Almost everyone noticed Long Jinjing’s distracted state during the pre-dinner gathering. They asked her about it but she told them that it was just a case of exhaustion.
“Do you want to apply for vacation?” Iris asked.
Long Jinjing declined the offer. “I’m fine, little sister. I love my work at Orchidia Beauty. The company is also only a few months old. There’s no need for me to take a vacation so soon. The regular days off and holiday breaks are already more than enough.”
Iris studied her for a few seconds before nodding. “If you’re really okay, then that’s fine. Just don’t overwork yourself and end up abusing your body. Trust me, Big Sister. It’s very unpleasant to be ill.”
“I know. Thank you, little sister.”
Seeing Long Jinjing’s obvious lack of energy, nobody forced her to participate in the lively chat. Even Grandpa Lu who invited her in the first place urged her to rest instead.
She smiled at the old man. “Don’t worry, Grandpa Lu. I’m really fine. I’ll rest after dinner.”
Grandpa Lu narrowed his old but sharp eyes at her. Fortunately, even though he looked like he doubted her words, he didn’t insist on extracting the truth from her.
Everyone left her alone. She was relieved and thankful. Now she had more time to reflect on her current situation.
Dinnertime arrived. It was yet another cheerful affair especially with the Chuas around. Laughter filled the dining area. Even Long Jinjing was able to temporarily forget about her worries to join in some of the conversations. That was until Lu Zihao arrived.
He and Jin Liwei both ran late. Dinner had already started before the two men arrived. Both of them headed straight to their own women and joined dinner without much fuss.
Lu Zihao sat beside Long Jinjing, kissing her in front of everyone without any shame. Jin Liwei was the same with his wife, Iris. Unlike Iris, however, Long Jinjing immediately turned red and couldn’t look at everyone due to her shyness.
The others only gave the two pairs some teasing looks and remarks but didn’t dwell too much about the lovey-dovey actions. Everyone was already used to being force-fed dogfood every day after all, especially by the shameless couple, Jin Liwei and Iris. The husband and wife had already been caught making out so many times than these people could count.
Good thing that the mansion was so big. It was easy for people to avoid the over-affectionate couple if one wasn’t in the mood of eating dog food. Well, except if they gathered for meals like this.
“What’s wrong?” Lu Zihao asked in a whisper.
“W-what do you mean? Nothing. I’m…f-fine.” Long Jinjing was so nervous that her hands were trembling.
Lu Zihao’s presence beside her was making her nerves go haywire. She almost couldn’t swallow her food anymore.
He frowned. “We’ll talk later.”
She nodded.
Dinner ended. Long Jinjing was so glad that she was able to survive it without drawing too much attention to herself. She and Lu Zihao didn’t join the others for the after-dinner tea and headed straight to their bedroom instead.
“Now tell me what’s wrong,” Lu Zihao said as soon as they entered the room.
She didn’t answer. Her original plan was to confirm things first on her own before talking to him.
“My subordinates reported to me that you’ve been acting weird since you went to your condo earlier today. What happened, hm?”
Her heart raced inside her chest. Before she could spout off a random excuse to him, her phone rang. She excused herself in a hurry to answer her phone. It was Chen Fei.
Lu Zihao stared at his woman talking to her best friend on the phone. It looked like they would be talking for quite some time. He was very suspicious about Long Jinjing’s actions. It was clear that she was hiding something from him.
Robin and his other subordinates only reported Long Jinjing’s unusual actions to him when he was almost at Dragon Palace. He had been busy hunting for the rest of Jin Chenggong’s people who helped in the bombing incident. There were only two left that he needed to catch. By the time he learned about his woman’s suspicious behaviour, he had no time to investigate it further before speaking to Long Jinjing. Well, it was better to ask the actual person, but from the look of things, she didn’t seem ready to tell him anything yet.
Since it looked like she would be busy talking with Chen Fei for a while, he decided to take a shower first. He headed to the bathroom with his phone.
“Bacon,” he called while stripping himself naked.
“Uncle Zihao,” a bored child’s voice answered.
“Tell me what happened to your Aunt Jinjing.”
“Bacon can’t tell Uncle Zihao.”
Lu Zihao scowled but then realization hit him. “She bribed you not to tell me anything, didn’t she?”
Silence.
“I’ll pay you double, no, triple what she paid you. Tell me what happened.”
Bacon replied in a careful tone, “My apologies, Uncle Zihao, but Father taught Bacon to live a life of integrity. Bacon may like money a lot but I am not an unprincipled child. I promised Aunt Jinjing to keep her secret until she’s ready to tell it to Uncle Zihao herself so that’s what I will do.”
“Even if I offer to pay you five times what she paid you?”
Long pause.
“Uncle Zihao’s offer is very tempting but Bacon will have to reluctantly decline. I don’t want to disappoint Mother and Father by causing them to believe that Bacon is an easily corruptible child who’ll be swayed to abandon my principles because of money.”
Lu Zihao raised an eyebrow and actually felt impressed by the little devil.
But then Bacon added, “If only Uncle Zihao stops being a scumbag, then Aunt Jinjing wouldn’t feel so scared of telling you the truth.”
Lu Zihao scowled and didn’t feel impressed anymore. The little devil’s poison tongue was still the same as always. He snorted and ignored Bacon.
After a quick hot shower, he brushed his teeth. He also planned on shaving his facial stubble but ran out of shaving cream. He checked the sink’s bottom drawer for a new bottle but froze when he saw the items lying inside.
He took out the three used pregnancy tests and their torn packaging.
“What the fuck?”
