Chapter 80: Release

Ever since leaving the ultrasound room, Rong Xiu’s expression had been gloomy. His thick lashes covered his originally alluring eyes, making him appear even more forlorn. Even the young nurse who had dared to chat with them when they first arrived now sensed his bad mood and didn’t dare to speak.

Actually, the young nurse had seen this situation many times before.

Many pregnant men come happily with their families to screen for the fetus’s gender. But when leaving, they’re alone. Just because the fetus is a boy. Some heartless ones even arrange for an abortion immediately after finding out the gender.

So when the young nurse saw Rong Xiu walk out of the ultrasound room in silence, he understood that the baby in his belly was a boy. Rich families can sometimes be more conservative than ordinary ones, because they actually have thrones to inherit.

Recently, there was a big fuss about Rong Xiu being a ‘mistress’, but at the crucial moment, Rong Xiu found out he was pregnant and seized the opportunity to rise in status. However, it turned out to be a boy, which seemed somewhat ironic. It felt more like a kind of karmic retribution for being someone else’s mistress.

Rong Xiu wasn’t happy, but what about Fan Xia? The young nurse couldn’t help but wonder.

He secretly glanced at Fan Xia and saw that she seemed normal, apparently not unhappy that this child was a boy.

Indeed, although people claim not to value daughters over sons, in reality, men themselves value daughters more than sons. Fan Xia, on the other hand, treated them equally. Such a good wife-master was truly hard to find, no wonder he was willing to use any means to snatch her away.

Before the young nurse could finish his musings, he suddenly felt a sharp, cold gaze piercing him. He shuddered and looked in that direction, only to find it was Rong Xiu. He had somehow noticed the young nurse secretly observing Fan Xia, and his gaze was terrifyingly cold, as if he wanted to eat him alive, looking very fierce.

The young nurse trembled, lowered his head in fear, and quickly averted his gaze.

After escorting them to the door, he hurriedly ran back to the hospital, clutching his chest.

“What’s wrong, not happy?” Fan Xia asked after getting back in the car.

Rong Xiu looked at her with some surprise.

Fan Xia smiled slightly. She wasn’t a fool; naturally, she could sense Rong Xiu’s sudden dejection after the hospital screened the fetus’s gender.

Rong Xiu clutched the seatbelt, his tall, slender figure wrapped in a large black coat. The bright winter light fell on him, casting a faint golden glow on his cheeks, but it couldn’t warm his naturally cold eyes and brows.

He lowered his gaze, not daring to look at Fan Xia, his thin lips slightly pursed with a hint of desolation: “…It’s a boy.”

Fan Xia chuckled, taking the seatbelt from his hand to help him fasten it: “What’s wrong with a boy? Didn’t I say I’d love a boy or a girl just the same?”

“But…” Rong Xiu’s fingertips hooked onto Fan Xia’s sleeve, his gloomy eyes hesitant to speak.

A boy was fine, but it wasn’t a girl. That joy was ultimately discounted. It wasn’t exactly sorrow, nor could it be called joy. It just sat there in his heart, neither salty nor bland, making him very uncomfortable.

Rong Xiu suddenly felt that his previous spoiled behavior, relying on the child in his belly to act coquettishly with Fan Xia, was all a joke. It was just a boy, not a precious girl. Yet he had made such a fuss, being overly delicate.

Fan Xia seemed to understand what Rong Xiu was thinking. Instead of offering empty comfort, she started the car and said, “Come on, I’ll take you somewhere.”

Fan Long Mountain was beautifully scenic, but in winter all things wither. Leaves fell endlessly from the trees, leaving only bare branches. It had snowed a few days ago, and thin ice formed from accumulated snow on the branches, transparent and crystalline like snow twigs, echoing the pale stone forest, exuding a sense of desolation.

Rong Xiu held a bouquet of white bellflowers, his fingers unconsciously tightening.

“Let’s go,” Fan Xia took his hand.

Because of the snow, the cemetery stairs were a bit slippery. Fan Xia held his hand tightly, making sure each of his steps was steady before taking the next one. Finally, they arrived at the tombstone of Fan Xia’s parents. The joint burial tombstone stood quietly there, with the two people on it frozen in their most beautiful youthful years. This was Rong Xiu’s first time seeing Fan Xia’s parents. He felt that Fan Xia had perfectly inherited all the best genes from her parents, having both the elegant temperament of her mother Fan Yun and the delicate, gentle features of her father Xie Ying. If they hadn’t unfortunately encountered the Wen family, they should now be an ordinary loving and happy couple.

“Mom, Dad, I’ve come to see you with Rong Xiu,” Fan Xia caressed the photos on the tombstone, taking out a handkerchief to carefully wipe off the accumulated dust.

“Auntie— Mom, Dad,” Rong Xiu gently corrected himself, bending down to place the white bellflowers in front of the tombstone. He also wanted to kneel before the tombstone like Fan Xia, but as soon as his knees started to bend, Fan Xia stopped him.

“You’re pregnant, the ground is cold, no need to kneel.” Fan Xia stood up and kissed him in front of her parents’ tombstone, then hugged his waist, saying happily, “Mom, Dad, Rong Xiu is pregnant, carrying our Fan family’s grandchild.”

Rong Xiu’s face immediately burned red, a blush spreading to his ears.

Fan Xia talked a lot at her parents’ grave, from her childhood to how the Wen family went bankrupt, how Wen Ming Yue went to prison, how Wen Jing and Xie Cen, that father-daughter pair, tormented each other, all the way to the present. Rong Xiu stood quietly beside her, listening without interrupting, just watching her.

Who knows how long it had been, the sky gradually changed, becoming somewhat gray. Small snowflakes began to float from the sky, turning the world white. Light snowflakes fell on her shoulders, in her hair, on her thick curled eyelashes, quickly melting into crystal-clear drops of water, wetting her eyelashes so they became heavy and black, as if washed by water, black, soft, and bright.

“Let’s go,” Fan Xia caressed the names on the tombstone lovingly, then took Rong Xiu’s hand and left.

She had wanted to stay a bit longer, but it started snowing, and she didn’t want Rong Xiu to accompany her while pregnant.

“Are you cold?” Fan Xia gently patted the snowflakes off his body, buttoned up his coat completely, and then held his hands in hers to warm them.

Rong Xiu shook his head, “Not cold.” How could he be cold when Fan Xia was holding his hands?

Fan Xia rubbed his hands, the warmth of her palms heating up his slightly cold fingertips. She looked up at Rong Xiu, her pitch-black pupils reflecting his handsome image: “Rong Xiu, I’ve been alone since I was very young. I’m really happy you’re pregnant, whether it’s a boy or a girl, I love them very much.”

Rong Xiu’s heart trembled, as if a still pond suddenly had a channel opened, allowing endless living water to pour in, surging in his heart. He finally confirmed that Fan Xia truly loved this child, loved it immensely.

Regardless of whether it was a boy or a girl, because for her, this child was her only family in this world.

And just a moment ago, he had been considering whether to abort this child.

Rong Xiu’s eyes became a bit wet. His love for the child was entirely determined by Fan Xia. If she loved this child, then this child’s existence had meaning. Having understood this, Rong Xiu gently caressed his belly. His previously indifferent mood was rekindled with joy because of Fan Xia’s words.

After returning home, the servant had already prepared dinner and was waiting. Having served Rong Xiu for many years, he was naturally very concerned about whether Rong Xiu’s child was a boy or a girl. At the same time, he sensitively noticed that Rong Xiu always avoided the word ‘boy’, which made him a bit worried. If the child was a boy, he feared Rong Xiu might be unhappy.

But when Rong Xiu returned from the checkup, he told the servant that it was a boy, and the joy in his expression for this child hadn’t decreased. The servant couldn’t help but feel happy for Rong Xiu.

A boy is fine, after all, it’s still a little life.

“They say boys take after their mothers and girls after their fathers. Our young master will surely be the most beautiful little boy in the entire capital when he grows up. Who knows how many people will be fighting to marry him,” the servant laughed.

Rong Xiu caressed his belly, his eyes full of admiration as he looked at Fan Xia beside him. Her long hair cascaded down like a waterfall, clear and gentle, not a striking beauty, but like a gurgling stream that refreshed the heart, catching one’s eye at first glance, never to be looked away from, unable to accommodate anyone else.

“If only the child really took after her,” Rong Xiu said softly.

If the child really inherited Fan Xia’s eyes and brows… Rong Xiu couldn’t help but start imagining what the child would look like when grown up, imagining his gentle eyes and brows similar to Fan Xia’s. Love extends to all connected things, and Rong Xiu couldn’t help but cherish this unborn child even more.

The servant chuckled: “It definitely will. Both the young master and the wife-master are good-looking, the future young master will surely surpass his parents.”

After lunch, Fan Xia prepared to go to the company for a while, but Rong Xiu clung to her, his long, strong legs unconsciously wrapping around her waist, like a snake unwilling to let go.

Fan Xia glanced at the servant washing dishes in the kitchen, picked up a nearby cushion to cover her waist, and whispered, “What’s this, not afraid of being seen?”

Rong Xiu shifted his body, sitting on Fan Xia’s lap, his arms around her neck, his breath hot and moist: “…I am afraid.”

“Afraid but still doing this?”

Rong Xiu curled up in her arms, mumbling, “I miss you.”

Fan Xia chuckled. What the books said about men having stronger desires during pregnancy was true. She gently rubbed Rong Xiu’s soft waist that had sunk down, and whispered against his ear, “Shall we go back to the bedroom then?”

The husky voice against his ear lobe sent shivers through Rong Xiu’s sensitive body. He nodded in her arms.

Having abstained for so long, Rong Xiu was desperate. Even though Fan Xia was considerate of the child and didn’t use her full strength, Rong Xiu’s whole body was as if he had been pulled out of water, completely wet, and his reactions were even more intense than before. The bedsheet was crumpled from his biting.

Fan Xia pulled him out of the messy bedding, brushed back his damp forehead hair, wiped away the fine sweat on his forehead, put a nightgown on him, and then took him to the bathroom to clean up. It was supposed to be just cleaning, but things soon got out of hand. The black velvet collar of the black nightgown floated in the bathtub, bobbing up and down with the rippling water.

Rong Xiu’s excessively fair arms wrapped around her shoulders, his head tilted back, the long, beautiful line of his neck exposed, his slightly protruding Adam’s apple constantly rolling. He bit his lip, his eyes unfocused as he stared at the ceiling, his breathing as heavy as someone about to drown.