Hearing his sobs, Zong Jinghao picked him up awkwardly.
As he rarely had the chance to hold his son, he wasn’t good at it.
He patted and swung his son, but the latter wasn’t amused as his wails got louder.
Is he hungry? Zong Jinghao was about to place the baby down to make him some milk, but Aunt Yu appeared right on time. “What is going on?”
“He might be hungry,” uttered Zong Jinghao.
“He drank some milk before he fell asleep. I don’t think that he’s hungry.” Aunt Yu tried to console the crying baby.
When Zong Jinghao returned with the milk, his son refused to drink it.
“I told you that he wasn’t hungry.” Aunt Yu placed the little boy on his bed and unbuttoned his onesie. She opened his nappy. Indeed…
Zong Jinghao stood by the side and watched. He didn’t know what to do.
Aunt Yu removed the nappy and wiped his bum with a wet tissue before cleaning his bum with warm water.
Upon putting on a new nappy, the baby stopped crying at once. He didn’t fall asleep and gazed at them in wonder.
They didn’t use a disposable nappy to prevent stuffiness. Upon changing the reusable nappy, Aunt Yu brought the dirty one downstairs to wash with the water bucket.
Zong Jinghao sat on his bed. The one-month-old baby gazed in his direction intently.
When Zong Jinghao waved his hand out, in front of the baby, his gaze would follow curiously.
Footsteps sounded before Lin Xinyan opened the door and came in.
She put down her bag and looked at her son before telling Zong Jinghao. “Su Zhan’s family has a new young helper.”
When she went to visit Qin Ya, Su Zhan was the only one with her. At night, the young helper delivered their dinner. Grandma Su seemed to adore her as she continuously called out her name, “Xue.”
Zong Jinghao wasn’t interested at all as he gazed at his son.
Lin Xinyan patted his arm. “I was talking to you.”
“What does the young helper have to do with me?”
Lin Xinyan fell silent at his words.
She fell into his lap and wrapped one arm around his neck. “Shall we hire a prettier and younger one tomorrow?”
Zong Jinghao smirked. “Male or female?”
“Do you want a male or female helper?” asked Lin Xinyan.
“A female one?”
Before he could finish teasing her, she reached out to pinch his waist.
Zong Jinghao yelped in pain. “Are you murdering your husband?”
Relaxing her grip, Lin Xinyan grew serious. “I’m being serious. What was Su Zhan thinking? He should have found a married, older woman who would work hard. She’s far too young—”
“Su Zhan might be a huge flirt, but he won’t do anything outrageous. You’re worrying over nothing.”
Lin Xinyan murmured her assent. She wasn’t actually worried about Su Zhan. Instead, she was worried that the young helper would have an ulterior motive.
“Two years ago, there was a case where the helper set fire to her employer’s house. That shows how terrifying human greed can be. I’m not discriminating against her, but I know that material substances can easily tempt young girls—”
“Enough,” Zong Jinghao interrupted. “Stop worrying about others.”
“They are not others! Qin Ya is my family and Su Zhan is your—”
“I’m sleepy.” Zong Jinghao lay down beside their son and pulled the boy into his arms. He was clearly refusing to talk about other people now.
That left Lin Xinyan at a loss for words.
She couldn’t say anything, so she went to take a shower before going to bed.
After a week, Qin Ya was told her embryo had failed to develop. She didn’t even get to transplant the embryo.
As technology was advanced now, it was rare for an embryo to stop developing before implantation took place.
The doctor had informed them that it was because of the quality of her eggs. If they still wanted an IVF baby, she would have to be injected with fertility drugs again to stimulate the ovaries so a dozen or more eggs could be matured for retrieval. Then, the doctor would proceed to develop the embryo.
Grandma Su immediately piped up, “Of course. We can’t let the Su family end up without an heir.”
Her words were ridiculous. In this era, many people had chosen not to marry or give birth to children.
Some of them were afraid that it would be hard to educate their child, while others simply wanted their family to be just the two of them.
There were also people who couldn’t give birth no matter how hard they tried.
Such a matter was obviously agonizing for a couple.
Su Zhan said nothing as he left with Qin Ya. They didn’t go home as he had rented a place outside.
He knew that the continuous injections and procedures would harm Qin Ya’s body. It wasn’t a good idea to ruin an adult just to get a baby.
Grandma Su went to pray on a mountain. She got a talisman and went to a fortune-teller.
After telling the fortune-teller about her family, the fortune-teller insisted on heading to her house to come up with an accurate result.
Hence, Grandma Su brought the fortune-teller back home.
The fortune-teller told her that there was an evil spirit in their house. However, he could chase it away as long as she was willing to pay.
Anything that money could solve wasn’t even a problem.
Grandma Su immediately agreed. The fortune-teller then proceeded to carry out the ritual.
He got paid handsomely for his services. It didn’t matter whether the ritual worked or not because Grandma Su felt much better. She was certain that the next IVF attempt would be a success.
The first time failed because of the evil spirit’s presence.
Upon helping Qin Ya to settle down at their rented place, Su Zhan went home to pack up some clothes.
Once he entered the house, he noticed that the grandfather clock, which used to be in the living room, was gone. In its place were two wooden swords and a mirror in between.
Frowning, he inquired, “What is this?”
