Everyone in the office had a jumpstart and turned to Gu Longwei with an incredulous stare. No one had expected the sudden outburst.
Han Rong tried to place a hand on her husband's shoulder to calm him down but he easily shrugged her off, stood up from his chair and swung both arms in the air to vent. "Han Tao is married! Married! What did you see in him to make you do this?! Didn't you claim to love Han Jinhai deeply?!"
Chen Meili flinched and dropped her chin to her chest in shame. She had somewhat expected this reaction. What she didn't expect though, was for this reaction to come from uncle Gu. Her lips quivered. Uncle Gu had always treated her well. She didn't want him to be so mad at her but...
The reality of the matter was that the heart wanted what it wanted. She couldn't help it.
The Han Madam looked from the quivering Chen Meili to the fuming Gu Longwei and sighed. "Gu Longwei, that's enough."
"ENOUGH?!" Gu Longwei automatically replied with a fierce glare in the Han Madam's direction. A second later, he realized his reaction was too extreme and under the confused gazes of everyone, he directly walked out of the office.
BANG!
They all turned to Han Rong at the doorslam and she grimaced. To stave off the embarrasment she was feeling, she looked to her mother and said weakly, "Longwei... He... Ah, you know how he treats Meili like his own daughter so his anger is to be expected."
Han Yi sighed at that whilst Han Jiao slowly inched closer to Chen Meili. "Cousin Meili... are you really pregnant for cousin Tao?"
Chen Meili placed both hands on her laps and clenched a small portion of her dress in her fists before raising her head nodding firmly. Even if things were a little messy now, a baby was something to be excited about so why should she feel ashamed?
The Han Madam saw Chen Meili's firm look and closed her eyes with a sigh. What could be done about this situation? This was a baby they were talking about here. What if the child turned out to be a boy?
After thinking for a while, she finally opened her eyes and looked to Min Yanyu. "Put out a call to the police station. Let see if there's a way to reach A'Tao."
Min Yanyu nodded and Fu Lan also used that time to call her husband. Rather than heading to the hospital with the rest of them, Han Yuanjun had gone over to his office instead so he wasn't present. Such a news could not be kept from him.
At that moment, a nurse opened the office door after a brief knock. "Doc, we need you."
The doctor sprang up from his seat immediately and then his face flushed. He didn't mean to appear too eager to leave but he just could not stay here anymore. He nodded at the Han Madam. "Madam Han, I would send someone up here with the bill. In the meantime, my patients need me."
And then he walked out of the office with the nurse without waiting for a reply.
The Han Madam looked at the door before raising a shaky hand to her face. The existence of the doctor had been entirely forgotten when she heard the news of Chen Meili being pregnant. She had let an outsider witness such a messy event in her Han family.
Min Yanyu looked up from her phone then, "Mother, he's going to connect in another 30 seconds!"
The Han Madam pushed her embarrasment to the back of her mind with a sigh. She glanced at Chen Meili briefly before saying, "Let's take this outside."
Min Yanyu nodded. Next, she and Han Rong moved to support the Han Madam out of the office with Fu Lan following behind.
As soon as the door closed, Chen Meili tapped her feet a little in anticipation. She wasn't worried or nervous because she knew brother Tao would definitely be happy to hear she was pregnant. Pregnant with a baby they'd made together. She could barely hold back the smile that was threatening to burst through.
"Cousin Meili?"
Chen Meili blinked then and turned to Han Yi. "Ah?"
Han Yi smiled softly. "You looked so lost there." She walked over to sit besides Chen Meili and hug her shoulders. "Are you alright?"
Chen Meili returned her smile. "Well I-" She suddenly paused and glanced at the door. "...I need to use the restroom."
Han Yi froze before smiling. "I had overthought. Go on." She exchanged a glance with Han Jiao. "We'll be right here. Call us if you need us."
Chen Meili nooded her thanks and left the office. Outside, she looked from the door leading to the restroom to the door leading to the hallway. She gulped before walking over to the latter and gently opening it to peek through.
In the hallway:
Min Yanyu placed her phone on loud speaker and lowered her hand so all four of them could communicate with Han Tao.
As soon as the line connected, Han Tao's voice came through, "Mother?"
"Chen Meili is pregnant." The Han Madam went straight to the point. She needed to know her grandson's thoughts on this.
The other end of the line went silent.
In a police station outside the country, Han Tao stared down at the landline in his hands in shock. Meili was pregnant? His mind flashed back to the night they'd spent together and his throat constricted.
Just thinking of Meili carrying his child at this moment made his heart go into overdrive. He'd never regretted being on a mission as he did now. He slowly raised the phone to his ear. "Where is she?"
Han Rong eyed the phone in Min Yanyu's hands. "She's okay but A'Tao, what are you going to do about Xu Lifen?"
Without missing a beat, what they all heard was, "Divorce her and marry Meili."
"You can't!" The Han Madam said with wide eyes. Even if Chen Meili was pregnant, the gender of the child was currently unknown. What if Han Tao divorced Xu Lifen and the child turned out to be a girl?! What if they were unable to give birth to a boy in the future?!
If it was discovered that Han Tao had gotten a different woman pregnant. Then it was possible that Xu Lifen would have custody of the children till they turned eighteen whilst all Han Tao would be left with would be periodic visitation rights. Just how would children raised by that Xu girl till they were 18 turn out?!
Han Rong and Min Yanyu also had the same thoughts.
After a while, Min Yanyu looked down at the phone. "How about this: In three months or so, we would be able to tell the gender of the child. If it turns out to be male then, A'Tao, you can divorce Xu Lifen.
-Until then, Chen Meili's pregnancy must be hidden from Xu Lifen at all costs!"
The Han Madam nodded satisfactorily at that. If the child in Chen Meili's stomach turned out to be a boy then she wouldn't be so fixated on the twins. Xu Lifen was free to raise them however and the Hans would also dote on them but the inheritance would, of course, go to Chen Meili's child, who would be raised by them and with a reliable mother.
In fact, she liked it much better this way. She was a traditional woman and firmly believed that a child conceived through the joining of a man and woman was much better than one conceived through messy artificial means. Besides... The twins weren't even being breastfed. Tsk.
DING!
In the police station, the landline let out a warning sound and Han Tao sighed. He'd hoped to at least speak to Meili but there was no time. As for what his mother had suggested. He was going to go with it but... If the child does not turn out to be a boy, it wouldn't matter.
He was still going to divorce Xu Lifen anyways. 18 years wasn't long and he would be able to coax the twins home then. He promised Meili that he would take responsibility and he would. There was no way he would remain married to a different woman whilst she was pregnant with his child.
In the end, he hummed. "We'll do as you say. I have to go now. Take care of Meili for me." And then the phone hung up.
The four women in the hall exchanged looks then and fell into deep thought.
Peeking from behind the door, Chen Meili's heart was an erratic mess. She slowly lowered her hand to rub her stomach with eyes full of happy tears and throat clogged with emotions. If her baby turned out to be a boy then... Brother Han was going to leave Xu Lifen and marry her~
-------------------
When the Hans returned to the mansion -without Gu Longwei- they all acted like nothing major had happened and casually made up a reason to reassign some servants to Chen Meili's wing once more.
He Yuan hung around the corner and carefully scrutinized each of their expressions before returning to the bedroom. After checking on the twins, he walked over to the window to look out.
Actually, it would be a good idea to use Chen Meili's 'fake pregnancy' to get a divorce and have Xu Lifen hold on to the twins but that wouldn't be enough. First of all, it would only be till the twins turned 18 and Han Tao would still be free to visit whenever he pleased because they were his children.
Based on the fact that the inheritance had ended up with Chen Meili's first son in the original timeline, He Yuan didn't want the Hans to have any access to the twins at all.
The boys deserved much better than the trash family so what he aimed for was for Han Tao to give up his right to the boys.
Now he didn't need a soothsayer to know that there was no way Han Tao would sign such an agreement if the Hans had no other heirs. This was why, although he didn't want Chen Meili to carry Han Tao's child, he needed Chen Meili to get pregnant.
For who? Well... Ever since he found out Gu Longwei's messed up infatuation to Chen Meili, he'd come up with a step by step plan to make sure they got together in secret.
The second phase of his plan was already in motion.
He Yuan calmly closed the curtains and walked over to the bed. He wanted to call out to his system but stopped in the last second.
888 had been a lot quieter lately and although that worried him, he refrained from demanding answers because he didn't want the system to become even more closed off.
He had plenty of time to figure out whatever was wrong anyways.
It took another three days for the drug He Yuan had injected into Chen Meili to wear off and for her morning sickness to mysteriously stop.