“It’s crooked.”
His young wife carried a faint, jasmine-like fragrance.
Because the two of them were standing so close, and in the cramped space of the car, the scent was even more pronounced, rushing into his nose as if competing to get there first.
It made him slow his breathing involuntarily—he could barely breathe at all.
“There, all done.”
The whole process lasted only three seconds before Yu Li withdrew her hand.
She didn’t notice that Qi Chenyan let out a soft breath before following her out of the car.
Wednesday was a busy time, and the seats outside the consultation room were packed with people.
Qi Chenyan didn’t seem used to scenes like this, and his brow furrowed slightly, but he said nothing, only glanced around.
Spotting an empty seat in the far corner, he led Yu Li over and had her sit down.
“There’s only one seat. I’d better not sit—”
Before she could get up, Qi Chenyan pressed down on her shoulder.
“You sit. I’m fine standing.”
Since he insisted, and Yu Li was, after all, a pregnant woman now, she didn’t argue further and sat down obediently.
She turned her head and opened her mouth to speak to Qi Chenyan.
But since she was sitting while he was standing—and the two of them usually stood face to face, with Yu Li only reaching up to his shoulder—the height difference between one standing and one sitting was like heaven and earth.
Yu Li originally decided against saying anything, but Qi Chenyan noticed her little movements.
Without a word, he bent his knees and naturally crouched down in front of her, bringing them to eye level.
With their heights now equal, Yu Li could see Qi Chenyan’s deep, galaxy-like eyes all the more clearly.
She noticed the man’s eyes were very dark—the textbook definition of peach blossom eyes.
As an internet meme would put it, eyes like these looked deeply affectionate even when gazing at a dog.
No wonder netizens were always swooning over Qi Chenyan’s photos and videos, calling him “husband.”
“What did you want to say just now?”
Yu Li snapped back to attention and waved the appointment slip in her hand. “I booked an OB-GYN specialist. You have no idea how hard it is to snag her appointment slot.”
“My best friend and I each used a phone and still couldn’t get one. In the end, we had no choice but to buy it from a scalper at double the price.”
Qi Chenyan had absolutely no idea that seeing a doctor at a hospital required fighting for appointment slots.
Because Yu Li had said she’d already made the appointment, Qi Chenyan assumed they could just walk in and be seen—after all, that was how it had always worked for him.
But only after arriving at the public hospital did he realize it wasn’t that hospitals had few patients; it was that most ordinary families simply couldn’t afford to see doctors at upscale private hospitals.
Some families even had to have everyone camped out just to snag one specialist appointment—and even then they might fail, forcing them to buy one from scalpers at inflated prices.
“You should have told me earlier. There’s a private hospital I go to often—fewer people, quiet environment, no fighting for appointments, no waiting in lines.”
“How about I book the specialist next time? It would make things easier for you, okay?”
Yu Li had never even been to a private hospital. So this was the privilege of the rich and powerful—a ceiling ordinary people could never touch in their entire lives.
Still, Qi Chenyan didn’t make the decision on his own, but asked for her opinion first.
Only after she nodded in agreement did he rise to his feet.
Yu Li noticed a pregnant woman nearby holding a small pink booklet, its cover reading “Maternal and Child Health Handbook.”
“Hello, may I ask where you got that little booklet from?”
The pregnant woman pointed toward the stairway entrance. “It’s on that display rack over there.”
Yu Li thanked her, but before she could move, a man’s low voice came from above her head. “I’ll get it.”
Qi Chenyan was gone for quite a while before he returned.
By then, he was carrying several things in his hands, which he handed to Yu Li one by one.
“This is warm water. Have some first. I just asked a nurse, and she said you should drink plenty of water before the prenatal checkup.”
“I bought tissues too. I’ll go in with you when it’s your turn.”
After he finished, he added, “Don’t be afraid.”
Yu Li wasn’t afraid at all, actually—this wasn’t her first prenatal checkup.
But somehow, she felt that Qi Chenyan seemed a little nervous?
The pregnant woman beside them teased with a smile, “Young lady, you two are such a loving couple. Is this your first prenatal checkup? Your husband looks a bit nervous.”
“The first time my husband came with me for a checkup, he was all thumbs. He never would have thought to get me water or buy tissues—I had to direct him through everything.”
Yu Li’s eyes curved with a smile as she glanced at Qi Chenyan.
The man, as if his secret had been exposed, averted his gaze but didn’t deny it.
“It’s not the first time. But he’s busy with work, so it’s already great that he could come with me today.”
The pregnant woman disagreed. “No matter how busy work is, can it be more important than your wife and child? Young man, I really have to give you a piece of my mind. Do you know how hard pregnancy is for a woman?”
“Judging by how she’s not showing yet, she must be in her first trimester, right? The first trimester is actually the hardest, what with the pregnancy symptoms. Morning sickness alone can take half a woman’s life away.”
“Making money is secondary. The health and safety of your wife and child are what matter most, right?”
At this rapid-fire lecture, like a burst of machine-gun fire, Yu Li worried Qi Chenyan might be displeased.
Unexpectedly, not only did he show no impatience, he even gave an affirming “Mm. That was my oversight. I’ll do better in the future.”
The pregnant woman winked at Yu Li. “Your husband knows how to admit his mistakes and correct them. That’s pretty good.”
Yu Li could only laugh awkwardly a couple of times.
She turned her head, covering half her face with her hand, and whispered, “You’re not angry, are you?”
Qi Chenyan bent down, lowering himself to a height where he could look into her eyes. “Why would I be angry?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think things through before. From now on, I’ll try to make time to come with you to your checkups. And if anything feels off, don’t hide it from me.”
His tone was earnest and sincere. “I’ll do my best to fulfill my responsibilities as a husband and a father.”
Yu Li stared at him, dazed.
Although the mask covered most of his face, those deep, ink-dark peach-blossom eyes reflected, with perfect clarity, only her figure at that moment.
It gave her the illusion that she was the only one in his eyes and in his heart.
Just then, Yu Li’s number was called.
She rose in a fluster, while Qi Chenyan calmly took everything from her hands, letting her walk into the consultation room with ease.
The specialist asked only routine questions, then gave Yu Li an ultrasound order and told her to register her pregnancy file after completing the checkup.
She had thought the consultation room was crowded enough, but the line outside the ultrasound room was even longer.
Fortunately, there were plenty of seats out there—not individual chairs, but connected rows of benches.
Yu Li’s sharp eyes spotted a couple getting up just in time. She immediately grabbed Qi Chenyan’s hand and briskly snatched the seats.
“There are so many people today. You don’t have work later, do you? If you do, you can leave first—I could just call my best friend over to keep me company.”