CHAPTER 212: CHAPTER 204: THE ARRIVAL OF NEW LIFE

"Is she okay?" Aunt Xu asked, referring to Lin Zhenxin, who had fallen asleep in Li Yanan’s arms.

"She’s just too tired." Li Yanan lowered his head and kissed Lin Zhenxin’s forehead.

Aunt Xu hesitated as if she wanted to say more, but she quickly left without another word.

Li Yanan carried Lin Zhenxin into the bathroom, gave her a simple shower, and returned to the bedroom.

Lin Zhenxin was truly exhausted.

Her nerves had been stretched tight ever since she entered the delivery room, right up until the moment the baby was born.

Li Yanan carefully laid her down on the bed, as if he were protecting his most precious treasure.

With a thud, the bag she had casually placed before fell to the floor by accident, making a dull sound.

Li Yanan instinctively turned his head, confirmed that he hadn’t woken Lin Zhenxin, got up, and went to pick up the bag.

The zipper wasn’t fully closed, and most of the contents had fallen out.

He slowly helped her gather them back.

Until...

Li Yanan looked down at the white ultrasound sheet, his mind exploding with disbelief, his eyes widening in shock.

He carefully read every word on it, afraid of missing any details.

He glanced abruptly at Lin Zhenxin, then back at the document in his hand, repeating the motion over and over.

In all his life, Li Yanan had experienced many highs and lows, but never had he been filled with such an overwhelming urge to cry as he did now.

Zhenxin was pregnant!

They were going to have a baby!

His entire body felt like it instantly froze, sitting there on the floor without moving...

Tu Haohao sat in the passenger seat, silently watching Li Chengze sleep deeply in the reclined chair.

The car’s heater was on, so it wasn’t cold at all, yet she still covered him with her cape.

Earlier, Li Chengze had only said he didn’t want to go home, pulled her into the car, and reclined his seat to lie down.

She didn’t know how much time had passed until she heard his even breathing, and Tu Haohao finally gathered her courage and approached him.

"Li Chengze..." She quietly called his name.

Carefully and expectantly, she gently caressed his handsome face.

The moment she touched him, she recoiled as if electrocuted, inadvertently tugging at the wound on her forehead caused by Tu Shaohong’s blow.

She couldn’t help but gasp in pain.

But after the pain, she foolishly smiled.

"What are you laughing at?" Li Chengze suddenly turned his head to look at her, his eyes clear as if he hadn’t been asleep at all.

Tu Haohao instinctively widened her eyes, as if shocked.

Watching her goofy expression, Li Chengze couldn’t help but curve his lips in a smile before closing his eyes again.

Tu Haohao remembered how Tu Wanzi had once taken her birth date to a fortune teller to ask about her love life, and the fortune teller had said that she would have only one relationship in this life.

That day, perhaps because the fortune teller’s words were unpleasant, Tu Wanzi had been in a sullen mood the entire day.

"I feel like I’m in heaven right now." Tu Haohao couldn’t help but laugh.

Li Chengze kept his eyes closed, a slight tremor in his heart, even his hands clasped at his sides couldn’t help but tighten.

"Go to sleep, tomorrow... is a new beginning."

Tu Haohao reached out to gently smooth the furrows in his brow and spoke softly to him...

Perhaps the other side of the bed felt too cool and empty, Lin Zhenxin suddenly awoke in the middle of the night.

The room was dark; the full moon’s pure white light poured through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

It reflected off the floor, creating halos of light.

In her drowsiness, she saw a shadow sitting on the floor, startling her fully awake.

"Yanan?"

After a long moment, she became aware that the man sitting on the floor was Li Yanan!

She got out of bed, her cotton pajamas clinging comfortably—had he changed her pajamas as well?

"Yanan?" Lin Zhenxin called out again, then walked closer until she saw clearly that Li Yanan was holding something.

A white sheet of paper—it was...

"Zhenxin, pinch me." Li Yanan spoke in a daze.

His words caused a pang in Lin Zhenxin’s heart, a sensation she couldn’t quite describe.

"Fool, it’s so cold sitting on the ground!"

Lin Zhenxin wanted to help him up, but Li Yanan sat there like a child.

"Pinch me," he repeated, looking up, his tone pleading.

Hesitant, Lin Zhenxin raised her hand, held back for a moment, but couldn’t bring herself to do it.

Instead, she knelt down, wrapped her arms around Li Yanan, and sighed deeply.

She had seen him at his most confident, had seen him at his most ruthless, and had witnessed his sadness firsthand.

But only this time, Lin Zhenxin felt something different.

"It’s true, I was going to tell you today, I’m pregnant..."

Sitting beside him, with her body nestled in Li Yanan’s arms, Lin Zhenxin spoke softly.

Her warm, soft hand caressed Li Yanan’s strong jawline, soothing him with each stroke.

"I’m going to be a mom, and you’re going to be a dad."

Once upon a time, Lin Zhenxin thought she would never marry.

The only image she had of marriage was of a drunken, abusive father and the back of her mother walking resolutely away.

Yet, she met Li Yanan.

Once upon a time, Lin Zhenxin thought she would never willingly have a child with any man.

The only image she had of having children was of her own dark childhood.

Yet, she met Li Yanan.

"I didn’t mean to hide it from you for long; I was just very confused," she said, holding onto him.

Li Yanan buried his face into her neck but said nothing.

"It was painful."

Even though it was something from before they got married, the sour and stabbing pain of it made her briefly lose control.

Women are always harsh with the men they love.

Even if she understood rationally, emotionally, it took another kind of struggle to accept.

"The word ’believe’ only takes a flick of the lips, but here..."

Lin Zhenxin placed a hand over her heart.

"To accept it, I really need you to give me courage."

Li Yanan suddenly intertwined their fingers tightly, the warmth of their hands exchanging comfort.

"I admit it, I have a bad temper, sometimes I’m very impatient, but I’m trying to control myself. After all... this is my first time being a wife, I have no experience! So, please bear with me, please forgive me, okay?" She spoke as she leaned in to kiss his face.

In the moonlight, Lin Zhenxin’s lovely face looked pure and gentle.

"No, it’s me who should apologize, it’s my fault."

Li Yanan lifted Lin Zhenxin, who was sitting on the floor, and placed her back on his lap.

His hand gently patted her still-flat stomach, as if trying to find the child.

"It’s I who should give you a sense of security."

Lin Zhenxin didn’t say anything, just leaned against him like that.

"What do I do? I’m so nervous!" Li Yanan couldn’t control his emotions, even his eyes began to grow hot.

Lin Zhenxin looked at him, half-amused, half-doubtful, wondering if they’d gotten the wrong script.

Shouldn’t she, the pregnant one, be the nervous one?

She reached out to stroke his head softly.

"Don’t be afraid, we’re legally married, just beginners, learning from each other!"

For once, Lin Zhenxin joked, moving her hand from his head to his Adam’s apple.

Firm and moving up and down as he swallowed, filling Lin Zhenxin with an inexplicable sense of happiness...

Tu Haohao nodded off to sleep.

This time, Li Chengze was truly asleep, but she was reluctant to go home.

Quietly moving closer, even closer, she finally hooked her little finger around Li Chengze’s.

Despite being so tired she could barely open her eyes, Tu Haohao couldn’t help but smile.

But soon, when her eyes moved to Li Chengze’s collar, her smile seemed to freeze...

Just hanging stiffly on her face.

She quietly glanced at his collar, then at Li Chengze’s weary face...

Her heart grew heavier and heavier!

The Li Family found itself in an unprecedented crisis.

The remains unearthed from the Li Family estate involved an old unresolved case, shaking the entire J City.

In this information age, it wasn’t long before ’insiders’ on the internet revealed more internal details to the public.

It turned out the remains belonged to a maid from the Li Family.

Back then, during Li Yingying’s pregnancy, Lu Dawei had an affair with this maid, and she even got pregnant, until Li Yingying found out...

The outcome was as expected.

Amid public disdain for Lu Dawei’s actions, the Li Family’s stock price plummeted, causing shareholders to frantically dump their shares.

In the Li Family’s President’s office.

Li Chengze rarely sat in the office so seriously, listening to the assistant’s report.

"President, some shareholders are now eager to buy up the stock at a low price."

This directly leads to a change in ownership or the takeover of the Li Family.

Li Chengze’s expression was very serious; he had already used all his connections to appeal to the police with minimal effect.

Is it possible the company can’t be saved now?

"No way! The group must stay in the control of the Li Family!"

As Li Chengze finished speaking, his pen snapped in half in his hands.

"Send out my orders, starting today, gather all available funds to buy back these shares!"

"But..." This is risky!

The assistant barely managed to start speaking before being intimidated by Li Chengze’s fierce gaze and swallowed his words.

"Do as I say!"

While Li Family endured the stormy seas, Lin Zhenxin didn’t fare well, either.

Early in the morning, Li Yanan dragged Lin Zhenxin out of the house.

She had gone to bed late the previous night, and in a daze, she soon fell asleep again.

When she woke up again, she was already in J City’s largest baby products store.

She and the stunned shop assistant watched the busy Li Yanan—it was obvious he had gone crazy.

Initially, the shop assistant offered recommendations, but eventually, all she could do was push the shopping cart to keep up with Li Yanan.

Watching as he swept all the most expensive, best items from the shelves into the cart.

"You’re crazy!" Lin Zhenxin snapped back to herself and quickly grabbed him.