The jeep made a sharp, stylish drift and stopped steadily in front of the emergency entrance of the military hospital.
Before the vehicle even settled, Lu Tingchuan unfastened his seatbelt, pushed open the door, and with long legs, dashed straight into the rain.
He didn’t even hold an umbrella, letting the cold rain soak his crisp military uniform.
He moved quickly to the back seat and yanked the door open.
A gust of cold wind blew inside, making Lin Nian shiver.
Before she could react, Lu Tingchuan bent down and, with an unquestionable strength, took the burning-hot Lu An from her arms.
“Follow me.”
He only spoke these two words, then carried the child, using his long legs accustomed to forced marches, and strode powerfully into the brightly lit emergency hall.
Lin Nian was stunned by his domineering and efficient action.
“Mommy…” Ningning, frightened, whispered beside her.
“Don’t be afraid, Ningning.” Lin Nian quickly snapped out of it, lifted her daughter, and followed him inside.
Although it was late at night, the emergency room was quiet, not crowded.
The doctors and nurses on duty looked tired. A few family members sat scattered on benches along the hallways.
However, when Lu Tingchuan burst in like a whirlwind with the child in his arms, the air in the emergency hall seemed to freeze.
“Doctor! Nurse! The child has a high fever, hurry!”
Lu Tingchuan’s voice was deep and urgent, with the piercing authority of a soldier. It instantly broke the quiet of the emergency room.
A nurse who had been dozing awake with a start, and when she saw his face, her sleep vanished. Her eyes widened like copper bells.
“Lu… Commander Lu?”
Lu Tingchuan!
In this military hospital, his name was known to everyone— the highly accomplished combat hero, the battle-famous regiment-level officer, the newly appointed discipline inspector, and… the most admired, untouchable dream of the young women in the entire military district.
How could he appear here in the middle of the night, holding a child?
All eyes instantly focused on Lu Tingchuan and the child in his arms.
Then, they saw Lin Nian behind him, equally drenched, holding a little girl.
If Lu Tingchuan’s arrival was a thunderclap, Lin Nian’s appearance was pouring gasoline on the fire.
“Is that… the one who runs the snack stall at the entrance?” a sharp-eyed nurse recognized her.
“Yes, yes! That’s her! She’s really beautiful, and I heard she’s a widow!”
“Wow, what’s going on? Why is Commander Lu with her? And holding her child?”
“Look at his anxious face—it’s unbelievable…”
Whispers buzzed in every corner of the emergency room like mosquitoes.
Lin Nian felt as if she was being pierced by all those curious, gossiping, shocked gazes.
She wanted to disappear into a crack in the floor.
But she couldn’t.
Her son was still waiting for treatment.
Lu Tingchuan seemed completely oblivious to the surrounding chatter. In his world, it was as if only the small, burning-hot child in his arms existed.
He carried the child straight to the doctor’s office.
The on-duty doctor was also startled. Seeing Lu Tingchuan, he dared not delay and immediately put aside everything to start examining the child.
“What’s the temperature?”
“It wasn’t measured on the way here, but his whole body is burning,” Lu Tingchuan said, a tension in his voice he didn’t even realize himself.
“Any other symptoms? Coughing? Vomiting?”
The doctor asked, glancing at Lin Nian.
Lin Nian quickly replied, “No vomiting. He’s just very lethargic and talking nonsense.”
The doctor nodded, picked up the thermometer, and also listened with a stethoscope.
“First, check his temperature, then do a blood test to see if it’s a viral infection,” the doctor said, glancing at Lu Tingchuan and then Lin Nian, hesitating slightly, and asked, “You are the child’s…?”
Lin Nian’s heart jumped into her throat.
Before Lu Tingchuan could answer, she quickly said, “I’m his mother!”
She deliberately stressed “I” as if to clarify the relationship.
The doctor paused for a moment, then understood, nodded, and didn’t ask further.
Lu Tingchuan, hearing the unfinished question, tensed slightly in his arms holding the child.
He looked down at the feverish little face, then at Lin Nian beside him, whose expression seemed to say, “Don’t misunderstand, we’re not close.” His Adam’s apple moved, but he said nothing.
Soon, a nurse came to draw blood from Lu An.
The child woke up from the needle in his sleep and immediately cried, “Waaah!”
Lin Nian’s heart ached, and she hurried forward to comfort him.
Lu Tingchuan also reached out, using his rough, warm, slightly awkward hand to pat Lu An’s back gently.
To the people in the emergency room, this scene was more dramatic than any romance novel.
The legendary cold-blooded, emotionless, and untouchable Commander Lu even had this… gentle (?) side?
He held the child, the woman comforted another, and the scene looked exactly like… a family.
This thought hit every witness like a bomb.
That night:
“Extra! Extra! Commander Lu carried a child into the ER!”
“Really? Whose child?”
“The one from that Lin’s snack stall! They came together!”
“Wow! What’s their relationship?”
This shocking gossip, like it had wings, spread from the emergency room to every corner of the military compound, every family chat.
Overnight, the whole compound was completely stirred by this event.