Chapter 175: Du Du and Jiang Xingliu Extra (3)

Chapter 175: Du Du and Jiang Xingliu Extra (3)

Jiang Xingliu snapped to attention, muttering a curse, and the next moment he shoved the woman aside and chased after him.

Du Du ran frantically, nearly losing his bearings, and unintentionally stumbled into a dark alley. He had always been afraid of the dark, and the years he spent confined to a hospital room only deepened his fear.

Instinctively, he halted, not daring to go any further, and the next thing he knew, his wrist was seized.

Du Du let out a scream.

Long, sandalwood-scented fingers pressed against his lips.

Jiang Xingliu said helplessly, "Why are you screaming?"

Du Du was utterly terrified, his almond-shaped eyes red as a rabbit's. He didn't dare turn around and shoved violently, "Let me go!"

His thrashing was too intense, and Jiang Xingliu was momentarily taken aback, but instinctively knew he couldn't let Du Du get too worked up. He quickly let go and gently soothed, "Alright, alright, I won't touch you, don't be afraid."

Du Du quickly backed off, crouching down three meters away, burying his face in his arms.

Jiang Xingliu stepped closer, and Du Du shouted, "Stay back!"

Jiang Xingliu froze and finally said, "Why didn't you let me know you were back?"

"Tell you what? You seemed pretty engrossed in your conversation with her." Du Du snapped without thinking.

As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt both irritated and shocked. How could he say something like that?!

Jiang Xingliu pursed his lips, unable to suppress a laugh, "Don't be angry, I was just discussing some matters with her. Lift your head and look at me, okay?"

"No," Du Du said angrily, "I won't let you see."

"Then aren't you going to suffocate like this?" Jiang Xingliu simply squatted down as well, "Be careful not to suffocate yourself."

"You're the one who's going to suffocate!" Du Du quickly lifted his head, fiercely scolded, and then buried his head again, "I don't want to see you, go away."

Jiang Xingliu asked, "Why don't you want to see me?"

"Is it not okay if I just don't want to see you?" Du Du frowned, not even realizing he could suddenly say so much, "You're ugly, and you flirt around, it's disgusting. I don't like you at all, I hate you, can't I just not want to be with you?"

Jiang Xingliu thought for a moment, "If you don't want to see me, then why did you come back?"

Du Du was beyond angry, "What kind of question is that? My home is on the capital planet, can't I come back?! I just came back to see my uncle, what does it have to do with you?!"

Jiang Xingliu hummed in agreement, suddenly breaking into a smile.

Du Du frowned, "What are you laughing at?"

"I'm just happy," Jiang Xingliu suddenly said softly.

"Aren't you shameless, getting scolded and still happy," Du Du muttered, "I don't want to talk to you anymore, I'm leaving."

Jiang Xingliu followed behind him.

Du Du felt as if he had a thorn in his back, stumbling over his words, "Can... can you not follow me?!"

"Is that not allowed?" Jiang Xingliu asked, "Do you know what position I hold now?"

Du Du put his hands on his hips, "What position?"

"The highest commander of the Imperial Military," Jiang Xingliu said calmly. "The entire empire falls under my command."

Du Du bit his lip. "Is that really something to brag about?!"

Jiang Xingliu shook his head. "It’s nothing special. It just means I can follow the path I choose."

Du Du was seething. He hurried back to the banquet hall, found Lu Qingwan, and said angrily, "Mom, let's go home!"

Lu Qingwan was taken aback, her eyes lit up with delight.

It had been ages since Du Du had been so animated.

During the twelve years of his treatment, because his emotions couldn’t swing too wildly, he had always restrained his emotional expressions. Over time, his emotions became very muted. Whether he was sad, upset, angry, or happy, he’d instinctively bottle it all up.

Even though he was just an adult, he lived like a rigid old man, his face blank all day, going through the motions.

Lu Qingwan had always been worried about this. Bringing him back this time, she’d hoped he’d snap out of it.

But she hadn’t expected results this fast.

Had Du Du run into Jiang Xingliu?

Sure enough, she soon saw Jiang Xingliu not far away, glancing their way with a helpless look.

"The party’s still going. Are we leaving now?" Lu Qingwan asked. "Should we wait a bit longer? There are many people your age here. You could meet some people. Weren’t you always into making friends?"

"No need," Du Du pressed his lips together. "I want to go home. I just want to go home."

Lu Qingwan sighed. "Alright, we'll go home. Let me say bye to Jiang Xingliu, alright?"

Du Du frowned, starting to wrestle with it.

Lu Qingwan hadn’t seen Du Du so animated in ages. She was overjoyed. For her, Du Du being able to express his emotions normally was worth celebrating.

Indeed, it had to be Jiang Xingliu.

Du Du wasn’t keen on seeing Jiang Xingliu, but if they were going home, Lu Qingwan had to say goodbye to him. It was about manners. Being part of the empire’s elite, the Yuan family couldn't afford to be so rude.

After a moment, he made up his mind and said, "Mom, you go ahead. I'll wait for you at the entrance."

With that, he turned and quickly walked to the door.

Jiang Xingliu soon followed.

Lu Qingwan let out a helpless laugh and stepped forward to stop Jiang Xingliu. "Commander Jiang."

Jiang Xingliu glanced at Du Du's retreating figure before stopping and nodding to Lu Qingwan. "Madam."

"Commander Jiang, you've really made a name for yourself," Lu Qingwan said, still upset that Jiang Xingliu hadn't picked Du Du up at the airport. Her first words were meant to sting. "Without an appointment, one can't even see you in person."

Jiang Xingliu felt awkward. He had been too busy these past few years, managing the empire and searching the universe for herbs for Du Du. He had neglected many social obligations, avoiding most meetings whenever possible, which led to the rumor that Commander Jiang was hard to meet.

"My apologies, I didn't know you had returned," Jiang Xingliu said. "It was an oversight on my part."

Seeing his sincerity, Lu Qingwan couldn't really bring herself to give him a hard time.

Even though this young man was the most powerful person in the empire.

She smiled slightly. "Alright, I was just teasing you. Thanks to the medicines you sent over the years, Du Du wouldn't have recovered so quickly."

Jiang Xingliu shook his head. Back when he was dealing with Chen Yin's remains, he found this prescription on her. Although he wasn’t sure if the ingredients on the prescription really existed, he still held onto a glimmer of hope. He scoured most of the ancient Earth's texts, searching bit by bit for the herbs listed on the prescription.

Many of the herbs had already been lost to history, but he still tried his best to find the plants that still remained. To find a single herb, he spent a lot of time and energy. Some areas had even been completely declared off-limits, with various toxic barriers and swamps, uninhabited lands, and he ventured deep into these perilous areas, risking his life time and again.

"It’s the least I could do," Jiang Xingliu smiled, rubbing his fingertips. "His recovery is all the reward I need."

"But he’s unaware of everything you’ve done for him," Lu Qingwan said. "You told me in your letters not to tell him, so..."

"That’s good," Jiang Xingliu said. "I don’t want him to know about these things."

"But now Du Du seems unwilling to see you," Lu Qingwan said with a bitter smile. "Don’t you think he should know? You’ve already done so much for him, he should know."

"If he knew, he wouldn’t be happy," Jiang Xingliu said. "He’s not ignoring me, he’s just... probably still upset with me. It’s fine, if he can get angry, it means he still cares about me. I’ll find a way."

Lu Qingwan nodded. "Sometimes you’re just like your father, cut from the same cloth."

Once they set their sights on something, they never give up easily, with a perseverance that surpasses ordinary people.

Jiang Xingliu raised an eyebrow, a hint of disdain at being compared to Jiang Huizhou.

After bidding farewell to Jiang Xingliu, Lu Qingwan wanted to take Du Du home.

Jiang Xingliu arranged a hovercar for them and watched them go, finally letting out a small sigh of relief.

His hand had been trembling all along.

It had been a long time since he had felt so excited and thrilled. He grabbed the trembling hand and placed it on his chest.

His heart was pounding harder than ever before.

His Du Du had finally returned.