Chapter 8

I quickly suppressed the rage in my heart.

I looked at Mei Qing as she walked back with the coffee.

My expression instantly switched to one of the most sincere concern.

As if she was the only person I cared about at that moment.

“When did this happen? Such wonderful news! Who’s the father? Who’s the lucky guy!”

“Oh, but never mind that for now. How are you? How are you feeling? Is the morning sickness bad? Look at your face, you seem to have lost some weight,” my gaze fell on her flat stomach, my eyes filled with a hint of worry.

Seeing my pained expression, Mei Qing’s tense body relaxed. She leaned back lazily in her chair.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” she chuckled.

“Just a little nausea in the mornings. The doctor said I’m in great health. As for the baby, it was just fate. The father… he’s very stable, very reliable.”

Watching her smug look, I began my performance.

I immediately took her hand, a picture of sisterly devotion.

“Oh my god, Mei Qing, this is the most important thing!” I said with heartfelt intimacy.

“You can’t be careless! Get all the check-ups, take all your supplements.”

Then, my tone suddenly shifted, filled with longing.

“You know I can’t really have a child of my own. When your baby is born, the godmother spot must be mine! I’m going to pour all my pent-up motherly love onto him!”

Mei Qing was immediately amused, her red lips curling into a smile. “Hahaha, does that even need to be said? It’s reserved for you, only for you!”

The time was right.

“Sigh…”

My sigh seemed to carry the weight of the world.

It successfully brought Mei Qing’s laughter to a halt.

“Qingqing?” She frowned.

“I’m pregnant. Aren’t you happy for me?”

“I…” I lowered my eyes, hesitating.

After a few seconds of silence, I finally looked up, my expression a mixture of struggle and helplessness. “Lately… Chengjun has been so strange…”

The bait was cast.

I saw Mei Qing tense up, her fingers tightening around her glass.

“Chengjun?” she asked, trying to suppress her emotions.

“What’s wrong with him?” Her voice was a forced calm.

“I don’t even know how to say it…” I leaned forward, my eyes flickering with hesitation and pain.

The mysterious and aggrieved atmosphere instantly captured Mei Qing’s attention.

She held her breath, as if awaiting a verdict.

“What is it? Tell me!” she urged, her voice laced with tension.

“Between us, is there anything you can’t say?”

“Sigh, you have no idea.”

“Chengjun… he absolutely, positively, cannot stand children! It’s like an aversion etched into his bones! But he never shows it in front of others, but I know him too well!”

The moment the words left my mouth, Mei Qing’s face went pale.

The hand caressing her flat stomach froze in mid-air.

Seeing her reaction, I decided to go all in.

“Ever since he found out I couldn’t get pregnant, whenever we’re walking down the street and see a crying child, his brow furrows so tight you could wring water from it! He avoids them like the plague! One time, his cousin brought her three-year-old son over, and the little guy just curiously touched the keyboard of his computer in the study…”

I mimicked Chengjun’s sour face at the time, speaking with a lingering fear. “His face turned as black as the bottom of a pot! His relatives were there, so he held it in, but as soon as we were back in the bedroom…”

I leaned in closer, lowering my voice as if sharing my husband’s darkest secret.

“He complained for a full half-hour! Said kids are demons, always crying, making messes, and so dirty! No sense of boundaries! Terribly destructive! He said they were debts from a past life coming to collect! And he also said…”

I stopped myself at the right moment, as if I had misspoken, and quickly covered my mouth.

I looked at Mei Qing with frightened eyes, as if I was afraid of scaring her.

Mei Qing’s lips trembled. “Did he… did he really say that? Men, you know, maybe he was just talking? Or maybe he only dislikes other people’s kids?”

“No, no, no!” I shook my head forcefully, my expression resolute and firm.

“He truly hates them! Truly fears them! He told me himself, it’s his biggest issue! When he was a child, his family had a beloved puppy that a neighbor’s brat tortured to death, right in front of his eyes.”

“Ever since then, he has a physiological revulsion to children, especially little kids who don’t know their own strength! It’s a deep psychological scar!”

I concluded with a heartbroken expression.

“He, deep down, feels that children are troublemakers who come to disrupt life, they’re debt collectors!”

After rubbing salt in the wound, it was time for tenderness.

I softened my tone, patting Mei Qing’s cold hand with sympathy.

“But! Don’t you take it to heart!”

“The man you found is surely different! Chengjun, humph, that’s just how he is, I’ve seen right through him! But there are plenty of good men in the world, and even more who love children and are willing to be fathers!”

My tone shifted again, now filled with envy for good men and blessings for my best friend.

“The one you chose, he must be someone who genuinely likes kids! Right? Quick, bring him out for me to see! Who’s this capable man who managed to win over our great beauty!”

Mei Qing’s eyes darted around, completely unable to meet my gaze.

She frantically picked up her milk and took a large gulp.

“Um… maybe,” she said, deflated like a punctured balloon.

“He’s probably… alright.”

I doubt even she believed that “alright.”

I contentedly watched her fidget, unable to sit still.

I leaned back in my chair again and picked up my espresso.

I took a small sip.

Bitter, with a hint of sweetness.

“Okay, okay!” I put on a bright, energetic smile.

“On such a happy day, why talk about such unpleasant things! You must take good care of yourself and be the happiest mom-to-be!”

I took out my phone and casually glanced at the screen.

A sweet, shy smile, the kind that belongs only to a woman in love, bloomed on my lips.

“Mei Qing, hold on a sec, it’s Chengjun.”

My finger tapped the screen, and I answered the call.

“Hello? Darling, are you done with work? I miss you…”

My voice instantly switched to a coquettish tone.

Out of the corner of my eye, I keenly observed Mei Qing’s body go rigid!

She almost hastily turned her head to stare out the window, but her ears were twitching slightly.

“Yes, yes!”

I smiled, my eyes crinkling.

“I’m having coffee with Mei Qing! You know, we haven’t seen each other in months, we have endless secrets to share!”

Mei Qing shifted her stiff body upon hearing her name.

I didn’t give her time to process the discomfort and continued my sweet offensive.

“By the way, darling, Mom brought over that bird’s nest soup this morning. I’ve had it simmering on low heat. Remember to drink it all when you get home tonight. It’s especially for you, to replenish your energy after you worked so hard last night…”

I adopted a shy expression.

I paused for a second, as if listening intently to the other end of the line.

Then I smiled even more sweetly.

“Alright, alright! I know! I love you more than anyone in the world! Mwah!”

I brought the phone’s microphone close to my lips and made a kissing sound laden with amorous suggestion.

“Come home early, okay? I want to sleep in your arms…”

I hung up the phone.

I put on a face of blissful immersion in love.

Completely oblivious to how cruel my performance of affection was to her.

“Aiya,” I complained playfully to Mei Qing, unconsciously twirling a strand of my hair, my eyes full of the look of a pampered woman.

“I don’t know what’s gotten into our Chengjun lately, he’s just been too considerate.”

“This morning he wouldn’t let me go… oh my…”

I blushed at just the right moment, as if recalling a private scene I couldn’t speak of, both shy and proud.

Mei Qing shot up from her seat!

She knocked over her milk, spilling it all over the table.

She didn’t even bother to wipe it, just snatched her bag from the table and got up to leave.

“S-sorry, Qingqing! I suddenly remembered a… a very important and urgent matter! I… I have to go now!” she stammered.

“S-some other time! We’ll meet again some other time! I have to go!”

Before I could react, she practically turned and fled.

“Oh, in such a hurry? We haven’t seen each other in so long. Take care of yourself…”

Watching her fleeing back.

I smirked at my phone’s dark screen.

The shyness and sweetness on my face vanished the moment Mei Qing turned away.

Just a one-woman show, and you can’t take it?

There’s worse to come.

I’m a Scorpio-we hold grudges and our feelings of love and hate are absolute. Hurt me once, and I will repay you tenfold.