionless, but his reaction was precise. He raised his hands and covered his ears.
…He Chen actually smiled for a moment.
But it was only for a moment, a shallow smile like a ripple on a still lake.
Glancing at the silent Xiang Zhe, who didn’t even manage a hint of a smile, He Chen put a piece of food into He Leyan’s bowl. “Good boy, eat first.”
“Papa eat too.” He Leyan scooped a spoonful of food from the dish closest to him and gave it to He Chen.
The dish happened to be the stir-fried pork He Chen usually loved.
He Chen stared at the green peppers and meat slices in his bowl, and in a trance, he remembered another plate of food.
After the groundbreaking ceremony for the Medical Research Institute branch, at the reception, the plate Xiang Heng silently placed in front of him, filled with all his favorite dishes…
But He Chen hadn’t touched that plate. He hadn’t eaten a single bite of the food.
Why hadn’t he touched it then? What must Xiang Ge have thought, how disappointed must he have been…
“Papa?”
“Hmm.” He Chen snapped back to reality, picked up the food and put it in his mouth. Accompanied by a rising sweet, metallic taste, he swallowed the food and rice in large gulps.
Lu Changqing watched him secretly, silently poured a glass of warm water, placed it next to Leyan, and nudged Leyan’s arm to have him pass it to He Chen.
Dinner was over. He Chen and Lu Changqing stood up and simultaneously reached out to lift He Leyan from the high chair.
After a moment of deadlock, Lu Changqing withdrew his hand first.
He Chen picked He Leyan up from the high chair, glanced at Lu Changqing, wanted to say something, but didn’t open his mouth.
Lu Changqing had said he wasn’t calm, and He Chen now realized that he truly wasn’t. An action could have many motivations, and he had been… taking out his anger, attributing the worst possible motives to all of Lu Changqing’s actions. This was neither rational nor fair.
However, it was also true that Lu Changqing hadn’t told him about that evidence.
If he had known earlier, acted earlier, and dealt with the He family earlier, would everything have been different?
He Chen clenched his hand tightly, took He Leyan’s hand, bypassed Lu Changqing, and walked out of the dining room.
Lu Changqing stood still for a moment, then also started walking.
However, He Chen took He Leyan back to their room, while Lu Changqing headed toward the main door.
“Dean, are you going out again?” Wen Yi asked.
Lu Changqing nodded, his voice steady. “To check on a patient.”
He walked out silently. Wen Yi hurried to follow. “Dean, an umbrella!”
Wen Yi took an umbrella from the entryway and handed it to Lu Changqing, watching him open it alone and walk into the rainy night, into the boundless darkness.
“Where have you been enjoying yourself these past two days?” In the special ward, Shen Xingzhou looked up, his eyes half-closed and squinting uncomfortably. “Turn off the light.”
“Routine check-up. I can’t see clearly if it’s off,” Lu Changqing said, walking toward him.
“Can’t see clearly? Don’t you have that night vision ability?” Shen Xingzhou chuckled playfully.
Lu Changqing gave him a calm look, turned on the monitoring equipment near him, and looking at the numbers, said, “Marshal Shen has been using too many sedatives recently. We need to reduce the dosage next month.”
“No, don’t!” Shen Xingzhou became anxious. “If you don’t like hearing it, I won’t talk!”
“It really is too much. It’s not aimed at you,” Lu Changqing said.
“It is aimed at me, it’s all aimed at me, the whole world is aimed at me…” Shen Xingzhou looked miserable, muttering to himself, showing no trace of the Empire’s First Marshal he once was. “I can’t go out for air, I can’t talk to people, and you won’t even let me calm down and sleep. Lu Changqing, I’m going to report you for abuse!”
Lu Changqing usually paid little attention to his rambling, at most lending an ear. But today was different. While continuing to check the data, he said, “If you want to talk, I’ll talk with you.”
Shen Xingzhou eyed him suspiciously. “Did you take the wrong medicine?”
Lu Changqing ignored his question and asked seriously, “How does one recover from losing a comrade?”
“Losing a comrade? Who? Your little boyfriend?” Shen Xingzhou laughed maniacally. “Don’t worry, he’s used to it.”
Lu Changqing clenched his fingers. “Does seeing others suffer make you that happy?”
“Haha, yes, thank you for coming to deliver happiness to me.” Shen Xingzhou laughed even more wildly, until he saw Lu Changqing pull out a long needle. He abruptly stopped laughing. “Time.”
“There’s no other answer. When the time comes, you naturally recover,” he answered seriously.
Lu Changqing pondered for a moment, put the needle back, and asked again, “What can I do to make him trust me as much as he trusts a comrade?”
Shen Xingzhou was silent for a while. “So you’re suffering from heartbreak…”
He was incorrigible, and soon started laughing again, gloating.
Seeing Lu Changqing reach for the needle again, he stopped laughing once more. “Of course, you have to be his comrade.”
“I tried, but I failed,” Lu Changqing said, staring at the scrolling data on the screen. “I thought I could be his fellow traveler, but his fellow traveler was never me.”
“Fellow traveler?” Shen Xingzhou gave a strange laugh. “But does he really know you, know who you are?”
Lu Changqing’s gaze froze. He turned his head and looked at him.
“Don’t underestimate a soldier’s intuition. We might not be as smart as you, but our intuition is sharp.” Shen Xingzhou looked at Lu Changqing mockingly. “Holding back is holding back. Even if we don’t know what you’re holding back, we naturally identify a mysterious, incomprehensible presence as a trap.”
“Yes, a trap.” Shen Xingzhou looked into the empty space and muttered to himself. “You, Fu Chen, you’re all the same. You hide yourselves deeply. Everything you show people is fake, it’s fake, haha.”
His feelings for you are not fake. Lu Changqing thought silently, not speaking aloud.
Shen Xingzhou quickly fell silent too.
“You’ve improved a lot,” Lu Changqing suddenly offered as comfort.
Shen Xingzhou lifted his eyelids from behind his messy hair. “Why? Because I mentioned his name and didn’t go crazy?”
His moods were volatile. He suddenly snorted coldly. “That’s because I pity you, kid, and am showing great mercy today.”
“Are you done with your check-up? If you’re done, hurry up and leave. Leave the consultation fee. Five hundred per second. You weren’t accompanying me for a chat, you were asking me for help…”
Lu Changqing eventually transferred a substantial fee to Shen Xingzhou, even though Shen Xingzhou had no use for money.
After completing his rounds of the wards, Lu Changqing returned to his office. While washing his hands, he looked in the mirror.
Know the real him?
Lu Changqing reached out, his fingertip touching his reflection for a moment, then quickly withdrew it.
Shen Xingzhou knew the real Fu Chen. What was the result? One dead, one insane?
“Papa, Papa? It’s your turn to shower.”
He Leyan tugged at He Chen, bringing him back to reality.
“I’m going now.” Meeting He Leyan’s worried eyes, He Chen smiled, pinched his cheek, and walked toward the bathroom.
As he entered the bathroom, the smile on his face vanished like smoke.
He slowly took off his clothes, continuing to think about his problems.
He was thinking about where he had gone wrong.
He blamed Lu Changqing, but in reality, the decision to proceed slowly was his own; no one had coerced him.
If he had been less cautious and directly exposed the He family’s collusion with the Mystics, would Xiang Ge not have gone down that path?
Or, he should have arrested him earlier under the pretext of colluding with Fire Fox, keeping him detained in Hanhe. Maybe he would have been angry, maybe he would have gone crazy, but at least he would be alive and angry…
No, he was wrong even earlier than that. Three years ago, he should have been open and honest with Xiang Ge, instead of avoiding the facts and glossing over the truth. That forced Xiang Ge to gloss over things in front of him too.
No matter which step he replayed, Xiang Ge wouldn’t have had to die, not in that way… He Chen closed his eyes, his fingers forming the shape of a dagger, moving toward his lower abdomen.
He had a strange urge to cut himself open, to carve a bloody hole. He imagined what it would feel like to have a rope pulled through his internal organs and bones. Then he couldn’t help but imagine that rope tightening and pulling, splitting him open, dividing him in two like He Hongsheng…
“Papa, Papa?”
He Leyan’s childish call sounded from outside the bathroom.
“Papa, are you okay? Why haven’t you finished showering yet?”
“I’m done.” He Chen was in a daze. He hadn’t showered at all, and simply put his clothes back on as they were.
He pulled out an inhibitor for mental power rampage from a hidden pocket in his military uniform.
He habitually carried this item, but the moment he took it out, he realized that since returning to Star Capital and meeting Lu Changqing, he hadn’t used it once.
Perhaps, his relationship with his Senior Brother was exactly like the saying, “a measure of rice creates kindness, a bushel creates enmity.” He had become accustomed to his help, almost taking it for granted, to the point where he started nitpicking the method of help…
What an ungrateful wretch.
Thinking of this analogy, he chuckled dazedly and plunged the needle into his vein.
After the injection, he felt dizzy. He forced himself to walk out of the bathroom and lay down on the bed. “Leyan, I’m tired. Go see Daddy and sleep with him, okay? Daddy… misses you very much too.”
“I’ll stay with Papa today, and with Daddy tomorrow,” He Leyan arranged methodically.
“Mhm.” He Chen closed his eyes. “Then ask your brother to tell you a bedtime story.”
He Leyan didn’t actually want a story. He just looked at He Chen worriedly, placing his small hand on his face.
Papa’s face was cool, he didn’t have a fever, but He Leyan still felt something was wrong.
But he couldn’t figure out what was wrong, so he simply tucked He Chen in, patting the blanket and singing the lullaby he had learned while taking care of his brother…
The long-lost “demonic sound” pierced He Moyan’s ears. He looked at the terrifying little thing and silently put on his headphones.
But even with headphones, he was still very irritable. He wasn’t smart enough to articulate where his irritation came from, only knowing that looking at He Chen now made him irritable, but not looking made him even more irritable.
After being irritable for a while, he suddenly stood up, wanting to pour a glass of cold water.
As he opened the door, his body tensed, instinctively adopting a defensive posture. He only relaxed when he saw who it was: Lu Changqing.
He stood right outside the door, carrying a damp chill, not knocking or making a sound.
A strange person.
He Moyan glanced at him, walked around him, and continued on his way to get cold water.
“Leyan, is Papa asleep?” Lu Changqing asked He Leyan in the room in a low voice.
He Leyan turned his head. “Daddy.”
Seeing Lu Changqing, Leyan’s small, feigned-strong face suddenly crumpled. “Daddy, is Papa sick again?”
“No, Papa is just tired.” Lu Changqing walked in and hugged him.
“No!” Water welled up in He Leyan’s eyes. “Papa is not right. Something happened that only you adults know about. Can’t I know?”
“Shh!” Lu Changqing covered his small mouth.
He Leyan realized his voice was too loud and covered his own mouth, afraid of waking Papa. But his large eyes stubbornly looked at Lu Changqing, waiting for an answer.
Does lack of understanding really lead to anxiety?
Lu Changqing began, “Papa is—”
He paused after the opening. If he told Leyan about Xiang Heng, would He Chen see him as someone who made decisions for him, or even manipulated him?
Lu Changqing couldn’t be sure. He gave a bitter smile: he had lived for decades, experienced humility and submission, but rarely had he felt this kind of anxiety over gain and loss.
But he also realized something: He Chen was right. He was indeed making decisions for others. Some were deliberate—he was indeed using them as chess pieces—but some were done without his own awareness.
If he thought something was good, he would execute it, ignoring the wishes of others.
He unconsciously filtered things for He Chen, choosing a path for him, and even shielding him from the unchosen one.
He was too accustomed to control, too arrogant and conceited, believing his rationality surpassed He Chen’s. Yet, facts proved that his rationality was not omnipotent… He watched He Chen send off his closest friend in such a tragic way, helpless and unable to reverse the situation.
Lu Changqing clenched his hand, finally suppressing his emotions, and said to He Leyan, “Papa encountered something. Ask him when he’s rested.”
He Leyan thought for a moment and nodded. “Then can Daddy give Papa treatment? I can’t get into Papa’s space.”
“Can’t get in?” Lu Changqing frowned slightly.
He hadn’t released his mental perception just now, and only now realized that He Chen’s state was quite unusual.
There was no obvious mental power overflow or frenzy around He Chen, which would indicate a rampage. Instead, it was the opposite: a terrifying stillness.
“He Chen?” Lu Changqing had a bad feeling. He immediately walked to He Chen’s bedside, called his name, and patted his body and face.
He Chen was completely unresponsive.
He had a pulse and was breathing, but he was completely cut off from external sensation…