For a while, Xiao Hu’s situation no longer needed to be considered, and I felt a huge weight lifted off me.
Every day I lay in the hospital room, enjoying a paradise-like life where everything was handed to me without effort.
Shen Feng still refused to go back.
Uncle Gazi and Xu Shu were a bit worried that constantly taking care of me here would wear him out.
Even Taozi secretly pulled me aside and muttered with a worried face:
“Chen Yang, you’re about to be a mother now. Your husband is handsome and capable—back in the old days, he’d definitely be considered a rich and eligible guy. You can’t go and do something foolish like those clueless people. Everyone gets lonely sometimes, but don’t let temporary comfort cloud your judgment and make you do something stupid.”
I was completely speechless, my face full of black lines, my mouth stiff as I had no idea how to explain the situation.
The next day, after thinking it over, I finally couldn’t sit still anymore.
Looking at Shen Feng lying comfortably on the bed beside me, I muttered inwardly, “Sorry, brother!”
I got up and went to Bruno’s office, asking about my condition and expressing that I wanted to go home.
At first, Bruno didn’t quite agree:
“You’ve shown slight signs of spotting these past few days. It’s better if you stay a bit longer.”
The moment I heard that, all my determination deflated instantly.
I completely forgot why I came and instead pressed him for details.
On my way back to the ward, I sighed inwardly—being a mother really isn’t easy.
Back in the room, seeing Shen Feng lying there, I could only sigh again and again.
I flopped back onto my bed, pulled the blanket over my head, and thought, forget it, just sleep.
After staying in the hospital for several more intense days, even Lili began hinting that maybe someone else should take over the night watch.
Shen Feng, whose ears seemed capable of hearing everything, suddenly appeared behind Lili before she could even finish her sentence:
“Am I not taking good care of her?”
Lili froze, stiffly turning her head to glance at him.
After a long pause, she forced a smile and waved her hand:
“…No, I just didn’t want you to get too tired.”
“I’m not tired. I just sit around, call the doctor, remove IVs, and buy meals.”
“……”
At that point, Lili had nothing more to say.
She could only give me an awkward smile, her face practically screaming, just wait until Suo Tian comes back and divorces you.
Under this constant mental pressure, I finally couldn’t take it anymore and went to Bruno again.
After giving me a full examination, he finally nodded, saying I could go back, but I needed to be careful—no bumps, no falls, and absolutely no getting sick.
I waved it off casually. “It’s fine. My kid has his father’s genes—definitely strong.”
Seeing my nonchalant attitude, Bruno’s eyes flashed, and he lowered his voice:
“If anything unusual happens to the child in the future, don’t blame me.”
“Un… unusual?”
“Most deformities we see in infants originate from problems during pregnancy.”
……
The moment he said that, I immediately recalled a story I once saw online—about a woman in a remote village who gave birth prematurely at home.
The baby was so severely deformed that it terrified the grandmother and knocked the mother unconscious.
Later examinations showed it was due to long-term malnutrition and illness during pregnancy.
I shuddered violently and silently swore to come for regular check-ups from now on.
Back in the ward, I informed Shen Feng that we were leaving.
Seeing the stunned look on his face, I couldn’t help myself.
I walked over, sat beside him, and spoke earnestly:
“Shen Feng, you can’t keep doing this. Whether or not you like Xu Shu, she hasn’t even said anything yet. If you keep avoiding things like this, what does that make it? If people misunderstand, won’t it just make things awkward for her?”
After thinking for a moment, Shen Feng sighed, got up, packed our things, and asked:
“Can we leave now?”
“Yeah,” I nodded.
“Then let’s go.”
We didn’t have a car, so we had to walk back.
Since I’d walked this route many times before with Xiao Hu for check-ups—and after being cooped up in the hospital for so long—I pulled Shen Feng along the riverside path.
The weather was perfect—not too hot, not too cold—just the way I liked it.
Walking by the river, watching the shimmering water, I took a deep breath.
The fresh air filled my lungs, and I felt completely refreshed.
Since we weren’t in a hurry, we sat down by the river.
Quietly gazing at the water, I let my mind go blank, leaned back, closed my eyes, and felt utterly at peace.
Occasionally, small groups of people passed behind us, chatting softly about their own lives.
During that time, a young couple sat down by the river not far from us.
The girl chirped nonstop like a little sparrow—even a fish swimming by in the water could excite her for quite a while.
Looking at her and the youthful face of the boy beside her, I suddenly thought of the young couple we had met in the temporary shelter before.
Even now, I still didn’t know what exactly had happened to their child.
Something was definitely wrong—but whether it was illness or if the child had already turned into a walker, there was no way to find out anymore.
After all, everyone in that shelter had been abnormal.
Their way of thinking could no longer be understood with a normal mindset.
I watched them for a while before Shen Feng said, “We still have quite a long way to go. Let’s head back.”
As he pulled me up, I turned back to glance once more at the girl’s slightly raised belly, silently wishing that both mother and child would remain safe.
As if she had heard my thoughts, the girl suddenly turned her head and looked at me.
Our eyes met, and after a brief moment of surprise, she gave me a sweet smile.
Near the end of the road, I spotted a familiar figure by the river.
I never expected that the old man from last time would still be here fishing.
Delighted, I ran over to greet him.
That was when I learned he hadn’t been at his shop that day at all—his son had locked up early when the incident happened, and they had safely avoided the disaster.
I couldn’t help but sigh in relief.
The old man still remembered Xiao Hu and reminded me to come by and get some candy.
I agreed, but since Xiao Hu wasn’t with me, I didn’t stay long.
After saying goodbye, I continued walking back with Shen Feng.
Shen Feng laughed. “Didn’t expect you to have made so many acquaintances without even realizing it.”
……
Uncle Gazi and the others hadn’t expected us to return so suddenly.
After being away for so long, Xiao Hu had become unfamiliar with me again.
He huddled in Uncle Gazi’s arms with Tingyun, and didn’t even need me to feed him.
For a moment, I felt a bit down.
By the afternoon, after a whole noon of trying to win him over, Xiao Hu finally paid me a bit more attention.
While playing house on the grass by the door, he generously scooped up some “rice” made of dirt and insisted I eat it.
With a face full of helplessness, I brought it to my mouth and suddenly pointed to the sky.
“Look! A UFO!”
The moment he turned his head, I quickly dumped the dirt behind me.
I thought I’d gotten away with it, but just as Xiao Hu turned back, my hand hadn’t even withdrawn yet.
Probably feeling that my refusal to eat his “meal” was a serious insult, he snorted angrily, grabbed Yiyi beside him, and stormed back into the house.
Watching the two of them—boy and dog—whose heights were now not that different, I felt like life had suddenly lost all its color…
I dusted off the dirt on my body and was just about to head back inside when I looked up and saw Song Meijing standing in front of the villa.
I originally planned to ignore her and go inside, but after a moment’s thought, I walked over and asked, “Do you need something here?”
She glanced at me. “Is Suo Tian not here?”
I frowned slightly. “He’s not. Do you need him for something?”
“No,” she said plainly. “I just wanted to see him.”
Then she added, “It seems like he hasn’t been around for quite a while.”
“Yeah, he went out. He’ll be back soon.”
Maybe it was the period of recovery in the hospital that had softened my temperament a bit—I was actually able to speak this calmly with her.
Song Meijing stared at me for a moment before finally asking, “You’re pregnant?”
“Yeah.” My mind drifted back to when we were still in the county—back to that time in the warehouse when we ran into Lili and Wang Jun.
Back then, she was still my good friend, and she had spoken so sincerely about her feelings for Suo Tian.
I let out a quiet sigh.
Maybe in her heart, I was the one who came later—the one who took away the person who should have been hers.
In those uncertain times, when no one felt secure, the emotional support she relied on had been taken from her.
It wasn’t surprising that she changed so much afterward.
Seeing me sigh, Song Meijing suddenly grinned. “Why are you sighing? You’re living such a happy life, and you’re still not satisfied?”
I glanced at her. “Just a habit. It has nothing to do with how I feel.”
She didn’t seem to care.
Waving her hand, she glanced toward the house.
“I really didn’t expect that in less than a year, we’d end up this close to each other again.”
She looked back at me. “When I heard you escaped from the school, I thought you were definitely dead.”
I let out a small laugh. “You were probably pretty happy about that, weren’t you?”
A strange expression flickered across her face, but she didn’t answer.
Instead, she abruptly changed the subject and asked a question that immediately made me uncomfortable:
“The child… is it Suo Tian’s?”
I frowned. “Of course.”
She looked at me for a moment longer, then let out a soft laugh and waved her hand.
“Then you’d better protect him. I’ll get going.”
After she left, I stood at the doorway for a long time.
Only when her figure had completely disappeared did I finally let out a deep sigh and turn back into the house.
— The end of the Chapter–
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