Shocking! The Broke Campus Heartthrob Is My Child’s Father - Chapter 81

Lu Yicheng brought Jiang Ruoqiao back to his rented apartment.

In her current state, returning to the guesthouse to face her grandparents would have been unbearable. On the way back, he had stopped at a pharmacy to buy iodine solution and ointment. With Lu Siyan off at kindergarten, the apartment was quiet. Jiang Ruoqiao sat on a chair while Lu Yicheng initially planned to give her the iodine to apply herself. But seeing her dazed condition, he sighed, crouched down in front of her, and said softly, “I’ll clean the sand from your wound first. It might hurt a bit.”

Jiang Ruoqiao looked at the top of his head and gave a faint “Mm.”

Lu Yicheng dipped a cotton swab in iodine and carefully cleaned her wound.

Her naturally pale skin made the injury on her knee look frightening. Yet throughout the process, she didn’t even furrow her brow, as if she couldn’t feel the pain. Her expression seemed calm, or more accurately, numb.

Jiang Ruoqiao was someone with a high pain tolerance—able to endure both joy and sorrow, pleasure and heartache without breaking.

As he applied the iodine, Lu Yicheng kept an eye on her expression. Noticing that she never once furrowed her brow, he lowered his gaze and remained silent.

“Done,” Lu Yicheng said. “Try not to get it wet, and change the medicine once a day.”

Thinking of her vanity, he added, “It won’t leave a scar.”

“Mm, thank you,” Jiang Ruoqiao said. “I’d like to wash my hands in the bathroom.”

Lu Yicheng stood up and threw the used cotton swabs into the trash bin. “Sure. Have you had breakfast?”

Jiang Ruoqiao looked at him.

Even he noticed that her reactions were now half a beat slow.

“Okay, I understand.” Lu Yicheng didn’t go to the bathroom but instead washed his hands in the kitchen. While he was busy, Jiang Ruoqiao slipped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. The night was cool, her short sleeves gave her goosebumps.

..She simply just wanted to calm down.

She had already cried once, hadn’t she?

She turned on the faucet and scooped up a handful of cold water to wash her face. When she looked up at the mirror, she couldn’t tell if the moisture on her face was water or tears.

In the kitchen, Lu Yicheng focused on making breakfast.

There weren’t many ingredients left in the refrigerator. He opened a can of luncheon meat, cut it into thick slices, and set them aside. The gas stove had two burners—a pot of water was heating on one side. He fried an egg in a frying pan, then fried the luncheon meat. He cooked noodles and placed the nicely fried egg and several slices of luncheon meat on top. Simple, but appetizing.

He hadn’t eaten either, so he brought a bowl to the table, hesitant, unsure whether to call her. The next second, the bathroom door opened. Jiang Ruoqiao had already adjusted her mood and expression. She was a person with strong opinions—she was angry, sad, and grief-stricken about that dream, but she understood that she needed to focus on the present. She had already brought her grandmother for medical treatment more than a year earlier than in the dream, and she would do her best to prevent what happened in the dream…

If tears were useful, she would cry every day.

But now her grandparents needed a pillar of strength, so she had to pull herself together. Everything would be all right.

Lu Yicheng was still wearing an apron.

He took off the apron, smiled warmly at her, and said, “Have some noodles.”

Jiang Ruoqiao nodded and sat down across from him. They each had a bowl of noodles, though there were differences—Jiang Ruoqiao’s bowl had luncheon meat and egg, while Lu Yicheng’s bowl only had egg.

Seeing her unused chopsticks, he asked, “Do you not like this?”

He added, “Would you prefer a sandwich instead?”

Jiang Ruoqiao shook her head. She had returned to her usual expression. “The noodles look good, no problem, just too much.”

He had clearly misjudged her appetite. Such a large bowl was daunting.

Lu Yicheng thought for a moment, then stood up. “Wait a moment.”

He went to the kitchen and found disposable chopsticks in the cupboard. Before using them, he asked her again, “Shall I take some out for you?”

Jiang Ruoqiao quickly nodded. “Take out a lot.”

Lu Yicheng used the disposable chopsticks to take some noodles from her bowl, and still asked, “Is this enough?”

“Take out more.”

“…Oh.”

“Take out some luncheon meat too,” Jiang Ruoqiao said.

Lu Yicheng paused. “You don’t like it? It’s actually quite tasty.”

Siyan loved it.

Jiang Ruoqiao: “I can’t finish it. It’s too much.”

“Mm.”

In the end, the noodles in Lu Yicheng’s bowl were almost piled into a small mountain. Jiang Ruoqiao looked at it and laughed. “You just made too much to begin with.”

Lu Yicheng shrugged and honestly admitted, “You know, it’s really hard to judge the right amount when cooking noodles. You think you’ve added too little, so you add a bit more, and in the end, you have a huge pot.”

Jiang Ruoqiao could relate to this. “Yes, I’m most afraid of cooking noodles.”

The atmosphere between them returned to normal.

However, because of this incident, Jiang Ruoqiao felt that the distance between her and Lu Yicheng had shortened in her heart.

Today the weather was nice. Sunlight streamed through the window into the room. As they sat facing each other, eating a bowl of plain noodles, Jiang Ruoqiao felt as if a pair of hands had smoothed away her anger. She still had many things to do. After finishing the noodles, Jiang Ruoqiao automatically wanted to clean up the bowls and chopsticks, but Lu Yicheng quickly stopped her. “No need, no need. It’s just two bowls, and my hands were already oily before. Don’t get your hands dirty.”

In Jiang Ruoqiao’s bag was the appointment that Lu Yicheng had stayed up all night to schedule for her. She sincerely thanked him.

Many times, she took the pursuit and kindness of men for granted—it was common, and she had been accustomed to others’ attentiveness since childhood.

But with Lu Yicheng, taking his kindness for granted seemed awful.

She shouldn’t take advantage of his kindness.

But how should she thank him? She couldn’t think of a way at the moment, so she made a mental note to find a proper way to thank him after her grandmother’s situation was resolved.

“I’m going back now. I want to be honest with my grandparents,” Jiang Ruoqiao said. “When I take her for the examination this afternoon, I definitely won’t be able to hide it. Elderly people are sensitive. If it’s just one examination, she wouldn’t think much of it, but a second examination will make her understand. So I want to divert her attention with something bigger, to make her feel that falling ill and getting treatment isn’t a big deal. If she feels relaxed mentally, then this won’t be a major issue.”

Lu Yicheng understood and nodded. “That works.”

Come to think of it, when a granddaughter suddenly has a five-year-old son… the elderly would probably find this more important.

Jiang Ruoqiao lowered her gaze. “So I might need to trouble you in the coming days.”

With her grandparents’ personalities, once they accepted that Siyan was her son, they would certainly wonder why Siyan was living with Lu Yicheng.

This relationship couldn’t be explained away.

Lu Yicheng’s expression remained relaxed. “It’s no trouble. It’s my responsibility.”

“It’s my responsibility” has become his most frequently used phrase lately.

But nothing was really his responsibility.

He didn’t owe her anything, and even if they had a child together, Siyan wasn’t born to the current her.

*

Jiang Ruoqiao returned to the guesthouse.

Her grandmother was on the balcony taking care of the plants and flowers left by the landlord, while her grandfather was watching a TV drama. Jiang Ruoqiao stood in the entryway, looking at her grandmother’s figure, and her nose began to sting again. She shook her head, forcing back all negative emotions. After changing her shoes, she pretended everything was normal and sat on the sofa to watch TV. Her grandfather noticed her and casually asked, “Why aren’t you at school?”

Jiang Ruoqiao said, “The long holiday is coming soon, and there aren’t many classes. In our junior year, we have very few courses. Most people are preparing for exams. I’ve already taken all the certifications I can.”

“Oh, I see.” Her grandfather nodded.

After mentally preparing herself for a long time, Jiang Ruoqiao suddenly said, “Grandma, please stop what you’re doing. Grandpa, please pause the TV for a moment. I have something very important to tell you…”

Her grandmother stopped tending to the plants and straightened up to look at her.

Her grandfather reluctantly pressed the pause button on the TV.

Jiang Ruoqiao tried to lighten the atmosphere. “I have one not-so-good news and one good news. Grandpa, Grandma, which would you like to hear first?”

Following their family tradition…

Her grandparents said in unison, “Save the good news for last. Tell us the not-so-good one first!”

Jiang Ruoqiao knew they would choose that way. After careful consideration, she cautiously began, “There’s an issue with Grandma’s examination that needs a follow-up. The doctor yesterday recommended going directly to Professor Huang. I’ve already made an appointment, and we can go at three o’clock this afternoon… Yesterday’s doctor said to follow Professor Huang’s advice on whether to do a biopsy or proceed directly to surgery.”

In TV dramas, there are often scenes where someone has a serious illness, and the family keeps it a secret.

But in modern society, keeping secrets is extremely difficult.

Elderly people of her grandmother’s age are usually afraid of going to the hospital. If she took her to another major hospital for a follow-up today, her grandmother would certainly be worried and keep thinking about it. Rather than letting her imagine the worst, it was better to tell her what she already knew.

Her grandmother was stunned, and her grandfather looked helpless.

Her grandfather’s voice trembled. “Qiao-Qiaoqiao, what’s wrong with your grandmother? Isn’t she fine? Why are they talking about biopsies and surgery?”

Jiang Ruoqiao nodded. “The doctor just recommends more detailed examinations, Grandpa. It’s going to be okay. Modern medicine is very advanced, and Professor Huang is a national authority in this field.”

No matter what Jiang Ruoqiao said, the atmosphere remained somber.

This was something she had anticipated. After a moment of silence, she perked up again and said with an energetic voice, “Ah, and there’s also good news! News that you absolutely won’t expect!”

Her grandmother forced a smile. “What good news?”

Her grandfather looked at her suspiciously. “You’re not saying you were just joking earlier, are you?”

Her grandmother glared at him. “Is Qiaoqiao the kind of person who doesn’t know better? Would she joke about something like this? Are you pig-headed?”

Jiang Ruoqiao knew her grandparents were also trying to lighten the mood. She lowered her head, and when she looked up again, she was still smiling. “Who do you think Siyan resembles?”

Her grandparents obviously hadn’t processed this yet. Why was she suddenly mentioning someone else’s child?

“Resembles who?” her grandparents asked doubtfully.

“Ta-da!” Jiang Ruoqiao pulled up photos of herself as a child from her phone album. “He looks like me!”

She worked hard to adjust the atmosphere, making herself appear relaxed. Only if she showed that “surgery isn’t a big deal” would her grandparents feel at ease. “Don’t you think he looks a lot like me?”

Grandmother: “…”

Is this what she calls good news?

Thinking this, she still cooperated with her granddaughter, taking her reading glasses from the coffee table and looking at the photos. Then she thought about the child’s appearance from yesterday. “…He does look a bit similar, but what’s the connection?”

“Wait a moment.” Jiang Ruoqiao got up and took a paper from her bag’s compartment and handed it to them. “This is the paternity test report for Siyan and me. I’m not joking; he is indeed my son. But not my current son—Siyan is not from the present. He came from…” she calculated, “twelve years in the future.”

Grandfather: “…”

Grandmother: “?”

Jiang Ruoqiao walked over and took her grandmother’s arm. Taking advantage of her stunned state, she said affectionately, “So, Grandma, I’m scared. You always say I’m still a child. I don’t know how to raise a child. Can you and Grandpa help me, teach me? I’m really afraid.”

I need you both, very much.