Chapter 48 1/2

Cen Lang said, “Jiang Wanlan called me. Do you want to meet immediately? Here or at another place?” Jiang Li thought for a moment, “I’ll go to the sanatorium.” He had grown up; he should find his father on his own.

Cen Lang smiled and asked, “Do you want to answer the phone, or should I?”

Jiang Li replied, “You answer.” He was afraid he couldn’t speak a complete sentence and would disappoint people.

Cen Lang was in a good mood. Did Jiang Li know that entrusting him to speak on such matters meant great trust and intimacy?

Cen Lang asked, “Which phone should I use?”

Jiang Li silently pushed both phones toward him.

Cen Lang felt a surge of confidence, provocatively took Jiang Li’s phone, and answered the call. “Hello, General Jiang, I’m Cen Lang.” Cen Lang walked to the window. If Jiang Wanlan suggested, “He wants to retest the DNA,” it would be reasonable, but he didn’t want Jiang Li to hear.

Jiang Wanlan didn’t expect Cen Lang to answer the call. His anxious heart was eased a bit, and he asked, “Is Jiang Li my son?”

Cen Lang replied, “I think you look a bit alike. I casually tested, and yes.”

Tears welled up in Jiang Wanlan’s eyes. He tried to calm himself and asked, “Does he know? Is he willing to meet me?”

Cen Lang looked at Jiang Li, pressed the speakerphone button, and said, “He’s willing, just a bit nervous.”

Jiang Wanlan asked, “Can he hear me now?”

Cen Lang walked toward Jiang Li and said, “Yes.”

Jiang Li clenched the blanket, his breathing becoming rapid.

Jiang Wanlan said, “Jiang Li, I… I am Jiang Wanlan. You don’t need to speak; just listen to me. I am… your father. I’m sorry, baby, I didn’t take care of you. Someone else found you and brought you back. You spent seven years in the military academy. Cen Lang introduced you to me, but I never looked at your photo.”

Jiang Li felt at a loss and opened his mouth, wanting to comfort this crying father, but a thousand words got stuck in his throat. He looked to Cen Lang for help.

Cen Lang patted Jiang Li’s back to soothe his nervousness and called someone, “General Lu.” On the other side, Lu Jing seemed to have calmed Jiang Wanlan down, and there was no response for a moment.

Cen Lang threw his phone aside, half-kneeling on the bed, cradling Jiang Li’s face, and said softly, “Did you hear that? You don’t need to speak; they all love you.”

He realized this was a good opportunity to encourage Jiang Li. “Don’t be nervous. Want to try saying hello?” Jiang Li’s palms were sweaty, and he said, “Hello.” Jiang Wanlan’s breath tightened, “Baby.”

Jiang Li looked at Cen Lang and said, “He called me baby.” Cen Lang hugged Jiang Li and said, “Yes.”

Jiang Li rubbed his face, leaned against Cen Lang’s shoulder, looked at the blue bedsheet, and said intermittently, “I’m Jiang Li, twenty-five years old this year. I can recite ancient poems, tell jokes, and do acupuncture. If you are my dad…”

Cen Lang felt a wet spot on his shoulder.

Reciting ancient poems, telling jokes—was this the speech of three-year-old Jiang Li? How could no one have cared for him if no one brought him home?

“I am your dad,” Jiang Wanlan asserted. “Lu Jing, the one you’ve met, is also your dad!”

Jiang Wanlan, seeing Lu Jing remaining silent, urgently patted his arm. Cen Lang could tell that you recognized your son; you’ve spent a few days together, and yet you’re still searching for him everywhere, making Lu Jing annoying.

Lu Jing said, “I’m sorry…”

Jiang Li, fearing conflict between them, hurriedly said, “General Lu is very kind! He came to the desolate star to pick me up.”

Then, feeling it was unfair, he added, “General Jiang is also very good; you funded my experiment.”

Both dads received a “good person card” and paused.

Cen Lang pinched Jiang Li’s cheek, empathizing, and gestured, “Don’t need a good person card; call him dad.”

Jiang Li subconsciously said, “Dad.”

“Dad is here.”

Jiang Wanlan squatted on the ground, crying without any semblance of dignity. He had waited for this moment for too long. Jiang Li had called him “dad” briefly before being taken away, sounding like a baby. Now, hearing it again, it was a clear and articulate young adult voice.

Lu Jing wiped his tears. “Your eyes are swollen; you don’t look like a son anymore.”

Jiang Wanlan restrained his tears.

Jiang Li touched his eyelids.

Cen Lang took over, “General Lu, you two wait at the sanatorium. I’ll take Jiang Li there in half an hour.” He hung up, brought ice for Jiang Wanlan, wrapped in medical cotton, and said, “Apply it.”

“Do you want to wash your face?”

Jiang Li nodded, and Cen Lang brought a warm towel to wipe his face. Jiang Li noticed that Cen Lang seemed to have prepared everything before the results came out. “Did you ever think I wasn’t?”

Cen Lang said, “If it wasn’t, it wasn’t. I can’t stand it if I love you alone.”

Jiang Li: “…”

It only took five minutes to fly there. Jiang Li stood in front of the mirror, looked at himself, and touched his stomach with a worried expression. Over the course of six months, it was quite noticeable, and it wasn’t winter, so he couldn’t hide it. Cen Lang couldn’t resist teasing him: “Scared now? Weren’t you bold when borrowing it?”

“Borrowing… borrowing?”

Jiang Li almost felt ashamed. Calmly, he retorted, “How can you call treating an illness borrowing? You don’t understand medicine.”

Cen Lang smiled. The little Dr. Jiang finally had a moment when he couldn’t come up with a medical argument. He directly said, “You don’t understand medicine.”

Jiang Li thought for a moment, “Don’t tell them how we met.” The root cause of his pregnancy was the fear of public speaking left from the orphanage. He had done two paternity tests, both inconclusive. Jiang Wanlan would blame himself if he knew.

As a son, he learned to share joy but not worry before meeting.

Cen Lang pretended not to know the seriousness of the situation. “Oh?” Jiang Li always avoided talking about the underground city, and Cen Lang wanted to pry into it.

Jiang Li explained, “Think about it. If it were your child, the one in my belly, and he found a stranger whose face he couldn’t see…”

Cen Lang: “Don’t say it.”

Already starting to get a headache.

Jiang Li: “Right.”

Cen Lang gritted his teeth. “You also know it’s outrageous.” He would rather meet later than have Jiang Li take such a risk.

Jiang Li lowered his gaze—not very outrageous, right? He could tell that Alpha was young, handsome, restrained, and odorless. Among the Alphas Jiang Li knew, he was the most perfect.

But Dad would definitely find it outrageous.

Cen Lang suggested, “If you help me restore my memory, I’ll help you keep it a secret.”

“I’ll say I seduced a part-time student in the restaurant and forgot about you afterward. Little Dr. Jiang did nothing wrong, laboriously pregnant for six months alone, and I finally found you.”

Jiang Li is wide-eyed; could it be like this? He was tempted, but Jiang Li didn’t like to pass the buck to others. In this matter, Cen Lang was completely innocent.