Chapter 7: Little Star, Age 3, Chasing After a Girl

Chapter 7: Little Star, Age 3, Chases a Girl

After they finished eating, a nurse pushed a cart in to give Lu Hechi an IV drip.

"This might hurt a little." The nurse looked like she'd just graduated. She kept her head down while she worked, adding, "If it hurts too much, you can grab a heat pack from the shop downstairs to put on it."

Lu Hechi figured, how bad could an IV drip really be?

A smirk tugged at his lips as he said,

"No problem."

After the nurse left, the fluid flowed through the tube into his vein. It was fine at first, but within five minutes, he could feel the pain.

It was a bit like having a small knife scraping against his blood vessels.

Lu Hechi looked up, staring at the clear little bag of medication. The label read "Mannitol."

He was now completely stuck between a rock and a hard place.

One hand was out of commission from the fracture, and the other was too sore to move with the IV in it. So he could only stare at the ceiling or turn his head to look out the window.

Eventually, even his eyes started to hurt from staring.

The nurse's aide sat on the visitor's stool, and every ten minutes, like an NPC, she'd repeat her lines on cue:

"Sir, do you need to use the restroom?"

"Sir, would you like some fruit?"

Lu Hechi could only answer weakly, "No, no."

Finally, with no other option, Lu Hechi could only stare longingly at the hospital room door, hoping that Shen Lanxue would push it open and walk in any second.

He waited like that for the better part of the day. His IV bag had run out by noon, and he'd already sent Auntie Wang home after lunch.

Lu Hechi spent the whole afternoon playing Plants vs. Zombies, Subway Surfers, and Royal Revolt on his phone.

Just then, Shen Lanxue finally showed up with little Shen Yixing.

The moment Shen Yixing walked in, he shouted excitedly, "Daddy, how are you feeling today? Does it still hurt?"

Hearing his son's soft, sweet voice, all the fatigue in his body instantly vanished.

"It doesn't hurt, not one bit. Little Star's gotten even more handsome today."

Lu Hechi said happily—no wonder the kid was his son, he was like a little angel.

"Daddy looks kinda ugly today." Little Star held Shen Lanxue's hand, walked over to the bed, and said with a serious face.

Lu Hechi: "???"

He'd looked in the mirror this morning—still the most handsome, gorgeous face in the universe. How could he possibly be ugly?

He instinctively turned to Shen Lanxue: "Babe, do I look ugly today?"

Shen Lanxue's gaze fell on his face.

Lu Hechi's hair was fine and messy, his features had lost the softness of youth, his eyes were dark and deep, and beneath his straight nose were pale lips.

When he wasn't smiling, his face was as cold and clear as the thin winter sunlight.

But when he smiled, his brows and eyes lit up with that distinct youthful brightness.

Shen Lanxue stared at him for a good half minute before answering: "Very handsome."

By the time Shen Lanxue finished staring, Lu Hechi no longer cared about the answer. Those tea-brown eyes were fixed on him so intently that he instinctively wanted to look away and avoid his gaze.

He sat up in bed and patted the spot next to him. "Don't just stand there—sit down."

Shen Lanxue obediently sat down, then scooped up Little Star and set him on the bed too.

Little Star turned over, lying on his stomach with his little legs crossed and kicked up, asking, "Daddy, can I sign my name on your arm? My girlfriend said signing a cast is super cool."

Lu Hechi thought he must've heard that wrong.

"Who did you say?"

Shen Yixing said matter-of-factly, "My girlfriend—my future wife. Her name's Chu Baobei."

Lu Hechi looked at Shen Lanxue, confused.

Shen Lanxue looked a bit embarrassed. "She's his deskmate."

Lu Hechi didn't stop staring at him.

Shen Lanxue hesitated, glanced at Shen Yixing, and went on, "He likes that little girl, but she's not into him."

Shen Yixing's face turned red with embarrassment. "Daddy, you're wrong—Baobei likes me back."

He opened his smartwatch, tapped WeChat, and scrolled through the chat history to show off.

"Hmph, see—Baobei said she likes me."

Lu Hechi glanced at it.

It was clearly all messages he'd sent himself, like "I really like you," and the girl had just coolly replied with an "Oh."

In his eyes, that counted as her liking him.

Lu Hechi never expected his son to be such a lovesick fool.

He said, "Your dad didn't even date anyone until after high school. You're only three, and you're already chasing girls. Who'd you get that from?"

He looked over at Shen Lanxue.

Shen Lanxue looked even more innocent than him. "I never did either."

Lu Hechi wanted to see if he was lying, so he leaned in closer. "Really not?"

Shen Lanxue said, "Really, I didn't."

Lu Hechi let out a relieved sigh.

The thought that Shen Lanxue might've dated someone else before he even knew him made him feel weirdly uncomfortable.

"What about you?" Shen Lanxue suddenly asked. "Really not?"

Lu Hechi said, looking completely self-righteous:

"Of course not. As every girl's dream, there's no way I'd date any of them—that would seriously damage my image."

Shen Lanxue: "..."

Shen Yixing said bluntly, "Dad, you've got no shame."

Lu Hechi: "..."

Shen Yixing tugged at Lu Hechi's clothes. "Daddy, let me sign your arm, I'll send it to Baobei."

Other people had a sweet little daughter to keep them warm; Lu Hechi had a sharp-tongued little son.

He reminded himself, he's my son, I can't hit him.

"What do you want to write?"

Shen Yixing said happily, "I want to write Chu Baobei!"

Lu Hechi: "..."

Shen Lanxue: "..."

They locked eyes across the room.

As if they were saying to each other.

He's your son. He's your son.

As a good father who indulged his son, Lu Hechi eventually let him sign.

And watched as he sent the photo, then clutched his watch and waited eagerly for Chu Baobei to reply.

Once Shen Yixing settled down, Shen Lanxue took a document out of the bag he'd brought and handed it to Lu Hechi.

"This is the info on your company," he said. "You lost your memory, so you might want to take a look."

Lu Hechi had been wondering about his agency just yesterday, and now Shen Lanxue had brought the info today.

He said "thanks," genuinely touched.

He flipped through the document with one hand.

He couldn't understand most of the text, but in the artist bios section, he flipped through every page and didn't see Chen Jiadong's name anywhere.

He thought it was odd—yesterday Shen Lanxue said he ran an agency.

Plus, since he'd seen Chen Jiadong on Douyin, he'd just assumed he was one of the company's artists.

But the DM he'd sent seemed to have sunk like a stone, and after searching through the whole thing, he still didn't see Chen Jiadong's name.

Lu Hechi realized he'd guessed wrong.

He closed the document and asked Shen Lanxue, "Do you... do you know Chen Jiadong?"

Shen Lanxue's expression suddenly turned a little strange.

"I've heard of him. Why?"

He said "heard of," not "know."

That couldn't be—he and Chen Jiadong were best friends.

Lu Hechi tightened his grip on the document. "Is he not in contact with me anymore?"

Shen Lanxue was stunned. "You two know each other?"

Lu Hechi saw his face, and a sudden sense of dread washed over him.