She had tucked into a hearty meal that Tian Yu had prepared in accordance to the ob-gyn's booklet, leaving out the spices and going with more blandness to make it more palatable for her heightened sense of smell and taste.
Tian Yu had observed that she was quiet and seeming to be deep in thought. "Xiao Xun, what are you thinking about?" he asked her thoughtfully, while running his fingers on her hair tenderly.
"I'm just thinking of how the little bean was conceived," she said with a little dreamy smile. Tian Yu quickly took her hand. "I suppose.. we were just too drunk at that time, and I totally lost control. It just didn't occur to me that you had stopped using oral contraception, and being single for so long, I didn't have condoms..I know, it's been three years, but to see you and have you in front of me again, I just got too excited.."
Zhi Xun squeezed his hand and coaxed him, "I wasn't fully drunk that night. I just forgot, as well. So don't worry, if you're responsible, I'm equally responsible as well." She kissed him on the cheek.
"Actually, I've also been thinking of one thing," he said. "It's my parents."
"I miss my family too," she told him. "Do you have any arrangements to bring your family over?"
"They do live in N City too. But since my father's stroke, it's been so bad that he's unable to recognise anyone at all. My mother has lost so much weight and aged so much taking care of him. But in my last convo with her over the phone, she said she would be moving in with Ayin. As Fang Qi's family is rich, her fiancé can afford hiring a live-in caregiver."
"I see. I'm thinking...if we could get my mum and aunt to come over and live in N City?"
"Where are you proposing they live?"
"Somehow, when my boss disappeared, he left me some of his estate. He transferred an apartment to my name. It's slightly smaller than this apartment. According to his attorney's instructions, he couldn't find a tenant for the apartment. Rather than living with us, I think it's not a bad idea for them to live in the smaller apartment. At least they don't have to squeeze in with us."
"I agree with your plans. But are you planning to tell them about our pregnancy?"
She shrugged. "I haven't really spoken to them after the incident."
"If they were to be blamed, so am I," he stated, looking a little remorseful. "I knew partially of their plans to push a fake wedding on us, in fact your aunt hinted on it so well. But I just took it as I would be able to protect you from the disappointment."
"It's nothing, really. I'm not upset that they lied, it's the fact that I felt I am just a tool for them in their path of riches. Perhaps all along, I was expected to marry into a rich family. But rest assured I have been sending them money in the last three years. There's no reason for them to be disappointed that you're no longer the prospective rich son-in-law in their minds."
"You don't need to worry about this. Also, a preggy mommy doesn't need to worry about anything."
"There's so much to do at work," she said. "Perhaps you would be able to come in and be my P. A.?" she teased.
"I have something to show you," he said. He reached for his phone and logged in to the unfamiliar banking app on his phone. "These are the earnings of my parents' overseas companies, which I became a director of, three years ago." He watched as her eyes turned big in amazement, and then he switched to another app, a local banking app. "And these are the earnings for the local companies."
"If you're already earning that much, why are you living like a pauper, then?" she inquired. He laughed and then placed a gentle kiss on her lips. "You know why. Our first marriage. Going to have to be grand."
"Are you saying we are going to have second, third, fourth and fifth marriages over the years?" she teased. He replied with a broad smile, "Why not, if we can afford it. After all, I want to grow old with you."
She giggled and played with his hair. "Did you just have a handful of sugar, because your words now are so sweet."
"I'm always sweet to you, my Xiao Xun," he whispered, and dimmed the lights with the remote control beside them. "Now let us sleep. You need to rest."
........................................................................
Three Weeks Later
"I'm so nervous I could pee," she giggled as they entered the doctor's room for their appointment. She had drank water in preparation for her abdominal ultrasound. For convenience, she had dressed in one of her oversized tees and a pair of loose, baggy pants. He held her hand sweetly and told her, "I'm glad that you let me be a part of this."
Very soon, they were leaving the doctor's office with a copy of the sonogram and another follow-up appointment a month later. The doctor had said the fetus looked healthy and was dating just exactly at 12 weeks. She gave Zhi Xun her estimated due date and reminded her to continue taking the folic acid that was prescribed in her previous appointment. The placenta had been posterior, and as she was a first-time mother, she would most likely feel it at the estimated gestation age of 20 weeks.
She watched Tian Yu's concerned face and teased him, "Look at how paranoid you were. I bet you can't wait."
"I think someone is more anxious. Guess what I found in the Yugle searches on the laptop last night," he responded with a smirk, and she blushed. She had been Yugling on when it would be safe to have intercourse. "Well you can say that. But in fact, you're even more paranoid than I am. You spent the whole afternoon yesterday reading on cultural taboos on pregnancy and what a pregnant woman can't do."
He held her close to him as a pedestrian on a scooter whizzed past them, and was ready to rebuke the person, when Zhi Xun stopped him. "Calm down, I'm fine. There was some distance, it wasn't like he could have bumped into me."
They had just reached the car when Zhi Xun announced she was famished. "For someone that early in, you seem to crave so much." She teased back, "maybe the little bean is hungry."
He was glad they had announced their engagement during a press conference where she had released a new product for ZSyn, a collaboration with Tian Yin's new fashion company. In addition, the next issue of Syn Vogue, which she had renamed from Su Vogue, would include a personal interview with Tian Yin.
Regarding the news of their pregnancy, they had agreed to only spill the beans after the dating scan and hence the third month of pregnancy. Aside from cultural taboos, it was due to medical reasons, as the possibility of a miscarriage would decrease after the twelfth week. Due to this, the couple could hardly contain their excitement when the doctor showed them the screen of the ultrasound machine and they had their first glimpse of the heartbeat, a flicker on screen, and what appeared to be their baby's hands. The doctor had been very patient in explaining to them slowly part by part as seen on the black and white screen.
There was a number of considerations they had to make as parents, and the first was who would be who would be at home with the baby after Zhi Xun's maternity leave. Tian Yu had volunteered himself for the role immediately, as he had seen Zhi Xun's passion for working. He was also a homely type of person, and he could always work remotely from home, in addition to doing the housework, cleaning, cooking and replacing the bulbs in their home. Since Zhi Xun was paying for her apartment in installments and it was a decently sized apartment, he would cover the balance of the installments to lighten the burden on her shoulders.
"Xiao Xun, would you think you would be ready to meet my mother?" he asked abruptly as they were eating.
Zhi Xun looked up from her plate. "Perhaps, it would be a good idea, to meet before our engagement."
"She has been living with Ayin," Tian Yu said. "As a matter of fact, she is already here, but I wanted to ask you first before asking her to come in." Finally, she would be meeting Tian Yu's mother, after wondering about his parents for all the time they were together.
In the Sky Kingdom, Fate Registry Office.
Meanwhile, Siming backed up the fate books to the cloud and leaned back on his ergonomic chair. This he hoped, would prevent the mortal fates he had written for each of the mortals from being undone by accidental interference by unknowing immortals, like what had happened in the six previous lifetimes of Zhi Xun and Tian Yu. "Come in," he said to a knock on the door. An immortal in a hoodie materialised before his eyes.
"I see that you are recovering well."
The immortal shook his head. "It still hurts, even after this while."
"What are your plans?" Siming asked.
"What can I do, since it was something I had to undergo from the start?" the immortal replied with a shrug.
"Everything is clear, isn't it? Why it all happened."
The immortal sighed. "But to just wake up and find it's all a dream. I didn't even remember how I died, it was so sudden. Everything had felt so real."
"The love is real," Siming stated. "But in the end, it's just a test, it's just a calamity that all high gods have to face eventually. My Lady, she chose not to go through all of this and to not ascend to High Goddess, because she could not bear the thought of having to leave my Lord. Tens of thousands of years, and they're still together. That's more important than the power she could harness."
"Bro, I'm sad for you too, that you are destined not to have a partner. And Chong Lin."
"I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse," Siming said coolly. "I can spend all my leisure time on League of Immortals or watch Tianflix, without anyone to breathe down my back."
"You're lucky the Lord and Lady are away right now," the immortal said. "Or they will be sure to give you a lecture on your obsession."
As the immortal was about to leave, suddenly Siming called him back. "As for that mortal couple, how do you think you can help them? After all, it was partially your fault that you messed up their fate the first time, and the last few lifetimes."
The immortal seemed shocked for a few minutes, and then asked, "Pardon me?"
"Your mere presence interfered with their fate, again and again."
"What?" The immortal gulped. "Are you trying to say, that they didn't end up with each other in their last six lifetimes was due to me being around them?"
"It was due to your fate with them in the first place," Siming said. "This thread of fate still remains, even after they have been reincarnated continuously."
"But I was there pretty coincidentally.."
"In fact, you made them who they are now. Though they have now fulfilled their destiny as lovers, you were their challenge during this lifetime. If not for your presence, they wouldn't have passed their test. But I think you should try to help them, or they'll just be continuously living in the cycle of reincarnation as mortals. After all, you messed up the fate that I initially wrote for them, and caused them to deviate into a different path."
"What happened during the last six lifetimes?"
"Once you went down to play, and caused a child to get hurt, and she went to save the child, causing her to miss the chance to meet him, another time you were on a mission to locate an immortal being punished to earth, and you saw her reincarnation as an orphan and sent her to a family out of kindness. Then there were the times that you didn't cause their written fate to unwind, but it was something you did in the area that changed their fate. If I had to explain to you now each time they lost their chance because of you, it would take forever. But whether you directly or indirectly messed up their fate, it was because of you that they missed each other and went on a different route. So, you should actually think about what you can do to help them, to avoid them from having to undergo the cycle. A way they can be together eternally, Mr. Su Moye."
Silence fell across the office, as Su Moye removed his hoodie and teleported away in his confusion.
ns 15.158.61.17da2
