Chapter 132: Don't rush conception

Xi Zirui absolutely can't keep it together for a week.

---

When he and Han Yu finally emerge from his room, after spending what he later learns where three straight days locked inside, Xi Zirui feels like a newborn colt, barely able to stand on his legs, his eyes straining at the brightness of direct sunlight.

They're informed that Su Xueyi is long gone, although Cao Fei offered to follow him and that 'shady Jin Ranyu' to ensure they don't cause any more problems. 

Xi Zirui has his own opinion on Cao Fei's interest in the matter but he doesn't comment on it.

Since Han Yu claimed Xi Zirui while they were busy fucking like there was no tomorrow, they are now officially married, but Bai Mi still makes them go through a traditional ceremony, although with only her and a few servants in attendance.

It's still the happiest day of Xi Zirui's life.

He can't believe that after so long he's finally married to Han Yu.

They still need to talk about the whole pocket realm/ parallel reality thing, and about their previous lives together, but Xi Zirui wants to indulge in his happiness a little longer before springing that up on him.

He doesn't think Han Yu is going to react badly, and probably won't even be surprised, but Xi Zirui just wants to enjoy himself in this world without remembering the heartbreak that came before, or thinking about the original life he can't even recall.

Ni Ni tries to remind him of the importance of remembering the events that led to all of them being trapped in the realms, so that he can find a way back, but Xi Zirui just can't feel the urgency when there's a chance he might be pregnant.

It's still surreal, and Xi Zirui can't fully wrap his mind around it -- he feels almost giddy one second, and close to an emotional breakdown the next.

He can hold it together for approximately two days before making the life of everyone around him a living hell.

"Are you sure we can't know for certain?" he asks Bai Mi, after hunting her down through the palace. 

She hurries her pace, trying to put as much distance between the two of them as possible. "As I said the other five times you asked: it's still too early to tell."

Like the other five times, all Xi Zirui hears are excuses.

"There has to be a way," he reasons. "Why can we know in a week, but not right now?"

She comes to a stop in the middle of the hallway and turns around to glare at him. "Because most people can wait a week without loosing their minds."

Well, that's probably because they've spent their whole lives aware of their ability to carry children, something that has only been a possibility for Xi Zirui for a little over two weeks.

He's allowed to go a bit insane.

"Maybe a doctor--" he tries again, before Bai Mi silences him with another of her patented glares.

"You know what would help make sure you conceive?" she asks, her eyes glinting maniacally. Xi Zirui thinks he might have broken her. 

He's afraid to ask. "What?"

"Laying on your back with your legs up in the air," she says. "I hear it works every time."

---

That's how Han Yu finds him. Laying on the floor with his legs propped up against the bedframe.

"What are you doing?" Han Yu asks, when he sees Xi Zirui start to massage his abdomen.

"Ensuring I conceive," Xi Zirui says, very seriously. He cranes his head backwards to look at Han Yu. "Isn't that what we both want?"

Han Yu takes a seat on the bed and looks down at Xi Zirui's flushed faced, his smile besotted. "I'm not sure that method is efficient two days after I came inside you."

Xi Zirui lets his legs fall on the mattress with a dull thud. "Bai Mi lied to me."

Han Yu grins. "She has a tendency to do that."

It's not his fault that he doesn't understand this world. No one taught Xi Zirui anything about having children in his world, or, he guesses, not his world, but the closest thing to it since he can't remember his life as a god.

Thinking about everything he isn't telling Han Yu sends a pang of guilt through his chest. 

He splays the fingers of his right hand over his abdomen. He made a promise to the previous world's Han Yu that he would find a way to make him remember all the lives they've had together.

The problem is that Xi Zirui is greedy, once he has Han Yu he can't think about anything else -- not what came before, not what will come after.

All he wants to do is enjoy the moment, bask in the time they have now.

Han Yu slides down the bed and sits down on the floor next to Yao Shen. "I have an idea," Han Yu says, the corner of his full lips ticking up as he pats Xi Zirui's tummy.

Xi Zirui gives him a sly look. "Let me guess-"

Han Yu doesn't let him finish before leaning down to plant a kiss on his lips. "How about I give you some more, and you can put your legs up afterwards."

"Will that even work, now that the season is over?" Xi Zirui asks. 

"It can't hurt our chances," Han Yu says, and there's just no arguing with that kind of logic.

---

Hours later Xi Zirui is once again lying on his back with his legs in the air, but this time Han Yu is there by his side, his legs also in the air, to support Xi Zirui's when his grow tired.

"I don't know about a baby, but I'm definitely going to have killer abs," Xi Zirui groans, when his knees threaten to buckle.

Han Yu lets out a loud laugh and his legs crumple down over Xi Zirui's like an house of cards.

---

Slow as molasses, a week eventually passes, and it's time for the doctor to check Xi Zirui to see if he is with child.

Xi Zirui is apprehensive because the specter of physician Tang still haunts him.

The elderly doctor takes his pulse and Xi Zirui expects to be diagnosed, once again, with an excess of yang energy. 

If he isn't knocked up yet, that's surely what he will be blaming, because there's just no feasible way that after all that wild and acrobatic fucking, Han Yu hasn't managed to put a baby in him.

Han Yu holds his other hand, as the doctor hems and haws with two fingers over his pulse.

What's taking so long? 

Xi Zirui's nails dig into Han Yu's hand, who lets out a whimper of pain that Xi Zirui shuts down with a glare.

After what feels like an age, the doctor finally says, "Congratulations, your highness, the Prince Consort is with child. Two judging by what I could feel, but it's early yet."

Bai Mi, a silent spectator to the whole procedure harrumphs. "A small clutch, but I guess there's plenty of time in the future to have more."

Xi Zirui is still reeling from the fact that he's apparently going to have two babies, and that that is considered a small amount when to him any number larger than one feels insane.

Han Yu wraps his arms around him and kisses him fiercely. "We're going to be parents," he says, cupping Xi Zirui's face in his palm tenderly.

Instead of saying something, Xi Zirui breaks into tears, a stream of tears falling down his cheeks as his chest heaves with sudden, overwhelming sobs.

All he can do is mumble, "Two, two-"

Han Yu clicks his tongue and kisses the top of his head, rubbing soothing motions down his back. "Don't worry, Rui-er, two is good. I'm sure we'll have more the next time."

Even Bai Mi looks a little worried. She pats Xi Zirui on the shoulder awkwardly.

"There, there, two is a good number, larger than one, at least. You are not a failure as a consort for giving my cousin only two children on your first pregnancy." She nods earnestly, as if telling this to herself as well. "You would only be a failure if you gave him none."

Xi Zirui cries harder, only now it's mixed with watery laughs. No one understands what's happening, Han Yu snaps at Bai Mi to leave.

She drags the doctor along with her, who shouts something about "perfectly normal hormone fluctuation" over his shoulder before the door slams shut in his face.

Once they're alone Xi Zirui crawls up into Han Yu's lap wrapping his arms around his neck. "We're going to parents," he says, echoing Han Yu's words.

Han Yu rubs a hand down Xi Zirui's stomach, deceptively flat still. "We are, how does that make you feel?"

Xi Zirui looks up at him from beneath the tears clinging to his lashes and smiles so wide the corners of his lips hurt. "I'm really happy."