Chapter 104 - The Fox Doesn't Believe In Fairytales

Chu Yun hummed behind gritted teeth. Unusual was the fucking understatement of the century!

He was so pissed off that if he wasn't careful he could end up revealing to Gu Wei that he suspected him, instead of getting any useful information out of him.

"Have you heard of anything like that happening, to an alpha that is?" Chu Yun probed, one of his legs dangling against the bridge's railing, his other foot hooked around a post.

Gu Wei came to a stop, and tapped his chin with the sharp tip of his shears, apparently lost in deep thought. 

Chu Yun didn't buy it for a second, but he kept his own counsel.

After a few more moments of reflection Gu Wei finally said, "I can't say that I have, but I suppose I have heard tales about it."

"Tales?"

Gu Wei waved, almost dismissively. "Oh, just romantic stories for teenagers and sentimental old aunts. Silly things about how soulbonds can overcome even the most dire of circumstances and bind two individuals together against all odds."

Chu Yun grimaced, struggling not to roll his eyes. Everyone had heard that kind of nonsense -- and knew better than to give it any credit.

"Yes, well, everyone has heard those, but the insurmountable odds are usually class differences," he said, trying to keep his tone of voice pleasant instead of caustic, "not incompatible alpha biologies. Not to mention that soulbonds only happen between alphas and omegas."

Gu Wei turned to him, tilting his head sideways pensively. "Do they? That doesn't sound like the tales I heard as a child, but then again I'm a number of years older than you, and from a different country," he smiled, "I suppose stories change across the years and several li that separate us."

"I suppose they do," Chu Yun said, smiling tightly.

"Still, maybe there is some merit to those tales," he waved in the direction of Chu Yun's still very much flat abdomen. "I assume you didn't think something like this was possible before it happened either."

Sure, he didn't, but Chu Yun also didn't think he would one day end up married to another alpha -- just because something was unlikely it didn't mean it had to have an extraordinary explanation.

The fact that Gu Wei seemed so focused on the most fantastic alternative was a little suspicious.

"I think there might be a more rational explanation for my condition," Chu Yun said, kicking his leg back and forth.

The corner of Gu Wei's lips quirked up, he was having fun at Chu Yun's expense. "Who says soulbonds are irrational?"

This time Chu Yun just said nothing and smiled tightly. There was no point in talking in circles. If this was the hill Gu Wei wanted to die on, he was happy to let him.

Gu Wei's smile widened. "Besides, it seems to me this couldn't have come at a better time."

Chu Yun nodded. On that much they agreed. Even though it was exactly the oddly opportune timing which worried him. 

"Yes, there is that," Chu Yun said slowly, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

Excluding the whole Chu Hean debacle, which Gu Wei couldn't have predicted, it was still convenient for Chu Yun to end up unlikely pregnant right after a number of ministers admitted they would throw in their support behind Xiao Zai if it wasn't for his lack of heirs.

Gu Wei chuckled. "Have you decided how you're going to take advantage of it?"

Of course that was Gu Wei's foremost concern. Chu Yun doubted the man used the chamberpot without calculating everything he stood to gain from it. 

"Oddly enough, no. I was busy being terrified of this absolutely unwelcome change in my body."

Gu Wei gave him an amused look. "Pregnancy is not a death sentence," something flashed in his eyes, "even if it might feel like it, at times."

Chu Yun hadn't come to hear Gu Wei wax poetic about the virtues of childbearing. He tried to tamper down his annoyance by reminding himself that he was merely laying the groundwork to catch Gu Wei later on. If that meant playing nice for a time, he just had to endure it for a while.

A sound of amusement next to his ear made Chu Yun realise that Gu Wei had come closer, and was now standing next to him, his arms draped lazily over the bridge's railing. "You must be reeling from the shock still, I understand that, but you can't let such an unique opportunity slip through your fingers."

Chu Yun nodded, letting Gu Wei know he was listening. "I look forward to hearing father-in-law's advice."

"Whatever my husband's plans when it comes to you and Xiao Zai, something like this will be sure to ruin them," he smiled, showing the sharp points of his canines. "It's all about choosing the most opportune moment to reveal it."

The problem was that Chu Yun felt closer to hiding under a hole until the entire thing was over, than announcing it to anyone. The embarrassment of being a pregnant alpha was about to kill him, and only a handful of people knew -- four of them sworn to secrecy.

His face must have shown his inner turmoil because Gu Wei placed a comforting hand on his back, in a very uncharacteristic gesture.

"Planning is with man, accomplishing with heaven," he said, his tone oddly gentle. "Don't worry about the things you can't control, focus on those you can. Whether you like it or not, this is the solution to at least one of your immediate problems."

As much as it pained Chu Yun to admit, Gu Wei was right about that. 

---

When Chu Yun left the courtyard, Hua Nanyi was waiting for him at the door of Gu Wei's suit of rooms, her expression dark.

"Did you see the guard?" he asked, as soon as they stepped out of the door.

She shook her head. "No one came or went while the two of you talked."

Chu Yun smirked. "That's a good sign that if we keep dropping in unannounced we'll eventually catch him."

"Why do you say that?"

Chu Yun gestured to the suit of rooms they had just exited.. "Gu Wei has an inner courtyard and about five individual rooms for himself, and yet not a single servant in sight," he winked at Hua Nanyi, "that doesn't happen on accident."