“Shen Jiyuan, you’re pregnant.” “Shen Jiyuan, you’re pregnant.” “Shen Jiyuan, you’re pregnant.” “Shen Jiyuan, you’re pregnant.” …
A loud bang echoed in Shen Jiyuan’s mind, and it instantly went blank.
Such simple words had such a powerful impact that for a moment, he couldn’t even comprehend their meaning.
His breath felt blocked in his chest. He gasped for air, the suffocating feeling making his head dizzy.
Cheng Xiang watched Shen Jiyuan with concern.
His complexion was terrible — the color drained from his face in an instant, turning paler than paper. Cheng Xiang had never seen Shen Jiyuan lose control like this before.
“Shen Jiyuan, you…”
Before Cheng Xiang could finish asking, Shen Jiyuan suddenly sprang up so quickly that it startled Cheng Xiang and made him lean back.
Without a word, Shen Jiyuan grabbed the watch on the table and adjusted his suit cuffs.
“Wait, what are you doing?”
“I did the wrong test.”
His watch strap took a long time to fasten; looking closely, Cheng Xiang noticed Shen Jiyuan’s fingers trembling slightly, his knuckles turning white from gripping too tightly.
“I’ve been too tired recently… I need to schedule a psychiatric evaluation.”
The event from a month ago had affected him more deeply than he realized. He thought the pressure he’d been putting on himself was too much.
Otherwise, how could he have hallucinations?
Realizing this fact, Shen Jiyuan was deeply shaken and couldn’t accept it.
He originally thought he had let it go and forced himself to face it, but the current situation was a blow to him. He hadn’t improved; things had only gotten worse.
His hallucinations happened because subconsciously he was terrified and fixated on what had happened back then.
Shen Jiyuan took a deep breath and tried hard to calm himself.
That’s right, this was no longer something he could fix by just pushing through or avoiding.
His symptoms were severe enough to cause hallucinations now, and he needed to book one-on-one treatment with a specialist immediately…
“Do you think I’m lying to you?”
Cheng Xiang was stunned, and seeing Shen Jiyuan already heading for the door, he hurried to grab his arm.
“Shen Jiyuan, calm down.”
“How do you expect me to calm down!” Shen Jiyuan yanked his hand away, his face distorted with rage.
“Cheng Xiang, do you even know what you’re saying?!”
Pregnant—
He? Pregnant?!
Shen Jiyuan couldn’t suppress his fury; blood rushed to his face.
He struggled to stop himself from throwing a punch at his old friend!
Cheng Xiang said he was pregnant?!
Such a blunt, strong insult—he could hardly believe his ears.
Even if it were a joke, there had to be limits! How could he say such nonsense? He was a man! How could a man get pregnant?
Cheng Xiang said nothing, silently staring at him.
Under Cheng Xiang’s gaze, Shen Jiyuan’s face gradually lost all color, growing paler and paler.
The silence between them was thick and heavy.
Shen Jiyuan felt he could no longer stand; the air filled his body and weighed heavily on his chest… he could barely breathe.
Seeing Shen Jiyuan’s expression, what else could be unclear?
If nothing had really happened to Shen Jiyuan, he would have already coldly dismissed him with a “What nonsense are you talking about?” followed by a contemptuous glance before walking away.
The fact that the young master was so enraged was the strongest proof that something was definitely wrong.
But as a friend, Cheng Xiang still wanted to protect Shen’s dignity.
“…If you don’t trust me, you can go somewhere else for a check-up,” Cheng Xiang said, gathering the reports on the table without pressing further.
“But I advise you not to.”
Getting tested elsewhere would only give the same result.
And with other family doctors, it would be even more embarrassing.
Shen Jiyuan understood the implied meaning.
His head spun, a wave of nausea rising violently, his stomach churning.
He turned his head and retched again.
Cheng Xiang wanted to help him but suddenly remembered that Shen Jiyuan somehow already had a child in his belly.
He hesitated, hand frozen in place, unable to pull or let go.
Shen Jiyuan gave no hesitation, forcefully brushing his hand away.
Stars blurred before his eyes. He coughed several times, his voice hoarse.
“…Is it really possible for a man to get pregnant?”
Asking such a question meant his mental state was far from normal.
“It’s definitely rare…”
Cheng Xiang thought to himself, he was shocked too; this was practically a medical miracle.
He wanted to doubt his own eyes, to shout “How is this possible?!”
But seeing Shen so agitated, on the verge of fainting from the shock, he could only forcibly suppress his own astonishment.
Shen Jiyuan recalled that night and lost all his strength, collapsing onto a nearby chair.
Black strands of hair fell before his eyes.
He helplessly supported his forehead, took off his glasses, and remained silent for a long time.
“…In some time, I’ll come back for another check-up.”
His lowered lashes hid all emotion in his eyes.
“Don’t tell anyone about this.”
Cheng Xiang said, “You can trust me.”
Shen Jiyuan fed the test report into a shredder, watching all the words disappear.
That day, his mother accompanied him to the hospital.
No matter how many emotions Shen Jiyuan had inside, he forced himself to appear normal.
He took some usual stomach medicine and went home with his mother.
It was already dinner time. The meal was carefully prepared by a French chef, but Shen Jiyuan felt so unwell he couldn’t eat.
To avoid raising his mother’s suspicion, he forced himself to eat, but the food was tasteless to him.
In the end, he still vomited in the bathroom.
Pregnant? He, pregnant? How was that possible?
He couldn’t believe it, yet he couldn’t imagine Cheng Xiang would joke about such a thing.
Though emotionally unable to accept it, a faint and despairing premonition had already taken root in his heart.
It couldn’t be true. Cheng Xiang had a medical doctorate from Germany, even had to repeat a few grades—he wasn’t some incompetent quack! This had to be a misdiagnosis!
Shen Jiyuan sat dazed, unconsciously placing his hand on his abdomen.
After a few seconds, he suddenly realized what he was doing and sharply shook his hand away, nearly pushing himself backward.
He opened his phone and started searching: “Men, cases of pregnancy.”
Before hitting enter, his shame made him delete the words one by one and replace them with other queries:
“What are the symptoms of pregnancy?”
“How soon do pregnancy symptoms appear?”
“Morning sickness…”
The online answers were detailed, but Shen Jiyuan’s heart sank deeper with each word.
His clenched teeth almost clicked; a faint metallic taste of blood filled his mouth, and stars flashed before his eyes.
No… He still thought this was nonsense, beyond common sense, absolutely impossible.
He still thought it was more likely a mental problem.
Shen Jiyuan gripped his phone tightly; the screen’s light shone on his darkened eyes.
His mind was in turmoil—sometimes recalling the details of that night, sometimes thinking about the possibility of pregnancy.
The fear inside him swirled like a vortex, threatening to consume him.
In his panic, he remembered that woman whose name he didn’t even know.
Her long black hair, like a waterfall.
Her fair and delicate face.
The scent on her white shirt, the relaxed and casual posture as she sat on the edge of the bed, the gentle expression she wore when her face was lifted.
The pair of jet-black eyes looking at him.
Shen Jiyuan almost bit his lower lip to the point of bleeding; his fingertips dug deeply into his palm, a subtle, electric-like pain running through him, making his body tremble in waves.
His pride refused to recall that night. He wanted to lock away the memory, to let it remain like a scar, forever hidden deep in his heart.
But the ongoing events kept forcing him otherwise.
After that night, there was a child in his belly?
To think about this matter, he had no choice but to recall that night.
The feeling of that woman’s black hair falling on him, the warm breath brushing past his ear, her cold fingers…
Shen Jiyuan took off his glasses, as if all his strength had been drained, covering his face with his hands.
After a long while, only muffled, nearly silent sobbing could be heard in the room.
Shen Jiyuan said he would find time to come for another check-up, and Cheng Xiang had been waiting.
He originally thought that with something like this, he wouldn’t have to wait long — maybe even the next day, Shen Jiyuan would come back to see him.
Putting himself in Shen’s place, if he had encountered such a thing, he would have been eager to verify it, no matter the outcome — good or bad, he needed an answer.
Unexpectedly, it took more than a month before the gaunt Shen Jiyuan finally arrived.
Shen Jiyuan wore the same high-end tailored suit as before; his hair was neatly combed, exuding the unapproachable aura of an elite. Only his face was much paler, and he seemed thinner, making his already handsome features even sharper and more severe.
He walked into the consultation room as if he were just stopping by to buy stomach medicine.
“I’m here for a follow-up.”
His words were brief, his indifferent attitude as usual, as if the last time had been just a hallucination of Cheng Xiang’s.
Cheng Xiang stared at Shen Jiyuan for a long time before standing and conducting a new examination.
The final report, even more comprehensive than last time, was placed in front of Shen Jiyuan.
“The result is the same as last time.”
Cheng Xiang sat opposite Shen Jiyuan, frowning as he looked over the report.
The test results showed that Shen Jiyuan was indeed in a state of pregnancy.
Shen Jiyuan briefly flipped through the report. Unlike last time, he did not lose control emotionally and coldly accepted everything.
“I understand.”
Cheng Xiang had not lied to him — one only had to look at the report to know.
During this time, Shen Jiyuan had learned much about pregnancy that he had never encountered before, knowledge he might never have come across in his whole life.
After studying, he could now understand what the report meant.
He really was pregnant.
Shen Jiyuan’s heart had already numbly accepted this fact.
Even without looking at the report, he already knew.
Two months had passed since that night. Although no one else had noticed yet, he could feel the original muscle lines of his abdomen gradually fading, replaced by subtle curves barely detectable.
He was pregnant… just pregnant.
There was a life inside his body, only two months old, unconscious, merely attached to his body. In reality, he had no connection to this thing.
“Cheng Xiang.”
Shen Jiyuan put down the report, tapped the table to get Cheng Xiang’s attention, who was still looking at the data.
He calmly spoke his final decision.
“I want to terminate this pregnancy.”
This was the conclusion he had reached after days and nights of contemplation.
A two-month-old life that had not even formed properly — terminating it was just a minor surgery, much better than his previous imagination of having a terminal illness.
Since no one else had noticed anything abnormal about his body, now was the best time to terminate the pregnancy.
The baby was only two months old; aside from nausea and fatigue, he had no real feelings about it.
He felt no guilt about terminating this pregnancy.
Once he confirmed he was pregnant, this was the only thought he had. What else could there be?
He said, “Cheng Xiang, help me arrange the miscarriage surgery — the sooner, the better.”
After he finished speaking, Cheng Xiang looked up at him after a long time.
Cheng Xiang’s expression was very grim. Shen Jiyuan suddenly realized that Cheng Xiang had been staring at the report since just now and hadn’t lifted his head while speaking.
It was as if… something else was wrong again.
A strong sense of foreboding quietly rose in Shen Jiyuan’s heart.
Especially after seeing Cheng Xiang’s expression, his unease peaked.
Cheng Xiang put down the report, and after a long pause, slowly spoke.
“Shen Jiyuan…”
To be honest, Cheng Xiang really didn’t want to say it. He thought that once he spoke this time, Shen Jiyuan might lose control emotionally.
His tone was even more hesitant than last time.
“I’m afraid you can’t terminate this pregnancy.”
Shen Jiyuan froze completely in place.
“What do you mean?”
“Your physical condition is very bad.”
Cheng Xiang forced out a smile that barely qualified as one.
“Terminating this pregnancy… could cost you your life. I can’t perform such a surgery on you.”