Cheng Yuxiu didn’t hesitate to answer, “I want a girl.”
Boys were too much to handle, while girls tend to be gentle and caring. Many people have said that girls bring warmth and joy to their parents, and Cheng Yuxiu could see why.
Boys were not as meticulous as girls.
She really wanted a girl.
Bai Hongfei had asked her the same question as well, and she had given him the same answer. “I’d better have a daughter this life,” she told him.
However, reality turned out the opposite of what she wanted.
Wen Xian scooped some food into her bowl. “Me too, but I was hoping that your child will be a boy.”
Wealthy families had always wanted sons over daughters. Even though time had changed and gender equality was the talk of the century, boys were still the preferred choice when it comes to inheriting large family businesses.
Cheng Yuxiu understood what she meant, yet she couldn’t bring herself to say so. “I can’t promise you that it will be a boy,” she said with her head hung low.
“Are you dumb?” Wen Xian said, laughing. “I’m just saying. No need to feel pressured.”
The days where the woman gets blamed for not producing children of a preferred gender were long gone.
Zong Qifeng put down his chopsticks and left the table. He wondered why Wen Xian acted more like the child’s father than he did.
He felt like a sore thumb in this family.
During mealtimes, the two women chatted away, leaving him alone and lonely.
He was puzzled.
Both Wen Xian and Cheng Yuxiu looked at him.
“I think he’s mad at something,” Cheng Yuxiu said.
Wen Xian seemed to understand, but she didn’t call him out. “Maybe it’s some work-related issues.”
Cheng Yuxiu nodded.
At night.
Zong Qifeng had trouble sleeping, and after a while of tossing of turning, he got up to go downstairs, where he saw Cheng Yuxiu getting something to drink. Looking at her slender silhouette beside the table, he wondered how she still didn’t look pregnant at all despite being almost three months into her pregnancy.
Her belly looked as flat as ever.
Cheng Yuxiu didn’t notice him standing there, her mind occupied with something else.
She was woken up by a call from Cheng Yuwen telling her that Bai Hongfei was fine, and that there’s no need for her to worry.
Cheng Yuwen had brought Bai Hongfei home after nursing him back to health.
He was scared that Bai Hongfei would continue to harass Cheng Yuxiu.
She couldn’t help but feel saddened as she walked over to the window with a cup of water in her hand. The dark night sky was as quiet as ever, and it was the perfect scene to brood over something.
For the first twenty years of her life, she had never thought that she would one day fall into destitution.
She would never have guessed that her twentieth birthday would bring the biggest twist to her life story.
Suddenly, she was in another unfamiliar city and staying in a house of strangers, even going as far as getting intimate with one of them.
She looked at the empty sky that was devoid of stars or even the moon. She smiled, though it was filled with bitterness. “Oh, God, you’ve made a massive joke out of me, haven’t you?”
“Was it me that made you feel so horrible?”
The low voice of a man cut through the air like a sharp knife.
Cheng Yuxiu turned around, only to come face to face with the man standing behind her. A black silk robe hung loosely on his slender body, and she couldn’t quite make out his facial expression due to the dim light.
“Why haven’t you slept yet?” Cheng Yuxiu asked, slightly flustered by the fact that he was eavesdropping on her monologue.
Zong Qifeng walked over and stood beside her. “You are not asleep too.”
Cheng Yuxiu looked out of the window. “I woke up because I was thirsty, not because I haven’t slept yet.”
“Looks like you could let things go pretty easily.”
That was something Zong Qifeng had not expected.
Shouldn’t she be bawling in sadness after breaking up with her beloved boyfriend?
Cheng Yuxiu glanced at him and replied, “I know what I’m getting myself into, and there’s no way we could go back to what we were before. Getting involved in each other’s lives from now on would only hurt us even more. I figured that nipping it at the bud would be much better than making empty promises.”
Zong Qifeng was impressed by her determination. So many people out there were getting emotionally distressed or even tortured by love, but she was definitely not one of them.
How many people could be as carefree and decisive as she was?
Zong Qifeng looked at her. “Remember one thing from now on.”
“What?” Cheng Yuxiu asked while looking at him with a confused look. He had been acting weird that night.
Something was odd but she couldn’t quite tell.
“I’m the father of the child in your belly, so you shouldn’t be ignoring me,” he said, before turning around to go upstairs again.
Cheng Yuxiu went silent.
What did he mean by that?
The door of the bedroom on the east side of the house silently closed when Zong Qifeng went up the stairs.
That room belonged to Wen Xian.
She had sleep issues that made her a light sleeper. Cheng Yuxiu had unknowingly woken her up as well.
When she heard Zong Qifeng’s footsteps, she got up as well.
A smile crept onto her lips when she saw them interact.
She could see Zong Qifeng’s eyes focusing on Cheng Yuxiu.
Love almost always begins from attention.
Maybe he hadn’t realized it yet, but he’s already doing it subconsciously.
Before they knew it, Cheng Yuxiu was already eight months pregnant.
Wen Xian had to make herself look pregnant as well.
Besides the trusty maid they had in the house, no one else knew the truth. Even Aunt Yu, who came with Wen Xian when she got married, was kept in the dark. Wen Xian had dismissed her for the time being when she got pregnant.
Everything was going according to plan.
There was a pregnancy checkup scheduled for the day, but Wen Xian, being the fake pregnant lady, didn’t have to go for it. Instead, she made her way to the shopping mall to buy some clothes for the unborn baby.
Cheng Yuxiu, being the real pregnant lady, had to go for the checkup. Zong Qifeng happened to be free that day, so Wen Xian excused herself to create an opportunity for them to be alone with each other.
When the doctor checked the baby’s pulse, he could hear the steady beating of its heart through the apparatus.
That was the first time he heard it, and it made him jittery with excitement.
Cheng Yuxiu watched with a smile as he flailed around. “Don’t you think it’s amazing?”
Zong Qifeng nodded.
“When I first heard it, I was shocked. Isn’t life something amazing? I could feel its first kick at around five months, and I couldn’t sleep after that…”
Zong Qifeng blinked, his dark pupils filled with confusion. “You mean he moves inside your belly?”
Why didn’t she tell him that?
He would have loved to witness it as well.
The nurse couldn’t help but intervene. “You’re being selfish here. Why didn’t you let daddy interact with the baby?” she asked Cheng Yuxiu.
On the other hand, she hadn’t met a single father-to-be that didn’t know that babies could move inside their mothers’ belly.
Cheng Yuxiu felt uncomfortable.
Zong Qifeng took the blame. “I’ve been really busy with work, so I might have overlooked things…”
“Wife first, work second! You’re the baby’s father after all, and the child would be yours when it’s born, not someone else’s.”
“Yes, yes, I agree,” Zong Qifeng said. For a man that had been terrorizing the business sector for years, he sounded like a child that was getting scolded at that very moment.
After the checkup was over, Zong Qifeng took her to the exit before saying, “I’ll get the car here.”
Cheng Yuxiu nodded.
Zong Qifeng walked over to his car and unlocked it. Just as he was about to get in and start the engine, his phone rang inside his pocket. When he took it out, the screen showed Wen Xian’s name, and his eyes shone for a second before he answered the call.
Her voice was low. “Are Y’all done with the checkup?”
“That’s right. We’re going back now.”
“Don’t.”
