He Yuan returned to the Han mansion by 9:57pm. He hadn't planned on returning this late but his return flight had been delayed for over 3 hours. He didn't bother about this that much because the Hans hardly ever paid any attention to Xu Lifen anyways.
In his hands were two bags. One was a beautifully decorated bag in his left hand containing useless trinkets that he'd found intriguing and in a much bigger bag in his right hand were tons of matching baby clothes that he'd bought for the twins.
Over in the mindspace, 888 was drained. When he'd joined his host out there, he had no idea they would end up spending so much time choosing between baby clothes! He knew his host had a thing for good clothes but... In essence, he was spent.
He Yuan chuckled wickedly when he heard his system sigh for the hundredth time and with a happy expression from having had a really relaxing time away, he opened the door and walked right in.
The minute the door opened, everyone in the living room all craned their necks to look. What they found was Xu Lifen smiling happily with a rosy expression and what appeared to be gift bags in her hands.
Their expressions turned unnatural. The reason for their weird expressions was... Well the gift bags in Cu Lifen's hands were popular products for lovers in city Y, city Y was the romance central of the country, Xu Lifen kept laughing to herself with a faraway look in her eyes and her cheeks looked flushed.
...Just as one would appear when they were thinking of their lover.
Everyone in the living room all turned to Han Tao simultaneously. This... They had no idea what they were expecting but, this...
Han Tao's brows furrowed. He eyes went from the bags in his wife's hands to her flushed face and his frown deepened. He stood up. "Xu Lifen."
He Yuan, who was about to ascend the stairs, froze and looked towards the living room in mild surprise. He had turned straight to the stairs as soon as he entered so he had no idea anyone was in the living room -talk less of eight people. Did he interrupt their conversation or something? He smiled dryly. "Uh... Hello?"
Han Tao's fists clenched. Xu Lifen had come back so late with various gift bags and a suspicious demeanor and all she had to say was Hello?!
Min Yanyu eyed her son's constipated expression before turning to her daughter-in-law. "Where are you coming from so late?"
He Yuan lifted the bags in his hands and shook them a little. "I went shopping but got carried away."
Han Rong sneered. "Xu Lifen, do you think we're fools? Those bags are one of a kind. What kind of shopping would take you all the way to city Y?!"
He Yuan looked down at the bags. They were able to tell he'd gone to city Y just from the bags alone? Not bad. He looked back up. "Well most of the things I have here could not be found in this city so..." He shrugged.
Everyone exchanged looks again. Xu Lifen had gone all the way to city Y to shop? Whilst this sort of impulsiveness wasn't uncommon amongst the elites, Xu Lifen had grown up in humble beginnings so she normally wouldn't go through all that stress just to shop.
They all knew this clearly, with the most knowledgeable on this being Han Tao. He felt uneasy. He knew the wife he married. Xu Lifen had never been to city Y before so there was no way she would suddenly have the urge to shop there out of the blue.
His eyes lingered on the gift bags once more before he locked eyes with He Yuan and asked in a deathly cold voice, "What's in the bags?"
'...' He Yuan's lips twitched. How did things get here? He shook his head in contemplation before slowly lifting the much bigger bag in his right hand with an amused smile.
Before anyone could blink, Han Jiao rushed to He Yuan and tried to snatch the bag from his hand.
He Yuan's eyes flashed coldly. He let her grab the bag but before she could retreat, he tilted his body to the side and used a bit of force to drag the bag.
THUD!
"UGH!"
He Yuan's actions had caused Han Jiao to lose balance and fall right at his feet, head first.
"Jiao'er!" Both Han Rong and Han Yi shouted and rushed over to the young woman on the floor. The pregnant Chen Meili also wanted to help out but was quickly held back by a concerned Min Yanyu.
On the floor, Han Jiao held her swollen forehead and groaned in pain whilst Han Rong looked over to He Yuan with a fierce glare. "Xu Lifen! You're becoming more and more unbridled! Do you think that just because you're married to Han Tao, you could act anyhow you please? Han Jiao is a true blood Han. Is she someone you can hit?!"
He Yuan sneered. "I don't care if she's a Han, the president or the founding mother of the nation. If she dares to pull that rubbish stunt next time, I would not only let her fall but I would even stomp on her for extra measure!"
Grinding of teeth could be heard around the living room but He Yuan ignored them and eyed Han Tao. "Do you want to see or not?!"
Han Tao narrowed his eyes before blatantly stepping over his groaning cousin and taking the bag out of his wife's hand. When he finally looked in, he was taken aback for a bit. To make sure, he dug his hand in and began pulling out the contents one after the other.
The other people in the living room looked over in curiosity as Han Tao pulled out one item after another until the bag was empty and tons of transparent packaging nylons were piled at his feet. Clothes. Lots of it. Baby clothes to be precise.
"This-" He was a little speechless. He eyed his wife with a confused expression. "The second bag."
By now, He Yuan had already caught on to their suspicions. He scoffed inwardly before casually flinging the second bag at Han Tao.
The second bag was also offloaded and all that was found were a bunch of shiny accessories.
Everyone looked between each other. Xu Lifen had truly gone to city Y just for shopping? Han Tao swallowed nervously as he locked eyes with his wife. "Life-"
He Yuan cut him off with a dry chuckle. "You spent an entire night all alone with your sister-in-law in her bedroom and somehow, I'm the one who's suspected of cheating?" He scoffed. "You're just plain disgusting."
And then he directly walked up the stairs.
Han Tao watched his wife leave with a torn expression before following after.
In the living room, everyone turned to Chen Meili and she blushed in shame. "I-It's not what you think. I had been having horrible stomach pains last night and brother Tao had been worried for the babies so he stayed ove-"
Min Yanyu patted her back. "You don't need to explain. I fully understand the troubles of first pregnancy." She turned to Han Rong a few feet away. "How about you take Han Jiao to have that bump.on her head taken care of?"
Han Rong nodded. "I already contacted the family doctor, he should be here soon." She looked to the stairs as she massaged the sides of her daughter's head. "That Xu Lifen is truly unkind. Delibrately trying to make us misunderstand Meili like that. Tsk."
The living room was soon filled with the sounds of everyone asking about the slight complication Chen Meili had the night before and although the woman of the moment answered their questions, her mind was elsewhere.
Her sister-in-law had taken everyone's mind off the fact that she'd gone all the way to the romance central of the country by presenting some baby clothes but... It could also be possible that Xu Lifen had hastily bought those things in order to deceive everyone.
Chen Meili bit her lips in distress. Should she tell brother Tao or not? She didn't want to ruin their relationship but also, she could not stand by and watch as brother Tao was cuckolded. Han Jinhai would surely not forgive her in heaven if she let his brother go through such a painful ordeal.
-------------------------
He Yuan had barely taken three steps into the bedroom when Han Tao stepped in.
Han Tao placed a hand on his wife's shoulder but when she heartlessly shrugged it off, he clenched his fists at his side. "Lifen, I've wronged you."
He Yuan folded his arms across his chest and laughed humourlessly. "What good is telling me that you have wronged me? Is it going to change the fact that you'd been so shameless to suspect me or...
-Is it going to stop you from running to Chen Meili like she's your wife?"
Han Tao frowned and was about to speak up when,
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Cousin Tao, come down quickly!" It was Han Yi. "Cousin Meili is having is an unusual headache and we're taking her to the hospital!"
Han Tao's eyes widened and he quickly rushed over to the door. Before he opened it, he remembered the conversation he was just having with his wife and turned around with a constipated expression.
He Yuan kissed his teeth. Chen Meili was suddenly having an 'unusual headache.' What was that even supposed to mean?
The most amusing thing was how distressed Han Tao was. When Xu Lifen had been involved in that life threatening accident, the almighty policeman Tao of few words had effortlessly kept his cool so what was this?
In the end, He Yuan merely shrugged and waved casually, "Have fun all you want. Sooner or later, my twins would be born and you would run out of excuses to be close to Chen Meili."
Han Tao frowned. "What is that supposed to mean?"
He Yuan subconsciously imitated his system and cocked his head to the side with a mischievous smile as he pointed a finger at Han Tao. "You know-" Next, he pointed at himself. "-And I know. That's all that matters."
Han Tao opened his mouth to speak but then,
"Cousin Tao!" Han Yi shouted and knocked some more.
He had no choice but to open the door and leave with her. As he sprinted down the stairs, he thought back to his dealings with Chen Meili. The both of them had been involved at some point in their lives but... that was in the past.
The only reason he was this concerned was because she was carrying his children. Was it wrong to care so much for one's own seeds?
At that moment, Han Tao arrived at the living room with Han Yi behind him. Watching as Chen Meili was slowly aided by his mother and his aunt whilst she winced in pain, he grit his teeth.
Chen Meili was going through a lot and he was only doing his best to help. Thinking that Xu Lifen had gone as far as to insinuate that he had cheated on her with Chen Meili, his chest heaved.
He could not believe how unreasonable and paranoid his wife was!
After thoroughly convincing and reassuring himself that the care he'd been showing Chen Meili was all for his unborn twins and nothing else, Han Tao rushed forward and gallantly lifted Chen Meili, princess style, and carried her out of the mansion to the garage.