Doctor Lu Always Wants To Steal My Baby! Chapter 76
byChapter 76: It Must Be a Skin Allergy
Darkness. Silence.
Every breath was a struggle.
The mask pressed tightly against his face, and the unbalanced air pockets in his ear canals felt like they were tearing.
His chest burned, a sharp, immense pain.
“Focus!”
“Depth! Time! Gas reserve! Teammate position! Monitor constantly, calculate constantly!”
From far away, the instructor’s stern reminder drifted in.
He Chen suddenly realized: He was deep diving.
It was the most grueling of the hundred and thirty practical training courses.
“Break through one more second, one more centimeter, and you gain one more chance to survive in the extreme!”
“To excel, you must endure! Endure longer! Never give up!”
The instructor’s voice came and went, finally disappearing completely.
He couldn’t see a single teammate around him, nor hear any noise. In the deep sea, there was only cold and darkness, only He Chen’s own breathing.
His vision narrowed, his ears buzzed, and breathing became increasingly difficult. The physiological high pressure made He Chen’s thoughts chaotic.
Calculate, focus, endure, don’t give up… keep going, keep going, he could chase the sun…
The admonitions, the teachings, the creed he had followed all along were calling to him, but it was so bitter… Yet, at this moment of reaching his limit, he felt a transcendent sense of relaxation and calm, a reconciliation that involved letting go of everything and no longer fighting the environment.
But no.
He didn’t want “reconciliation.” He wanted to keep going. He was the man destined to be Kuafu!
This “calmness” was undoubtedly extremely dangerous. He Chen knew he had truly reached his limit and had to surface immediately. He broke free from the illusion of “reconciliation,” pressed the button, initiated the return procedure, and waited for his slow ascent.
But the ascent did not come.
The switched air tank had malfunctioned; He Chen felt no gas flow.
Calm down! The extreme danger forced He Chen’s brain to concentrate again. He immediately followed the emergency protocol, searching for his companion nearby.
Jin-ge, Jin-ge was training at the same depth as him; he must be nearby! He could share a regulator with Jin-ge!
Jin-ge—He Chen searched through his mask, but suddenly froze.
Memories, colder than the seawater, surged toward him.
A tearing pain in his chest: No, there was no companion. He was all alone.
“Silly boy, how did you get lost here again…” A gentle sigh suddenly came from behind him.
He Chen turned his head blankly, meeting a pair of eyes watching him.
“Forgot who I am again?”
Though they were in the deep sea and the owner of the eyes wore no equipment, they were perfectly safe. Not only safe, but completely at ease, at ease enough to… embrace him. Icy-cold lips kissed him.
Oxygen, like melting ice and snow, flowed into his limbs and bones.
He Chen’s burning chest cooled, and his throbbing brain calmed.
He, and they together, slowly ascended in the embrace.
The deep sea was still silent. But it was no longer a man-eating silence.
“Shixiong…” He Chen hugged the figure back, returning the kiss to those warm lips.
A tear spilled from the corner of his eye, silently dissolving into the deep sea.
“Dad! You’re awake! Has your fever gone down?”
He Chen was woken up early in the morning by He Leyan’s voice.
He opened his eyes. The blurry vision from last night had cleared, clear enough to see a tiny grain of rice stuck to He Leyan’s collar.
“Come here.” He Chen beckoned him over, removing the mischievous little grain of rice. Then he raised a hand to touch his forehead.
Cool and clear, his fever had broken.
He Chen sat up, subconsciously searching for Lu Changqing: “Dadbi—”
Just as he spoke, Lu Changqing pushed the door open: “I’m here.”
Lu Changqing was neatly dressed, composed, and held a bag of medicine: “I went to get your medicine. The doctor said you can be discharged, but the pneumonia isn’t completely gone, so you need medication to consolidate.”
As he spoke, he placed the medicine bag on the bedside table, took out different pills and capsules, and began sorting them by dosage.
He Leyan looked at his actions, then looked back at He Chen, who was staring blankly at the process, and felt pity: “So much medicine, Dad is so pitiful.”
He reached out and covered He Chen’s eyes: “Dad, don’t look. If you don’t look, you won’t be scared.”
“I wasn’t looking…” He Chen mumbled unconsciously.
“Then why are you staring at Dadbi? What are you looking at?” He Leyan asked, confused.
Looking at the lips, and the superior lines of his jaw… He Chen, who was “staring at Dadbi,” snapped back to reality and looked at his son, who always spoke the truth: “I wasn’t staring. I, I have side effects from the medicine. My eyes can’t see very clearly, so I have to look closely.”
He looked closely, but his mind was still foggy. He didn’t know if he had a dream, or if he had fallen into the mental domain and had a dream… How did his fever break?
“Your eyes still can’t see clearly?” Lu Changqing frowned, looking at He Chen.
“A-almost.” He Chen instinctively avoided his gaze, “Swoosh” stood up from the bed, “I’m going to take a shower!”
He must be a mess right now!
Lu Changqing watched him walk briskly, smiled slightly, picked up Leyan, and explained how to take the medicines, asking him to supervise his father for the next few days.
He Leyan listened very seriously, even more seriously than when Lu Changqing gave him formal lessons, and asked questions about anything he didn’t understand.
He Chen listened to their conversation from the bathroom, and heard the chirping of birds outside the window. He felt an indescribable sensation in his heart, as if his vision hadn’t just recovered, but had become clearer, allowing him to see that the world was imperfect, yet still held much beauty.
Taking off the hospital gown, he walked decisively toward the shower. His body flashed past the mirror above the sink, then flashed back a moment later. His fingers stiffly touched the side of his neck and collarbone… where there were small red marks—
W-what are these??
After showering, He Chen emerged from the bathroom, his military uniform impeccably neat, buttoned up to the very top, completely covering his neck.
He glanced at Lu Changqing, who was properly explaining the mental domain link to He Leyan.
Today, Lu Changqing wore a gray shirt and trousers. The fabric was high-quality and steady, the tailoring meticulous. Paired with those deep, ink-like eyes, he looked utterly composed and orthodox, no matter how one viewed him.
Hmm, should he go back and check the mirror again?
“What is it?” Sensing He Chen’s gaze, Lu Changqing looked up at him.
He Chen touched his collar, opened his mouth, closed it, and finally opened it again: “I think I have… a bit of a skin allergy.”
He had a bit of what?
Before Lu Changqing could speak, a knock sounded on the hospital room door.
Without waiting for a response, Chu Yunqi burst in frantically: “Cousin, don’t let them stop me. Imperial Father is gravely ill, and I don’t know how Imperial Concubine is doing. I must return to Star Capital! I absolutely must return to Star Capital!”
“Calm down first. His Majesty and Consort He are both fine.” He Chen had just woken up and hadn’t checked his terminal messages, but he had heard Lu Changqing talk about the Star Capital situation last night and knew the general context.
After comforting Chu Yunqi, He Chen looked at Ning Tian, who had followed him in.
Ning Tian first glanced at Lu Changqing before explaining to He Chen: “Consort He specifically instructed Dean Lu not to let the Third Highness leave Hanhe, so Dean Lu arranged for us to keep an eye on His Highness.”
He Chen looked at Chu Yunqi: “Your mother is thinking of you.”
Setting everything else aside, as a mother, Consort He was truly qualified—at least in He Chen’s eyes.
“I know she’s thinking of me, for my safety, but Chu Yunlan—”
As Chu Yunqi spoke, his terminal vibrated.
It was a small notification sound—the “Ai Miaomiao” live stream was online.
Although the notification was still on, Chu Yunqi rarely bothered to piggyback on He Leyan’s live stream for popularity anymore. His own account had considerable traffic, and he had been genuinely busy recently, focused on disaster relief—
Initially, he wanted to achieve something to reassure his mother and show his Imperial Father that he could accomplish things and stand on his own. Later, he stopped thinking so much and, somehow, became deeply invested, working enthusiastically on infrastructure projects on Hanxiao Star. Piggybacking on live streams had long been forgotten.
But at this moment, he remembered.
And a somewhat bold idea quickly formed in his mind.
“I know Imperial Mother is worried that Chu Yunlan might also be targeting me. I don’t believe it. He’s been confined by Imperial Father; how could he still have such power!” After a pause, Chu Yunqi smoothly, quickly, and angrily continued his previous sentence.
[W-what targeting?]
[Holy crap, a bombshell right at the start!]
[What kind of shocking secret is this? What happened in the Imperial Family??]
“Safety first. Now is not the time to act rashly.” He Chen didn’t know about Chu Yunqi’s little scheme and was still earnestly trying to persuade him, but Lu Changqing noticed something was off.
The first half of Chu Yunqi’s speech was genuine anger and anxiety, but his current demeanor seemed like a performance for an audience.
“Why would he do this? How did my Imperial Mother offend him that he would use such despicable means!” Chu Yunqi clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking.
He Chen was about to speak, but Lu Changqing stopped him with a hand.
“No, I can’t figure it out. I’m going to ask him right now!”
Chu Yunqi clearly didn’t need He Chen’s persuasion. That sentence was just a stepping stone to make everything seem more natural. Soon, he used that stepping stone to call Chu Yunlan’s terminal.
[Good heavens, good heavens, what exactly happened?]
[Known information: Chu Yunlan did something “despicable” to Consort He, causing the Emperor to confine him.]
[Holy crap, I’m thinking dirty thoughts!]
[Stop, don’t post nonsense. Be careful the stream gets shut down. You won’t hear this gossip anywhere else!]
The rolling barrage of comments held its breath, waiting for Chu Yunqi’s call to connect.
“Don’t bother. He shouldn’t be able to communicate right now.” He Chen was still trying to dissuade him, but unexpectedly, the call connected.
Chu Yunqi himself was surprised, pausing before asking uncertainly: “Chu Yunlan, is that you?”
“Twenty years of upbringing fed to the dogs, and you still haven’t learned to call me ‘Second Brother’?” With the speakerphone on, the voice of the Second Prince, Chu Yunlan, came through, dark and gloomy, completely different from his usual gentle and honest demeanor.
But this was the appearance Chu Yunqi was most familiar with. Chu Yunqi reacted instinctively, forgetting his act: “If I fed my upbringing to the dogs, then you slept with one, or were slept with by one! Why did you poison my Imperial Mother?”
“When did I poison your Imperial Mother? What evidence do you have?”
“Evidence? Your confinement by Imperial Father is the evidence!”
“Ridiculous. When was I confined by Imperial Father? Good Third Brother, I am about to tour on behalf of Imperial Father, and soon I will—”
What he would do soon, the Second Prince couldn’t finish. The signal on his end suddenly cut off.
“What’s going on?” Chu Yunqi looked blankly at He Chen, “Wasn’t he confined?”
He Chen looked at Lu Changqing, exchanging a glance: A change must have occurred.
Lu Changqing knew the live stream was on, and spoke before He Chen: “Contact Star Capital. We’ll discuss the rest in the conference room.”
“Secrecy leads to success, leaks lead to failure! Your Highness, you are confused!”
Far away, on a battleship, Qian Hongtao nearly slapped Chu Yunlan across the face, but managed to restrain himself.
“Secrecy?” Chu Yunlan’s face was pale: “What secrecy is left? The moment Imperial Father wakes up, our act of forging the decree will inevitably be exposed. Grandfather, do you think we still have a retreat?”
Qian Hongtao was speechless for a moment, then quickly said: “Of course there is no retreat! Precisely because there is no retreat, we must plan the path ahead carefully! We originally had a chance to catch Hanxiao Star off guard, but now haven’t we just given them a warning for nothing!”
“It’s just a small Hanxiao Star!”
Chu Yunlan clenched his fist, his expression hardening. He looked at He Hongyi, who was silent beside him:
“General He, your military strength far surpasses He Chen’s, and with my new weapons in hand, taking down a mere Hanhe should be easy, shouldn’t it?”
He Hongyi was fully armed, gazing at the turbulent, unpredictable dark star river. He clenched his fist: “Of course.”