CHAPTER 563: CHAPTER 558: TOO CUNNING

The old doctor was so certain that Zhou Yunmei started to believe him, albeit with some doubts.

She also saw a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner and knew such matters could be diagnosed through pulse reading, but because of Luo Zhiming, she still couldn’t fully trust it.

After a moment of silence, Zhou Yunmei asked the doctor, "Can you tell how far along her pregnancy is?"

"I may not be as accurate as Western medicine in determining the time," the old doctor said. "About a month or so, but you should have a Western doctor take a look for specifics."

"A month?" Zhou Yunmei became a bit excited upon hearing the time frame, and urgently asked the old doctor, "Is she really more than one month along?"

The old doctor smiled and gestured for her to relax, "Old lady, it shouldn’t be wrong, but it’s still best to take her to the hospital for a definite diagnosis."

"Alright, I’ll take her to the hospital tomorrow to have a look." Zhou Yunmei nodded, planning to take Xu He to the provincial city hospital the next morning after getting up.

No matter what, Zhou Yunmei must get to the bottom of this.

However, remembering the possibility that Xu He might truly be pregnant, she expressed her concern, "She fainted like this, when will she wake up? Will it affect the baby in her belly?"

"She will wake up shortly, just need to take some precautions, nothing serious."

After the old doctor left, Zhou Yunmei, looking at Xu He lying on the bed, felt extremely unsettled, not knowing whether to be happy or worried.

But if it was as the old doctor said, and Xu He was only more than a month pregnant, then the child would definitely be Luo Zhiming’s.

Because Xu He had always been honest in this regard, especially in the countryside where they were with her every day, there would be no accidents.

But thinking of Luo Zhiming’s illness and the recent incident involving Xu He and Shuanzi, Zhou Yunmei felt extremely uncomfortable. She didn’t know what to do.

After a while, Xu He feigned waking up slowly.

In fact, from beginning to end, Xu He had never fully fainted. She kept her eyes tightly shut but listened to the entire conversation between Zhou Yunmei and the doctor.

When she heard Zhou Yunmei asking the doctor if the baby was alright, Xu He felt secretly delighted inside, seeing that Zhou Yunmei had no suspicion about the child and valued it greatly.

That was enough for her.

She believed that no matter how big the issue, as long as Zhou Yunmei truly believed the child to be Luo Zhiming’s, everything would be forgiven.

As soon as she "woke up," she met Zhou Yunmei’s eyes by the bedside and deliberately asked in a very weak voice, "Mom, what happened to me? Did I faint just now?"

Zhou Yunmei stared at her expressionlessly, "Yes, we just had a doctor come to see you."

Upon hearing this, Xu He pretended to be very puzzled, "Why did I faint? I’ve always been in good health and never had any problems."

Zhou Yunmei kept staring at Xu He, trying to see if there was anything amiss with her.

But Xu He had been deliberately preparing her expression for a while, of course, she did not reveal anything inappropriate. She looked at Zhou Yunmei with wide eyes, the picture of innocence.

Seeing nothing unusual, Zhou Yunmei then asked Xu He, "Have you noticed anything unusual with your body lately?"

"No," Xu He thought for a moment, then immediately said in a low voice, "Well, actually, it’s been a while since I’ve had my period, but I didn’t pay much attention to it myself."

"How long is ’a while’?"

Xu He hesitated for a moment, then gritted her teeth and said, "Almost two months."

If she said one month, she could deceive Zhou Yunmei here, but once she got home, Luo Zhiming would expose it.

But when she mentioned two months, she worried that tomorrow’s check-up at the hospital would contradict her claim.

As she said this, her mind was constantly scheming how to avoid going to the hospital tomorrow, or how to delay it until she could go to a rural clinic instead.

The doctors at the rural clinic were acquainted with Duan Fenghua, and it would be a simple matter for Duan Fenghua to greet them and conceal the actual duration.

Hearing Xu He’s words, Zhou Yunmei was incredulous, "Two months? Aside from your period not coming, have you had no other health issues?"

Upon hearing this, Xu He quickly replied, "No, I’ve been feeling nauseous and wanting to throw up in the mornings, but because everyone at home has been worried about Zhiming’s debts, I didn’t tell you all, only told my mom."

Zhou Yunmei, hearing that the symptoms matched, was certain that Xu He was truly pregnant - and for two months at that, which meant the child had to be Zhiming’s.

Zhiyong is going to have a child!

This news was like an unexpected delight from heaven for Zhou Yunmei.

But Zhou Yunmei’s joy was greatly diminished due to Shuanzi’s recent incident.

She glanced at Xu He and said softly, "The doctor just now said you were pregnant."

"I’m pregnant?" Xu He feigned great surprise, "Really pregnant?"

"That’s what the old doctor said."

"But..." Xu He hesitated intentionally and then claimed the credit belonged to Zhou Yunmei, "Could it be that those remedies you found for Zhiming at home actually worked?"

Zhou Yunmei remained silent but hoped in her heart that this was the case.

After a while, Zhou Yunmei glanced at Xu He’s belly, sighed, and said, "It’s getting late, let’s go to sleep. We’ll go to the hospital tomorrow morning to get a confirmation, and if it’s really a pregnancy..."

Zhou Yunmei did not continue, unsure of what to do next.

Hearing that they were going to the hospital tomorrow, Xu He felt a pang of anxiety but, in order to conceal her guilt, she didn’t immediately contradict Zhou Yunmei, planning instead to say something tomorrow morning.

However, she asked Zhou Yunmei cautiously, "Mom, if it turns out I am really pregnant, do you still want Zhiming and me to get a divorce?"

"I..."

Seeing that Zhou Yunmei wouldn’t speak, Xu He pinched herself hard under the covers until tears sprang from the pain. Then she suddenly sat up from the bed, took Zhou Yunmei’s hand with tears on her face, and cried, "Mom, I know I was also to blame this time. I thought we had planned everything in advance, and I was not careful enough in the moment, letting someone exploit the loophole."

"But it’s not fair to blame me for what happened, I had no idea Luo Zhiyong would do such a thing. And Shuanzi wasn’t caused by me either. If Zhiming hadn’t owed money and then you all had tied her up, he would never have taken revenge on me. In fact, I’m truly the victim here."

Xu He’s intent in saying all this was to remind Zhou Yunmei that she was a victim in all aspects: if it weren’t for Zhiming’s debt, if their family had not brought trouble with that Shuanzi, if not for Luo Zhiyong, she wouldn’t have ended up in this situation.

"You..." Zhou Yunmei wanted to retort, but the facts indeed seemed as such; Shuanzi was enticed by Zhiming, Luo Zhiyong was from their Luo Family, indeed it was more the Luo Family’s fault that led to this situation.

If it weren’t for Xu He’s pregnancy, even if the Luo Family was at fault, she would not have admitted it, but now...

Zhou Yunmei looked at Xu He’s stomach, let out a long sigh, and said nothing more.