So It Turns Out, Being Pregnant Is This Hard
After such turmoil in the middle of the night, Su Jingyang only fell asleep when the sky was growing light. This time, he slept deeply. When he slowly woke up, he realized a pair of strong arms were wrapped around him from behind.
Just as he was about to turn over, a low voice sounded by his ear. “I heard you, this sister-in-law, is quite imposing at home.”
“Get lost.” Su Jingyang jabbed an elbow backward. He had only said that on purpose to raise his status and irritate that little brat Rong Xia. Who wanted to be his so-called sister-in-law?
Su Jingyang said, “I’m his elder!”
That bit of strength meant nothing to Rong Ci. He laughed, pecked Su Jingyang on the cheek, patted his shoulder, and helped him sit up. “Alright, Elder Su. It’s getting late. Since you’re awake, get up and eat something.”
After Su Jingyang finished washing up, breakfast was already laid out on the table. He ate while listening to Rong Ci talk, only then learning that Rong Ci had personally interrogated Rong Xia. Rong Xia had confessed everything. Cutting his hair hadn’t been planned nor had he truly intended to cast a curse. He had only wanted to use it as leverage afterward to threaten Su Jingyang into leaving Rongcheng.
Su Jingyang shook his head as he listened. Children really were naïve in the way they thought. He took another spoonful of porridge before saying, “What use is that? Did he really think I’d be that easy to scare off?”
Rong Ci said, “Exactly. He underestimated your intelligence. A grave mistake.”
“Mocking me again, aren’t you?” Su Jingyang shot him a look. Seeing Su Jingyang’s bowl was empty, Rong Ci ladled him some more porridge, then rubbed his head and smiled gently. “I’m genuinely praising you. Your vigilance is very high. Keep it up in the future. Maintain the authority of the City Lord’s Furen’s imposing manner and fear no one.”
“That’s a given.”
Su Jingyang ate a small pastry, glanced at Rong Ci several times, and still couldn’t hold it in. A trace of suspicion showed in his eyes as he lowered his voice. “Are you sure it really wasn’t Madam Ru who ordered it? I heard from Rong Hua that she harmed you before. I’m worried she instigated a child to do something bad.”
Rong Ci shook his head and said decisively, “It wasn’t her. She doesn’t dare repeat old tricks now. If she did, she’d be endangering her own son’s life.”
Su Jingyang looked impressed without fully understanding. He guessed Rong Ci must have done something behind the scenes, but he didn’t press further. It was probably related to Wu clan techniques anyway. “Then how do you plan to deal with Rong Xia?”
Su Jingyang had thought Rong Ci would see Rong Xia as just a child acting out and, at most, lock him in his room for two or three days before releasing him. Unexpectedly, Rong Ci ordered Rong Xia to be moved from the inner halls to the dark prison and locked up for a full three months.
Su Jingyang was stunned. Although Rong Ci wasn’t particularly warm toward Rong Xia, he still treated him as a younger brother. Yet now, without hesitation, he was sending the ten-year-old into a pitch-dark prison.
Rong Ci examined his somewhat surprised expression and grasped his hand, asking, “You’ve gone soft-hearted?”
Su Jingyang hurriedly shook his head. “No, no. I’m just surprised. You said your father owed Madam Ru a great debt. I thought you would…”
Rong Ci looked at him and said, “According to Rongcheng law, once a child turns ten, they must bear a certain degree of legal responsibility for their actions. Just for the offense of attacking you at night warrants punishment. Letting him stay in the dark prison for only three months is already a light warning.”
Su Jingyang looked at him, pondering for a long while before suddenly pulling his stool closer to sit before Rong Ci. Blinking, he asked curiously, “Rong Ci, can you… tell me what exactly your father owed Madam Ru? Why could he tolerate her having another man’s child? She even tried to kill you, yet he still spared her.”
Rong Ci’s gaze steadied. He paused for a moment without answering. Su Jingyang waved his hand. “Forget it. If it’s inconvenient to say, then don’t.”
“There’s nothing I can’t say to you.” Rong Ci touched his face, sighed lightly, and said, “It’s simply this. My father was a shuangrenzi. He gave birth to me together with my father.”
Su Jingyang’s eyes flew wide open. This was truly something he had never imagined.
“Because Wu clan men possess stronger abilities than shuangrenzi women and can better replenish the energy of Wuqun Mountain, the position of City Lord has been passed down exclusively to men for nearly two hundred years.
My grandfather had only one child, my father. He feared that my father’s succession would cause dissatisfaction and unrest among the people, so he used the excuse of cultivating poison-laden martial arts to have him wear gloves from a young age, concealing the mole on his palm. Later, when my father became pregnant with me, he married Madam Ru to cover things up.”
So that was how it was. Su Jingyang asked, “Then did she know?”
“Of course she knew. For the position of City Lord’s Furen, she agreed immediately and then set conditions with my father. She wanted a child of her own. My father agreed, but only after I turned ten. The two of them swore a blood oath that this secret could never be revealed in their lifetimes, or they would die violently.”
Su Jingyang finally understood everything. He frowned and thought for a moment. “Still, this sounds like a transaction where both sides got what they wanted. Why did your father feel he owed her? She even tried to kill you, clearly wanting her own son to… wait, wait, wait!!!”
Something suddenly felt off. Su Jingyang slapped his forehead hard, replayed it in his mind, then stared fixedly at Rong Ci. “You just said your father used cultivating poisonous martial arts as an excuse and wore gloves to hide the mole on his palm…”
This move was way too familiar!!!
Su Jingyang sucked in a breath. “Could it be that Rong Hua…?”
Rong Ci flicked his forehead and laughed. “You only realized it now?”
Su Jingyang looked utterly incredulous. “Oh my goodness.” He had been deceived for so long!!!
No matter how he thought about it, Su Jingyang still couldn’t find any flaws in Rong Hua. Among shuangrenzi, some had indistinct Adam’s apples, and Rong Hua happened to be one of them. Combined with his naturally androgynous voice, it was hard to suspect anything. Most importantly… he was a busty beauty! How on earth had that been faked? Su Jingyang was almost impressed.
After Rong Ci explained further, Su Jingyang finally understood why Rong Hua had dressed as a woman. Wu clan Saintesses were children born at an astrologically calculated moment, not a moment early or late.
Yet the divinely designated Saintess had been born as a shuangrenzi. The Grand Shaman recalculated several times, but the result was still Rong Hua. With no other choice, he was brought into the great hall and raised as a girl, using the old City Lord’s method to conceal the truth.
Su Jingyang could only sigh. “Being a shuangrenzi is really hard. Either you pretend to be a man or you pretend to be a woman. By your logic, Rong Hua also knows your father’s secret?”
“He didn’t know before. He always thought my father truly cultivated that kind of martial art, and he merely borrowed the method. By now, he’s probably already guessed.”
The information was overwhelming. Su Jingyang took quite a while to digest it before recovering. After sitting and resting for a bit, he eagerly prepared to go find Rong Hua to hang out. Rong Ci stopped him and said, “You won’t find him right now. He’s gone to Wangyue Mountain Manor.”
After missing Xu Mei several times, Rong Hua had grown curious as well. After returning from Wuqun Mountain, he accepted the invitation and went to Wangyue Mountain Manor to visit. If he stayed there for a while, it would likely take at least a month before he returned.
Su Jingyang dropped the idea and went out to accompany Ling Li instead. Hearing from Li Yin that Ling Li’s body was recovering well, Su Jingyang felt much more at ease.
After Rong Xia was locked up, Madam Ru went to the elders again and cried her grievances. Those old men were the softest-hearted. More than ten of them went together to see Rong Ci, chattering away and urging him to release Rong Xia, arguing that the child hadn’t caused any major disaster.
Rong Ci ignored them coldly and instead extended Rong Xia’s confinement by another half month. Madam Ru, who had been planning to confront Su Jingyang, immediately retreated to her own hall and didn’t dare stir up trouble again.
In less than ten days, however, Rong Xia fell seriously ill from fear and shock in the prison and was taken out.
Su Jingyang went to see him together with Rong Ci. The little brat had such a high fever that his body was convulsing, which was genuinely frightening.
Rong Xia remained unconscious for two days and two nights. Su Jingyang was actually someone who held grudges, but ultimately seeing him so pitifully ill, returning to that pitch-black dungeon would probably cause major problems. After thinking it over, he said to Rong Ci, “Consider it a lesson learned. Forget the remaining months. Otherwise, your elders will keep saying you’re heartless and cruel, ignoring brotherly affection. Still, if he dares cross me again, I won’t spare him.”
As soon as Su Jingyang finished speaking, he noticed movement on the bed. Turning his gaze, he saw that Rong Xia had woken up at some point and was glaring fiercely at him with watery eyes.
“Big villain! Even if I’m locked up for life, I don’t need your fake kindness!”
This little brat. Su Jingyang said, “Alright then.” He turned to Rong Ci and said, “He said it himself that he wants to be locked up for life. Fulfill his wish. Won’t waste my fake kindness.”
Rong Ci crossed his arms and let out a cold laugh. “Fine. As he wishes.”
Rong Xia, who had been full of bluster just moments ago, immediately flattened his mouth and began crying. His sobs grew louder and louder until he was wailing, looking extremely aggrieved.
Rong Ci didn’t completely waive Rong Xia’s punishment as Su Jingyang suggested. He merely moved him to a slightly better environment and changed the remaining three months to one month. Su Jingyang thought that one month was acceptable, considering it recuperation time for the brat.
Later, after hearing that Rong Xia was gradually recovering, Su Jingyang didn’t go to see him again. Ling Li was now able to get out of bed and walk around. Su Jingyang spent most of his time with him, chatting and playing with Ah Xuan, never feeling bored.
Time passed quickly. One day, when Su Jingyang suddenly felt something moving in his belly, he was greatly startled.
Ling Li told him he was already over four months pregnant, so fetal movement was normal. Even so, Su Jingyang still felt strangely unsettled.
Before, he had only thought of his belly as something growing larger. Now, however, he could truly feel that there were two lives inside him, not some lifeless thing. The feeling was complicated.
As the months progressed, Su Jingyang’s belly grew more prominent. He changed into looser clothing, found it harder to walk with his protruding stomach, and felt hungry very quickly. He ate a lot, six or seven meals a day. At night, he had to get up countless times and couldn’t sleep well. During the day, he often felt dizzy and weak all over. It wasn’t unbearably painful, but nothing felt comfortable either. It was very wearing.
He had thought that once morning sickness eased, things would be smooth until delivery. Reality gave him a harsh wake-up call.
When Su Jingyang learned from Ling Li about the various other reactions in late pregnancy, he immediately lay stiffly on the bed staring blankly. “So it turns out, being pregnant is this hard…”
He had truly never understood these things before. He only saw friends on his social feed having babies one after another and thought it all seemed simple.
Everything only seemed simple because it hadn’t happened to him.
Now he was only a little over four months along, and there was still a long road ahead. Su Jingyang held his belly, wishing he could just lie in bed and sleep until death.
Two days after Rong Xia was released from confinement, Rong Hua finally returned. Su Jingyang had assumed he must have had a great time on this trip. Unexpectedly, Rong Hua seemed heavily burdened with worries and nearly beat someone to death on the street the very day he came back.
Su Jingyang and Ling Li, whose body had mostly recovered, went together to see Rong Hua after hearing the news.
Rong Hua lay slanted against the couch, black hair disheveled, an outer robe draped over him. Several empty wine jars lay toppled by the couch. The smell of alcohol filled both his body and the room.
The heavy stench made Su Jingyang nearly vomit again. Ling Li quickly opened all the tightly shut windows to air the room out, then brought over a pot of soup he had personally simmered.
Rong Hua usually loved Ling Li’s cooking, but this time his face looked awful as he said he truly had no appetite and couldn’t eat. In the end, all the soup went into Su Jingyang’s stomach, leaving him uncomfortably full.
Seeing Rong Hua’s brows knitted tightly with an alarming gloom, Su Jingyang asked curiously, “Rong Hua, what’s wrong with you? Did you have a falling-out with Xu Mei on this trip?”
Su Jingyang had thought the two of them would get along very well. Who would have expected Rong Hua to come back like this?
“No. He’s very good. Extremely good…” Rong Hua recalled something, his expression briefly dazed, before he irritably raked his fingers through his hair. “It’s just that I ran into a lunatic in Liyang.”
“A lunatic?” Both Ling Li and Su Jingyang were startled. Su Jingyang asked, “What lunatic?”
Rong Hua thought for a moment, his cold eyes turning to Su Jingyang as he frowned. “It seems to be the one who framed you before, pushed himself into the water, then came back from the dead. His name was… Hao something?”
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