"Is being pregnant so bad? We can have more children, and in the future, I will give you many, many children."
"Heh, but I don’t want to have any more children." Worried that he might get angry, she added another sentence, "My health isn’t good right now, and I’m not suitable for pregnancy."
Rong Shaoze was slightly stunned; he hadn’t thought of this.
"Alright, we won’t have children for now, let’s talk about it after some time. But stop taking these pills."
"These are vitamin tablets, not birth control pills."
A trace of confusion flashed through Lin Xinlan’s eyes.
He explained, "Originally, my mother, in order to get you pregnant, secretly had Lao Gu replace the birth control pills, which is why you got pregnant with my child."
"When did you find out?"
"After you went missing..."
Lin Xinlan didn’t know what to feel; was this what they call the play of fate?
In the grand scheme of things, such a coincidence had occurred.
The child that was lost, was it destined not to come into this world?
She tossed the pill aside and said indifferently, "Fine, I won’t take it today either; after all, it’s a safe period, the likelihood of getting pregnant is very small."
Rong Shaoze fell silent for a moment before saying, "In the future, I will wear a condom, so you don’t need to take the pills; taking too many isn’t good for your health."
Lin Xinlan closed her eyes, ignoring his words.
Before this, she had always been taking pills, yet he had never shown any care or concern.
Now, his concern for her came too late.
Her heart, ever since the moment he threw her into the swimming pool, had completely frozen to death.
No matter how good he was to her, her heart would never be resurrected, never ever.
The calm now was but a manifestation of a heart turned to ashes; not saying hate, not shedding tears, is not to say there’s no hate or pain, but restraint.
Someday, sooner or later, she would completely escape from him and never look back.
The next day, Lin Xinlan slept until noon before she got up.
Zhou’s mother had been in the hospital for four days; she had to visit her, or she might not get to see her one last time.
Rong Shaoze was not at home, and without telling anyone, she went to the hospital.
Upon entering the ward, the person lying in that bed was not Zhou’s mother, but a stranger.
A bad premonition rose in Lin Xinlan’s heart, and she hurried to find a nurse to ask where Zhou’s mother had gone.
The nurse shook her head and said, "That patient passed away yesterday."
"Passed away?!" Lin Xinlan felt her mind go blank, thinking the nurse was joking with her.
"How could I not know? Did she really pass away? When did she leave?"
"She passed away yesterday morning, someone came to claim her body and completed the discharge procedures."
"Do you know who that person was?"
"I don’t know, but it seemed like they were not her relative, more like they were ordered to come."
Who could it be? Did Rong Shaoze send someone?
Also, didn’t they say Zhou’s mother could live for a week? Why did she pass away after just four days...
Lin Xinlan turned to leave in a daze, but the nurse called out to her, "Oh right, are you Ms. Lin?"
"Yes, I am Ms. Lin." Lin Xinlan nodded hurriedly.
"Before the patient passed away, she asked us to give something to you, I’ve kept it here and almost forgot about it." She took out a jade bracelet from the drawer and handed it to her, "This belonged to the patient, she said it wasn’t worth much, but she wanted to give it to you as a gift."
Lin Xinlan accepted it, the round and green bracelet had a ring of blood strands within; evidently, Zhou’s mother had worn the jade bracelet for a very long time.