CH 22

Tang Ke glanced at Shen Fangyu, who was still sitting in the same place, and when he turned back, Jiang Xu was already far away. He hurriedly followed him, calling out to Shen Fangyu from a distance, “Hurry up, third floor.”

Shen Fangyu gave an “OK” gesture and stood up while rubbing his shoulder. He stood there for a moment, thought about something, then went back to his car, changed his clothes, and sprayed some cologne before he was satisfied and walked to the examination building.

In the examination room, Jiang Xu lifted his shirt. His abs were disappearing, but the outline of his pregnant stomach was still unclear, the three-month-old child was less than the size of a pear, and with Jiang Xu eating so little, his stomach still looked flat, his waist still narrow, and only when he took off his clothes and one looked very closely could they see a slight difference.

This was the picture Shen Fangyu saw when he came in. It was the first time he saw Jiang Xu’s stomach sober, and although he couldn’t see anything more, his mind buzzed a little

Jiang Xu wasn’t looking at him, his gaze was on the ultrasound machine’s display, watching the image change along with Tang Ke’s movements.

The smooth probe moved slowly over the skin with a little pressure, and Jiang Xu’s eyes moved back from the display to look up at the ceiling in silence.

The fetus was well developed. Although it was a little small in size, all the organs were clearly developed, the external genitalia of a three-month-old child was already beginning to differentiate, and Jiang Xu could even tell from the blurred black-and-white mass that the odds were that it was a daughter.

Tang Ke could see it just as well, but they both tacitly kept silent.

A fetus and a daughter were the same thing, but their meanings were worlds apart.

Abortion is done early partly because the longer it’s delayed the more damage it does to the body, and partly because of the unavoidable, deepening emotional bond between the mother and the child.

Yet some people were thick-headed enough to shout, as if they had never seen the world before, “Hey, it’s a girl!”

Jiang Xu and Tang Ke: “……”

This was the first time Shen Fangyu had seen his baby through the ultrasound machine, and he asked, half cautiously, half in disbelief, “Am I really her father?”

Jiang Xu: “To be honest, I hoped not.”

“……” The unacknowledged father was not dispelled by Jiang Xu’s remark. Shen Fangyu stared at the image in the ultrasound machine like it was his first imaging course, wishing he could stare at it all day.

Jiang Xu interrupted directly, “That’s enough.” He gestured for Tang Ke to take the probe away and the image on the ultrasound machine instantly disappeared. Jiang Xu wiped the ultrasound fluid off and lowered the hem of his shirt.

“The baby is three months old, it’s time for an early Down’s screening,” Tang Ke said, “Do you want to do it?”

Down’s screening was done to rule out one of the most common chromosomal aberrations in fetuses.

On one hand, the pregnancy test was to determine the physical condition of the baby, and Jiang Xu’s physical condition on the other, to ensure that nothing unexpected happens before the abortion procedure. However, the Down syndrome screening was not really necessary for a child that was bound to be aborted.

“I’ll think about it and tell you later.”

Tang Ke nodded and Jiang Xu glanced at the clock, “I’ll go first then.”

“Why don’t you do the screening?” Shen Fangyu couldn’t help but ask as they returned to the car.

“It’s not like it will be born.” Jiang Xu glanced out of the car window, there was a row of cinnamon trees planted on the road and the faint sweet scent could be smelt.

Shen Fangyu froze, Jiang Xu hadn’t contacted him again for so long, and there was no news from the science magazine. Seeing as the baby was already three months old, he had thought that after receiving Dr. Kenn’s letter, Jiang Xu had put off the idea of abortion, “You’re not going to go to that county M guy to operate on you, are you?”

Jiang Xu didn’t say anything.

“Jiang Xu,” Shen Fangyu felt a headache, “200,000 USD …… how many years’ worth of salary is that? If you don’t want the money, you can donate it to the needy, but you don’t have to travel across the ocean to give charity to capitalists who believe in money, okay?”

“Then what do you think I should do?” Jiang Xu’s anger shot up. Dr. Kenn’s team insisted that they would not be able to communicate with him about the surgery until the article was published. Tang Ke entrusted his friend to ask, but still had no confirmation.

If there hadn’t been a case in country M, Jiang Xu might only have had to look forward to his deathbed, crossed the river by feeling stones, treated a dead horse as a living horse doctor, and take one step at a time.

*Whole paragraph just means doing his best, holding onto a glimmer of hope, and trying to save the situation even when there is no hope.

But with an existing case to go by, they’d have a higher degree of certainty and the most fulfilling preoperative preparation to perform this operation.

This was why Jiang Xu had been putting off the check-up.

But the baby was getting bigger, and the price of delay was too great.

Without access to reference materials, the safest thing for Jiang Xu was to go abroad to see Dr. Kenn for the operation.

But going abroad wasn’t a solution either.

Tang Ke’s previous estimate of three months might not be enough to get a successful application. His condition was sensitive and involved the issue of giving birth to a child in a foreign country, not to mention the increasingly stringent restrictions in country M. Jiang Xu had made three appointments to talk to the embassy, but the visa was refused each time and the next one would have to wait until a month later.

Even if Jiang Xu had enough money, there was nothing he could do now.

He rolled down his window in annoyance, trying to calm his inner irritation with the scent of osmanthus flowers, but all he got was choking car exhaust.

He could only withdraw his gaze with a bit of gloom, and looked at the fortune cat ornament in Shen Fangyu’s car. The unreasonable lucky cat obviously couldn’t feel his plight, and it was still smiling and waving.

There was a moment of silence in the car, and it was clear that Shen Fangyu had no answer to his question. The baby was in his stomach, and Shen Fangyu was just standing around talking. It would be fine if they were true lovers, but he and Shen Fangyu were not close. Moreover, he was his nemesis and competitor for many years, and no matter how difficult his predicament is, Shen Fangyu couldn’t afford to worry about him.

However, just as Jiang Xu was about to change the subject, Shen Fangyu spoke up.

“Have you …… considered giving birth?”

As if not expecting it at all, Jiang Xu tilted his head in disbelief, but Shen Fangyu, who had made a shocking remark, looked calm.

He bypassed the endless stream of traffic and quietly parked his car in a temporary parking space on the side of the road.

It was not quite dark yet and the roadside was already lit up with street lights.

Next to the parking space was a cinnamon tree, and the scent of cinnamon was finally wafting in, devoid of the exhaust fumes like before.

Shen Fangyu’s eyes reflected the orange light, making those peach blossom eyes look extraordinarily affectionate.

“In six months, the article will definitely be in print, and by then, we’ll have the data and the surgery footage in our minds. We won’t have to go begging, I’ll do the surgery for you.”

Shen Fangyu rested one hand on the steering wheel, his other arm propped up on his ear to support his head as he looked at Jiang Xu, “If you don’t want to raise this child, I’ll do it. You can save the two hundred thousand dollars and give me half of it as child support, but it’s also okay if you don’t want to.”

His well-defined knuckled fingers tapped on the steering wheel and he lowered his gaze, “If you are afraid that it will affect your life, I promise not to let this child appear in front of you in this life, and if you are afraid that I will be bad to the child after I get married, I can also not get married.”

Jiang Xu looked at him in silence for a moment, “I need a reason why you’d sacrifice yourself to help me.”

“I don’t want you to pay $200,000 to a capitalist, is that reason enough?” said Shen Fangyu, “The child isn’t yours alone, I know we’ve always been at odds, but that’s not self-sacrifice, you don’t have to face everything alone, Jiang Xu,” he said as if somehow helpless, “you always refuse to discuss anything with me, but ……”

He finally said what had always been on his mind, “I’m also the father of the child.”

The author has something to say.

To clarify:

“I am also the father of the child” means that “I want to take responsibility for this matter with you, and find a way to face the current problem together with you. Please do not push me away again, not because the child has half of my blood so I want to interfere with your decision to give birth or not.”