Chapter 27: Yaoyao Cares More and Understands Xiao Juzi’s Body Better Than We Do

Chapter 27: Chapter 27: Yaoyao Cares More and Understands Xiao Juzi’s Body Better Than We Do

Xiao Juzi had several bouts of diarrhea that afternoon, leaving him dehydrated.

He looked like he’d shrunk a whole size.

Shu Xin’s heart ached so much she couldn’t stop crying.

The little one cried and fussed, refusing to get into the medical pod for an IV drip. All he wanted was his mommy to hold him.

Shu Chao Yu tried everything to soothe him, but to no avail. The moment Xiao Juzi burrowed into Shu Yao’s arms and fell silent, Shu Chao Yu sighed, a mix of heartache and helplessness washing over him.

Shu Yao gave Zaizai a light pat on the bottom, wrinkling her nose.

"You’re so stinky!"

Shu Xin couldn’t help but protest, her heart aching, "The poor baby is already so miserable, don’t hit him!"

"Mom, I barely touched him," Shu Yao said.

Shu Chao Yu said, "Sis, Yaoyao, you two should go home. I’ll stay at the hospital with Xiao Juzi tonight."

Xiao Juzi poked his little head out from his mother’s arms and shot his grand-uncle an unhappy look before clinging tightly to his mother’s shoulder.

’No one is going to separate me from Mommy!’

Shu Yao supported him with one arm, gently ruffling the hair on the back of his head with her other hand.

"We’re not staying at the hospital," she said, pinching Xiao Juzi’s cheek. "Let’s go home, okay?"

Xiao Juzi nodded vigorously.

"What do you mean we’re not staying?!" Shu Xin said, alarmed. "Xiao Juzi isn’t better yet!"

"It’s fine," Shu Yao said. "I’ll just mix him a glass of honey water when we get home. He’ll be okay."

"Yaoyao, you don’t have to worry about the cost at all. Mom has already paid for it!"

Shu Xin was about to protest further, but Shu Chao Yu stopped her.

"Yaoyao is Xiao Juzi’s mother. She’s more concerned about him and understands his condition better than we do."

Back home, Xiao Juzi drank a glass of honey water that Shu Yao had mixed for him. Sure enough, his spirits lifted considerably. He hugged her neck and chattered for a bit before drifting off to sleep on her shoulder.

Shu Yao carried him, pacing around the room a few times. When she took his used cup to the kitchen to wash it, she saw her uncle drinking a nutrition fluid and couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy.

"Uncle, why don’t I make you something to eat?"

Shu Chao Yu shook the bottle in his hand, which now only had a single mouthful of the nutrition fluid left.

"I’m already full." After downing the last mouthful, he casually tossed the empty bottle to a housekeeping robot. "You and... Ah Bao, you ate the same thing as Xiao Juzi for lunch. He got so sick, are you two okay?"

"That trendy restaurant is so stingy. There was only one little steamed fish. Ah Bao and I didn’t have any; we gave it all to Xiao Juzi." Shu Yao was filled with regret. "Sigh, I should have realized something was wrong with that fish sooner."

Shu Chao Yu said thoughtfully, "Hmm... It seems like only that specific type of fish at the Lin Family’s restaurant was contaminated. I wonder if anyone else besides Xiao Juzi got sick..."

Out of professional habit, he always had a keen nose for crime. But this business with the Lin Family was beyond his reach.

After all, it wasn’t in his district.

Seeing Shu Chao Yu about to head out, Shu Yao couldn’t help but ask, "Uncle, where are you going? It’s so late."

Shu Chao Yu smiled. "I’m on the night shift tonight. You should get some rest."

After leaving the house, Shu Chao Yu didn’t head to work. Instead, he piloted his Flying Machine to a neon-lit bar in the northern part of the Fourth District.

Inside the bar, multicolored lights flashed and crisscrossed while blaring heavy metal music shook the room.

Beauties swaying their hips approached him.

He didn’t pause for a second, heading straight for the entrance to an underground wine cellar, where he ducked and slipped inside.

The second level of the underground cellar was perfectly soundproofed, blocking out all the clamor from the world above. The two floors were like different worlds.

Here, a dozen or so light-screens hummed in unison.

A scruffy, long-haired man sat before one of the screens, sipping a nutrition fluid while watching a food livestream.

"Ma."

At the sound of his name, the long-haired man turned, his expression one of surprise.

"Brother Chao, what are you doing here?!"

Ma was a mysterious interstellar hacker who refused to reveal his real name. His skills alone could rival half of the Federation’s mainframe, and he could even hack into the systems of critical institutions without the mainframe detecting a thing.

A man like that naturally had a long rap sheet. He was the kind of asset people were desperate to either protect or eliminate.

It had taken Shu Chao Yu a great deal of effort to track him down in the first place.

"Brother Chao, about that person you had me looking for..."

Shu Chao Yu cut him off. "Call off the search."

Ma’s unkempt eyebrows shot up. "Call it off? But I’ve already got a lead!"

Shu Chao Yu hesitated.

Two seconds later, he said firmly, "That’s right. Call it off."