I Became the Mother of His Child

Xu Jingjing returned home, and the first thing she did was to drop her large luggage in the main room, only to find that Mr. Xu and Mrs. Xu, her elderly parents, were both sitting there with a lively spirit, having clearly just finished dinner. Mr. Xu was leisurely puffing on his pipe, not showing the slightest sign of being under the weather.

"Are you all right, Dad?" Xu Jingjing looked incredulously at Mr. Xu. Wasn't he supposed to be unwell? Wasn't it said that her mother couldn't take care of him alone? Was this what being 'not well' looked like—to still be able to smoke after dinner?

"Get out of here, what nonsense are you talking about, girl? What could be wrong with me? It was just some chest discomfort a few days ago; it's all good now." Mr. Xu chided Xu Jingjing with a smile as he smoked his pipe, but a flicker of guilt passed through his wrinkled eyes after the deceit: "You must be tired from the train ride, too! Are you hungry? Have you eaten? Your mother kept some food warm for you. Why don't you hurry and bring the food from the pot out for Si Ya?" Mr. Xu quickly signaled to his wife with his eyes.

"Alright, I'm on it. Si Ya, you go ahead and sit at the dining table; Mom will have the food out in a moment." Mrs. Xu caught Mr. Xu's hint, immediately got up with a smile, and prepared to head to the kitchen.

But as soon as Mr. Xu spoke, Xu Jingjing instantly knew that she had been duped into returning home by her parents. With her eyes reddening in anger, she cried, "Mom and Dad, why did you trick me into coming back? Is it because Xu Fangfang put some bad ideas in your heads again?" Xu Jingjing shouted, her emotions visibly frayed, feeling that her concern and caring for Mr. Xu's health had been completely wasted.

"No, no, we just missed you, that's all! We watched all you girls grow up, and now your three older sisters have all married off, leaving only you not by our side. We two old folks feel so alone! But we feared you were still upset about what your oldest sister did, so I had your mother trick you by saying I was sick. We wanted to see you, wanted you to come home. These days without you around making noise, we're just not used to it!" Mr. Xu waved his hands frantically, trying to explain himself.

"You're lying to ghosts! I'll never believe a word you say again." Xu Jingjing shouted in anger, tears welling up in her eyes, before she stormed into her own bedroom to sulk.

Watching his younger daughter cry, Mr. Xu signaled to Mrs. Xu immediately: "Hurry up and go comfort Si Ya." With a sigh, Mr. Xu took a couple more puffs of his pipe before lowering his gaze.

"Okay." Mrs. Xu nodded and followed out of the main room to Xu Jingjing's bedroom: "Si Ya, don't be upset. Open the door and let Mom talk to you, will you? Your father did have some chest pains a few days ago. It wasn't an excuse to trick you into coming home." Mrs. Xu explained, feeling quite uneasy.

Her daughter's return should have been a joyous occasion, but now the girl felt duped, and if she didn't clear things up, who knows how upset the young lass would be! Mrs. Xu felt anxious as she spoke.

"I don't want to hear your explanations. You've been deceiving all along. Go away from my door now; I want some peace by myself." Xu Jingjing cried, lying down on her wooden bed and pounding on the quilt twice before angrily shouting out towards the door.

"Alright, alright! Mom won't disturb you. You calm down for a bit, and I will go get your food ready!" Mrs. Xu immediately agreed and then reluctantly moved away from the bedroom door.

In the main hall, Mr. Xu watched as his wife, back from her futile endeavors, anxiously puffed on her pipe again. Mrs. Xu, with furrowed brows, went into the kitchen and brought out the hot food from the big pot to serve it outside Xu Jingjing's room.

"Si Ya, you open the door first. Mom has brought you food. Aren't you hungry? Have something to eat first!" Mrs. Xu softly coaxed while holding the food outside Xu Jingjing's room.

But inside, Xu Jingjing lay on the bed, silent, ignoring all of Mrs. Xu's sweet-talking from outside. She was seething with anger.

"Sigh!" After a long and unsuccessful attempt at comforting her, Mrs. Xu reluctantly placed the food on the floor by the door. "Si Ya, you must be tired. Rest for the night. Mom has left the food at your door. If you get hungry, just come out and take it inside, okay?" Mrs. Xu said, then turned and walked back to the main hall.

In the main hall, Mr. Xu saw the expression on Mrs. Xu's face as she returned and knew that fourth daughter was still angry, which gave him an immediate headache as he shook his head.

...

Xu Xiuxiu was unaware that Xu Jingjing had been so upset on her first day back home that she had cried. At first, Xu Xiuxiu just felt a bit apologetic, but when she called home the next day to find out what exactly happened, Mrs. Xu answered the phone and reassured her that Xu Jingjing had arrived safely. She advised them to take good care of themselves and not to worry, which allowed Xu Xiuxiu to let go of her regret for not personally seeing Xu Jingjing off on the train.

Now pregnant, Xu Xiuxiu, who originally planned to open a vegetarian restaurant after the New Year, had postponed this idea. Instead, she was now considering buying an apartment in Z City.

In the modern era, let's not even mention first-tier cities; even in a second-tier city like Z City, housing prices were skyrocketing. It was quite alarming to see how many young people had become slaves to their mortgages, and not a few of them had arguments that resulted in bitter feuds over just buying a house. Xu Xiuxiu was well aware of this. Naturally, her long-standing idea was to let Song Cheng Guang, who was just stepping into the post-80s generation, enjoy the life of a rich second-generation, becoming the so-called tall, rich, and handsome. Now, with another little baby on the way, Xu Xiuxiu felt that her goals seemed a lot more challenging indeed!

With another precious baby on its way, planning for at least one more house was a necessity. It looked like after having the baby, Xu Xiuxiu would have to strive hard for her career. But those were concerns for after the baby's birth. For now, the most pressing matter was to buy an apartment first.

Xu Xiuxiu had discussed it with Song Yuanhuan, who had no objections and actually agreed with Xu Fangfang's idea of buying a house. So, after Xu Xiuxiu briefly mentioned it, the very next day Song Yuanhuan obediently handed over his accumulated savings. With the passbook in hand and after counting the digits, Xu Xiuxiu looked at Song Yuanhuan with a mix of solemn respect and grinding her teeth in envy.

There was no other reason but that the amount in his 'little gold cabinet' was astonishingly three to four times more than hers. She had thought that being ahead of the game meant she could make money, but it turned out this man was even better at it.

Xu Xiuxiu had initially thought that after buying an apartment, they would have to live the miserable life of the poor, but at that moment, as she shook the passbook in her hand and looked at Song Yuanhuan, who uncomfortably touched his nose, Xu Xiuxiu smiled with a curl of her lips, "Mr. Song, it seems we need to have a serious talk about the grave issue of hiding away a private nest egg."