DREB CHAPTER 74

Li Yan froze momentarily in front of the living room door before removing his scarf and hat. Suddenly, he realized that one of his gloves was missing and wasn’t sure if he’d lost it on the way home.

Lu Lianning saw his dejected appearance and still ignored his words. With a gloomy face, he said, “If you don’t explain what happened today, we’re not having dinner!”

Hearing the threat, Li Yan was reminded of Lin Sheng’s hurtful words. He shoved his hat and scarf into the butler’s hands, sniffled, and headed upstairs. “If we’re not eating, then we’re not eating! I don’t feel like eating anyway!”

Normally, Li Yan wouldn’t dare talk back to Lu Lianning, but today he acted as if he didn’t care, which was completely out of character.

Lu Lianning watched as Li Yan stubbornly tried to walk past him and go upstairs. “What’s this about! You get upset outside, so you’re taking it out on me? Getting bolder, are we!” He turned toward Li Yan, who was already halfway up the stairs, and gritted his teeth. “Get down here and eat!”

“I’m not eating! I don’t want to!” Li Yan shouted back without turning around, continuing up the stairs. “Punish me if you want. It’s always whatever you say anyway…” His voice was hoarse as if he had been greatly wronged.

“You’re rebelling against me? Get your ass down here right now! I let you off for being late, but now you’re really pushing it!” Lu Lianning stormed toward the stairs, looking ready to drag Li Yan down himself.

Sensing the tension rising, the butler noticed Li Yan hesitate and stepped forward to intervene. “He’s tired from the walk back, and it’s freezing outside with all the snow. Let him rest for a while. I’ll bring him something to eat later.”

Lu Lianning glared at Li Yan’s retreating figure, clenching his jaw, then turned to the butler, who gently shook his head.

Trying to calm down, Lu Lianning stood at the foot of the stairs for a long moment before letting out a cold huff and returning to the dining table alone.

Upstairs, Li Yan heard the sound of a chair being pulled out. He rushed into the bedroom and closed the door behind him.

Perhaps because he really had caught a cold, the small amount of food he was forced to eat later that evening came right back up. Li Yan broke into a cold sweat and lay weakly in bed.

In the middle of the night, he developed a mild fever. After taking some medicine, he finally drifted off to sleep as dawn approached. Lu Lianning pressed his lips together, watching him with a mix of frustration and anger. However, after seeing Li Yan’s condition when he returned today, his anger eventually subsided, and he began to think it might actually be for the best.

What’s that saying—“Pregnancy makes you silly for three years”? Besides being pregnant, Li Yan had only just recovered from his mental fog less than two years ago, and the world outside was full of dangers. Could he really outsmart people with bad intentions? Maybe now that he’d been bullied and faced some setbacks, he’d finally realize how comfortable life at home was.

Still, Lu Lianning couldn’t help but wonder if Li Yan’s unusual mood was related to the pregnancy.

Due to the fever during the night, Zheng Zhi came by the next day to check on him. Although the fever had already subsided, Lu Lianning still made a fuss. He sat with Zheng Zhi in the study, seriously recounting Li Yan’s strange behavior from the previous day.

Zheng Zhi said, “Since he’s pregnant now, it’s normal for his emotions to fluctuate. Just keep an eye on him and don’t handle things the way you used to. If anything comes up, feel free to message me.”

He had a line of patients waiting at the hospital and hadn’t even gone in yet, having been called over early in the morning.

Lu Lianning understood that Zheng Zhi was implying he should be more patient and accommodating with Li Yan. Still, his face remained emotionless as he thought: If I hadn’t already been patient enough, would Li Yan have dared to speak to me as he did yesterday?

Zheng Zhi left in a rush, saying that he had surgeries lined up that morning. Without seeing him out, Lu Lianning pulled the blanket over Li Yan, staring at him in silence for a moment. When Li Yan rolled over, Lu Lianning snapped out of his thoughts and climbed into bed as well. He hadn’t slept since Li Yan developed the fever overnight. Even after the fever broke and he finally lay down, he remained restless and couldn’t fall asleep.

Li Yan didn’t seem to react much to Lu Lianning gradually softening his temper, but he could sense a slight change. In small matters, Lu Lianning had become more easygoing.

Li Yan had grown somewhat picky, and one day, he refused to eat the food prepared at home.

With rare patience, Lu Lianning asked him what he wanted to eat.

Li Yan’s eyes lit up as he told him, “I want ramen.”

Lu Lianning’s disapproval was clear on his face, and he was about to refuse. But seeing the rare look of anticipation in Li Yan’s eyes, he forced himself to change his response. “Alright.”

After Lu Lianning brought in a ramen chef to prepare the dish, Li Yan took a couple of bites before putting down his chopsticks.

He said it didn’t taste the same.

Lu Lianning was so furious that he couldn’t hold back any longer and said to Li Yan, “What’s your problem? This is the same chef from the place you used to go to! How can it not taste the same! What’s wrong—is the table not dirty enough for you? Is the place not run down enough?”

Li Yan lowered his head after being yelled at and poked at the ramen. But no matter how much he ate, it just didn’t taste like it used to.

There was no chili oil, the ingredients weren’t quite right, and the color was much lighter than what he remembered…

However, Lu Lianning acted so self-righteously, sitting across from Li Yan with his arms crossed. He watched him eat noodles like an invigilator overseeing the only student in an exam, supervising every bite of that modified bowl of ramen.

Li Yan ate with his eyes half-lidded. For some reason, even the simple joy of eating ramen felt off in front of Lu Lianning.

He knew something was different about him lately. His belly had gotten much bigger, yet Lu Lianning still insisted he eat plenty of highly nutritious supplements.

–

Zheng Zhi’s phone had been buzzing nonstop these days, whether he was in surgery or in meetings. A sharp-eyed colleague noticed that Dr. Zheng had kept his phone on silent for several days straight. Every time a message appeared and the screen lit up, a nosy nurse would tease, “Are you dating someone?” She even leaned in, trying to sneak a peek at his screen.

Zheng Zhi pretended to be calm and replied, “No,” but his hand quickly pressed the button to turn off the display.

It seemed highly suspicious.

That evening, after work, Zheng Zhi sat in his car and sighed. He pulled out his phone, but before he could unlock the screen, another message popped up.

“He ate one extra shrimp tonight.”

“Not a fan of bird’s nest soup[mfn]A Chinese delicacy made from swiftlet nests, valued for its health benefits.[/mfn].”

There were many more trivial messages like these. As Zheng Zhi scrolled up, he saw earlier ones:

“He’s becoming really fierce. Today, he loudly complained that I’m annoying.”

“He still wants to go out. It was snowing heavily today, and I didn’t let him, so we fought. He was so angry he didn’t speak to me all afternoon. His temper is something else.”

“At night, he tosses and turns a lot. He doesn’t seem to be sleeping well. Is there any way to help with that?”

“His calves are swollen today. What should I do?”

After about ten minutes, another message appeared: “Dr. Zheng, you’re really slow at replying. I’ve already found the answer on Baidu.”

Zheng Zhi took a deep breath and swiped back to the earlier message, eyes lingering on the line: “He ate one extra shrimp tonight.” Resisting the urge to block the person with an unattractive plastic little prince as a profile picture, he replied as politely and restrainedly as possible: “No need to go into such detail.”

He then exited the chat and ordered several books: The Encyclopedia of Pregnant Husbands, A Healthy Pregnancy, 100 Ways to Manage a Pregnant Husband’s Emotions…

He bought dozens of them in rapid succession and had them sent to Lu Lianning’s address.