After the Divorce, My Wife Is Impossible to Coax - Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Ever since that day at He Linghan’s banquet, when she had been coerced into biting An Zhaoyu, Lu Shen’s life had undergone a tectonic shift.

The baby, the marriage, the maternity leave—all these unplanned events had descended upon her without warning. Even the recent high school reunion… and going to a bar. This SSS-rank Omega possessed an uncanny ability to steer Lu Shen away from her original course.

Maintaining a certain distance was simply Lu Shen’s instinct for self-preservation. Sometimes, she would dream that the person she married had suddenly become An Wenyao, while An Zhaoyu’s voice looped endlessly in the background:

“My brother is too shy, I’m just helping him chase a girlfriend.” — “Lu Shen is too gentle; she can’t tame me.”

These words acted like a sudden curb to a bolting horse, and Lu Shen would wake with a start.

Under He Nanchun’s reluctant gaze, An Zhaoyu took the baby. The girl was named An Zhou. It was said that Doctor Lu had picked the name by flipping through a book at random. Her parents thought the name was a bit unusual, but since Lu Shen had chosen it, they said nothing.

An Zhaoyu, however, liked the “Zhou” in Yuzhou (Universe). Combined with her surname An, the characters looked adorable together. She was very satisfied with the name.

“Sweetheart, were you good for Grandma?” The infant’s skin was tender and smooth. An Zhaoyu held her close, pressing her cheek against the tiny, soft face.

An Zhou naturally didn’t answer. She only stared with her big, round eyes, her clear pupils reflecting the adult’s face.

“She was an angel. I don’t even want our treasure to leave,” He Nanchun said, trying to stall them. “Why don’t you two stay for dinner before you go?”

They both had to work, and they hadn’t hired any domestic help yet. Their new home hadn’t even seen a cooked meal.

“We won’t eat at home today. A new noodle shop opened in Hexi; I want to try it,” An Zhaoyu said. She was mindful of the scratches on Lu Shen’s left hand from the stray cat; they needed to get her vaccinated. It wasn’t good to delay.

“You… you have a baby now and you still want to run around and play!” He Nanchun couldn’t help but nag. An Zhaoyu had been like this since she was a child—wherever there was good food or fun, she had to be there. She simply couldn’t stay put.

“Shenshen, do you like noodles? Or would you rather eat here?” Hexi was near the Medical Center, quite a distance away.

“Thank you, Auntie, I like noodles,” Lu Shen replied. She didn’t mind where they ate. Seeing the baby’s tiny hands waving about, she extended her uninjured right hand for the baby to grasp. “Has Xiao Zhou eaten?”

Whenever Lu Shen called the baby’s name, An Zhaoyu had a brief illusion that she was calling her. Xiao Zhou, Xiao Zhao—the pronunciations were somewhat similar, though no one ever called her that; everyone called her Xiao Yu. Lu Shen rarely called her anything at all; most of the time it was “Captain An,” and the number of times she’d used her actual name could be counted on one hand.

“She ate. She had quite a lot before you arrived. Look how energetic she is now,” He Nanchun answered with a smile.

Lu Shen’s speech was always polite to the point of being a bit distant, but after spending time with her, He Nanchun knew that was just her natural way of talking, not a deliberate coldness. Except toward An Wenyao—An Changguo and He Nanchun had worried about awkwardness, but Lu Shen never spent a moment alone with him. The distance she maintained was reassuring.

They had feared their son and daughter being entangled with the same person. If Lu Shen’s attitude had been even slightly ambiguous, the relationship between An Wenyao and An Zhaoyu might have deteriorated. Fortunately, with Lu Shen’s cold personality, An Wenyao had been forced to give up many times over.

“Alright, Mom, we’re off.” The two left the An residence with the baby.

“Dinner first, or…?” Lu Shen asked, holding the baby in the passenger seat. There was a hospital right by the An residence, but An Zhaoyu’s noodle shop was closer to the Medical Center.

“Medical Center first,” An Zhaoyu said. She had checked the local hospital’s public account; the rabies vaccine happened to be out of stock there.

“Okay,” Lu Shen didn’t think much of it, looking down to interact with the baby.

An Zhou wasn’t a particularly fussy baby, but she had her share of loud, earth-shattering cries. However, she seemed to turn into a little angel the moment she was in Lu Shen’s arms. The baby loved Lu Shen; An Zhaoyu remembered that during the first two days after birth, she cried no matter who held her—even her own Omega mother—but would fall fast asleep for Lu Shen.

Right now, the little one was grinning at Doctor Lu, her underdeveloped vocal cords emitting intermittent coos. An Zhaoyu glanced over. She’d carried her all the way down the stairs and hadn’t received a single smile. Little traitor.

Seeing the innocent little face, Lu Shen couldn’t help but smile as well. Since the baby was born, she seemed to smile more often, though she remained quiet. An Zhaoyu withdrew her gaze and focused on driving.

While Lu Shen went to the Infectious Diseases department for the vaccine, An Zhaoyu took the baby to the pharmacy downstairs to buy emergency sun-repair cream. Only after picking up the medicine did she remember that Lu Shen was a doctor. She likely applied her own sunscreen and took care of her skin at night.

Seems a bit redundant, An Zhaoyu thought, looking at the tube. It struck her that despite being married for a while, she had almost no impression of Lu Shen’s daily routine. Perhaps because they had been living at her parents’ house? They had only moved into the new apartment after the baby was born, and the place was still quite empty.

Lu Shen emerged shortly. A colleague had helped clean the scratches with hydrogen peroxide and applied a simple bandage. Lu Shen had habitually marked the next dressing time on it.

It was definitely her handwriting. An Zhaoyu confirmed her theory—Jiang Qizheng had sought out Lu Shen privately, and Lu Shen hadn’t mentioned it to her.

“Is something wrong?” Lu Shen asked, seeing the plastic bag from the pharmacy in An Zhaoyu’s hand.

“Nothing. Sunburn cream,” An Zhaoyu started to shake the bag, but stopped when she realized the baby had fallen asleep in her arms.

“I have some,” Lu Shen said, then paused. She didn’t have any on her, and there probably wasn’t any at the apartment yet. They needed to stock up on daily essentials; Lu Shen wasn’t used to the new place yet.

The two didn’t drive, instead walking to the new noodle shop. It wasn’t far from the Medical Center. Because it was opening day, it was crowded, with celebratory flower baskets at the entrance. To be fair, the Medical Center’s cafeteria was mediocre; everyone preferred to trek a little further to eat out.

Unsurprisingly, they ran into many colleagues and several members of the search and rescue team. The team members’ eyes lit up the moment they saw the baby in Lu Shen’s arms.

“Aaaah! Captain, is this your daughter?” “So cute! My heart is melting!” “Captain is trying to trick me into having kids!”

The baby was sleeping soundly. The team members crowded around Lu Shen to get a look, making her visibly uncomfortable.

“Keep it down. If you wake her, are you going to soothe her?” An Zhaoyu placed one hand protectively behind Lu Shen’s back and waved the others away with her other hand, creating a safe distance so they wouldn’t accidentally bump the baby.

“Captain is so stingy,” Wen Yuncheng pouted. He wasn’t blind; the Captain was shielding Doctor Lu so tightly you’d think someone was trying to steal her. But the baby was too cute. “Captain, Doctor Lu, sit with us. There are no other seats left.”

An Zhaoyu scanned the room. The two- and four-person tables were indeed full. There were two empty spots at the large round table the team occupied. She looked at Lu Shen and asked softly, “What do you think?”

Lu Shen nodded. They had no other choice.

“Fine. but no noise.”

The team members nodded like chickens pecking rice, their eyes still glued to the baby. I really want to poke those cheeks.

Under the Captain’s pressurized gaze, the team members “casually” shifted the conversation to the Golden Eagle International Flight Competition. Everyone was “very interested” and “voluntarily” withdrew their gazes from An Zhou.

“Sigh, the Golden Eagle champion was a foreigner again this year. I wonder when we’ll finally take the trophy,” Wen Yuncheng said with some regret. “I remember the Chief’s best result was runner-up. Just a tiny bit short.”

Another member leaned in with a phone, showing a photo of a foreign champion flashing a peace sign. “The last time we won was in a dream.”

An Zhaoyu had only started the topic and didn’t participate much, resting her chin on her hand as she looked at the Alpha on the screen with a flat reaction. However, since she had distracted the team, Lu Shen felt less overwhelmed. She knew An Zhaoyu’s personality; in crowded social settings, she was like a fish in water, always able to control the room.

When the noodles arrived, An Zhaoyu took the baby. She ate faster than Lu Shen, and it was difficult for Lu Shen to eat while holding the child.

Wen Yuncheng caught An Zhaoyu’s eye and gave her a suggestive look. He’d figured it out—so the Captain liked the cool, intellectual type like Doctor Lu. Or rather, she only acted this way toward Lu Shen. There were other quiet types on the team, but they’d never seen the Captain this “considerate.”

An Zhaoyu ignored him. Once they finished eating, she told them to head out first.

A moment later, Wen Yuncheng returned to drop off an umbrella—it had started pouring outside. The weather here was unpredictable; you could experience all four seasons in a single day.

Thunder rumbled. An Zhaoyu looked at her sleeping daughter and suddenly remembered something. Lu Shen’s private apartment was near the Medical Center. Whenever Lu Shen didn’t stay at the An house, she went there. An Zhaoyu had never been to it.

“Tonight… should we stay at your place?”

“…Alright.”

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