Chapter 5
Edward Quan ·
However fiercely they fought, they agreed on one thing.
Someone must remain beside me twenty-four hours a day.
No gaps. Ever.
After repeated failures, I despaired.
“How am I supposed to run away pregnant?” I complained to the System.
It put its rusty little brain to work.
【They both want to marry you. Why not trick them separately? Tell each one you agree, then send them home on the same day to fetch their household registers in secret. While they’re gone, get past the guards, leave the mountain, and head straight for the airport.】
I sighed.
“Don’t you Systems update yourselves? You don’t need a household register to register a marriage anymore. That won’t work.”
It was stumped too.
【Then what do we do? Those two won’t give you a moment alone.】
While we discussed it, Shen Yeqing came in with the medicine he had been preparing.
“My wife, drink your medicine.”
He coaxed me as though I were a child.
“Afterward, there’s milk tea and dessert. I’ve sent someone to your favorite shop.”
Under his gaze, I obediently drank it all. Then I gently suggested, “You two don’t have to watch me every day. I’m healthy. I don’t need looking after. Go and do your own work.”
“No. Especially not while my brother’s here.”
He immediately grew alert and began his usual complaints about Shen Guannan.
“My wife, my brother’s a fickle man. He had an arranged fiancée and kept a canary on the side. He wanted both without giving the other woman any standing.
“Not like me. I’ve kept myself pure for you. No other woman has ever touched me.”
Badmouthing his rival while polishing his own image.
Amused, I played along.
“Yes, I know. You’re the very model of male virtue.”
“Since I’m so virtuous, and our child will be here soon...”
He looked at me cautiously.
“Could you... give me an official place in your life? Let’s register the marriage secretly. Don’t tell my brother. Please?”
A brilliant escape plan flashed into my mind.
“Of course. Tomorrow.”
He hadn’t expected me to agree so quickly. He was ecstatic.
But the moment he left, I told Shen Guannan, who came afterward.
“Yeqing told me not to tell you, but you’re his brother. I think you have a right to know. We’re registering our marriage tomorrow.”
“What?”
As expected, Shen Guannan fell apart.
“Yingying, there are things I shouldn’t say. But I’m afraid you’ll be deceived. My brother took up religious life so young. Have you ever wondered why? The truth is... his preferences aren’t normal...”
He gave me a meaningful look.
“You’re a good girl. I don’t want you hurt. Rather than let him deceive you, why not consider me...?”
I pretended to be troubled.
“You’re Yeqing’s brother. Saying this to me... isn’t very appropriate...”
Instead, he lifted his shirt.
“Look, Yingying. I’ve trained my abs well. I’m good too. Better than him.
“Want to feel?”
How could a hopeless admirer of handsome men like me resist?
Before I knew it, both my hands had wandered over.
Ah.
That was the feeling.
Bliss.
The System cheered inside my head.
【Sis, keep touching. Shen Yeqing’s on his way back.】
【Five more minutes of abs for you.】
Five minutes.
Neither very long nor very short.
I touched higher. Lower. Left. Right.
Until Shen Guannan was breathing hard, his gaze hazy.
Had he not known I was pregnant, things might have gone further.
That was what Shen Yeqing saw when he returned.
“What are you two doing?”
The milk tea and desserts fell from his hands.
He charged over, grabbed Shen Guannan’s collar, and punched him.
“Are you even human? Seducing your own sister-in-law! Three years ago, you used underhanded tricks to steal Yingying from me. Three years later, you’re still shamelessly competing! Have you no dignity?”
“You’re the shameless one! Why are you rushing to trick Yingying into registering a marriage? Because you know I’m the father! Pregnancy’s hard on her. What’s wrong with letting her touch my abs to relax?”
“Nonsense! The pregnancy was discovered after she came to me. It’s mine! Even if, against all reason, the child shares your blood, Yingying doesn’t want you anymore. I’m the father who’ll be on the household register!”
They argued furiously, then started fighting right in front of me.
Their flailing bodies blocked the way out.
I’d meant to slip away while they fought.
Apparently, I still had to put my acting skills to work.
I unleashed a rabbit’s special talent. My eyes reddened instantly. Shaking, I began to cry.
“How did this happen...? How could I be involved with two men and not even know whose baby I’m carrying...?”
Both men stopped at once.
Realization struck. Their faces went pale.
They had agreed to conceal the uncertain paternity. In their fight, they had blurted it out.
Seeing my distress, they panicked.
With a thump, Shen Guannan dropped to his knees.
His lips trembled. He caught my clothes, almost pleading.
“Yingying, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hide it. I was afraid it would harm the pregnancy. Please don’t end it out of anger. It’s all my brother’s fault, that fake Buddhist. Don’t blame the baby!”
Shen Yeqing knelt too, raising a hand to swear.
“Yingying, I promise. Whoever the father is, I’ll treat the child as my own. Please give me a place in your life. Let me look after you both!”
Their eyes burned with worry.
I was a little moved.
But the performance had to continue.
“Don’t come near me!”
I wiped my reddened eyes and squeezed out a few more tears.
“I don’t want to see either of you right now. Give me some space. Let me be alone!”
“But you’re pregnant...”
“Don’t worry. I won’t end the pregnancy. Whoever the father is, it’s still my child. But I need some quiet. I don’t want anyone bothering me. Don’t let anybody follow me. Not even the bodyguards. All right?”
At that assurance, they finally breathed again and nodded hastily.
“Of course!”
“All right!”
“And stay on your knees. Neither of you is getting up today!”
Dejected, they knelt very properly.
“We’ll stay. We won’t move. Just... come back soon...”
“Mm.”
Under their guilty, remorseful gazes, I strode away.
Out through the temple gate.
Past the bodyguards.
Down the mountain.
At the airport, I bought a ticket for the earliest flight to a visa-free destination and took off.
Come back?
Not happening.
Abs were precious.
A hundred million was more precious still.
Once I gave birth and completed the “pregnant runaway” mission, the reward would be mine.
Then I could hold as many male models as I liked.
The plane crossed the sky.
Watching the ground recede, I couldn’t help thinking of those two clingy men.
I missed them a little.
But mostly, I was excited about my new life.
How could a rabbit please everyone?
Doing right by yourself was hard enough.
As for the rest...
Leave it to karma.
Just then, a chime sounded in my head.
The System announced excitedly:
【Pregnant runaway mission completed.】
【One hundred million transferred. Please check your account.】
In an instant, both faces flew out of my mind.
I stroked my slightly rounded belly and beamed.
“My two darlings. Our wonderful life is only beginning!”
Bonus Story
Three years later, on an island across the Atlantic.
I sunbathed with a male model in each arm.
Four nannies watched my two children playing in the sand.
Yes.
They were Shen Guannan’s and Shen Yeqing’s children.
I didn’t know which child was whose.
It didn’t matter.
I was definitely their mother.
Both had my surname, Bai. Both had inherited our rabbit clan’s fair skin and round eyes. Everyone adored them.
I was extremely satisfied with my life.
Especially my bank balance.
Enough for the three of us to live without worry forever.
At that thought, I contentedly hugged both models and kissed each one.
Suddenly, two shadows blocked the sunshine.
“Bai Yingying. Ditching the fathers and keeping the children. Nicely played.”
At those familiar voices, unheard for so long, my eyes flew open.
Shen Guannan and Shen Yeqing stood there, faces livid.
They looked at the models in my arms, then at the children playing nearby.
“You’ve been acting the amnesiac for so long. Remember anything yet?”
They advanced, making it hard to breathe.
“Those two children... whose are they?”
The models fled, frightened by their presence.
One man on either side, they held me fast.
Their dangerous breath burned against my ears. Guiltily, I swallowed.
“Don’t rush... You’re brothers. There’s one for each of you...”
The air froze.
I had once thought that all you needed in life was to do right by yourself.
Leave the rest to karma.
Now I understood with absolute clarity.
My karma...
Had finally caught up with me.
THE END