CHAPTER 676: SUBSIDY AND ROUTINE CHECKUP

"He had stated that long-term use of subsidies will create uncompetitive businesses that are overreliant on government handouts.

How would you address that without hurting unemployment figures? And how about the increasingly higher spending from these subsidies?"

As the news anchor asked his question, Liuqian didn’t seem to be fazed by it as he quickly came up with an answer.

"I’ll answer this question in two parts... First, the use of subsidies is temporary. As I already mentioned, its existence is to stabilize startup companies.

This program is not permanent. And many of these subsidies are done through low-interest loans. So they aren’t just handouts for free.

When we find the right time, we will begin to cut back on this program... Secondly, the increased spending is actually a good thing."

"Why would that be a good thing? Aren’t we creating a debt that might grow too big to pay back?"

"It’s a good thing to simulate the economy. We are currently in a growth phase where every dollar we spend is a dollar compounding in growth.

The debt is not as important and can be paid back later. Not to mention, it’s nowhere near the value of the assets the government has.

I can’t disclose the exact amount in public as it is classified information. But just remember, the zombies once owned the land you and I stand on."

Liuqian paused for a second as he put the final nail in the coffin of the whole government debt question.

"And the central bank is more than ready to step in at any time if the government has trouble with liquidity."

"I see... Thank you for your time today, Mr.Liu."

"No problem."

"Upcoming will be the re-run of the midnight current. See you all around the same time tomorrow from 8 to 11 PM."

As the news section came to an end, Xiaoyun was the first one to grab the remote to turn off the TV, as everyone was getting a little sleepy.

"Kate, why do you look so happy all of a sudden?" Yuqi curiously asked, noticing the smile on her face just now.

"Because I’m rich!"

Everyone was a little intrigued as they couldn’t understand why Kate said that out loud in the living room.

"What do you mean you’re rich?" Nami curiously asked next.

"I brought all of my money into Qingyuan Mineral. I owned 30% of that company. I’m going to be the richest woman in this town!"

Seeing Kate happily shaking Anna in sheer excitement, everyone rolled their eyes as they couldn’t care less about money.

To them, money was just an abstract number. One that could come as easily as a snap of a finger.

"If that’s what got you all happy, you would be shocked to see my bank account." Yuqi joked as she got up from the sofa with Lianrong in her arms.

"Okay, maybe I’m not that rich. But that’s my own money! I made a successful investment without anyone’s help!"

With Kate still looking so happy, no one discouraged her as they all complimented her before going upstairs back to their own bedroom.

---

As the first week of August quickly flew by, Xiaoyun found himself in a little sticky situation early on a Friday morning.

"Xiaoyun, can you drive Tianci to the hospital today?"

Everyone was a little confused by Leyan’s sudden request as they looked over to Tianci, who seemed to be perfectly fine.

Tianci herself looked even more confused, as she didn’t seem to know the reason why Leyan was telling her to go to the hospital.

"Why does she need to go to the hospital?" Xiaoyun asked the question on everyone’s mind.

"She needs to go to her 3rd trimester checkup... Kate and Anna need to do theirs, too. I already made the appointment for you guys for next Monday."

Everyone froze for a second as they looked over to Tianci’s belly, which looked as flat as a cardboard.

"Leyan, you’re telling me Tianci is in her 3rd trimester?"

Wuli questioned in disbelief as she looked completely different from everyone else in the house who was once pregnant.

"Yeah. She got pregnant back near the end of January... It’s August already, so just two more months before labor."

As everyone stared towards Tianci’s flat belly, no one could believe she was pregnant, about to give labor in two months.

"S-Stop staring at me..." Tianci shyly murmured, looking down at her bowl of noodles in embrassment.

"Where is the baby? How could someone be this flat? This doesn’t make any logical sense at all."

Kate murmured as she rubbed her own belly, which looked bigger than Tianci’s belly despite only having recently been pregnant.

"Enough, Kate," Xiaoyun intervened, noticing the change on Tianci’s face as she lowered her head even more.

"Sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude." Kate immediately apologized, realizing how offensive she sounded earlier.

"It’s okay. I understand."

As the atmosphere got a little awkward, Leyan finally decided to speak up again to salvage the situation.

"Xiaoyun, you two are going to be late if you keep eating. You guys should really get going now."

"O-Okay."

After Xiaoyun and Tianci both exited the house, everyone in the kitchen immediately turned their attention to Kate.

"What are you thinking when you said that?" Yuqi questioned first.

"That was so rude of you," Anna murmured next.

"Are you out of your mind?"

Yueyue questioned next, with everyone else looking a little disappointed in Kate as they all couldn’t believe what she had just said earlier.

"Sorry... I didn’t think it through my head."

"You’d better make it up to her somehow. Or else you’re going to be excluded from tonight’s surprise with Xiaoyun." Leyan warned.

"Fine."

---

As Xiaoyun drove his car towards the hospital, his mind was thinking about where the baby was located inside Tianci’s body.

His mind was being driven crazy as he couldn’t think of an explanation, but Xiaoyun knew the last thing he should do was to ask her directly.

The last thing he wanted to do was to repeat the same mistake as Kate, causing Tianci to get into a bad mood.

"Xiaoyun... Do you want to know how I keep my belly hidden?"

"Of course—— Ahem, I mean, you don’t have to tell me. It’s up to you. No pressure if you don’t want to say it."

As the car reached closer and closer to the hospital, he soon noticed Tianci’s pupil started to change color.

"Your wives are really idiots sometimes. What were they thinking when they asked that question?"

Alternate Tianci’s voice appeared just as Xiaoyun parked the car in the hospital’s parking lot.

"They didn’t mean it. They are just curious... You can’t really blame them when something that looks physically impossible happens right in front of them."

"Mhm."

Just as Xiaoyun unclipped his seatbelt and looked over to Tianci, he was stunned as a massive belly appeared out of nowhere, hanging onto her fragile-looking body.

"What the..."

"Crazy, right? Just appear like this. And boom, vanished. Gone, reduced to atmo just like that."

Xiaoyun rubbed his eyes several times as Tianci’s belly disappeared and reappeared right in front of his naked eyes.

"I-Is this your invisible ability?" Xiaoyun asked in shock.

"Have a touch."

As Tianci guided his hand towards her belly, he could feel the warm, soft skin. But as the belly vanishes, his hand goes right through as if it never existed.

It wasn’t just a basic invisibility that worked on the eyes. Rather, it somehow physically disappeared from her body completely.

"How did you do that?"

"You really want to know?"

Xiaoyun nodded, his mind had been completely blown away as he just couldn’t believe something that big could just disappear physically.

"Here... Touch my womb."

As Tianci pressed his hand deeper towards where her stomach would usually be, he could feel a hard bump inside that prevented him from pressing any further.

The baby was somehow still inside her the whole time. It hasn’t actually vanished from thin air as he had imagined.

Somehow, it retracted deep into her body despite all the organs that should have blocked it from being compressed this heavily.

"Now you know my little secret... Tianci doesn’t want to walk around with a big belly in the lab, you understand her, right?"

Xiaoyun nodded once again as he couldn’t imagine someone trying to push their own organ this heavily just to hide a pregnancy.

"D-Does this hurt?" Xiaoyun nervously asked.

"Of course not. Everything is perfectly fine. Don’t worry about Tianci or the baby. They are growing normally."

"Okay..."

"Anyway, let’s get out of the car. I don’t want to waste that much time in the hospital. We still have a lot of lab work to do."

As Tianci and Xiaoyun both exited the car, the massive belly reappeared once again as she no longer bothered hiding it at all.

"Why was Tianci so embrassed about showing this to her sisters?" Xiaoyun wondered as the question stuck in his mind.