Desperate Pretense At Being Poor

Chapter 88 – She Believes In Him

The law firm had recently accepted a high-profile case.

The husband of a national-level actress cheated on her during her pregnancy with a young newcomer and used a property registered under their joint names to buy a new house for the young newcomer.

The incident very quickly caused a furor on the internet.  The actress was one with a strong character.  Therefore, the next day, she quickly contacted a lawyer to file a lawsuit for divorce and property division.

The lawsuit was taken over by a veteran lawyer in the law firm where Wen Ruan was working.

Perhaps it was due to the ‘celebrity effect’ as more and more people came to the law firm for consultations on divorce procedures during this time.

When Wen Ruan and Qin Sushan were approaching the tea room, they happen to overhear a colleague whispering inside.

“After so many days, I found that the probability of men cheating during their wives’ pregnancies is very high.”

“Ai, it’s said that after having a child, it’s even more difficult for couples to separate.  Therefore, eighty percent of the men feel secure but couldn’t endure the loneliness”

Upon hearing this, Qin Sushan glanced anxiously at Wen Ruan.

Holding a cup in her hand, Wen Ruan walked into the tea room calmly without any expression and poured herself a cup of warm water.

When the group of colleagues saw Wen Ruan walk in, they initially did not show any reaction.  After greeting her with smiles, they carried on with their conversation.

“So it’s not surprising that women are very sensitive during their pregnancies.  Ai, after seeing so many lawsuits in the past few days, I feel a little fearful of marriage.”

*Cough, cough*

After Qin Sushan let out two loud coughs, the group of people finally reacted……

It seems Wen Ruan is pregnant, right?

So the people quickly found excuses to slip away.

After seeing that the people had left, Qin Sushan smiled and comforted the silent Wen Ruan who was beside her.

“Don’t worry, Fu Zhihuan is different from those men.  Don’t be overly anxious.”

Wen Ruan still did not speak.  She lowered her eyes and did not reveal any emotions.

Qin Sushan’s heart constricted and she had a bad feeling.  She felt that Wen Ruan must be affected by the words of those people so she immediately softened her tone and coaxed her.

“Look, Fu Zhihuan takes such good care of you.  Every day he sends you to work and fetches you home and even sends you right up to the office door.  How can it be the same as what that group of people said?  So you don’t have to worry too much…….”

“Huh?”  Wen Ruan seemed to have come back to the present.  She raised her eyes and stared blankly at Qin Sushan.

“What am I worried about?”

Qin Sushan choked and after thinking for a long while, she was too embarrassed to repeat the words she said just now and could only beat around the bush.

“That…….the matter that they mentioned just now…….will it make you very sensitive during pregnancy?”

“Oh, that……..”  Wen Ruan smiled.  “I’m not worried.”

Qin Sushan breathed a sigh of relief.

“Just as I said, how can you be overly sensitive when your state of mind is so good?”

Wen Ruan was silent for a long time and then replied truthfully.

“Actually, there is……..”

“What?”

“But it’s not me……..”  Wen Ruan took a sip of water.  “It’s Fu Zhihuan.”

***☆☆☆***

Zhao Zichen recently fell in love with a policewoman and pursued her for half a month but there was no progress in their relationship at all.

It was until yesterday that both of them had an off day at the same time and after racking his brains, Zhao Zichen invited her to the amusement park.

At night just as they had gotten on the Ferris wheel, the fireworks exploded in the sky.

The atmosphere was very good and suitable for a confession.

However, Zhao Zichen felt a little embarrassed to speak up and after holding it in for a long time, he could only utter the words……..”The scenery is very beautiful.”

The policewoman blushed and said in a very gentle and soft voice.

“Thank you, I’m very happy today.”

Before Zhao Zichen could feel happy, her next sentence was like pouring cold water on his head.

“Officer Zhao, you’re like my elder brother taking care of me.”

Being taken as an elder brother was even more distressing than being taken as a good man.

Zhao Zichen rubbed his head and then said.

“Ha, ha, ha, so you have an elder brother.”

The policewoman lowered her eyes and said sadly.  “My elder brother passed away ten years ago.”

When Zhao Zichen heard this, he was about to comfort her but before he could speak, he heard her add another sentence in a soft voice.

“So do you want to be my elder brother?”

Zhao Zichen turned cold.

 

After being emotionally battered, Zhao Zichen called Fu Zhihuan and Qin Ziran out to ‘Fight the Landlord’ during a rare weekend.  At the same time, he sought advice from the two married men about the ways in pursuing girls.

“What should I say?  What should I do next?”

Zhao Zichen looked at them with eyes that were full of expectations.  Fu Zhihuan slowly took a sip of tea, glanced at his watch, and stood up.

“Wait a minute, let me call Wen Ruan first.”

Zhao Zichen:  “…….Damn this married man.”

Qin Ziran smiled and then pressed down a ‘Queen’.

“How did you pursue her before this?”

“Every day I will prepare lunch for her, help her with the cases, think of ideas, help to check for information, and so on.”

Zhao Zichen thought for a while and then added.  “Now and then I will give her a small present and then invite her out.”

“I’m not sure but I heard from Shanshan that girls nowadays like guys who are cool.”

While arranging the cards, Qin Ziran helped Zhao Zichen to think of ideas.

“Giving her presents every day is easy but it is too mushy.  Why not do something provoking to show off a boyfriend’s strength?”

Zhao Zichen:  “Provoking?”

“I’m not sure.  Doesn’t your father run a judo hall?  Why don’t you invite the little lady to the judo hall?……..”

Speaking of this, Qin Ziran pondered for a while then his eyes lit up and he suggested firmly.

“Then beat and win her with one strike!  That’ll make you look very cool!”

Zhao Zichen pondered over the suggestion and became high-spirited.

“I think it should work!”

Then he glanced at Fu Zhihuan who had been silent all the while after making the phone call just now.

“Old Fu, what do you think?”

“……”

Fu Zhihuan lifted his head and gave Zhao Zichen a deep look.  Then he turned his head around to stare at Qin Ziran and asked a very profound question.

“How did you successfully pursue Qin Sushan?”

Qin Ziran was silent for a while.

“And I don’t know what that little policewoman’s thoughts are but I am very sure that………”  Fu Zhihuan swept a glance over Zhao Zhichen then pressed down a pair of 2 and added lightly.

“…….if you throw that little policewoman down in front of that big crowd of people in your judo hall then you won’t even get to be her elder brother anymore the next day.”

Zhao Zichen stiffened and immediately became discouraged.

“Then do you have any suggestions?”

Fu Zhihuan frowned and thought for a while.  Just as he was about to speak, the phone beside him started to vibrate.

“Wait a moment.”  He picked up the phone and said in a low voice.  “Let me text Wen Ruan first.”

Zhao Zichen rolled his eyes and almost stopped breathing.

“Okay.”

After returning the message, Fu Zhihuan put the phone on the table in front of him and raised his chin towards Zhao Zichen.

“Tell me how you replied after being called an elder brother.”

“I didn’t answer and of course, I felt very embarrassed.”

Zhao Zichen shuffled the cards absentmindedly while he recalled and said.  “I just said……‘ha, ha, ha, what a coincidence.  I’ve always regarded you as my sister’…..something like that.”

Fu Zhihuan paused for a while.  “And then?”

“Then these few days, she didn’t respond to me and didn’t want the things I gave her and also ate lunch with her friends.”

Zhao Zichen choked.  “As expected, I have been rejected.”

Qin Ziran showed a very worried and anxious expression on behalf of Zhao Zichen.

“Ai, why did it turn out like this?”

Fu Zhihuan looked at Qin Ziran again and asked the thought-provoking question once more.

“So how did you manage to successfully pursue Qin Sushan?”

Qin Ziran:  “……”

Why am I being questioned again?

When Zhao Zichen heard Fu Zhihuan’s words, he felt a little foggy.  He touched his nose and asked.

“So Old Fu, your meaning is that I’m not cool enough?”

Fu Zhihuan snorted.  “If you like her, just tell her directly.  The little lady has thin skin, and after trying to test you, you shrunk back.”

“Test?”  Zhao Zichen was stunned for a moment but did not understand.  “What do you mean?”

“That…….”

Before Fu Zhihuan could finish speaking, the phone on the table vibrated again.

It was the alarm.

“Today is the weekend, why do you need an alarm?  Do you have work to do?”

Qin Ziran, who had not gathered with them many times, asked casually.

“No.”

Fu Zhihuan stood up, picked up the coat that was draped on the back of the chair, and put it on.  Then he lazily left Zhao Zichen a sentence.

“Think about it yourself.  I have to go.”

Zhao Zichen looked at Fu Zhihuan’s back view and gritted his teeth.

“A wife slave.”

Qin Ziran was puzzled.  “Why did he leave?”

“Going home.”  Zhao Zichen said angrily.  “What you don’t know is that after Wen Ruan became pregnant, all the books in the bookcases in Fu Zhihuan’s house were replaced with popular science books such as ‘Pregnancy Knowledge Handbooks’.”

“Wen Ruan reads those books?”

“No, it’s Fu Zhihuan.”

***☆☆☆***

While talking on the phone with Qin Sushan, Wen Ruan was baking a cream cake.

Wen Ruan was already three months pregnant.  As early as half a month ago, she had taken a long leave to rest at home because Fu Zhihuan was very worried about her health but occasionally she would still help Professor Su draft documents.

Perhaps she felt bored staying at home for such a long time, so to find something to keep herself occupied these days, she had begun to immerse herself in learning a non-existing skill which is cooking.

“Is it that serious?”

“Yes, it was like a month ago.  I was watching a TV show that was a popular immortal heroes drama during that time.  It just happened that I was watching the part about the heroine sacrificing for the hero but in the end, the hero had forgotten the heroine.  The story was so moving and sad that I couldn’t hold back and shed a few drops of tears.”

“And then?”

“Then on that particular day, Fu Zhihuan coincidentally came back from a dinner appointment but he was two hours later than usual.  The moment he entered through the door, he noticed my red eyes and thought I was unhappy because he came back late.”

“Ah…….so you quarreled?”

“We didn’t quarrel but Fu Zhihuan apologized to me the whole night and seemed to blame himself.  Even after explaining to him a long time that I cried because of the TV drama, he still felt it was his negligence that caused my emotions to be affected.”

Wen Ruan sighed and turned on the phone’s loudspeaker.  Then she set it aside and looked through the cabinet to search for the egg beater.

“From that day onwards, Fu Zhihuan rejected all dinner appointments.  Unless he needed to work overtime, basically he would come home immediately after work.  If he has to work overtime or go out, he would call and message me once every half an hour.”

“Even on rare occasions when he goes out with Zhao Zichen and the others, he would report back to me every half an hour, and each time he would only remain outside for three hours at the most.”

When Wen Ruan spoke up to here, there was some helplessness in her tone.

“And ever since he knew of my pregnancy, the whole house was laid with non-slip carpet.  The corners of the tables were all ground down and installed with anti-collision strips and the stairs to the second floor were quickly renovated.”

Qin Sushan said with a smile.  “Isn’t this good?  It shows that Fu Zhihuan cares about you very much.”

“Um, I feel good but I feel that it hasn’t been good for him recently.”

Wen Ruan lowered her eyes and stopped what she was doing.  After a while, she said softly.

“Shanshan, it has been very tiring for him lately.”

Fu Zhihuan wakes up at least twice a night to check on her and then gets out of bed to make her a cup of hot goat’s milk.

The work in the Procuratorate was not relaxing and after working continuously he still had to take care of her meticulously.

How can he not feel tired?

After hanging up the call with Qin Sushan, Wen Ruan spent a long time searching for the egg beater.  After thinking for a while, she felt it might be kept in the top cabinet.

So she pull a low chair over and stepped on it.  Just when she opened the cabinet door, she heard the sound of the key turning from the door.

Wen Ruan turned around and saw the person coming in.  Her eyebrows curved and she smiled.

“Didn’t you meet up with Zhao Zichen and the others?  Why are you back so early?”

“Uh, after chatting for a while, it was over.”

Fu Zhihuan subconsciously knitted his eyebrows but his tone still sounded calm without any fluctuations.

He reached out his hand to hold her arm and helped her to get down from the chair.

“What are you looking for?  I’ll get it.’

“The egg beater.”

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Fu Zhihuan reached up to take down the egg beater from the top cabinet and handed it to Wen Ruan.  Then he turned his head, glanced at the cabinet, and frowned thoughtfully.

It seemed like he had to find time to clear the things in the top cabinet and arrange them in the lower cabinet.

When Wen Ruan saw the expression on his face, she could guess his thoughts.

She placed her hands on Fu Zhihuan’s neck and coaxed him with a smile.

“Okay, it was my fault, I wasn’t paying attention and I won’t climb on the chair next time.  I’m baking a cream cake, later……..”

Before she could finish speaking, a nauseous feeling surged up and got stuck in her chest.  It made her feel stuffy.

She frowned, released her hands, and turned around to walk quickly to the bathroom.

In the past few days, the pregnancy symptoms had become more and more obvious.

When he pushed open the bathroom door, Wen Ruan was rinsing her mouth and washing her hands.

He was quiet for a while then stepped forward and leaned down to hug her from behind.  He placed his hands around her waist then carefully encircled her abdomen and brought her into a tight embrace.

His breath blew lightly on her neck giving rise to a numb and tingling sensation.

Wen Ruan smiled and turned off the tap.

“What are you doing?  The doctor had already said that these symptoms are very normal and they will start to weaken around this time…….”

“Sorry.”

A slightly low and husky voice interrupted her.

Fu Zhihuan buried his head in her shoulders making it difficult to see the expression on his face but the self-blame in his tone was very distinct.

“I didn’t know it would be so hard on you.”

Wen Ruan was a little startled.  She lifted her head and looked into the mirror on the wall of the bathroom.  After staying silent for a long time, suddenly the tip of her nose turned a little sour and her eyes started to turn red.

Then a tear slipped down.

It seemed her emotions had indeed turned a little sensitive after getting pregnant.

She took a deep breath and shook her head as she smiled.  She turned around in Fu Zhihuan’s arms, stood on tiptoes, and placed her hands around his neck.  Then she lifted her head to kiss his lips lightly.

After working in the law firm for a long time, she had indeed seen too many failed marriages.

Perhaps love has become a word that people no longer consider trustworthy.

But she believes in Fu Zhihuan.

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