Chapter 17：Only the Consequences

Zhao Yan headed to the waiting room and sat down, amusing herself with a book she brought with her. She leaned on the chair and started to read a bit while waiting.

"My lady..." When Chun Lan saw her starting to look sleepy, she immediately closed in and gently shook her awake.

"My lady, they're at the door!"

Zhao Yan was awakened by Chun Lan's voice. She couldn't help but rub her sleepy eyes before sitting straight. Chun Lan gave her an amused look before helping fix her appearance so she would look tidy and presentable.

"Let them in.."

Chun Lan nodded and opened the screen door.

"Ah...!" Zhao Yan's immediate reaction was to gasp when she saw the tall figure of a familiar man. Her immediate thoughts came forward as a jumbled mess. The memories of the past few months blurred and cleared, intercepting one another until she was dizzy.

Zhao Yan could barely believe what her eyes was seeing.

Standing at the door was the current source of her many dilemmas, the very person she had saved from the brink of death in which she spent sleepless days and nights to make sure he would stay alive. This man that Zhao Yan has cursed many times after throwing up during her morning sickness looked like a figure torn out of a painting.

His sculpted features and dark stormy eyes that she couldn't bring herself to forget because they looked at her in a haunting manner every time she would close her eyes was still as cold and indifferent as ever.

Zhao Yan thanked the high heavens that she was sitting in a chair because she could instantly feel how weak and terrified she became at the moment.

She raised her eyes slowly. He still looked the same as she pictured. The same grace, arrogance and aloofness that oozed out of his every movement was there.

This was the man that made her life more difficult than it was before and she couldn't help but despise and blame him for taking advantage of her generosity.

If she knew that she would end up pregnant after helping and saving his life, Zhao Yan would have never helped him.

She unconsciously clutched her dress tightly.

The shame and helplessness of being tossed aside and used, gnawed at her every being. The morning when she woke up alone in an empty bed beside her, she couldn't help but burst into tears.

Physically pained and emotionally hurt, the anger inside her clouded all of her rationality that she disregarded his pathetic excuse of saying he would come back for her. She told herself that she could still save herself and escape this horrifying dream.

That very same day, she burned the paper to ashes along with the house where she grew to be independent for the first time.

That house was burned to the ground along with the nightmarish memories of her encounter with that man.

Zhao Yan was angry. She had never felt so angry and distressed since now. Even when Li Dabao, her older brother, betrayed her trust and showed his true colors, Zhao Yan wasn't angry.

She felt disappointed and utterly hurt but she couldn't bring herself to be angry. Her anger would do her no help and she always told herself that she was blind for not seeing the obvious.

That she chose to delude herself into thinking that there was one more family member willing to accept and love herself. Instead of love, she was met with betrayal.

But right now was different. Because she didn't know this man and there was no relationship between them other than doctor and patient or as strangers, she was unable to forgive him or be considerate towards him. She didn't even think that he would have his own reasons and immediately attributed him to the same category as Tian Luo.

Men who were scum.

Her anger towards him grew every day.

She did not expect that after seeing him again, she would feel just as weak as she did when she first met him.

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Fu Yanqing observed her reaction like a hawk, making sure not to miss any details. From shock to disbelief, hurt to disappointment, anger then fear. It was as he expected. She did not know how to hide her emotions properly which made it easy for him to analyze her expression.

His little woman has not changed. He looked at her with a deep gaze, calmly examining her from head to toe.

The familiar inky black hair and black doe eyes framed with dark thick lashes...Those thin lips he had bitten countless of times were parted in surprise. She was wearing slightly thicker clothes but with his enhanced vision, he could see the small bump in her stomach where the product of their union was growing.

She was still as small and thin as he had remembered. Her skin was whiter due to lessened exposure to the sun and her cheeks were slightly plumper, presumably because she has been eating a lot.

He felt an urge to come closer and pinch it. Would it be just as soft as he imagined?

But Fu Yanqing thinks it is not enough. There was barely any meat on her body and he was worried that his little woman would have a hard time giving birth if she continues to remain this thin.

He has to step up to rectify this matter. The past few months had taken a toll on him. All his thoughts were centered around her. He would often find himself distracted from work because he was wondering which place she had run off to.

Would he ever find her? He couldn't stomach the idea of never seeing her again especially when he had done something unforgivable towards her.

She was the first woman that gained his sympathies and interest. She was also the first person he had begged in all his life.

Fu Yanqing was a prideful and arrogant man. Begging was meant for the weak yet he somehow ended up doing it. His mind that was clouded with lust and desire towards the woman that had occupied his thoughts day and night made him unable to differentiate between right and wrong anymore.

'Woman, help me...'

These were the words he said to her back then. Now that he was more clearheaded and rational, Fu Yanqing admonished himself for showing an unsightly side of him.

Fu Yanqing took a step forward.

"I.."

Before he could start, she aimed a book towards his face.

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