Lu Chengzhou had already informed Beihang University’s school leaders that he would be leaving right after his speech. Hence, when he was getting off the stage, the school leaders got up from their seats with the intention of shaking hands with him and saying goodbye.
However, the man took out his phone and answered a call right then. It was unknown what the caller had said to him, but his face was instantly drained of color. He then turned around, rushed down the stage, and ran towards the exit.
“Did something happen?” The school leaders were shocked. What could possibly make the stoic Lu Chengzhou show such fear?
…
By the time Lu Yī ran out, there was already an empty parking lot by the roadside. The car was long gone, and all that could be heard was the faraway engine sound. Immediately, he knew that something must’ve happened. It’s almost her due date…
With a trembling hand, Lu Yī quickly whipped out his phone and called the Ministry of Transportation to clear the roads. Thereafter, he made another call to the Lu Manor.
…
Lu Chengzhou had been driving the Hongqi sedan recently. With its unique license plate number, nobody dared to stop the car even though it had beaten numerous red lights on the road. In fact, traffic police in green uniforms could be seen clearing the roads at the intersections.
Two helicopters were flying overhead and in the same direction, but the car traveled even faster than them.
When Lu Chengzhou had almost reached the hospital, he could see a crowd gathering at the entrance even from afar.
Lu Yī’s car was parked there.
Without getting anyone’s help, Gu Mang got out of the car and lay down on the hospital bed herself.
From the corners of his eyes, Lu Qi spotted a car driving up to the entrance of the Capital University Hospital in just the blink of an eye. He turned his head and saw an ashen-looking Lu Chengzhou getting out and running straight over without bothering to close his car door.
When Gu Mang felt someone holding her hand, she opened her eyes, only to meet Lu Chengzhou’s trembling gaze. His fear was apparent, given that his forehead was dotted with beads of cold sweat and his veins were slightly bulging. His hands that wrapped around her slightly cold hand were trembling. “Does it hurt a lot?”
Gu Mang had no choice but to comfort him instead. “It’s okay. Don’t be scared.”
But how can I not be? He had heard stories of how painful childbirth could be.
A female doctor said with trepidation, “Mr. Lu, we’ll be pushing Mrs. Lu to the delivery room now.”
Lu Chengzhou appeared tense as he followed the moving hospital bed. When they arrived outside the delivery room, he didn’t hesitate to follow them inside.
The doctor and nurses dared not to say anything as they looked hesitantly at him.
Gu Mang pressed a hand on the door and stopped the bed from moving as she looked at him. “Stay outside.”
“No.” Lu Chengzhou’s eyes were cold and serious. “There’s no room for discussion about this.”
Gu Mang took a deep breath and moved her hand from his. “Stay here. Don’t make me repeat it for the third time.”
Neither Lu Chengzhou nor the doctor and nurses, who carefully turned to look at the former, said a word.
Old Master Bai and Ye Junci, on the other hand, happened to hear Gu Mang when they arrived. They had never met any pregnant woman who could still be so energetic when they were about to go into labor.
Gu Mang then let the doctor push her in.
The doors of the delivery room closed.
Ye Junci walked to the entrance of the delivery room, where she found her son standing motionlessly outside. “Go take a seat. You won’t be of help even if you went in. Given your current state, the doctor being scared of you won’t do anything good in Gu Mang’s operation. Let’s just wait outside.”
Lu Chengzhou didn’t move from his spot. Instead, he tightly gripped onto the long metal bench outside the ward. The hard alloy became twisted and deformed as a result.
Just then, Lu Zhan, who came rushing over from Red Scorpion in his camouflage uniform, strode over. Behind him was Lu Yang in the same outfit.
Lu Qi came up after parking Lu Chengzhou’s car, while Lu Yī came over to the hospital by taxi.
“Why did she suddenly go into labor?” asked Lu Zhan as he glanced at the delivery room. Her due date is supposed to be next month.
“It’s normal for twins to be born prematurely.” Old Master Bai’s voice was strained when he said this. He was currently sitting on the bench and rubbing his walking stick out of uneasiness.
Not long after, Jiang Shenyuan, Meng Jinyang, Qin Yaozhi, and Yu Mufeng arrived. Even Principal Ren and Yang Tianming, who had made their speeches short, came too.
Meng Jinyang looked at the delivery room worriedly with pursed lips as she dug her fingernails into her palm.
Even though the number of people in the corridor was increasing, it was quiet throughout.
Lu Shangjin, along with his wife, came straight from an international summit.
A few minutes later, He Yidu, Lin Shuang, Qin Fang, and Yun Ling got off the elevator and quickly walked over. Qin Fang was softly speaking to Gu Si on the phone. “Your sister has just entered the delivery room. Don’t worry, it’s normal for twins to be born prematurely. Nothing happened to her. I’ll let you know once she’s out. You just get on the plane first.”
Lu Chengzhou was the type of person who wouldn’t care about anything or anyone else when something happened to Gu Mang. Not even Gu Si.
As Lin Shuang was also pregnant, Gu Si was afraid that his anxiety might affect her mood, so he called Qin Fang instead.
With Qin Fang gone, the corridor became completely quiet.
Responsive Dragon, Flying Serpent, and Jiangsui showed up another few minutes later. “How’s my Fifth Sister doing?”
Qin Fang softly answered, “Still in the delivery room.”
Outside the delivery room, people were still coming one after another.
The doors of the delivery room, however, remained closed even after an hour.
Lin Shuang nervously and fearfully held He Yidu’s hands. “Is giving birth to twins very dangerous?”
As soon as she posed that question, a corner of the metal chair that Lu Chengzhou was gripping on got snapped off. Its sharp edges cut his palm, and drops of blood dripped onto the ground.
Lin Shuang covered her mouth, knowing that she had said the wrong thing.
He Yidu put an arm around her shoulder reassuringly and whispered, “It’s okay.”
Nobody dared to ask about Lu Chengzhou’s injury. Besides, even if they did, he wouldn’t answer them at all.
Time slowly ticked by.
An hour and a half later, one side of the delivery room’s doors finally opened, and two nurses came out, each carrying a child. “Congrat—”
Before the nurses could finish congratulating Lu Chengzhou, he tossed the broken metal piece aside, broke the door latch by pressing on the other half of the door, and then entered the delivery room.
Gu Mang wasn’t under anesthesia, so she was awake at the moment. Her complexion was a little pale, and her lips had turned red as if she had bitten into them.
“How is she?” Lu Chengzhou asked as he took Gu Mang’s hand in his.
Seeing how nervous Lu Chengzhou was, the doctor replied succinctly, “It was a smooth delivery. Both mother and children are safe.”
Lu Chengzhou exhaled in relief as he looked at Gu Mang with heartache and placed a gentle but trembling kiss on her forehead. He was drenched in cold sweat out of fear. “It’s been tough on you.”
As the nurses pushed the mobile hospital bed out of the delivery room, Lu Chengzhou stuck close by, still holding onto Gu Mang’s hand with his uninjured hand.
Everyone outside was looking at the crying babies, yet Lu Chengzhou himself didn’t spare them a glance.
As soon as Gu Mang was pushed out of the delivery room, everyone crowded around her. Lu Zhan got the nurses to take the babies for a checkup first and Lu Yī and Lu Qi to follow along. The rest of the people, on the other hand, followed Gu Mang and Lu Chengzhou to the ward.
When Gu Mang noticed the wound on Lu Chengzhou’s hand, she frowned and asked, “Your hand?”
Lu Chengzhou softly said, “It’s fine. I’ll take care of it later.”
“Gu Mang, how are you feeling now?” Lin Shuang asked nervously.
Gu Mang felt okay, so she said, “Good. It didn’t hurt.”
Lin Shuang didn’t believe her, though. She figured that Gu Mang was only saying this to reassure the man who was sitting next to her and only had eyes for her.
Lu Chengzhou took a warm wet towel to wipe Gu Mang’s sweat. As he pushed the hair away from her face, he asked hoarsely, “Want some water?”
Gu Mang hummed an assent.
Lu Chengzhou was just about to get some water for her when Meng Jinyang thoughtfully handed a cup of warm water with a straw in it. “Mr. Lu.”
“Thank you.” Lu Chengzhou then took the cup and fed Gu Mang some water.
Upon seeing that Gu Mang was fine, the rest of the people left the ward first. Qin Fang left as well to give Gu Si a call.
Now, the only people left in the ward were Lu Zhan, Ye Junci, Old Master Bai, He Yidu, Lin Shuang, and Meng Jinyang.
Ten minutes later, the doctor carried the babies in after they were done the washing up and then moved to place them next to Gu Mang.
Lu Chengzhou took one look at the babies’ faces and frowned. “Stand there. No need to bring them here.” They’re so ugly to the point that they’ll hurt Gu Mang’s eyes.
The doctor froze on the spot while the others in the ward looked at Lu Chengzhou with similar confused expressions. They didn’t really understand what was running through Lu Chengzhou’s mind.
The doctor naturally didn’t dare to say anything and just carefully took out their birth certificates. “May I know the babies’ names?”
Lu Chengzhou turned to Gu Mang. “What should we name them?”
Gu Mang closed her eyes. She didn’t seem too keen about naming the babies. “Up to you.”
“Alright,” said Lu Chengzhou with a nod. He then took the certificates from the doctor and placed them on the bedside cabinet to fill in the particulars. Thereafter, he turned to Gu Mang and said gently, “Sign here.”
Gu Mang opened her eyes and took the pen, only to become speechless when she saw the name on the form. She frowned. “Lu Suiyi1?!”
“Lu Suiyi?” The corners of Lin Shuang’s lips twitched in amusement. “Aren’t you guys being too perfunctory?!”
At that, the two babies started wailing in apparent protest.
“Nonsense!” Lu Zhan reprimanded his son angrily. When the babies started crying even more miserably, he quickly suppressed his anger lest he frightened them. “What about the other one?”
“Lu Guixin,” answered Lu Chengzhou.
When the doctor heard that, she couldn’t resist saying, “Isn’t this name a little too feminine, Mr. Lu?”
Lu Chengzhou looked up. “Then am I supposed to choose a manly name for my daughter?”
Lu Suiyi.
Lu Guixin.
It was obvious which name was chosen with care.
The doctor immediately understood that Lu Chengzhou preferred daughters over sons. She started trembling as she choked out, “M-Mr. Lu… Both babies are… male…”
“Pardon?” Lu Chengzhou’s expression stiffened. “Both… are male?”
The doctor’s heart seemed to have stopped along with that pause in the middle. She felt a little suffocated as she gave a trembling nod.
The atmosphere went silent.
Based on folk legends, he thought that he would have at least one daughter as Gu Mang had been craving spicy food for the past nine months.
He Yidu found this funny, but he managed to hold back his laughter. Haha, he’s been saying my daughter this, my daughter that for the past few months, but he ended up with two sons instead.
Lu Zhan cleared his throat. “Sons are good as well. If you want a daughter, you can always have another child in the future. Let’s settle their names first.”
“Lu Suiyi, Lu Suibian1.” Lu Chengzhou then looked down and wiped Gu Mang’s hands. “Carry them out.”
The babies wailed even louder.
“Nonsense!” Lu Zhan’s face darkened once more.
Lu Chengzhou ignored him.
There were already many people paying attention to the opening ceremony of Capital University and Beihang University in the first place, but it attracted even more attention when Lu Chengzhou rushed out of the venue in front of the public eye, cleared the road, and beat numerous red lights with his ‘0000’ license plate. On top of that, helicopters and limited edition luxury cars were parked outside the hospital.
This matter became a sensation across the whole capital. Speculations about Gu Mang giving birth had already made it to the internet and the trending list.
As Lin Shuang scrolled Weibo, she said, “These two names on the most popular comment are quite good. It even has more than two hundred thousand likes. Lu Jilai and Lu Jixing.”
Probably because the names Lu Chengzhou had chosen earlier were too terrible, Old Master Bai found these two names really nice in comparison. He nodded approvingly. “Not bad, not bad.”
Lin Shuang smiled and looked at Gu Mang and Lu Chengzhou. “Wasn’t the theme of your speeches ‘Follow the past, herald the future, and forge ahead’?”
“That settles it!” Lu Zhan said. At least, they’re better than Lu Suiyi and Lu Suibian.
The corner of He Yidu’s lips twitched. The names of the two most prestigious babies in the capital actually came from Weibo’s most popular comment?
