CH 10

Wuyang arrived at the bakery shop at about eight o’clock, which was already a lot late. Fortunately, the store manager had heard yesterday that An Wuyang felt under the weather. So when he saw him coming over on the counter, he merely asked the boy, with worry etched in his face, “You alright?”

“I’m sorry, manager. I’m late,” An Wuyang sincerely apologized. Especially when his boss showed unexpected goodwill towards him, Wuyang looked guilty. “Deduct the money according to the rules, manager.”

The bakery owner simply smiled at him and waved his hands graciously and said, “Please don’t be so serious. Okay? You are a work-study part-time student. How could I dare make such an embarrassment to withhold your money?”

This good-looking and diligent little brother had performed well since he came to the store. If the other party was not a student, the manager hoped to stay in Huajia Bakery for a long time.

“Thank you, manager.” An Wuyang’s cheeks flushed red, and he felt he was taking advantage. “Then I will get off work later today to help everyone take care of the shift.”

Otherwise, based on his personality, he would feel uncomfortable.

The store manager looked at the young man helplessly. “If you insist, then do whatever you want.”

“En.” An Wuyang nodded. “Then I’m going to work now.”

After the pleasantries with the manager, he went to the locker room to change into the staff uniform, head back to the kitchen to find Xiao Lin, and return the money for the barbeque the last night to the other party.

“Thanks, Brother Xiao Lin,” An Wuyang said.

“You’re welcome.” Xiao Lin wore a mask and nudged Wuyang with his elbow. “When are you going to start school?”

Wuyang had his head lowered as he started to do something, and after hearing that, he paused on his actions and thought about it. “It’s around the 25th of the end of the month.”

Anyway, he was a local student, and his home was at most an hour’s drive from the school. So a few days were still sufficient.

“Hey, are you hungry? There are freshly baked butter loaves of bread here.” A female colleague came over with a tray and leaned in front of Xiao Lin and An Wuyang for them to take.

“Thanks, Sister Xiao Fang.” Xiao Lin immediately took one of the still warm, fragrant bread.

As for An Wuyang, when the potent scent of butter assailed his nostrils coupled with the burnt smell of toast, his face immediately twisted like the beginning of transitioning into a ghost.

The female colleague looked at him and asked curiously, “Hey, Xiao An, don’t you want to eat?”

An Wuyang covered his masked mouth with his hand, shook his head, and said, “En, I won’t eat. Thank you…” Because let alone eating that buttered bread, he felt sick and nauseous even with only smelling it.

It was just as depressing as it felt in the morning.

“Okay, then I’ll go ask other people.” After their female colleague had left, Xiao Lin drew closer. “You don’t even eat delicious butter bread?”

‘Since it’s free, then it’s also okay to not eat it.’

“Hey…” This innocent person kept leaning over with a greasy smell, and An Wuyang definitely wanted to hit him. “The smell is too strong. You can eat it elsewhere and come back after you’re done. Don’t affect my work.”

Xiao Lin was wronged. “Where is it greasy? It’s very fragrant, ya.”

He recalled Wuyang enthusiastically eating this last time.

“I may have been unwell recently and can’t stand the smell of greasy things.” An Wuyang wrinkled his nose, trying to suppress bubbling nausea.

“Hahaha,” Xiao Lin laughed and said, “Your symptoms — are you pregnant?”

“What the hell?” Aside from his nausea, Wuyang also suppressed his irritability. He smiled. “I’m still lethargic. Otherwise, why would I be late in the morning?”

Two eighteen- and nineteen-year-old teenagers were chatting nonsense in the back kitchen. They had gone from talking about the upcoming college life for a while and chatted about things more than they ate snacks in between.

Time flew by fast.

Around noon, the pastry shop packed a meal, not takeaway. It included fried pork belly with green vegetables, melons, an occasional tomato-fried egg, steamed fish, and more.

Although there was not much to eat, it was still very nutritional and healthy. One hundred times better than eating takeaways.

An Wuyang used to pick up pork belly fried in oil a few times whenever he saw one. The burnt aroma and the oily taste were particularly relishing, but he didn’t want to touch even a piece today. He just preferred to pick up vegetables to eat.

After eating, he lay down on the lounge’s round table to rest for about half an hour, got up again to deliver the cakes, and then processed the customers’ orders.

For errands such as delivery, since An Wuyang was a local, knew the route like the back of his hand. Moreover, with his pleasing face features, the store manager always preferred to let him do it.

After the noon break, the manager called him to deliver the goods. Wuyang felt heavy in his head, and he couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore. He wanted just to sleep and tuck under the comfort of blankets on the bed.

When the shop manager saw this, he immediately called another shop assistant to do the job. “Xiao An, if you feel unwell, you can ask for leave. Don’t force yourself to go to work.”

An Wuyang blushed as he rubbed his eyes that he couldn’t keep open still and said, “I’m fine. I’m just seriously sleepy….”

He felt very embarrassed. Wuyang hastily stood up and desired to go to the bathroom to wash his face so that he could sober up.

Who would have thought that as soon as he stood up, the world immediately spun around, and his eyes were dizzy and dimmed. Feeling like he would faint, Wuyang couldn’t bear but plop back himself on the chair.

“Xiao An, what’s the matter?” The store manager patted him on the shoulder and asked when he spotted him leaning forward with his hands resting heavily on his knees.

An Wuyang shook his head. When he felt that the dizziness had subsided, he looked at the manager and said, “Store manager, I think I should leave today. You don’t need to record my attendance for this day.”

He felt like he was really on the verge of dying, and there might be something wrong with his body.

“You really — go back and rest. I’ll record it half-day.” Frustrated with his stubbornness, the store manager kindly helped An Wuyang out of the bakery and called a cab for him. Conveniently, he warned, “This awful weather is too hot, and there are so many people suffering from heatstroke. If you still feel unwell tomorrow, then come back the day after tomorrow.”

“Thank you, manager.” An Wuyang repeatedly expressed his gratitude.

When he finally got into the car, his countenance had become significantly worse, and his entire person was so weak and strengthless.

The master driver glanced at him in the rearview mirror and asked, “Heatstroke? Do you want to go visit the hospital?”

After a long time, An Wuyang regained his clarity first and recalled what happened today. He couldn’t help but think, what would be the consequences if he said that he didn’t need to go?

An Wuyang wouldn’t know.

He only knew that the symptoms he was suffering from didn’t seem to be heatstroke, except that he wasn’t aware of the reason his physical condition became weak.

Although it may cost money to go to the hospital to register, he felt safe knowing that he had enough money as he touched the newly paid salary in his pocket.

“En, go to the hospital.”

The kind uncle driver especially sent the person to the hospital entrance and even warm-heartedly asked, “Can you register yourself, or do you want me to take you there?”

Faced with enough generosity from this uncle, Wuyang hurriedly waved his hands. “Thank you, uncle. I can do it myself.”

After paying, he got out of the car. After all, everyone was struggling to make a living, and he had no reason to occupy other people’s time just for his sake.

Hence, An Wuyang went to register alone, paid the fee, and diagnosed himself for a check-up. The doctor who gave him a face-to-face consultation was a kind, middle-aged, elderly doctor with greys at his temples because of aging.

“Child.” Seeing the boy’s information sheet was eighteen years old, the doctor naturally used the general term. “Where is it uncomfortable? Tell me about your symptoms.”

An Wuyang: “…Dizziness, nausea, vomiting, sleepiness, and unable to lift the spirit.”

The doctor looked at him with keen eyes, traveled his sight up and down promptly, and found that he was right. He was indeed a boy. “Are you anorexic?”

The innocent youth shook his head. “No. I just don’t like to eat greasy things, such as barbeque and butter bread. I feel sick when I get a whiff. Is there a problem with my stomach and taste? Or is it caused by the change of seasons?”

“Put out your tongue and let me look.” After reading it, the doctor said again, “Reach your hand out and let me take your pulse.”

Clean, dry, and warm fingertips were placed on the healthy, white, and thin wrists. After a momentary silence, the doctor asked, “When was the last time you had intercourse?”

At first, Wuyang thought he had misheard that the doctor asked about his sexual intercourse. He didn’t believe that he had a problem with his lower body.

The boy had a thin face, and in front of an elder, he scratched his hot ears as he replied in a low voice, “Just a month ago.”

The doctor nodded. “Wait here for a minute. I’ll just prepare a form so that you can take it for a routine inspection.”

“Okay.”

Not long after, An Wuyang took and looked at the form. It was a blood test. He raised his head and asked nervously, “Doctor, I have nothing serious, right?”

The doctor replied, “It’s just a regular examination, don’t be afraid. I’ll tell you the results after you’re done with it.”

With a small worry building inside of him, An Wuyang found the blood test department and waited in line for his number.

The results of the blood test inspection came out on the same day, and it was pretty fast. An Wuyang remembered to find his doctor to read the report himself. Thus, he went on his walk, ignoring the stunned expression of the medical staff.

Wuyang walked as he looked at the test report. The result of the blood test was 3255.500, and he didn’t know what this meant.

“Is this the result?” The doctor stretched out his hand and couldn’t wait to see the result of the test. “Let me see.”

Although he was not a professional doctor specializing in obstetrics and gynecology, he had been in the medical field for many years. When he glanced at the boy’s blood test result, he immediately confirmed that he was pregnant and the fetus was about five weeks old.

As big as the world was, nothing was nonexistent.

Some doctors had seen a person who possessed the appearance and characteristics of a male, yet could get pregnant before, just like Leizi.

After putting down the report on the glass table, the doctor cleared his throat as he perched his eyeglasses comfortably on the bridge of his nose. Once he regained his composure, the doctor looked him straight in the eye and slowly and thoughtfully said, “You are pregnant, and the fetus is about five weeks old, which coincides with the date of your last intercourse.”

An Wuyang felt his vocal chords suddenly lost their ability to speak, as if he just heard an imperial edict.

‘What pregnancy…’

His mouth opened on its own and chanted, as if this would help him the shock that he just received, “I’m pregnant, pregnant, pregnant….” Although he didn’t intentionally suspect that the doctor was wrong, he still blurted out, “Doctor, I’m a man. Really.”

“I know you’re a man.” The doctor’s eyebrows were also frowning tightly. He had never seen a case like this in his entire life until. Even though that was the case, it was still not impossible. He felt that this young man might not survive. “I knew you were pregnant when I checked your pulse just now, plus the blood test report. With this result — there is nothing that can be wrong.”

The doctor couldn’t bear to continue looking at the pale youngster, but he still had to say something important. “The fetus is only five weeks old now, and it’s still small in your stomach. It’s not impossible for you to have an abortion surgery, but let me remind you. You — compared to women’s risk rate of abortion surgery, you will be higher and need a special surgery since you’re a man. And child, your parents’ sign is needed before the hospital dare to do it for you.”

“…” These stacks of news were like bombs to An Wuyang, and they blew up his mind dumbfounded and completely blank.

The things that didn’t even exist or crossed his mind as possible — the doctor told him it was true.

The first thing that An Wuyang thought of was how angry and disappointed his parents would be if they found out.

The second thought was, how much would it cost to perform a unique surgery?