Chapter 35

Chapter 35

Seeing the stunned look on Huo Jilin's face, Chen Jue shot him a cold look before turning away, then said calmly to Zhou Hehua, whose face was red with embarrassment, "That's called ovulation."

"I... I'll come find you another day!" Zhou Hehua covered her face and ran off.

Huo Jilin stood there with his hands hanging at his sides, feeling the awkwardness too. He coughed and said, "I wasn't trying to listen in."

After explaining, he realized that sounded like protesting too much.

Huo Jilin took a deep breath. When had he ever eavesdropped on anyone? And even if he had, why would he ever need to explain himself to anyone?

A boss checking in on his employee's work could hardly be called spying.

But Chen Jue wasn't his employee anymore.

Looking at Chen Jue's expressionless face, Huo Jilin feared that if he didn't explain himself, he'd never be able to clear his name—he'd be labeled a guy who listens in on private conversations, and he'd never live that down.

"I didn't know you had so many female patients now."

Huo Jilin said this because he genuinely hadn't expected Chen Jue to become the village's go-to gynecologist.

After all, he was the Director of Cardiac Surgery.

Chen Jue just gave him one glance and walked away, still not speaking to him.

The smile Huo Jilin had forced onto his face froze there, stiff and fixed.

Taking deep breaths wasn't working anymore. He stood there for a while before the tightness in his chest finally eased.

Huo Jilin picked up the axe and started splitting firewood.

As he chopped, he thought to himself that Chen Jue had always treated him this way—now they were just back to where they started.

He was alive now, and that was enough. He couldn't ask for more.

He could slowly apologize and slowly patch things up.

Even as he thought this, he couldn't help feeling somewhat dejected, which meant he didn't crack a smile all day.

Visitors coming to see Zhang Yan took one look at his cold, expressionless face and wisely put down their gifts and left.

For two days straight, Huo Jilin hadn't smiled once. His expressionless face was how he'd been in his past life—he didn't smile brightly when happy, didn't jump around when angry, just wore that look of a boss who found everyone lacking and in need of improvement. Chen Jue had long been immune to it.

Aunt Zhou, Zhou Dajiang, and the others had known Huo Lin back in the day, and coincidentally, Huo Lin had been a stone-faced, quiet man. So Aunt Zhou and the rest just figured that was his nature and didn't think twice about it, continuing to fuss over the baby and the mom.

The only pity was that Zhang Yan, who was recovering from childbirth, couldn't eat any of the delicious food they made.

These past few days, Zhang Yan's meals had been so bland that even Aunt Zhou felt bad for her, but she didn't dare go against Chen Jue's orders.

Finally, when Chen Jue said Zhang Yan could have something nutritious, Aunt Zhou hurriedly brought out the chicken soup with placenta she'd prepared earlier.

She'd saved some for Huo Jilin too, but he coldly turned it down. Even though this batch was lighter, he didn't need that particular medicinal ingredient.

Placenta warms the kidneys and boosts essence—he didn't need it.

Even though it had been chicken soup every meal these past few days, Huo Jilin didn't like it. The cooking here was either so bland it had no oil at all, or so greasy that chicken fat coated the bottom of the pot.

Even the food he'd cooked out in the wild tasted better than this.

He glanced at Chen Jue, noticing he seemed thinner these past few days, with dark circles under his eyes.

Huo Jilin pushed the placenta soup toward him: "Have some. It's good for the pregnant woman too."

Chen Jue walked right past him without a second look, not wanting to look at him at all.

Before he'd confirmed Huo Jilin's identity, before the veil of their enmity had been lifted, the two could still share the same kang.

But once everything was out in the open, they could never pretend nothing had happened and share a roof again.

If Zhang Yan weren't here recovering from childbirth, he would have left already.

Huo Jilin set the bowl down on the table, his hands slowly clenching into fists. He hadn't expected Chen Jue to look at him with such cold indifference—it was harder to take than being killed.

It left him rooted to the spot.

He wasn't the type to sweet-talk people. He'd been on top for over thirty years; no one had ever opposed him except Chen Jue, let alone made him apologize or soothe anyone.

He also hadn't expected that the moment Chen Jue recognized him, he'd instantly put their relationship back to how it had been before.

Just like now—almost a perfect copy of their old dynamic.

Maybe they were just born to clash, their grudges too deeply rooted.

Huo Jilin stared at Chen Jue's retreating back without making a sound.

This man who could silence an entire boardroom with a single word—the chairman of the Huo Corporation—found that nothing he said carried any weight in this little village.

What could he say? Chen Jue wouldn't even look at him, wouldn't give him any chance at all.

Huo Jilin took a deep breath. He knew Chen Jue had every right to resent him.

He'd been killed by his own brother-in-law, Jiang Xinye. Even though he'd sent Jiang Xinye to a military unit in the snowy frontier—a place more brutal than prison—it still wasn't fair to Chen Jue.

He wanted to properly apologize to Chen Jue.

But Chen Jue refused all communication.

These past few days, Chen Jue wouldn't even give him a glance, as if looking at him was a waste of time.

As Chen Jue walked past him again, treating him like air, Huo Jilin couldn't help calling out: "Chen Jue, let's talk things out, solve problems as they come. I don't want to carry issues overnight."

If they were a thousand miles apart, Huo Jilin wouldn't mind the silent treatment. But now they were under the same roof, and Chen Jue's attitude was something Huo Jilin found very hard to adjust to.

This was a far cry from the guy who used to massage his shoulders.

Comparison breeds resentment—if Chen Jue had never massaged his shoulders before, the letdown wouldn't be this hard to take.

This time, Chen Jue's footsteps only paused for a moment before he went inside. He sneered inwardly—Huo Jilin didn't want problems to carry overnight? Well, he didn't like eating leftovers either.

Screw that!

Chen Jue entered the room and pushed aside the curtain. Zhang Yan saw him and immediately smiled awkwardly. Chen Jue smiled too: "No need to be nervous. I don't bite. I just want you to walk around a little more."

Zhang Yan complained: "You might as well just eat me."

Chen Jue massaged his belly, and it hurt so much.

They said it was to help the womb clean out, and he had to get out of bed and walk around, even clutching his stomach. It was agony!

Chen Jue said calmly, "Just remember the pain."

It made him give up on having more kids, on wanting two in three years.

The complications from a C-section were too many, so he had to make sure Zhang Yan did his exercises. That way, when he left later, Zhang Yan wouldn't have too many problems.

But he couldn't tell Zhang Yan that now—Zhang Yan relied on him too much. Chen Jue understood that patients sometimes depended on their doctor more than their own family.

Zhang Yan had undergone a surgery that had never been done before, so his panic was understandable.

That was why Chen Jue had brought him here—one week of hospitalization after the C-section, one week of observation here. If there were no major problems, the rest of the time would be for recovery.

"Did you walk for a while just now? If not, take a walk after drinking the soup."

He'd only passed gas on the first day, but hadn't had a bowel movement since. Chen Jue jotted this down in his notebook.

Zhang Yan said awkwardly, "I still can't go. It hurts too much, and I'm scared to push."

Chen Jue nodded. "That's normal. I'll prepare some medicine for you this afternoon."

Zhang Yan didn't need to breastfeed, so there was no concern about milk supply; he could take the medicine.

Chen Jue hadn't made any laxatives yet, but he could give him something to cool his system down, making his body as comfortable as possible.

He motioned for Aunt Zhou to bring the meat soup over for Zhang Yan to drink.

Zhang Yan had been surviving on porridge and soup these days and was famished. He dug in and ate most of it before looking up to catch his breath, asking Aunt Zhou, "Mother, what meat is this? It's pretty tasty, doesn't taste like chicken."

Aunt Zhou looked at Chen Jue. Chen Jue had said the placenta was a tonic for the one who gave birth. She had heard of it too, and Midwife Zhao was well-informed, saying that wealthy families' new mothers would eat it to recover faster.

So on the day of the birth, Aunt Zhou had stewed the placenta and saved it until today when Zhang Yan could eat meat. She was afraid Zhang Yan wouldn't eat it, so she hid it in the chicken soup.

Now Aunt Zhou looked at Chen Jue. Like Dajiang, she wasn't good at lying. Chen Jue said without batting an eye, "Beef."

Anyway, last time he'd passed off snake meat as fish, so this could work too.

Zhang Yan exclaimed, "That must be expensive."

In ancient times, cattle were essential for farming; unless they were old, sick, or disabled, they were rarely slaughtered, so beef was expensive.

Chen Jue nodded. "Yes, quite expensive. Dajiang went out of his way to have someone buy it. Eat it all—it's good for your wound."

Although he had ignored Huo Jilin just now, Huo Jilin had a point: the placenta was very beneficial for women who were pregnant or had just given birth.

Other animals ate their own placentas after giving birth.

Zhang Yan dutifully finished the rest.

After eating, Aunt Zhou wanted to help him lie back down, but Chen Jue stopped her. "Let him sit and digest for a while. He'll need to get up and walk soon."

"Huh? With such a serious wound, he needs to walk?" Aunt Zhou said with concern. These days, Chen Jue forced Zhang Yan to get off the kang and walk whenever possible, and the wound had never healed properly.

Now she knew how much Zhang Yan was suffering. How could anyone go through such a painful surgery?

Chen Jue glanced at her and said firmly, "He must move around. Walk as much as he can. Internal injuries are more important than external wounds."

He hadn't shown outsiders like Zhao the surgery he performed, not because he feared his medical knowledge would spread, but because he was afraid of scaring these ancient people. But Zhang Yan's family had to see it—if they didn't know what he'd been through, they wouldn't know how to take care of him.

Aunt Zhou sighed. "Alright, I'll have Dajiang help him walk later. Let him conserve his strength. Jue Geer, why don't you rest on the kang for a bit?"

Chen Jue only nodded and leaned back against the kang, writing and drawing.

Fewer people came to their house now, and Chen Jue no longer kept secrets. Anyway, he would be leaving in a few days.

"When you get home, follow the diagrams I've given you. Do ten sets of ten reps every day." Chen Jue handed Zhang Yan the stick-figure drawings he had sketched on paper.

These were postpartum recovery exercises, popular in later times. In ancient villages, such things weren't emphasized, and many women who had given birth suffered from lasting aftereffects.

Chen Jue recorded everything he could think of on paper, hoping that even in his absence, Zhang Yan could recover well.

Zhang Yan looked at the stick figures. "These are what you taught me last night. Jue Geer, you're amazing. You never used to talk much—I had no idea you were this skilled! Huo Lin marrying you must be a blessing from his past life!"

He raised his voice at the end, deliberately so Huo Jilin outside could hear.

Chen Jue's brow furrowed slightly. He didn't want to hear anything about Huo Jilin.

But Zhang Yan brought him up anyway. "I'll be staying here for several days, and Brother Huolin just got back, so it's keeping you two separated. Dajiang doesn't talk much either—I hope he's been treating Brother Dalin well."

Chen Jue remained silent. It had nothing to do with him. He had no relationship with Huo Jilin other than being enemies.

"Oh, right, Jue Geer. In three days it's the Mid-Autumn Festival. You and Huo Lin are going back to your parents' house, right? My mother-in-law bought half a pig. Tell Huo Lin not to buy anything."

Zhang Yan looked at the stick figures but thought of all sorts of household matters.

Chen Jue couldn't help asking, "Do we have to go back to your parents' home for Mid-Autumn?"

Zhang Yan looked at him strangely. "Of course. I can't go because I'm recovering from having a baby, so my parents will come to see me. Unless there are special circumstances, you're supposed to go back to your parents' home."

In ancient times, filial piety was paramount. The Mid-Autumn Festival was a major holiday, second only to Chinese New Year.

Seeing Chen Jue's slightly furrowed brow, Zhang Yan asked quietly, "Jue Geer, are you and Dalin arguing? Is it because I'm staying here..."

Zhang Yan said apologetically. He had wanted to ask earlier.

He had gone to the main hall for a stroll and seen the tension between the two.

Chen Jue seemed cold, but he wasn't heartless. Yet for some reason, he was so cold to his husband, as if they were enemies.

Chen Jue put down his paper and pen, saying casually, "Stay as long as you like. It has nothing to do with you."

Zhang Yan pressed on. "Then what's wrong? You can't grow apart. Dalin is back now, and your life will only get better. I can go home tomorrow. You two must talk things out."

Seeing that Chen Jue wasn't listening at all, Zhang Yan added, "If you're still upset, take him home for Mid-Autumn and talk to your parents. Let them scold him. Just don't bottle it up."

He was saying more and more. He had just finished his confinement period and was worrying about so much—his energy and blood were low. He should worry about himself.

Chen Jue didn't know how to explain it to him.

The person who came back wasn't Huo Lin. Just one character different in the name, but worlds apart.

He and Huo Jilin could never see eye to eye, could never live together.

Seeing Zhang Yan still anxious, Chen Jue changed the subject. "If you're not tired, get off the kang and take a walk."

Zhang Yan: "..."

The next day, as Zhang Yan was being bundled up to be taken home, he was still worried about Chen Jue: "Make sure you two really talk things out. The day after tomorrow is Mid-Autumn Festival—the whole family should be together..."

Zhang Yan left, taking all the house's liveliness with him.

No more baby cries, no more little goat bleats. The rooster that usually strutted around arrogantly had been so rattled by all the chicken-killing of the past few days that it hid in the tree all day, neck tucked in, not making a peep.

The courtyard at Huo Lin's place went back to its old quiet—even quieter than before.

It used to just be quiet, like a still lake. Now the lake had frozen over.

That icy chill seeped into the whole air.

Huo Jilin should've been used to this kind of vibe. The things he did ran counter to what most people believed, so he always killed the mood wherever he showed up.

He knew the nurses at the hospital who loved reading romance novels had given him a nickname: "The Iceman."

He also knew Chen Jue had a nickname: "The Buzzkill King."

Together, they were known as the hospital's two freezers. People joked that if you stuck the two of them in the morgue, you'd save on the electric bill.

He knew all of it.

He couldn't be bothered with people gossiping behind his back. He didn't need their admiration—as long as they played along to his face, that was enough.

But this place wasn't the morgue. It was home.

No one liked a home as cold and lifeless as a morgue.

He watched Chen Jue silently cutting herbs with a little chopper in the courtyard, and spoke in a calm voice: "Chen Jue, what exactly is on your mind? Let's put everything on the table and talk."