Late at night, a loud crash of thunder rolled over the rooftop.
Inside the Jinmao Mansion villa, the man tossed and turned in his sleep.
He was dreaming about things from his high school days.
During the midterm exams of his first year, he had unsurprisingly ranked first overall—and not just by a narrow margin. His score was more than 30 points higher than the second-place student.
When the results were posted, the homeroom teacher praised him in front of the whole class.
“For this exam, our classmate Fu Sinian scored a total of 712 points, setting a new record. I hope everyone will follow his example and work hard.”
Then the teacher glanced at a girl sitting in the corner, absentmindedly holding her test paper, and added,
“Some students performed significantly worse this time. I hope those who slipped in the rankings will reflect on their attitude toward studying and aim to do better next time.”
Hearing this, Lin Qing looked up toward the podium, bit her lip in silence, and her eyes gradually reddened.
In the honors class at Nancheng No.1 High School, the top two spots were almost always the same people, with the rest fiercely competing for the remaining ranks.
But this time, the midterms had brought a surprise.
The “eternal number two,” Lin Qing, had fallen out of the top five for the first time, dropping to ninth place—instantly becoming the talk of the school.
After class, a few flashy, loud girls walked out of the classroom whispering to each other:
“Haha, looks like the eternal number two is about to be replaced.”
“She always acted so aloof. Look at her now—what a terrible score. Serves her right!”
“The teacher’s public criticism earlier? That was so satisfying.”
Just as they were speaking, they saw Fu Sinian coming back from playing basketball on the field. Their voices dropped slightly.
“No matter how unwilling she is to admit it, she’ll never beat Fu Sinian.”
“Please, that guy’s the top genius of our school. How can regular people even dream of catching up?”
The whispers reached Fu Sinian’s ears, leaving him with mixed feelings.
Back in the classroom, he grabbed his backpack, ready to head home. But after only a few steps, he saw someone approaching and paused.
At the door of the teachers’ office, a girl came out holding a test paper. Her eyes were slightly red. When she saw him, she froze for a moment—then quickly walked past him without a word.
In that moment, he did something completely out of character.
“Hey… uh, did something happen to you recently?”
She’d always scored well, but this time her total marks had plummeted by more than fifty points. He figured something serious must’ve happened in her life—there was no other explanation.
It was a question asked out of concern.
But Lin Qing suddenly stopped, turned around, and bit out each word through gritted teeth:
“I don’t need your fake sympathy.”
Then she turned and ran back to the classroom.
A wave of frustration surged in Fu Sinian’s chest. He muttered under his breath,
“Seriously—why do I even bother!”
A summer breeze swept down the empty corridor, blowing away some of the day’s heat.
The two of them, backs to each other—one walking out, the other heading in.
That evening, after returning home, one sentence from his father left him stunned for a long time.
It turned out, two weeks ago…
Her parents had divorced.
__________
A torrential storm raged outside, thunder booming and wind lashing against the windows.
The bedroom, cloaked in gray curtains, was shrouded in darkness—no trace of light seeped through.
In the dimness, Fu Sinian suddenly jolted upright, clutching his chest.
He let out a long breath.
Cold wind rushed in through the half-open window, clearing his thoughts a bit. He reached for a tissue on the nightstand and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
It was just a dream.
Lately, memories he thought long buried in the depths of his mind had been resurfacing in his dreams—frequently.
And the leading figure in every one of them was, unsurprisingly, Lin Qing.
Her presence was powerful.
Fu Sinian sighed.
Thinking back to how she yelled at him that afternoon, telling him to mind his own business, he felt irritated.
When he was eight, the Fu and Lin families had a falling-out over a land bid. From then on, the two families had no contact. At home, his grandfather constantly reminded him that “the Lin family can’t be trusted.”
At school, he and Lin Qing became fierce academic rivals. She couldn’t stand him, and he had little fondness for her either.
Fu Sinian ran a hand through his hair in frustration.
He suddenly remembered that evening in sophomore year when she left school. After packing up in the classroom, he recalled the last thing Lin Qing had said to him:
“You’re still as annoying as ever—fake and self-righteous.”
Fake and self-righteous.
Those were the harshest words anyone had ever said to him.
Looking down at the bite mark still visible on the back of his hand, Fu Sinian gave a helpless smile.
She really did have a nasty temper when she was younger.
Now that she’d grown up, that temper hadn’t changed one bit—if anything, it had gotten worse.
As he reflected on their youth and the recent events, the puzzle that had been nagging at the back of his mind started to come into focus.
Suddenly, he realized—
He had always cared about Lin Qing.
That feeling had existed deep in his subconscious for many, many years, explaining why his emotions had been so unsettled lately.
A few more cracks of thunder rolled outside. Fu Sinian got up, walked to the window, and firmly shut it.
The second half of the night, he slept much more peacefully.
_______
On the other side of the city, Lin Qing was still buried in work, rewriting the due diligence report that Fu Sinian had rejected. She worked until 1 a.m., completely exhausted. The moment she collapsed onto the bed, she fell asleep.
In the second half of the night, she woke up several times.
In her dreams, a baby kept chasing her, calling her “Mommy”, crying and begging her, “Mommy, don’t abandon me.”
“No, don’t…”
Lin Qing jolted upright in bed.
The room was pitch black. She reached out and turned on the light.
The brightness immediately flooded the room.
Lin Qing let out a long breath.
Suddenly, a dull pain tugged at her lower abdomen, pulsing in waves.
Panicked, she jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom. When she pulled down her pants and looked, she saw brownish blood staining her underwear.
In that instant, her breath caught in her throat.
Ruifeng Group.
At 8 a.m., just as Fu Sinian arrived at the company, his phone rang. It was a call from Jiang Yuan.
“Hello?”
“President Fu, Miss Lin went to the hospital.”
Fu Sinian jumped up from his chair, panic flashing across his face. He rushed toward the door while asking, “Which hospital?”
Just then, Linda walked into the office with a stack of files and almost bumped into him.
Fu Sinian quickly said, “Leave the documents on the desk. Cancel all of today’s meetings.”
Linda froze for a second but didn’t question him. She immediately nodded, “Got it.”
Inside the hospital, Lin Qing had taken a number and was now sitting on a bench in the corridor, waiting for her appointment.
She made a phone call to Jiang Muhong, saying she wasn’t feeling well and would need to take the day off. Jiang Muhong, concerned, asked what was wrong. Lin Qing said it was just some stomach discomfort. Jiang reminded her to rest well and come back to work once she felt better.
She had come to the hospital in a rush this time, without the company of Su Yi or Tang Yining, and the thought of facing the doctor alone made her a bit nervous.
Twenty minutes later, the nurse called her name.
After drawing blood and undergoing a B-scan ultrasound, Lin Qing took her test results and walked into the consultation room.
The attending doctor was the same female doctor from her previous visit.
The doctor recognized her and gave her a small smile.
“So, you’ve decided to keep the baby?”
Lin Qing nodded slightly. “Mm.”
Then she said, “Doctor, I noticed some bleeding this morning.”
The doctor’s expression changed at once.
“Was it a lot?”
“Very little.”
“Does your stomach hurt?”
“A little. Not a sharp pain, more like a dull ache.”
“Does it still hurt now?”
“No, it mostly hurt when I first got up this morning.”
“Let me take a look at your bloodwork and ultrasound report.”
Lin Qing handed the reports to the doctor.
As the doctor flipped through them, Lin Qing took several deep breaths beside her, worried that she might hear bad news.
The doctor examined the documents carefully.
The waiting felt torturous.
Lin Qing couldn’t help but ask, “Doctor, how’s my condition?”
Noticing how tense she looked, the doctor gently reassured her:
“Your bleeding isn’t heavy. Your HCG levels have dropped slightly since last time, but they’re still within the safe range. It’s likely that you’re just too exhausted. You don’t look well—too thin for someone who’s pregnant. You probably haven’t been eating properly. I’ll prescribe you some medication to help protect the pregnancy. Take it for a few days and monitor the situation. If the bleeding continues, you’ll need to be admitted for observation.”
Relieved, Lin Qing let out a quiet sigh.
While writing the prescription, the doctor glanced up at her.
A tall, slender girl with dark circles under her eyes—clearly not getting enough rest. Last time, she came with friends. This time, she was alone. Not once had the father shown up.
The doctor couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity, “Young lady, where’s the baby’s father? Why isn’t he with you?”
Lin Qing froze slightly, then answered after a moment, “There is no father.”
The doctor’s hand paused on the keyboard, looking up at her in surprise.
Her tone was calm and serious—not like someone lying.
Though the doctor was clearly curious, she didn’t press further.
She handed Lin Qing the prescription and instructed her:
“The medication’s already been prepared. Just wait in line at the pharmacy to pick it up. Be more mindful day to day—rest regularly, eat and sleep on time, and try to adjust your schedule. The next three or four days are critical. If you experience pain or bleeding again, come find me immediately.”
“Okay. Thank you, doctor.”
Lin Qing thanked her, took the stack of reports, and left the consultation room.
In the hallway, she looked down at the prescription. The list of medications seemed endless—vitamin D, vitamin E, active folic acid, dydrogesterone tablets, estradiol gel…
“Ugh, how annoying. Why are there so many pills to take?”
She muttered.
The next second—bang!
She bumped right into a man’s chest.
The reports in her hand fell to the floor.
She crouched down to pick them up.
But the man beat her to it.
She instantly recognized the familiar cedar scent—and her heart skipped a beat.
When she looked up, she met a pair of deep, shadowy eyes.
Fu Sinian glanced down at the test results in his hand, brows furrowed tightly, his expression grim.
“You’re pregnant? Why didn’t you tell me?”