Chapter 82

Chapter 82

Li Chongyi woke up in the middle of the night to find himself alone in the entire room.

After a moment of silence, a loud cry pierced through the door.

Lin Ze, who was kneeling on the bed, having endured Li Xiujin's thrusts from behind countless times and was already on the verge of collapse, heard Li Chongyi's crying and panicked, wanting to get off the bed. But at that moment, Li Xiujin held him down.

Realizing what he intended to do, Lin Ze pleaded, "Xiu Jin, not yet..."

Li Xiujin demanded, "What should you call me?"

Lin Ze trembled and whispered, "Husband..."

Li Xiujin then gave him no further chance to speak, beginning to finish.

Lin Ze's kneeling legs went weak and collapsed onto the bed. After catching his breath for a moment, he hurriedly threw on some clothes to check on Li Chongyi. Fortunately, Li Chongyi had cried himself tired and had fallen asleep again, lying face down on the bed. Lin Ze picked him up and gently rocked him in his arms...

The next day, Li Chongyi opened his eyes in Lin Ze's arms. Luckily, he had already forgotten about being left alone in the room the previous night, snuggling tightly against Lin Ze's chest...

Lin Ze's heart melted completely, but soon he faced a thorny problem.

Li Xiujin left for work earlier than him, and Li Chongyi wouldn't chase after him. But when it came to Lin Ze, if he didn't leave for the command center before Li Chongyi woke up, it would be difficult to get away.

After sending Li Chongyi to an early education class, Lin Ze even tried enrolling him in a preschool. But within a day, the institution's director would always apologize profusely to Lin Ze, saying they couldn't handle Li Chongyi and asking them to take him back quickly.

When Lin Ze went to the classroom to pick him up, he would find that Li Chongyi had made all the children in the class cry.

Lin Ze finished the last sip of water in his cup, then smiled and said, "Chong Yi, can you help Mommy take this cup to the kitchen?"

Li Chongyi jumped down from his chair, took the cup from Lin Ze's hand, and walked to the kitchen.

Seizing the opportunity, Lin Ze went to the entryway. Just as he picked up his coat and shoes, Li Chongyi came pattering out, his little brow furrowed, asking indistinctly, "Mommy, where are you going?"

Lin Ze forced a smile, "Nowhere, I'm not going anywhere..."

Seeing that he was about to be late, a servant came up with an idea.

"Chong Yi, let's play hide-and-seek, okay?"

Li Chongyi, who was eating a fried egg, remained unmoved.

"Chong Yi, don't you want to play with Mommy?"

Hearing it was to play with Mommy, Li Chongyi put down his knife and fork.

The servant brought out a large blanket, spread it open, and had Lin Ze hide behind it, pretending to play hide-and-seek with Li Chongyi to cover Lin Ze's exit. But as soon as Li Chongyi heard the door click, he quickly ran around the blanket, tightly hugged Lin Ze's leg, looked up with an angry expression that said "Don't even think about sneaking off and leaving me behind," and glared at Lin Ze.

Lin Ze sighed inwardly: "Chong Yi, Mommy has to go to work. Can you wait at home for Mommy to come back?"

Li Chongyi: "No!"

As soon as Lin Ze prepared to be a bit firmer, Li Chongyi started crying.

Lin Ze had no choice but to take him to work.

And Li Chongyi, having succeeded in his scheme, immediately stopped crying. After Lin Ze put on his military uniform, Li Chongyi grabbed the hem of Lin Ze's clothes and followed him step by step like a little tail all the way to the command center.

Lin Ze's subordinates greeted him, then looked down and saw their lieutenant general with a small child in tow. The child was adorable in appearance but had an especially cold and haughty demeanor, exactly like Lin Ze's ill-tempered husband. They all secretly chuckled.

Lin Ze arrived at the control room. Lu Mo, who had been promoted alongside Lin Ze and was now a colonel, came over with documents to report to him.

"Lieutenant General, huh... why did you bring Chong Yi?"

Lu Mo crouched down and pinched Li Chongyi's cheek.

Li Chongyi frowned and swatted his hand away.

"Chong Yi, that's not polite. Call him Uncle."

Li Chongyi reluctantly called out "Uncle."

Seeing a mini-version of Li Xiujin calling him uncle, Lu Mo was amused and laughed heartily: "He looks so much like General Li! This expression, this tone, it's a complete copy of General Li!"

"Not like him at all!" Li Chongyi retorted angrily.

"What did you promise Mommy on the way here?" Lin Ze said helplessly, "No shouting loudly, remember?"

Li Chongyi shut his mouth tightly, buried his face in the crook of Lin Ze's leg, and didn't say another word.

Lu Mo shook his head with a smile: "Too cute, too cute."

After Lin Ze expressed his apologies for bringing his child to work, he and Lu Mo began their day's tasks. Fortunately, as long as Li Chongyi stayed by Lin Ze's side, he was much quieter, his round eyes wide open, watching unblinkingly as Lin Ze directed so many people at work.

However, by the afternoon, Li Chongyi couldn't sit still anymore. He saw someone operating a small transport aircraft and pestered Lin Ze to let him try. Lin Ze had a meeting to attend soon, so he could only let Lu Mo take him to play.

Originally, their command center was set up near the worksite, but after repeated attacks and learning from those lessons, they relocated it to a place not far from the military headquarters. However, this had a drawback: increased transportation costs, so they purchased many of these transport aircraft.

There was one temporarily idle and not in use. Lu Mo placed Li Chongyi in the cockpit. Li Chongyi sat in the pilot's seat, shifting gears and stepping on the throttle, looking quite the part.

After letting him play for about twenty minutes, Lu Mo took him down, but he soon found a new interest: studying the overall structure of the transport aircraft.

Someone called Lu Mo. Seeing that Li Chongyi was engrossed in his play, Lu Mo walked a short distance away to answer the phone.

After examining the exterior, Li Chongyi crawled under the transport aircraft. Suddenly, he discovered something, his young face turning serious. He crawled out from under the vehicle, looked around but didn't see Lu Mo, so he ran toward Lin Ze's office. Not watching his path, his head bumped into someone with a thud.

"Ouch, isn't this Chong Yi? What are you doing here?"

"Chong Yi, where's your mommy?"

Su Wang and Zhou Dingshan had come to discuss some matters with Lin Ze. Just as they reached the door, they were bumped into by a little fellow. At first, they thought it was some child who had sneaked in, but it turned out to be Li Chongyi.

Ignoring the pain on his forehead, Li Chongyi pointed at the transport aircraft and made a "boom" sound with his mouth.

Zhou Dingshan and Su Wang exchanged glances, neither understanding what he meant. Zhou Dingshan picked him up: "Chong Yi, don't worry, tell Grandpa slowly."

Li Chongyi struggled to get down from his arms again. Zhou Dingshan had no choice but to put him down. As soon as his feet touched the ground, Li Chongyi led the two of them to the transport aircraft...

Zhou Dingshan and Su Wang smelled gasoline and instantly understood something. They called for someone to inspect it.

After inspection, they learned that this transport aircraft had a safety hazard; a little later and it might have exploded. They then checked the other transport aircraft and found several with the same safety issues.

By the time Lu Mo, who had finished his phone call, and Lin Ze, who had just ended his meeting, hurriedly arrived, they heard Su Wang reprimanding a soldier in a low voice.

"What's wrong with you all?" Su Wang said. "You're not even as sharp as Chong Yi. Luckily, Chong Yi noticed it in time, or it could have cost lives."

Seeing Lin Ze, Li Chongyi immediately broke free from his grandfather's arms and threw himself into Lin Ze's embrace.

Zhou Dingshan laughed: "Our Chong Yi has done a great service today."

Once he understood what had happened, Lin Ze first felt proud of how clever Chong Yi was, then guilty about his own lapse in supervision. He saluted Su Wang and said he'd take whatever punishment was coming.

Su Wang simply patted his shoulder. "I should be rewarding you, not punishing you."

Back in the car after their meeting, Su Wang said to Zhou Dingshan, "Old Zhou, your grandson is very much like General Li—temperamental, sharp-minded, a real talent in the making."

"At such a young age, what can you really tell?" Zhou Dingshan replied modestly.

"As the twig is bent, so grows the tree—surely you know that?" Su Wang chuckled in response. "Actually, I have an idea."

"What idea?"

"I want to bring him to the Central Headquarters and groom him to be the next Prime Minister."

Zhou Dingshan's face grew solemn. "That's no small matter."

"Of course I understand. Honestly, I had high hopes for General Li, but he values family life more. So, I have to settle for the next best thing—a child who has both his and Lin Ze's excellent genes." Su Wang spoke earnestly. "Actually, I've had this idea for a while. Little Chong Yi's actions today only strengthened my resolve."

Seeing Su Wang was dead serious, Zhou Dingshan said, "He's only two. If we take him under our wing now, Lieutenant General Lin, as his father, would definitely not agree."

"But who wouldn't want their child to have a bright future?"

When his workday was over, Lin Ze held Li Chongyi's hand and they headed home together.

On the way, they passed an ice cream shop. Lin Ze, who normally never let Li Chongyi have such treats, made an exception and bought him one.

Li Chongyi was a generous kid who never hogged his food; whenever he ate something, he'd always offer Lin Ze the first bite.

Lin Ze took a lick, and only then did Li Chongyi start munching away, swinging his little legs. Lin Ze looked at him fondly.

Watching him get it all over his face, Lin Ze had to laugh as he wiped his mouth.

After returning home, Lin Ze recounted to Li Xiujin how Li Chongyi discovered the safety hazard and went to call for help.

After listening, Li Xiujin snorted with a faint smile. "At least he has some brains."

"Xiu Jin, you ought to give him more praise..." Lin Ze said.

"Alright, I'll praise him more."

So, Li Xiujin plucked Li Chongyi, who was looking at a model book, off the floor and plopped him on the sofa, squeezing his face. "Li Chongyi, you did well today."

Angrily, Li Chongyi swatted at his father's face with his little hands. Once Li Xiujin let him go, his small chest heaved up and down, his face flushed with anger.

Catching sight of Lin Ze out of the corner of his eye, he immediately threw himself into Lin Ze's arms to complain. "Daddy bullied me!"

Originally hoping to use this chance to ease the tension between father and son, Lin Ze ended up playing peacemaker between them again.

After soothing the little one to sleep, he went to placate the older one...

From then on, Li Chongyi loved going to work with Lin Ze. Whenever Lin Ze's subordinates saw him, they would teasingly call him, "Little Officer Li."

Li Chongyi, acting like a serious little adult, would nod very coolly.

One day, after finishing work, Lin Ze was fighting to keep his eyes open. When he got home, he was supposed to be playing with building blocks with Li Chongyi, but he didn't even know when he fell asleep... It was only when he felt someone kissing him that he struggled to open his eyes.

"Xiu Jin..."

He tried to sit up, but perhaps because he had just woken up, his body felt extremely weak.

"Very tired?"

"These past two days might have been too busy..."

Li Xiujin asked keenly, "Feeling nauseous?"

Lin Ze shook his head. "Just a bit of loss of appetite, probably because summer is here."

Li Xiujin scooped him up in his arms, but instead of heading to the bedroom, he carried him to the car.

"Xiu Jin, it's so late. Where are you taking me?" Lin Ze asked while fastening his seatbelt.

"The hospital."