C9

Early the next morning, I woke up. I meticulously prepared some fruits for Teng Wan, and while doing so, I sent a message to Zhou Jin, telling him not to come today.

To prevent Teng Wan from being provoked, I went straight to the hospital where Teng Wan was going to conduct the paternity test. Xie Zongming was in charge of picking Teng Wan up.

Xie Zongming didn't speak the truth with Teng Wan, he only said that he was checking's body.

This private hospital was located in the corner of the city. It was a worn-out five-story building. The signboard at the entrance was covered in dust. The walls were covered with all kinds of advertisements, saying, "Today's surgery, tomorrow's work." Something like that.

I went in and sat waiting for them in the hall, which seemed busy, the nurses running around, the doctor in his dirty white coat speaking in a dialect.

I saw a lot of young girls coming to the crowd, small and timid, with boyfriends and parents accompanying them.

If I had a daughter in the future, I would teach her to use condoms. I would protect my body and not be fooled by the frivolous boy.

The ones who suffered from pregnancy were girls, how could boys feel heartache? Maybe they would think that people were as simple as going to bed, just like Xie Zongming.

He would only let me have a baby. How would he know that I would lose my life if I gave birth to a child?

Just as I was thinking about that, my phone suddenly rang. Seems like Xie Zongming had brought Teng Wan here.

I had already contacted the doctor at the private hospital, and after giving him some money, I was allowed into the sheep room, which was not very formal.

I know you need amniocentesis for paternity testing.

I changed my clothes and shoes, still wearing my mask.

After waiting for fifteen minutes, Teng Wan came in. She was supported by two burly male nurses, her face was ugly, her eyes were swollen, and she had probably just cried.

"This is your child!" Teng Wan shouted, "If you don't trust me, I will kill him now!"

Ha, so she knew why she was calling her here today. It seemed that Xie Zongming couldn't hold it in, and had failed at doing all these.

Her legs were kicking desperately, and I wondered if she was trying to get rid of the baby.

Unfortunately, this was not an official private clinic. Most of the doctors and nurses had already received money from Xie Zongming.

Teng Wan was tied up on the bed. Her face was pale white, looking a little desperate.

"Doctor, I beg you to pity me." Teng Wan tried to grab onto the doctor's sleeves and begged, "It was with great difficulty that I became pregnant, but my husband actually doubted me, please let us live."

She was still lying.

The doctor did not listen to Teng Wan as he coldly gestured to the nurse to disinfect Teng Wan's stomach.

Teng Wan was still crying and talking about pitiful things, but everyone in the room ignored her.

Just as the doctor was about to prick Teng Wan's stomach with a needle, I walked over to Teng Wan's side so that she could see me.

She stared at me as if she felt something.

Her eyes were a little desperate.

I silently took off my mask and smiled.

"It's you, bitch." she said weakly.

"It's me." I looked into her eyes and said sympathetically, "Do you think I would be able to enter the operation room without Xie Zongming's permission?"

When Teng Wan heard my words, she felt as if she was greatly stimulated and fainted. I once again put on my mask.

The amniotic fluid puncture could not be considered as a complicated operation, Teng Wan was merely frightened to this extent.

I pushed Teng Wan to the resting area. Xie Zongming was already standing there.

"You should comfort her." I gently said, "The lineup scared her."

Xie Zongming looked at her worriedly, but he hesitated for a moment before coming forward and taking my hand, "It's been hard on you."

"It's no trouble." I gave a pot of soup to Xie Zongming and he received it with both hands.

"She might not want to see me." "Don't say it's my soup, she won't eat it."

Xie Zongming nodded, and before I turned to leave, I reminded his, "There are a lot of nourishment in there, drink it up."

He hurriedly nodded his head.

I took the subway home without a ripple of emotion.

My parents even thought that I was suffering from autism. Fortunately, when I grew up, I gradually became more open-minded, but because of my silence and my gentle appearance, many people felt that my personality was gentle, kind, traditional and easy to handle.

It's probably because of this reason that Xie Zongming married me, I have always pretended to be very good all these years. He also doesn't want to think about how a woman who can resist his parents and marry him under all the pressure, can be so calm after he found Little San.

Unbeknownst to me, I had been secretly smoking and drinking since high school, falling in love with handsome seniors.

I sat in the subway and watched the girl on the other side of the phone cry into her arms. I handed her a tissue and a peppermint candy.

I saw the message on my phone screen: "I'm in love with someone else. Break up." The girl had said countless persuasive words, but not a single word came out, because the boy opposite her had already blackened her.

I put my arm around her shoulders and let her cry. Women are always the ones who get hurt.

I stepped out of the subway station and walked slowly along the beach, a breeze blowing in my face.

Teng Wan is about to leave, but I don't feel the slightest bit of happiness.

I sat on a bench facing the sea, a flock of seabirds in the sky, a fat orange cat at my feet, and when he came he gave me a cold look and fell on my shoes as if we had known each other for a long time.

I bought a steamed corn. I took a bite and gave him a few more.

I rubbed his round head. He even lay down and showed me his belly, and I couldn't help but smile. Animals are cuter than humans.

"Xia Ying..." Just then I heard a familiar voice.

I looked up and saw that it was Zhou Jin who was standing there with a slight smile on his face. He was standing there as straight as a tree.

He came and squatted down beside me and rubbed the cat, but the cat scratched him with its paw. The smile on his face deepened, and the side of his face was very gentle in the sunset.

He sat next to me, a short distance away, and I couldn't shake hands with him intimately in this crowded park.

I handed him the remaining half of the corn and motioned for him to feed it so it wouldn't stretch its paws.

But he took it and put it in his mouth.

I looked at him in surprise, then quietly took his hand. His body slightly stiffened, and he held my hand behind his back.

We didn't say anything, just watched the sun set over the sea.

My relationship with him is shameful, and no one can know about it, but so what?

I let go of his hand and left first. He didn't ask me to stay.

I walked a long way and looked back to see him still sitting there with the cat in his arms.

I had to go home and cook for my husband and wash his shirt that smelled of other women's perfume, but I didn't feel any pain because I had a gentle lover.

When he hugs me and kisses me on the lips, it's enough for me to forget my bad husband.

Xie Zongming returned late, he looked exhausted, and his entire body was tensed up. He was worrying about the child in Teng Wan's womb.

After dinner he lay down on the sofa and I poured him a cup of ginseng tea.

He took my hand and said, "It's been hard on you."

"It's no trouble." "No," I said.

"When the child comes back, you will be the child's mother." "No," he said.

"Yes." I nodded. "When will the report be ready?"

"Tomorrow."

Looks like he gave the doctor a lot of red packets.

I nodded and asked no more questions. I'm not worried, and the baby isn't mine.

Xie Zongming and I went to bed after changing into our pajamas. Every night, I would think about Zhou Jin and remember his smiling face when he rubbed the cat.

We slept until midnight when Xie Zongming's phone suddenly rang.

"Alright, I'll go right away." Xie Zongming said into the phone, once he hung up, he would get up and put on his clothes.

The noise he made sobered me up.

"Who is it?" I asked, sitting up.

"Teng Wan is jumping off a building." Xie Zongming looked at me and said that he seemed to hate me.

I sneered to myself. "I'll go with you."

Xie Zongming said, "She said she doesn't want to see you."

"I won't let her see me." I swiftly put on the skirt, "Teng Wan is just a little girl, for such a big matter, it wouldn't be at ease if I didn't go and take a look. After all, it was my suggestion." I lowered my head and said dejectedly.

"It's not your fault." Xie Zongming's tone softened, "You are doing this for my own good."

Xie Zongming drove me to the hospital. There were very few cars on the road, so I opened the window.

It's ridiculous to think that my husband and I are going to see my husband's pregnant lover.

Teng Wan had already returned to the city's best hospital, and I saw her sitting on the window sill of the Seventh Floor's ward. There was almost no one watching downstairs, since it was after all one in the morning.

"Don't come over." Just as I walked into Teng Wan's sickroom, I heard her crying, "My husband isn't here yet?"

Your husband?

Xie Zongming looked at me awkwardly, but I shook my head to show that I didn't mind.

"You can go in." I whispered to Xie Zongming.

Xie Zongming nodded.

"You're his husband?" A female doctor who was passing by angrily asked us, "Hurry up and go in. She's causing so much trouble that all the patients in the hospital won't be able to sleep."

Xie Zongming hurriedly apologized.

The female doctor looked at me. She obviously suspected that I was Xie Zongming's mistress, and didn't know that the truth was the opposite.

"Ah Wan, I'm here." Xie Zongming walked in with a gentle voice.

"Old Xie, you're finally here." Teng Wan's tone was extremely agitated, "They are all bullying me, and do not want me to see you."

I stood by the door and peeked inside.

"I'm here, aren't I?" Xie Zongming said, "Come over, you're still carrying the child, don't hurt yourself."

Teng Wan sat on the windowsill, wearing a rumpled pajamas. Her hair was messy, and she cried like she was about to cry.