Chapter 1: Pregnancy

"I regret to inform you that this round of artificial insemination still hasn't been successful."

Ye Xi lay in the ultrasound room, awkwardly coming to terms with such a reality.

This was her third failed attempt at artificial conception, and the pain of it went without saying.

"Since you and your husband are legally married, and both of you don't have any issues, why must you insist on getting pregnant this way? Isn't natural conception less risky?"

The doctor couldn't understand.

Ye Xi's face flushed with embarrassment; she was well aware that natural conception had a higher success rate.

But how could she get pregnant when her husband refused any physical contact with her?

Today marked the third anniversary of her marriage to Song Musen.

Song Musen remained like a stone that refused to warm up, cold as ever over the three-year span.

The doctor followed her out of the ultrasound room and said, "If you're still set on this, please ask your husband to come over again for cooperation."

Ye Xi nodded, "Mm, I know."

She sat alone in the hospital corridor, staring at the conclusion on her examination report, and sighed deeply.

She took out her phone and called Song Musen.

The phone rang for quite some time before Song Musen picked up with impatience, "What is it now?"

Song Musen was always impatient with her.

Yet, Ye Xi still had to say, "The doctor said that the artificial insemination failed again this time. So, we need you to come over once more…"

"Ye Xi, don't push your luck. If it wasn't for my grandfather forcing me, I wouldn't even have married you. Now you're pressuring me to have a child with you, haven't you had enough?"

Ye Xi felt a tightness in her chest, "Just this one time, only this one last time, can we?"

Song Musen on the other end didn't bother to respond and hung up her call directly.

"What did your husband say?" the doctor asked.

Ye Xi could only say, "We will think about it again…"

"Alright."

As she came out of the consulting room, Ye Xi bumped into a nurse holding a chilled bayberry juice.

The nurse hurriedly helped her, "I'm sorry, are you alright?"

Ye Xi was pale and shook her head.

Just then another nurse came by, saying, "Xiaojian, be quick, Miss Ye is waiting anxiously in the VIP consulting room. She says she gets nervous doing the examination without bayberry juice."

"It's my first time seeing such a finicky patient. It's just getting pregnant, right? Is there a need to give us all in the obstetrics and gynecology department so much trouble?"

"You might want to save your words. Do you know who her husband is? Song Musen, our hospital's second-largest shareholder. If she wants bayberry juice, we get her bayberry juice; if she seeks water from the Milky Way, we'd have to find a way to fetch it."

After the nurses finished their quiet complaints, they quickly walked towards the specialist consulting room.

And when Ye Xi heard the three words "Song Musen," she couldn't bring herself to take another step.

The one who liked iced bayberry juice… it must be Ye Susu.

No wonder Song Musen didn't care whether she had a child; Ye Susu was already pregnant.

Song Musen walked out of the consulting room and saw a familiar figure.

But that figure flashed by, resembling Ye Xi.

However, considering the time, she shouldn't be here, so he didn't pay it any more attention.

Ye Xi hid around the corner of the corridor, leaning against the wall with a heart so pained she could hardly breathe.

Before long, her supposed younger sister with whom she was switched at birth and shared no blood relation, Ye Susu, also came out.

"Musen, the doctor says our baby is very healthy. Are you happy?"

"Of course."

The moment Song Musen's voice reached her, Ye Xi felt as if she heard the sound of her own heart shattering.

"Your family's old man is a real nuisance. He knew you didn't like Ye Xi, forced you to marry her, and now he's forcing you to have a child with her. I don't care, you are not allowed to have a child with her, not even once."

Song Musen's doting voice came again, "What are you thinking about, of course, I won't have a child with her. And about cooperating with her artificial insemination before, actually, it was not my seed, I had someone stand in for me…"

"Really?"

"Of course it's true."

Ye Susu finally said with satisfaction, "That's more like it."

Watching the two figures grow further away, Ye Xi shook violently, her fingertips going numb.

A wave of indescribable nausea rose from her stomach, and she turned to run towards the restroom…

…

Hardly had Ye Xi left when the doctor chased out with a new report.

"Miss Ye, wait a moment, there was a mistake with our examination. You are pregnant."

Unfortunately, by the time the doctor looked up, Ye Xi was nowhere to be seen.