That “Bad” Woman Next Door – Chapter 28

Who Do You Want to Bear a Child For?

Having sat with Zhuang Xiaochen for less than ten minutes, Yuan Yue’s good mood for the entire day was thoroughly destroyed by her.

Upon leaving the coffee shop, Yuan Yue anxiously called Yuan Xi, wanting to ask if he had arrived at the store yet. However, Yuan Xi said he had just returned from the hospital.

Yuan Yue’s heart tightened, and she hurriedly asked for the reason, “You’re sick?”

“Not me, it’s Xiao Xi. Found out he had a fever early in the morning; I just took him to get an injection.”

Hearing that her little nephew was sick, Yuan Yue had to temporarily put the words she intended to say back into her stomach. She decided to go over and check on the situation first.

Not long after Yuan Yue started driving, she arrived at Yuan Xi’s home. Yuan Xi personally came to open the door for her. Before even entering the room, she couldn’t wait to ask, “How is Xiao Xi doing now?”

Yuan Xi looked haggard, as if he hadn’t slept well, and his voice was slightly hoarse. “The doctor said there are no major problems. As long as he takes his medicine on time and rests well, he’ll be fine.”

The taste of being sick was not pleasant, and a child’s body was so golden and precious¹. Yuan Yue said anxiously, “I’ll go take a look.”

Yuan Xi pointed to the room. “Go ahead, your sister-in-law is currently feeding him medicine.”

The door to the children’s room was wide open. As Yuan Yue walked over, she heard Wang Shasha’s gentle voice: “Be obedient. Only by taking the medicine will the illness get better quickly, and once the illness is cured, you can go to school.”

Xiao Xi’s tiny body was sunken into the single bed, struggling painfully until the very end. “I don’t want to eat medicine, and I don’t want to go to school either.”

The child was being a bit unreasonable and making a fuss. Wang Shasha became somewhat impatient and threatened him, saying, “You hurry up and get up to eat the medicine obediently, otherwise Mom is really going to get angry.”

Yuan Yue listened for a moment, then knocked symbolically on the door.

Wang Shasha turned her head, realized it was her, and immediately changed her expression. “Yueyue ah, when did you come?”

“Just arrived.” Yuan Yue walked in, her gaze locking onto the little patient on the bed, and spoke softly, “Xiao Xi, Auntie has come to see you.”

Xiao Xi slowly revealed his head. Seeing the person in front of him clearly, he put on a bitter face and pleaded for help, “Auntie, Mom is forcing me to eat medicine, but I don’t want to eat medicine at all.”

“Silly child, how can the illness get better without eating medicine?” Wang Shasha couldn’t help but say.

Xiao Xi was unhappy and about to throw a tantrum again. Yuan Yue hurriedly chimed in, “That’s right, Xiao Xi, you have to listen to Mom’s words. Hurry up and eat the medicine obediently.”

Xiao Xi retorted, “Mom isn’t a doctor.”

Such a witty answer actually stunned the two adults in the room. Yuan Yue reacted first, following the flow of logic: “Although Mom isn’t a doctor, the medicine was prescribed by a doctor, right? Mom is just doing what the doctor ordered. Are you not going to listen to the doctor’s words either?”

Xiao Xi gripped the edge of the blanket with both hands, looking at her eagerly, as if contemplating.

Wang Shasha interrupted, “It’s useless to reason with him. Put plainly, he just doesn’t want to go to school, so he finds all sorts of excuses. Yuan Yuxi, if you don’t listen again, I really won’t care about you anymore.”

Seeing Wang Shasha lose her temper, Xiao Xi was so scared his mouth flattened, and with a wah, he started crying. Wang Shasha felt even more agitated and complained in a low voice, “Both children have been spoiled rotten by your brother and your parents. When they grow a bit older, how am I supposed to manage them?”

Based on Yuan Yue’s understanding of Yuan Xi’s two children, the older brother Xiao Xi was relatively naughty and loved to cause a ruckus, while the younger sister Xiao Mi, though quiet, was too delicate. Wang Shasha was a full-time housewife and had always played the role of the strict parent at home. Because of work, Yuan Xi basically hadn’t experienced the hardships of raising children and spoiled them limitlessly; over time, they had developed quite a few bad habits.

Seeing Xiao Xi refusing to take his medicine now, Yuan Yue also felt anxious for Wang Shasha. She comforted her, saying, “Sister-in-law, don’t say these useless things right now. Let’s just get him to eat the medicine first.”

“I’m out of ideas anyway. I’ll go call Yuan Xi.”

Wang Shasha had just walked out with her front foot when Yuan Xi followed in with his back foot.

As soon as Xiao Xi saw him, he couldn’t help but act spoiled. “Dad, medicine is so bitter, I don’t want to eat medicine.”

Yuan Xi squatted by the bed, holding Xiao Xi’s chubby little hand, and said like a benevolent father, “If you don’t eat medicine, then what do you want to do?”

Xiao Xi wiped away a tear, his voice carrying a crying tone. “I want to go find Meimei, I want to drive bumper cars, and I also want to eat ice cream.”

Yuan Xi felt very distressed. He freed up a hand to test the boy’s temperature and said with a face full of doting affection, “Wait until your illness is cured, and Dad will take you to drive bumper cars and buy you ice cream, how about that?”

Xiao Xi’s eyes lit up, and he said in a milky voice, “Okay!”

“Then how about we drink the medicine right now?”

Xiao Xi nodded vigorously.

Just like that, Yuan Xi effortlessly coaxed Xiao Xi into taking the medicine. A sick child has limited energy after all; the earlier fuss had already exhausted all his strength, and Xiao Xi soon fell asleep.

Yuan Xi tucked the blanket in carefully. When he came out, he saw Yuan Yue standing at the door looking at him with a strange expression.

Yuan Yue said expressionlessly, “Ge², I think you spoil them too much. You really will spoil the two of them rotten doing this.”

Yuan Xi didn’t mind her unkind tone and said self-righteously, “What’s wrong with spoiling my own children? If it were you, what would you do?”

Yuan Yue curled her lips and said, “I wouldn’t be like you. There must be a degree to everything. You are clearly doting excessively! Don’t you know excessive doting only harms the child?”

Yuan Xi casually closed the door and sneered, “Speaking as if you have children right now.”

Yuan Yue was choked by his words, her small face flushing red.

Yuan Xi carefully observed her reaction and asked suspiciously, “You couldn’t be wanting to get married, right?”

“What nonsense are you saying!” Yuan Yue was startled.

“Since it’s not that, then why are you blushing?” Yuan Xi didn’t let her off at all, staring tightly at her face as he added, “By the way, last time I heard Xiao Min say you were in love. How come I didn’t know you had a boyfriend?”

Yuan Yue’s heart gave a thump. She thought, Sure enough, one cannot trust that big mouth Xiao Min. Luckily, I didn’t tell her that the person I like is a woman back then, otherwise, a disaster would have definitely happened.

Afraid Yuan Xi would spot a clue, Yuan Yue pretended to be impatient and said, “Don’t listen to Xiao Min spouting nonsense. How could it be possible that I have a boyfriend but didn’t tell you guys?”

It was true that she was in love, but the object of her love was Yu Xi. So, denying she had a boyfriend didn’t count as lying.

Seeing her eyes not blinking, looking unlike she was lying, Yuan Xi gave up questioning. Suddenly, the topic shifted. “Do you remember that high school classmate Xu Ming I mentioned to you when we went home for Mid-Autumn Festival last time? He contacted me again recently. He’s coming to the city in a few days. Since you don’t have a partner anyway, how about you two have a meal and meet up?”

Yuan Yue hadn’t expected that after so much time had passed, Yuan Xi was still thinking about this matter. She subconsciously refused, “I think let’s forget it, I’ve been very busy recently.”

Yuan Xi sniffed in disdain, directly dismantling her excuse: “Sleeping until high noon every day, what are you busy with?”

Yuan Yue stammered, “I… I’m busy losing weight recently!”

Yuan Xi frowned. “You’re not fat, what weight are you losing?”

“None of your business.” Yuan Yue didn’t want to continue this topic. She turned around, about to retreat, but accidentally bumped into the person behind her.

Wang Shasha cried out, “Aiyo!”

Yuan Yue, with quick eyes and fast hands, supported her. “Sister-in-law, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Wang Shasha waved her hands repeatedly, steadied herself, and said, “I just wanted to come over and ask what you guys want to eat for lunch so I can go out and buy groceries.”

Yuan Yue had never been a picky eater, and knowing Wang Shasha’s culinary skills were good, she said indifferently, “I’m easy, Sister-in-law, you see to it.”

“Alright then, I’ll go out to buy groceries first. You guys chat.”

Mooching a meal was already quite shameless. When Yuan Yue saw Wang Shasha to the door, she said, “Sorry ah, Sister-in-law, I still have some matters to discuss with my brother, so I can’t accompany you to buy groceries.”

Wang Shasha didn’t mind. “We are all family, don’t be polite with me. Hurry inside.”

Yuan Yue wasn’t making excuses for herself either. Waving goodbye to Wang Shasha, she retreated back into the room. Turning around, she was just about to find Yuan Xi to discuss matters when she saw Yuan Xi on the phone with someone.

She heard Yuan Xi speaking with an exaggerated expression: “Today ah? No time today, my son is sick, I have to stay home to accompany him.”

The other side said something unknown to him. After a few seconds, Yuan Xi laughed. “Of course, I also hope we can cooperate. If there’s money to be made and one doesn’t earn it, isn’t that being a fool? Miss Zhuang, you’ve misunderstood me.”

Zhuang Xiaochen?

Yuan Xi suddenly looked over at Yuan Yue and asked in surprise, “You looked for my sister today? Alright, I know. She’s at my house right now. I’ll chat with her in a bit. Let’s leave it at that for now. Bye-bye.”

Seeing Yuan Xi hang up, Yuan Yue walked closer, eager to verify with him: “Was that Zhuang Xiaochen calling you just now?”

“En.” Yuan Xi placed his phone on the tea table and looked up at her. “She looked for you before you came here?”

Yuan Yue nodded, sat down, and told Yuan Xi about her meeting with Zhuang Xiaochen today.

After listening, Yuan Xi’s brows locked deep in a frown, and he said fiercely, “I saw long ago that this woman isn’t simple.”

There was a plate of fruit on the tea table. Yuan Xi casually peeled a tangerine and handed it to Yuan Yue, then continued speaking to himself, “The first day she came, she didn’t talk about cooperation at all. She just pulled some random nonsense with me, saying she just wanted to make friends with you and me. Yesterday, as soon as she came, she poured alcohol down my throat. As we drank, she finally got to the main topic, saying she wanted to buy the spicy sauce formula from me. Of course, I wouldn’t agree, so I just drank with her until the end. Who knew this woman was so fierce? If I hadn’t pretended to be drunk, I would have been drunk to death by her yesterday.”

Seeing the tangerine peel was still green, Yuan Yue didn’t take it. Following his words, she asked, “Then do we still want to cooperate with her or not?”

“Yes ah! Why not?” Yuan Xi ate a segment of the tangerine, the sourness making the corner of his mouth twitch. “If she wants to have designs on the spicy sauce, there’s no door³. However, this woman doesn’t look like she’s just putting on airs. I’ve dealt with her a few times before, and I feel her network is quite wide; she should have quite a background. If we can cooperate, it’s naturally a good thing. If not, there’s no need to tear faces either. Doing business, you know, sometimes requires one to pretend to be a grandson⁴. Multiple friends, multiple paths⁵, don’t you say?”

Yuan Yue couldn’t understand these sets of business scriptures anyway. Hearing Yuan Xi analyze it like this today, and connecting it to what Zhuang Xiaochen said to her in the coffee shop, she suddenly felt a bit creeped out inside.

Once the conversation turned to business, Yuan Xi was like a wound-up clockwork toy that couldn’t stop. He spoke enthusiastically alone, but in the end, discovered Yuan Yue was absent-minded, so he had to stop.

Actually, Yuan Xi also knew Yuan Yue wasn’t enlightened regarding matters of the business field. He finished the tangerine while grimacing in pain, then changed the subject. “I say, are you really not going to consider that high school classmate of mine?”

Yuan Yue was thinking about things. Suddenly hearing Yuan Xi muttering about the high school classmate again, she snapped back to reality and shot him a glare. “Consider your head⁶ ah! Have you entered menopause? Every day you just know how to nag.”

Yuan Xi peeled another tangerine and said nonchalantly, “If you weren’t my sister, I wouldn’t bother nagging.”

Sometimes, excessive care from family became a burden. What Yuan Yue had the biggest headache about was people nagging about her relationship problems. She mumbled, “I will solve my own matters myself.”

After saying that, she pretended to lower her head and play with her phone.

Knowing he wasn’t being likable, Yuan Xi knew when to stop. He wiped his hands and stood up uneasily to check on Xiao Xi’s situation in the children’s room.

As soon as Yuan Xi left, Yuan Yue lifted her head. She glanced in the direction of the children’s room, opened WeChat, hesitated facing the chat window, and carefully typed out a line of words: Do you like children?

After waiting anxiously for a few seconds, Yuan Yue received a reply from that side: Like them ah, are you going to bear one for me?

Seeing this instantly returned message, Yuan Yue couldn’t feel happy at all. She stared at that line of text and began to daze.

How could two women create a child? Yu Xi was probably just joking with her, right?

But what if it wasn’t a joke?

Yuan Yue fell into conflict.

She even thought, for the first time ever, that if current technology were advanced enough that the genes of two women could fuse to give birth to a child, she would definitely bear one for Yu Xi without turning back.

No, two. One boy and one girl would be best.

Yuan Yue suddenly felt this thought of hers was extremely funny, and for a moment, she couldn’t control herself and laughed out loud.

“What’s making you so happy?” she heard Yuan Xi say unexpectedly from behind her.

Yuan Yue was frightened into a huge jump. With a smack, she dropped the phone.

Yuan Xi hadn’t expected her reaction to be so big. He naturally bent down to help her pick it up. Just as he wanted to check if the phone was broken, he accidentally saw the content on WeChat.

Yuan Yue’s heartbeat stopped abruptly, and she instinctively jumped up to snatch it.

Yuan Xi easily dodged her, looked at the screen again uncertainly, and frowned, “Who do you want to bear a child for? You just said you didn’t have a boyfriend yet, so who is this ‘Dear’?”

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