Du Zhaohui indeed only wanted a child, not the child’s mother.

Having associated with cultured people, Du Zhaohui’s current approach was also relatively sophisticated, at least not rejecting advanced medical technology to solve his problems. Ever since Tang Yuanyue reminded him that he would eventually need an heir, Du Zhaohui had been pondering this matter.

After much consideration, he concluded that while an heir was necessary, a woman was not.

Why should he compromise himself by sleeping with a woman he didn’t like, just to produce an heir?

How could someone as handsome as him let an unwanted woman take advantage of him? Even just finding a random woman to bear a child for the sake of having an heir would bring endless troubles.

He certainly didn’t want some woman parading around with the title of “his heir’s birth mother.” If he were to die early, the child’s mother might emerge to take advantage of using “filial piety” as an excuse – Du Zhaohui felt he wouldn’t rest in peace!

Fortunately, medical advancement solved this dilemma for Du Zhaohui.

He didn’t need to force himself to sleep with any woman.

He didn’t even need to meet them!

In 1978, the world’s first IVF baby was born at Oldham Central Hospital – a healthy girl named Louise.

Louise was now 14 years old, healthy, and no different from naturally conceived children. As the first test-tube baby, she received widespread attention from society. After her birth, IVF technology developed rapidly. By 1992, the technology had become relatively mature and safe… at least with Du Zhaohui’s wealth, he could afford the related expenses and receive the best services.

Since learning about this technology, Du Zhaohui became less worried about the ‘heir’ issue.

When Du Chengrong met Du Zhaohui on his deathbed, he also mentioned the ‘heir’ problem, and Du Zhaohui gave the same response. Du Chengrong became angry, essentially saying that while Du Zhaohui’s feelings for Xia Xiaolan were acceptable, “preserving himself” for her was absurd and violated natural order!

Du Zhaohui had no intention of preserving himself; he had simply seen the best and refused to settle for less.

Father and son had serious disagreements on this matter, and their last meeting ended unpleasantly.

Now, Xia Xiaolan was pregnant.

Du Zhaohui put this plan on his agenda.

A-Hua’s intuition wasn’t wrong – Du Zhaohui only wanted the child, not the mother. His strict criteria weren’t for a girlfriend but for an egg donor. Du Zhaohui hoped his heir would be intelligent, beautiful, and have a strong drive for success. He admitted he was using Xia Xiaolan as his standard for screening, and undoubtedly, only Xia Xiaolan herself met all his conditions.

Unfortunately, he didn’t dare ask Xia Xiaolan for this request. How could he phrase it? Ask if she could lend… forget it, Xia Xiaolan would break his legs.

Du Zhaohui cherished all three of his legs, and couldn’t afford to lose any of them!

IVF… if Du Zhaohui’s plan were exposed by Hong Kong media, it would definitely cause major controversy. People would probably speculate more about his physical problems, and even Ye Jiawen couldn’t deflect all the criticism for him.

But this was just who Du Zhaohui was.

Did he care about controversy?

He used to care a bit, but now he had let himself go completely.

Time passed, and Xia Xiaolan entered the late stages of pregnancy.

In early pregnancy, she remained very thin, but after five months, she began to gain weight like rising dough. In her previous life, Xia Xiaolan had been ordinary-looking and never experienced the benefits of beauty.

In this life, she was perhaps too beautiful.

So beautiful that gaining male attention became too easy.

Zhou Cheng had fallen in love with her at first sight.

From age 18 to 27, Xia Xiaolan never worried about her appearance. Heaven had favored this face too much – no matter how she mistreated it, she remained beautiful. Even the fatigue from working overtime aroused sympathy.

Suddenly becoming like a risen bun, Xia Xiaolan wasn’t quite used to it.

Due to pregnancy hormones, she developed spots, her skin darkened, and she gained weight… these changes weren’t noticeable at first until one day she saw her swollen face in the mirror and startled herself.

She hadn’t been overeating at all. Though she had never been pregnant in her previous life, Xia Xiaolan understood the basic principles – random supplementation during pregnancy was wrong; small, frequent meals with balanced nutrition were sufficient.

She wasn’t eating much, so why was she gaining weight?

Xia Xiaolan had always been self-disciplined. While other pregnant women couldn’t control their eating, this would never happen to her, yet despite eating little, she still inflated like a balloon!

After the initial shock came confusion.

The reflection in the mirror was so unfamiliar that even she had to look away instinctively. How did Zhou Cheng manage to gaze at her so intently?

His gentle eyes often made her blush, giving her the feeling of still dating Zhou Cheng.

In reality, their child was about to be born – they were properly married, what dating was there to speak of?

Zhou Cheng refused to answer this question, seeming even more surprised:

“Become ugly? Where have you become ugly?”

His wife had always been this beautiful!

As Xiaolan’s belly grew larger, he became completely focused on his wife, with no attention to spare for anything else.

He saw how difficult the pregnancy was for Xiaolan.

Because she was carrying twins, her belly was larger than other pregnant women at the same stage, making Zhou Cheng extremely anxious. He constantly worried about her falling, wishing he could share the burden – if only he could take one of the babies and carry it in his belly!

In the late stages of pregnancy, his wife began retaining water, her back would hurt after standing briefly, she needed frequent bathroom trips, and never had a peaceful night’s sleep. Zhou Cheng’s heart ached terribly.

Never mind that she was carrying twins – even if it were just one child, and even though there was no family planning policy, he only wanted Xiaolan to give birth this once!

Never again – it was too much suffering.

For a smooth delivery, Zhou Cheng accompanied Xiaolan on walks morning and evening.

They lived in the same courtyard house they’d moved into after marriage. Liu Fen and Guan Huie basically visited every day, both wanting Xia Xiaolan to be comfortable and at ease. Though they were concerned when Xia Xiaolan wanted to live alone with Zhou Cheng, they had to agree. Xia Xiaolan wasn’t being difficult – when she became increasingly clumsy with one month left until her due date, Sister Zeng moved in to help.

Xia Xiaolan hadn’t expected that with one month left until delivery, her cousin Liang Huan, who had been silent for so long, would reappear in her life-

It happened one day while Zhou Cheng was accompanying her on a walk in the park, they encountered Liang Huan.

Liang Huan was also strolling in the park with a young man. She was surprised to see Zhou Cheng, and even more surprised to see Xia Xiaolan beside him:

“Cousin Xiaolan?!”

Was this still the extraordinarily beautiful Xia Xiaolan?

She looked ready to give birth.

– This version of Xia Xiaolan standing beside Zhou Cheng seemed too discordant!