Chapter 122: Concealment

Chapter 122: Chapter 122: Concealment

If only he had listened to the midwife’s advice back then and sent her to the hospital, the woman wouldn’t have bled out with no one to help.

But what did he do? When the midwife ran to him for a decision, he didn’t even bat an eye, only saying one thing.

"What woman doesn’t suffer during childbirth? Tell her to keep pushing! What’s the big deal?"

Later, when the woman was fading fast, the midwife stomped her feet in anxiety.

"Save the mother or the child?"

He froze for three seconds, then blurted out.

"Save... save the baby, save the baby!"

Then he turned around and consoled himself.

’It’s just childbirth. Other women get through it. If she couldn’t, it’s just her own bad luck.’

More than twenty years have passed, and he still says it over and over.

"Your mother was unlucky."

After saying this, he stared at Shen Shuangshuang, his eyes filled with a hint of contempt.

"If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t even be alive. You would have died right along with that fetus."

"After your mother died, I never touched another woman. Yao Yuzhen just let her imagination run wild. She thinks I still have lingering feelings for her and that’s why I can’t accept anyone else. That’s why she’s been so attentive to you, even more so than to her own daughter."

"Just think, if she found out I couldn’t care less about women, how would she go crazy?"

"And how would she deal with you then?"

"I am your own father; you have my blood. No matter what kind of scoundrel I become, that fact will never change."

Having said his piece, Ruan Yongxing leaned back in his chair, neither rushing nor persuading her.

He knew that sooner or later, his daughter would have to re-evaluate things.

"Do you really think you can keep this a secret for a lifetime, that she’ll never find out?"

After a long silence, Shen Shuangshuang finally managed to choke out the sentence.

Ruan Yongxing waved his hand dismissively, a look of indifference on his face.

"Why think so far ahead? Getting through today is a win. As for the future? We’ll take it one step at a time."

"What’s the use of wild speculation? Years ago, who could have predicted that I, a proper young master from a wealthy family, would end up like this?"

"You need to hurry up and get the Shen family’s second son to fall for you."

At these words, Shen Shuangshuang’s face fell.

"Marry Shen Rongdan? My mom and I were kicked out by the Shen family yesterday!"

Ruan Yongxing’s brow furrowed.

"What? Kicked out? Why?"

"What else could it be?"

Shen Shuangshuang rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"It’s because Shen Zhenwu’s biological daughter came back!"

Ruan Yongxing shot her a sideways glance and asked slowly.

"How many days has she been back?"

"Besides,"

He picked up his teacup and blew on the surface.

"Everyone knows how crazy Shen Zhenwu was about Yao Yuzhen back in the day. Kicking the mother and daughter out so quickly? The whole thing smells fishy."

Shen Shuangshuang opened her mouth, but stammered for a while without saying anything coherent.

In the end, she could only force out one sentence.

"I’m here for Mom! She told me to come discuss this with you. What are we supposed to do?"

Ruan Yongxing stared at her for a few seconds, his gaze calm.

"Alright, I understand."

Before leaving, he deliberately lowered his voice to warn her.

"Don’t you breathe a single word of what we talked about today when you get back."

Shen Shuangshuang nodded.

After Ruan Yongxing left, she sat motionless in the teahouse.

Her mind felt like a tangled mess; she couldn’t process any of it.

It wasn’t until after three in the afternoon that she unsteadily got up to go home.

Seeing Yao Yuzhen staring blankly in the living room, she immediately put on a cheerful grin and said.

"My dad said he’s coming over for dinner tonight!"

Yao Yuzhen looked up at the desolate room and slowly pushed herself up using the armrest of the sofa.

"Then I’d better hurry and buy some groceries!"

Shen Shuangshuang’s lips moved, but in the end, not a single word came out.

She knew very well that if Yao Yuzhen found out about this, she would likely have a complete breakdown on the spot.

So her lips had to be sealed tight.

Of course, she later spilled everything, and she made sure to twist the knife right in Yao Yuzhen’s heart. However, that came later.

For now, when Yao Yuzhen returned with her basket of groceries, dusk was just beginning to fall.

By the time Ruan Yongxing stepped through the door, she was just placing the last dish, stir-fried green peppers with shredded pork, on the dining table.

Three people, three dishes and a soup. In those days, it was considered a very respectable meal.

But Yao Yuzhen just wiped her hands and smiled sheepishly.

"The market was terrible today. We’ll just have to make do."

Ruan Yongxing first walked around to pull her chair out for her, saying with a smile.

"Who would have thought that the Li Family’s eldest daughter, who once couldn’t even hold a bowl properly, would be so skilled at cooking now?"

"Yu Zhen, you’ve worked so hard."

Hearing this, Yao Yuzhen’s nose tingled, and her eyes instantly turned red.

Her gaze clung to his face, unwilling to look away.

He casually ladled a bowl of soup and served it to Yao Yuzhen first.

Only after she reached out and took it did he fill a bowl for himself.

He didn’t care that it was scalding hot, gulping down half the bowl with a GULP, GULP and slapping his thigh as he exclaimed.

"Incredible! This is so fragrant! The man who marries you must have some serious ancestral good fortune!"

Yao Yuzhen, with tears in her eyes and lips trembling slightly, murmured.

"It’s so hot... why didn’t you wait?"

Ruan Yongxing waved his hands dismissively.

"This... I look forward to this every day. But after all this waiting, the number of times we can actually sit down and eat together can be counted on one hand."

There was a muffled frustration in his voice. After speaking, he lowered his head and scooped up a large spoonful of soup to drink.

He looked exactly like an honest man crushed by the weight of life.

Yao Yuzhen’s eyes instantly reddened.

She quickly lowered her head and also took a large gulp from her soup bowl.

Shen Shuangshuang had seen Ruan Yongxing’s act many times before and had always dismissed it as normal human sentiment.

But watching him today, goosebumps immediately broke out on her arms.

This meal was warm on the surface, but underneath, everyone had their own agenda.

Yao Yuzhen’s chopsticks never stopped moving. One moment she was putting a piece of meat in Ruan Yongxing’s bowl, the next she was piling vegetables into Shen Shuangshuang’s.

Ruan Yongxing accepted everything, opening his mouth to eat whatever was offered.

It wasn’t that he had a huge appetite, but rather...

Could he cook?

He was liable to burn the pot just boiling noodles.

Buy groceries?

His bank account was perpetually in the red. How could he dare to be as lavish as Yao Yuzhen, picking out only the freshest ingredients?

So, he ate whatever Yao Yuzhen gave him, only putting down his chopsticks after he’d eaten so much he had to loosen his belt by two notches.

"Ah, Yu Zhen, your cooking is truly a masterpiece! If I ate your food every day, in less than three months my belly would be hanging under the table."

Hearing this, Yao Yuzhen immediately replied.

"Then come again tomorrow night!"

Ruan Yongxing’s eyelid twitched, and he quickly said.

"Oh, I really can’t tomorrow. I had to take a day off just for today. Tomorrow I’m on the night shift."

"I’ll definitely come after I get my shifts sorted out in a couple of days!"

Yao Yuzhen, understanding how tired he must be from work, didn’t insist.

"Alright, then we’ll wait until you’re all sorted."

After dinner, Yao Yuzhen cleared the dishes. Ruan Yongxing stood up to help, but she stopped him.

"You’re out from dawn till dusk every day, tired to the bone. What’s making one meal? You just sit and rest for a bit!"

Ruan Yongxing sighed, watching Yao Yuzhen’s back as he said.

"No wonder everyone wants to find a wife and settle down. Having someone who thinks about cooking for you really puts your heart at ease."

Yao Yuzhen’s face flushed beet red, and she quickly scurried into the kitchen, clutching the dishes.

After washing the dishes, she came out with a plate of sliced apples. Only after sitting down did she ask softly.

"Shuangshuang... she talked to you, didn’t she?"

Ruan Yongxing’s brow furrowed, and he nodded heavily.

"I really didn’t expect Shen Zhenwu to do something like this! For him to treat you this way... it’s like he tore out your heart and stomped on it!"

But these words were the complete opposite of what he had told Shen Shuangshuang earlier.