Involuntarily, her hand slowly touched her lower abdomen again.
In that slightly protruding part, there was a child of hers growing, a love child she had conceived with Lin Chuluo.
Thinking of this, there was a glimmer of tenderness in Jiang Xixi's eyes.
She thought she could hold on a bit longer.
As long as she could hold on until the child was born, she and Lin Chuluo would have their own baby, and their little family of three would live together in harmony and happiness.
This was what Lin Chuluo had promised her.
At this thought, she took a deep breath, washed her face with water, and then slowly walked out of the bathroom.
The place where she had vomited just now had been cleaned up. Lin Chuluo and Father Lin were nowhere to be seen. The whole living room was cold and deserted. Only Zhou Si was sitting on the sofa, staring coldly at her.
Aunt Wu and Aunt Zhang should have gone out. There were only the two of them in the living room.
Looking at Zhou Si's eyebrows, which were very similar to Lin Chuluo's, Jiang Xixi instinctively became vigilant. She immediately lowered her eyes and tried to walk quickly past him.
"Lin Chuluo was called to the study by the old master," Zhou Si suddenly said, his voice lazy. "It should be about you. You can go and listen."
Jiang Xixi was stunned. She looked up at Zhou Si, and there was a flash of shock in her dull eyes. "What are they saying about me?"
She thought that Old Master Lin should have never even bothered to mention her in a conversation among men.
In fact, it had always been like this.
At this thought, there was a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
"What are you so happy about?" Zhou Si raised his eyebrows. Noticing the change in her expression, he couldn't help sneering. "Don't tell me you think they're talking about something good?"
As he spoke, Zhou Si's expression was calm. He twitched the corner of his lips, his voice full of sarcasm. "You really should listen to what they're planning."
After he finished speaking, he got up and walked to Jiang Xixi's side. Just as they passed by each other, he suddenly whispered, "If you want to live, be careful of Lin Chuluo."
Before Jiang Xixi could react, Zhou Si had already strode to the door and left the Lin family's house.
He was so cool and free.
Jiang Xixi blinked. Due to her pregnancy, her reaction was a bit slow.
Zhou Si had just told her to be careful of Lin Chuluo.
Why?
There was an instant sense of unease in her heart. Thinking of the meaningful look in Zhou Si's eyes just now, she swallowed hard. After making sure there was no one else in the room, she tiptoed up to the attic.
Jiang Xixi was afraid of being discovered, so she didn't dare to make a single sound. She quietly came to the door of the study.
The voices of the two men inside were neither too loud nor too soft. Standing at the door, she could just hear them clearly.
Jiang Xixi held her breath and tried hard to distinguish the content of the conversation inside.
"Chuluo, I'm very disappointed in you," came Old Master Lin's full - toned voice, tinged with displeasure. "Don't think I don't know about your attitude towards A Si."
Lin Chuluo said, "Dad, you've misunderstood."
Old Master Lin immediately raised his voice. "You're just afraid that A Si will take away the Lin Group, aren't you? No one knows a son better than his father. Do you really think I can't see through you?"
Jiang Xixi, standing at the door, felt a tremor in her heart.
There was a long silence in the study. Then Lin Chuluo's voice came out. "For so many years, I've been assisting in the affairs of the Lin Group. Your decision also disappoints me, Dad."
His voice was rich and textured, easy to hear clearly. "Now the Lin Group is already a major force in Shanghai. If it wants to develop in the long run, it must cooperate with Xinghe."
"Our Yunhe and Xinghe have always been competitors. What makes you so confident that you can get Lu Yan to agree to cooperate with the Lin Group?" Old Master Lin countered.
Lin Chuluo answered without hesitation, "The Jiang family and the Ning family are old friends. Now that Lu Yan has married a daughter of the Ning family, with this relationship, Xixi can go and plead for us then."
Jiang Xixi was stunned.
She never thought that Lin Chuluo was still trying to exploit her value through this relationship.
Jiang Xixi felt cold all over.
Before she could digest this cruel fact, Old Master Lin asked again, "Have you checked the baby in her belly?"
"Not yet," Lin Chuluo replied. "The pregnancy reaction has been severe recently. The doctor said that amniocentesis might lead to a miscarriage. I don't want to take this risk."
But Old Master Lin didn't seem to care. "It's no big deal. Hurry up and get it done. If it's a girl, it's okay to have an abortion."
It's okay to have an abortion.
Jiang Xixi almost couldn't stand. Her legs went weak, and her head felt dizzy. She felt like she could fall to the ground at any moment.
The baby in her belly was hers!
It was the baby she had suffered so much day and night to conceive!
The nausea that she had just managed to calm down began to surge again. It almost rushed out of her throat, and she felt like she was going to vomit everything out!
She gritted her teeth and tried hard to control her emotions. Then she quickly sneaked back downstairs and sat on the sofa before the two men in the study could notice her.
She was waiting for Lin Chuluo to give her an answer.
After a while, Lin Chuluo came downstairs with a gloomy face. When he saw Jiang Xixi waiting for him on the sofa, his cold expression softened a little.
"Let's go home."
...
On the way back, both of them were silent.
After a while, Lin Chuluo suddenly spoke. His voice was as gentle as ever. "Xixi, do you want to blame me today?"
His tone was soft, with a kind of delicacy that could make people sink in. "I'm sorry I made you feel wronged today."
"I'll make it up to you when we get home. Just forget about what happened today, okay?"
Old Master Lin had always been like this, and Jiang Xixi was already used to it.
If it weren't for Lin Chuluo's positive attitude of admitting his mistakes every time and his docility towards her, she wouldn't have chosen to tolerate him every time.
And after so much tolerance, she almost forgot how to resist.
Jiang Xixi's face was pale. Her hand holding Lin Chuluo's was trembling slightly. "Husband, I want to ask you a question."
"What if I'm not having a son?"
As soon as she said this, a look of gloom flashed across Lin Chuluo's originally gentle face.
He hid it quickly, but Jiang Xixi still saw it.
"It doesn't matter, Xixi," Lin Chuluo smiled. But the smile didn't reach his eyes. "I like the baby, whether it's a boy or a girl."
"However, Dad wants a grandson more. I also hope that the baby in your belly is our son."
As he spoke, he put his big hand on Jiang Xixi's swollen belly. His eyes were full of expectation and love for this child.
Normally, Jiang Xixi would have felt very happy.
But at this moment, she just felt a chill running down her back.
The meaning in Lin Chuluo's words was self - evident.
"If it's not a boy, will you choose to have this baby aborted?" Jiang Xixi asked in a trembling voice.