Chapter 51: I Think I’m Going into Labor

The phone screen on the table slowly went dark under Li Zhenguan’s gaze, returning to its original state.

In the end, he didn’t look at Wang Zhao’s phone.

Having lived together under the same roof for over two months, Li Zhenguan had of course seen Wang Zhao’s phone screen password a few times. She didn’t try to hide it from him at all, not minding that Li Zhenguan knew her phone password.

He withdrew his gaze, plugged in the charger, casually blow-dried his hair, and instead of going to bed, sat back down and started playing with his phone again.

After a while, there was a knock at the door. Li Zhenguan shuffled over in his slippers to open it.

Zhang Shu stood outside, holding a tray.

“I cut some fruit and heated up a glass of milk. Drink it before going to sleep.” Zhang Shu handed over the tray, adding, “I also made some midnight snacks and put them in the fridge. If you get hungry, just heat them up in the microwave downstairs.”

Li Zhenguan made a sound of acknowledgment as he took the tray, and asked, “When will Xishan Ge and the others be back?”

Zhang Shu said, “Can’t say for sure if they’ll be back or not. That big group might end up staying at a hotel. Don’t worry about it, the madam has arranged everything. The young ladies and young masters won’t go hungry.”

Li Zhenguan smiled, “I know Zhang Shu has thought of everything. You don’t need to stay up tonight. Go to bed early, and tomorrow you don’t need to come here. Go home and have a meal with your children. I’ll let my father know.”

In previous years, Yang Jin would always give Zhang Shu a few days off to have a reunion dinner with his daughter and spend more time at home. This year, it was only because there were so many people in the house that he probably couldn’t manage alone, so he had no choice but to keep Zhang Shu here. However, Li Zhenguan knew that his father must have privately given Zhang Shu a sizeable red envelope.

“Thank you, young master Zhenguan.” Zhang Shu finally said with a beaming smile. “After you’re done with the fruit platter, young master Zhenguan can leave it in the sink downstairs. I’ll come to clean up the day after tomorrow.”

Li Zhenguan nodded.

After seeing him off and closing the door, it wasn’t long before Wang Zhao emerged from inside, her body still damp from the shower. With the heater and humidifier on in the room, it wasn’t cold at all. She stood in the room wearing only a thin nightgown. Seeing the fruit platter on the table, she asked, “Did Zhang Shu bring this over?”

“Mm.” Li Zhenguan nodded. He glanced at Wang Zhao, then sat down on the bed himself, unconsciously touching his belly. It had just moved a moment ago.

Since two months ago, his belly had gradually started to show fetal movement, occasionally getting kicked. It was clear that the child in his belly wasn’t a quiet one and probably had quite a lively personality.

Wang Zhao also noticed Li Zhenguan’s movement. She put down the towel in her hand, crouched in front of Li Zhenguan, placed her hand on his belly, and looked up at him. “Did he kick you?”

Just as she put her hand down and finished speaking, Wang Zhao felt something bump against her hand, as if the child in the belly had just kicked her. Li Zhenguan furrowed his brow slightly; this movement wasn’t gentle.

“Does it hurt?” Wang Zhao stopped her hand.

Li Zhenguan shook his head, “It doesn’t hurt.” He put his hand on his belly, feeling as if the baby inside thought it was interacting with him and kicked a few more times.

At this stage, they could actually start prenatal education. Sometimes when Wang Zhao had free time in the evening, she would read a fairy tale or two. This book was given out at the expectant fathers’ school, with each pregnant man receiving one. Li Zhenguan had brought one back. Wang Zhao had a nice voice, and sometimes when Li Zhenguan experienced intense fetal movement in the middle of the night and couldn’t sleep, it was Wang Zhao’s voice that could settle the little troublemaker in his belly.

However, they hadn’t brought that book with them here. Wang Zhao placed her hand on Li Zhenguan’s belly and softly said “be good.” Whether it was the effect of her voice or not, the fetal movements became less frequent. She opened her phone, found a random story, and began to read.

She read the story twice, and the baby in the belly quieted down. Li Zhenguan had also fallen asleep, but Wang Zhao didn’t feel sleepy. After settling Li Zhenguan, she put on a coat directly over her nightgown and went downstairs, taking the fruit platter from the room to put in the kitchen sink.

Downstairs had already been cleaned, with all the lights on, but no one around. There were some noises coming from the rooms.

The weather was very cold today, with a chill rising from below. There were several boxes of cigarettes on the table, half-opened and left there. Wang Zhao didn’t usually have a craving for cigarettes, but tonight she suddenly felt an itch in her throat, as if something had triggered an addiction. So she took out a cigarette.

Because Li Zhenguan was pregnant, she didn’t dare let her body smell of smoke, so she stood at a windy spot, lit a cigarette, took one or two puffs, then left it on the railing, letting the cold wind finish the entire cigarette. Only then did she blow off the ash, pick up the extinguished cigarette butt, and throw it in the trash can.

After standing in the wind for a while longer, she returned to the room, letting her body warm up under the heater before getting into bed.

However, in the middle of the night, they were both woken up unexpectedly, mainly due to the loud noises from downstairs, including various fireworks sounds. There seemed to be people talking in the downstairs hall, making quite a racket.

Li Zhenguan, having been woken up, wasn’t in a good mood. He was too tired, and at this stage with his big belly, he could only sleep on his side and couldn’t even turn over easily. Once awake, it would be difficult to fall back asleep.

Fortunately, the noises from downstairs only lasted for a few minutes before quieting down again. Wang Zhao patted Li Zhenguan’s back, “Go back to sleep, it’s probably just them coming back from the street.”

By rights, today they should have been staying up to see in the New Year, but young people these days don’t have so many traditions. They’re all night owls, only going to sleep when they’re tired, without the habit of staying up all night.

The night became quiet again, and they both fell back asleep.

The next day, they both woke up very early. Wang Zhao was habitually an early riser, while Li Zhenguan couldn’t sleep anymore. He had stayed at the Wang family’s house for over two months before coming back to sleep in his own bed, and he felt somewhat uncomfortable. After a night’s sleep, his whole body was sore and very uncomfortable. Sure enough, when he went to wash up the next day, he found his entire face was a bit swollen, looking as if he had gained several pounds.

He washed his face with cold water several times before the swelling went down a bit. He had no appetite for breakfast. Li Zhenguan actually wanted to drink an iced Americano, but he didn’t dare. Mainly because some people have strong reactions to coffee, and now that he was pregnant, he didn’t know if there would be any other side effects.

He had no appetite for breakfast and only drank some cold water. Later, Wang Zhao couldn’t bear to watch and simply made him a bowl of egg wine. It was suitable to drink in this weather, and perhaps because it was sweet, Li Zhenguan actually drank most of the bowl.

After that, they stayed there for two more days. During this time, they also went with Yang Jin and Li Zhenwei to visit some relatives from the main family, taking Wang Zhao and Li Zhenguan out for a tour. On the fourth day, Wang Zhao and Li Zhenguan finally returned home together.

Wang Xuechun and Zhang Ke were still staying at the old home. It was said that an elderly person in the village had passed away in their sleep during the New Year, and Wang Xuechun wanted to wait until after the seventh day of mourning before returning home.

Because it was an elderly person who had passed, it was considered a “happy funeral,” and the villagers weren’t particularly sad. The person had experienced everything they should in this life.

Wang Zhao’s first New Year in this world had passed relatively smoothly.

With the start of the new year, various matters came one after another. She was preparing for the civil service exam interview while working during the day, and when she had time, she still had to accompany Li Zhenguan to expectant fathers’ school to learn together. Because Li Zhenguan was now about eight months pregnant, they had to go to the hospital every two weeks, which meant Wang Zhao wished she could split herself in two to manage everything.

At the end of March, after finishing the civil service exam interview, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. After that, she could focus on work and accompanying Li Zhenguan to learn about childcare.

She was trying her best to play the role of a competent wife and a competent mother.

At the end of April, Wang Zhao’s results came out, and she received a notice for a physical examination. This gave her a sense of everything falling into place, as if all her efforts since coming to this world had finally yielded results.

Wang Zhao felt the burden on her shoulders lighten a bit. Although she was currently handling the work at the law firm quite well, for some reason, she felt in her heart that this wasn’t what she wanted.

Wang Xuechun and her husband were also very happy, so they simply booked a private room at a restaurant, planning to take the whole family out for a celebratory meal.

Apart from the initial excitement when she saw the notice, Wang Zhao soon returned to her calm and unruffled demeanor. She had a plan in mind: she didn’t intend to quit her current job at the law firm right away, but to continue working there for a while longer. When summer vacation came, she would let her classmates there know. They also knew she wouldn’t stay there for long.

However, even if she passed the physical examination now, she wouldn’t officially start the new job until September. There was still half a year, at least enough time to earn some more milk money for the child who hadn’t been born yet.

To be honest, the wedding several months ago had nearly depleted all of Wang Zhao’s cash on hand. Perhaps because that money belonged to the original owner and wasn’t earned by her personally, Wang Zhao seemed to use it for the wedding without any psychological burden.

But now with no cash on hand, and the remaining funds tied up in stocks and funds, without any income, they probably wouldn’t be able to afford milk powder when Li Zhenguan’s child is born.

However, in preparation for the upcoming child, Li Zhenguan had been buying a lot of things lately. Besides online shopping, he had also bought many things offline, going to the mall several times with Zhang Ke. They almost bought three or four strollers, and it was only thanks to their rationality that they didn’t do such a thing.

Zhang Ke was quite experienced and knew that children grow fast when they’re young, changing almost daily. There was no need to prepare too many clothes for when they’re small, especially before they turn one year old, as they change almost daily.

But it seemed like delayed paternal love had descended, and Li Zhenguan had fallen into a shopping frenzy during this period. Every day, the express deliveries piling up at home could form a small mountain. Wang Xuechun and Wang Zhao had to be careful not to trip over them when entering the house. Now their room couldn’t hold anymore, and some space in the living room had been left for these baby items.

Even before this life had arrived, Wang Zhao could already feel its pressure.

As the due date approached, the house on Huangjin side had been renovated several months ago. It had been cleaned and aired out, and probably could be moved into after another two months of ventilation. However, considering that there was an expectant father about to give birth at home, Wang Zhao planned to wait until the child was a bit older before moving over. In the meantime, they would remove the formaldehyde from that side and let the house ventilate for a longer period.

Li Zhenguan’s expected delivery date was around early June, but this child had been quiet in his belly for a while. There had been several times when they thought he was going into labor, but it turned out to be false alarms.

The real onset came one night.

At this point, both of them had already gone to sleep. Li Zhenguan seemed to suddenly wake up in the middle of the night. He felt something wasn’t quite right. His belly hurt a little, and down below felt wet, as if something had flowed out.

At first, he thought it was another false alarm, but after enduring for a while, he felt something wasn’t quite right. This time it seemed to be real. He managed to sit up in bed with difficulty and patted the woman sleeping beside him.

Wang Zhao woke up quickly. These days, she had been constantly listening for Li Zhenguan’s movements. It was already the tenth month, and Li Zhenguan’s belly had grown so large it was somewhat frightening. His movements had become extremely difficult, and he even needed her help to get dressed daily.

She opened her eyes and looked at the man beside her. “What’s wrong?”

As she spoke, she noticed Li Zhenguan’s expression seemed a bit off. She sat up and asked again, “What’s the matter?”

Li Zhenguan’s face remained relatively calm, though his brows were slightly furrowed. He took a breath before saying somewhat calmly, “Wang Zhao, this time I really… I think I’m about to give birth.”