She suddenly became angry, “What’s it to you?”
Luo Xuan looked at her through the rearview mirror for two seconds, then said, “Why make the child suffer for the actions of adults?”
Chu’e was stunned. She stopped talking, letting him park the car in front of a restaurant, then get out, unbuckle her seatbelt, and hold her hand upstairs to a private room.
They were all appetizing dishes, light and not greasy, with a bowl of lean meat porridge. “Eat,” Luo Xuan sighed, “Eat well, so you’ll have strength to go home!”
Chu’e silently took the porridge, forcing a smile, “Where’s your mother?”
“I had her take a taxi home. I told her I had something to do!”
“Is she okay?” She mechanically spooned the porridge into her mouth, tasteless.
He hesitated, “Nothing major, just some… women’s issues!”
“Oh!” she responded, then said nothing more.
Luo Xuan watched her finish the porridge before asking, “Is the child his?”
She began to force herself to eat, even without appetite. She had to eat. Without eating, where would the child get nutrition? So, she ate and vomited, vomited and ate, in a repeated cycle, causing her to become increasingly emaciated during her pregnancy.
Just in her midnight dreams, she could always dream of Gu Yunzhi, dreaming of him gently placing his head on her belly, saying: “Xiao E, the little guy is kicking me again…” Upon waking, tears would wet a large portion of her pillow.
Since deciding to keep the child, Chu E rarely used the computer, afraid that radiation would affect the child’s health. She would write manuscripts by hand, then type them into the computer, spending no more than three hours in front of the computer each day.
Unexpectedly, she received an email from Lin Lan. The email contained no words, only an intimate photo of her and a young, handsome boy at Zhangjiajie, where she was smiling happily, her face showing an unrestrained, heartfelt joy.
She had finally let go! At that moment, Chu E’s heart was filled with mixed emotions.
On this day, Luo Xuan came again. Chu E did not drive him out like last time. She lazily leaned on the sofa, eating apples in big bites. Soon after, she ran to the bathroom to vomit profusely. Then she returned and continued eating.
