Feng Shiqing hurriedly stood up as Zhan Mohan was about to leave.
“Brother Mohan…”
But Zhan Mohan ignored her. Feng Shiqing, angered, slammed her chopsticks down, her face a mask of fury. She wasn’t a fool; she could see that Brother Mohan had been feigning his fondness for frog legs just to provoke Wei Yumeng.
He had never let a mere woman stir his emotions before.
This Wei Yumeng was indeed an obstacle between her and Brother Mohan. If this obstacle wasn’t removed, Brother Mohan would never truly look her way.
Zhan Mohan stood at the door. He wasn't following Wei Yumeng because she had left; he simply didn't want to listen to Feng Shiqing’s incessant chatter, which gave him a splitting headache.
He stared at the closed door, thinking about the meal on the table, imagining her busy in the kitchen. All of it was for him. His attitude just now had indeed been less than ideal.
Regardless, it was her heartfelt effort. It was he who hadn’t controlled his emotions. He was just feeling agitated, feeling like a stranger to himself now.
This sudden change left him disoriented. The moment he saw her, an inexplicable anger would flare up in his heart.
His hand, as if by an unseen force, reached for the doorknob. He turned it, pushed the door open, and saw Wei Yumeng standing by the table, a water cup in her hand, about to put some pills into her mouth. He frowned, strode forward, and directly knocked the medicine from her hand.
“What are you taking?”
Wei Yumeng froze, her gaze vacant, completely caught off guard by his sudden entry.
“I…”
His sharp eyes spotted the packaging box on the table that she hadn’t had time to discard: Levonorgestrel compound tablets.
He took the packaging and threw it directly at Wei Yumeng, his dark eyes stormy, radiating an icy aura.
“Wei Yumeng, are you so afraid of getting pregnant that you’re already taking birth control pills?”
“No, I…”
“You don’t want to get pregnant, or you just don’t want to get pregnant with my child!”
He hadn’t even considered making her take them, and she was already so proactive, buying and taking them herself.
Did having his child make her so reluctant?
Wei Yumeng was taken aback. He had burst in suddenly, knocked the pills from her hand, and then questioned if she didn’t want to conceive his child. She had been busy all afternoon, preparing a table full of dishes.
She had even offended Wen Yulan for that cake. And here he was, not even bothering to glance at it, preferring to eat frog legs he disliked rather than taste the food she had painstakingly prepared.
Frustration and anger poured out of her like a bursting dam.
Her eyes turned crimson. “Yes, I don’t want to have your child! My first child was lost because of your mother, and you want me to sacrifice another child for her?”
Even though the child had been an accident, it was still a part of her, a piece of flesh. It had grown from a tiny embryo, only to end up as a pool of blood.
Even now, she could still recall the scene, the cold instruments entering her body in the operating room, stealing her child’s life.
Zhan Mohan frowned, his expression as cold and hard as ever.
“Don’t stand here and spout platitudes to make excuses for yourself. It was my fault that the previous child wasn’t saved. I won’t let the same thing happen again.”
Wei Yumeng found it almost comical. The moment Zhan Mohan uttered those words, she felt an inexplicable urge to laugh.
As she laughed, tears began to fall.
“Am I a tool? You can keep me when you want, discard me when you don’t? Are my children meant to be your test subjects?”
How could he guarantee that if she conceived again, Wen Yulan wouldn’t harm the child? For reasons she didn't even know, Zhan Mohan could be so indifferent to her.
He had even put on a show of affection with Feng Shiqing, someone unrelated to him, in front of his actual wife, completely disregarding her feelings. Who knew if he would be heartless enough in the future to have her child aborted again based on someone else’s words?
She had only one life; she couldn’t afford to gamble.
Just then, Wei Yumeng’s phone rang. Her phone was on the side table. As soon as the ringtone sounded, both of them looked in that direction.
The caller ID showed Xin Ran.
The atmosphere in the room had dropped to freezing point, enveloped by an immense chill.
Seeing her hesitate, Zhan Mohan smirked sarcastically.
“What, don’t you dare answer? Or are you two plotting something again?”
Ever since Xin Ran had tried to help Wei Yumeng escape last time, Zhan Mohan had remained vigilant towards him.
Wei Yumeng’s face turned beet red. She bit her lip and reached for her phone. She slid to answer, and to prove her innocence, she put it on speakerphone in front of Zhan Mohan.
She tried to steady her slightly trembling voice, not wanting Xin Ran to know her current predicament.
“Senior, what can I do for you?”
“Yumeng, are you free tomorrow? My parents would like to invite you over for dinner and thank you.”
Wei Yumeng’s heart skipped a beat. Her previous defiance instantly evaporated, and she even felt hesitant to look at Zhan Mohan.
She politely refused, “No need, Senior. Uncle and Aunt don’t need to be so polite with me. It was something I should have done, and I’ve implicated you.”
“Between us, there’s no need for ‘implicated,’ Yumeng. Didn’t I tell you, don’t call me Senior in private anymore. It feels too distant.”
“I’m not being polite, I really have something tomorrow. Perhaps another day, I…”
Before Wei Yumeng could finish her sentence, Zhan Mohan snatched the phone away.
She reached out, trying to snatch it back, but their height difference was too great. She stood on tiptoe, unable to even touch the edge of the phone.
The man’s face was like a thousand-year-old block of ice, chilling her to the bone. His eyes were captivating.
His fingertips gripped the phone, veins bulging on the back of his hand, a flash of ferocity in his eyes.
“Xin Ran, it seems the lesson last time didn’t teach you anything.”
“Zhan Mohan? Why are you holding Yumeng’s phone? Did you bully her again?”
Xin Ran’s heart clenched the moment he heard Zhan Mohan’s voice. He questioned urgently, his only fear being that something had happened to Wei Yumeng.
A sarcastic smile played on the man’s lips. “It seems you are indeed very well-informed about the details of our marital life.”
Xin Ran even knew whether he had bullied her.
Wei Yumeng could no longer bear to listen. Her body tensed, her face as pale as paper.
Xin Ran harbored no good impression of Zhan Mohan and felt indignant on Wei Yumeng’s behalf.
“Hmph, your Zhan family would resort to imprisonment. What else wouldn’t you do? Being so cruel to a woman, do you even have humanity?”
The sharpness in Zhan Mohan’s eyes felt like a keen blade, slicing her skin inch by inch.
His tone was filled with provocation, utterly arrogant.
“If you have the guts, try to help her escape again. Let’s see who can bail you out this time!”
“You…”
Before Xin Ran could finish his sentence, Zhan Mohan hung up and threw the phone onto the table. Wei Yumeng’s heart leaped.
A cold glint appeared in the man’s dark eyes. His tall figure advanced towards Wei Yumeng. She looked at him with fear, instinctively retreating, until she was cornered in the small space, with nowhere to escape.
“It seems you’ve been turning a deaf ear to my words, haven’t you? Wei Yumeng, who gave you the courage to deceive me like this!”
He glared, suddenly gripping her shoulders. The storm in his eyes was terrifying.
Wei Yumeng’s face was deathly pale. She shook her head helplessly, “I didn’t, I didn’t deceive you…”