After pregnancy.
Yu Siqing had seriously thought about what her and He Yunjian's child would look like. Would the child look more like her or him? She concluded that it would be best if the child looked like his father. After all, He Yunjian's superior and delicate bone structure was more suitable for being passed down from generation to generation.
Yu Siqing had never confessed her inner feelings to He Yunjian, and she kept the words "I love you" to herself.
But she bought a camera and began to record every detail of their daily life, and how good this man was to her.
He Yunjian asked her if she was filming this for her children to watch when they grow up
Yu Siqing didn’t think about it. What she was thinking was: “… I want to maintain some happiness, at least to prove that I was once happy.”
She was very happy. Even though she lost 20 kilograms during pregnancy, she didn't get enough rest all day, vomited subconsciously when she saw food, and even smelled the slightest smell of cigarettes made her feel so nauseous that her face turned pale.
But Yu Siqing had never been pampered like this before.
Before her baby was three months old, He Yunjian hardly left the villa. The two of them were determined to have this child, so they would naturally take good care of the baby. Not only did they invite a team of nutritionists to the villa, they also found an old Chinese doctor to help her with the pregnancy.
Yu Siqing was taken care of by the man and successfully survived the critical period.
However, her stomach was pampered and she suffered from anorexia. She could not eat the dinner prepared by the nutritionist, but she could eat the meals made by He Yunjian.
Occasionally, nutritionists would say to me privately:
"… Is she pregnant with a golden nugget? She has no name or status, and she doesn't look that noble."
"This is called seducing a man's heart. Didn't you see that Mr. He would come back to make dinner for her no matter how busy he was just to get her something to eat? How could a woman outside have a chance to get promoted like this?"
"Great means!"
Because of her poverty, she is not worthy of love in the eyes of others, and everything she does is based on profit and calculation.
Yu Siqing did not complain to He Yunjian and continued to let the nutritionist team take care of her food, clothing, housing and transportation every day for money.
I finally made it to the sixth month of pregnancy.
The morning sickness was finally relieved because He Yunjian developed a menu based on her eating habits.
However, Yu Siqing was highly dependent on him. Whenever he was not present at dinner, after swallowing a few mouthfuls with difficulty, the familiar feeling of nausea would rush up her throat again. She would hurriedly pick up the freshly squeezed juice and drink it, using the strong sour taste to suppress it.
The old housekeeper was nervous: "Why? Not to your taste?"
After all, He Yunjian had instructed that if the food didn’t suit Yu Siqing’s taste, he should cook it again until the dish was what Yu Siqing wanted to eat.
"I might be a little tired... I want to go upstairs and rest for a while."
Yu Siqing did not ask for the kitchen to be redone. She got up from the chair and walked upstairs in a sickly manner. All the nutrients in her body were absorbed by this child. She was as thin as a paper man. She lay on the sofa in the master bedroom, feeling tired and powerless, staring at the lawn outside the floor-to-ceiling window with drooping eyelashes in a daze.
Night fell quietly, and Yu Siqing was awakened by her dream about her past in the welfare home. She felt a weight on her fingertips and found that it was He Yunjian who was standing beside her, kissing her palm gently.
When she saw him, the panic in Yu Siqing's eyes faded away and she raised her hands to hug him.
He Yunjian carried her to the huge bed and lay down with her. She also pressed her face against the collar of his shirt. There was only one light in the darkness, and the halo dimly illuminated each other. He whispered, "The housekeeper said that you only ate a few bites tonight. Are you feeling nauseous again?"
Yu Siqing nodded: "Yeah."
"So what do you want to eat?"
"I don't want to eat."
Yu Siqing hugged him tightly and said softly, "Stay with me for a while."
It seemed that sleeping was easier for her to replenish her energy. She thought she had gotten used to it, but when she looked up, she accidentally saw a certain self-blame in He Yunjian's eyes, which was like a piercing blow to Yu Siqing's heart. She took the initiative to kiss his chin: "You have taken good care of me. It's just that I have a stronger reaction to my pregnancy."
He Yunjian said, "The children of the He family are very troublesome... When my mother gave birth, both my brother and I were in pain for three days and three nights."
His bony fingers touched Yu Siqing's gentle eyes. He was so thin that he looked malnourished, and his face was thin and pointed. "Siqing, give birth to this baby in your belly. We won't have any more children."
Yu Siqing interpreted his every word as deep affection, and couldn't help but ask softly: "Will you stay with me for the rest of my life?"
He Yunjian answered her with a clear and melodious voice, almost without a second's hesitation: "I will."
When the pregnancy reached seven months, the existence of the child could no longer be concealed.
After learning the news, He Yuliu traveled to New York again and had a fierce quarrel with He Yunjian. The sound of conversation coming from the study was obviously very restrained, but the occasional noise of teacups being thrown was too obvious and could be heard if one walked closer.
"He Yunjian! I think you are crazy... Let the woman you keep outside give birth to a child. Is she worthy of being the mistress of the He family?"
"I will not acknowledge the identity of this illegitimate child. You'd better give up on this idea as soon as possible. This child is only seven months old. Go get surgery before he's born. Don't regret it in the future!"
…
Yu Siqing's heart tightened and she subconsciously protected her stomach. Behind her was a cold wall. When the study door opened, she had nowhere to hide. Her body was too heavy to run, so she could only look He Yuliu in the face.
The elder who had repeatedly said that he wanted to take her child for surgery looked at her with extremely cold and disgusted eyes, saying without disguising: "You are quite a manipulator, you know how to use your child to gain power."
Yu Siqing knew that no matter how she explained, the He family's impression of her had already been formed. The more humble she was, the more malicious speculations she would attract.
He Yuliu's tantrum was just the beginning. Later, the conflict between him and He Yunjian intensified, and the people from the United Family put pressure on him. From beginning to end, He Yunjian's position never wavered. He wanted Yu Siqing and the unborn child in her belly.
For a long time, Yu Siqing thought that she and He Yunjian would be very happy, forming an ordinary family with children and laughter. She was willing to suppress her instinctive desire for money and power for the sake of the hard-earned happiness in front of her.
And the anxiety about this world...
But God played a huge joke on her. When she had a difficult childbirth and learned that He Yunjian had become a vegetable after a car accident, Yu Siqing's whole world collapsed completely and she even lost the faith to live.
The child that she gave birth to at the cost of her life was a boy.
Yu Siqing was unable to face the child. She was in so much pain that she was unable to save herself. No one cared about her and she had to lie in the hospital for a whole month before she could get out of bed. They just left her to be sick.
After discharge from hospital.
Yu Siqing dragged her bruised body back to the villa. The moment she stepped in, she seemed to see the sweet scenes of her and He Yunjian in every corner of the living room, dining room and kitchen, reminding her over and over again what she had lost.
Yu Siqing turned and went upstairs to the floor-to-ceiling window in the master bedroom. During her pregnancy, He Yunjian would often lie here with her to bask in the sun. She could clearly see the lawn outside. He said that after the child was born, he would get a docile puppy to accompany the child as he grew up.
Slowly, Yu Siqing's eyes fell on the coffee table next to her. There was a piece of strawberry hand-torn bread with the production date marked on it being the day of the car accident.
Yu Siqing finally remembered that He Yunjian had gone to buy her some bread that day, so she went out to school alone. Suddenly, she felt as if she had lost all her strength, and she knelt on the cold floor.
Her fingers turned white as she clenched the edge of the coffee table. After a long time, she reached out with a slight tremor and took the bag of bread.
It had been expired after a month, but Yu Siqing seemed unaware of it. She took it out and ate it, not caring about the spoiled taste. She chewed it slowly at first, then swallowed it instinctively with her throat, and kept stuffing it into her mouth. In the end, she coughed until her pale face turned red, but she refused to stop.
A hole was created in her body that could not heal itself, so she could only fill it in this way in exchange for the last bit of warmth.
Yu Siqing fell to the floor in a dishevel and tiredness, with a scratch on her forehead and bleeding marks, which gradually mixed with her unstoppable tears and slid down her pale face.
She held the transparent bread bag with her fingers and pressed it tightly against her chest, trying to melt into her flesh.
The pair of lips, slightly parted and panting, echoed in the silent space: "Yun Jian... He Yun Jian... I'm so cold, so cold."
No one visited the villa anymore, only the old housekeeper would bring some food upstairs on time every day. He seemed to know that Yu Siqing would not live long in this state, so he did not waste any words to persuade her.
No matter whether it was day or night, there was no light in the master bedroom on the second floor.
Yu Siqing tried to commit suicide. She took sleeping pills like candy, swallowing them without even drinking water, but she vomited them out because of nausea. Later, she tried twice more, but her stomach was damaged, so she would vomit everything she ate.
She had no choice but to slit her wrists. On a stormy night, she ignored the windows that were creaking in the cold wind and walked barefoot to the bathroom. Only the floor-to-ceiling glass let in some light, shrouding her frail figure.
Yu Siqing was lying in a bathtub filled with water, the blood on the wound on her wrist was bleeding, but she felt no pain. Death was a relief for her, and the quickest way to escape the repeated torture of fate.
Maybe she wasn't worthy of this life.
The cold water flowed over her eyelashes and completely engulfed her. The process was extremely painful. Yu Siqing's consciousness seemed to be torn apart. The world in front of her began to turn black and white, until she felt that she had stopped breathing and her body was no longer struggling in the water...
Suddenly, a slender hand pulled her back to reality from the abyss.
After a few seconds of silence, Yu Siqing thought she was dreaming. She leaned on the edge of the bathtub and saw a familiar figure close to her. The figure was in white shirt and long pants, and his face was reflected in her bloodshot eyes.
"The clouds gradually..."
Yu Siqing's soul, which had turned into a puddle of water, began to wake up. She wanted to raise her hand, but just as her fingertips touched the edge of the white clothes, the voice of a strange man came to her ears, instantly bringing her back to a more real reality.
It was the figure who was so close that he looked at her carefully and asked her, "Sister Siqing, the ambulance will be here soon... Are you okay?"
Yu Siqing recognized who this man who was younger than He Yunjian was. He was the younger brother that He Yunjian had mentioned, who had been following the elders in chanting sutras and believing in Buddhism since childhood:
—He Suichen.
…
After being pulled back from the brink of death once, Yu Siqing never chose to commit suicide again.
The arrival of He Sui Chen was like a ray of light shining into everyone's life. For a whole six months, he gave He Yuliu a backbone. He brought the child who was abandoned by everyone to his side and arranged for the best psychiatrist to treat Yu Siqing.
Except for He Yunjian, who was lying on the hospital bed and was declared a vegetative state by the doctor, he could not save the person by himself.
Everyone in the He family has hope for a new life because of He Sui Chen.
Yu Siqing's condition improved after a year. She was no longer heartbroken, but because of the medication, her emotions became numb and quiet. She often liked to daydream, was afraid of children, and was terrified of anything bright.
He Sui Chen talked to her three times, and his words were not as vicious as He Yuliu's, accusing her of being unlucky in marriage and blaming everything on her.
He Suichen told her: "You are not guilty."
Yu Siqing opened her dark and scary eyes wide and stared at him intently. Finally, tears dropped onto the back of her pale hands.
After she cried out all the suppressed pain in her heart, He Sui Chen handed her a clean handkerchief, and always maintained a calm and composed attitude, advising her not to get stuck in painful memories: "Sister Siqing, take a few steps forward... You still have children and family. Big brother and we are all your family."
"Do I still have a home?"
"From now on... as long as I am in charge of the He family, there will be a place for you and your child."
This was the promise He Sui Chen made to her personally when he came to power, and every word of it was true.
Because no one in the He family expected that He Sui Chen would give all his brother's property and shares to her and the child. The reason was very simple. At that time, what he meant was that although she and He Yunjian did not get a marriage certificate, they were living together in New York and had a son.
So in He Sui Chen's eyes, Yu Siqing is He Yunjian's legitimate wife.
Give her property equity and also the right to marry freely.
When He Suichen slowly pushed the agreement and a pen in front of her, he said calmly, "I don't know when my elder brother will wake up. You still have a lot of youth. If you can find happiness again one day in the future, the He family will not stop you from marrying someone else."
Yu Siqing lowered her head slightly and looked at the pale agreement. Her thin fingers rested on her knees, as if they weighed a thousand pounds and she couldn't lift them up.
He Sui Chen did not force her to sign on the spot. He just watched her start to cry. Her hair was soaked and stuck to her pale cheeks. After a long time...
Yu Siqing raised her head, tears on her dense eyelashes, and looked at the young man opposite her who looked like He Yunjian. Her voice was hoarse and hard to hear: "I want to think about it for one night, is that okay?"
He Suichen put his long fingers together on the desk, and his tone was still gentle: "Okay."
He Yunjian once said something very true. His younger brother was a very gifted business genius. Although he was young, his means were no less than his elder brother's. However, the He family intentionally cultivated his lazy character. He was used to being a monk who lived a simple life and had no ambition for power.
And he is best at using a smiling face to make people angry to death.
If He Suichen wants to give this equity and property, no one in the He family can stop him.
The author has something to say: Patriarch He: "What's the point of being a money-making tool? I might as well teach my wife to read and write in Nanming Temple."
There will be two more updates. See you in the evening.