“Do we have to be this rushed?”
“As soon as possible.” Heng Shi started the vehicle with an expressionless face. “You live alone, and it is inconvenient if something happens. Even if I am busy, there is still a nanny at home, and Yan Ze can rush over at any time. Just in case, I hired a family doctor for you. When I am not around, you can contact him if you feel unwell.”
Zou Beiqi was sent back to his residence. The moment he sat down on the sofa, his phone received a contact recommendation from Heng Shi. The other person’s WeChat nickname was written very solemnly as “Dr. Xie Jinglian,” clearly a dedicated work account.
Why did this doctor’s name sound so similar to Xie Jingyuan, the protagonist Shou?
Zou Beiqi added the other person on WeChat, and after a few simple greetings, Xie Jinglian proposed to visit the next day, mainly to understand Zou Beiqi’s current physical condition. From now until his expected hospitalization date for delivery, he would come regularly for checkups.
When the agreed time arrived, Xie Jinglian knocked on the door punctually. He brought quite a few portable machines, applied them one by one to Zou Beiqi, and carefully recorded every physiological indicator. “Mr. Zou’s current condition is good, and the baby is fine as well. You can rest assured.”
Zou Beiqi’s gaze involuntarily lingered on Xie Jinglian. Watching him pack his stethoscope into the medical box and getting ready to leave, he finally could not help asking a question: “Doctor, do you know Xie Jingyuan?”
“Does Mr. Zou know my younger brother?” Xie Jinglian seemed not to have expected this name to come out of Zou Beiqi’s mouth. “He is a few years younger than me and just officially became a doctor not too long ago. He is still studying abroad right now, and I do not know when he will be back.”
“Is he doing well?”
“He is doing well. Thank you for asking, Mr. Zou.” Xie Jinglian politely returned the smile.
Zou Beiqi involuntarily let out a sigh of relief. Not long after sending the doctor off, Yan Ze took the initiative to contact him on his phone regarding the move. Nothing required Zou Beiqi to do things himself; as long as he confirmed the time, everything would be arranged thoroughly on that end.
Since he had to move sooner or later, an auspicious day is whenever you decide it is. Zou Beiqi chose that afternoon and casually informed his mother, telling her he would send her the new home address later.
Yan Ze’s efficiency was high as usual. Personnel and vehicles were fully deployed, and Zou Beiqi only needed to watch them organize the clutter inside the house. He packed his remaining few personal items himself, and finally boarded the arranged car, heading toward the new home.
Heng Shi lived in a detached villa within the neighborhood, which was vastly different from the small apartment Zou Beiqi had lived in before. The moment he reached the entrance, a nanny came out to greet him. Evidently, Heng Shi had given advance notice, and no matter who it was, nobody showed any surprise at his arrival.
“You are here?” Heng Shi sat on the sofa in the center of the living room, his hands just leaving the laptop keyboard. With a slight gesture from him, the nanny very consciously led Zou Beiqi up to the second floor.
Zou Beiqi’s room was arranged right next to the master bedroom. According to Yan Ze, this was per Heng Shi’s instruction, mainly for convenience of care. The furniture and decorations in the room were brand new, complete with an independent bathroom, looking no different from a hotel suite.
Heng Shi followed up at some point and spoke up behind him: “You can tell Yan Ze if you need anything, and he will arrange it for you.”
“Thank you, there is nothing else needed. It is very fully prepared.”
“Mm, rest early. I will have the nanny make dinner for you.”
Over there, a nanny was responsible for cooking, and over here, a nanny helped him organize his belongings; each nanny had specialized duties. Zou Beiqi sat on the bed in his room, thinking that he actually got to experience the life of a rich person, which was quite rare.
Dinner was a light, nutritious meal specially put together by Heng Shi. Zou Beiqi had been used to eating heavily flavored food and rarely had such a meal, but he did not find it unbearable, which was probably related to his changing appetite after pregnancy.
“Did you take the medicine I brought you?” Heng Shi put down his chopsticks and asked.
Whether it was due to adequate rest or not, Zou Beiqi’s reactions had not been too severe lately. “Not yet.”
“You do not need to wait until symptoms appear. You can take it every day starting now, so that your early pregnancy will be much more comfortable.” Under Zou Beiqi’s direction, Heng Shi retrieved the medicine from the other’s backpack, portioned it out according to the dosage, and stirred the granules with water. Once Zou Beiqi finished his rice bowl, he pushed the medicine in front of him.
Zou Beiqi swallowed the pills and just as he picked up the cup of medication mixed from the granules, the pungent smell made him feel a wave of nausea. He had to pinch his nose, furrow his eyebrows tightly as he took a small sip, and then unbearably pulled the cup away from his mouth: “Let me take a breather.”
The taste was too bitter, even more bitter than the sleeping pills Heng Shi had given him before.
“Why are you still so dainty?”
Zou Beiqi felt quite dissatisfied internally. “Have you tried drinking it yourself?”
“I have drunk medicine much more bitter than this.”
Zou Beiqi had nothing to retort with, so he could only stare at the cup of bitter medicine and start building up his psychological defenses, planning to just gulp it down all at once next. Heng Shi glanced over his face, sighed imperceptibly, and took the remaining large cup of medicine back into his own hands.
Just when he thought Heng Shi intended to let him off the hook, not long after, the other person brought the exact same cup of medicine back and shoved it into his hands. If he had to be precise, the color was just a bit lighter.
Zou Beiqi brought the medicine close to his face and found the smell was not as pungent as before: “What did you do?”
“Added some seasoning produced by the company. It is mostly used for children.” Heng Shi met his gaze. “It should not be too bitter now. Drink it.”
“I am not a child.”
“Oh.”
What kind of attitude was that? Zou Beiqi was too lazy to cozy up to the other man’s cold face, so he picked up the cup and drank the medicine in one gulp. Although there was still a bitter taste, compared to before, it was simply not worth mentioning.
Heng Shi still had to go back to the research lab to work overtime into the night. Zou Beiqi did not care much about his nominal husband’s schedule, and unable to fight off the sleepiness, he hit the bed and fell asleep in his room, waking up only when it was already daytime.
Zou Beiqi reached out toward the bedside table, originally just wanting to feel for his phone, but instead touched the texture of a plastic bag. He abruptly sat up and looked, only to discover a small bag of candied fruit, along with a packet of unfamiliar instant powder. Looking closely, he realized it was a flavoring drink meant to be mixed with the bitter medicine without affecting its efficacy.
There was a small note stuck on top of the candied fruit: [Pay attention to keep daily sugar intake from pregnancy under 50 grams. If you still find the remaining bitter taste hard to bear, you can eat one piece, but try to eat as little as possible. Heng Shi.]
It seemed his nominal husband was not as terrible as he had thought.
After marrying into a wealthy family, Zou Beiqi quit his job at the bar early on, but he still had to go back to work at the company; after all, he was not used to being idle all day doing nothing, though that did not mean he loved working.
Zou Beiqi usually did not need to work overtime much and left the building right on time as soon as the clock hit. Even when Heng Shi did not work extra hours at night, the other man’s off-work time was much later than his.
Ever since getting pregnant, Zou Beiqi grew sleepy earlier day by day. He got off work at five in the afternoon, the driver appeared promptly downstairs at the company, and after getting in the car, returning home, and having dinner, he would start feeling drowsy around six-something.
Zou Beiqi was using his phone in his room to read popular science articles about pregnancy, but after reading only a few lines, he drifted off to sleep, only managing to muster the energy to get up and shower after a good while.
He walked out wearing his bathrobe, leaned against the head of the bed, and continued browsing the science article from earlier. Once again, unable to get through many lines of text, he sensed an itchiness on the exposed skin of his chest, and looking down, he discovered a mosquito bite.
It seemed even regular pest control in the villa had a few survivors slip through the cracks, Zou Beiqi thought. To avoid being disturbed by the survivors tonight, he subconsciously had the nanny fetch the medical box, only to turn it upside down and fail to find any mosquito repellent.
He instinctively remembered that Heng Shi had applied mosquito repellent cream on him at the hospital previously, so he put down the box in his hand and turned to slip straight into Heng Shi’s room.
To prevent emergencies, Zou Beiqi’s room was usually unlocked, and correspondingly, he demanded that Heng Shi’s room also remain unlocked. Fortunately, the people in the villa were very polite and would not barge into rooms blindly.
Heng Shi had agreed readily back then, and Zou Beiqi only understood why when he entered his room just now: there were so few things it was hard to understand. Aside from essential furniture like the bed and wardrobe, there were almost no miscellaneous items.
In other words, there were no secrets worth him exploring.
Of course, Zou Beiqi’s intention was not there. His mind was solely on the mosquito repellent cream, so he unceremoniously pulled open the drawer while making sure not to mess things up, creating the illusion that he had never been there.
Heng Shi had not hidden the item very deep, and the moment Zou Beiqi pulled open the second drawer, the mosquito repellent cream entered his vision. Just as he was about to grasp the small jar in his palm, his fingertips slipped without warning, and the item dropped to the floor, rolling a few times before stopping in the corner.
Zou Beiqi instinctively bent down, reached under the table, and right at the moment when his fingertips were about to touch the medicine jar, someone gently wrapped an arm around his waist from behind, lifted him up from the floor, and tiptoed to place him onto the bed.
“What are you doing?” Heng Shi frowned deeply.
“I am not here to pry into your privacy. I just wanted to borrow a small jar of medicine; it dropped down there.” Zou Beiqi pointed to the underside of the table where the mosquito repellent cream was.
“It is fine now, but when your belly gets bigger later on, you will not be able to pick things up like this.” Heng Shi noticed the loosely hanging bathrobe on Zou Beiqi’s body, reached out to tidy his clothes properly, and finally tied the belt with an appropriate tightness. “You have to be a good boy after carrying my child. Qiqi, did you forget?”
Zou Beiqi did not like that phrasing, as if he and the child were accessories. “I know.”
Heng Shi picked up the mosquito repellent cream, opened the lid, and began applying it for Zou Beiqi, taking care of almost every spot.
That uncomfortable feeling washed over him again as the cooling cream melted into his skin, significantly easing the itchiness from the mosquito bites earlier.
“You should just sleep here tonight. Do not bother walking back and forth.”
“It is not that far.”
“But I carried you up.”
“Oh.” So, because you carried me up, I cannot walk down? So high and mighty.
Heng Shi’s fingertips tapped on the bathrobe on Zou Beiqi’s body: “You sleep in this?”
“No, I have pajamas.” Just as Zou Beiqi finished speaking, Heng Shi asked him about the general style of his pajamas, and soon the other man retrieved the clothes from another room, placing them beside Zou Beiqi: “Change.”
“Are you going to watch me change?” Although Zou Beiqi had changed plenty of clothes in public locker rooms before, being stared at so unblushingly like this was still a bit weird.
“What is the matter? Weren’t you not interested in men? Do you mind this?” Heng Shi chuckled lightly.