In the quiet hospital ward, the only sound was the ticking of the infusion tube. Feng Lin's silence instantly made Su Xianyu understand what had happened.
"Baby..." She finally found her voice, hoarse and broken. "Is gone..."
The moment these words left her lips, Su Xianyu's whole body began to tremble uncontrollably.
Feng Lin's hand froze on her face. His eyes darkened instantly, as if his heart had been struck hard by something. His breathing became heavy.
"Yes." His Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he finally replied in a low voice.
Feng Lin's eyes were rimmed with red, but he forced himself to hold back his emotions. He took her hand that wasn't being infused.
"Don't think too much," he looked into her eyes and said word by word. "Your health is the most important thing. Nothing else matters."
But even as he said these words, his lips were trembling slightly.
"I want to go home." Su Xianyu withdrew her hand and curled up under the blanket, tucking herself into a ball like a wounded hedgehog.
Feng Lin was silent for a moment before he nodded. "Okay. We'll go home as soon as your condition stabilizes."
He tried to console himself. Maybe it was for the best. This way, Xiaoyu wouldn't be in danger during childbirth.
But when he sat back down in the chair and picked up the unfinished documents, he couldn't turn a single page.
[I thought this baby was tough. All those schemes from the bullet comments didn't make it miscarry. But Ruan Sisi is really something. She got rid of the baby with just one encounter!]
[Wuwuwu~ How did Ruan Sisi get in with Feng Lin's aunt? She even caused the baby to be lost. Poor Xiaoyu! *Pat on the head* Reward x20]
[Alas, even though Feng Lin says it doesn't matter, he must still be thinking about the baby. I remember he assembled that crib himself.]
[Haha, great! Now Ruan Sisi's baby will be the only heir of the Feng family! Su Xianyu should just step aside!]
[You're all daydreaming! Ruan Sisi will definitely get her comeuppance...]
---
At three o'clock in the morning, the Feng Mansion was so quiet that the ticking of the antique clock on the wall could be heard.
Su Xianyu lay in bed, her eyelashes fluttering slightly. She wasn't asleep. She was waiting.
When she heard the soft creak of the door hinge, she closed her eyes gently and adjusted her breathing to make it seem like she was caught in a nightmare.
The next second, the familiar scent of cedar enveloped her, along with the cold of the night and a faint trace of blood.
Feng Lin sat on the edge of the bed. His fingertips hovered above her cheek but didn't touch it.
He had just come back from the nursery downstairs. There were still faint red stains on his cuffs that hadn't been completely cleaned off, a testament to his loss of control once again.
Su Xianyu, with her eyes closed, didn't notice this anomaly.
"Xiaoyu..." Feng Lin's voice was as hoarse as if it had been rubbed by sandpaper, filled with exhaustion and pain. "Did you dream about the baby again?"
A tear rolled down Su Xianyu's eyelash and landed on the pillow at just the right moment.
"Um..." She let out a muffled whimper and turned over, shrinking closer to him like a wounded little animal. "A Lin, the baby said he's in so much pain..."
Feng Lin's heart tightened. That familiar sense of suffocation returned.
He leaned over and wrapped Su Xianyu in his arms, holding her so tightly as if they were about to merge into one, as if this could make up for something.
"Don't be afraid. I'm here. It's my fault. I couldn't protect you two..."
There was so much self - blame in Feng Lin's voice. Warm tears fell on her neck.
Su Xianyu was slightly stunned. She had expected his guilt, but she didn't expect this usually cold and image - conscious man to cry like a child in front of her.
She quietly raised her hand and gently patted his back. "It's not your fault. I was just careless..."
"It is my fault!" Feng Lin suddenly interrupted, his voice trembling. "I should have stayed with you that day. I shouldn't have let you go out alone. If I had been there..."
He couldn't go on. His chest heaved violently, and the arm holding her kept shaking.
But Su Xianyu suddenly seemed to wake up. She pushed him away forcefully.
"Xiaoyu?"
"It's nothing. I'm just... feeling a bit uncomfortable."
Feng Lin felt even more heart - wrenching. Since they came back from the hospital, when Xiaoyu was fully awake, she was no longer as dependent on him as before.
He vaguely felt that it wasn't just because Xiaoyu had lost the baby, but he didn't know where to start.
Did Ruan Sisi say something she shouldn't have when they met?
"Xiaoyu, what's wrong with you?" Feng Lin's voice sounded softly again, with a hint of brokenness and tenderness.
But Su Xianyu didn't look at him. She just buried her face deeper. Her shoulders trembled slightly, and suppressed sobs escaped from her throat.
Feng Lin's heart felt like it was being tightly grasped by an invisible hand. He reached out to stroke her hair, but she dodged him suddenly.
"Don't touch me!" Su Xianyu's voice was hoarse and choked with sobs. Finally, she said, "Go to your Ruan Sisi! Go to your child! What are you doing here?"
Feng Lin's hand froze in mid - air. His eyes darkened instantly, filled with complex emotions - pain, anger, and a hint of barely perceptible paranoia.
"Xiaoyu, listen to me. That child isn't mine. It definitely isn't!"
"Not yours? Are you saying all those photos Ruan Sisi showed are fake?" Su Xianyu suddenly raised her head. Her vision was blurred by tears.
"If the child she's carrying isn't yours, why is your aunt raising it?"
"All of you in your family have been hiding things from me. You're all liars wuwu..."
Feng Lin wanted to explain that he was completely unconscious when Ruan Sisi took those photos, and nothing had happened between them.
But even as he thought of saying this, he felt it sounded absurd.
Seeing his beloved crying loudly, Feng Lin's emotions also flared up. "I'm sorry, Xiaoyu. I just found out that Ruan Sisi was hiding with my aunt."
"I don't know whose child it is, but it definitely isn't mine!"
He suddenly grabbed Su Xianyu's wrist. "Xiaoyu, trust me. You're the only one in my heart. How could I have a child with another woman?"
Even if that child was somehow a result of Ruan Sisi using some special means to combine his genes, he wouldn't admit it!
Even though Su Xianyu didn't pursue the matter this time because Ruan Sisi had just made a mistake, the fact that she had caused Su Xianyu to lose the baby was real.
His aunt could protect her for a while, but not forever. Sooner or later, he would find a way to make Ruan Sisi and her child disappear completely...
But when Su Xianyu looked into his eyes, she couldn't give a definite answer. "A Lin, I really want to trust you."
"But when I think about the due date of the child and how your aunt whole - heartedly protects her, I really can't convince myself right now."
"Let's... break up."
These last words left Feng Lin stunned on the spot.
He had thought about the possibility of separating from Xiaoyu for her safety before.
But hearing Su Xianyu propose the breakup with his own ears made him feel dizzy. Even breathing seemed to become extremely difficult.
"No... Don't!"
He hugged Su Xianyu tightly and refused to let go, as if this way he wouldn't be left behind.
"Don't break up... Xiaoyu said she would always be by my side! We won't break up..."
Seeing Feng Lin babbling incoherently and looking completely devastated, Su Xianyu didn't stimulate him anymore.
They both tacitly pretended that the breakup words had never been said.
But the wound between them still remained unhealed...