Chapter 91

Huo Yu was sitting in Chen Jue's lap, watching Huo Jilin drink one cup after another, and reached out to grab at him. Huo Jilin smiled: "You want a sip too? Should we give him a taste?"

He asked Chen Jue.

Chen Jue saw the questioning look in his eyes and brought the child over, even though he knew the kid couldn't drink, he still asked.

Kids absolutely can't drink alcohol—they're way too young, their bodies aren't fully developed. Not even a drop.

"Get him some hot water, warm up his milk. He might be hungry."

They had brought prepared goat's milk for Huo Yu when they left. Huo Jilin called the waiter over for a pot of hot water, then heated up the goat's milk in a cup. By the time it was ready, Huo Yu couldn't wait any longer, smacking his little lips and drinking spoonful after spoonful.

He was a pro at feeding him, and Huo Yu was a pro at drinking.

Zhang Xiuer chimed in: "That's right, drinking so well."

And you're raising him so well too.

She had been helping with the cooking at Chen Jue's house for the past few months and had seen firsthand how Huo Jilin took care of the child. Since Chen Jue worked as a doctor in town, Huo Jilin spent even more time caring for him, so he was way more experienced than Chen Jue.

Feeding him, changing his diapers—he was better at it than she was.

Back in the day, she never would have imagined it. Dalin never seemed like the type to look after a child.

Having a kid really changes a man, Zhang Xiuer thought.

"Take it slow, no rush." Huo Jilin cradled Huo Yu, saying to him.

Chen Jue fed him a bit slower. Huo Yu had already drunk nearly half a bowl and wasn't frantically chomping at the spoon anymore.

The two of them took their sweet time finishing feeding the kid.

After Huo Yu finished his milk, Zhang Xiuer said to Huo Jilin: "Let me hold him, you two go ahead and eat some more?"

Huo Jilin smiled and said: "I'll hold him. Once I go back to work, I won't be able to hold him anymore—I'll miss him."

He looked down at Huo Yu as he said this, and it was true. Once he started work, he wouldn't be able to watch him all day. He really would miss the little guy.

Looking at Huo Yu's little porcelain face, he couldn't help but poke him.

Huo Yu's face tilted from the poke, but then he smiled again, opening his toothless little mouth in a grin—quite adorable. Huo Jilin figured little Chen Jue must have looked just like this.

Huo Jilin wanted to poke him again, but Chen Jue grabbed his hand: "Don't poke him, he's drooling."

Chen Jue hadn't expected Huo Jilin to be this clingy with the kid now.

It felt like just yesterday he was throwing a fit asking whose kid it was.

Not only did Zhang Xiuer and the others find it weird to see Huo Jilin holding a kid—even Chen Jue had only just gotten used to it.

He knew very well that Huo Jilin didn't particularly like children. His affection for this child had grown from months of holding him day in and day out.

When Huo Jilin first started holding the kid, he rarely smiled. In the middle of the night, he'd just pace back and forth with the baby, not teasing him or singing lullabies, his face totally blank. As a result, Huo Yu would get more and more wide awake.

So now Huo Jilin knew that when holding the kid, he had to smile and keep his face soft.

If Huo Yu reached out, he'd have to lower his head and let him grab his hair.

Every time he lowered his head, he'd get the urge to kiss him.

He couldn't help it. It was really something else.

Huo Jilin looked at the little kid in front of him and thought.

Such a soft, fragrant, fair little face, with a pair of black grape-like eyes blinking—when they looked at you so intently, you couldn't help but love him.

Especially since the child's eyes were so much like Chen Jue's. He wasn't yet old enough to control his expressions, so most of the time he just looked at you blankly—it was really something.

Eyes like Chen Jue, nose and mouth like his own—it was wild.

Huo Jilin saw that he was still staring at him without so much as a blink, so he lifted him up to eye level, forehead to forehead, teasing him until he giggled.

A child's laughter is very loud. He didn't yet know how to control his volume—if he was happy, he'd laugh out loud; if he wasn't, he'd wail.

Now he was giggling, which Chen Jue said sounded just like the hens in the yard after they laid eggs.

A child's laughter was infectious, and everyone watched the two of them. When Huo Jilin looked up, he saw the amazed expressions on everyone's faces. He dropped his gaze and ignored them, because even he couldn't explain it himself.

He had never imagined he would one day hold a kid so naturally, nor had he imagined he would ever come to like children.

In his past life, he had established the 520 In Vitro Embryo Project, but he had no emotional attachment to children. The 520 Project was just work to him.

How many children could be produced was a KPI to report to the state—it had nothing to do with emotion.

He didn't want a child either. Even as the CEO of Huachen Pharmaceutical, he had never thought of needing a child to inherit his career or his estate.

Every person is an independent entity. While you're at the top, you should create your own glory—don't think about relying on others.

When a person dies, it's like a lamp going out. When he died, he wouldn't care about passing anything on, so an heir was pointless.

He was cold and ruthless to the core.

He was gay and had known from the get-go he'd never have kids.

Though technology was advanced enough now that if he wanted a hundred children, he could have a hundred of them. But he simply didn't want any.

Kids had never been a necessity for him.

It was the same now. If Chen Jue hadn't given birth to this child, if this child hadn't looked like Chen Jue, he wouldn't have transferred his love for Chen Jue onto the child.

Huo Jilin let Huo Yu grab one of his fingers, playing a little back-and-forth game with him.

Seeing everyone staring at him, Huo Jilin took a deep breath and said:

"Once the first month of the new year is over, I'll start work at the Regional Commander's office. Sister-in-law Xiuer, I'll need to trouble you and Uncle Liu with looking after Huo Yu."

Zhang Xiuer quickly said: "Dalin, don't you worry. My dad and I both love little Xiao Yuer."

"And Nannan—Nannan likes Xiao Yuer too!" Nannan chimed in from the side, worried she'd be left out.

Everyone laughed.

Zhou Qingshan also said seriously: "Dalin, Jue Geer, you two rest assured. I will definitely take good care of the child and look after the medicine workshop. All the work we can do, we'll do well. It's just that aside from these miscellaneous tasks, everything else will still need your help."

Zhou Qingshan got a little embarrassed toward the end.

Huo Jilin's plan to work in town had been mentioned before—once every other day, on the same schedule as Jue Geer.

As long as he wasn't at the military office around the clock, Zhou Qingshan, though familiar with all the affairs of the medicine workshop these days, was ultimately not Huo Jilin. He lacked his confidence, his vision, and his strategic planning, nor did he possess Chen Jue's formidable medical skills. The work they could handle didn't require any brainpower; the real thinking work was beyond them.

Thus, the final decision-makers for the workshop had to be those two.

Both of them had to be present.

Huo Jilin nodded to him: "Mm, leave those to me."

The market was already laid out, the herb supply channels were set up, and the suppliers for consumables were also lined up. All they had to do was focus on production.

Hearing this, Zhou Qingshan breathed a huge sigh of relief, finally able to congratulate him without worry.

He said, his voice full of emotion: "Dalin's going to be a general! That's fantastic! After all the hardship, this is a blessing!"

"Brother Dalin, congratulations! You're the first big-shot general I've ever seen! How awesome!" Zhou Shun said.

"Yeah, this is my first time seeing a general this high up!" Zhang Xiuer added.

Huo Jilin, hearing this, hugged Huo Yu a little tighter. He had zero interest in being a general. It wasn't like he was tired of living and wanted to die on the battlefield—in his past life, he'd only gone to war to beef up his résumé. He'd much rather dominate the business world.

That kind of personality was a good fit for the business world.

But times had changed. In this ancient world ruled by imperial power, the social order was scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants—with merchants at the very bottom. Even becoming an Imperial Merchant meant you were looked down on.

To hold his ground in this world, he still had to take the job of Regional Commander. Because neither he nor Chen Jue could ever take the imperial exams.

So this was the only path left.

Even though he was reluctant, he had to admit that military achievements were the fastest way up. He'd climbed from a regular foot soldier to Guerrilla General, then retired into the role of Regional Commander in Dongping County.

Even if a low-ranking officer under him had pulled some strings, he still needed military merit to be eligible for the post.

That was also why Huo Jilin, even though he didn't want to serve, kept this position.

Now there was no excuse to dodge it anymore.

"It's not 'great general'—it's Regional Commander, the one who defends the city."

He wouldn't go to war unless he absolutely had to.

Huo Jilin corrected them.

He hugged Huo Yu and took a deep breath. He didn't mind soothing the kid anymore, especially now that he was about to start work, he was even more reluctant to leave Huo Yu.

He'd grown deeply attached to Huo Yu and hated the thought of parting. He thought to himself, no wonder stay-at-home moms found it so hard to go back to work.

For a job he didn't want, he'd rather stay home and take care of the kid.

Once, taking care of a kid was the last thing he wanted to do; who'd have thought it'd become the thing he couldn't bear to give up?

But everyone else there totally didn't get it—they thought being an official was super impressive.

Zhou Shun, his eyes full of admiration, raised his cup to him: "Brother Dalin, being Regional Commander is already a big deal—you're part of the yamen, a real official now! That's seriously awesome! From now on, we'll count on you to watch our backs. I'll toast to you first!"

Zhou Qingshan, also bursting with excitement, said to him: "Yes, Dalin, this is wonderful! Being a general means going to the battlefield, and that worries me. Being an official in town is good—you'll definitely do great. You're an honest man, and I believe you'll be a great official, standing up for us regular folks."

Huo Jilin glanced at him. Zhou Qingshan was more straightforward than Zhou Shun, so he saw Huo Jilin as a righteous man—he trusted him way too much.

In reality, he was a cold-hearted person.

Whether in his past life or this one, because human nature is hard to change.

In his past life, he carried out every mission coldly; in this one, he killed on the battlefield without batting an eye.

Taking this job was just to live a better life and protect his pharmaceutical company.

Huo Jilin slowly breathed in. He was backed into a corner—these ancient folks were too naive, thinking an official had to be some righteous judge.

Huo Jilin raised his cup to them: "I'll do my best."

As Regional Commander, he'd train the troops, hold the city during enemy attacks, and keep the people here safe.

He'd give it his all.

Thanks to the victory in the autumn battle, the Tartars had pulled out of Yinzhou City.

After the new emperor took the throne, the Northern Yuan Tartars' royal court and the Daliang Dynasty entered a brief period of peace.

For now, it was still a stalemate.

The future was uncertain, depending on how capable the emperor was.

And if he didn't want to be too passive, he still had to find ways to strengthen his own power—rely on himself for everything.

Wait for him; once he had enough funds, he'd start manufacturing gunpowder weapons. With firearms and ammunition, he'd be willing to go on campaigns.

Perhaps he could even intimidate all nations at once. If the emperor had greater ambitions, expanding the territory wouldn't be a problem either.

Better to expand, because only by conquering them could he prevent their return.

Though Huo Jilin was unwilling to fight on the battlefield or see fields of corpses, he also knew that only by subduing the surrounding areas could there be fundamental peace, just like Qin Shi Huang unifying the six states.

But the foundation for all this required funds, and arms were the most capital-intensive. Moreover, nothing existed yet—everything needed to be developed from scratch. As for the national treasury, there was no hope there. The previous emperor, obsessed with immortality, had drained the people and emptied the coffers.

After the new emperor's ascension, he'd also exempted one-tenth of taxes for a general amnesty, meaning the treasury wouldn't be replenished anytime soon.

Everything depended on himself—well, on Chen Jue's medicine workshop to earn money.

So Huo Jilin clinked glasses with Chen Jue again: "I hope the major shareholder of Chen's Pharmaceutical will give full support."

Chen Jue smiled faintly and clinked glasses with him: "Alright, full support. Don't worry about the workshop; go to work properly."

Huo Jilin, afraid he was playing dumb, coughed: "I also need full support financially."

Chen Jue looked at him—could it be what he was thinking?

The state wouldn't fund it, and he'd have to cover military expenses himself?

If Huo Jilin wanted to develop something, he'd insist on making the best. Gunpowder was no cheaper than in-vitro embryos; the funds needed were astronomical—no amount would ever be enough.

Huo Jilin just looked at him and even winked. This was a genuine need for his financial backing, because the Daliang emperor could barely manage to pay soldiers' wages, let alone fund his weapons research.

Chen Jue would discuss this with him when they got home that night.

For now, in front of outsiders, Chen Jue gave him face and nodded magnanimously: "Alright, I'll definitely support you fully."

Huo Jilin couldn't rely on cold weapons; to survive on the battlefield, he needed firearms. Chen Jue couldn't possibly abandon him to death's door.

Besides, this is about the lives of countless ordinary people.

Huo Jilin felt a huge swell of pride; none of the people at the table had any idea how much this meant to him, since Chen Jue had always been against him in the past.

So Huo Jilin raised his glass, looking at Chen Jue with a glimmer of emotion, and downed it in one gulp before saying, "Alright."

He would keep this land safe and peaceful for Chen Jue.

But before the enemy attack came, they were hit with flood-fighting and a plague outbreak—a battle even more brutal than war itself. Huo Jilin and Chen Jue were both dragged into the fray, worn out from the endless running around. That is a story for later.

At this moment, everyone at the table was joyful; the Lantern Festival was a time of reunion, with people on the streets dressed in colorful attire, smiling, bustling traffic, and brilliant lights—a scene of peace and prosperity.

"Shall we go down and take a look?" Zhou Qingzhu said, holding the little girl's hand, unable to resist.

The little girl wanted to go, and so did he.

After all, he was still a teenager, just sixteen. Seeing the lively crowd below, he could hardly wait to join them.

"Come on, let's all go check it out."