Chapter 7: Pregnancy Hormones are Terrifying
The fish on the fire was starting to char, the aroma of grilled meat filling the air.
It had been a long time since either of them had smelled something so directly appealing to their taste buds. Xue Yu abandoned her attempts to persuade Zhou Siyan and hurried over to check on the fish.
The outside was a crispy, golden-brown, the skin split open to reveal the milky-white flesh inside.
“Quick, get the seasoning,” Xue Yu urged.
The distance from the White Tower to the South Continent was vast, so the supplies Zhou Siyan had prepared included various seasonings. He retrieved the spice shakers and handed them to her.
Xue Yu sprinkled a layer of salt on the grilled fish, followed by a layer of seasoning powder.
She took a bite herself and was so moved by the taste she almost cried. She hadn’t eaten fresh meat or vegetables in over a year.
She took the cooked fish off the fire and gave it to Zhou Siyan first. “You eat. Pregnant people need high-protein food. You should eat more fish to keep your nutrition up.” She didn’t really know much about it; before she transmigrated, her cousin had been pregnant and often drank fish soup.
Zhou Siyan took the grilled fish. Using a sharp dagger, he began to flake the meat into a stainless-steel bowl. “How do you know pregnant people need high-protein food?”
There hadn’t been any newborns in the White Tower for twenty years, so any information related to pregnancy was nonexistent. He had no idea how to provide nutrients for the baby. His situation was even worse—he was a male carrying a child, completely clueless about pregnancy matters.
“Just a guess,” Xue Yu said.
She was busy grilling the other fish and noticed Zhou Siyan was still meticulously flaking the meat. He wasn’t eating, just picking out every single bone. His technique was precise, and his focused expression made it seem as if he were handling a work of art.
“Even eating fish has to be so refined. You extreme conservatives really are extreme,” Xue Yu laughed.
Zhou Siyan placed the bowl, now full of deboned fish meat, in front of Xue Yu. His tone was strangely gentle. “The mother needs to supplement her nutrition too.”
Xue Yu picked up the bowl and started eating. His tone made her feel a little awkward, and she let out a couple of hearty laughs.
As Zhou Siyan watched the way her cheek puffed out when she ate, he was suddenly reminded of their time at the military academy, during a field training exercise.
Back then, Xue Yu’s physical fitness, reaction time, and all other metrics were consistently at the bottom of the class. During the field exercise, they had to carry a hundred-jin pack. For everyone else in the class, a hundred jin was nothing. But for Xue Yu, it was like a thousand-jin burden. She struggled just to lift the pack, her legs trembling.
The instructor thought she was being lazy and reprimanded her. Even Zhou Siyan himself had been puzzled. How could Xue Yu’s physical fitness be so poor? It was as if she weren’t the same species as the rest of the class.
He had run ahead, secured his own assessment flag, and then returned to find Xue Yu, who had fallen to the very back of the group.
At that point, Xue Yu had given up completely. She had secretly thrown out the weights from her pack, gone to a river to catch fish, and had actually managed to grab two.
That night, when they returned, he had pan-fried the fish in their dorm room using a small electric pot.
Xue Yu was so hungry she ate too quickly and got a fishbone stuck in her throat. In the White Tower, let alone fish, even fresh meat was a rarity. He had no idea what to do when someone choked on a fishbone. He just hoisted her up and ran toward the infirmary, his hands trembling with p
…
Xue Yu finished the fish in her bowl. Seeing that the other fish on the fire was also cooked, she quickly took it off and handed it to Zhou Siyan. “Alright, this one’s for you. I’m going to go catch a few more from the river.”
She rolled up her pant legs and jumped into the river. Finding her clothes cumbersome, she simply took off her jacket and the long-sleeved shirt underneath, leaving only her sports bra on as she waded in to catch fish.
Zhou Siyan sat on the bank, watching her.
He suddenly found it strange. During the period when he initiated the breakup, why had he been so repulsed by intimacy with Xue Yu?
When they were dating, he felt not only an emotional affection for Xue Yu but also a strong physical attraction. He had been inseparable from her, even developing something of a sex addiction, needing it every day.
Sometimes Xue Yu was tired and wouldn’t let him. So, he would just hold her and take care of it himself.
He had such a high libido and liked Xue Yu so much, yet one day, a year into their relationship, he suddenly found he couldn’t handle any physical contact with her. He began to reject all forms of intimacy. It reached a point where he would vomit uncontrollably whenever they tried to be close. The slightest affectionate act made him nauseous, to the point where he couldn’t stand to be with a partner at all.
This reaction completely upended his life. He couldn’t attend classes or train normally, and he couldn’t face Xue Yu.
And so, he broke up with her and joined the extreme sexual conservatives.
In the two years after joining, he had no libido whatsoever. But recently, as the fetus inside him developed and he met Xue Yu again, the desire that had been dormant for two years returned with a vengeance. It was so intense that he had to rely on suppressants to control it.
…
Xue Yu caught a total of five fish, her smiling face crinkling up like a steamed bun.
“Look! Five! A whole five of them! We can eat fish tonight and tomorrow!”
She ran over, holding the fish in her jacket, dripping water everywhere.
Zhou Siyan found a collapsible bucket in the car, added some water, and gave it to Xue Yu to put the fish in.
Xue Yu crouched by the bucket, circling it. “If I had known there were fish to eat out here, I would have come out to survive in the wild long ago. Stuck in the White Tower mining all day, I can’t even get a bite of fresh meat.”
Zhou Siyan couldn’t crouch because of his stomach, so he remained standing. “Not every place has edible fish,” he said. “Most of the outside is contaminated. The animals living in contaminated zones are basically inedible.”
Xue Yu was still smiling. “Anyway, I’m so happy! Catching fish just makes me happy!”
Zhou Siyan’s large hand rested on his swollen abdomen. He looked down at her, his voice even. “You weren’t this happy when you suddenly became a mother.”
Xue Yu stood up, her cheerful demeanor gone. She asked seriously, “Zhou Siyan, are you really thinking of keeping the baby?”
“What about you?” he asked back.
“I definitely don’t want it,” Xue Yu said. “We’re only twenty-three, and the White Tower doesn’t allow children.”
Zhou Siyan didn’t reply. He bent down and silently began to pack up the folding chairs on the ground.
Xue Yu added, “Of course, the baby is in your stomach, so the decision is yours. I’ll definitely respect your wishes. If you want to keep it, I can’t stop you. I just hope you won’t be impulsive and will think it through carefully.”
Zhou Siyan put the folding chairs and the seasoning shakers into the back of the car. After a long pause, he finally asked, “Do you hate it when the baby calls you ‘mama’?”
Xue Yu threw up her hands. “I don’t really care. It’s mainly up to you.”
“Mm.”
Xue Yu felt that Zhou Siyan was definitely being controlled by pregnancy hormones, but to be sensitive to the “pregnant man’s” feelings, she didn’t press the issue.
They set off again. Xue Yu was still driving, with Zhou Siyan in the passenger seat. Neither of them spoke. The journey was quiet, except for the occasional sound or two that escaped from the baby in Zhou Siyan’s stomach.
Xue Yu noticed Zhou Siyan was holding a paper-bound manual, reading it intently. She glanced over and saw the red cover read: Internal Rules for Extreme Sexual Conservatives—Libido Control Edition.
They didn’t encounter any more abominations on the road.
Around five in the afternoon, the setting sun looked like a ripe orange in the sky, making Xue Yu’s mouth water with a craving for one.
In the distance was a small, abandoned town. There were many such abandoned towns outside the White Tower Safe Zone, relics from before the cataclysm, at least thirty years old.
“Let’s go see if there’s anything we can use,” Zhou Siyan said.
“Okay.” Xue Yu turned the steering wheel, heading toward the town.
Zhou Siyan got out first and used an instrument to test the air’s pollution level. Only after confirming it was safe to enter did he let Xue Yu get out.
Xue Yu emptied her backpack and slung the empty bag over her shoulders. “You should let me do the testing next time. It’s not convenient for you.”
“It’s fine.”
“Contaminated zones have radiation,” Xue Yu said. “Radiation is bad for the baby. It can cause fetal arrest or deformities.”
A flicker of anxiety crossed Zhou Siyan’s brow. He handed the pollution monitor to Xue Yu and quickly got back into the car. Two minutes later, he re-emerged, wearing a long black coat that reached his ankles. Xue Yu recognized it as a radiation-proof coat. She’d had one at the military academy, issued for free by the school.
Zhou Siyan had fastened the entire row of metal buttons on the coat. He looked like a silent, eerie wizard.
The two of them entered the town. It was covered in dust. The delicate, white patterns of the spiderwebs looked like some kind of intricate carving.
Xue Yu found a supermarket. There were still a lot of things inside, but all the food had expired. She could only grab some pots and pans. She was particularly fond of a clay pot she found; they could use it to make fish soup later.
Zhou Siyan went to the other side of the supermarket, which seemed to be the clothing section. After thirty years, most of the clothes exposed to the air had faded and would tear at the slightest touch, rendering them useless. However, on the bottom shelf, he saw some fabric sealed in plastic wrap. He wanted to pull it out, but he couldn’t bend over because of his stomach. He had to call out to Xue Yu.
“Xue Yu, come over here.”
Xue Yu ran over, carrying the clay pot. “What’s up?”
Zhou Siyan pointed to the bottom shelf. “There seems to be some fabric here. Pull it out and see if it’s still usable.”
Xue Yu pulled out the bundle and cut open the plastic wrap with her dagger. “Looks like it’s still good. What do you need this for?”
Zhou Siyan bent down and felt the fabric. “To try and make a couple of outfits for the baby.”
A chill went down Xue Yu’s spine. Pregnancy hormones were terrifying!
She asked cautiously, “Zhou Siyan, you haven’t really decided to have the baby, have you?”
“I’m not sure,” Zhou Siyan said.
Xue Yu broke out in a sweat. You’re about to sew clothes for the baby, and you call that ‘not sure’?
Just then, the baby in Zhou Siyan’s stomach uttered a single word: “Sure.”
Zhou Siyan, holding the fabric, said, “What color clothes do you like, red or blue?”
The baby in his stomach: “Blue.”
Zhou Siyan continued, “What about socks, green or yellow?”
The baby in his stomach: “Yellow.”
Zhou Siyan raised an eyebrow at Xue Yu, as if showing off. “Very smart. It can already answer multiple-choice questions.”
The voice from his stomach added: “tions.”
Xue Yu wiped the cold sweat from her forehead. “It’s not choosing. It’s just dumb and lazy. It’s only repeating the last word you say.”
Zhou Siyan looked displeased. “Why are you always belittling the child?”
Xue Yu cleared her throat, leaned close to Zhou Siyan’s abdomen, and said loudly, “What color clothes do you like, blue or red?”
The baby in his stomach: “Red.”
Xue Yu: “What about socks, yellow or green?”
The voice from his stomach: “Green.”
Xue Yu threw up her hands and straightened up to look at Zhou Siyan. “See? I told you. It’s not choosing. It’s just repeating the last word we say.”
Zhou Siyan picked up the fabric and started to walk away. “The child is still young. Why are your expectations for her so high?”