Yan Beicheng walked over and asked, "Did we wake you?"
Lin Chu shook her head. "I woke up because I smelt the fragrant dishes."
The waiter could not help glancing at the dishes. The smell was so sour that they could almost taste it, yet she was calling them fragrant.
The waiter was impressed with Yan Beicheng for being able to share a meal like this with Lin Chu.
After they placed the dishes down, the waiters left.
Lin Chu did not have much of an appet.i.te that afternoon as there was no clear pattern in her appet.i.te. It was good at times but bad at other times, meaning it was irregular. Just yesterday, she had thrown up at the smell of her favorite food, and sometimes, she felt so terrible at night that it caused her to lose her appet.i.te. This morning, her appet.i.te once again returned, making her almost eat a lunch-sized portion of food for breakfast.
This afternoon, Lin Chu did not eat much whilst Yan Beicheng did not push her to have more. He could not bear to see her force the food down her throat.
He was hoping that her appet.i.te would return that night. Otherwise, she could just have smaller but more frequent meals. He decided that he could try and make her something for supper.
So, Yan Beicheng scooped some rice for himself and bravely wolfed down Lin Chu"s favorite sour dishes, stuffing himself full in two or three mouthfuls.
After that, they went to the mall next door where they window-shopped while walking around to digest their meal.
"What"re Wen Ren"s sons like?" Lin Chu asked as she started to think about what presents to get them.
Yan Beicheng went deep into thought as his lips twitched. "Both of Wen Ren"s sons have very different personalities from him. His oldest, Wen Xu, may look a lot like him, but their personalities are complete opposites. I wonder who he takes after. Wen Ren had always been brash and blunt as he loves talking, making him quite unpredictable. On the other hand, Wen Xu hardly says a word."
The first person that came to Lin Chu"s mind was Chu Zhaoyang. Yan Beicheng turned toward her as he continued, "Chu Zhaoyang talks too much compared to him."
Lin Chu, "…"
"Wen Xu has been training under the Wen family since young. Because he is always quiet, it"s hard to tell what he likes. If it was up to me, I"d rather not buy Wen Ren"s sons any presents since those two boys are quite difficult to figure out. Besides, we don"t need to behave so ceremoniously with Wen Ren," said Yan Beicheng.
"What are you talking about? You are good friends with Wen Ren but it"s the first time I"m meeting him. How could I not bring anything with me? That would be so rude. He"s not like Chu Zhaoyang and the rest, whom we meet often. Now, it"d be weird me to get that group presents," Lin Chu pulled her long hair back as she said.
Yan Beicheng smiled and did not protest.
"What about his youngest son?" Lin Chu wanted to learn more.
Yan Beicheng"s lips twitched even more. "His youngest is not even one year old. He"s around eight or nine months and can"t really speak properly right now, but he"s a… naïve little thing."
"What?" Lin Chu blinked. She was confused about what he meant.
"His youngest son must have taken after his wife. The kid is so naïve and has a happy-go-lucky personality, making it easy to play tricks on him. He will trust anyone he meets," replied Yan Beicheng.
"He"s not even one year old. It"s normal to be a little naïve. You won"t expect too much of our child, will you? He might be naïve, but you should not infer that he is stupid!" Lin Chu looked at Yan Beicheng as she poked him.
Yan Beicheng snorted. "Of course I won"t. In any case, you haven"t met Wen Ming yet. When you do, you"ll say exactly the same thing. A child about to turn one should really know better. How can a smart child get tricked so easily? When Ningbai was young, he was pretty sharp."
Lin Chu was now looking forward to meeting this boy.
They soon walked toward the toys section of the mall. There as a real-life ratio of an Iron Man toy model outside the toy store, so Lin Chu bought a whole set of Avengers action figures for Wen Xu.
The child may be mature and quiet whilst undergoing strict training at home, he might still be fascinated with superheroes due to his childish instincts. Besides, these superheroes were fighters with a violent streak to them. It seemed appropriate for the Wen family.
Even though she did not agree with Yan Beicheng"s judgment of Wen Ming"s naivety, she decided to take his word for it and picked a Whack-mole game for Wen Ming.
Wen Ming could sit in the middle of the toy and be surrounded by the moles. When they jump out of their holes, he could hit them with a hammer. This was a good toy to entertain little children and help them cope with boredom.
They went to pay after picking the presents, and Yan Beicheng took the initiative to help her with the bags. Those who were unaware would simply think that they were picking presents for their own children.
Lin Chu did not expect Yan Beicheng to bring her to the baby department one floor below after leaving the toy store.
"Shouldn"t we start getting milk bottles, baby cots, and other baby stuff now?" Yan Beicheng asked.
Lin Chu slapped herself on the forehead. "That"s right. I haven"t thought about it."
Does a pregnant woman really stay stupid for three years?
Many potential parents would get excited about the prospect of buying baby items. However, they would not be so rash as to buy the first thing they see. They would shop around and pick the best and cutest baby items they could find.
However, every single item looked cute as all the items were so small and exquisite. They looked so adorable that Lin Chu wished she could just bring everything home.
Even Yan Beicheng struggled to pick just one item. He saw a few baby cots that he liked a lot but could not pick one out. "What if we just buy all of them? The baby can sleep in a different one every night. Or, it can pick one itself. We"ll just let the baby point at its favorite cot and let it choose. Its room will be big enough for all the cots, anyway."
He puffed out his chest as his eyes gleamed with pride.
Lin Chu, "…"
It looked like Yan Beicheng"s rich man shenanigans would be hard to stop.
There was no way that Lin Chu was going to go along with Yan Beichen"s plan. Buying a few cots at one go was not the way to handle this, even if he was rich enough to do so. He was forced to pick one before Lin Chu pushed Yan Beicheng to make the payment. Thus, he had to unwillingly give up on buying all the cots.
After making the payment, Lin Chu warned him. "Don"t you dare secretly come back and buy everything. Otherwise… Otherwise, I"ll take it out of your allowance!"
Yan Beicheng, "…"
After this, they went to buy milk bottles, thermometers, and after Lin Chu gave it a thought, a b.r.e.a.s.t pump.
Those who had never seen one before would have no idea what it was used for. Yan Beicheng watched as Lin Chu placed it embarra.s.sedly into the shopping cart and became curious about it.
"What"s this?" Yan Beicheng picked it up to take a closer look.
"Put it back down. Don"t pick it up if you have no idea what it is," Lin Chu watched his perfect, slender fingers pinching the b.r.e.a.s.t pump, making her even more embarra.s.sed. Nevertheless, he refused to put it down as he continued inspecting it.
"Tell me what it is," Yan Beicheng could see Lin Chu"s face getting redder. This made him even more curious as he refused to put it down until he got his answer.
He moved closer toward her with only the shopping cart between them. His lips gently closed on her ears as he whispered the words to her. His lips teasingly brushed against her ear as he subtly opened and closed his mouth while speaking. His lips moved near her ear as she felt his warm breath blowing against it and swirling around.
Lin Chu wanted to step away from him, but Yan Beicheng was quick to grab her hand, which was on the shopping cart. He held it down and refused to let her go.
"Tell me," Yan Beicheng said as he took a quick look around to make sure that no one else was near them. His lips curled upward as he took the opportunity to lick her smooth and delicate ears.
It sent a s.h.i.+ver down Lin Chu"s spine. She replied stiffly in a quiet voice, "It"s… It"s just a b...t.. pu..p.."
"A what?" Yan Beicheng thought there as something wrong with his ears as he strained to hear her.
"A br..t pu.." Lin Chu"s voice was extremely soft.
"A what pu…? Tell me properly," Yan Beicheng squeezed her hand.
Lin Chu glared at him as she blushed. Then, she clenched her teeth and said, "A b.r.e.a.s.t pump! After I give birth, it will be difficult to get the milk out to feed our child, so I will need to use this. Besides, if our child is already full but I need to get rid of the milk, I will need to use this to pump it out."
"Tsk," Yan Beicheng gave her a look as if to say, "it"s not a big issue, why did you have so much difficulty telling me".
"It won"t hurt to tell me, would it? What"s there to be embarra.s.sed about? In any case, this is of no use to you."
Lin Chu was dumbfounded. "Why?"
She knew Yan Beicheng had frequently been going online to do research on pregnancies and learn how to care for babies. By now, he had learned quite a lot and might even have been even more knowledgeable than her on the topic.
Was there something he knew that she did not?
She watched as a smile appeared on Yan Beicheng"s face as his thin lips curved upward. There was a sneaky look on his face that reminded her of his husky voice that always made her weak in the knees. "Getting it out manually is the best since one can control the amount of force used. Don"t worry, I"ll suck it out with my mouth. When your b.r.e.a.s.t is full of milk, I"ll drink it so that it won"t go to waste."
Lin Chu, "…."
She really wanted to give him a good kick!
She had not seen his antics in quite a long time and was starting to think he had changed for the better!
Lin Chu"s lips twitched as she placed the b.r.e.a.s.t pump back into the shopping cart. She glared at Yan Beicheng and snapped, "Don"t you dare put it back on the shelf!"
Yan Beicheng was taken aback. His wife was getting feistier.
She used to be nice and obedient like a bunny rabbit as she snuggled in his arms like a good little girl. She never argued with him about any of his decisions; and when he wanted to go West, she would never head East. When he acted a little stern, she would become worried that he was angry.
Now it seemed like those days were over.
Yan Beicheng reminisced about his past pride as Master of his House, and then turned to Lin Chu with a gentle smile that said, "my wife is always right".
He asked gently, "Is one enough for you?"
Lin Chu could not help but laugh as she reached out to touch Yan Beicheng"s handsome face. "I can"t really think of what else to buy right now. If I do think of something, we can always come back."
Yan Beicheng nodded as he led her toward the cas.h.i.+er.
They had not expected to b.u.mp into Lin Yuwen. She was clinging onto the arms of a good-looking man and acting intimate with him. The only problem was that the man was not Cheng Ziming.
The man may have been good looking, but he gave out a young, immature aura. He might have even been younger than Lin Yuwen. He may have been covered in branded goods from head to toe, but he lacked the charisma of a strong, mature man.
Lin Chu guessed that this was just an ordinary man. He was either a handsome fresh graduate or an unknown young actor.
Lin Yuwen stopped in her tracks. She was stunned as she did not expect to see Lin Chu her as this was the baby section.
Her gaze could not help s.h.i.+fting toward the shopping cart that Yan Beicheng was pus.h.i.+ng, which was filled with baby products. Her eyes then moved toward Lin Chu"s tummy before narrowing.
It looked like Lin Chu was pregnant.
Lin Yuwen seethed with anger.
She could no longer have a baby, thanks to Yan Beicheng, and thus, would never be a "complete" woman. She may be able to get a baby that was related to her by providing her own eggs to a surrogate mother, but at the end of the day, the baby would not have come from her own tummy. It would not be the same.
She would never be able to experience the joy of pregnancy, and yet Lin Chu was here enjoying every single aspect of it.
Lin Yuwen was filled with hatred, but she could not openly express this in front of Yan Beicheng.
When she was in jail, she was badly bullied, which had left deep scars in her mind. This made her truly fear Yan Beicheng.
Lin Yuwen even suspected that the reason why she was no longer able to get pregnant was due to the work of Yan Beicheng, who might have done something to her at the hospital.
Every time she thought about this, she would feel a chill running down her spine and break out into a cold sweat. This made her extremely afraid of offending him.
She may have been inwardly seething with anger, but she needed to suppress it.
Ever since she got rid of Cheng Ziming, she had been completely free, allowing her to go around looking for handsome young men to date. It did not matter if they were rich or poor, or if they were capable people. All she cared about was their looks.
This was no different than keeping a gigolo by her side, but she was happy with it. Gigolos were not capable people, but these gentlemen were more than willing to get on her good side by taking care of her every need.
Lin Yuwen did not even bother to hide this. She openly dated different men and happily flaunted them.
Cheng Ziming was well aware of her antics, but he never appeared in front of her nor did he attempt to contact her in any way.
Lin Yuwen sneered at the thought. He was such a useless coward.
Her gigolo this time was an unknown young actor who was still working his way up the entertainment industry. He scored the occasional acting job on web dramas but had never made it big. Since he was tall and handsome, she was quite willing to keep him around as a pet.
She had come over to the baby department because she had found herself a surrogate mother who was already pregnant with her child.
Therefore, she was here to buy baby products.
When she spotted Lin Chu, Lin Yuwen was stunned, but only momentarily. She then walked away coldly, as if she did not know them.
On the other hand, there was no way Lin Chu would call out to her. She followed Yan Beicheng out and suddenly caught a whiff of some freshly baked cake. The cake smelt sweet and delicious; this time, she did not feel like throwing up at the smell.
As she did not eat much for lunch, Lin Chu pulled Yan Beicheng along to have some tea.
As they were eating, they heard people arguing outside. A crowd also seemed to have formed.
They heard people gossiping at the entrance, "I heard that the woman was cheating on her husband. She was caught red-handed with her gigolo by her mother-in-law. Her mother-in-law is causing a scene, but the woman doesn"t seem to be bothered - she looks like she couldn"t care less."
"Is it that exciting? I want to have a look," another person said.
Lin Chu could guess what was going on. She turned to look at Yan Beicheng with big, bright eyes.
Yan Beicheng pursed his lips and said, "Okay, we can go if you insist on having a look, but stay away from the crowd."
Lin Chu quickly nodded.
After, this Yan Beicheng picked up the cake and brought Lin Chu out. He was worried that she would rush out and get knocked over by the crowd of spectators, so he held her protectively in his arms.
Even though it was a working day, it was currently lunchtime, so many office workers were hanging out in the mall. Many were here to window shop which caused the mall to be quite packed.
Lin Chu managed to catch a glimpse and saw that it really was w.a.n.g Jinglin holding onto Lin Yuwen whilst refusing to let her go.
Yan Beicheng could not care less about the matter and soon found a bench with some empty seats. He got Lin Chu to sit down and pa.s.sed the cake to her. "You can watch while you eat."
He was treating this like a reality show.
Lin Chu picked up her fork and used Yan Beicheng"s hands as a table as he held up the cake for her. Thus, she simultaneously ate and watched the drama unfold.
The two main parties were w.a.n.g Jinglin with Lin Yuwen. The man they saw earlier was currently standing next to her, looking very embarra.s.sed.
Many people were blocking Lin Chu"s view, so she could only see through the gaps in the crowd. She was not bothered by this and she was not planning to get too close to the action anyway. Her current position suited her fine as she wanted to avoid being spotted by w.a.n.g Jinglin out of fear that she would become the target of her hara.s.sment.
Lin Chu took a bite of her cheesecake and watched as w.a.n.g Jinglin pointed at Lin Yuwen and screeched, "Lin Yuwen, how… how could you do this, you immoral woman?! You"re seeing another man behind my son"s back… How… How can you be so outrageously open about it?! I was wondering why you kicked my son out from your home and refused to let him continue working in the company. Lin Yuwen, you really are too much!"
Lin Yuwen looked at w.a.n.g Jinglin with a cold smile on her face. "I do have my fair share of men around, but what can you do about it? Since I"m willing to keep them around, I"m free to choose whomever I fancy."
w.a.n.g Jinglin took a step backward as she clutched at her heart, her eyes were br.i.m.m.i.n.g with tears. "Why… Why are you acting this way?! Don"t forget that you can"t have a baby anymore! You"re not a complete woman and you can"t offer my son any children, but even then, my family said nothing and continued to treat you as a respectable daughter-in-law. Even if we have no one to continue our family line, we still accepted you and tolerated you. Despite this, here you are doing something so disgraceful. You"ve let my son down, and you"ve let my family down!"
Lin Yuwen shouted at her impatiently, "That"s enough! Why don"t you ask your son why I kicked him out of the house? Yes, I can"t have a baby, but there are so many ways to solve this problem. I can get a surrogate so that the child would still be of Cheng Ziming"s blood, or I could even try having a test tube baby - there are so many ways to continue the Cheng family bloodline. If that happened, you would still have your grandson or granddaughter. However, when I was seeking treatment in the USA, your son went and had an affair. He wanted another woman to bear his child and inherit everything from the Lin family. Where did that self-confidence and indignation come from?
"He even had the gall to tell me that he went looking for another woman because I couldn"t get pregnant. Apparently, after that baby is born, he planned to give it to me, and we would henceforth treat it like our child. The worse thing was that it would be a b.a.s.t.a.r.d with no relation to the Lin family who would inherit the Lin family"s company. This was such wishful thinking! Our property does not belong to the Cheng family, and nor does our company. Why should the offspring of the Cheng family and some random woman inherit what belongs to the Lin family? It doesn"t make sense no matter how you spin the story!"
"So what? You can"t bear him a child, yet you won"t allow someone else to do it? Do you want to watch as the Cheng family"s bloodline just dies out? How could you be so cold-hearted? Besides, you"re married to Ziming, which means that you are the daughter-in-law of the Cheng family. Shouldn"t everything you own belong to Ziming as well? Your family"s company and property will all go to you, but what is yours should also belong to Ziming. If that was the case, why wouldn"t you just give Ziming a child? You"re an evil woman! Why can"t you just let a little child into your life?!"
Lin Yuwen was dumbfounded. The way w.a.n.g Jinglin was attempting to turn the tables without putting much thought into her words was astounding. She was speechless.
"Whatever that belongs to my family, is mine and my child"s to have; it is not for Cheng Ziming"s child. If I divorce Cheng Ziming, then Cheng Ziming would be nothing. What would that child be without any blood relations to me? How is it that everything belonging to the Lin family would suddenly be inherited by the Cheng family?" Lin Yuwen sneered.
She used to think that w.a.n.g Jinglin was always gentle and proper. Su Changxin used to tell her that even though Cheng Ziming did not come from a powerful family, at least her mother-in-law, w.a.n.g Jinglin, had a good temper. At the very least, she would not cause Lin Yuwen trouble.
However, it turns out this a.s.sumption was totally wrong.
In reality, w.a.n.g Jinglin was an unreasonable troublemaker who only acted in her self-interest. When it came to matters involving herself, everyone else"s opinion was irrelevant.
w.a.n.g Jinglin was shocked by Lin Yuwen"s words and reached out to try to grab at her.
The crowd watching the commotion pointed at w.a.n.g Jinglin as they whispered, "How can someone be so unreasonable? Her family is blatantly trying to claim another family"s fortune."
"That"s right. Her son was in the wrong, and yet, she"s here trying to claim that she"s the victim."
"The girl may not have handled the situation well, but that guy isn"t exactly faultless either."
w.a.n.g Jinglin could hear the whispering amongst the crowd as her face began to burn. She wanted to turn around and argue with them there and then. They were spouting utter nonsense, her family was the true victims here!