Chapter 92 Incubator

Chapter 92: The Incubator

Gu Zhen stood frozen in place, staring intently at the alpha beside Zhu Shinian, as if trying to bore a hole through him with his stare.

It felt like an eternity before he managed to force a stiff, awkward smile for the child.

He didn't have anything suitable to give the child, and after standing there at a loss for a long while, he remembered there was still some leftover chocolate from the Thanksgiving event in his car.

He opened the car door, quickly retrieved the box of chocolates, and crossed the street to hand it to the child.

The chocolate was beautifully wrapped, unlike what was sold in District 29—the outer packaging looked like a music box. The child seemed to have never seen anything like it, and his eyes lit up immediately.

But Zhu Shinian had raised him well, and he seemed reluctant to accept things from strangers. He instinctively shook his head to decline, politely thanking the uncle.

"Your father and I are... friends. We've known each other for many years. It's fine, take it. It's not expensive, just chocolate."

The child hesitated for a few seconds, blinking, but in the end, he still didn't take the chocolate and obediently looked toward Zhu Shinian instead.

"If Tingting likes it, then go ahead and take it." Zhu Shinian reached out and accepted the box of chocolates for him. "Hurry and say thank you to uncle."

"Thank you, uncle."

Gu Zhen was somewhat dazed, releasing his grip slowly. When Zhu Shinian reached out to take the chocolate, his fingers accidentally brushed against Gu Zhen's.

Gu Zhen pulled his hand back as if burned. Fortunately, Zhu Shinian reacted quickly, preventing the box from falling to the ground.

"Thank you, General Gu." Zhu Shinian handed the chocolates to the child to hold, then gave Gu Zhen a gentle smile. "You didn't bring an umbrella? I have one in my car. Let me get it for you—you'll still have a bit of a walk from the hotel."

"No need, I have an umbrella." Gu Zhen refused instinctively.

"Then you should get back to your car quickly," Jiang Huaiyan said with a smile. Anyone who didn't know him would have thought he was genuinely concerned about Gu Zhen. "Don't catch a cold. There are still several days of negotiations ahead. You absolutely can't afford to get sick."

"Being sick is really awful." The child in Zhu Shinian's arms looked up, staring seriously at Gu Zhen. "You have to take a lot of medicine, and it's very bitter. Please don't get sick, uncle."

His chestnut-colored eyes were almost identical to Zhu Shinian's. Gu Zhen, held by that gaze, momentarily forgot all about Jiang Huaiyan's provocation.

"Alright, then I'll... head back to the hotel."

"Mm," Zhu Shinian said softly. "Go on back and rest."

"Goodbye, uncle," the child said, taking the initiative without needing Zhu Shinian's reminder. "Thank you for the chocolates, uncle."

He was truly a well-mannered child, one Zhu Shinian had raised well.

Gu Zhen wanted to tell him not to mention it, but his emotions were stuck in his throat, and he found himself momentarily unable to speak.

In the end, he simply looked at the child and nodded, signaling that he didn't need to be polite, then got into his car as if fleeing.

Zhu Shinian looked away, lowered his eyes, and quietly watched Tingting in his arms.

Tingting rested his head obediently against him, but perhaps because they had been outside for so long, as soon as they got back in the car, he couldn't help but sneeze.

"Are you cold, Tingting?" Zhu Shinian asked.

"Not cold..." Tingting immediately shook his head. "Ah-choo!"

"It's just that my nose is a little itchy," Tingting answered, a little embarrassed. "I'm not cold."

If he caught a cold, Dad definitely wouldn't take him to build a snowman.

"Dad, can I have one of the chocolates that uncle gave me?"

"It's almost dinnertime. You can have one after dinner, okay?"

Tingting was visibly disappointed, but he always did what his father said, so he obediently agreed.

Jiang Huaiyan saw his expression in the rearview mirror and was about to say he could have one, but then thought better of playing the nice guy in front of the child, so he said nothing.

Instead, it was Zhu Shinian who seemed to soften. He hesitated for a few seconds. "Then Tingting can have one, but you still need to eat a good bowl of rice afterward, okay?"

"Okay!" Tingting said happily.

The chocolates from the empire had elaborate packaging. Zhu Shinian and Tingting fiddled with the box for a while before successfully opening the music-box-shaped chocolate box.

Inside were nine chocolates. Tingting carefully divided them up: "One for me, one for Dad, one for Father, one for Great-Grandma, one for me..."

Zhu Shinian suppressed a smile as he watched Tingting count and recount, eventually ending up with one chocolate left over, seemingly torn over who to give it to.

"Can I give this one to Da Pang?"

Da Pang was one of Tingting's good friends—tall and chubby, but especially honest and easily bullied. One of the kids in kindergarten had repeatedly borrowed his colored pens without returning them, and after the righteous little Zhu Tingting got them back for him, Da Pang had come to worship him as his boss.

"They're all Tingting's," Zhu Shinian said, ruffling his hair. "We don't really care for chocolate. Just make sure you don't eat so much that you can't finish your dinner."

"I won't! Today I'm going to eat two big bowls!" As if remembering something, Tingting wrapped his arms around Zhu Shinian's neck and nuzzled him like a puppy. "Dad, Father promised me we can build a snowman when we get home. Will you come too?"

"Of course," Zhu Shinian said gently.

Grandmother's health hadn't been as good in recent years. Zhu Shinian and Jiang Huaiyan, who doted on her, never let her cook. When they got home, they bought some ready-made dishes, and the family gathered together—that alone was a warm and cozy welcome-home feast.

After dinner, Zhu Shinian and Jiang Huaiyan kept their promise and went out with Tingting to build a snowman.

A thin layer of snow had already settled in the courtyard. Tingting slipped down from Zhu Shinian's arms, stepped onto the snow, and left two little trails of tiny footprints.

He crouched down happily, scooped up a handful of snow, and played with it.

"Dad, the snow is so pretty," he looked up, his nose red and eyes sparkling. "White and cold, just like ice cream!"

"But my gloves are a little wet."

"Don't take off your gloves," Zhu Shinian quickly said, stopping him when he saw Tingting trying to remove them to play with the snow. "If they're wet, we'll just change them for a dry pair."

But children get cold easily after all, and before long, Tingting's little face was flushed red from the chill. He even tried to take off his scarf and wrap it around the snowman.

"The scarf is for the snowman," Tingting said seriously. "The snowman must be cold."

Zhu Shinian couldn't talk him out of it, so he went back inside to fetch a pair of gloves and an old scarf. Jiang Huaiyan crouched down, wrapped the old scarf around the snowman, and patted it with his hands to pack the snow more firmly.

Tingting helped out, pressing two buttons on as eyes and finding a carrot to stick in the middle as a nose.

He stepped back two paces, tilted his head to look, then went back over and nudged the carrot a little to the left, then a little to the right, finally settling it in a position he thought looked good.

"Done!" He clapped his hands and jumped, then sneezed.

He sneezed suddenly. He froze for a moment, then sneezed again, and then a third time.

Zhu Shinian and Jiang Huaiyan were both first-time parents, and neither had noticed in time that he was getting cold. Seeing him like this, Zhu Shinian of course refused to let him keep playing. He bent down and scooped Tingting into his arms.

Seeing that Zhu Shinian was unhappy, Tingting obediently rested his head on his father's shoulder and let himself be carried back inside without a fuss.

He glanced back reluctantly at the snowman in the yard—a handsome snowman, scarf wound neatly, carrot nose sitting dead center between the two button eyes.

Even when they finally coaxed him into bed, he kept fixating on the snowman, insisting on crawling to the window for one last peek.

Zhu Shinian, worried about him, had Tingting sleep right next to him that night.

Sure enough, in the middle of the night, Tingting spiked a fever.

Seeing the little guy curled up under the blanket, face red as a boiled shrimp, lashes damp, he reached out and touched his forehead—scorching hot.

He hadn't planned to wake Jiang Huaiyan, but somehow Jiang Huaiyan must have heard the commotion and soon pushed the door open. He took one look at Tingting's face, then turned and grabbed the car keys to head to the hospital.

On the way, Tingting curled up in Zhu Shinian's arms, face flushed with fever, lips quivering, still mumbling about wanting to have a snowball fight with his dads.

Zhu Shinian sat beside him, holding his burning little hand, his own palm slick with sweat. Jiang Huaiyan drove fast, and Zhu Shinian, who never got carsick, felt lightheaded.

The ER was mostly empty at night, and a nurse quickly carried Tingting inside.

He was usually a bit wary of strangers, but in the nurse's arms he was calm, not fussing at all.

Zhu Shinian stood in the hallway, leaning against the wall, staring at the closed door.

Jiang Huaiyan stood beside him, silent, just reaching over to take the hand Zhu Shinian had let dangle at his side.

"Who's the parent for Zhu Tingjia?"

"I am."

"The child has viral myocarditis. You'll need to fill out the admission paperwork."

"Okay, got it."

Jiang Huaiyan took the child from the nurse, while Zhu Shinian took the registration form. His hand hovered over the pen for a few seconds, as if trying to remember how to spell his own name.

Jiang Huaiyan glanced at him, knowing he was probably beating himself up again, thinking he hadn't taken good care of the kid and caused this.

"We took him out to play in the snow this evening, but he was bundled up," Jiang Huaiyan asked the doctor. "Is that what made him sick?"

"It's a contributing factor, but mainly it's because this kid's immune system is too weak."

"But we've been feeding him plenty of beef, shrimp, milk, eggs..."

"Nutrition is only part of what affects immunity. If you don't mind me asking—was this child conceived in vitro? Kids conceived in vitro do tend to have weaker immune systems than naturally conceived kids, since the incubator can't fully replicate the environment of a natural womb."

Zhu Shinian froze: "In vitro? We adopted this child—we don't know much about his background."

"The Resistance Zone... does it have in vitro tech now?"

"The Resistance Zone doesn't have it yet," the doctor nodded. "I believe only the Empire has this tech. If the child was adopted, his biological parents might be Imperials."

She pointed to a certain marker on the report. "This value is rarely seen in naturally conceived kids—though it's not definitive. Just giving you a reference. But this kid's immunity is indeed weak; it may not improve until he's at least eight. His parents will just have to be extra careful in the meantime. Alright, take him to the inpatient ward."

The hallway of the inpatient ward was quiet late at night. Even though the doctor said staying overnight wasn't necessary, Jiang Huaiyan still volunteered to stay with Tingting.

Zhu Shinian didn't leave right away. He stood by the window at the end of the hallway for a while. The snow had stopped, leaving a thin white layer on the ground. There was no moon in the sky, but the snow on the ground looked like a pool of moonlight.

He'd originally assumed Tingting was just an ordinary orphan who'd lost his parents in the war—but if he was born in an incubator, could he really be an ordinary orphan?

Families with the means to use incubators for their kids were wealthy or powerful. Could such a family really suffer a tragedy that left a child an orphan overnight?

Zhu Shinian had no love for the Imperial nobility, but now Tingting had become deeply tied to him.

When Tingting called him "Daddy," when Tingting fell asleep against his leg, when Tingting wrapped his arms around his neck—

He truly felt happy, felt a more real and intimate connection to the world.

A person's birth is innocent. He, once called a pariah, was innocent—and Tingting, who might be of noble birth, was innocent too.

Tingting had been raised by him and Jiang Huaiyan to be honest and kind. He cared about his family, stood up for his friends, and was polite to everyone.

But—what if Tingting really was the child of Imperial nobles? How did he end up in an orphanage in the Resistance Zone?

Was he abducted? Did he get lost?

Were his biological parents... still looking for him day and night right now?

Zhu Shinian couldn't stop thinking about it. Even if Tingting's biological parents were utterly evil, they should be judged by law and justice.

Losing your own child... that would be unbearable.

When he pushed open the door to the ward, Tingting was already asleep.

His little face was still flushed, but the fever had gone down some. His breathing was steady, and the IV in the back of his hand was wrapped tightly in gauze.

Jiang Huaiyan sat on the cot beside the hospital bed, not asleep, just with his eyes closed, lost in thought.

Zhu Shinian sat down next to him and set the report on the nightstand.

Jiang Huaiyan opened his eyes.

"Aren't you going back to rest?" Jiang Huaiyan asked quietly.

"The doctor said Tingting's biological parents might be Imperials," Zhu Shinian whispered, barely audible. "He was raised in an incubator, which is why his immunity is so weak."

"His biological parents might... still be alive. If there's ever a chance... let's tell Tingting. If he wants to meet them, we'll... help him look."

Jiang Huaiyan looked at Zhu Shinian for a moment, then gave a soft "mm" in acknowledgment.

Then he turned his head, gazing at Tingting's small, fever-flushed face on the hospital bed.

"...Niannian, let's talk about this after we've taken down the whole Empire."

Jiang Huaiyan's profile looked tired in the dim light of the ward, and Zhu Shinian suddenly felt a pang of guilt.

Tingting was adopted by him and Jiang Huaiyan together. What right did he have to unilaterally decide, in a grand gesture of generosity, to help Tingting find his biological parents?

Jiang Huaiyan clearly treated Tingting like his own flesh and blood.

That would be... anything but fair to Jiang Huaiyan.