“Okay, Mommy. I promise I’ll be good, but you have to promise me that you’ll tell me if anything’s wrong. I’m worried about you.”
Perhaps she got emotional because she was still weak, but Lin Xinyan choked up the second she heard those words. She feared that her son would find out the truth and that she might not be able to solve the problem.
Clenching her fist in the other hand, Lin Xinyan tried her best to sound strong. “I have work to do, Xichen. I’m going to have to hang up now.”
“Okay…”
Lin Xinyan did not wait to see if Lin Xichen had more to say before hanging up on the call.
After that, Aunt Yu brought Lin Xinyan something to eat. “You must be hungry.”
Instead of hunger, all Lin Xinyan could feel was heartache.
“I’m not. I just…” responded Lin Xinyan as she looked at Aunt Yu.
“You have to eat something. Especially now that you’re weak,” interrupted Aunt Yu before Lin Xinyan could finish. With a bowl of food in hand, the former sat down by the bed and looked intently at Lin Xinyan. “Before Young Master left, he ordered me to take good care of you, so that includes feeding you. It’s not just you now – you have to consider your baby too. This is good for the both of you.”
Aunt Yu did not know about Lin Xinyan’s health condition, only that the woman was bedridden because of the risk of miscarriage in her pregnancy.
To her, Lin Xinyan was already too thin. The baby might not have enough nutrition to absorb if the mother refused to eat anything.
“Young Master was concerned about your appetite, so he ordered light meals for you. Try this bird’s nest from Malaysia. The domestic ones are so highly processed that they have no quality whatsoever. Have some for the sake of the child,” advised Aunt Yu as she brought the bowl forward.
When Aunt Yu mentioned the bird’s nest, Lin Xinyan was reminded that the delicacy was made of swiftlets’ solidified saliva.
The thought made Lin Xinyan’s stomach churn, so she lifted the quilt, about to get out of bed. Shocked, Aunt Yu quickly put the bowl aside and stopped Lin Xinyan from moving. “You can’t get out of bed. Wait for me here while I get the bucket.”
Aunt Yu then hurried over to the bathroom and got Lin Xinyan a bucket for her vomit.
Because her stomach was empty, all Lin Xinyan could throw up was stomach acid, but it did make her feel better.
Heartbroken, Aunt Yu patted Lin Xinyan’s back to soothe her nausea. “You can’t go on like this.”
After that, the latter straightened up. “I need water.”
“Okay.” Aunt Yu was about to set the bucket down in front of Lin Xinyan but then changed her mind because it might gross the woman out. She took the bucket away before washing her hands and got Lin Xinyan a glass of water.
“I need to gargle,” informed Lin Xinyan, so Aunt Yu went to the bathroom once more to clean the bucket before bringing it to Lin Xinyan again.
After some gargling, Lin Xinyan felt much better as her nausea went away.
“How should I get you to eat something?” asked Aunt Yu worriedly.
At that moment, a doctor came into the room with nurses and assistants to do their rounds. The doctor approached Lin Xinyan and inquired about her condition, “Any abdominal pain?”
“No,” replied Lin Xinyan while the doctor flipped through her records. “Do you know your physical condition?”
Lin Xinyan nodded; she remembered the doctor telling her that she could no longer give birth after Lin Ruixi and Lin Xichen.
The pregnancy was quite a surprise to her.
“Your physique is relatively weak, and your uterus was injured from your last pregnancy. Your uterine wall is thinner now, so there’s a high risk of miscarriage. You have to be bedridden for the first three months to give the fetus some time to stabilize. We’ll plan the following treatments according to your situation,” explained the doctor.
“I understand. I want to keep the baby,” responded Lin Xinyan.
Though it was not the perfect timing, Lin Xinyan wanted to keep her child anyway.
“Good! Then you’ll stay in the hospital for observation this week. If there’s no more abdominal pain or bleeding by the end of the week, you can rest home as long as you come back for prenatal visits,” instructed the doctor before continuing, “I do see that you’re rather weak, so you should eat more. That’ll help with the pregnancy and get you stronger.”
“But she’s throwing up and losing her appetite. Do you have anything to stop the vomiting so she can eat?” asked Aunt Yu.
It was normal for pregnant women to suffer from nausea, so some would take vitamins for more serious cases. Still, the doctor did not recommend Lin Xinyan to take supplements because of her condition. “She should have more light meals with smaller portions. I’ll set up a diet plan for her. It should help reduce her vomiting.”
Then, Aunt Yu pointed at the bird’s nest on the table. “But she couldn’t even have something as light as this.”
After glancing at the bowl, the doctor informed Lin Xinyan, “You can have some of this. It’s light in taste, so your body can absorb it easily. Plus, the sialic acid in the solidified swiftlet saliva is very beneficial for the fetus’s neurodevelopment… “
At the mention of saliva, Lin Xinyan could not help but get nauseous again.
Aunt Yu hurriedly get the bucket for Lin Xinyan, but luckily the pregnant woman was just retching.
Looking at Lin Xinyan’s condition, the doctor gave in. “I’ll prescribe a nutrient injection for you.”
The retching obviously meant that Lin Xinyan was on an empty stomach.
“Yes, that’d be great,” stated Aunt Yu, who still thought that Lin Xinyan needed nutrition.
“Get more rest,” advised the doctor, to which Lin Xinyan agreed.
Not long after the doctor left, a nurse came to give Lin Xinyan an injection. She had received a prescription for a day’s injection but still relied mainly on solid food.
At the Wanyue Group building, Li Zhan and Zong Qifeng burst into Zong Jinghao’s office without knocking first, but there was no one inside. Zong Jinghao was drafting documents for the prosecution with Su Zhan in the Department of Public Relations.
The news spread overnight, so it was obvious that Wen Qing had something to do with the deliberate act.
“There are internet trolls.” Those were netizens who posted extremely aggressive comments accusing Lin Xinyan of murdering with a gun, committing a public-order crime, etc.
It would not be enough to deal with those media only because those keyboard warriors were the root of the problem.
Zong Jinghao came up with an idea to deter people from spreading the rumor. “Hone in on the more outstanding individuals. Get their ID and prosecute them.”
“You need professionals to get the IDs.” The plan required technical personnel because it involved people’s personal privacy.
At that moment, someone suddenly opened the door, and standing there at the entrance was Li Zhan, the good-looking lad who had picked up a few tricks from his time at AC. “Leave that to me.”
After grabbing a chair, Li Zhan took a laptop from the person next to him and started working.
First, he locked onto the three most active accounts in the comment section.
