Chapter 36: She Did Not Want to Experience Childbirth

The sky was overcast, the sun hiding behind the clouds as though too lazy to come out.

Le Tian’er leaned against the pillar outside the courthouse, quietly watching the entrance. She was certain that in a moment Chen Bo would emerge, acquitted and free.

There was proof in the clothing factory’s bank account of the two hundred thousand yuan Chen Bo had invested as seed capital, along with the equity agreement Chen Bo and Le Tian’er had signed. Of course, that agreement had been forged by Le Tian’er. The last page of the divorce agreement bore Chen Bo’s signature, and adding another page of terms to it made the whole thing seamless.

Fabricating evidence was certainly wrong, but Chen Bo had been framed by others, and how much of the prosecution’s case was truly authentic?

Time seemed to stretch on endlessly. Then the sun, having rested long enough, was willing to show its face through the clouds.

Heat and dampness gathered over her body. She untied the bow at her blouse and shifted the way she stood in her heels. In the past, she had seldom worn high heels except for important occasions.

Today, to welcome Chen Bo home, she had once again put on the three-piece battle suit she had designed herself, along with ten-centimeter heels.

Several newspaper reporters who had been waiting by the door suddenly began to stir.

“Dongling City’s Young Entrepreneur Reduced to a Prisoner” was, after all, news of obvious value.

Chen Bo pushed through the crowd and spotted Le Tian’er at once. He almost ran to her, opened his arms, and held her in a tight embrace.

Camera flashes kept popping all around them.

The second page of the evening paper carried a huge photograph of Le Tian’er and Chen Bo locked in each other’s arms. The headline was striking: Young Entrepreneur Falsely Accused, Imprisoned at the End of His Trial, Finally Acquitted and Released in Court.

Looking at the blurry printed photo in the newspaper, Le Tian’er pouted and tossed it to Chen Bo behind her.

“You make me look so ugly.”

“I think you look great!”

Chen Bo set the paper down, his hands still reluctant to leave Le Tian’er’s chest. If not for the nanny calling them to dinner at the door, he would have pinned Le Tian’er beneath him again.

“What are your plans?”

Lying in Chen Bo’s arms, Le Tian’er stroked his cheek and asked softly.

“I plan to marry you.”

“Annoying. I’m being serious. You’re not planning to go back to the mining company, are you?”

“I am serious. I want to give you a grand wedding. I want to announce to everyone that you are my wife.”

As he spoke, Chen Bo tightened his embrace.

“So am I. A man should put his career first.”

Le Tian’er struggled. When Chen Bo loosened his grip, she quickly sat up a little. She looked into his eyes. Chen Bo smiled and drew her back into his arms, and she leaned against his chest, still unable to stop herself from asking. She could accept a man without money, but not a man without ambition.

“That mining company came too easily, and losing it didn’t feel especially regrettable. I want to start over. As for what I’ll do, I haven’t fully decided yet.”

Chen Bo truly was thinking seriously about his future. Le Tian’er finally relaxed. Her eyes brightened as she searched through the business ideas she knew, and then, with sudden excitement, she slapped his chest.

“Why don’t you mortgage the villa and go into real estate? My grandfather built his fortune in real estate from nothing.”

“Your grandfather?”

“Ah, I meant a successful entrepreneur I read about in a magazine. Everyone called him the old man...”

Realizing she had again, without thinking, superimposed her own life onto the original owner’s, she hurried to cover it up. Fortunately, Chen Bo did not dwell on it, and the subject passed.

With Chen Bo acquitted, the Chen family’s relatives all came again to offer their congratulations.

Le Tian’er remembered how, when their son had been charged, everyone had avoided her as if she were a plague, while only the son and daughter-in-law had worked hard to help clear Chen Bo’s name. Chen Mother’s attitude toward Le Tian’er changed completely. She would not let her lift a finger, served tea to her first, and placed fruit and pastries right in front of her, almost treating her like a living bodhisattva.

Third Aunt, Second Aunt, and Cousin Eldest Daughter were barked at by Chen Mother into doing kitchen work. The women exchanged glances, then obediently followed her in, no longer daring to talk too much. They all knew Chen Bo was no ordinary man and that there would be a day when he rose high. If they still lacked sense now, Chen Mother might never let them through the door again.

Being surrounded by others made her feel as though she had returned to the days when she had been the eldest young lady of the Le family. Le Tian’er smiled brightly, her gaze toward Chen Bo full of tenderness. Chen Mother quietly tugged at her sleeve and asked whether she had gone to the hospital for a checkup.

Le Tian’er blushed in embarrassment. Only then did she remember that during all this time she had been so busy with Chen Bo’s affairs that she had forgotten to pay attention to her own body. Looking down, she saw that her lower abdomen had already begun to swell slightly...

“Seventeen weeks pregnant. The fetus has already formed, so it can’t be terminated now. Hurry and prepare the birth permit, and make sure to have regular prenatal checkups.”

The doctor looked at Le Tian’er over the tops of his glasses and casually handed her the lab report.

The remarriage paperwork was completed. Fearing any effect on the baby’s health, the wedding was postponed.

Le Tian’er was utterly vexed.

Raising the bun baby for Le Sweetie had already been hard enough; now she also had to help her give birth in spirit. The body belonged to Le Sweetie, but every subtle sensation belonged to her.

Le Tian’er was stunned, then began to worry.

She was still an unmarried woman, and through this experience she had already tasted the passions of men and women, overturning many of her former beliefs. If she had to go through childbirth as well, she feared that even if she returned to being herself, there would always be a shadow in her heart.

As she watched her belly grow day by day, the popularity value also climbed day by day with a cheerful ringing sound.

On the night her popularity value reached one hundred thousand and the advanced fortune base unlocked, she held back the impulse to spend those hundred thousand popularity points on the only limited-edition divine pill. Instead, she took some pregnancy-preserving medicine every day from the newly opened herbal pharmacy and waited for the due date to arrive.

Ever since he obtained the mortgage loan on the villa, Chen Bo had become busy. Sometimes he would be away on business for ten or fifteen days without coming home. Other times, he would return for a few days and then leave again.

Then women began calling the villa. Some said plainly that they were looking for Chen Bo; others, sweeter-tongued, called her Sister-in-law Bo.

At first Le Tian’er would still exchange a few polite words with them. But after a while, whenever she heard a woman’s voice on the phone, she would simply hang up.

Once, Chen Mother called. Le Tian’er had not been paying attention and hung up on her as well. Chen Mother thought something had happened to her and rushed over that very night.

“My son is not that kind of man. Besides, when a man is doing business out there, some social niceties are unavoidable. Keep one eye open and the other shut, and don’t take it to heart. Otherwise you’re only making trouble for yourself. Why make yourself unhappy?”

The more Chen Mother tried to comfort her, the more irritated Le Tian’er became. She trusted Chen Bo, but she could not bear being harassed by all sorts of women all the time. What puzzled her was how these women had learned the phone number to Chen Bo’s villa.

She went to the telecom office and applied for a new number. The house was peaceful for a few days. While Chen Bo was away on business, Le Tian’er used the landline to call his mobile and told him the home number had been changed.

Chen Bo grunted, said he was busy and would call later, then hung up.

Less than half an hour later, the phone rang. Thinking Chen Bo had found time to call her back, she picked up the receiver and called his name happily. From the other end came a woman’s giggling laughter.