Chapter 88

When he entered the room, Chen Jue was unwrapping the swaddling clothes around the baby to give his legs and feet a bit more freedom. Uncle Liu and Auntie Liu had said that to make sure the kid's legs would grow straight later on, it was best to keep them bound.

But Chen Jue didn't agree with this. If tying legs up could make them grow straight, bowlegs would've been cured ages ago.

During a child's growth period, they still needed to be given enough space. In this old-timey era, since clothes weren't warm enough, grown-ups were scared the kid would get cold and bundled him up in layer after layer, which accidentally splayed the kid's legs, so the old folks figured they'd straighten them out.

Honestly, in the first year of life, bowlegs are totally normal. In the womb, there wasn't room, so the baby had to curl up like that.

Once born, with all that space out here, the baby would naturally stretch out and move around on his own. Moving around helps him grow—rolling over, crawling, and eventually walking sooner.

Sure enough, once the swaddle was loosened, the baby instinctively kicked a few times, looking real happy.

Chen Jue grabbed his tiny little feet and tickled them, on pure instinct, like he was thinking about taking a bite.

Huo Jilin watched from the side, smiling. He figured Chen Jue had it in him after all—considering the old Doctor Chen was someone kids went pale just seeing.

It wasn't that he was super harsh, but he said what he meant and hardly ever joked around with kids. So of course, he wouldn't do anything sweet like reaching out to pat their faces or heads. At most, he'd pat them on the shoulder and say "not bad"—and even that was a lot of words for him.

And now here he was, holding the baby's feet, actually thinking about taking a bite. He probably didn't even notice he was smiling—that soft, gentle kind of smile.

Huo Jilin didn't notice how warm his own smile had gotten either. This guy, once called the "Cold-Faced King of Hell," had somehow picked up a softer side without even knowing it.

He didn't torture himself anymore over whether Chen Jue loved him. He just wanted to keep living like this with Chen Jue.

This kid had brought him and Chen Jue together—or more like, this kid had become the glue holding their relationship together. As long as this kid was around, he could be with Chen Jue without anyone batting an eye.

Of course, he also thought the baby was adorable—those little feet, all pale and clean, like little jade fruits.

When Chen Jue tucked the baby under a little quilt and turned around, he raised an eyebrow, surprised.

What the heck did Huo Jilin just bring in? It was still wrapped up in a burlap sack.

Did he bring in a whole person?

This time, Huo Jilin actually explained: "It's a gift for you."

Everyone else had given gifts to the baby.

But Huo Jilin was giving a gift to Chen Jue.

If Huo Yu got a gift, how could Chen Jue not get one?

The gift he gave was seriously one of a kind.

Huo Jilin was scared of needles and didn't dare be the model himself, so he had a dummy made for Chen Jue.

He'd had Carpenter Uncle Zhou specially make it, sized exactly to match his own body.

The burlap sack wrapping wasn't much to look at, mainly 'cause he was scared Uncle Liu would see it and chew him out.

A wooden dummy by itself was no big deal, but if he wrapped it in cotton, sewed it up in white linen, and then stuck needles all over it—that would definitely get him an earful.

Sure enough, when Huo Jilin pulled off the big burlap sack, the dummy looked almost real at first glance.

The spine was wood, the joints were bamboo, the flesh was packed cotton, and the whole thing was sewn tight in linen—it even had the look of muscle lines.

It was crazy lifelike. Uncle Zhou said his wife had almost gone nuts making this thing, and he even worried it might come to life.

Chen Jue climbed off the kang and walked over to the dummy one step at a time, reaching out to touch its chest.

Huo Jilin coughed. "That's the first place you touch?"

Chen Jue didn't answer. That was where the heart was.

It was the spot he'd cut open with a scalpel hundreds of times.

His hand slid down from the dummy's chest, tracing over the five organs and six viscera, the seven meridians and six channels, then he looked up at Huo Jilin and said, "Thanks. I really like it."

He wasn't smiling, but the light in his eyes couldn't be hidden—like stars suddenly flaring up, bright and dazzling.

He had a pair of stunning eyes—deep-set double lids, a beautiful shape, cold and sharp but hiding a brilliant glow, like someone who looks down on the world yet still cares about it.

Proud but restrained—those two opposite feelings lived in the same eyes, and every time he saw them, he couldn't help but stare a little longer.

He'd been hooked by those eyes the very first time he saw them.

And now he couldn't look away even more, like he was being pulled into the stars of a deep night, sinking further and further in.

This was the first time Chen Jue had ever said he really liked something.

Huo Jilin smiled slowly. "We're one as a married couple—saying thank you is too stiff."

He wanted to keep saying stuff like that, about them being one, to let it sink into Chen Jue's head without him noticing.

But Chen Jue had already moved on to checking the dummy's other joints, not reacting to his words at all—he just hadn't taken it seriously.

Huo Jilin let out a really soft sigh. Getting Chen Jue to understand his feelings, getting him to fall in love—that still felt like a million miles away. He'd also been doing some deep thinking these past few days about where he'd gone wrong.

He'd been too impatient. He'd fallen for Chen Jue and figured it was only natural that Chen Jue would feel the same.

Yeah, he admitted it—he'd fallen for Chen Jue.

Maybe he'd liked him way back then—he just hadn't realized it.

Actually, when he thought about it, it made sense—unbelievable but unavoidable.

If there was anyone in this world who'd ever caught his eye, become a thorn in his side, a splinter in his flesh, a knot in his chest—that person was Chen Jue, no question.

If this fake world didn't have Chen Jue in it, thinking about it just felt pointless.

No one to push back against him, no one to make him feel challenged...

No, that wasn't the right way to say it.

Huo Jilin wasn't the type to demand Chen Jue bow to him, and he didn't have some messed-up kink for breaking someone in.

It was the education he'd gotten over the years that made him too controlling, and three years of military discipline had given him a certain iron-fisted way of running his company.

Chen Jue wasn't the type to throw tantrums or get all clingy and difficult just to fight him.

He was coldly stubborn about his own views, completely unmoved.

He didn't cave just because Huo Jilin was the biggest shareholder of Zhonghai Hospital. He opposed him from the angle of human genetics, from his beliefs as a doctor.

Or maybe he opposed him down to his very core, because the two of them were on opposite sides.

His opposition came from a doctor's conviction. He'd held onto that conviction for so long, right up until the moment he died.

If their relationship hadn't gotten so bad, maybe Chen Jue would have spoken to him properly, would have let him get a head start on winning over Jiang Xinhe's family, would have...

But it was too late for all that now. Huo Jilin closed his eyes, shoving that dark memory back down. Chen Jue was right here in front of him, safe and sound.

Huo Jilin watched Chen Jue, smiling silently. What he wanted to say was that even through those five years of butting heads, he'd only ever had eyes for Chen Jue.

He hadn't fallen for Chen Jue because his PTSD made him rely on him; he'd loved him long before the condition even showed up.

Or maybe it was because he loved him that he ended up with the illness.

Loving Chen Jue was just natural, plain and simple.

Once Huo Jilin figured out his own heart, he owned up to it without hesitation.

But he also knew Chen Jue probably wouldn't come around as fast as he had—after all, just three months ago, Chen Jue had been so pissed he'd wanted to strangle him.

No normal person would jump to romance in a situation like that, let alone someone as icy as Chen Jue.

So Huo Jilin had braced himself for the long haul, patiently taking things slow with Chen Jue.

Chen Jue wasn't the type to be won over with a little kindness. Getting Chen Jue to fall for him might take forever, like climbing Mount Everest—and right now, he was still at the base camp.

He'd have to take his time.

Huo Jilin had it all figured out, feeling pretty at peace. He pulled a box of needles out of his robe: "Imperial Physician He gave me these. I brought them back ahead of him. He said he'd wrap up some things at Wanchun Hall and come by in a few days to let you try them."

He'd also shown the wooden dummy to Imperial Physician He. The physician had been startled at first, glancing around nervously, scared someone might see him with such a big dummy—he'd served in the palace too long and was way too jumpy about them.

It wasn't until Huo Jilin explained what he was planning that the physician got it. After circling the dummy a few times, he finally nodded over and over and said it was great.

He felt the dummy's muscles, made of cotton and mashed straw, and said admiringly: "How'd you think of this? It's genius! You can stick needles in it as many times as you want, no problem! It's absolutely perfect for training newbies."

Learning acupuncture wasn't something you could master overnight. The human body has over three hundred acupoints, each tied to different symptoms—miss by a hair and you're off by a mile. In the beginning, besides practicing on yourself, nobody dared to practice on anyone else.

Because of all that, very few people ever actually mastered acupuncture.

But now he was sure Chen Jue would make it. He was sharp and eager to learn, and with his husband backing him up like this, there was no way he wouldn't.

Imperial Physician He thought all this while looking at Huo Jilin.

A month had gone by, and not only had Huo Jilin not given up on supporting his husband's career, he'd even come up with such a brilliant way to practice acupuncture—something nobody had thought of in all these years. Now that was real support.

So Imperial Physician He had agreed right then and there to come teach Chen Jue in a few days.

Huo Jilin hadn't told the physician that bringing the dummy to him was exactly for this purpose.

He hoped the physician wouldn't forget about taking Chen Jue on as a disciple.

Taking on a student like Chen Jue would definitely be a win for Imperial Physician He. Chen Jue could even start learning by himself.

For instance, he was already getting hands-on practice now.

Huo Jilin looked at the needles stuck in the dummy and smiled at Chen Jue: "This only mimics muscle. Once you've gotten good on this dummy, we'll buy some pork to practice on the real thing."

Chen Jue looked away from the dummy and sized him up: "I thought you could just offer yourself up."

Tsk, he was already cracking jokes with him now.

Huo Jilin laughed too: "Once you've practiced enough, I'll offer myself up, alright? You can make me even stronger and tougher!"

Chen Jue glanced down at his crotch: "Something wrong with you down there?"

"..."

Huo Jilin took a deep breath. He had to set the record straight: "I'm fine everywhere!"

Don't believe me? Try it yourself!

"Hmph~"

The sleeping baby on the kang let out a grumpy little noise, and a tiny fist waved from under the blanket.

Chen Jue glanced at the kang, then back at Huo Jilin: "Don't wake him."

Huo Jilin took another deep breath. Okay, the problem now wasn't how to make Chen Jue fall for him, but how to rank higher than this baby in Chen Jue's heart.

Huo Jilin stepped over and gently patted the baby, easily settling him back to sleep.