Given the gravity of the matter, it had to be handled with caution, and more opinions were needed. As such, Yu Suye was brought into the loop.

Yu Suye also suggested that it would be best not to hide the matter from his uncle’s wife. After all, they were all family now.

Besides, this was an event from the past, not a recent mistake. His wife should be able to understand.

After being persuaded by both Yan Feifan and Yu Suye, Uncle Shu Lei steeled his resolve to tell his wife everything.

At the same time, he would proactively contact the mother and son overseas to find out the truth.

“If the child is really mine, I won’t evade my responsibility.”

After stating his position, Shu Lei asked with concern, “Feifan, are you sure the child has an injury or a disability affecting his leg?”

Yan Feifan shook his head. “The photo’s resolution is too low to see clearly, but based on the shape and position, it’s almost certainly a corrective brace.”

“Perhaps that’s why she’s trying to contact you.”

After a pause, Yan Feifan asked, “Uncle, you don’t think another woman is going to show up with a child in a little while, do you?”

“Of course not!”

Shu Lei looked indignant, but his bravado quickly faded.

“We were ocean-going sailors. Whenever we made port, we’d almost always go ashore to paint the town red.”

“And your uncle—me—was so handsome and dashing…”

Shu Lei rubbed his stubbled chin and said with a pained expression, “If another girl fell head over heels for me like she did and secretly decided to have my child, there’s nothing I could have done to stop her.”

This made both Yan Feifan and Yu Suye roll their eyes.

“Come on, Uncle, stop tooting your own horn. You were just a sailor. Do you really think you were some kind of superstar?”

Yan Feifan teased, then urged, “Let’s eat first. A full stomach will help you take the beating that’s coming…”

After dinner, Yan Feifan didn’t have the time or energy to accompany his uncle to Phoenix Mountain Villa and back, not with his surgery scheduled for the next day.

He called his sister at the villa and filled her in. He asked her to keep an eye on their uncle and to monitor how the situation unfolded.

After seeing his uncle off, Yu Suye asked with concern, “Is it really your uncle’s child?”

Yan Feifan nodded. “It’s highly probable.”

“According to my uncle, he was with that woman for a period of time. Looking at the child’s age, the timeline fits.”

“Plus, the child inherited quite a few of my uncle’s features.”

“Of course, we’ll still need a DNA test to be certain.”

“After all, there are people in this world who look remarkably alike.”

Yan Feifan then changed the subject. “There’s an unverified theory that calls it a bug in nature.”

“It claims that for every person, there’s bound to be another person in the world who is a near-perfect double.”

Yu Suye chuckled. “That’s just a matter of probability.”

“Out of the seven or eight billion people in the world, you’re bound to find someone who bears some resemblance to you.”

After a pause, Yu Suye added caringly, “Feifan, why don’t you use my bathtub tonight?”

“A hot soak will help ease your fatigue.”

Yan Feifan nodded in agreement.

Nearly an hour later, a bathrobe-clad Yan Feifan had just dipped his right foot into the large bathtub in the master bathroom when he yanked it out with a WHOOSH.

“Su Ye, the water’s scalding!”

Yu Suye quickly dipped her hand into the tub, swirled the water around, and said, puzzled, “The temperature feels just right!”

Yan Feifan rolled his eyes and reminded her, “You’re a woman. I’m a man.”

It’s a common phenomenon for women to prefer hotter bathwater than men.

And there’s a scientific basis for it.

This is due to differences in the thermal nociceptive system, which primarily involves the autonomic nervous system and the antagonistic balance between its sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions.

The simple explanation is that women are more sensitive to cold but less sensitive to heat than men because their skin temperature is typically lower.

The constriction of capillaries in a woman’s epidermis means that, under normal circumstances, their skin temperature is usually lower than a man’s.

Skin temperature is not the same as core body temperature. The core body temperatures of adult men and women are essentially identical, except during a woman’s “time of the month.”

This slightly lower skin temperature, coupled with the differences in their thermal nociceptive systems, allows women to tolerate higher temperatures in daily life, but it also makes them more susceptible to cold.

This is why a certain situation sometimes plays out in large offices.

The men will be sweating and desperate to turn on the air conditioning, while some of the women will be staunchly against it.

Because they feel cold.

Yan Feifan’s reminder made her understand. Yu Suye chuckled. “It’s only a difference of a degree or two. Just bear with it for a moment, and the water will cool down.”

Yan Feifan hmphed in rebuttal. “‘Bear with it?’ This is hot enough to scald a pig.”

Yu Suye giggled. “Don’t be so dramatic.”

“Or…”

Her eyes glinted playfully. “This tub is certainly big enough for the two of us.”

“How about I get in first and help cool the water down for you?”

Yan Feifan hesitated for a moment before warning her, “I have surgery tomorrow. You can’t be starting anything.”

Yu Suye shot him a flirtatious glance, then slowly slipped out of her pajamas and hung them on the clothes rack.

Then, she stepped into the tub and lay back without the slightest hesitation, letting out a deliberately exaggerated moan.

“Ah, that feels so good!”

Yan Feifan decided to ignore her.

As she swirled the water in the tub, Yu Suye said with relish, “Feifan, the master bedroom in our villa at the Academician District will have its own en-suite bathroom.”

“The design company is going to install one of those two-person jetted tubs with thermostatic controls and massage functions.”

“A nice, relaxing soak in a big tub like that after work every day… just thinking about it makes me happy.”

Yan Feifan didn’t respond. He just reached out to test the water temperature.

Still a little too hot. frⅇe

“Feifan, how much of Tang Zheng’s face do you think can be restored?”

Yan Feifan sighed softly. “His injuries are too severe. Even if the surgery goes as well as I hope, and he gets another one or two reconstructive procedures after that, it’ll be impossible to restore his original appearance.”

“The main issue is that he was exceptionally handsome before.”

“I’m going to recommend that he get plastic surgery on the uninjured half of his face as well, to intentionally lower his overall attractiveness.”

“That way, his face will look more harmonious and balanced.” freewⅇbnovel.com

Yu Suye folded her arms over the edge of the tub, rested her chin on them, and kicked her legs restlessly in the water a few times.

“You must be the first doctor in history to advise a patient to make themselves uglier, Feifan.”

“Hey, Feifan, the water should be fine now.”

Yan Feifan tested the water again. It was still hot, but bearable.

He slipped off his bathrobe, stepped into the tub, and slowly sat down, his back leaning against Yu Suye’s soft, smooth body.

Yu Suye had been warned.

This was a critical period for Yan Feifan’s recovery, and with a major surgery tomorrow, she controlled herself and didn’t try to stir him up.

She curled up, hugging her knees as she sat at the other end of the tub. “Feifan,” she said, “you don’t seem very confident about Tang Zheng’s surgery.”

“You could tell?” Yan Feifan asked, a little surprised.

Yu Suye smiled. “What do you think our relationship is? I’ve never seen you this preoccupied before a surgery. You’re so focused you’re even ignoring something as big as what’s happening with your uncle.”

Yan Feifan let out a long sigh. “I was oversimplifying things in my head. Tomorrow’s surgery requires transplanting a neural network and blood vessels.”

“This isn’t a simple tissue transplant; it’s a complex, full-system reconstruction.”

“I feel like I’m assembling a stripped-down, shoddily made car.”

“Whether this car will even start… Su Ye, I honestly don’t have much confidence…”

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.