“I need money to raise the child, I’m pregnant!”
The boy uttered words that bordered on the farcical.
Fu Qianyu stared down at him with a deeply brooding gaze. “Then get an abortion.”
The boy was laughably naive, actually fabricating such a blatant lie to swindle him.
Jing Jiaxi’s stinging eyes instantly flooded with tears. He bit down violently on his lower lip, his voice cracking into a sob the moment he spoke: “By what right!”
By what right did everyone have to force him into doing things he hated!
Having gone a full day and night without a single bite of food, coupled with trekking such a massive distance on foot, Jing Jiaxi had long since reached the point of utter exhaustion.
As his hyper-extended nerves were pushed past the breaking point, a dark haze rushed over the boy’s vision, and he blacked out.
“To the hospital.”
Fu Qianyu caught the collapsing boy into his embrace, carrying him straight out and into his personal vehicle.
By this time, the working hours had already concluded, leaving the office space completely deserted.
However, hidden within the stairwell, an impeccably dressed man was covertly making a phone call to report to someone: “President Lu, I just witnessed President Fu acting intimately with a man…”
Lu Zhili instantly snapped the pen cradled in his hand. “Who is that man?”
……
The chauffeur operated the vehicle with dutiful discretion, remaining entirely tight-lipped as his employer cradled an unfamiliar, deathly pale, and unconscious boy in his arms without uttering a single word.
As Fu Qianyu held the boy, he realized the youth was abnormally light—holding him felt uncomfortably bony.
Yet, the boy’s hands remained tightly clamped over his abdomen, as though shielding something precious.
Fu Qianyu frowned and pried the boy’s hands away, smoothing his palm over the boy’s abdomen. Though it was minimal, he could distinctly discern a faint, swelling curvature.
The depths of his eyes darkened. “Drive faster.”
“Understood, President Fu.”
Inside the capital’s premier private medical facility, Fu Qianyu demanded that the physicians conduct a comprehensive, full-body examination on Jing Jiaxi.
Most notably, a neurological scan and an abdominal examination.
Jing Jiaxi had confidently sworn that he was pregnant, which left only two distinct possibilities.
Either he had lost his mind, or he truly was pregnant.
“I want Jing Jiaxi’s complete dossier, along with his family lineage and structure, on my desk within an hour.”
It was only after Fu Qianyu concluded the phone call with his secretary that he realized he had actually entertained the preposterous notion of male pregnancy.
“The patient’s collapse was triggered by prolonged starvation compounded by extreme physical exhaustion. The diagnostic reports indicate severe malnutrition, critically low body fat, and…”
The physician paused for a substantial length of time before slowly delivering the definitive diagnosis.
“We did indeed detect two shadows resembling gestational sacs within the patient’s abdomen, and his systemic hormone levels align perfectly with a pregnancy profile… However, we cannot entirely rule out the possibility of a malignant tumor. We still require further confirmatory testing.”
“…When will he regain consciousness?”
“He should wake up roughly by the time this bottle of glucose IV runs through.”
“Thank you, Doctor.” “You are entirely welcome, President Fu.”
Fu Qianyu stared down at the medical report gripped in his hand, his gaze profound and unreadable.
An identical medical report rested inside Jing Jiaxi’s pocket—crumpled and worn, looking as though it had been clenched tightly for an extensive period.
Ten minutes later, Jing Jiaxi slowly drifted awake. “Where… is this?”
“The hospital,” Fu Qianyu handed the report over to him. “The doctors state that you are likely pregnant,” Fu Qianyu delivered the words with absolute gravity.
“Do you believe me now?” Jing Jiaxi desperately gripped the edge of Fu Qianyu’s sleeve. The sheer weight of the pregnancy had kept his psyche wound to a breaking point, yet he had possessed absolutely no one to confide in.
The person tied closest to the child in his womb was the singular individual he could look to for salvation.
“The possibility of a tumor has not been entirely ruled out either.”
“I would honestly prefer it to be a tumor,” Jing Jiaxi offered a bleak, tragic smile. Although he selfishly anticipated the birth of the child, if it meant he would be the only one to endure the suffering, he would find it infinitely easier to accept.
“If it is a tumor, I shall personally cover your medical expenses.”
“Thank you. I will ensure every cent is repaid to you.” Jing Jiaxi clutched his sleeve, tears of profound gratitude welling in his eyes.
Right then, the secretary’s call cut through. “President Fu, President Lu called to inquire about your whereabouts. He wants to know if you still intend to grace the banquet hosted by his parents tonight?”
“Cancel it. Inform him that I am occupied.” Since this pertained directly to his own flesh and blood, Fu Qianyu had no choice but to prioritize it.
“Understood.”
On the receiving end of the line, Lu Zhili stood outside the hospital entrance, his expression dangerously dark as his eyes remained locked onto Fu Qianyu’s parked vehicle. “Very well. Inform your President Fu that the day after tomorrow is our engagement ceremony—he had best not forget it.”
Hanging up the phone, his eyes remained unblinking, fixated entirely on the car. “1, 2, 3…”
He silently counted all the way to five hundred before abruptly ripping his car door open, slamming it shut behind him with a deafening crash.
Inside the hospital corridor, the rhythmic, crisp clicking of leather shoes echoed down the hall. His face was terrifyingly grim, yet the voice that left his lips was as smooth and gentle as water.
Knock, knock. “Qianyu, are you inside?”
“Lu Zhili? What are you doing here?” Fu Qianyu opened the door and stood squarely at the threshold, offering absolutely no intention of permitting him entry.
“I caught wind that you had been admitted to the hospital, and I was wracked with worry. Are you unwell?”
Lu Zhili spoke with a refined, gentle demeanor, projecting the elegant grace of a high-born gentleman, leaving ordinary onlookers entirely blind to the sheer malice festering in his heart.
Fu Qianyu had no desire to cross-examine how Lu Zhili had managed to track his movements; he simply stepped aside, granting him an unobstructed view.
“An acquaintance fell ill. I accompanied him to the hospital.”
“Oh? Our two families share such an intimate bond, and we grew up side-by-side since infancy—how is it that I was entirely unaware you possessed such a friend?”
Lu Zhili ground his molars violently, forcing the smile to remain plastered across his face.
Accompanying him to the hospital? Even holding him in his arms?!
Had Fu Qianyu perhaps gone entirely too far playing around with this pretty boy back at the office?!
“Lu Zhili, cease your hysterics.” Fu Qianyu discerned the burning rage masking his eyes and spoke up to suppress it.
Three months ago, their families had not yet initiated the engagement protocols.
Ever since the marriage preparations commenced, he had thoroughly severed ties with all peripheral distractions.
In a commercial marriage alliance, even if it was merely to sustain a superficial facade, both parties were expected to maintain a harmonious illusion at the onset.
Lu Zhili took a deep, stabilizing breath, swallowing his resentment.
“Qianyu, forgive me. I acted on pure impulse, but I simply couldn’t restrain myself. You are my fiancé, you cannot…”
“I am well aware. I know my boundaries.” Fu Qianyu’s reassurance acted as a much-needed anchor for Lu Zhili.
“I place my faith in you. Those little playthings drifting around outside—it’s fine to amuse yourself with them in the past, but while those things might look clean on the surface, there’s no telling how fundamentally filthy they are underneath—”
“Are your parents not hosting a banquet?” Fu Qianyu cut him off, a thread of deep distaste bubbling in his chest at the man’s unbridled tongue. “Is it truly acceptable for you, their biological son, to absent yourself?”
“Won’t you accompany me there? I want everyone to know that our engagement is imminent. I refuse to let any more of those wretched, low-born creatures throw themselves at you.”
In the hospital bed, Jing Jiaxi remained entirely silent, clutching the blanket tightly around himself. The veiled insults and humiliation Lu Zhili hurled left him utterly stripped of any dignity, wishing the ground would swallow him whole.
Fu Qianyu’s brow furrowed heavily. He clamped a firm grip around Lu Zhili’s arm and marched him forcefully out of the patient room. “Let’s go.”
It wasn’t as if he couldn’t see exactly who Lu Zhili was trying to humiliate, and certain vitriol was simply unfit to be aired directly in front of the boy.
Lu Zhili wrapped his hand around his arm, leaning into his side as they exited together.
The patient room door clicked shut once more. Witnessing the seamless intimacy of their departure, Jing Jiaxi felt a violent, throbbing ache swell within his mind. It felt precisely as though a blade had plunged directly into his chest and twisted a full circle, leaving his heart a mangled, bleeding mess.
The faint glimmer of light that had just entered his world instantly shattered into absolute despair.
The father of the child in his womb belonged to another man as a fiancé, while he was nothing more than a shameless, dishonorable third party.
If he possessed even a shred of decency and shame left in his body, he should absolutely not entangle himself with another person’s betrothed.
“Only when you learn to respect yourself will others offer you respect.” Fu Qianyu’s prior words echoed in his mind like a vicious slap across his face.
And the verbal degradation inflicted by the man’s fiancé was nothing more than the righteous retribution he rightfully deserved.
For the eighteen-year-old Jing Jiaxi, this was the first time he felt the true, suffocating weight of absolute hopelessness. He buried himself beneath the safety of the covers and wept bitterly.
He could only pray that everything transpiring was nothing more than a horrific nightmare…
Outside the medical ward, Fu Qianyu coldly flung Lu Zhili’s hand off his arm.
“Regarding our impending marriage alliance, I require additional time to reconsider.”
If the boy truly carried his child, he was bound by absolute duty to take full responsibility.