The Flower Of The High Mountain Is Pregnant With The Son Of The Sand Sculpture Ceo Chapter 28
byChapter 28: The Child is Mine…
Upon hearing the doctor’s words, a look of helpless panic surfaced on Pei Yumin’s terrified face.
He struggled for a long time to regain his composure, looking at the doctor and saying with difficulty, “Doctor, I think I forgot to tell you, he is male.”
The doctor adjusted his glasses. Although he also found it strange, he confirmed, “I know.”
Pei Yumin’s legs went weak, and he nearly collapsed to the floor. He gripped the table for support for a while. Only after his gaze fell upon Lu Shangyan’s face did he recover some rationality. “Is he so gravely ill that you’re trying to make a joke to lighten the mood?”
Even in his sleep, Lu Shangyan seemed uncomfortable, frequently frowning. Pei Yumin’s heart ached terribly, and he knew that at this moment, he absolutely could not fall apart. “It’s okay, Doctor. You don’t need to find ways to comfort me. I can handle it. Just tell me the truth.”
The doctor frowned. “Have you ever met an ethical, professional doctor who would lie at a time like this?”
As he spoke, he gestured toward the wall behind him, which was covered in framed commendation banners.
Pei Yumin glanced over, seeing a sea of red, and then the characters on the banners began to spin, faster and faster. He could no longer support himself and sank onto the floor.
At this moment, he felt no joy at the prospect of becoming a father, nor did he entertain any thought of using this child as an excuse to make Lu Shangyan stay with him.
His mind was consumed by the fact that Lu Shangyan was pregnant. What was he going to do?
Lu Shangyan had worked tirelessly to get into Z University, struggling for so long to climb out of his past. He was only in his third year; dentistry required five years to graduate. He was just two years away from potentially escaping the suffering of the past two decades, and now, a child might ruin everything.
Lu Shangyan was an orphan. With such a major event occurring, he didn’t even have anyone to back him up.
The more Pei Yumin thought about it, the more his chest tightened. A person of the same gender as him was pregnant because of their reckless night together. He couldn’t bear to imagine how terrified Lu Shangyan would be when he found out.
He took a deep breath, struggled to his feet, and ignored the doctor’s concern for him, gripping the doctor’s shoulder. “This must be kept absolutely confidential. It cannot get out!”
Regarding patient privacy, the doctor agreed readily, though he did feel a slight regret that a major medical discovery had quietly slipped away because of the young man in front of him.
Pei Yumin quickly called his mother, asking her to find the most professional medical team in the shortest time possible.
Madam Yuan’s palms were sweating with anxiety. “What illness do you have?”
Pei Yumin tried his best to keep his voice from trembling too much. “It’s Lu Shangyan.”
She already knew about Lu Shangyan’s background and had heard Pei Yumin mention that he hadn’t been well lately. Hearing that Lu Shangyan was seriously ill made her even more frantic. “What happened to him?!”
“Which hospital are you at? Your father and I will come pick him up and take him to your Uncle Wu’s place.” She stood up and started walking out, only to realize two steps later that Pei Yicheng was still in the study upstairs. She quickly ran back up. “What kind of illness is it? Tell me first so I can contact the right doctors.”
“It’s not an illness,” Pei Yumin said. He found a chair next to the hospital bed and sat down, holding Lu Shangyan’s hand. “He’s pregnant.”
Yuan Qingyu dropped her phone in shock, then frantically picked it up. “Son, didn’t you say he was a boy?”
Pei Yumin had temporarily calmed his emotions, speaking softly so as not to disturb Lu Shangyan’s rest. “It’s true.”
Yuan Qingyu was drenched in sweat from anxiety. “Is that doctor professional?!”
She grew even more anxious after saying that. Without even knocking, she burst into the study, grabbed Old Pei, and rushed out. “What are you still working for at a time like this? You’re about to be a grandfather, do you know that?!”
–
When Lu Shangyan woke up, his body no longer felt uncomfortable. His phone wasn’t nearby, so he didn’t know how long he had slept.
But he clearly remembered the situation before he fainted. He had heard Pei Yumin’s voice, so Pei Yumin must have brought him to the hospital.
He lay there for a while longer, and when he felt strong enough, he sat up. As he came to his senses, he realized the hand that had the IV drip was resting on his lower abdomen.
He remembered fainting from the pain. His lower abdomen had felt like it was being pierced by needles; it was no exaggeration to say he had endured unbearable torture.
Lu Shangyan sighed and began to examine the room. The ward was spacious, with an ensuite bathroom. It was more like a luxury hotel suite. He originally wanted to get out of bed to look around, but just sitting up seemed to have drained all his strength.
Lu Shangyan slowly moved his body, comforting himself that his weakness was only due to lying down for too long, and not some incurable disease.
At this thought, he involuntarily lowered his eyes. If the illness that caused him such distress wasn’t serious, it wouldn’t have reached this point. While he was lost in thought, he vaguely heard Pei Yumin’s voice outside. It was very faint, but once he realized Pei Yumin was nearby, he finally dared to quietly let out a breath of relief.
Pei Yumin chatted with the person at the door for a few more moments, then, as he left, he pleaded, “Uncle Wu, please take care of his matter.”
The other person smiled, patted his shoulder, and walked away. Pei Yumin stood there for a moment longer before pushing the door open. When he saw Lu Shangyan was awake, his eyes instantly lit up. He rushed over and abruptly pulled Lu Shangyan into a hug.
His breathing was ragged, and the hands holding Lu Shangyan started trembling again. “I’m sorry, Lu Shangyan. This is all my fault.”
Lu Shangyan was utterly confused, but seeing Pei Yumin’s reaction only reinforced his belief that his condition was very serious. He had made the worst possible assumptions before, but when reality struck, he realized he hadn’t fully prepared himself to accept everything that might happen, as he had imagined.
He stared at the ceiling, trying to convince himself to accept it all, but before he could, he suddenly felt moisture tracing a line down his neck. At first, he thought it was his imagination, but more water flowed down, and he clearly heard Pei Yumin’s uncontrollable sobs.
He patted Pei Yumin’s back. “I’m the one who’s sick. Why are you crying?”
Pei Yumin tightened his embrace. Lu Shangyan felt pain. “You’re squeezing too hard.”
Pei Yumin instantly loosened his grip, looked down at Lu Shangyan’s stomach, and cautiously reached out to touch it. “Does it hurt here?”
Lu Shangyan shook his head. In the past, no matter how much pain he was in, he would endure it if he could. But perhaps now, thinking he only had a few months left, he didn’t want to hide anymore. He lowered his head and looked at Pei Yumin with a hint of complaint. “It feels a bit bloated.”
Pei Yumin was sitting opposite him. From this angle, Lu Shangyan looked particularly wronged, and Pei Yumin’s heart melted. “I’ll go find the doctor.”
Lu Shangyan shook his head, disagreeing. “It’s not that bad.”
Pei Yumin frowned, strongly disapproving of his lack of self-care. “Your situation is different now; you must take good care of yourself. Besides, please let me do something for you. Otherwise, I really… feel terrible.”
Lu Shangyan pursed his lips and took several deep breaths before finally gathering the courage to ask, “What illness do I have?”
Pei Yumin blinked, stumped by the question. He paused for so long that Lu Shangyan couldn’t help but tilt his head, looking at him confusedly, and touched his palm, urging him to speak quickly.
Pei Yumin finally reacted. He had been so excited when he came in that he only focused on crying. “Lu Shangyan, you must prepare yourself mentally.”
Lu Shangyan rarely saw him this serious and immediately tensed up. “I’m ready.”
Pei Yumin let out a breath and said word by word, “You’re pregnant. The doctor said you’re almost three months along.”
A ringing sound filled Lu Shangyan’s ears. He looked at Pei Yumin’s face, feeling like he didn’t even recognize the person. Although Pei Yumin often said nonsensical things that left him bewildered, this was the first time it was this baffling.
Lu Shangyan squeezed his eyes shut several times, then secretly pinched his palm. Only after confirming he wasn’t dreaming did he dare to speak again. “Am I so severely ill that you’re deliberately saying this to distract me?”
Pei Yumin was earnest. “I wouldn’t lie about something like this.”
As he spoke, he pulled open the top drawer of the bedside cabinet and took out a thick stack of examination results. “While you were unconscious, we ran every possible test, and some were done more than once. I guarantee these results are accurate.”
Lu Shangyan’s vision blurred. He recognized all the characters, but he refused to accept the results. At first, he read them word by word, but then he uncontrollably flipped through them quickly until the last page, where he saw a blurry image labeled “little bean.”
Pei Yumin’s expression softened. He sat beside Lu Shangyan, wrapped an arm around his shoulder, and pointed at the “little bean.” “This is the culprit that’s been making you unable to eat or sleep properly, and making you think you had a serious illness.”
Lu Shangyan stared in disbelief. The news of his pregnancy was more shocking than the thought of having only a few months to live.
He looked at the papers several times with trembling hands. “I’m really pregnant.”
Pei Yumin nodded. “It’s our child.”
Lu Shangyan flipped the paper over and covered it with his hand. He was even more confused now. He wasn’t emotionally breaking down and crying, nor was he so overwhelmed that he was suicidal—this was already a “good thing” Pei Yumin hadn’t dared to imagine.
He waited until Lu Shangyan’s shoulders stopped shaking so violently before asking softly, “Do you want to keep this child?”
Lu Shangyan turned his head toward him at the sound. His eyes were filled with confusion. “This happened too suddenly. I… I don’t know what to do.”
Pei Yumin temporarily relaxed, speaking even more softly, as if afraid of startling him. “Then take your time to think. It’s okay. I’m here for everything.”
“If you want to keep the child, we’ll get married immediately. I will fulfill my responsibility as a father, take good care of you and the child, and raise them.”
He paused, then looked away and added, “If you don’t want to keep it, I’ll find the best doctor to perform the procedure for you.”
He was afraid the little bean in Lu Shangyan’s stomach would be sad if it heard him, so he finally rested his forehead against Lu Shangyan’s, whispering close to his ear, “Of course, I need to clearly tell you beforehand that because of your unique body, if you keep this child, you might have a very difficult time, and I won’t be able to share that burden with you. You will have to bear everything.”
“The baby is less than three months old now. It will start showing at six months, which will be October. You’ll just be starting your fourth year. You’ll have to choose between taking a year off or risking being discovered by your classmates.”
“It’s very unfair to you. You have to sacrifice too much, and all I can offer you is companionship, or comfort that might not help at all.”
He had thought these words countless times while Lu Shangyan was unconscious. Now that he had finally said them, the stone pressing on his heart hadn’t lightened much. He didn’t even dare to look at Lu Shangyan’s expression or meet his eyes.
Time seemed to stand still around them, sinking into silence. Pei Yumin didn’t dare to release his embrace, nor did he dare to make another sound, afraid of disturbing Lu Shangyan’s thoughts.
In reality, Lu Shangyan was still completely lost after hearing all that, his thoughts becoming even more chaotic. This event happened too suddenly; he didn’t have time to prepare, or rather, he couldn’t bring himself to prepare.
Only when he had been sitting for a long time and started to feel tired did he say in a hoarse voice, “I can’t decide. I don’t know what to do right now. I want to rest a little longer.”
Pei Yumin was already thanking heaven that Lu Shangyan hadn’t been completely crushed. Hearing his words, he immediately got up to help him lie down. “Is there anything you want to eat? I’ll go buy it for you later, or I’ll make it if I can’t buy it. Look how thin you’ve gotten from studying lately. Tell me if there’s anything you want, and I’ll buy it right away.”
Lu Shangyan had been lying down for nearly a day and a night but wasn’t hungry at all. “No need.” Seeing Pei Yumin’s expectant face, he added, “I want fruit salad. It’s summer now, and a lot of my classmates buy it at the school supermarket. I haven’t tried it yet.”
Pei Yumin almost burst into tears. “I’ll buy it! I’ll get you the biggest portion!”
Pei Yumin only left after Lu Shangyan finished his IV drip. Hearing the door close, Lu Shangyan realized his lips had curled into a smile at some point. He then realized that what he had just said seemed like a way to get Pei Yumin to care about him more.
At this thought, Lu Shangyan turned onto his side and pulled the blanket over his face. He pulled it down again when he couldn’t breathe.
He forced his attention back to himself, sliding his hand down to his lower abdomen. This child was indeed an unexpected presence that he couldn’t keep.
Whether he could afford to raise this child was one thing, and whether he could successfully give birth was another. Just as Pei Yumin said, his body was unique. It had already tormented him this badly at the beginning; what about later…
He didn’t dare to think further.
If he really found a way to give birth to this child, any slight mistake in the coming months would completely negate the efforts of his past two decades.
But… he closed his eyes. This unborn child, who might not even make it safely into the world, was the only relative he had in this world who truly belonged to him.
His eyes welled up. He squeezed them shut even tighter. He fell asleep again before he could figure out how to choose.
–
Yuan Qingyu and Pei Yicheng were waiting outside the ward. Pei Yumin had insisted they stay out, saying Lu Shangyan’s situation was special and he was afraid their presence would pressure Lu Shangyan.
Yuan Qingyu complained that Pei Yumin was terrible with words. With such a big matter, she was afraid his clumsy mouth would mess things up and cause Lu Shangyan to break down, so she kept trying to go in. Pei Yicheng held her back, and she finally gave up, but she still crouched by the door, eavesdropping, afraid of missing any news or any accident, so she could rush in immediately.
Unexpectedly, the ward remained very quiet. She occasionally heard a few words, all from Pei Yumin when he was too emotional to suppress them. They were truly heartfelt.
Lu Shangyan, however, was silent. If she hadn’t seen Lu Shangyan’s examination report, she would have thought her son was the one who was pregnant, and he was the one who couldn’t handle it, sobbing hysterically while holding Lu Shangyan.
When Pei Yumin came out smiling, Yuan Qingyu was speechless but still had to speak to him. “Where is my daughter-in-law? How is he now?”
“Mom, keep your voice down.” Pei Yumin quickly pulled her away. “He just fell asleep. Don’t disturb him.”
Yuan Qingyu immediately nodded. “What did you just tell him?”
Pei Yumin recounted everything that had just happened, word for word, including the heartfelt things he had said to Lu Shangyan, which he repeated with great emotion.
Yuan Qingyu’s eyes lit up. She punched him lightly on the chest. “Good job, son. At least you’re responsible.”
Even Pei Yicheng nodded repeatedly. “You’ve truly grown up. You can bear the responsibility of a husband.”
Yuan Qingyu was reminded of something and immediately asked, “So, did Shangyan accept your proposal?”
Pei Yumin froze, his face flushing. “I haven’t proposed yet!”
Then he realized something. “That didn’t count just now. Shangshang didn’t take it seriously either. I need to properly plan a proposal ceremony before I can formally propose to him.”
“The most important thing right now is his health. Whether he keeps the child or not, we need to prepare in advance.”
Yuan Qingyu nodded quickly. “Right, right, right. I said the wrong thing again.” She then glared at Pei Yicheng in annoyance. “It’s all your fault for interrupting and distracting me just now!”
Pei Yicheng naturally didn’t dare to argue a single word. He changed the subject and quietly sought credit. “I’ve already spoken to your Uncle Wu. Neither he nor his students will reveal anything about Shangyan’s pregnancy. He also helped contact a professional obstetrics and gynecology team. Whether he decides to keep the baby or not, they can provide the best solution in time.”
Pei Yumin said, “This absolutely cannot get out. I don’t want him to be discussed by outsiders.”
Pei Yicheng nodded and added, “And regarding the school, I’ll find a way to keep it quiet. If he decides to have the baby, whether he takes a leave of absence or continues classes, I’ll figure out the arrangements.”
Yuan Qingyu also chimed in, “I’ve thought it all out. If he doesn’t want to take a leave, and his health allows it when school starts, he can go back to class. The months will be small then, so it won’t be obvious. When it starts showing, we’ll ask for a month’s leave for him. I’ll set up video calls for him to attend online classes. Then, when it gets colder, he can wear thick clothes to cover his stomach when he goes to school. No one will find out.”
She had been thinking about a lot of things while Pei Yumin was thinking, and now she poured it all out. “It’s better for us to work together than for Shangshang to figure it out alone.”
She gave a slight smile and patted Pei Yumin’s shoulder. “Son, when he wakes up, arrange for us to meet him.”
Pei Yumin knew the meaning of this “meeting.”
Before, when he hadn’t won Lu Shangyan over, he was afraid of burdening him, so he always prevented them from meeting.
Now, Lu Shangyan still hadn’t agreed to be with him, but the situation was completely different. Lu Shangyan could no longer stand alone.
He let out a breath and said, “You can see him, but the meeting gift must be generous.”
Yuan Qingyu also relaxed, smiling and scolding him, “Do I even need you to tell me that?”
–
When Lu Shangyan woke up again, his phone was on his pillow, fully charged. He picked it up and saw only a few messages from Pei Yumin that he couldn’t reply to while sleeping.
Then there were two friend requests. Lu Shangyan opened them. One profile picture was a woman holding a lotus flower, smiling sideways at the camera. She looked gentle and lovely. The request message read:
[Shangshang, I’m Mom.]
A minute later, another message followed: [I’m Pei Yumin’s mom.]
The other profile picture was the calligraphy character “Cheng.” Lu Shangyan guessed this was Pei Yumin’s father.
He hesitated for a few seconds, then accepted both.
The next second, a message from Yuan Qingyu arrived.
[Green Green Little Grassland: (Image)]
[Green Green Little Grassland: I’m making chicken soup for you. It will be ready soon. I’ll bring it over later. What else do you want to eat? Tell me now, and I’ll prepare it.]
Lu Shangyan felt a warmth in his heart.
[s: No need, Auntie. That’s too much trouble. I can eat out.]
[Green Green Little Grassland: No, you need to nourish yourself properly now. When I saw you at the hospital, you were so thin. It breaks my heart.]
Lu Shangyan had never been cared for like this and didn’t know how to reply. After thinking for a long time, he could only manage one sentence:
[s: Thank you, Auntie. The soup is enough.]
Yuan Qingyu knew Lu Shangyan was afraid of bothering her. After all, she wasn’t “Mom” yet, and Pei Yumin’s progress was pitiful. She couldn’t even be considered a “future mother-in-law” yet. The thought made her sad.
Pei Yicheng, assessing the situation, glanced at her phone screen, then slowly strolled into the living room, put on his reading glasses, and tapped his finger on the screen.
The next second.
[Big Fat Sheep: Transferred 66,666 yuan to you.]
When Lu Shangyan saw the message, his phone instantly felt like a hot potato, and he dropped it onto the bed.
Pei Yicheng was smug after sending the money. Knowing Lu Shangyan lived frugally, he deliberately sent two fewer sixes, afraid Lu Shangyan would refuse if the amount was too large.
Lu Shangyan took another deep breath, picked up his phone, and looked at it carefully several times. Then, breathing deeply, he got out of bed, put on his slippers, and prepared to go outside for some air. On one hand, the number had shocked him breathless; on the other, he had been lying down for too long. If he didn’t move, he would become more restless. He wanted to calm down and think carefully about the child so he could make a decision quickly, which would be best for both him and the baby.
When the elevator opened, a woman walked out. It was the person he had seen across from the school previously.
This time, the woman didn’t ignore him but walked straight up to him. “So this is what you look like? Not the mistress I imagined.”
Without waiting for Lu Shangyan to respond, she smiled mockingly and said, “I want to talk to you. May I?”