Qi Ruixi was soon escorted back to her hospital room. Qi Shifeng and Qi Ye started to follow, but Xu Tingyu stopped them.
“This isn’t something you two should handle right now. Let me go in. You both step outside, get her something to eat, and calm down a bit.”
Xu knew what morning sickness felt like. She also knew that whatever was happening with Ruixi, she would not want to be interrogated.
Qi Shifeng opened his mouth to argue, but Qi Ye had already nodded. “Alright. Go and try to comfort her.” Then he tugged Shifeng out of the room.
They wandered in silence toward the convenience store outside the hospital. Only when they reached for the bread did Qi Shifeng speak.
“Do you know how Grandfather will react when he finds out she’s suddenly pregnant?”
His voice was controlled, but the fingers clenching the bread wrapper had gone white at the knuckles.
Qi Ye was quiet for a moment before answering. “The Yous aren’t a big branch. Maybe Grandfather’s softened a little in recent years.”
“Do you really think so?” Shifeng scoffed.
Both of them had long accepted their roles in the Qi household — pawns on a family chessboard. Each piece carried the burden of expectation. Qi Ye had been a flawed piece and set aside. Qi Shifeng had been honed until he was useful, and that was why the patriarch had always been hardest on him. And Qi Ruixi, glossy and cultivated like a society girl raised on privileges, had been allowed freedoms that were, in truth, tightly fenced. Her supposed liberty had strings attached; she was never permitted to slip beyond the family’s control.
“Last month he came to me,” Shifeng said suddenly. “He told me he’d picked out two families for Ruixi to consider and asked me to advise her. Do you know what he means when he says ‘advise’?”
He looked up, meeting Qi Ye’s eyes. Qi Ye said nothing — both of them knew all too well the implication. When Shifeng had once tried to avoid a marriage, the patriarch had asked Qi Ye to bring him back. “Advise” was a euphemism. It meant persuading, pressuring, making her relent.
They were silent for a beat. Qi Ye bought a box of white peach cookies and spoke again. “Shifeng, whatever else, I hope this doesn’t hurt Ruixi. Back then we had no strength to resist. We’re different now, aren’t we?”
They were different — in ways they’d both felt, painfully and privately. Shifeng didn’t answer. He paid for the bread and milk, and they walked back.
Inside the ward, Xu Tingyu watched Ruixi staring out the window and called gently, “Do you want some water?”
Ruixi blinked and turned, expression tangled. “Sis… I—I’m pregnant.”
Xu brought the water to the bedside and set it down. When Ruixi didn’t speak, her heart began to race. “What should I do?”
Xu held her gaze, steady. “Was this child part of a plan?”
Ruixi was startled, then shook her head, as if surprised by the question herself. “I thought you’d ask who the father was.”
“It’s Zou Yu,” she answered before Xu could speak.
Xu hadn’t asked because she didn’t need to. She’d known Ruixi long enough to know whom she cared for. Zou Yu had behaved in ways that suggested feeling too. They’d never made it public — nobody even knew whether they were officially a couple. Xu wanted to know whether this pregnancy had been intended.
Ruixi admitted it plainly. “Yes. It was me and Zou Yu. Could you not tell my brothers yet?”
An out-of-wedlock pregnancy would make the family question Zou Yu’s reliability. They’d always been fragile — she’d hoped to wait a few years, to grow more independent before making any headlines. She hadn’t expected the family to accept things. She just needed time.
Xu’s voice was deliberate. “Your brothers already know, Ruixi. Right now, their opinions don’t matter as much as yours. Your attitude is the most important.”
Hearing that, Ruixi froze. “Where are they?”
“I told them to step out and cool off.”
Those words conveyed everything. Panic pushed at Ruixi’s chest. “Can I keep the baby?”
Xu’s expression hardened. “Ruixi, you can’t hand this decision over to anyone else. You’re the mother — only you can decide what happens to this child. Your brothers can’t make that call for you.”
Her earlier, flustered question had exposed the truth: Ruixi had never planned for a child. She was young, unmarried, and had scarcely considered motherhood. Xu could see how terrified she was, and she didn’t want to rush her into another mistake.
Ruixi steadied herself, swallowing her fear. After a moment she said quietly, “I want this child. Will you help me?”
Xu didn’t agree immediately. She worried Ruixi might be acting on impulse. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. I’ll keep it. I’ll decide for myself.”
“Do you think you don’t need to tell the father?”
“It won’t change the fact that the baby is inside me. I decide.”
The certainty in Ruixi’s voice surprised Xu; it was honest and growing firmer by the minute. At last Xu nodded. “If you’ve thought it through and you mean it, I’ll support you. But you should contact Zou Yu and find out where he stands. He has a right to know. And for now — this must be kept secret from the family. Your brothers, too. I’ll speak to them, but you need to be prepared.”
Ruixi’s panic returned. “Please, sis. You must say something to them for me. I’m afraid of what Shifeng will do.”
Just then the door opened and Shifeng’s voice sliced through the room. “You’re right to be afraid. I’ll skin you alive for keeping something like this from us.”
He had spent the walk back boiling with anger. How could Ruixi, unmarried and without any standing, go and have a child? The thought infuriated him.
Ruixi flinched but tried to defend herself. “I’m old enough to fall in love, aren’t I? And—what about Youyou back then? That was an accident too, wasn’t it?”
She realized she’d said something reckless and looked to Xu, breathing fast. “Sis, I didn’t mean—my head is all over the place. Don’t be mad at me.”