CHAPTER 375: CHAPTER 365: SURNAME XU

May 21.

The day after May 20, the obstetrics and gynecology hospital was bustling as ever, in stark contrast to the cold stillness just outside the abortion procedure room.

Only about a dozen people scattered around, holding stacks of medical forms waiting for the doctor’s call.

Some were alone, others accompanied, most of them young girls, staring expressionlessly at the operation room door, lost in thought.

Xu Wei sat in the furthest corner, not dressed in her usual bright red clothes, but in a black trench coat, wearing sunglasses and a mask, protecting herself thoroughly. The medical forms were carelessly tossed on the seat beside her, the results from today’s standard check-up showed everything was normal, and she was cleared for the abortion procedure.

In her hand, she clenched the form the doctor had given her last time she was here.

Dizygotic twins.

"Xu Wei!"

The nurse, holding a paper, called out at the door. Half of the people looked over, but Xu Wei couldn’t distinguish which one was looking for her. The nurse had no choice but to repeat, "Xu Wei!"

No one responded.

Hearing it was not their name, the girls seemed relieved, yet a bit disappointed.

"Xu Wei!"

At the third call, the Xu Wei in the corner finally lifted her head, shifting her gaze from the form to the nurse’s face, yet still not responding, her sunglasses and mask hiding her expression, eyes obscured behind the glass.

Seeing the nurse’s impatient demeanor, she paused for a moment, rummaged in her bag beside her, and fished out a coin. She gripped it tightly in her hand, flicked it with her finger, and let it fall.

Flick and fall, again and again.

"Are you Xu Wei?" Just as the nurse was about to move onto the next name, she saw the woman in the black trench coat stand up, prompting her to ask.

"No."

Xu Wei calmly uttered two words, turned around, and left through the exit, tossing the coin into a trash bin as she passed.

A few minutes later.

A red Maserati drove out of the hospital parking lot, roaring down the road.

...

...

Sun Wen had endured over a month, his life continuing without ripples until mid-June when he finally extinguished his lingering thoughts.

Given the current situation, it seemed there was really no further development.

Xu Wei didn’t have an issue, got tired of it, and then left like a passing breeze, light and fleeting.

Otherwise, knowing Xu Wei’s personality, she wouldn’t have stayed silent. Even if she aborted, she would likely have sought him out.

This is fate...

With a sigh, Sun Wen looked at the increasingly bustling gym, stepped outside to smoke, pulled up Xu Wei’s contact from his WeChat, and opened her Moments—spotlessly clean.

He sent a message, it showed a red exclamation mark.

It really was over.

He deleted her from WeChat, scrolling through Moments, the first post was Xiao Yu sharing photos of him and his child, both joyously wearing matching outfits playing on a seesaw in the park, the central photo in a nine-grid post artistically drawn showing a cartoon family portrait in Q-style.

Watching, a complex feeling surged in his heart, he glanced back at the gym behind him, some thoughts unconsciously beginning to shift.

Having a family, spending time with wife and kids, was actually quite nice, far more comforting than making money.

It was time to seriously find a girlfriend, to sort out the big matters in life.

The cigarette flickered between his fingers, the smoke wafting with the breeze along the street, Sun Wen squinted up at the sky, a yearning for family and children filling his heart.

The age of thirty was for establishing both career and family, now only the family part was left.

Come July.

A phone call disrupted Sun Wen’s slowly settling life.

Receiving a call from Xu Wei, he ignored the rush hour peak, left the gym’s affairs to his staff, and immediately drove to Xu Wei’s place.

From a distance, he saw Xu Wei standing at the entrance of her apartment, her sunglasses on, and noticed a slight bulge in her belly. Sun Wen’s breathing quickened as he parked his car steadily by the roadside and quickly walked towards her.

"You..."

"What about me?" Xu Wei leaned against the shadowed corner to avoid the sun, looking up at Sun Wen who stood in the sunlight.

The shadow from the wall was like a clear boundary, separating them as if they were people from two different worlds.

She touched her belly, suddenly tugging the corner of her mouth, "I’m pregnant."

Seeing the surprise on Sun Wen’s face, her smile grew wider, "You were expecting this?"

"I... I..." Sun Wen stuttered, struggling to remember the reasons he had formulated two months ago.

Struggling to suppress the emotions in his heart, he forced himself to calm down and lowered his head, saying, "How, how could that be? I didn’t know ... "

The child ... The belly was already swollen now, there was no reason that she had just realized that she was pregnant.

She had discovered it long ago, yet she had not terminated it.

Sun Wen’s mind rapidly analyzed everything, but Xu Wei ignored him, saying, "You didn’t know what? Didn’t know I could get pregnant?"

" ... I didn’t know."

"Ha, you know exactly what’s in your heart."

Xu Wei turned her head to look elsewhere, reached up to tuck the hair beside her ear behind it, paused for a moment, turned her head back, removed her sunglasses, and slightly tilted her head up to meet his gaze.

Although she was looking up, Sun Wen felt an illusion of being looked down upon by this woman.

She had always been above him.

"I called you here just to let you know," Xu Wei was still smiling, but her smile was mocking, "You can go now."

" ... Huh?" Sun Wen froze, "What do you mean?"

"You can go now, don’t you understand?"

Xu Wei gestured with her chin toward where his car was parked and leaned against the wall without any other move.

" ... The child ... then what?" Sun Wen’s gaze moved to her abdomen, inside that protruding belly was his seed.

His eyes sparkled with a hint of eagerness, It worked!

"What then — oh right, I’m carrying twins."

Seeing his incredulous look, Xu Wei’s smile grew even wider, "To be exact, they are dragon-phoenix twins, children bestowed by heaven."

"Heaven-sent ... heaven-sent ..." Sun Wen’s incredulous look mixed with a hint of ecstasy.

Dragon-phoenix twins ... a boy and a girl ...

"Alright, just as a former friend, I’m telling you I’m having children, there’s nothing else."

Xu Wei stretched her hand to steady herself against the wall, straightened up and walked a couple of steps into the residential area, indicating to the security guard in the guardhouse, "Don’t let this man in anymore."

"Wait, what do you mean?!" Sun Wen abruptly looked up.

"What do you mean? Didn’t I tell you a long time ago that I’m tired of you?" Xu Wei stopped, looking at him curiously.

"The children ..."

"My children." Xu Wei cut him off, smiling and squinting her eyes, "The daughter is Xu Yao, the son - Xu Ning — what does that have to do with you?"

These are her children, they have nothing to do with anyone else.

" ... "

Sun Wen felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured over him from head to toe, leaving him frozen in place.

"No, you can’t do this!"

"Don’t move, private residence, show your access card." The security guard, having been pre-warned, stepped forward and barred him from entering the residential area.

The guardhouse still had three or four people ready to spring into action.

"Xu Wei! ... Let me through!"

"Hey, you dare to push me? Brothers, come on! Someone’s causing trouble!"

With a shout, several burly security guards surged out.

"Damn!"

"Still fighting back!"

"Move again?!"

"Xu Wei!"

Sun Wen, physically strong, couldn’t fend off the well-prepared security guards; he was tussled and pinned to the ground with a riot fork around his neck, scraping his face with dirt.

His eyes dreadfully fixed on that slowly departing figure, he finally realized that he had guessed everything wrong.

Terribly wrong.

This woman, was never under his control.

"Xu Wei!"

The man on the ground let out a yell, quickly interrupted by a security guard’s foot kicking his stomach, causing him to emit a stifled groan.

The residual glow of the sunset shone on Sun Wen’s twisted face in pain, the sunset appeared to be melting, blood spread through the clouds, painting the sky with a magnificent crimson.

Evening sky as red as blood.