The melon shed was deathly silent.
Even the sound of wind brushing through the grass outside seemed to disappear.
Lei Deshui stayed frozen in the half-reaching, half-not-reaching position, his hands still hanging in the air like a fool who had been struck by lightning.
The cigarette he had just lit slipped from his mouth with a “plop.”
Sparks landed on the dry wooden floor, but he didn’t even notice.
“…W-what did you say?”
His voice was dry, like a broken bellows being forced open.
He even wondered if he had misheard—if he had been thinking about this too much and gone mad.
Su Wan sniffled. Tears rolled down her cheeks.
Seeing his stunned expression, her heart tightened painfully.
So… he was afraid?
That made sense. Who would want to deal with something like this? It would bring gossip, humiliation, maybe even legal trouble.
She bit her lip and took a step back, her voice trembling in despair.
“If… if you don’t want it, I’ll go to the county hospital tomorrow and… terminate it…”
“Terminate it?!”
Those two words hit Lei Deshui like a switch being flipped.
He snapped back to reality and stepped forward instantly, grabbing her shoulders with both hands like iron clamps.
“Don’t you dare!”
He shouted so loudly his eyes turned red.
Su Wan flinched, crying even harder.
“So… so it really is yours?”
Lei Deshui stared straight into her eyes, his voice urgent now—almost careful, like he was afraid of breaking something fragile.
“…It’s really mine?”
Su Wan was shaken slightly but still nodded.
“Yes… Dajun can’t… I’ve only been with you these past three years…”
“HAHAHAHA!”
Lei Deshui suddenly burst into laughter.
The sound was so loud it shook dust off the roof of the shed.
He laughed like a madman, tears almost coming out.
“My child! I’ve got a child! Hahaha!”
He scooped Su Wan up in his arms—not in a lustful way, but like he was holding some priceless treasure—and spun her around several times.
“I, Lei Deshui, have an heir! Let’s see who dares call me childless again!”
Su Wan felt dizzy from the spinning, but the heavy stone in her heart strangely settled.
He didn’t despise her.
He was happy.
Lei Deshui gently placed her on the bed, his movements careful, almost like he was setting down a piece of tofu.
He crouched beside her, his rough, calloused hands trembling as they reached toward her lower abdomen.
He wanted to touch it, but didn’t dare.
“…There’s really a little kid in here?”
He asked foolishly, his fierce appearance gone—replaced entirely by the innocence of a man becoming a father for the first time.
Su Wan couldn’t help but smile through tears. She took his hand and placed it on her belly.
“Yes. It’s still too small—you can’t feel it yet.”
Lei Deshui’s palm was hot as it rested on her slightly cool stomach.
He flinched as if shocked by electricity.
That strange, blood-connected feeling made even this hardened man—someone who had lived on the edge of violence—feel his eyes redden.
This was his child.
His bloodline.
“NO!”
Lei Deshui suddenly stood up and began pacing back and forth in the cramped shed like a restless beast.
“You can’t stay in that Wang family anymore! That place is a wolf’s den!”
“We leave tonight! I’m taking you away!”
As he spoke, he started packing immediately.
“We’ll go south—go to Shenzhen! I’ve got comrades there doing construction work. We’ll go there and have the baby where no one can find us!”
Watching him rush around anxiously, Su Wan felt a warmth spread through her chest.
But she shook her head.
“Brother Lei… we can’t leave.”
Su Wan held onto Lei Deshui’s hand, her eyes becoming unusually firm.
After what had happened during the day, she had come to understand many things.
Running away was the worst option.
If she ran, it would be considered elopement, she would be labeled a “ruined woman,” and would have to carry that stigma for the rest of her life.
Besides, her current body could not withstand long-distance travel.
“I’m not leaving,” Su Wan said softly. “I’m going to leave the Wang family openly and properly.”
“Openly?” Lei Deshui froze. “How do you leave openly? Would the Wang family, those bloodsucking bastards, let you go?”
Su Wan let out a cold laugh, a flash of sharpness in her eyes.
That was the counterattack of someone pushed to the edge.
“Aren’t they dissatisfied that I can’t bear children? Don’t they want to use me to get an heir?”
Su Wan touched her stomach, her tone calm enough to be frightening.
“Then I’ll make sure they get what they want.”
Lei Deshui frowned, not understanding. “What do you mean?”
“Brother Lei, do you trust me?” Su Wan looked up at him.
“I do! I’d even give my life to you without hesitation!” Lei Deshui replied immediately.
“Then listen to me,” Su Wan said, leaning close to his ear and whispering a few words.
As he listened, Lei Deshui’s eyes gradually narrowed, and a cruel smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
“Good! That’s brilliant!”
Lei Deshui slapped his thigh. “We’ll do it this way! Let them lose both their money and their people!”
But then he looked at Su Wan’s stomach with some worry.
“But… will this really work? What if you or the baby get hurt…”
“Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing,” Su Wan said, tightening her fists. “For the sake of the child, I won’t let myself suffer any loss.”
In the past, she endured humiliation just to survive.
Now, for the child in her womb, she had to become a mother wolf protecting her cub.
Lei Deshui looked at the suddenly strong woman before him, feeling both heartache and pride.
This was the kind of woman worthy of him, Lei Deshui.
“Alright, I’ll listen to you.”
Lei Deshui pulled Su Wan into his arms, resting his chin on the top of her head.
His gaze crossed over her and looked out into the pitch-black night outside the window, instantly turning sinister.
It was the murderous glare of a beast protecting its prey.
“Su Wan, remember this,” Lei Deshui said in a low voice, carrying a trace of bloodlust.
“Do whatever you want with this matter. Even if it turns the world upside down, it doesn’t matter.”
“If the Wang family dares to lay a finger on you, or hurt even a strand of my son’s hair…”
Lei Deshui paused, each word squeezed out through his teeth.
“I will make their entire family a funeral offering for this child!”
Outside the window, the wind howled.
A counterattack against the Wang family quietly began in the dark night.
And Su Wan was no longer a helpless prey.
She was a hunter with a blade.
Standing behind her was the most ferocious beast in Lei Family Village.
“Oh right, Brother Lei,” Su Wan suddenly remembered something and took out the needle she had used earlier to prick her finger, along with the sewing basket.
After hearing what happened, Lei Deshui felt a sharp ache of heartache.
He grabbed Su Wan’s finger, looked at the needle prick, and gently blew on it.
“You silly girl, why were you so harsh on yourself?”
“If I wasn’t ruthless, how could I have fooled them?” Su Wan smiled.
Looking at her smile, Lei Deshui silently swore in his heart.
From this life onward, he would never let this woman suffer even the slightest grievance again.
“Just wait. After a few days, I’ll make the Wang family spit out everything they’ve taken over the years—with interest!”
A sharp light flashed in Lei Deshui’s eyes.
Since they were going to play, they would play big.
He, Lei Deshui, never acted without preparation.
This chess game—he would personally enter it.