"Twenty-four, his ancestors were from Rongcheng, but no one has come back for many years. Coming back this time, I’m afraid it’s not that simple."
Wen Runuan continued speaking. Qin Mu listened and gradually lowered her head, gazing at her drawing paper again.
"I heard about this from Director Zhang; I’m not very clear on the specifics. By the way, I’ve been thinking about checking out the gynecology and obstetrics department soon. Do you have time to come with me?"
Qin Mu looked at her curiously, "What for?"
She had never gone for a check-up there, except when she was having a baby.
"What do you think? Hasn’t your mother-in-law asked about having a second child? Don’t you want to give Huanhuan a little sister or brother?" Wen Runuan looked at her with a meaningful gaze, and Qin Mu’s already cool demeanor turned even colder.
She lowered her head, giving a helpless, wry smile, "How would I know if the child I bear in the future will be a boy or a girl?"
She was angry inside because she didn’t know if she would give birth to a son or a daughter, and she didn’t want to concern herself with it. However, thinking about the escalating issues with Feng Fanghua did indeed trouble her.
Wen Runuan could hear the problem in her words and involuntarily asked, "Did you have a fight with your mother-in-law?" "I wouldn’t dare!"
Qin Mu laughed and replied after hearing this.
How could she dare to argue with Feng Fanghua? She only hoped Feng Fanghua wouldn’t be too hard on her. She truly appreciated those moments when Feng Fanghua was comforting and understanding her. Initially, Feng Fanghua’s anger at her was easy to explain after coming back from Paris, but afterward...
For some reason, she felt that Feng Fanghua still hadn’t accepted her at heart; at the slightest issue, Feng would start finding faults with her, even demanding her to swear an oath.
She could tolerate it all, but after this afternoon, she really had enough. Was it necessary for her, who shamelessly ran to France to start a business, to endure Feng Fanghua’s attitude? Was it right or justified for Feng Fanghua to humiliate her colleagues like that?
"But does your bad mood have something to do with your mother-in-law?"
Wen Runuan asked, conveying her concern as a friend and wishing to share the burden of Qin Mu’s hidden troubles.
Qin Mu then put down her pencil, chuckled despairingly, and said, "I’ve been thinking, if it were my own mother who said those words to me,—I would have probably blown up by now."
But such an opportunity never came.
"It seems you indeed had a fight, but now that you’ve moved out, you should try to let it go. At least she loves your daughter."
Qin Mu merely smiled, her mind flashing to Huanhuan crying for her mother in Feng Fanghua’s arms—a little girl already knew fear and dread, and the future interactions within their extended family...
Some matters really become scarier the more one thinks about them.
Even though Mu Yichen had moved her into an apartment, whenever she thought of the difficult mother-in-law relationship, she still felt a headache.
She felt that she was having a hard time adapting, or perhaps she wasn’t trying hard enough.
She didn’t want to take her anger out on anyone; she believed she would definitely make an effort to do well.
Later, when Huanhuan woke up from her nap, Wen Runuan played with her for a while, looking at the Barbie doll she was holding curiously, she asked, "Does she really Barbie? She even sleeps with it."
Qin Mu looked toward the Barbie, falling into a habitual silence.
What could she say? A simple ’It was sent by the child’s maternal grandfather’? So the child treasures it especially?
But she didn’t want to say it, not even half a word about that man.
She heard he had recently been out at meetings, apparently overwhelmed with all sorts of affairs toward the year’s end.
Qin Mingzhu and Zhang Rujia had not troubled her for several days—were they nervous because they were caught trying to steal her design drafts?
But that mother and daughter would start causing trouble again in just a few days—that was the usual pattern.
She remembered going to see Helian Hao and running into Zhang Rujia at the gynecologist, then she thought about how Helian Hao had intended to set up Zhang Rujia, and she couldn’t help but lean against the wall and chuckle softly.
The big and small sitting by the bed both looked at her, and Qin Mu, realizing eyes were upon her face, quickly stifled her slightly mischievous laugh, turning to ask, "So you really are planning to have a baby?"
"Yes! Actually, I was pregnant twice before, but I didn’t keep them. This time, I probably won’t do that."
Wen Runuan picked up Huanhuan onto her lap, though Huanhuan quickly slid off and ran away.
Qin Mu didn’t like to pry into others’ personal affairs and simply nodded.
After all, such a matter is something no woman would want. Miscarriage is one thing to the body, but the sudden arrival of a little life, and then its departure is so...