Mo Jinxi wore a curious expression on his face as he gently placed his little hands on Lin Chu"s belly. Even though her belly was flat, in his eyes it already looked humongous.

He did not dare use even the slightest bit of force. He placed his hands so gently on her belly that Lin Chu felt ticklish.

"Baby sister, baby sister, quickly grow up. Once you"re out, big brother will bring you out to play." Mo Jinxi said with a sincere expression. 

In reality, he was already thinking to himself that they could be couples who grew up as childhood friends and whatnot. This would be the best-case scenario.

Yan Beicheng was utterly annoyed at this. This kid actually had plans for his daughter!

"A son, Lin Chu"s pregnant with a son!" Yan Beicheng exclaimed with a stern and gloomy expression.

However, Mo Jinxi replied to him in surprise, "You"re valuing males and belittling females!"

Yan Beicheng, "..."

Lin Chu looked at his disappointed expression and began laughing hysterically.

"Baby sister, baby sister, don"t be sad. If your dad doesn"t love you, big brother still will." Mo Jinxi said to Lin Chu"s belly comfortingly. "Don"t be upset just because your dad values males and looks down on females. We"ll just ignore him, okay?"

Old Master Yan and Old Lady Yan were coming in from outside, and as soon as they walked in and heard Mo Jinxi"s words, they were stunned.

"Cheng"er, are you valuing males and looking down on females!?" Old Lady Yan asked him with a mixture of shock and disappointment. 

The two elders have been drinking tea and eating snacks outside since yesterday, and they were wearing a "There"s a joyous occasion within our family but we won"t reveal what it is, if you think you know what it is then come and guess." look on their faces. It made the neighbors roll their eyes at them.

Yesterday, there were still innocent neighbors asking them why they looked so happy. The two elders happily showed off the whole day, only returning after it turned dark and started getting breezy.

Consequently, when the two elders tried to play the same trick today, no one bothered with them anymore. The two elders then became awfully bored and had no other choice but to reluctantly tidy up their stuff and come back in. 

"Why would I value males and look down on females." Yan Beicheng said as he gritted his teeth whilst facing Old Lady Yan"s dutiful gaze. Then, Yan Beicheng pointed at Mo Jinxi. "This brat is talking nonsense. He currently has plans for my daughter and claimed that I"m the one valuing males and belittling females."

Being accused wrongly by a stinking brat caused him to feel wronged!

Old Lady Yan thought to herself that even she had not yet figured out it would be a great-grandson or great-granddaughter, yet Mo Jinxi had already decided on the matter. This was not a good thing, so she quickly advised Mo Jinxi, "Jinxi dear, don"t force my great-grandchild. What if it"s a boy? You"ll put pressure on him."

Mo Jinxi did not argue with Old Lady Yan and continued talking to Lin Chu"s belly. "Baby sister, don"t worry. If this time it"s your big brother"s turn and he wants to come out before you, then I"ll wait for you to come out the next time, baby sister."

In short, it would be fine as long as there would be a baby sister.

Old Lady Yan, "..." She thought to herself, "This brat"s unexpectedly crafty."

Old Master Yan, "...""To have such intentions towards my great-granddaughter... he doesn"t stand a chance!"

Yan Beicheng, "...""Even if she gave birth to one, it won"t be your baby sister!"

Lin Chu, "...""The child is still in my belly, please don"t be this way, Jinxi."

Even after Mo Jinxi finished talking, he never got tired of Lin Chu"s belly. He glanced at Lin Chu from time to time, as if he looked long enough, the baby would really become a baby sister and come out sooner.

Yan Beicheng was gloomy as he looked on and saw Lin Chu grabbing one of those hawthorns from earlier. She bit it once and satisfied her cravings, eating it as if it were a delicious delicacy and grabbing the attention of the two little fellows.

Even though hawthorns were sour, the smell of it was simply wonderful. It had a sweet-sour and refres.h.i.+ng smell. The two had eaten tanghulu* (TN: Also known as bingtanghulu, it"s a traditional Northern Chinese snack of candied mountain hawthorn, Chinese haw, Chinese hawthorn, Chinese haw berry, or shanzha (山楂) in Mandarin Chinese. It consists of fruits covered in hard candy on bamboo skewers which are approximately 20 cm long. People often mistake tanghulu for regular candied fruits; however, they are coated in hardened sugar syrup.) before, but they had never eaten hawthorns on its own.

Tanghulus were sour but they were coated with sugar, and after being coated, they were heated up, which greatly reduced the sourness of the fruit. Hence, the two little fellows were innocent and naive. They thought the hawthorn berries were as delicious as tanghulus.

"Big niece-in-law, aren"t the hawthorns sour?" Yan Ningbai asked gluttonously as he swallowed his saliva.

"It"s not sour." Lin Chu answered honestly but of course, this was merely her opinion.

She had not noticed the two little fellows gluttonous expressions before, but once she saw it, she could not help but hatch a cruel prank in her mind. She grinned and took another bite, eating them with exaggerated pleasure whilst it emanated a perfume-like smell into the air as she chewed. Yan Ningbai and Mo Jinxi moved closer and got a whiff of the hawthorns" sweet and sour scent spreading through the air.

Yan Beicheng raised his eyebrows, then remained calm and collected as he took a hawthorn and ate it without any expression on his face. The corner of his eyes almost twitched from the sour taste, yet he held it in and remained emotionless, eating it as if he were unconcerned.

Yan Ningbai opened his little mouth in surprise."Is it really... Really not sour?"

Yan Beicheng gave him an unenthusiastic glance and answered him lazily, "It"s sweet."

Yan Ningbai licked his lips as he salivated slightly. "Then… Then, I"ll have one as well..."

"Sure, try it out." Yan Beicheng handed a hawthorn to Yan Ningbai.

Yan Ningbai was flattered by this, as big nephew had never been this kind toward him before.

He quickly took it whilst still looking at Yan Beicheng in surprise. He felt that his big nephew treating him in such an amiable manner was akin to a dream!

His widened eyes looked Yan Beicheng up and down, such that Lin Chu could not bear to watch the scene any longer. She glared once at Yan Beicheng.

"How do you usually treat your uncle? Even such a small gesture was enough to make him look this happy!"

Yan Beicheng, "..."

He silently picked up another hawthorn, then smiled in an unusual manner and handed it to Mo Jinxi. "Jinxi should try one too."

Mo Jinxi, "..."

He felt that something fishy was going on!

Yan Beicheng laughed carefreely as he finished off the remaining half of the hawthorn with three or two bites and spat the seed out.

Mo Jinxi had a whiff of the smell and realized that it really did smell delicious. Then he took it and took a big bite at the same time as Yan Ningbai. When the two little fellows bit into it, Yan Beicheng quickly spat out the hawthorns he had been keeping in his mouth and drank a few mouthfuls of tea to help get rid of the sour taste.

It was too late for the two little fellows now as their mouths filled with a sour taste, causing them to yell as they spat it out. Their small faces were so wrinkled up that they looked like two small steamed stuffed buns, from the creases.

The two felt that it was so extremely sour that they involuntarily shut their eyes tight and were unable to open them. Their eyelids trembled as tears started pouring from their eyes. They were not crying, this was akin to one shedding tears after eating spicy food; they just could not help themselves.

"You"re mean, big nephew!" Yan Ningbai"s small face clearly displayed the hards.h.i.+p he was facing. He raised his chubby hands angrily as he was boldly protesting a movement. 

Yan Beicheng poured himself another cup of hot tea and took a sip, completely suppressing the final bit of sour taste in his mouth. "I feel like it"s still okay to eat."

"If it"s okay why did you spit it out?" Yan Ningbai"s small face was still wrinkled up as he was unable to suppress the taste. He did not believe the excuse that Yan Beicheng had given.

"The one I ate had turned bad." Yan Beicheng lied without changing his facial expression.

"It wasn"t bad, my teacher said not to lie!" Yan Ningbai said in dissatisfaction. 

"I"m not lying, you can take a look for yourself." Yan Beicheng kicked the trash bin over to him, but the chewed up hawthorns inside grossed Yan Ningbai.

He genuinely felt that he was not as thick-skinned as his big nephew, who basically did not know shame. 

"Then… Then eat another one!" Yan Beicheng said as he decided to get revenge.

Yan Beicheng scoffed at him. "I don"t feel like it."

Yan Ningbai, "..."

Then, he rushed toward Lin Chu"s legs. "Big niece-in-law, he"s bullying uncle!"

Lin Chu, "..."

Old Lady Yan was enjoying the scene by the side, but when she saw the grief and anger the two little fellows were experiencing, she suppressed her laughter and went into the kitchen before bringing out a box of candy. "Come here, each of you gets one. You can"t eat too much as it"s not good for your teeth."

The two quickly each grabbed a candy. Yan Ningbai picked a blueberry flavored one, and Mo Jinxi picked a cranberry flavored one. Once they finished the sweets, the two children immediately began beaming with joy.

The naive Chu Xi had not learned from the two children, so it opened its mouth with its tongue sticking out. It looked at the hawthorns in Lin Chu"s hand as it panted loudly. 

It wanted one as well.

Lin Chu smiled and threw a hawthorn into Chu Xi"s mouth without hesitation. Chu Xi bit into it confidently and immediately used its tongue to push the hawthorn out before letting his tongue hang out limply as it pouted. The hawthorn was so sour that Chu Xi pressed its head to the ground and arched with its b.u.m in the air. It then used its two front paws to scratch its head with its eyes tightly closed. Its over-dramatic behavior made everyone in the room roar with laughter.

In the afternoon, it was initially quite calm, but there was still a large number of netizens flocking to comment on Xing Chuang"s official Weibo as well as Hu Mingrui"s personal Weibo. Weibo sprung to life once more.

This was due to Zhu Hexuan"s former workplace, "Jing Jin Daily". There was a self-proclaimed former colleague of Zhu Hexuan that had resigned from "Jing Jin Daily" because she was getting married. She used the pseudonym "Online Friend Little Yellow Duck" and took the initiative to expose the story, claiming that in the video of Xu Jiaojiao"s interview, the woman that had her back turned away from the camera was actually Zhu Hexuan.

Previously, Zhu Hexuan stated that she had resigned from "Jing Jin Daily", but in reality, her contract had been terminated. This was because she had accepted bribes and fabricated news. After this, the writer listed all the evidence backing up her claim.

A repeat offender who constantly spread fake news had also conducted this interview with Xu Jiaojiao. The post that was uploaded also denied everything in the video. "Jing City Post" which hired Zhu Hexuan also had their credibility called into question. 

Moreover, this matter happened on a Sunday, when even the news agencies were resting. As the work surrounding today"s news such as typesetting and printing was done in advance, there was no one around to take care of the official accounts.

Since they did not respond, the matter started to s...o...b..ll.

Afterward, there was even a netizen that mentioned that the reporter Hu Mingrui who had published articles from time to time was actually an intern serving under Zhu Hexuan.

By the time Zhu Hexuan heard about the matter, it was already in the evening.

She just had an argument with Lu Zhenghang, so she did not return to Ding City as she wanted to show Lu Zhenghang that she was not one of those greedy and vain who did not possess even a shred of dignity. Therefore, she went back to her own house.

She had received quite a large sum of money in the past, and had also written a number of scripts for advertis.e.m.e.nts; this meant that she had earned a good deal of money on the side. When she saved up around thirty thousand Yuan, she had gotten herself a one-bedroom house in one of the outskirt districts. She had paid the deposit for it, but there was still a thirty-year mortgage to pay off. Zhu Hexuan understood that even if her goal was to find a wealthy man, she still needed to plan an escape route.

At night, she received a phone call from Hu Mingrui while she was at home.

"Big Sister Zhu, quickly open up your Weibo. There"s trouble!" Hu Mingrui now knew that Zhu Hexuan had used her as a tool.

The material that Zhu Hexuan had given her was very different from what was contained in the video. She pointed out all the unfavorable aspects of Lin Chu and hinted at her on how she should write the article. Unfortunately for her, she had genuinely thought that Zhu Hexuan was a good mentor who wanted her to s.h.i.+ne, hence she listened to Zhu Hexuan"s advice.

Now that the matter had blown up, if the company took action, they would be after her head.

She had become a scapegoat for Zhu Hexuan. She was merely an intern, so if her reputation was ruined because of this and she was fired from the company, no other company would want to hire her in the future!

Zhu Hexuan was more cruel than the normal bad boss who simply treated their apprentices harshly - this could ruin someone"s livelihood!

Unfortunately for her, she did not dare to blow up at her. The whole company knew that Zhu Hexuan was Lu Zhenghang"s girlfriend, so it could be possible that Zhu Hexuan had the means to keep this matter under control. At things stood, if she continued to rely on Zhu Hexuan, Zhu Hexuan might be able to protect her. After all, this matter was no fault of her own, it was all a product of Zhu Hexuan"s manipulation.

If Zhu Hexuan still even the tiniest sliver of conscience, she would help her out.

Zhu Hexuan regretted the squabble she had with Lu Zhenghang at that moment. She gritted her teeth and went to Ding City before arriving at Lu Zhenghang"s front door.

Lu Zhenghang was still seething with rage after being fooled by Lin Chu and Yan Beicheng. He wanted to go upstairs and look for them. In the end, he pressed their doorbells for quite a while but naturally, no one opened the door. After all, the two of them had not been home for some time. 

Just as he realized that there was nowhere for him to vent his anger, his doorbell rang.

The aunty working for him opened the door, and upon seeing Zhu Hexuan, recognized that she lived here. She let her in and greeted her, "Miss Zhu."

Zhu Hexuan forced herself to give her a stiff smile. Once she entered the house, the aunty quick-wittedly said, "Master"s in the study room."

Zhu Hexuan nodded, and casually walked over to the study room.

By the time she knocked on the door, Lu Zhenghang had already heard Zhu Hexuan and the aunty talking outside. He had something to say to her as well, so he asked her to come in.

"Zhenghang." Zhu Hexuan came in and began tearing up. Her eyes turned red so quickly that any actress would have been proud.

Lu Zhenghang mockingly sneered at her. "I thought you weren"t coming today."

Zhu Hexuan wiped away her tears. "I was quite angry that you actually saw me that way. In your eyes, I"m a vain woman." 

Lu Zhenghang did not reply, but just looked at her mockingly. The corner of his mouth lifted into a sneer. Was there any doubt since the start?

Zhu Hexuan paused and said, "Zhenghang, you need to help me."

"What happened now?" Lu Zhenghang asked casually. He did not particularly care.

Zhu Hexuan took her mobile phone out and showed him the developments on the Internet.

"Tomorrow the leader will look for me, and maybe even fire me to save the company"s image. Please help me out." Zhu Hexuan sat beside him and hugged his arm. "The news was actually written by the intern. I was just dragged into it. I gave her the material from the interview, but I didn"t know she would write such things."

Lu Zhenghang sneered and pulled his arm away. "Do you think I"m stupid, or are you implying that your leader is stupid? Or is everyone just generally stupid to you? If I helped you out, I"d be dragged into the matter as well. You were messy in dealing with this. If you wanted to frame someone, you should"ve done it without leaving any clues so that you wouldn"t get caught."

"What are you implying? You don"t want to help me?" Zhu Hexuan"s expression changed.

Lu Zhenghang s.h.i.+fted himself away to get further away from Zhu Hexuan. Then, he picked up the half-empty pack of cigarettes on the table, took one out and lit it up. He did not smoke it, but just merely took a whiff of the smell of the tobacco and continued, "I can"t help you in this matter, I"m in some trouble myself."

"You"re just thinking of your troubles? Did you not think that I might actually lose my job!?" Zhu Hexuan did not expect Lu Zhenghang not to lend her a hand.

If one were to look at Lin Chu and Yan Beicheng, if Lin Chu was caught in a troublesome situation, whether big or small, Yan Beicheng would personally get involved and help her settle the matter.

Lu Zhenghang should be this way too!

Even if he did not care to admit that she was his girlfriend, she was still with him. Were there no feelings involved at all?

"Don"t forget why I"m in this mess, I did it to help you!" Zhu Hexuan actually wanted to cry now. How did she find such a ruthless and unjust man?

Lu Zhenghang scoffed at her. "Help me? You really do think I"m stupid. You"re jealous of Lin Chu, and can"t bear to watch her live well. Once there"s an opening, you rush at it and try to ruin her. You published the news entirely out of your own selfishness. What does it have to do with me?"

"You"re just going to watch as I"m bullied by Yan Beicheng?" Zhu Hexuan glared at him and sneered. "You"re just admitting that you"re terrified of Yan Beicheng. He"s bullying your woman, yet you"re not acting on it?"

Lu Zhenghang"s expression turned dark as he clenched his jaw. He replied in a cold tone, "You"re not my woman. I let you in here tonight because I wanted to tell you that it"s over between us."

Zhu Hexuan was stunned. She did not think that things would escalate to this level so suddenly. For a short while, her mind went blank and she could not think of anything.

She finally found her will to speak after quite a while and stood up as she exclaimed furiously. "Lu Zhenghang, you son of a b*tch! Once I"m in trouble, you immediately get rid of me. Do you have even an ounce of responsibility?"

"Who do you think you are?" Lu Zhenghang laughed mockingly. "I have responsibilities, just not toward you. You and I were just playing around to get what we wanted from each other. You looked up to my reputation and wealth, and I could give you that. You should be glad that you"re a reporter, since you still had a little value that was actually worth my time. I was just playing with you, yet you a.s.sume that you could actually be my girlfriend? In the short amount of time you"ve been with me, you"ve gotten a lot of jewelry, handbags, branded watches. Even if we break up, you"ll be able to sell them and pay for your expenses for a short while. Moreover, in your company, your leader was extra tolerant toward you, and you made the whole company think that you"re my girlfriend and benefited greatly from it. Are you still hoping that you"ll be able to ride off of me for the rest of your life? You"ve gained a lot from such a short amount of time, I"ve done nothing that I should feel sorry toward you for."

Zhu Hexuan never thought that this sort of thing would happen to her. In a single day, everything had changed. There was no guarantee that she could keep her job as the scandal she was involved in was quite popular amongst the public. Unlike last time when "Jing Jin Daily" helped her keep her secret, this time the whole industry knew about the matter. If she left "Jing City Post", no other company would ever hire her.

Immediately after this, Lu Zhenghang had informed her that he was no longer interested in extending their partners.h.i.+p and wanted to break up with her. 

Yesterday, she had everything in the palm of her head, yet today she had lost it all.

"Lu Zhenghang, do you think you"re making any sense?" Zhu Hexuan trembled with anger. "I"ve put my thoughts and efforts into this relations.h.i.+p with you, and I really do like you, yet you"ve trampled on the feelings I have toward you!"

Lu Zheng obviously did not believe her and took a puff from the cigarette. "Did I ask for it? Your feelings I mean, I"ve never needed it."

Zhu Hexuan"s whole body trembled and she began to cry. "Do you not have any feelings toward me at all? In any case, we"ve been together before, can"t you help me out just this once?"

"I"ve given you so much already, don"t be greedy." Lu Zhenghang said without concern. He impatiently waved his hand and said, "That"s enough, please go now."

Zhu Hexuan thought of her future, then suddenly hugged Lu Zhenghang"s legs. "Zhenghang, you need to help me out, I"m begging you, help me out just this once! If you don"t help me, Yan Beicheng will never let me go! Zhenghang, we"ve been together before, even if you don"t want me anymore, I"ve been your woman before. Are you going to look on unbothered at me in my dire state and watch me get bullied by Yan Beicheng? You can watch me get bullied by anyone else, but I can"t afford to be bullied by Yan Beicheng. Zhenghang, please help me. Just help me out this one time, I"m begging you."

Lu Zhenghang felt utterly annoyed at this. What he hated the most in this world was an insatiable woman. Not to mention he had actually taken the initiative for such a woman. He did not mind people misunderstanding his relations.h.i.+p with Zhu Hexuan, but if people were to find out that he helped out Zhu Hexuan, he would inevitably be pulled into this whole circus. He was already in the deep water after being caught by Lin Chu and Yan Beicheng, so he was not about to put himself in an even worse-off situation.