Chapter 20 I Beg You

“Let me see whether the bump is still there or not.” Ling Yichen removed his clothes, turned his head to eye Xia Mo, and then turned around to strip off the nightdress that he had just put on her. “Can you be a bit more gentlemanly?” After so many days of interaction, Xia Mo was no longer intimidated by his loutish ways as she had been before. She only felt hopeless towards him. “I think that the baby bump is now gone.” The man had put his ear on her belly for a long while; however, the lump never appeared again. Discouraged, he sprawled back on the bed. Despite that, the man found an extra task to do from here forth, and that was to listen to her belly every day. In a blink of an eye, Xia Mo was already eight months pregnant. This time, Ling Yichen accompanied her to a private hospital. “Where’s Madam?” It had already been a month since Xia Mo had seen Lu Wanru and Mrs. Wu. “Something came up, so she’s out of the country.” Lu Wanru had said that she would come back, but she hadn’t returned as planned. Today, she finally called him to pick her up from the airport tonight. She said that she was worried about people seeing her with a flat belly. Ling Yichen couldn’t help but ponder. Once Lu Wanru comes back, where shall I live? Return to the old house or continue to live here? There was a young nurse sitting by the registration in the checkup hall. She curiously looked at them and wondered what was their background. This was because they had demanded that the hospital’s entire fifth floor to be emptied out. “Name.” The nurse opened her registration book. “Xia Mo.” Xia Mo watched the nurse fill out the hospitalization form, and so she hastily impeded her, “Do you require I.D.?” “You don’t need to,” the nurse smiled, “Others do.” “In that case, please change my name to Xia Tian.” Xia Mo returned a smile and thanked her. Ling Yichen then realized that he had never known her name all along. Xia Mo. Xia Tian. Which one is her real name? Or are both not hers? “Age.” The nurse oddly looked at her, but proceeded to inquire. “Eigh... Twenty-two.” Having never lied before, Xia Mo’s ears instantly flushed red. “These don’t need to be filled. Just tell your supervisor that I was the one who said it.” Ling Yichen proceeded to help the woman stand up. “Let's go in for the checkup.” “Okay.” Xia Mo exhaled a sigh of relief. She warmly and happily looked at him with her distinct, large eyes. The corners of her lips curved upward, and she beamed at him, revealing her beautiful dimples. Ling Yichen narrowed his eyes at her. How does she look twenty-two with this look of hers? He then thought of the gaokao practice questions that she had been working on and the fact that she had said “eigh―”. She had to be eighteen to nineteen years old! So, he had impregnated a high school student?! “How old are you really?” Following the nurse, he reached out his hand, hooked it around her waist, and whispered. “I’m eighteen. I’ll be nineteen in two more months,” Xia Mo murmured into his ear. The warm breath and demure voice drew Ling Yichen’s eyes to her cherry lips. Have I never kissed her before? How come I don’t have any memories of us locking lips? “Have I ever kissed you?” Ling Yichen’s thin lips suddenly grazed her ear, purposefully touching her small and fair lobe. Xia Mo paused and nearly lost her footing while going up the stairs. She stared at the man as if he was a lunatic. “Can I be with the child until he reaches a month old?” Xia Mo stopped in her tracks, turned her head to look at him with reddened eyes. “Just one month. Please?” “Okay.” After a brief consideration, Ling Yichen agreed and smoothed the hairs on her head. “Thank you.” At this moment, Xia Mo felt that the man before her had seemingly turned more affectionate towards her. To be honest, what he had wanted to say wasn’t just “okay.” He had wanted to say, “If you wish, you can stay at the house indefinitely.” “Yichen?” A soft, melodic female voice resonated from behind them. Xia Mo and Ling Yichen instinctively turned their heads to gaze at the woman walking up the stairs towards them. As if he had been jolted, Ling Yichen quickly retracted his arm from Xia Mo’s waist, prompting her to eye him suspiciously. “Wanqiu? When did you return to the country?” The woman, who looked similar to Lu Wanru but appeared more striking, strode up to Ling Yichen, and entwined her arm with his. “Yichen, I’m pregnant!” Her voice was clear like the bright of day, and her smile was dazzling like the rising sun. She exuded excitement from head to toe. Taking no notice of anyone else, her brilliant eyes were solely fixed onto Ling Yichen. “What did you just say?” Ling Yichen’s expression changed slightly. “I... I said that I’m pregnant! I have your baby! You’re not happy?” The beaming smile on the woman’s face stiffened. She then noticed Xia Mo on the side and questioned, “Yichen, who is she?” With both hands propping up her belly, Xia Mo’s complexion was now as white as a sheet. Her eyes wandered to the woman’s flat belly. This woman has his baby too? How can they find two women at the same time? What should I do now? Can it be that they want to pick the better one? “Yichen, she’s not that woman who wants to birth a child for elder sister, right?” Seeing that Ling Yichen did not reply to her as if he hadn’t come back from his shock yet, Lu Wanqiu’s eyes reddened and tears streamed down her cheeks. “You really found another woman to birth a child for her?” Ling Yichen pursed his lips, clenched his jaw, and continued to stare at Lu Wanqiu in shock. He was unable to process the news that she had just broken to him. Xia Mo discreetly retreated two steps back. So she’s different from me. She is his lover? In reaction to the unresponsive man, Lu Wanqiu’s face abruptly paled. She wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand and lowered her other hand to rub her belly. The elation in her eyes had become grief. She couldn’t help but mutter, “Indeed. What cannot be revealed in the light will never last long. In actuality, I cannot blame you for this. After all, many years have passed since then. You have always...” After Lu Wanqiu had finished, she turned to leave. Ling Yichen grabbed her arm and explained, “Wanqiu, how can I possibly not want it? It’s a living being after all. Keep it.” “Yichen...” Lu Wanqiu turned around, threw herself into his arms, and sobbed, “You don’t know how happy I was when I learned that I was pregnant. I finally have our child! I’ve been looking forward to this for so long. I have waited for this day for so many years. It’s finally here! Even if you don’t want this baby, I intend to keep it. I rather bring it to a small place where nobody knows us. I can’t lose this child.” “Silly, it’s not just your baby. It’s also mine.” Ling Yichen’s face was unsightly as he looked at Xia Mo who stood more than a meter away, but his action was gentle when he patted Lu Wanqiu’s back. Xia Mo gently bit down on her lip. She stared at them with a dazed expression as if she was a criminal and watching a drama unfold before her sentence. “But... But what if she... What if she doesn’t agree?” Lun Wanqiu raised her head and looked at him with moist eyes. Panic flashed across her face. She then struggled to break free of his embrace. “No. I can’t have this child. It would break her heart. She’ll hate me even more.” As if she had just remembered Lu Wanru, Lu Wanqiu started to cry again. Then, she took a step back, and turned around to glare at Xia Mo. Xia Mo could see a streak of viciousness in her eyes. She swiftly protected her womb with her hands, but it was too late. “Ah!!!” Xia Mo shrieked after she had been shoved by Lu Wanqiu. With one foot in the air, she reeled backward. Terror-struck, she looked towards the man. His complexion turned ashen, and his eyes flashed with dread. He rapidly extended his hand towards her. She also likewise extended her hand to grab onto him. However, at this crucial moment, Lu Wanqiu unexpectedly pivoted her body, and with a piercing scream, she also began to tumble down the stairs. With a flick of his wrist, Lin Yichen pulled in the other woman who was closest to him. *Thump* After a few sounds of terror had echoed, Xia Mo fell down five steps. As if she was a kite that had been cut, she lay on the corner of the floor and appeared lifeless. A trickle of blood hung from the corner of her mouth. Xia Mo lowered her eyes to look at the blood pooling by her feet and then looked up at the man who was holding Lu Wanqiu in his arms. She implored him in a frail voice, “I beg you... Save the child.”