Qi Fenglian tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep, as if there was something on her mind. Zhang Jisheng was annoyed by her constant fidgeting, so he got up and turned on the light, looking at her discontentedly, he asked, "What’s the matter with you? Are you feeling restless or what? You’re not sleeping in the middle of the night, and I have to go to work tomorrow!"
The renovation work was exhausting enough, and now he couldn’t even have a peaceful sleep at home.
Qi Fenglian sat up and said, "Aren’t I worried about something?"
"What’s there to worry about? In my opinion, you’re just too idle." Zhang Jisheng snorted lightly. If he were like her, constantly busy and worn out like an ox, he wouldn’t have time for all these trivial concerns.
Qi Fenglian glared at him and said, "What do you know? I have this uneasy feeling, like mom is hiding something from us."
Moreover, this feeling was intense, as if something major was about to happen.
When it came to his mother-in-law, Zhang Jisheng sneered, "Hiding what? Whatever it is, it’s not going to fall on you. Aren’t you just needlessly worrying over nothing?"
"If I knew what it was, would I still be losing sleep over it? Something just doesn’t feel right," sighed Qi Fenglian. Then she added, "Cheng Su had a miscarriage this time, and mom is furious about it. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have rushed to tell her. You know how temperamental my mom can be, and now look, Taiguo has sent her over, sigh..."
Zhang Jisheng said, "You’re just now realizing how bad your mother’s temper is? Otherwise, would you think she’s so easygoing?" He felt uneasy all over just thinking about the way his mother-in-law used to glare at him when Cheng Su was trying to have a son.
"What’s that supposed to mean?" The expression on Qi Fenglian’s face darkened.
"I haven’t said anything wrong," Zhang Jisheng muttered as he lay down and said, "Stop overthinking. Whatever it is, it has nothing to do with you. Go to sleep, I have to get up early tomorrow!"
"Sigh." Seeing that he was unwilling to talk any further, Qi Fenglian was truly frustrated and sighed, "Do you think we’ll have to persuade mom to go over to their place in Taiguo tomorrow? Since she has already come, we can’t really send her back to play around. We should at least help them out for a few days, right?"
"Convince her if you think you can. To me, this isn’t a big deal. We’re all family, and there’s no deep enmity. Taiguo too—how serious can it be, falling out with her own mother? If it were up to me, I’d side with your mother—it indeed doesn’t make sense. How could such a grown-up not even know she was pregnant?" Zhang Jisheng said with his eyes closed, his back towards her.
"She’s never been a mother before, so it’s understandable if she didn’t know! Besides, they’ve been trying to avoid pregnancy, so how could this happen?" Qi Fenglian retorted irritably.
"How do you know they’ve been careful every time? Maybe they skipped using protection once or twice, or it failed or broke—what’s so surprising about that?" Zhang Jisheng scoffed.
Just as Qi Fenglian was about to argue back, a sudden realization flashed through her mind, and she grabbed his hand urgently, "What did you just say?"
"Are you done yet?" Zhang Jisheng turned over impatiently, shaking off her hand.
"No, what did you just say a moment ago? Something about something failing or breaking?" Qi Fenglian’s face turned slightly pale.
"What’s wrong with you?" Zhang Jisheng looked at her in bewilderment, taken aback by her urgency.
Qi Fenglian suddenly considered a possibility, yet didn’t quite dare to confirm it; but remembering how her mother had spoken evasively during the day, her heart started pounding rapidly.
She gripped Zhang Jisheng’s hand, swallowing nervously, "I’m wondering, could mom have done something to help Cheng Su get pregnant, just to have a grandchild?"
"Done something? What could she possibly do? Watch over them in bed? She..." Zhang Jisheng began to say, then suddenly something occurred to him, and his face twisted oddly as he said, "You must be crazy, how is that possible!"