Hss—Hss—Hss—
Breathing heavily through the respirator, Ling Qing felt like a carbon copy of Hanzō of the Salamander. A mask was clamped onto his face, covering everything but the middle section. Two breathing tubes slanted upwards from his cheeks. Fortunately, just like Hanzō's, this respirator didn't affect his ability to speak.
Looking at the tan-skinned, middle-aged man sitting opposite him, whose face was taut with the strain of holding back, whose entire body was shaking, even causing the chair he sat on to clatter against the floor, Ling Qing let out a faint sigh. With a look of utter despair, his eyes drifted to the garden outside the window as he spoke helplessly.
"If you want to laugh, just laugh. You don't have to hold it in so hard. There's no need for formality between us."
Looking out the window, one could see a garden with trees and various flowers. This was the Squad 4 barracks, or more accurately, the Comprehensive Medical Clinic, a quiet and secluded place convenient for recuperation.
It was said that the captain of Squad 6, Kuchiki Ginrei, who had found Ling Qing, had initially wanted to send him to the Seireitei Central Clinic. This was because the Central Clinic, which was exclusively for nobles, was located in the noble district, which happened to be under the jurisdiction of Squad 6. However, in the end, considering that Unohana Retsu, who had the strongest healing Kidō in the Seireitei, was still in Squad 4, and that her vice-captain, Yamada Seinosuke, whose medical skills were on par with hers, was also in Squad 4, they had sent Ling Qing to Squad 4 for treatment to be on the safe side.
"Pfft—!"
Hearing Ling Qing say this, the middle-aged man sitting opposite him almost lost his composure, but even so, a burst of air still escaped him. He summoned his professionalism and actually managed to hold it in. As if to prove his professional competence, he said seriously, "Ling Qing, don't worry. I am the Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukidō. I've been professionally trained. When I'm not supposed to laugh, I absolutely will not laugh."
"..."
After thinking about it and realizing that this joke was also an old meme, Ling Qing brought his gaze back to the man and said speechlessly, "Unless you can't help it, right?"
It would have been better if Ling Qing had said nothing. The moment he said it, the middle-aged man could no longer hold back and burst out laughing. Not only that, but it was as if he had to release the part he had been holding back with double the force. This Shihouin Souichirou—head of one of the Five Great Noble Clans, Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukidō, and Captain of Squad 2—threw his image and age to the wind, collapsing on the floor, laughing hysterically while pounding the ground.
As the corner of Ling Qing's eye began to twitch, he even took it a step further, rolling on the ground while laughing wildly!
The reason Ling Qing had suddenly fainted after returning to the Seireitei was simple. He had lived in the Soul King Palace for too long, and being completely unaware of the issue, he hadn't made the necessary adjustments before leaving the Tenchūren. This led to an acute stress reaction, which worsened his physical condition until he finally passed out.
It was only after he woke up and was informed of the situation that Ling Qing learned he had been in the Soul King Palace for a full six months! That's right, not one or two days, but half a year had passed in the blink of an eye.
Unohana Retsu, who had been present that day, looked at Ling Qing with a strange expression. Although she hadn't seen the entire event, she had witnessed the final scene where Ling Qing clashed blades with a serious, two-handed Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni. For such a person to be taken directly to the Soul King Palace and then disappear without a trace, as if he had evaporated into thin air... no one would have thought that six months later, Ling Qing would reappear in this manner.
The pace of life in Soul Society was exceptionally slow, but not so slow that six months could pass without a stir. Even when Ling Qing was not around, various rumors and gossip about him had still circulated, maintaining his popularity. In the six months that Ling Qing had vanished, his fame had completely disappeared. The current man of the hour was the son-in-law of the Kuchiki family, a man named Kuchiki Kouga.
To this, Ling Qing could only say, "Good riddance!" He had no interest in being a celebrity. He just wanted to live quietly. The best kind of fame was no fame at all.
Ling Qing was not sick, nor did he have any deterioration. He just needed some time to re-acclimate to the spirit particle environment of the Seireitei, much like one needs time to adapt to a high-pressure environment when going to a high-altitude area. Based on this simple principle, Vice-Captain Yamada Seinosuke had somehow procured this respirator to help Ling Qing adjust.
However, because Ling Qing's situation was quite special, with very few cases even among Shinigami, in the end, both Unohana Retsu and Yamada Seinosuke advised him to stay at the clinic until he was fully recovered, in case any special situation arose that they couldn't respond to in time. In any case, the hospitalization fees were nothing to the Shihouin family.
Ling Qing had one good quality: he listened to professional advice in professional matters and didn't offer his opinion in fields he didn't understand. Since the doctors had said so, he could only listen to the doctors.
Meanwhile, Ling Qing had been checked into the hospital without even setting foot in his home, and over on the other side, Shihouin Souichirou was also completely bewildered. He had received a report from Kuchiki Kouga that Ling Qing had returned to the Seireitei on the Tenchūren. Although he complained in his heart that the Zero Division was unreliable—why land in Squad 6's territory instead of the Shihouin estate or Squad 2?—at least it wasn't Squad 11, so it was fine.
He thought about how Ling Qing had been in the Soul King Palace for a full six months. After six months in the Soul King Palace, even a pig would turn into a qilin pig! He was just about to throw his head back and laugh three times, shouting, "Ling Qing is truly my qilin son!" when Kuchiki Kouga's next sentence—that Ling Qing had been sent to Squad 4—made his laughter get stuck in his throat.
Filled with anxiety, Shihouin Souichirou rushed to Squad 4. The moment he opened the door, he saw Ling Qing, looking like Hanzō of the Salamander (though he didn't know this person), sitting by the window with a gloomy expression, staring outside. For some reason, the moment he saw Ling Qing's dejected face, the anxiety in his heart vanished without a trace, replaced only by endless—amusement!
Fortunately, he hadn't forgotten that he was still technically an adoptive father, and he actually managed to hold it in.
Ling Qing, his expression slightly contorted like a certain nun, watched as the increasingly outrageous Shihouin Souichirou rolled on the floor. Even having grown accustomed to Ōetsu Nimaiya and Tenjirō Kirinji constantly pushing the lower limits, he had to admit that Shihouin Souichirou was in no way inferior to them.
At this thought, Ling Qing leaned his head out the window and shouted, "Vice-Captain Yamada—!! There's someone here disturbing my recov—Mmph? Mmmph mmmph mmmph—!!"
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