He Yuan calmly turned around to face the two people in the room. His eyes lingered on Han Tao's hands, which were on Chen Meili's stomach, before eyeing the half dressed man pointedly.
Han Tao frowned at his wife's expression before following her line of sight and slowly looking down at himself in confusion. It was at that moment he remembered he'd rushed out of the room in the middle of an intimate session so he was... shirtless.
He raised his head and locked eyes with Chen Meili. The woman lowered her eyes shyly with flushed cheeks and his own face burned. He raised a fist to his mouth and coughed. "Pardon me. I had been very worried about you-"
He Yuan cleared his throat.
Han Tao turned to face his wife. Thinking about how his words sounded, he added, "-and the babies so I had rushed over here without thinking."
He Yuan rolled his eyes inwardly. It was normal to care about the wellbeing of a surrogate. If Han Tao's mind was free of guilt, the man wouldn't have rushed to place emphasis on the babies. He eyed Chen Meili from top to bottom. "It's a good thing she's fine now-" Then turned back to Han Tao. "-It's late and she should rest. Let's go."
Chen Meili stiffened whilst Han Tao's expression fell. Xu Lifen wanted to go back so they could continue? He eyed Chen Meili's belly. That seemed a little unfair. He wasn't in the mood to do anything with his wife anymore.
On the other hand, Chen Meili's let her hands fall from her stomach and clench at her sides. She was a little unhappy in her heart. Not because of Xu Lifen's words but because she finally realized something.
Brother Tao had come here in a hurry and he was shirtless, Xu Lifen's complexion appeared quite flushed and rosy so they had been...
Her eyes reddened. How could she forget? As much as she had brother Tao's attention now, in the end, he was already married to Xu Lifen. If only she'd been a little patient and hadn't hastily married Han Jinhai.
She looked to her sister-in-law. Why was Xu Lifen so lucky? She had met brother Tao first. The both of them had been so in love with each other but why was Xu Lifen the one who had him in the end?
Thinking of the fact that Xu Lifen could be as happy as she wanted with Han Tao whilst she, herself, could only watch from afar made Chen Meili's throat become clogged with emotions.
She took a step back, causing Han Tao's hands to fall off her stomach before giving him a painful smile. "Brother Tao, I had interrupted you and sister-in-law. Y- you guys can go now. I can handle myself."
Han Tao frowned at Chen Meili's words. Seeing the swirl of emotions in her eyes made him sad. His mind drifted to all those years ago when he'd made promises to the woman before him. They'd been so young and happy.
He had sworn to never wrong her, make her cry or even feel the slightest bit of disatisfaction. Although he had been heartbroken when he found out she'd married his brother but in the end, could he actually blame her?
She'd been grieving and had wanted whatever she could get that would keep her close to his memory. He perfectly understood that.
In fact, Chen Meili was very pitiful. Yes, she had grown up in an elite family with abundant love and care but then she had lost the love of her life, married another man she'd grown to love only to lose him too a year later. Now she was pregnant with kids that she would lose to another woman after going through the pain of childbirth.
How did she deserve any of this?
"Meili..." Han Tao called gently. He clenched his fists and turned to his wife. "Lifen, you go up first. Since Meili is feeling a little unwell, I would watch over her tonight."
He Yuan let out a soft chuckle. What was this? He eyed Han Tao pointedly. "She has three maids working around the clock, Every. Single. Second, to cater to her needs."
Han Tao frowned and said in a voice that brooked no argument, "I know, but those are my children in her stomach. It's better to be safe than sorry."
He Yuan raised a brow. "Are they not my children also? Tell me, if we had chosen a surrogate from the hospital, would you have rushed over to accompany her at the care centre in the middle of the night?"
Han Tao clenched his fists harder. "Don't compare Meili to outsiders. She is a recognized member of the Han family and deserves to be treated as such!"
"Brother Tao!" Chen Meili softly held Han Tao's hand in distress. "You shouldn't fight with sister-in-law because of me. It's okay if sister-in-law needs you. I can manage."
Han Tao sneered. "What could she possibly need me for?!" The mere thought that Xu Lifen would rather have sex whilst the woman, who had offered over nine months of her life to nurture their babies, faced difficulties made him so angry.
He Yuan looked from the fuming Han Tao to the 'distressed' Chen Meili holding him back and he chuckled. He could mention 99 things wrong with this situation but all Han Tao needed was that 1 loophole he could exploit.
A casual smile formed on his face and he waved a hand gracefully. "Do whatever you please" And then he walked out of the room. All that was left for the babies to arrive was less than two months so why stress himself?
Han Tao watched his wife go with a suspicious frown before looking to a servant. "Get me a shirt." As soon as the servant left, he gently assisted Chen Meili to the bed.
Chen Meili let herself be handled gently with a warm look in her eyes. She couldn't believe that brother Tao had openly gone against Xu Lifen and chose to remain here with her. After being fully tucked in, she eyed the man seated by her bed. "Brother Tao, I feel awful."
Han Tao frowned. "No need to feel awful. Xu Lifen was just being her usual self and causing unnecessary trouble."
Chen Meili shook her head stubbornly. "I still don't like it when you fight. That's not healthy for a relationship. You should always remember to be patient."
Han Tao smiled helplessly. There's no speaking of patience where Xu Lifen was involved. The woman's character was very brash. On the other hand, he eyed Chen Meili and subsconsciouly said, "Jinhai had been so lucky to marry you..."
Chen Meili blushed brightly. "I'm not perfect myself."
"You are." Han Tao countered immediately.
The blush coating Chen Meili's cheeks deepened and a faraway look appeared in her eyes. "Unfortunately... Good things hardly last."
Han Tao locked eyes with her then. "...Hm."
Whether the two people in the room were talking about Han Jinhai's untimely death or the untimely end of the relationship they both had in the past, no one knew, but they both stared warmly into each other's eyes until the servant returned with the shirt.
For the rest of the night, as promised and despite his fatigue from travel, Han Tao sat by Chen Meili's bedside with eyes wide open, admiring her alluring features as she slept absolutely peacefully. Just like the angel she was.
-------------------------
The next morning, He Yuan skipped breakfast with the Hans as usual. He, instead, popped a hunger relieving pill in his mouth and left the mansion before the sun rose.
With a taxi, he drove straight to the airport in time to catch his flight to city Y. The entire flight plus boarding and alighting took exactly one hour and soon, he was on his way to the South of the city.
City Y was a very vibrant city with people all over the streets and various popular attraction sites for lovers. Soon enough, He Yuan arrived at a very popular commercial zone.
A month ago, he'd selected the perfect location to open up a flower shop. For more profit, the shop was going to double as a confectionery where chocalates and candies could be sold alongside the flowers.
Today, he was going to inspect the redecoration that had been carried out by the construction team he assigned.
"Miss Xu." The minute He Yuan stepped down from the cab, a man in a suit walked up to him and offered his hand.
He Yuan accepted the handshake before going straight to the point, "Can we begin?"
"Sure." The man replied before making a gesture with his hand, "Please."
The flower shop was along the commercial street with a customized gift shop on the right and a perfume shop on the left. This particular shop had caused quite a lot but it was worth it.
Just imagine, a person decides to make a customized gift for their loved one and the minute they step out, they see flowers. Anyone would be tempted to buy in order to make their wrapped gift appear more appealing!
Not just that, the commercial area with a lot of lovers' hangout spots would guarantee an acceptable traffic for Xu Lifen to market her wares.
Now to the shop, He Yuan looked around in satisfaction. It had just one storey with a staircase at the back that led to the roof. He planned to turn the roof to a small garden for the flowers so an irrigation system was installed by the construction team.
The walls of the shop were pure white with some soft flower designs and the flooring was done with wooden panels. Before the transparent glass entrance were transparent cabinets to showcase the confectioneries whilst a counter was placed at the opposite end of the shop.
Five round tables and chairs were also placed fancily around the shop just in case some customers decided to have some confectioneries in-shop. Lastly, rows of white vases were placed along the walls to hold flowers.
Although they were empty at the moment.
He Yuan smiled in satisfaction. "888, what do you think?"
The system hummed. [Good.]
He Yuan nodded. He'd already put out vacancy notices online and his horticulturists were already preparing the flowers to be transported to the shop. In another month or so, things should start moving.
He turned to the man in the suit. "It's great."
After handling the issues at the shop, He Yuan decided it would be such a waste to leave the beautiful City without enjoying himself first so he went sightseeing.
For the entire day, He Yuan went from one spot to another, filling up his stomach and buying whatever caught his eye. At some point, 888 materialized beside his host, giving his opinion from time to time.
Over in the Han mansion;
Han Tao kept staring at the door every minute. His jaws were clenched and his eyebrows deeply furrowed. It was already 8:45pm and his wife was nowhere to be found. He'd called her line severally but she hadn't been picking her calls! What was this?!
Also with Han Tao in the living room, were Min Yanyu, Chen Meili, Gu Longwei, Han Rong, Han Yi, Han Jiao and Fu Lan, all silent and staring at Han Tao with different expressions.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om