Chapter 13: Are you treating her like a bean bun?

Is Huo Changzheng trying to coax her like she was Doubao?

Of course, Lin Suisui didn’t dare let him feed her. She quickly took the lunchbox and spoon back, saying while eating, “I’ll just eat five bites, I swear I won’t eat more.”

Afraid that if she didn’t obediently eat, he would take it back and feed her again, Lin Suisui didn’t dare mess around this time. She earnestly ate five big spoonfuls, then put down the lunchbox and said, “I really can’t eat any more.”

Five bites meant five bites. Huo Changzheng didn’t force her, but in the next moment, he took her lunchbox and started eating from it.

The way he ate made it seem like he wasn’t the least bit bothered—on the contrary, it was Lin Suisui who felt a little embarrassed. After all, it was her leftovers.

“Aren’t you full?” she asked, feeling awkward about him eating her leftovers.

“I am. But food shouldn’t be wasted. Who told you not to eat it?” he replied.

…Alright then, it was her fault in the end.

Fang Qianqian had said that Dr. Zhang was a skilled traditional Chinese medicine doctor. Lin Suisui hadn’t fully believed it before, but once Doubao broke into a sweat and his clothes were soaked through, she was convinced.

But just because the fever broke didn’t mean it was gone for good. Tonight, she still had to keep a close eye on him. If the fever came back in the middle of the night, things could get complicated.

“You go to sleep. I’ll stay up to watch over Doubao tonight,” Huo Changzheng said.

“No need, I can take care of him. You should rest early, you still have drills tomorrow morning,” Lin Suisui said as she gently shifted Doubao toward the outside of the bed and crawled in to sleep on the inside.

Usually, to prevent Doubao from falling off the bed, he slept on the inside, and she on the outside. But tonight that wouldn’t do. If she slept on the outside, she’d be lying right next to Huo Changzheng—and that was absolutely out of the question. What if he thought she had ulterior motives? That would be a disaster.

Huo Changzheng saw her behavior and wasn’t surprised anymore. He just said, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of Doubao.”

Now Doubao was lying between them, so it made it easier for him to watch over their son.

“It’s alright, I’ll do it,” Lin Suisui said again and reached out to check Doubao’s forehead. “I’m used to it. You don’t even know how to take care of him.”

She meant it casually, but to Huo Changzheng, it hit differently.

He turned off the light, and Lin Suisui closed her eyes. The room fell silent, so when she heard the soft rustling of fabric, it was very distinct. Her eyes popped open in confusion, and by the moonlight streaming in from the window, she could vaguely see Huo Changzheng taking off his clothes.

Why was he undressing all of a sudden?

Her heart jumped, and she instinctively grabbed the blanket tightly and shut her eyes.

After a while, the rustling sounds stopped.

She kept chanting “See no evil” in her mind, but her cursed curiosity refused to back down. In the end, she couldn’t help but crack one eye open—and saw Huo Changzheng in a vest and shorts crawling into bed.

He moved carefully, but since the beds were pushed together, she could still feel every movement he made until he finally settled down.

Even with Doubao between them and the large two-meter bed, Lin Suisui couldn’t ignore his overwhelming presence.

She could only force herself to close her eyes again and gently pat Doubao in an attempt to lull herself to sleep.

Oddly enough, the self-hypnosis worked. Her eyelids grew heavier… but just as she was about to doze off, a low voice broke the stillness.

“I heard from Dr. Zhang… Doubao was hospitalized with pneumonia last month?”

The sudden question startled her awake. She paused for a moment before replying softly, “Yeah, he was in for a week. I’m worried it’ll come back this time.”

“A week?” Huo Changzheng propped himself up slightly. “You stayed in the hospital alone with him the whole time?”

“Yes,” Lin Suisui answered, not sure why he was asking. “You know my mom isn’t reliable, and your uncle and aunt don’t stay in touch much. I didn’t feel comfortable asking them for help.”

The “uncle and aunt” she referred to were Huo Changzheng’s adoptive parents.

When his biological mother was terminally ill, she entrusted him to her husband’s friend. Huo had been around six or seven back then, old enough to remember things, so he’d always called his adoptive parents “Uncle” and “Aunt.”

People often assumed he’d taken their surname, but “Huo Changzheng” was his birth name—his biological father also bore the surname Huo.

His adoptive parents worked government jobs in the city and only had one daughter. But they never treated him as a real son. He’d been sent to live with the adoptive mother’s parents instead—Old Mr. and Mrs. Chen—who were the ones that truly raised him.

He was deeply attached to the elderly couple. When he heard they had passed away a few years ago, he rushed back for the funeral.

He had little emotional connection with his adoptive parents, so even though outsiders considered them Lin Suisui’s in-laws, she never dared to treat them as such. Especially since they’d never accepted her as their daughter-in-law in the first place.

Huo Changzheng’s heart clenched at her words. He knew she had always been timid. Facing Doubao’s pneumonia all alone back then, it wasn’t just physically draining—it had to be mentally terrifying too.

“Why didn’t you call me at the time?” he asked quietly.

She was caught off guard by the question and paused before saying, “A distant well can’t put out a nearby fire. What use would calling you be?”

…True. He’d been loyal to his country, loyal to the people—but he hadn’t been loyal to her.

What could she expect from a phone call? Could he come back? Even if he managed to get leave, it would’ve taken at least three days to get from Lincheng back home. By then, Doubao’s fever probably would’ve subsided.

But still, he wished she’d called. Somehow, it would’ve made him feel like she still needed him in critical moments.

He fell silent.

Lin Suisui, suddenly realizing her words might’ve sounded accusatory, quickly tried to patch things up. He was her “savior” now—she couldn’t risk him misunderstanding her.

“It’s really fine. I’ve gotten used to doing everything alone. I can take good care of Doubao on my own,” she said.

Worried that sounded too dismissive, she added, “I gave birth to him alone, after all—taking care of him is nothing.”

Giving birth alone—now that was a powerful argument. But the moment she said it, she felt it might’ve come off wrong. What if he misread it as sarcasm?

She was getting tangled up in her own thoughts when Huo Changzheng finally spoke.

“Yeah. You really are something. You even gave birth on your own.”

His tone was genuinely admiring, and Lin Suisui finally relaxed.

The room was pitch-dark—she couldn’t see the look on his face. But he actually wanted to ask… why hadn’t she sent him a single telegram when she found out she was pregnant?

In the end, he only said one thing.

“Go to sleep.”