Chapter 17: Very Suitable to be a Male Mom
Murray walked straight on without stopping, his black military boots leaving a trail of footprints in the sand. Xue Yu chased after him, carrying a bag of eggs. “Murray, where are you going?”
Murray halted, a lonely figure. He answered with his back to her, “I have my own business to attend to.”
Xue Yu circled around to face him. “Will you be back? I can wait for you here. After you’re done, we can leave together.”
Zhou Siyan listened quietly from the car. He realized Xue Yu was truly terrible at placating people. She had always been like this. When they were together, they would also have disagreements. If he got angry and walked off, Xue Yu would just call from behind: Where are you going? Are you coming back? She would never chase after him, just wait foolishly in the same spot.
It was only later that he realized she didn’t chase him because she was completely unfamiliar with the layout, roads, and operational systems of the military academy and the White Tower. No matter what she did, she always had a sense of being out of place, a certain slowness. So she didn’t dare to wander, and she didn’t dare to chase him, afraid of getting lost. The labyrinthine roads of the White Tower were a century-level problem for her; she was even confused by navigation systems.
Sometimes when he had to go out on missions, Xue Yu wouldn’t see him off, saying she was worried she wouldn’t find her way back if she left. She would just keep calling out: You have to come back soon! I’ll be right here waiting for you.
When they broke up, and he said he was joining the extreme sexual conservatives, she had just asked blankly: So you’re leaving? Are you coming back?
Zhou Siyan continued to watch them through the windshield.
“I’m not going the same way as you,” Murray said.
Xue Yu was getting anxious, shuffling her feet back and forth. “Don’t you trust me to take care of you?”
Murray fell silent. He didn’t want to be open about it, and Xue Yu couldn’t force him. In the White Tower, pregnancy was a shameful, intolerable taboo. Xue Yu could understand why Murray wanted to deal with the baby quietly.
“Then wait for me a second.” Xue Yu ran back to Yan Wantang’s car. She quickly returned with a waterproof woven bag, which was bulging with items. She shoved the bag into Murray’s hands. “There are some cans, rations, and eggs inside. Take them to eat on the road.”
She then rummaged through the inner pocket of her jacket and took out a very small cloth pouch. She opened the pouch to reveal a red plastic bag. Inside the red bag was a green plastic bag, and inside the green bag was a clear plastic bag. After peeling back the layers, the contents were finally revealed—two crisp, one-hundred-dollar bills.
She handed both bills to him. “This is what I saved from mining. It’s my own money. You’ll need a lot of money for the surgery. Take it.” Zhou Siyan’s wallet was also with her, but she couldn’t use his money to help Murray. These two hundred dollars were her own savings, which she could give to him with a clear conscience.
“Xue Yu, I’m not pregnant.” Murray didn’t take her money.
Xue Yu forcefully stuffed the money into the pocket of his camouflage uniform. “Take it. I just want to give it to you.”
Murray wasn’t one to dawdle. He didn’t argue with her any further. He looked at her silently for a moment, his gaze as hard as iron, then turned and left with the bag of things she had given him.
Xue Yu watched him walk away before returning to Yan Wantang’s car to scavenge for more supplies, which she then carried back to Zhou Siyan’s SUV.
When she returned, she was shocked to find that Murray’s spirit body, the blue-ringed octopus, hadn’t left with its master. Instead, it was lying in the back seat of the SUV, snuggled up with Blueberry and Blackbrow. Blueberry was in the middle, with the black panther on its left and the octopus on its right. It would give the one on the left a kiss, then the one on the right a kiss, completely charming both of them.
Xue Yu stared fiercely at Blueberry. She could practically see the words “living a life of debauchery” written all over the seahorse’s face. She reached in and pretended to punch it a couple of times. “Blueberry, you’re such a player! I’m really impressed!”
She lifted the octopus out and called to the departing Murray, “Murray, don’t you want your Xiaoxue anymore?”
Murray turned around, only then realizing his spirit body hadn’t followed him. It was unbelievable. What had bewitched Xiaoxue so much that it didn’t even notice its master had left?
“Xiaoxue, come here,” Murray called.
The blue-ringed octopus floated in the air. It first flew back into the car for a quick, affectionate nuzzle with Blueberry before reluctantly leaving. It returned to Murray’s side and wrapped itself around his sniper rifle, its gaze mournful.
After watching Murray leave, Xue Yu got back into the car and sat in the driver’s seat. “Sigh, poor Murray. It’s all my fault.”
“How is it your fault?” Zhou Siyan replied.
“I’m the one who’s caused you all so much suffering and trouble.”
“It’s not trouble for me,” Zhou Siyan said, leaning back in his seat, his palm resting on his abdomen. “It’s a gift.”
Xue Yu turned to look at him and confirmed with him once more, seriously, “You’ve really decided to keep the baby?”
“I’ve wanted to keep it from the beginning,” Zhou Siyan answered decisively.
“Then why did you say you were going to the South Continent for an abortion when you came to find me at the mines?”
“Don’t talk about abortions anymore. It’s not good for the baby to hear.”
Xue Yu drove the SUV out of the sand, maneuvered around the sandy area, and got back onto the hard-packed road before starting to prepare lunch. She used the coal ore to start a fire and boiled three eggs. She had found about twenty eggs in Yan Wantang’s car, giving half to Murray and keeping the other half for Zhou Siyan to build up his strength. She then took out her clay pot, added water, and put in a can of vegetables and a can of beef to cook together.
While she was cooking, Zhou Siyan remained in the car, seemingly still altering his t-shirt. Xue Yu didn’t get a close look.
“Time to eat, Zhou Siyan!” she called.
He finally got out and handed her the altered shirt. “Take a look.”
Xue Yu took it, a chopstick still in her mouth. “For the baby?”
Zhou Siyan nodded.
Xue Yu held up the modified shirt and saw that it was still adult-sized. “Wait, this is too big. How is the baby supposed to wear it? The baby will be tiny when it’s born.”
“I know.”
“The baby can’t wear something this big. You should alter it again.”
“The other baby can.”
It finally dawned on Xue Yu’s slow brain that the shirt was just her size. What is this guy up to? Love the house and its crow? She could tell he really loved the baby in his stomach. Xue Yu felt the fabric of the shirt. As expected, the material used by a top-tier officer was different from that of a lowly miner like her. It was soft and smooth, very comfortable. She glanced at his abdomen. She was really benefiting from this baby.
Xue Yu gave two of the boiled eggs to Zhou Siyan and kept one for herself. “You eat two, I’ll have one. You have a baby inside you, so it’s like two people. You need the nutrients.”
Zhou Siyan looked at the two peeled eggs in his bowl. Xue Yu was such a glutton, yet she was willing to let him have an extra egg? He supposed this was… what was it called? Gaining status through one’s child?
After lunch, they continued south. That night, they stopped by an abandoned cement road. They had reached the buffer zone between the South Continent Safe Zone and the contaminated area, so it was relatively safe.
Xue Yu washed up and put on the t-shirt Zhou Siyan had altered. When she got back into the car, shivering slightly, Zhou Siyan’s gaze flickered over her and then quickly away.
She sat down next to him and asked casually, “Are you going to be in heat again tonight?”
“Not sure.”
“So if you are, you’re not going to take the suppressant? You’re just going to endure it?”
“Mm.”
Xue Yu hesitated. “If you need to… relieve yourself, I can step out. Enduring it all the time can’t be good for you.” She had been with him for a year; she knew exactly how strong his urges were. There were no recreational activities at the military academy, so they had spent most of their free time amusing themselves with that. Zhou Siyan was always trying out new things. He was skilled, and he was big. His fingers were long and powerful, his tongue was silver, his shoulders were broad, his chest was perfect, and his abs were firm. Sometimes Xue Yu wondered if the reason her grades were so bad and she couldn’t learn anything was because she had been corrupted by Zhou Siyan’s masculine charms.
“No need,” Zhou Siyan said flatly.
Xue Yu glanced at the wide opening of his collar, the smooth contour of his chest muscles. She remembered something she had said in the past: Zhou Siyan, are you building up your pecs so you can breastfeed a baby?
At the time, he had replied: What baby? Breastfeeding you is enough.
Talk about jinxing it. Who would have thought that two years later, he would actually have to breastfeed a baby and become a male mom.
“Do you want to?” Zhou Siyan suddenly looked up.
Xue Yu quickly waved her hands. “Definitely not. I’m not really interested in that stuff.”
As she spoke, her Cloudsound Box rang. She unfolded the screen. It was an unexpected video call from Feng Qizhou. She answered. On the screen, Feng Qizhou was still in his white lab coat, sitting in his office, seemingly on duty.
“Xue Yu, I have a job that pays. Interested?” Feng Qizhou’s strikingly handsome face was magnified on the screen.
At the mention of money, Xue Yu’s eyes lit up. “What kind of job?”
“Sing a song, I’ll give you a thousand. I’m doing sound therapy for a patient and need to collect different vocal tones.”
Xue Yu was overjoyed. “Sure, sure! What should I sing?”
“Whatever you want. A lullaby would be best.”
Xue Yu immediately launched into “Two Tigers.” Feng Qizhou actually transferred her a thousand New Dollars. After hanging up, she delightedly showed her account information to Zhou Siyan. “That Feng Qizhou is a really nice guy. We broke up, but he still treats me like a friend.”
Zhou Siyan seemed to be thinking about something. He remembered the anonymous message he had received a few days ago: Director Zhou, you wouldn’t want anyone to find out about your pregnancy, would you…
…
White Tower, Manster Building.
230th Floor Hospital, Deputy Director’s Office.
Feng Qizhou held the baby with one hand and a tablet with the other. He played the screen recording of his video call with Xue Yu for the baby to see. “Baby, don’t cry. Look, Mama is singing for you.”
The baby, who had been throwing a tantrum, saw Xue Yu on the screen, broke into a grin, and laughed, waving its little fists.
Feng Qizhou kissed the baby’s forehead. “You missed Mama, didn’t you? Daddy missed Mama too. You have to be good, okay? If you’re good, Mama will like you.”
Listening to Xue Yu’s lullaby, the baby was so happy it started kicking its legs, hitting Feng Qizhou in the abdomen. He winced in pain. His C-section wound hadn’t healed yet, and there was still another baby inside him. There were special medicines in the White Tower that could promote wound healing, but he didn’t dare use them, afraid they would harm the child.
He held the baby’s foot. “It’s okay to kick Daddy, but what if you hurt your little sister? You little rascal, just like your mom.”
He placed the baby on his desk and used a soft measuring tape to measure its length. This baby had been delivered prematurely; it was tiny, a preemie among preemies. From head to toe, it wasn’t even as long as his forearm.
There was a knock on the door. “Deputy Director, are you in there? It’s urgent.” The assistant was puzzled. Deputy Director Feng had been keeping his office door closed a lot lately. He had no idea what he was doing in there.
“Is the sky falling?” Feng Qizhou asked impatiently.
“Deputy Director, the surgery for B0721 is about to begin. You need to go over.”
“I know.” After replying, Feng Qizhou carried the baby back to the lounge connected to his office, placed it on the bed, fed it, and then surrounded it with pillows. After settling the baby, he left his office and went into the hallway, where his assistant was still waiting. He walked over, his eyes cold, his aura arrogant and unapproachable. “Is the patient anesthetized?”
“Yes.”
The assistant wrinkled his nose. “Why does it smell like milk?”
Feng Qizhou strode forward. “Your sense of smell must be off. You should go get it checked at the sensory department.”