The fourth-month belly was already starting to bulge.
At night, after Lin Xinlan had taken a bath and was lying in bed, Rong Shaoze lay beside her, reaching out to caress her stomach.
"Xinlan, have you felt any fetal movement recently?" he asked her.
Lin Xinlan shook her head, "I can only feel there’s a life inside, but I haven’t felt any movement yet."
Rong Shaoze got up and lay down, pressing his ear gently against her stomach, trying to sense any movement.
"That’s not right, I read online that the baby should be moving at four months."
Lin Xinlan lay there lazily, smiling with her eyes half-closed, "Some even say it happens at two months, but when I was pregnant with Xiaocong, it was five months before I felt it."
Rong Shaoze suddenly straightened his smiling lips, his eyes a bit somber.
"Xinlan, I’m sorry for not being by your side when you were pregnant with Xiaocong."
This man had been apologizing to her a lot lately.
"Rong Shaoze, saying sorry can become addictive, you know," she teased him, laughing.
The man laughed, "If saying sorry a thousand times could make up for your suffering, I wouldn’t mind saying it ten thousand times."
Lin Xinlan laughed and took his hand, "It’s all in the past, we should look forward. There’s still a lot of time ahead of us."
"You’re right. As long as we’re alive, we have the chance to be happy. Oh, let’s pick a name for the child."
He got up excitedly, went to the study to fetch a naming book, and started flipping through it next to Lin Xinlan, page by page.
"How about this name, Jiaxuan? Rong Jiaxuan. This name isn’t bad, right?"
"Isn’t that too many strokes? Haven’t you heard the saying, ’A name with too many strokes will disadvantage a child at the starting line of exams’?"
Rong Shaoze frowned slightly, "Is there such a belief? Then let’s pick another. How about this, Zijie? Rong Zijie."
Lin Xinlan shook her head; she felt the name lacked grandeur.
Rong Shaoze was also unsatisfied, "What about Tianqi? Rong Tianqi, which means to live as long and be as blessed as the heavens. I think this name is pretty good."
Lin Xinlan thought for a moment and smiled, "Let’s tentatively decide on this name then. But he also needs a nickname, can I pick the nickname?"
Rong Shaoze pinched her nose and naturally nodded his head in agreement.
"Alright, I’ll leave the nickname to you."
"You’ve chosen a formal name for the child, and I’m to choose a nickname; the madam will surely blame us. She might also want to name the child."
Rong Shaoze laughed, "Isn’t that easy to solve? We can just have more children, and she’ll get the chance to name them."
"Rong Shaoze, you’re really cunning." The two looked at each other, both with fox-like smiles.
There was no helping it; giving a child a name is a coveted happiness that no one wants to relinquish.
After chatting for a while, Lin Xinlan got sleepy.
"If you’re tired, go to sleep." Rong Shaoze turned off the light and gently held her in his arms, letting her sleep against him.
Looking at her sleeping face, a twinge of heartache crossed the man’s eyes.
It was his incompetence that he hadn’t protected Xiaocong, all of it was his fault.
Suddenly, Rong Shaoze’s phone vibrated softly.
Xu Yao had sent him a message[ there was news about Xiaocong.
A look of ecstasy flickered in the man’s eyes.
He restrained his excitement, glanced at Lin Xinlan, and then quietly got out of bed and went to the study...
Early the next morning, Lin Xinlan woke up to find that Rong Shaoze had already left.