"What nonsense are you spouting? The Xie family's affairs are none of your business," Feng Rou sat up from the bed irritably.
She had always favored sons over daughters. After marrying into the Xie family, she had given birth to two daughters consecutively, which made her feel unable to hold her head up in front of others for a time.
Later, she finally had Xie Qining, a son, and poured all her energy, heart, and love into him. She had never paid much attention to her two daughters, only hoping they would be virtuous, treat their brother well, and marry into suitable families.
Thus, influenced by her mindset, her two daughters also doted on Xie Qining and had no ambitions for themselves. When it came time for marriage, they obediently married whoever their parents arranged.
Furthermore, the Xie family's matriarch was also very biased towards sons. Xie Huiquan and Xie Huibing, the two sisters, had little status in the Xie family, and no one paid them much attention. They learned from a young age to be especially good to their brother to gain a little favor from the adults.
After Xie Huibing got married, her husband's family was relatively open-minded, and her husband treated her well. This gave her more opportunities to express herself, boldly do things she had wanted to do but dared not, and rediscover a part of herself.
Feng Rou's eldest daughter, Xie Huiquan, was not as fortunate as Xie Huibing. After marriage, she was not favored by her husband, and her husband's family, like her own, favored sons. She could only continue to swallow her pride and be an obedient daughter-in-law. She was confined to her husband's home, needing permission from her in-laws and husband even to go out, living a life of extreme suffocation.
After Feng Rou and her family returned from abroad, Xie Zhendong called his two daughters back once. He told them about Xie Qining's situation, letting them know what was happening but instructing them not to spread it, not even to their in-laws. The eldest daughter, Xie Huiquan, cried with Feng Rou for two days and never returned to her marital home after that.
Xie Huibing, besides feeling sad for Qining, had many of her own thoughts about the matter. Influenced by her mother since childhood, and out of habit, her deep affection for Qining was genuine. However, with Xie Qining in such trouble, neither she nor her husband's family could save him, and news of it would be detrimental to the Xie family.
So, she had considered that if Qining were to serve a long prison sentence, and if something were to happen to her father, someone would need to manage the Xie family's affairs. She and her husband might have an opportunity to take over the Xie Corporation. After her initial sadness, her rationality recovered the fastest. She had returned to her maternal home several times recently, trying to persuade her mother to pull herself together, but no matter what she said, her mother wouldn't listen.
Recently, she occasionally heard from her aunt that before Qining's incident, her mother had taken her two cousins to deal with her father's mistress. She then hired someone to thoroughly investigate this Zhan Jiayi. The investigation revealed something shocking: this woman was likely pregnant, and the child in her womb might very well be her father's. If this woman were to give birth to a boy, her mother's position would be precarious, and the Xie family might eventually fall into this woman's hands.
"Mom!" she said, sitting by the bed, "Is Dad seeing another woman? Did he stay at another woman's place last night!"
Feng Rou was silent for a moment and said, "Don't you worry about this, you can't manage it." This was an implicit confirmation of her second daughter's suspicion.
"Mom, Qining isn't here now, and that woman wants to take advantage of the situation. I'm a daughter of the Xie family, so who else will take care of it if not me?" Xie Huibing said anxiously.
Feng Rou stared at her, still in a daze, and suddenly blurted out, "Huibing, why aren't you a boy? If only I had two sons."
Xie Huibing felt a pang of discomfort, but she was used to it. Her mother had always been so biased towards sons since she was young.
"Mom, you need to pull yourself together. You're too old to have another son now, but that woman Dad is seeing can still have children."
Feng Rou jolted, suddenly realizing something. "What do you mean by that? I'm old, and your Dad is also old..."
"Your Dad takes good care of himself. Does he look like he's over sixty? That woman is very likely already pregnant," Xie Huibing said, unafraid of further upsetting her mother.
"No, no, the child won't be your Dad's," Feng Rou said, unable to accept it.
Xie Huibing continued, "Mom, Qining is going to jail, not gone forever. You must pull yourself together and protect this family business for him. Otherwise, when he gets out of prison, the Xie family might belong to someone else."
Feng Rou finally came to her senses, feeling that what Huibing said was absolutely true. She couldn't help Xie Qining when he was sentenced to prison, but if she continued to wallow in despair, she and her son might end up with nothing.
"How do you know that woman is pregnant?" Feng Rou asked.
Xie Huibing didn't answer immediately. Instead, she brought breakfast to her and said, "Mom, please eat your breakfast first. Look at yourself, how can you fight that woman? You need to recover your former state." Before Xie Qining's troubles, Feng Rou, though over fifty, was well-maintained and paid attention to her figure. She still looked graceful, retaining at least fifty percent of her youthful beauty. But now, her hair had turned gray due to Qining's situation, and she was rapidly aging, looking like she had aged ten years in an instant.
She hummed and said, "Tell me how you know, and I'll eat my breakfast."
Xie Huibing opened the pictures sent by the private investigator on her phone and said, "Look for yourself. This woman has already had two prenatal check-ups at the same hospital. She's at least three months pregnant."
Feng Rou carefully examined the pictures and calculated the dates in her mind. Good heavens, she got pregnant just before Qining went abroad. She then recalled that when she went to find Zhan Jiayi last time, during the scuffle, she had kept shielding her belly with a pillow. It turned out she had known she was pregnant even then. No wonder she was so brazen and arrogant in front of her.
"Mom, are you alright? Say something." Xie Huibing had never seen her mother look like this and was afraid she couldn't handle it. "Don't worry, even if Qining isn't here, I and Chengyi will help you."
Feng Rou could no longer lie still. She said to her, "Help me up, I want to eat breakfast."
"Okay, okay." Xie Huibing was relieved to see her mother finally not so dejected, and she also mentioned her husband, Bai Chengyi.
...
Susu arrived at the hospital early and watched as Xiao Xingxing happily drank all the soup she had made. Tianyi had gone to handle the procedures for Xiao Xingxing's discharge from this hospital and transfer to a specialized pediatric hospital. Susu didn't know how to tell Xiao Xingxing that they were transferring him to another hospital for examination. The child still thought his father was arranging his discharge.
"Baby, are you full?" Susu wiped his mouth with a tissue.
"Mmm, Mom, I can do it myself." Xiao Xingxing competently tidied up the thermos. He had endured a lot of hardship with her since he was young and could take care of himself from a very young age. Today, Susu wouldn't let him do any work, snatching the thermos to put away. "You lie down and rest. With Mom here, you don't need to worry about anything."