A Not-so Secret

Jason was a celebrity, so Yanyue forced him to stay in the car to protect his image. However, he was worried about her and went to the hospital with her. She was too tired to argue with him, so she asked him to wear a mask and sunglasses to cover his face lest he be recognized by people and gossip would spread.

The last thing she wanted was to be seen with a world-famous star and become the center of attention, good or bad, but mostly bad. The last time with Beichen taught her that people did not care about the truth. They lived off of gossip, and the bigger and more unbelievable, the spicier it was for them.

"Yueyue, are you done? What did the doctor say?" Jason asked curiously.

Yanyue smiled at the concerned man. "The doctor said that I ate something that had expired, but there is nothing to worry about now."

She felt terrible about having to lie, but she could not trust anyone to help her keep this secret.

The man noticed the forced smile on her face and knew that she was hiding something. Because they grew up together, he understood her temper well. He knew when she was sad, happy, or angry. Her face was always expressive and open.

Although some things have changed about her personality—like how she talked or how she carried herself—she was someone who could not lie for her life. Whenever she lied, she would bite her bottom lips. She tried to hide that by smiling, but he saw that her lips were pale from the biting.

He continued to probe her. "But you were throwing up so much. If I didn't know any better, I would've guessed that you were pregnant or something—"

Then, he realized what he just said before he went on. His eyes widened, and his mouth gaped open.

She had been married for two months, so pregnancy was possible. Although he was a little hurt by the likelihood of this, he would bless her wholeheartedly if she was happy.

"Where is the result?" he asked much more seriously this time.

Yanyue remained quiet. Her hands clutched onto her bag as if she was protecting something.

She shook her head. "It wasn't a big deal, so I threw the result away."

Jason, who quickly noticed the tiniest action from her, snatched the bag from her hand.

"Jason, give it back!" she said, trying to return the bag.

Jason looked at her suspiciously. "Are you hiding something in here? Is that why you don't want me to see what's in the bag?"

She repeatedly denied, "There's nothing important in my bag!"

The man did not listen. Her determination to deny everything made him believe she was hiding something crucial. He reached into the bag and felt a piece of paper, which he took out and read.

PATIENT IS PREGNANT was written under the final testament on the paper.

He had assumed earlier and did not want it to be real, but the answer was big and clear.

He turned from the paper to examine her uneasy expression. It seemed that she did not trust him at all.

"Why did you lie? You're pregnant."

He paused and said, "It's my brother's, isn't it?"

However, she did not need to answer because he already knew. She was in love with his brother, and they were married, so it was not surprising. But he did not understand why she would hide such an important thing from him. He was angry that she did not trust their years of friendship.

Yanyue was on the verge of crying. She put her hands over her face and shook her head.

"I'm scared, Jason. He doesn't love me, so what would he do if he found out that I'm pregnant?! I'm scared that he will force me to take the baby out!"

Jason wanted to reach his hands out and embrace her to comfort her, but he did not. Instead, he retracted his hands and clenched them until they were red.

"Can you help me keep this a secret?" the woman asked, her voice shaky.

The man calmed down and sighed. "Then, what will you do when your stomach is big? You can't hide this forever."

She bit her lips because she had not thought this far.

"I don't know, but I'll think about it when that time comes," she said, looking up at the man. "But please, promise to keep this to ourselves?"

Jason nodded his head in defeat. "Alright, then I'll take you home to rest."

She shook her head and rejected the offer.

"No, my body is doing fine now. Let's go to the company to discuss business. Klotho is in the process of launching our first set of designs, so I want to get this done as quickly as possible."

The man saw her face was still pale, so he convinced her to go home.

"If you don't want me to tell anybody, you must do as I say. I don't want my nephew or niece to suffer because of their pig-headed mother!"

He was upset, but yet his insults did not hurt Yanyue. She knew that he was genuinely worried about her health.

Yanyue finally gave a light smile. She was thankful Jason was by her side at her most vulnerable moments. "Thank you, Jason."

No matter how angry he was at her, he could not be angry at her puppy face. He smiled back, and they drove to the Eastern Palace.

Until recently, the Eastern Palace had been quiet because she was the only person living there. This evening, however, was filled with noises echoing on top of one another. She was surprised to see the main room full of people.

"Your Majesty, Her Majesty," she said as she bowed politely to the king and queen sitting on the ivory Victorian sofa.

The King smiled at his respectful daughter-in-law. He did not have any daughters, so when his friend brought his daughter to visit the Palace, he could not help but envy his friend for having such a polite and kind girl.

So, when his mother made the engagement, he agreed without hesitation because he thought she was the perfect candidate for his second son. Who knew that his damnable son would treat her so poorly and impregnate another girl?

He was angry at his son when he found out, but he could not force the mistress to abort the baby. As a father, he longed for a grandson, and now that his son gave him one, he had to admit that he was happy even though he felt guilty for his daughter-in-law and his good friend.

"Xiaoyue, Ah Chen did you wrong," he said regretfully.

Yanyue's heart throbbed.

Jason, who was new to everything, raised his eyebrows in confusion. This was the first time he had seen his father apologize to someone, but he did not understand why his usually emotionless father would do that. But it did sound like something serious. Listening further confirmed his suspicion.

The King continued, "But since that is the baby of the Lu family, I hope you can understand that we cannot kill it. However, when the child is born, you will raise the kid as your own since you are the legal wife."

Yanyue was quiet. Meanwhile, Wanyue cried in Beichen's arms.

"Ah Chen, I want to raise our kid as my own!"

Beichen's eyebrows furrowed in displeasure at his father's words. Like his grandma, he understood that once his father decided on something, it would be hard to change his mind. Perhaps he also inherited this trait from them, as he was stubborn himself.

"Your Majesty, please allow me to take Wanyue as my concubine," he said.

Truth be told, Beichen was not asking for permission because he knew his father would not allow him to marry Wanyue. He said this to inform him of the consequences if anyone objected to him.

However, he was met with a heavy blow to his face after the statement. His brother had grabbed onto his shirt and punched him.

"You asshole!" Jason growled as he punched Beichen.

The people in the room burst into a panic.

"Ahh!" The Queen screamed because she was shocked. "Stop it, you two!" She had never seen her two sons fight before, so she feared they would hurt each other.

Jason did not want to listen to his mother and raised his hand to punch Beichen again, but Yanyue rushed up to stop him by grabbing his hand.

He looked at her, and his eyes were on fire. "Yueyue, he deserves this!"

Yanyue said nothing but shook her head, her eyes pleading as if she wanted him to stop. He did not want to embarrass her, so he sat down in a fit.

The King saw the messy scene and sighed. He kneaded his eyebrows. "I will not allow a marriage between you and her!" he said to his second son in a tone as firm as he could make.

Beichen only narrowed his eyes in anger.

He had initially wanted to divorce Yanyue, but he could not risk doing that with Grandma's health declining daily. So, the best way for him to be with Wanyue openly was to marry her as a concubine. This would allow their family to be together in the future.

In ancient times, this was widespread among royal and wealthy men. In some cases, having more than one wife symbolized respect as it showed that the man had the charms and wealth to marry so many women.

Of course, that did not mean he believed it was a good practice. There was a more important reason why he wanted to marry Wanyue.

That year, he was seven. He had attended a cruise ship event and was kidnapped along with two little girls. They were around four or five years old, but it was impossible to see their faces since they were all locked in the dark.

When they planned to escape from the tunnel, their kidnappers seized the little girl who went with him. He tried to help her, but she pushed him off the tunnel into the ocean.

Before pushing him off, she handed him a necklace. He yelled out that he promised to come back for her and then he would ask for her hand in marriage when they were older.

After his people had rescued him, he returned to where they had been kidnapped, but the little girl was already gone. He and his guards searched everywhere for her, but she disappeared as if everything was just his imagination. However, he clutched the necklace tightly and believed she was safe somewhere.

Many years later, he saw the same necklace on Wanyue's neck. He wondered if it was a pair of necklaces, as he already had one with him, so he asked her. He told her the story, and surprisingly, she could also describe the place where they were locked in. She explained exactly how many people were there, how they were kept in the dark, and how they tried to escape.

He was desperate and showed her the necklace. When he saw her watery eyes, he decided that she was the little girl who had pushed him off the tunnel to save him. The necklace with her was a copy of the original one that she had begged her parents to recreate for her, as it was an important keepsake.

He was happy that he got to reunite with his life savior, and because of the promise, he took her home to meet his parents to request an engagement. However, they did not seem to like her very much, so the engagement between them was not official, and only word of mouth he said to her.

Then, he was going to wait until he took complete control of the Lu Group to marry her, but Yanyue ruined his plan by drugging and insisting Grandma Lu marry them instead.

Wanyue was now pregnant with his child, so he had to fulfill that promise he had made to her, and this seemed like the best method. This was also a great way to torture Yanyue because no woman would want their husband to have a second wife.

Unfortunately, his father was still headstrong and against their union.

Grandma Lu, who had not spoken, finally said something. "You cannot marry her, but if you want her to stay in the Eastern Palace, you must have a child with Xiaoyue!"

Everyone looked at the old lady, puzzled, and each with their thoughts. Yanyue was especially baffled by the old lady's request.

She gulped away the guilt in her mouth and said, "Grandma, I don't plan on having kids at the moment."

Jason looked at her, amazed by her ability to lie, and wanted to give her a thumbs up.

At first, he thought about keeping her pregnancy a secret like she wanted him to. However, seeing his brother's crazy behavior with his mistress, he understood his brother had no passion or sympathy for Yanyue.

Although his brother was haughty and heartless, he would not go against Grandma's wishes. If he had been able to, he would not have married Yanyue in the first place.

Since their grandma made such a proposal, his brother would have to abide by her orders and have a child with Yanyue without fail if he wanted to be with his mistress.

Jason grinned quietly. This was the perfect opportunity to announce Yanyue's pregnancy, as everyone in the room would be witnesses, forcing his brother to keep the baby alive.

Yanyue sensed an ominous cloud above Jason's head. She felt he was about to do something that would get her in trouble.

The man cleared his throat to ensure his voice was clear and loud.

Then, he said matter-of-factly, "No one knows, but Yanyue is already pregnant!"