Going to the hospital for an examination couldn’t involve using the family car and driver, nor could it involve using the personal connections of the elders. She could only dutifully go queue up for registration and wait for her number to be called. She had heard that before doing an ultrasound, one should fast for six hours and refrain from drinking water for four hours. Jin Yiken told her to simply take a full day off—wait for him to pick her up in the morning, and he would accompany her for the entire day of examinations. She said you might as well do my homework for me while you’re at it.

He said deal.

Long Qi threw him the categorized test papers in the taxi. After returning home, she didn’t do anything. After showering, she lay on the bed with her eyes open. Later she watched several movies—her laptop had been reinstalled by Jin Yiken, and the folders contained quite a few films. This person seemed flashy on the surface, but the movies he liked to watch were unexpectedly profound. One film called “Cidade de Deus” made her drowsy. After switching to another one called “The Godfather,” she fell completely asleep.

She didn’t wake up as early as expected in the morning because Jin Yiken had gotten up even earlier than her to go to the hospital to register, and only after he had properly inquired about everything did he take a taxi to the building of her residential complex. So this revealed why she was a problem student while he was an honors student. This person, whenever he encountered serious matters, handled them more swiftly and properly than anyone else. He was the type of man who could accomplish great things as long as he focused his mind. No wonder Bai Aiting’s entire family thought so highly of him.

So the child couldn’t be kept—his future had to be protected.

Early in the morning, they took a taxi to the selected hospital. Since it was Tuesday, there weren’t many people in the gynecology department. Plus, being located in a remote area, there were even fewer people. During the examination process, Long Qi didn’t waste much time. She didn’t have to queue for any of the tests, going from one item to the next. However, the nurse who drew her blood was an intern whose hand was a bit heavy. After it was done, the skin around the needle mark had turned blue.

But fortunately, they didn’t run into any acquaintances.

After finishing the examination, Jin Yiken took her to eat. When ordering, he added an extra children’s meal. She didn’t comment on this. He then asked the server to leave an extra seat on one side of the table. The phone placed on the table suddenly vibrated. Long Qi glanced at it. Jin Yiken didn’t even look, rejected the call, and put it back in its original place.

“Who was it?”

If it were Bai Aiting, he would have said it was Bai Aiting directly, but since he deliberately didn’t answer, it was probably Dong Xi. This phone had vibrated quite a few times. Just in the morning alone, Long Qi had seen it twice. She asked: “Tell me, how many calls were from Bai Aiting? How many were from Dong Xi?”

“Don’t think about this.”

Long Qi wanted to grab his phone, but he was one step faster in taking it away: “Can you only think about me today?”

The tone of these words was a bit heavy. The two looked at each other in the lonely lighting. Just then, the server brought the dishes to the table, including the extra children’s meal that was ordered. Jin Yiken kept his head down eating after that and didn’t say another word to her.

In the afternoon, he took her to some places, meaning that while this child had come alive into existence, the two of them would accompany it as parents to experience this world. So he took her to visit the kindergarten, elementary school, and middle school he had attended, made a round at the amusement park, patiently circled around this city, bought candy and cartoon toys, and finally, only when Long Qi couldn’t walk anymore, did they climb up the lighthouse by the seaside in the evening.

Throughout the entire day, he remained a man of few words, as if he had matured overnight. When the two were watching the sea, he said: “I just want to find someone I like. I’ll work to support the family while she takes care of the children.”

He said: “Bai Aiting isn’t the person I like, and neither is Dong Xi.”

He said: “You are.”

The sound of the waves rose and fell in succession. Long Qi stared silently at the reef rocks beneath the lighthouse. After a long while, she closed her eyes and said: “Jin Yiken, you don’t actually like me.”

“You’ve mistaken the thrill of a physical relationship for feelings of attraction. You only have feelings for me because I’ve slept with you. You still haven’t distinguished this point up until now.”

Jin Yiken didn’t refute. He gazed at the reef rocks at the bottom of the sea just as she did, gazing for a very, very long time before saying: “Perhaps.”

But while these three words appeared to concede to her on the surface, the tone was full of negation. He continued: “Qi, I’m different from you.”

“You are different from me. Your thoughts, your soul are much more profound than mine. And aside from my face and a dozen rotten personality traits, I have nothing worth taking. Why would you like a worthless person like me? Besides, I don’t like your type. I like good people.”

Jin Yiken looked at her for a while, then slowly put both hands into his pants pockets. The waves at this moment were crashing particularly violently. Even their skin could vaguely feel some spray.

“Then let me ask you a question.”

Long Qi looked toward him.

“The first time you got in my car, did you think I was a good person or a bad person?”