I Became the Mother of His Child

Xu Xiuxiu arrived in N city without wasting any time and hailed a taxi straight to N City First High School. However, N City First High School was located in the center of N city, and by the time she reached the school's entrance, it was just the dinner hour. Since the next day was the weekend, students began to trickle out of the school in groups to eat dinner on the nearby "Student Street."

Youthful faces were brimming with laughter, teasing one another, while Xu Xiuxiu pondered how to contact Song Yuanming but inadvertently overheard the conversation of three or four boys passing by.

"Great, that annoying ghost Song Yuanming is finally going to be kicked out," one of the boys said excitedly, his expression full of spite towards Song Yuanming, but obviously, he seemed to be addressing another boy who appeared to be the leader of their group. As he spoke, he looked at that boy, his eyes filled with probing and flattery.

"..." The addressee said nothing.

Another boy immediately echoed, "Yeah! That guy thought he was so great just because he had good grades and became a class monitor. Now he's offended Liao Shixing and still got to be banished. Having a powerful family background is way more useful than studying hard. Hmph, he even stole something. Just a country bumpkin from the countryside, he probably has no idea how expensive that fountain pen is. Says his sister-in-law gave it to him, please, who would believe that!" The disdain and contempt in his voice were quite pronounced.

As the perpetual second-best student in school, always ranked below Song Yuanming, he had long harbored discontent towards Song Yuanming. Why should a country bumpkin have better grades than him and even become the class monitor? He had been a class monitor from elementary to middle school; he had the experience and ability. And yet, Song Yuanming managed to snatch that position away from him.

"Shut up," said the frowning boy who had been silent until now, clearly annoyed, before briskly walking away with a toss of his hair.

Xu Xiuxiu, standing aside, understood Song Yuanming's plight in this school after listening to just a few sentences. There has always been a division between the rich and the poor in schools, but she didn't expect it to be so blatant now. The two boys who just spoke not only did their words reveal their thoughts, but the jealousy of their age was not hidden in their eyes—it was certainly due to Song Yuanming often being in the limelight for his academic excellence, which gradually led these kids to take issue with him.

Thinking this, Xu Xiuxiu felt impatient and began to stride toward the school. At the same time, two other boys emerged from the school, one of them carrying a large suitcase. Xu Xiuxiu frowned and approached, to find the one carrying the suitcase was indeed Song Yuanming, walking with his head bowed in dejection, accompanied by another boy with a distressed expression of unwilling farewell.

"Yuanying," Xu Xiuxiu called out.

Song Yuanming, who had been looking down, lifted his head abruptly upon hearing the familiar voice. He saw the woman standing at the school gate, dressed in a cozy light-gray coat, looking fashionable and commanding. "Sister-in-law..." Song Yuanming instinctively called out, his eyes alight with touched amusement.

The boy following by her side also showed surprise upon seeing Xu Xiuxiu, "Yuanying, is this really your sister-in-law?" Being Song Yuanming's good friend, he knew Song Yuanming's family was average, but he also knew his older brother and sister-in-law were capable and treated Song Yuanming very well. However, he had a sister-in-law in his family too, who wasn't very nice to him. Forget buying expensive gifts and daily necessities, he would be content if she spared him a few less sour and cold words, so he naturally had doubts about Song Yuanming's stories. But the parcels that Song Yuanming regularly received forced him to believe. People are indeed different in this world, which made him curious about Song Yuanming's sister-in-law.

He had heard Song Yuanming mention that his brother and sister-in-law were in Imperial City. Song Yuanming had called them earlier that morning, but he did not expect to see her by evening—and to find her such a poised woman, which left him incredibly surprised.

"Hmm," Song Yuanming turned his head and gave Guo Jinglei a nod.

"Oh!" Guo Jinglei responded somewhat foolishly, continuing to stare at Xu Xiuxiu with a look of disbelief. This woman was nothing like the countryside women he had imagined; she was elegant and unfairly beautiful. That such a woman could be the sister-in-law of Song Yuanming, this dude—it was damnably enviable and jealousy-inducing.

"Where are you going with your luggage?" Xu Xiuxiu nodded, but her gaze fixated on the luggage he was carrying, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"The dorm manager won't let Yuanying stay any longer. They said he maliciously hurt someone and has already been expelled from school," Guo Jinglei, who was always impulsive, replied on Song Yuanming's behalf, once again indignant for him.

"Have you eaten yet?" Instead of offering words of comfort upon hearing the news, Xu Xiuxiu unexpectedly asked a caring question, which sounded very natural.

Song Yuanming and Guo Jinglei were taken aback for a moment and then shook their heads in unison, "No." Both had been expelled; who could think about dinner now, especially when they could barely feel hunger anymore?

"Let's go! I saw a restaurant across the street just now; we should go have dinner there first," Xu Xiuxiu suggested, "And you can tell me all the details while we're at it."

"Okay." With Xu Xiuxiu around, Song Yuanming inexplicably felt a sense of reassurance: "Let's go, let's grab some food!" Song Yuanming said with a smile, reminding Guo Jinglei.

Guo Jinglei swallowed hard, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he just nodded stupidly. Admiring Xu Xiuxiu, who took control of the situation with just a question and appeared self-assured without showing any sign of headache, he felt overwhelming admiration.

The restaurant chosen by Xu Xiuxiu was quite decent. They ordered a few dishes and talked while eating, allowing Xu Xiuxiu to learn more about the ins and outs of the situation. She discovered that the actual instigator of the issues was a female classmate, and a fountain pen was merely the catalyst that sparked the events.

It turned out there was a beautiful girl named Lan Lan at school—great student, good family background, childhood friends with Liao Shixing. Unfortunately, Lan Lan had a crush on Song Yuanming, while Liao Shixing liked Lan Lan. Upon discovering that Lan Lan liked Song Yuanming, he frequently pestered Song Yuanming.

Although Song Yuanming didn't have any particular feelings for the girl, his youthful temper couldn't withstand Liao Shixing's provocations, so the two decided to settle the score in the upcoming fountain pen competition. However, during the competition, Song Yuanming used the fountain pen given to him by Xu Xiuxiu. Before the event, indeed, Liao Shixing had lost an expensive fountain pen, which had caused quite a stir at the time. But Song Yuanming didn't expect that the fountain pen he lost was the same brand as the one Xu Xiuxiu gave him.

Liao Shixing already couldn't stand Song Yuanming and thought he had caught him stealing, so he didn't let go of the issue and spread the word. Naturally, the incident blew up, with many people convinced that Song Yuanming had stolen the fountain pen.