Chapter Ninety-One: Informing Parents

When Chu Zhen and I visited Grandma, she looked forlorn. Nothing is more heartbreaking than a parent outliving their child. Although Grandma always complained about her unfilial son, it was clear that she missed him terribly. Her grandson happened to be home when we arrived.

"Child, Grandma is asking a question she shouldn't be asking," Grandma pulled me aside.

"Grandma, please tell me."

“You were clearly pregnant the last few times I came here. Although your belly wasn’t big, I’ve been through this before, and I could tell from the way you walked that you were pregnant. You should be showing by now, so why is your belly flat?”

I never expected my grandma to say that. She must already consider me family and is showing concern for her younger generation.

“I accidentally took the medication, which affected the baby, so I couldn’t continue trying.”

"Oh, then we can't have him. It's alright, you're all still young and will have plenty of opportunities. As for me, all I can do now is raise my grandson to be a good adult and not let him follow in his father's footsteps." Grandma said with great regret.

“Your grandson is wonderful and will definitely amount to something in the future. You can rest assured.”

We've met the grandmother's grandson a few times before. He's polite and well-mannered. He used to work part-time near the school whenever he had time off. Since his father passed away, he goes home to visit his grandmother during holidays and cleans the house inside and out. He and Chu Zhen get along quite well now.

"Grandma, I want to ask you something. Did your son give you anything before the car accident?"

"Things? I don't remember what they are." Grandma thought for a moment and asked me.

"I was just asking casually."

"Why would he give me anything? He's like a vampire, constantly asking me for things. If he really has anything, he must have given it to that woman."

That's true. I had completely forgotten about my grandmother's daughter-in-law because she ran away with the money, so I didn't take her seriously at all.

"Grandma, do you know where your daughter-in-law is now?"

"How could I have known? So much money was taken away. If it weren't for a kind girl like you, I, this old woman, would have starved to death, and my grandson would really be all alone." As she said this, Grandma burst into tears.

I was chatting with my grandma, while Chu Zhen was talking to his grandson. My grandma was sobbing uncontrollably, and I couldn't comfort her. My grandson told us to go home first and let my grandma calm down, so we went home.

“Boys don’t know anything, and they’re very reluctant to let others mention their parents,” Chu Zhen told me in the car.

“I asked my grandma, and she said that her son didn’t give her anything before he died. But she reminded me that we’ve been neglecting our daughter-in-law, after all, she’s the one who slept with us. But my grandma doesn’t know where she is now.”

"Don't worry, in this internet age, finding someone is still very easy. Lin Dang, tomorrow is Saturday, let's go back to City B tonight!"

"Back to City B?"

“Yes, we haven’t told your parents about the loss of the baby. We can’t wait until the due date to tell them, otherwise they will feel even worse.”

"Okay, I'll do as you say."

Chu Zhen and I went straight back to City B.

"Dad, I'm home~" It was my dad who opened the door with a big smile, but his expression froze the moment he saw me.

"Uncle, we're back." Chu Zhen saw his father standing there in a daze and understood.

"Come in quickly, you must be tired from the journey~" Dad led us to the living room, while Mom was still busy in the kitchen.

"Dang'er's back! I'm making soup. Grandma Sun next door said that drinking sea cucumber soup during pregnancy is good for fetal development and can increase protein intake. I asked someone to bring it back from Lian Island. Wait a moment, it'll be ready soon." I sat on the sofa. My mother hadn't noticed anything unusual about me yet. Her words made me even more at a loss for words, and tears were already falling.

"Why are you crying, child? What happened? Did you fall down by accident or something?" Dad asked me in a very soft voice, as if he didn't want to scare me.

"What? Did you fall down? Dang'er, did you fall down?" Even though Dad lowered his voice, Mom still heard him. She came to the living room with a soup spoon, and the moment she saw me, the spoon fell to the ground and shattered.

"Uncle, Aunt, I'm sorry, I didn't take good care of Lin Dang." Of the four people present, three had already lost control of their emotions, only Chu Zhen remained relatively normal.

"Sorry? I don't accept it." Mom pushed Chu Zhen aside and walked up to me. "Child, what happened? Tell Mom, where is the child?"

"It's gone. I took the wrong medicine."

"What medicine did you take? Why did you take medicine? Are you sick? Or did something happen?"

“Lin Dang ate food that had been laced with abortifacients,” Chu Zhen said, seeing me sobbing. “It’s all because of me that Lin Dang has been implicated.”

"Abortion pills? That's poisoning! Call the police! Have you called the police yet?" The mother was quite agitated.

"We have no evidence yet, but we are currently gathering evidence."

“I don’t need your excuses. Gathering evidence? Are you police officers? Why didn’t you call the police? This is someone else harming my child. What if it was my daughter who was poisoned?”

"Auntie, I'm so sorry!"

I guessed that my parents would lose control of their emotions, but I didn't expect my mother to be so agitated. Moreover, my mother now believes that Chu Zhen is the culprit behind all of this.

"Mom, it has nothing to do with Chu Zhen. It was my own carelessness and greed that gave someone with ulterior motives a chance to exploit the situation."

"Honey, do you know how harmful a miscarriage is to your body? And your baby is so big, it's practically like you gave birth. Did you even have proper postpartum care? Why didn't you tell me? Don't you consider me your mother anymore?"

"I was just afraid you'd feel this way. I told you I was fully recovered. I'm in postpartum confinement now. Look, aren't I much fatter than before, and my complexion is much better too?" I forced a smile.

"Quit your job in City A, come back to City B, and come live with your parents. You should have no problem getting jobs at newspapers or TV stations with your abilities. If all else fails, your parents will fund a small business for you. Just stay with your parents." The mother's tone was almost pleading.

I understand that the car accident already worried my parents, and now this has happened. They might never see me again.

"Mom, everything's fine now, don't worry~"

"It looks like it's burnt in the pot, go check it out," Dad said. Mom rushed to the kitchen. I knew Dad just wanted to get Mom out of the way.

"Dang'er, go to the kitchen and help your mother."

It seemed that Dad wanted to talk to Chu Zhen alone, so I followed Mom into the kitchen.

There was no burnt food in the pot, and Mom's emotions calmed down a bit.

"Drink more of this soup right away, it's very nourishing. Did you eat anything when you got back tonight? I'll cook some noodles for you."

"We really haven't eaten. We had some errands to run outside, and came straight back as soon as we finished. Why don't you cook a bowl for Chu Zhen too?"