Chapter 1224 - 1224: 784 Think, Swear, Catch a Cold_2

This feeling carried over into his work, causing him to smile all the time. Even when dealing with annoying patients and family members, he always maintained a pleasant attitude.

His brother-in-law and Sir stayed in the Capital for five days to accompany Wu Shengnan. They probably would have stayed a few more days if his brother-in-law's child wasn't about to be born.

After bidding farewell to his brother-in-law and Sir, life in the Du Heng family returned to calm.

From then on, Du Heng did not take on any extra shifts at work and was always eager to finish and go home early.

At this point, he realized that time was a very strange thing.

For instance, when waiting outside the delivery room, it felt as slow as an ox dragging a cart, a truly agonizing sensation.

Yet now, Du Heng hadn't fully recovered from the joy of becoming a father, and Wu Shengnan was about to end her confinement period. The family started discussing whether they should hold Baby Steps for the child.

When this matter was brought up, Du Heng initially planned not to hold them.

In the Capital, he didn't know many people. Even including those he did know, like Cao Binghe and Director Wu, he'd only been acquainted with the others for two or three months.

Talking about holding Baby Steps now could easily be misconstrued as an attempt to profit from their child.

But seeing his Sister-in-law and Wu Shengnan happily discussing the Baby Steps, Du Heng wisely kept quiet.

He knew that his daughter's Baby Steps were inevitable.

The only issue now was where to hold them.

If they held the Baby Steps in the Capital, it would lead to the situation Du Heng was worried about, and it wouldn't include his relatives and friends back home. This could inevitably stir up gossip.

But if they went back to their hometown Jinzhou for the Baby Steps...

Goodness, just the thought of it gave Du Heng a headache.

It was thousands of miles away. Wu Shengnan had just given birth, and the baby was barely a month old. It didn't seem fitting no matter how he thought about it.

Thinking about all this, Du Heng couldn't help but feel disheartened.

"Ah, Xiao Heng, I'm asking you, what's your opinion?" While Du Heng was worrying, his Sister-in-law suddenly prodded him.

Du Heng came back to his senses, looked at her with confusion, and said, "Opinion? I didn't quite get that."

Zhang Sumei gave Du Heng a disapproving look. Wu Shengnan, holding the baby, also shot him a look, but she knew what kind of person her husband was and repeated, "My Sister-in-law and I were discussing going back to Jinzhou for Xuanxuan's Baby Steps."

Du Heng said, a headache forming, "The date is almost here. Can you and the baby handle such a long journey back? Besides, we don't have enough time to prepare."

Wu Shengnan replied excitedly, "Husband, hear me out.

"In Jinzhou, we have this custom where a girl's Baby Steps can be held on the 40th day.

"That way, we can go back, stay at home for about ten days, and hold Baby Steps for our baby and my brother's son together. Isn't the timing perfect?

"With about ten days, I'll have time to notify everyone. It will also help you maintain your relationships back home and give you a chance to get together with everyone. We don't want people thinking you've grown distant just because you've come to the Capital."

Du Heng was stunned and, after a pause, asked, "You mean I should go back too?"

Wu Shengnan gave Du Heng an annoyed look. "What do you mean? It's your daughter's Baby Steps; how can you, as her father, not attend?"

That's right, Du Heng thought. I've been in the Capital for three or four months now; taking a few days off to relax would be fine.

Although the journey would be long and the travel exhausting, the thought of going home filled Du Heng with a bit of excitement.

The next step, then, was to ask Director Wu for leave when he went to work the next day.

Du Heng planned to ask Director Wu for leave first thing the next morning. However, Director Wu was a bit late that day. Since Director Wu wasn't there, Du Heng started organizing his own tasks and preparing to hand over his responsibilities to Cao Binghe.

"I've noted everything, Director Du. Rest assured." After jotting down Du Heng's instructions, Cao Binghe hesitated for a moment. "Just one thing... Classmate Gu, are there still no plans to discharge her?"

Speaking of Classmate Gu, Du Heng smacked his lips in frustration. "It's not that I won't discharge her; she's the one refusing to leave. There's nothing I can do."

Cao Binghe quietly closed his notebook and sighed. "Rich people are certainly cautious. She probably won't consider leaving the hospital until she feels completely better."

"Ah, never mind her. Let her stay. Just continue with the same treatment as before," Du Heng said, sounding helpless. "By the way, have you done a follow-up on that young man? How has he been lately?"

"I followed up with him last night," Cao Binghe said with a smile. "He told me he had a scan at his local hospital, and the glioma is no longer visible. He still has some minor physical reactions after taking the medicine, though."

"Phew! That's great news." Hearing this, Du Heng visibly relaxed. "Tell him he mustn't stop the medicine."

A flicker of regret crossed Du Heng's face. "Sigh, it's just a pity he's so far away. Otherwise, I could have adjusted his prescription.

"Tell you what, tell him not to change the prescription, but to divide each dose of medicine into three parts to be taken separately."

Cao Binghe nodded and then curiously asked Du Heng, "So you're really not holding Baby Steps for your baby in the Capital?"

"No, we're not. My wife and my Sister-in-law are homesick, and I was thinking of making a trip back too. It's amazing how nearly half a year has flown by." Du Heng chuckled. "But don't worry, we'll definitely treat everyone to a meal when we get back."

While they were chatting and laughing, the office door was suddenly pushed open.

They turned to see Director Wu staggering in, clutching his waist.

The two quickly rushed to greet him, "Director, what happened?"

Director Wu declined Du Heng's offer of a seat. "I won't sit. I just came to tell you that you'll have to work a bit harder and keep a close eye on things for the next few days. I need to go home and rest for a bit."

Du Heng's heart skipped a beat. Seeing Director Wu clutching his waist, however, he couldn't bring himself to ask for leave. "Never mind that for now. What happened to you? Is it serious?"

"Sigh, just my rotten luck." Director Wu looked thoroughly dejected. "I'd just arrived at the hospital this morning, parked my car, and was getting out when someone reversing next to me—either they were distracted or half asleep—backed right into me and knocked me down. Sprained my lower back."

"Is it serious? Should I take a look?"

Director Wu waved his hand. "No need. I just came from orthopedics. It's nothing too serious, but it's incredibly painful.

"It's just that these old bones of mine will need a good four or five days of rest to recover."

Cao Binghe glanced at Du Heng. Du Heng gave a slight shake of his head and then said to Director Wu, "Let Dr. Cao escort you home. Don't worry about the department; I'll handle things here."

Director Wu didn't argue and let Cao Binghe help him out. He had complete confidence in Du Heng.

Du Heng, however, watched Director Wu's retreating figure with a wry smile. What kind of rotten luck is this? he thought.

ACHOO! ACHOO!

He hadn't even figured out how to break the news to Wu Shengnan when he let out two loud sneezes.

Du Heng couldn't help but rub his nose, wondering uneasily, There's that saying: 'One sneeze, someone's thinking of you; two, someone's cursing you; three, you're catching a cold.' Could she have already guessed and started cursing me out?

This time, Du Heng was only half right. Someone was indeed talking about him, but it wasn't Wu Shengnan.

「Meanwhile, in an office elsewhere.」

Several old men were arguing heatedly. "No way, Old Sun, your proposal is utterly irresponsible! You can't do something so unprincipled just because the person involved is a teacher from your school!"

Sun Jiaxiang's figure was among them.

Seeing the old man opposite him speaking so harshly, Sun Jiaxiang slammed the table and shot to his feet, roaring furiously, "You old bastard! You disrespectful old fool! How dare you slander me?

"You make it clear! How is this unprincipled?!"