To be honest, Qin Zhicheng was really stumped.
He didn’t really mean anything else by it.
He was just thinking—if there was no child, and she wanted a divorce, he would of course grant her wish.
After all, he was often away on missions and couldn’t give her the companionship she needed.
It would be better to let her go free while they didn’t have much of a connection.
But having a child changed everything—there was no way he’d let his child call another man "Dad."
After a long silence, Qin Zhicheng looked up. "I’m sorry. What I said earlier might have given you the wrong impression. But it’s true that I don’t want a divorce because we have a child now. Please, try to make this work with me. A child needs a mother, and a father."
"I know I might not be a qualified husband or father in many ways right now, but I’ll work hard to give you and our child a good life."
He paused for a second before continuing, "There’s one thing I need to reiterate. I don’t have any preference for boys over girls. Whether you’d given birth to a son or a daughter, I wouldn’t have just divorced you. That’s no different from abandoning my wife and child, and I would never do that."
"And my parents don’t think that way either. If they did, you could just ignore them completely."
"Alright. That’s all I have to say."
Su Yun: ...?
’I thought he was a man of few words, but now it seems that isn’t necessarily the case.’
’I really don’t know much about men.’
"Then let’s try for one year. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll get a divorce. And you can’t refuse—"
Qin Zhicheng: ...?
’So all that talking I just did was completely useless?’
’I never thought I, Qin Zhicheng, would see the day a woman was so displeased with me.’
He really wanted to ask her—’Is there someone else in her heart?’
But in the end, it wasn’t an appropriate question to ask a woman who had just given him a child.
Suppressing his frustration, he looked her straight in the eye.
"One year is fine. But I’m not going to be a monk. I want a normal husband-and-wife relationship. Otherwise, how will you ever discover my good qualities?"
Su Yun’s face flushed crimson.
’This man can’t open his mouth without talking about not being a monk—is that the only thing on his mind?’
’And to think he has such a stern, proper-looking face.’
’Good qualities? Does he mean the "good quality" of having a mind full of dirty thoughts?’
She glared at him and growled, "Can you just shut up?"
Qin Zhicheng’s gaze fell on her flushed face—he’d always known she was pretty.
But seeing it now was a much more visceral experience—especially the way she looked, blushing and angry. It was like something had struck him right in the heart.
It couldn’t help but remind him of the tingling, electric experience of that night.
Realizing where his thoughts were heading, he quickly suppressed the restless feeling.
He cleared his throat. "—Fine. You can continue."
"After my confinement month is over, I’m going to work—"
Although Su Yun loved her child, she knew deep down that a job was the true source of a woman’s confidence and security.
It would give her leverage if, one day, they really did get a divorce.
Otherwise, with no job and no money, she probably wouldn’t even have the right to fight for custody of her child.
Qin Zhicheng wanted to tell her she didn’t have to work so hard, that his stipend was enough for the family.
But when he met her determined gaze, he knew her resolve to work was even stronger than her resolve to divorce him.
"Okay! I’ll help you find—"
"No need. I’ll find something myself." Su Yun was confident.
Qin Zhicheng was a little surprised to hear her say that.
He thought she was just trying not to trouble him, so he said, "I can talk to the people in the department that arranges jobs for family dependents. You can just wait for them to assign you something."
"They can assign you a job based on your skills or what you’re good at."
"No need. I’ll find something myself."
Su Yun refused him again.