Chapter 18

Looking at the braised ribbonfish, Yu Li felt inexplicably afraid.

He usually wouldn't find the fishy smell unbearable, but now it felt so strong that he didn't even dare to breathe.

Was it because the chef didn't handle it well today?

"Yu Li, are you alright?" Yan Sui asked worriedly, noticing Yu Li's face turning pale rapidly.

"I'm fine." Yu Li covered her mouth, glanced at her three roommates, and stood up. "I'll go downstairs to buy some medicine. You guys take it first."

After saying that, Yu Li left the dormitory as if fleeing, ignoring her roommates' reactions.

There was a pharmacy downstairs from the dormitory. Yu Li bought some stomach medicine and went outside. She saw a certain brand of plum juice in the freezer of the convenience store next door.

When he goes out for hot pot or barbecue with his roommates, he often orders this plum juice. It's quite expensive, ten yuan a cup, but it's sweet and sour, very refreshing, and helps cut through the greasiness.

Remembering that taste, Yu Li couldn't help but go into the convenience store and buy a cup.

Sitting on a bench by the tree-lined avenue, Yu Li took a big gulp of plum juice, and immediately felt that the urge to feel nauseous had been suppressed.

But it was only a little bit; before long, he still felt a bit nauseous and weak, and he broke out in a cold sweat.

Yu Li sighed softly, leaned back on the bench, and looked up at the leaves above her head.

The scenery along the tree-lined avenue is quite nice, with tall camphor trees planted on both sides. Their lush foliage can block the glaring sunlight at noon.

Yu Li closed her eyes and endured the discomfort, but her body was trembling slightly from the pain.

In a daze, he heard the car stop, and then felt someone walk up to him.

Yu Li slightly opened her eyes. First, she saw the black handmade custom-made suit that the man was wearing. Then, her gaze moved upward and she saw Yan Shiting standing with his back to the light.

His handsome face was expressionless, his brows were furrowed and his thin lips were pressed tightly together.

Yu Li was puzzled as to why Yan Shiting was there, still with that indifferent expression.

He bit his lip, lowered his gaze, picked up his medicine and plum juice, and prepared to get up and leave.

However, as soon as he made a move, the feeling of nausea suddenly returned.

Yu Li had no choice but to run to the nearby trash can, bend over, and vomit a few mouthfuls of gastric juice.

He only had a bowl of millet porridge in the morning, and now he can't vomit anything except gastric juice and bile.

Yu Li couldn't hold back her tears.

He bit his lip and cried silently when someone suddenly handed him a bottle of water and a pack of tissues.

It's obvious who it is.

"I'll take you to the hospital," Yan Shiting said coldly.

Yu Li didn't want to have any more contact with him.

He straightened up, wiped his tears with the back of his hand, and said, "No need, it's just a stomach flu, I'll go to the infirmary."

After he finished speaking, he turned to leave, but the next second, Yan Shiting grabbed his arm and then put his other hand under his knees and picked him up horizontally.

Yu Li was too weak to resist and was carried by Yan Shiting to the Bentley parked by the roadside.

Yu Li was completely stunned.

After being placed in the back seat, he looked at Yan Shiting who had gotten in, clenched his fist, and asked in confusion, "Didn't you promise me..."

Yan Shiting raised the partition between the driver's seat and the driver's side, and replied, "I did promise you, nothing happened that night."

Yan Shiting glanced at him indifferently, his voice still low: "But I never promised to ignore you."

Yu Li didn't understand.

Who cares? In what capacity?

Seemingly sensing what Yu Li was thinking, Yan Shiting withdrew his gaze and said, "Because you are Yan Sui's good friend, since he has spoken, I will not ignore it."

Yu Li pursed her lips. "Did Yan Sui send you?"

Yan Shiting hummed in response, then turned his head away and said nothing more.

Although Yan Sui only told Steward He to bring the food.

But he was still worried.

Yu Li stopped talking.

Yan Sui was unaware of what had happened between him and his brother, and was only acting out of kindness.

The car has already driven away from Y University.

Yu Li was already nauseous, and the shaking of the car made him feel even worse.

He leaned against the car window and pretended to doze off. After a while, he felt the car slow down and drive steadily.

Yu Li breathed a sigh of relief and drifted off to sleep. A short while after waking up, the car stopped in front of a hospital.

He followed Yan Shiting out of the car and arrived at an office.

Upon seeing the person sitting inside, Yu Li was slightly taken aback: "Dr. Xu?"

Isn't Dr. Xu the Yan family's doctor? How come I see him here?

Dr. Xu adjusted his glasses, nodded, and smiled, "Young sir, it's me."

Yan Shiting closed the office door and said, "He has an upset stomach. Let's give him a check-up."

"What's wrong?" Dr. Xu gestured for Yu Li to sit down.

Yu Li glanced at Yan Shiting standing beside her, and then described her symptoms.

"It sounds like gastroenteritis. Let's get an ultrasound done."

Dr. Xu wrote out a prescription, then got up and led Yu Li to an ultrasound room next door.

As he led Yu Li to lie down on the examination bed, he said, "This ultrasound room was specially set up for President Yan's family to have their checkups. After all, it's a hospital under the Yan Group."

"I don't think President Yan will mind if you have your check-up here."

Yu Li listened silently, then lifted the hem of her T-shirt and was stunned to see Dr. Xu taking out coupling gel, probes, and other equipment himself.

"Dr. Xu, you can do this too?"

Dr. Xu smiled proudly: "I am not talented, but I am a general practitioner."

If it weren't for this, how could he have been qualified to become the Yan family's special family doctor and receive such a high salary?

Upon hearing this, Yu Li couldn't help but chuckle, and her awkward and tense mood, which had been caused by Yan Shiting, gradually relaxed.

Dr. Xu applied coupling gel to the probe and began the examination.

However, as time went on, Dr. Xu, who had just been looking proud, gradually became filled with doubt.

When the examination was over and the report was being printed, Dr. Xu frowned and remained silent.

Seeing him like this, Yu Li felt a little scared.

As the saying goes, it's not that you're afraid of doctors joking around, it's that you're afraid of doctors frowning and shaking their heads in front of you.

Could it be that he has some kind of terminal illness?

Could it be cancer? If, if it really is... what will he do? What will his mother and sister do?

Yu Li clutched the hem of her T-shirt tightly, not daring to speak, and followed Dr. Xu back to the office with trepidation.

Yan Shiting was still waiting in his office when he saw the strange expressions on the two men's faces and frowned.

"What's wrong?"

Dr. Xu ignored him, took the ultrasound report, and sat down behind her desk.

Yan Shiting glanced at Yu Li, who was standing at the door with pale lips, and led her to sit down on the sofa.

Then, his cold gaze fell on Dr. Xu, and he called him by his full name: "Xu Wenhe".

Dr. Xu then came to her senses.

He glanced at Yan Shiting, then at Yu Li, hesitated, and said, "President Yan, perhaps... you could find a trustworthy obstetrician to come over."

Why would you need an OB/GYN?

Yu Li was completely stunned, her expression becoming blank.

Yan Shiting was also somewhat puzzled.

But as he glanced down at Yu Li, a startling idea popped into his head.

Yan Shiting's hand on Yu Li's shoulder stiffened slightly, and his heart was pounding.

He didn't speak, afraid of startling Yu Li at that moment, and then went out of the office to make a phone call.

Not long after, a female doctor in her fifties came to Dr. Xu's office.

The female doctor stood next to Dr. Xu, her hands in the pockets of her white coat, looking at the ultrasound report together.

"The fetal heartbeat and embryo are actually quite clear..."

"Initially... should we do it again..."

The two lowered their voices during their discussion, so Yu Li couldn't hear them clearly.

He felt as if a very, very long time had passed, so long that he could no longer sense his own presence, before he heard the female doctor's gentle voice:

"Let's do another ultrasound later. Drink plenty of water in the meantime, as holding your urine will make your bladder expand and allow for a clearer examination later."

Yu Li was still a little confused about the situation.

He felt flustered and instinctively looked for the person he knew best—Yan Shiting.

"What...what's wrong with me?" Yu Li's eyes reddened and her lips trembled.

"It's alright, wait for me a moment." Yan Shiting reassured him in a low voice, left the office, and bought a bottle of purified water from the vending machine at the corner of the corridor.

When Yan Shiting squatted down to take out the bottle of water, he noticed that his hands were trembling slightly.

Yan Shiting took a deep breath.

He understood.

Yu Li does not have gastroenteritis or stomach flu.

He is pregnant.

If someone tells him that men can get pregnant, he will just think that person is crazy and ignore it.

But now...

He was so shocked, how could Yu Li possibly accept this?

Yan Shiting lowered his eyes, clenched his teeth, and tightened his lips.

After a while, Yan Shiting took a few deep breaths before calmly taking the water back.

Yu Li was still unaware of the situation, but remembering that the doctor had told him to drink more water, she obediently listened and drank one sip after another.

After a while, the female doctor called his name kindly and took him to have another ultrasound.

After the ultrasound report was printed, Yu Li sat at Dr. Xu's desk and heard the female doctor say with a smile, "You're pregnant."

You're pregnant, you're pregnant...

Yu Li was struck dumb.

Him? He's pregnant?

But he's a man!

"Me?!" Yu Li's eyes widened, she shook her head in disbelief, and then turned to look at Yan Shiting.

Yan Shiting was quietly watching him.

Yu Li was stunned: OO

"Yes, there's a gestational sac, embryo, and fetal heartbeat. The fetus is two months old. Your nausea and vomiting are all pregnancy symptoms."

The baby is two months old, so the other father is...

Dr. Xu's gaze fell on Yan Shiting.

It has indeed been almost two months since he made that house call that night.

The female doctor glanced at Yan Shiting, who had a calm expression, and then at Yu Li, who was stunned.

She coughed lightly and said, "Actually, I've seen cases of men getting pregnant and giving birth when I was abroad. This organ, which functions similarly to the uterus—let's call it the gestation cavity, that's what the professor abroad named it."

"This gestational cavity will definitely cause some trouble. There was a case abroad where a male died due to a lesion in his gestational cavity. So it's best to remove it during a cesarean section after the fetus is full-term."

“Of course,” the female doctor paused, then said, “if you don’t want to give birth to this child, it can be removed once the fetus has formed and the gestational cavity has grown a bit.”

"You are the child's father, so you should consider whether or not you want to have the baby."

Yu Li was already shocked by the news of her pregnancy.

So although he listened to what the female doctor said later, he couldn't understand its meaning.

The female doctor and Dr. Xu exchanged a glance, then quietly got up, intending to leave the office.

Before leaving, Yan Shiting looked at the female doctor, pursed his lips, and said, "Thank you, Auntie."

The female doctor—Yan Shiting's aunt—smiled gently, shook her head, and indicated that it was nothing.

The office fell silent.

Yan Shiting helped Yu Li sit on a sofa against the wall and sat with him until he came to his senses.

The wall clock ticked away.

Yu Li's face was still very pale. He gripped the hem of Yan Shiting's coat tightly, looking down at his stomach. He couldn't believe that there was a... fetus inside.

He thought he had a tumor, but it turned out to be a strange gestational cavity with a baby inside.

Yu Li didn't know for a moment whether having a tumor or being pregnant was the bad news for him.

He bit his lip, his eyes gradually reddening.

Why would he get pregnant?

Yu Li's lips trembled as she tried to find a reason: "Why didn't you wear it that night..."

He wanted to ask Yan Shiting why he didn't wear a condom that night.

Even if you don't know he might get pregnant, for health and safety reasons, shouldn't men wear protective gear when they're having sex?

But just as Yu Li asked the question, she remembered that what happened that night was very sudden, and there were no condoms in his room, so how could Yan Shiting wear one?

Why did you ask such a stupid question?

He shut his mouth in frustration.

However, just as Yu Li thought Yan Shiting would blame him, Yan Shiting said in a deep voice:

"I'm sorry, Yu Li."

He paused, then lowered his eyes: "I didn't know what I should have been careful about at that time."

Yu Li: "..."

Did Yan Shiting not know?

He turned his head and looked at Yan Shiting with disbelief in his eyes.

Yan Shiting is ten years older than him, and he must be thirty-one this year. As the head of the Yan family, has he never had a lover?

Perhaps it's because she's never had a male lover.

That's right, he hasn't forgotten Yan Shiting's displeasure when he liked Yan Sui.

Yu Li's eyes darkened, and she took a few deep breaths.

He loosened the hem of his suit jacket, which he had been crumpling, turned his head away, and said in a muffled voice, "Sorry."

His voice trembled slightly, and he blinked, his eyelashes wet with tears.

"It's just that right now... I don't really want to see you."