Chapter Eleven: Pregnancy Scandal
Sun Yaozu asked in surprise, "Who did you say is pregnant? Shu Yao?"
"Yes, it's her." The old woman was furious. Without Shu Yao's income, the family was suddenly struggling financially. "She's only been married to Su Xiangdong for a little over a month, and she's already pregnant."
"Mother, who did you hear from? How far along is she in her pregnancy?"
"I heard it from Su Xiangdong himself. They were all congratulating him this afternoon. How long has she been pregnant..." The old woman thought for a moment, then hurriedly stood up and stared wide-eyed at her son.
"Son, what do you mean? Does that mean the baby in Shuyao's belly..."
Old Man Sun turned around in surprise: "What do you mean by this?"
Sun Yaozu frowned, his gaze flickering with uncertainty. "How could she get pregnant after marrying Su Xiangdong?"
Old Man Sun didn't understand this, and both he and his son turned to look at his wife. His wife had given birth to two children, Sun Yaozu and his sister. But she was experienced and had seen much of this, and immediately her eyes darted around as she carefully considered the situation.
"Have you ever seen her menstruate since you got married?"
Sun Yao first shook his head, then nodded, and his mother couldn't help but scold him. "What's wrong with you? Don't you even know this, you two? It's not like a long time has passed, only about a month in total."
“I didn’t see her, but she said she came.”
"Is he really coming or just pretending?"
"How would I know?"
"You silly child, how could you not know that? You're a newlywed couple, how could you not even be sure about this?"
"How could I possibly know about women's affairs?"
Grandma Sun sighed; her son was only pretending to care about Shu Yao. "Shu Yao suffers from menstrual cramps. Haven't you seen her have any stomach aches?"
"She didn't say."
"She didn't say..." The old woman was speechless; her son was really something. "So, it means they haven't had sex for a few days, right?"
He nodded, feeling embarrassed to tell his parents this. But since they were discussing Shu Yao's unborn child, he could only state the facts. Shu Yao had indeed said she was pregnant, but he hadn't seen her arrive, so he didn't know for sure.
Old Man Sun looked at his wife. "Go ask around and see how far along she is in her pregnancy."
The old woman nodded and turned to look at her son. "Find a time when Su Xiangdong isn't around, and go ask Shu Yao yourself. She knows best whose it is."
“I’m not going,” Sun Yaozu shook his head. “She’s a complete shrew now, not the gentle person she used to be at all. I’m not going to embarrass myself.”
"What if she's carrying your child?"
"Probably not."
"Why not?" The old woman had lived a long time and seen all sorts of things. "She'll marry Su Xiangdong while pregnant with your child. That way, she won't have to serve us anymore, and she can also get Su Xiangdong's property. It's killing two birds with one stone. Don't be fooled by Shu Yao's gentle and virtuous appearance; she's actually a very scheming woman."
Sun Yaozu frowned. Was this scheming woman the same gentle, generous, virtuous and considerate child bride he knew?
"Mom, what are the symptoms of pregnancy?"
"Well... you can't see the physical signs, the most obvious one is vomiting."
Sun Yaozu clapped his hands: "I saw her vomit half a month ago. When she got out of the car and walked into this alley, she was leaning against the wall and felt nauseous."
Mrs. Sun stood up in a panic. "That's it! Oh dear, if we calculate it by that time, this child must have been conceived in our house."
Regardless of the truth, once this possibility was planted, no one was willing to give up so easily. The next day, Sun's mother inquired about it outside, but no one could say for sure.
"You've only been married for a month or so, so you must be pregnant for a little over a month."
"Moreover, the Su family has double good news this time. It turns out that Station Chief Su's illness was a misdiagnosis. Tell me, how lucky Shu Yao is."
"Station Chief Su was overjoyed, he couldn't stop smiling. He bought his wife a bunch of delicious food, and I saw canned oranges."
"Shu Yao is lucky; she never got to eat canned food when she was with the Sun family."
Old Mrs. Sun, standing to the side, knew these words were deliberately spoken to her. Now the Sun family was a laughingstock; their beautiful daughter-in-law, whom they thought was theirs, had flown away. Now, she was married well and living a much better life. Su Xiangdong didn't have a terminal illness; not only did she get to live in the Su family's spacious house, but she also had another man to take care of her, earn money for her, and help raise her children.
Bah, it's just a can of food. The Sun family used to run a shop; they had all sorts of exotic goods from overseas. Why would they care about canned food?
Old Mrs. Sun only dared to grumble inwardly, not daring to speak aloud. After inquiring around for a long time, she finally stopped Su Xiangdong one afternoon after he got off work.
"What are you doing?" Su Xiangdong squinted, giving the Sun family no friendly look.
"Station Chief Su, I need to talk to you. Can you speak to me in private?"
"Say what you have to say here." It must be about his wife's unborn child; what's that old woman up to now? He'd been on guard against them causing trouble for Shu Yao these past few days, and had already informed his close neighbors. But the Sun family hadn't made a move. He didn't expect them to come today anyway.
"Station Chief Su, some things are not suitable to say in public. You don't want to become the subject of everyone's gossip, do you?"
Su Xiangdong didn't enter the Sun family's house; instead, he stood inside the gate. The elderly Sun couple then bowed and apologized to him.
"sorry."
Then the old man spoke first: "We really feel we can't do this, so we can't help but tell you the truth."
Su Xiangdong remained silent, coldly observing the elderly couple. "Go ahead and do whatever you want," he thought, "I'd like to see what dirty tricks you have up your sleeve. Coming to me instead of Shu Yao is just trying to smear her."
The old man was extremely embarrassed, and the words caught in his throat. Seeing his reaction, the old woman continued to say to Su Xiangdong, "There's an old saying that you can't have a child secretly, because children are always a reflection of their parents. We were afraid you'd find out and cause trouble later, so we had to be honest with you. Shu Yao is, after all, a child bride; she had no connection with my son before the marriage..."
"Bang!" Instead of hitting his wife, Su Xiangdong kicked the shovel handle that was placed in the doorway, breaking it in two. The old couple were so frightened that they both backed away, afraid that he would kick them instead.
"Are you trying to get yourself killed by slandering my wife?"
"No, no," Old Man Sun quickly waved his hand. "It's Shu Yao's behavior that's suspicious. She's always been a liar; she's incredibly cunning. About two weeks ago, I saw her leaning against the wall and vomiting. At that time, they were frying lard at the alley entrance. She was already experiencing morning sickness then, and we were worried that she was lying."
"Who can testify to what you're saying?" The two elders of the Sun family exchanged bewildered glances, not expecting his reaction. Shouldn't the man have gone back to question his wife about this? Why was he questioning them instead?
"Old Man Sun," he pointed at the man, startling the old man into taking several steps back. "You dare to throw dirty water on my wife? You want me to break your leg, don't you?"
Old Man Sun quickly waved his hand, "No, no, that's not it."
"Then tell me properly now, what did you mean by what you just said? I'm sure the child in my wife's belly is mine. What exactly are you two trying to do today? Try to sow discord between my husband and me and make things difficult for Shu Yao?"
The two elders of the Sun family retreated in unison; some people were already watching the commotion from the doorway. Su Xiangdong naturally knew that since the Sun family had intervened, the truth couldn't be hidden any longer. He didn't take the Sun family's petty tricks seriously.
"Shu Yao is trying to break free from your family's shackles, and you're unhappy about it, aren't you? A girl who has been treated like a slave by you since childhood is now free from your control, and you're not satisfied, are you? You won't be satisfied until you've made her a miserable, homeless person, right?"
No, that's not it.
"no."
Su Xiangdong sneered and kicked over the water vat in the yard. He kicked over such a big and heavy thing with one kick, and the water inside splashed all over the ground, scaring the old couple from the Sun family to scatter to the side.
This isn't right. This is completely different from what they expected. Based on the months of Shu Yao's pregnancy, even if the child is Su Xiangdong's, she definitely hasn't had her period once since marrying into the family. Now that the Sun family is saying this, how can he not be suspicious?
"Listen up, if you dare to lay a finger on my wife and children again, I'll kill you all one by one."
After saying that, he smashed a hole in the Sun family's pot with his other hand. The loud thud clearly showed the pot was leaking, startling the onlookers. But most of them were excited to see what would happen.
"The Sun family never learns from their mistakes. They just ransacked their house last time, and now they're provoking them again."
"Exactly. His wife is pregnant and went to the hospital for a checkup. The doctor definitely knows how far along the pregnancy is. How could he not know if it's his own child?"
"The Sun family is really wicked; they'll never stop bullying Shu Yao."
"This is an attempt to sow discord. If Su Xiangdong doesn't want her anymore, where else can she go besides the Sun family? This is revenge against her."
"The Sun family is shameless and despicable."
After Su Xiangdong finished smashing everything, he left, and the onlookers, after pointing and whispering, also left. The elderly Sun couple, looking at the mess on the ground, felt like dying.
"Old man, I'm not saying Shu Yao is promiscuous, but even if she's pregnant with our child, we still don't want her. We should tell Su Xiangdong and let him teach her a lesson. How... how is it that we're the ones who learn a lesson?"
Sun Yaozu returned only after everything was settled. He figured he could avoid showing his face now and perhaps have other opportunities later. But then Su Xiangdong ransacked his house again, and he couldn't help but blame his father.
“I told you not to get involved in this anymore, who cares whose child she’s carrying. Anyway, we don’t want this child, let her have it if she wants to. If Su Xiangdong wants secondhand goods, let him have them, no matter how pretty they are, they’re still secondhand. But you insisted on not being able to swallow this. Now look what’s happened, that man has ruined it again.”
Old Man Sun, who had been just as incredulous, finally came to his senses. "Don't panic, don't be angry. So many people are watching, he has to put on a show. I don't believe any man can tolerate raising someone else's child. Just you wait and see, he'll definitely find a chance to make that bitch Shu Yao have an abortion."
The mother and son's eyes lit up: "That's right."
The Sun family bought Shu Yao and treated her as their possession. How dare she, a child bride, divorce and leave the Sun family? She even went so far as to claim that the Sun family bullied her and that she was oppressed.
"So what if we bully you? You're just a child bride, what do you want if you don't serve us?" These days, without Shu Yao, Granny Sun has been doing all the laundry and cooking. And with the forty-odd yuan less she earns from Shu Yao each month, she's not only physically exhausted, but also heartbroken. The whole family hates her to death; they'd rather suffer themselves than let her have a good time.
Sun Yaozu sneered: "Father, you're right. I'll wait for her to kneel down and beg me."
The elderly couple nodded in agreement. That little brat Shu Yao dared to cause trouble; they couldn't let her live a good life so easily. She was a divorcee; there would be plenty of opportunities for her to sow discord. Su Xiangdong acted very protective of her in public; they weren't sure if he harbored any resentment.
After stirring things up, the whole family strained their ears to listen to what was happening next door. But they heard nothing all night, only the delicious aroma of food. Compared to their own pig feed, it made them even less appetizing.
"That Su Xiangdong is quite the actor," the old woman said, trying to salvage the situation, afraid that the father and son would give her the cold shoulder again. Suddenly, she heard a noise from the other side and quickly called out to the two of them.
"Quick, quick, there seems to be some movement over there. What are those two arguing about?"
A note from the author:
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