A week after receiving the positive test results, Chen Meili's confidence returned in full force. That very morning, she put on a flowing white silk dress, let down her long hair and gallantly headed over to the dining hall with her head held high.
It was almost 9:00am so everyone had gathered around the dining table, save for He Yuan.
The minute Chen Meili walked in, everyone turned to her. Seeing her fresh, innocent and warm look, soft smiles subconsciously formed on the faces of everyone whilst Han Yuanjun's bland expression remained the same.
Xu Lifen wasn't present so the Han Madam asked with out holding back, "Meili, how are you?"
Chen Meili smiled brightly. "I'm doing very well grandmother." Then she looked over Gu Longwei -who already had his eyes on her- and blushed.
The Han Madam nodded in satisfaction. As long as everything with the child was okay then she was good.
Han Yi looked from her grandmother to Chen Meili with a happy smile. "In about 10 weeks and 2 days, an ultrasound could be carried out and the gender of the baby would be determined!" She clapped excitedly at the end.
The older women had amused smiles on their faces whilst Han Jiao excitedly winked at her older carbon copy. Han Yi wasn't the only one who was keeping tabs afterall.
A few steps from the table, Chen Meili's smile had long frozen in an unnatural state. This was because, to the Hans, she was 3 weeks and 5 days pregnant but the reality was that she was only 1 week and 6 days pregnant. 3 months and 2 weeks was the earliest time to be able to check the gender of a baby.
This meant that based on her time, she would only be eligible in 12 weeks and 1 day.
Her eyes darted to Gu Longwei once more and seeing as uncle Gu did not appear worried, she relaxed. It was just a difference of 1 week and 6 days. It wouldn't be too hard to make up a few excuses and push the ultrasound to a time when she was ready.
Happily, Chen Meili walked over to seat beside Min Yanyu. Less than a minute later, He Yuan walked into the hall, pushing the stroller.
His eyes automatically landed on Chen Meili and then Gu Longwei before quickly moving to the other people around the table. Honestly, his eyes had seen so much this past week that even if he tried, he would never be able to look at neither the special one nor Gu Longwei the same again.
"Good morning everyone," He called out and after they all nodded, he pushed the stroller over to seat beside Chen Meili. Breakfast officially began then and the sharp sounds of tableware hitting plates rang out in the hall.
Two minutes into breakfast, Chen Meili began adjusting her position on her seat repeatedly. When no one noticed, she began tugging on her dress and sighing every two seconds.
Min Yanyu finally noticed and turned to her worriedly. "Meili are you alright?"
After successfully getting the attention she so desperately seeked, Chen Meili furrowed her brows. "Mother-in-law, I'm fine. I just feel really constricted."
The Han Madam frowned in worry. "Move her chair back a bit." She couldn't have a possible heir feel crowded in Chen Meili's stomach!
Min Yuanyu quickly stood up and did as she was told.
'...'
At the side, He Yuan looked from Chen Meili's very loose dress and thought of the ample amount of space that had been between her and the table before her chair was adjusted. Then he chuckled. What was this? Was the special one afraid that Xu Lifen wouldn't figure out she was pregnant?
He shook his head and focused on his food.
As soon as Min Yanyu returned to her seat, Chen Meili side eyed He Yuan. She'd given this a lot of thought and realized that there was no need to hide her pregnancy from Xu Lifen. According to what uncle Gu had told her, as long as Xu Lifen found out she was pregnant, Xu Lifen would propse a divorce to brother Tao.
Rather than wait for later, why not do it now? That way, as soon as brother Tao returned, the divorce papers could be signed and she could become his wife!
Happiness bloomed in Chen Meili's heart and she decided to try a little harder. She outstretched her hand, reached for a jar of lemon juice, poured herself a large glass and gulped it down -wincing as she did so.
Seeing that there was still no reaction from Xu Lifen, she gulped down two more glasses whilst everyone watched her with concerned gazes.
At the side, He Yuan resisted the urge to throw his head back and laugh. Chen Meili was really going all out wasn't she? He decided to humour her. Mocking a curious expression, he said, "Sister-in-law, I thought you hated lemons?"
Chen Meili's heart tingled excitedly as she sat up straighter and sent He Yuan a distressed smile. "I do hate lemons but..." She took another big gulp. "I just found my myself craving lemons lately."
He Yuan bit the inside of his cheek to hold back his laughter. "That's odd. The only other time you craved lemons out of the blue was when you were carrying my babies."
The eyes of everyone widened briefly but the happiness in Chen Meili's heart increased by serveral folds. Wow. Xu Lifen was much smarter than she'd expected! Did that not mean she wouldn't have to work so hard to send the message across?
At that moment, she noticed the alarmed expression on the faces of everyone and quickly reigned in her excitement. "Sister-in-law, it's just a coincidence. I also don't know why this is happening but I can't possibly be pregnant. First you had pointed out that I was experiencing morning sickness and now this. Why is pregnancy always on your mind?"
At his end of the table, Han Yuanjun wanted to sew Chen Meili's mouth shut. The young woman had already shamelessly slept with another woman's husband. Now what was she making so much fuss before the cuckolded woman for?!
He Yuan hadn't even opened his mouth to answer when Min Yanyu rushed to intervene. The woman looked to the side and leaned backwards a bit so she could see past Chen Meili and glare at him. "Xu Lifen, Chen Meili had been sick lately and that is all. Don't be noisy and focus on your food!"
He Yuan rolled his eyes inwardly and, to the disappointment of Chen Meili, he focused on his food once more.
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For the next weeks, He Yuan lived his life as normal and began his search for a house. The returns of his investments were coming in the very next month and the flower shop had been doing exceptionally well so he needed to begin narrowing down his options for a house in City Y.
On the other hand, Chen Meili made it her mission to make Xu Lifen to 'accidentally' find out about the pregnancy. When the Hans were present, she behaved herself but when they were not, she walked around the house, hands on her waist and accompanied by servants.
She also made sure to think up excuses to visit Han Tao's wing and 'discuss' with Xu Lifen. It usually ended up in He Yuan watching her ramble before his door and heartlessly shutting the door in her face but did she let that stop her?
Of course not.
The very next day, she would return once more, hands on her waist, and assisted by servants.
Unfortunately, at no point in time did He Yuan give her the satisfaction of letting Xu Lifen find out about the pregnancy and this just made her increasing frustrated.
2 months 2 weeks and 3 days later;
It was finally time for the ultrasound scan to reveal the gender if the baby. The Hans were especially hyped up and woke up even earlier than usual.
He Yuan didn't join them for breakfast but, of course, besides Han Yuanjun, no one noticed.
Looking at the excited faces of everyone, Chen Meili bit her lips before looking to the Han Madam. "Grandmother. How about we... Leave out on the ultrasound for now?"
Silence.
The Han Madam frowned. "What do you mean?"
Chen Meili lowered her head. "The thing is... Brother Tao was meant to return two weeks ago but had been delayed for an entire month. This means that he would return in two weeks time.
-I... I just wanted to make sure he was there personally for the gender reveal of the baby rather than hearing it second hand from everyone."
In her heart, she was calm. She had spent a lot of time thinking of an excuse to push off the ultrasound and the fact that Han Tao was delayed just created the perfect excuse. She couldn't be more satisfied.
In the dining hall, everyone exchanged looks before looking to Chen Meili with a soft smile. They hadn't thought of this...
Han Jiao sighed wistfully. "You truly put cousin Tao first don't you?"
Chen Meili blushed and shrank her head even more.
Min Yanyu laughed softly and placed a hand on Chen Meili's. "I am truly glad that you thought about A'Tao at this moment. Women like you are what make us mothers reassured."
Chen Meili blushed and just like that, the ultrasound was pushed for another two weeks -which happened to coincide with Chen Meili's real due date.
Everything slowly returned to normal and two weeks later....
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Location: Han mansion; Han Jinhai's family wing; Master's bedroom.
The light rays from the rising sun peeked through the curtains and shone upon the beautiful figure on the bed. Slowly, the person stirred awake.
With a soft sigh, a hand was lifted to Chen Meili's forehead.
After going through the events of the past year, a sneer slowly formed on Chen Meili's face. This wasn't how things were meant to go. What did this mean? Well...
Any Reaper would know. At this point in time, there was definitely a Tasker in this realm.
Back to the special one...
The sneer on Chen Meili's face turned into a disgusted frown. This entity been to a couple of realms and this special one was, honestly, one of the more stupider ones she'd encountered.
Sleeping with the uncle-in-law and planning to pass off the child as the brother-in-law's. Even a fool would know that such a plan would flop in the long run.
Chen Meili's head lowered as the person looked down at her stomach.
[Host, what do you plan on doing?]
Chen Meili's head moved from side to side in contemplation before her soft lips parted, "This child has to go."
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