Jia Nanfang felt distressed for her daughter and said, "My dear, don't cry. It's not good for the fetus. No matter what, give birth to the child. With a DNA test, Qin Tianyi won't be able to deny it. He's simply a scumbag!"
However, Shu Yan was afraid that the child's appearance after birth might resemble that foreign doctor. In that case, no DNA test would be needed to confirm the child wasn't his.
She realized that this matter might no longer be concealable. When she discovered she was pregnant, she hadn't thought much about it and had immediately blamed Qin Tianyi, assuming he would buckle under public pressure and marry her for the sake of the group and his reputation.
As long as she could achieve her goal, she felt she didn't need to worry about anything else.
But things didn't go as planned. Despite immense pressure, Qin Tianyi refused to yield to her. Once the child was born, she would be the one unable to salvage the situation.
She released her mother and whispered tearfully, "Mom, Mom, you must help me, please help me, okay?"
"Don't worry, of course, we'll help you. Your father has a plan. Once you give birth to this child, your father will find a way to ruin his group and let him know that the daughters of our Shu family aren't someone he can have when he wants and discard when he pleases!" Jia Nanfang's eyes held a fierce glint.
"But, but, Mom, what if the child in my belly isn't... isn't Qin Tianyi's? What will I do then? Can you still help me?" Shu Yan's voice was barely a whisper.
Jia Nanfang's expression faltered. "What did you say? Say it again."
Shu Yan lowered her head, biting her lip. She thought that her mother was probably the only one who could help her now. Steel-ing herself, she said, "The child in my belly is probably... not Qin Tianyi's..."
When Jia Nanfang returned, she already harbored doubts, but hearing Shu Yan say it herself still startled her. "Good heavens, what do you mean 'probably'! How could you be so foolish as to not even know who the father of this child is?"
"Qin Tianyi didn't touch me in the hotel room abroad that time. Later, I got drunk and don't know what happened." Shu Yan shivered at the memory of that experience.
Afterward, she knew she had done something she shouldn't have with the doctor at the hotel. But she didn't want any further involvement with that foreigner.
She had paid the foreigner a considerable sum of money to delete some of the hotel surveillance footage, keeping only Qin Tianyi's.
This was also why her father hadn't seen any other man enter her room when he checked the hotel surveillance.
"You... this is simply outrageous!" This matter was indeed as Xiao Anjing had said. Jia Nanfang was also at a loss and stood up, pacing back and forth in her room.
If Old Shu found out that he had such a stupid and muddled daughter who had ruined his grand plan, he might very well kick both mother and daughter out of the Shu family.
Shu Yan looked at Jia Nanfang with a pleading gaze, waiting for her to come up with a good plan.
In her memory, growing up in the complex and strife-ridden environment of the Shu family, there was no problem her mother couldn't solve. Otherwise, her mother wouldn't have been the last one laughing, becoming Shu Zhongze's legitimate wife and holding her position unshakably.
Jia Nanfang thought of something and suddenly clapped her hands. "Let's not worry about whether it's Qin Tianyi's child for now. After you give birth, I'll figure out a way to handle the DNA test. Even if it's not his, I can make the results show that it is. And your father must absolutely not know about this, understand?"
But Shu Yan still had a mournful expression. This plan didn't solve the fundamental problem. She timidly said, "Mom, what if the child born has golden hair and blue eyes? Even if we don't do a DNA test, it's useless if Dad doesn't know..."
"Ah." Jia Nanfang was even more shocked and speechless. She couldn't understand how she had such a foolish daughter, who might ruin her years of effort in the Shu family.
Seeing her mother's reaction, Shu Yan was about to cry again. But upon seeing her mother's extremely displeased expression, she was too scared to cry.
"Mom, you can't abandon me, you must help me!"
Jia Nanfang rushed to her, grabbed her shoulders, and shook her vigorously, asking, "Tell me the truth, who is the father of this child? You are a lady from a prominent family, how could you be so shameless! How have I educated you all these years? It was all for nothing!"
"Mom, I didn't want this... I put incense in the room, originally intending to make Qin Tianyi lose control, but I didn't expect to harm myself. I'm not reconciled, I'm not reconciled!" As she spoke, she began to wail again.
Jia Nanfang no longer cared how miserably she cried. She asked her again, "Stop crying, who is the biological father of the child?"
Shu Yan stopped crying and timidly said, "He's probably a foreigner."
Jia Nanfang released her shoulders and collapsed onto the edge of the bed, unable to think of any solution. "Idiot, I never expected you to do something so stupid."
"Mom, Mom... you must have a way to help me, right? You must!" Shu Yan became even more panicked seeing her mother's expression and grabbed her sleeve.
Jia Nanfang pulled her sleeve away, having nothing more to say to her. She was so angered by her that she felt she would die and left her room directly.
Seeing her mother leave in extreme disappointment, Shu Yan thought her mother wouldn't help her either and collapsed onto the bed, crying in despair. Why was Qin Tianyi so heartless to her? If he married her, everything would be resolved.
But he insisted on opposing the Shu family, unwilling to treat her well even at the risk of his group and everything he owned disappearing. She hated him, hated Qin Tianyi to the bone. If not for him, she wouldn't have ended up like this, wouldn't have become a laughingstock for everyone...
Jia Nanfang no longer wanted to deal with such a foolish daughter, but after all, she was her own flesh and blood. Moreover, she and her daughter had shared honor and disgrace in the Shu family. If Shu Yan disgraced the Shu family's reputation and became a stain on the Shu family, how could she maintain her position in the Shu family?
She stayed up all night, racking her brain for a way to help Shu Yan get through this without Old Shu finding out.
Shu Yan could not give birth to the child in a regular hospital in Lancheng. During her labor, Shu Yan had to avoid everyone, including Old Shu. They had to confirm the child's appearance first before making any plans.
She thought of her old family home. Since her parents had passed away, she hadn't returned to her ancestral home in over ten years. She would first send someone to the old home to see if there were any relatives who were familiar with her parents and have Shu Yan go to the old home to await childbirth until the baby was born.
She would tell everyone that Shu Yan was feeling unwell and that the scenery in her ancestral home was beautiful, so she had gone there to relax. Old Shu would likely agree.
As for Xiao Anjing's offer yesterday to help Qin Tianyi atone for his sins with Shu Yan, it wasn't impossible.
If Shu Yan's child turned out to be foreign-looking, she wouldn't mind marrying Shu Yan off to Xiao Anjing.
This useless daughter, if she didn't marry out, who knew how many problems she would cause in the Shu family. She just didn't know if Xiao Anjing was reliable.