"""
Taking advantage of so spare ti, Chen Ningxi called the designer Hu to inquire about the renovation progress of the new house. She discovered that the tiles had just been finished, so it seed the idea of moving house in the short term couldn’t be realized.
Having encountered Pan Cheng more frequently lately, and to avoid unnecessary trouble, Chen Ningxi planned to stay at her parents’ place in the evenings.
She went ho at noon to pack a few clothes and toiletries before heading downstairs. After work, Ye Yujun was cooking in the kitchen. Chen Ningxi put her travel bag in the bedroom, changed her clothes, and went to help in the kitchen.
"Why did you suddenly think of coming back to stay?" Ye Yujun asked while cutting vegetables.
Chen Ningxi plucked celery leaves and didn’t elaborate much, "Staying alone at ho is boring. It’s much better here with you, with no worries about food or clothes."
Ye Yujun laughed and gave her a knowing look. "Just realized? A girl is only a princess when at her parents’ ho."
Chen Ningxi said, "I wasn’t a maid at ho either. Cheng Qiaobei does all kinds of chores."
Ye Yujun replied, "So why co back ho?"
"Living alone is boring, isn’t it?" Chen Ningxi pointed to the pot, "No more chatting, the fish is burning, burning."
Ye Yujun exclaid, oh dear, and quickly turned down the heat.
Just after finishing dinner, Liang Lei called her, "What’s up?"
Chen Ningxi said, "Just finished dinner, I’m at my mom’s."
Liang Lei: "Want to co out for a bit?"
Chen Ningxi asked, "Where?"
Liang Lei said, "Qingchen Coffee."
Chen Ningxi agreed readily, "It’s quite close to my mom’s, wait for ."
After hanging up the phone, Chen Ningxi changed into casual clothes to head out. Ye Yujun ca out of the kitchen, "Don’t go out empty-handed, take out the trash."
Chen Ningxi took the garbage bag as Ye Yujun asked, "Where are you going?"
"Liang Lei asked to et, just at Qingchen Coffee across the street."
Ye Yujun reminded, "Don’t co back too late in the evening."
Chen Ningxi: "Got it."
Standing in front of the elevator, thinking of what her mom had just nagged her about, she felt like she was still a child in her parents’ eyes.
It’s really true, as they say, in the eyes of parents, you’ll always be a child who hasn’t grown up.
Walking out of the community, she reached Qingchen Coffee in over ten minutes along the ginkgo-lined street. Passing by the cafe’s floor-to-ceiling window, she imdiately spotted Liang Lei sitting in a booth by the window, looking dazed.
Chen Ningxi pushed the door open, but the doorbell didn’t pull Liang Lei’s attention back.
As she approached, there was a glass of water on the table in front of her, and her face didn’t look good. Chen Ningxi’s heart sank, guessing that sothing was off again between her and Lin Hanrui.
After pulling out a chair and sitting down, Liang Lei’s eyes finally focused, and a faint smile appeared on her face, "You’re here."
"Yeah, how long have you been here?"
"Not long, about five minutes." Liang Lei looked lackluster.
Chen Ningxi casually ordered a coffee, and the waiter left with the order.
"Did you have a fight with Lin Hanrui?" Chen Ningxi asked candidly.
Liang Lei slightly shook her head, saying, "No."
"No? But you don’t look like it." Chen Ningxi was worried for her, "What’s really going on?"
Liang Lei said, "We really didn’t fight."
"Phew... good you didn’t fight." Chen Ningxi breathed a sigh of relief, "But you look pale, what happened?"
Liang Lei’s shoulders slumped, giving off a heavy-hearted aura, and after a mont of silence, she said, "Ning Xi, I’m pregnant."
"!"
Chen Ningxi imdiately sat up straight, leaning forward in disbelief, "You’re pregnant? No, didn’t you... you didn’t take precautions?"
Liang Lei answered weakly, "We did every ti, just that one ti. Got caught with just one ti. This kind of probability, if only it would co up when buying a lottery ticket."
Although the atmosphere was tense, it suddenly seed funny.
Chen Ningxi asked, "What do you plan to do?"
Liang Lei had always said she was a DINK, not planning on having children in this lifeti.
But now the situation was entirely flipped, with a child before marriage, she neither succeeded as a DINK nor in getting married.
Liang Lei said, "What can I plan."
Chen Ningxi asked, "Does Lin Hanrui know?"
Liang Lei said, "I want to tell him, but I’m afraid it’ll scare him, so I tested the waters. I asked him if we had a child, would he go to see my parents. Guess what he said?"
How could one guess? Guessing either good or bad wouldn’t be appropriate.
Liang Lei continued, "He told not to be silly."
"Huh?" Chen Ningxi opened her mouth, angrily saying, "How can he say that? What’s that kind of talk? Telling you not to be silly, what does that an? Bullying you! No way, I’ll call him."
"Hey, don’t call, he’s quite busy." Liang Lei stopped her, taking away Chen Ningxi’s phone and putting it aside, "The heavy rain in Danjiang ruined the program group’s activity venue and the set pieces, and they’ve been working overti for four or five days straight, even hiring a batch of people to work at night. He’s imrsed at the site to avoid delaying progress."
Chen Ningxi said, "He should at least know about your pregnancy."
Liang Lei said, "I’ve told him I’m a DINK, and he doesn’t like kids either. Now I’ve got a child out of nowhere. What do you think he’ll think? Won’t he think Liang Lei treats him as a casual Sunday plaything?"
After speaking, Liang Lei propped her head with her hand, feeling very restless.
Chen Ningxi didn’t agree with Liang Lei’s thoughts, "I think you should have a serious talk with him."
Liang Lei was silent, "..."
Chen Ningxi asked again, "What are you thinking?"
"I..." Liang Lei hesitated, her mind suddenly blank. She didn’t know what to do either.
Liang Lei continued, "I always thought I was very carefree, could accept anything, had a respectable job with decent inco, a boyfriend whose looks and body fit my aesthetic, shared interests, and similar views on marriage and family. I considered everything about my life except for children. My mind is a ss now, but this doesn’t make sense, I’m a DINK. How can I be so indecisive about the matter of children?"
Chen Ningxi said, "Maybe it’s a gift from heaven? To let you, a DINK, experience the role of a parent."
Liang Lei said, "I can take good care of myself, but I don’t have the courage or the readiness to care for a child... This gift might have been a misdelivery by the heavens."
"Stop overthinking," Chen Ningxi suggested for Liang Lei to call, "If you can’t ask face-to-face, then call. If he states he doesn’t want it, then the child is your own. Whether to keep or not, it’s all up to you. We’re doing our duty to inform. Don’t wait for him to find out later and use this as an excuse to bla you."
Liang Lei thought for a mont, seemingly making a decision, picked up her phone and dialed Lin Hanrui’s number. After seven or eight rings, it finally got picked up.
"What’s up?"
Lin Hanrui was tired, fighting to keep his eyes open, having pulled two all-nighters.
Liang Lei said, "Yesterday I asked you if we had a child, would you go see my parents in advance?"
With a clang, a steel pipe fell down, landing right on the newly installed props and scenery. This was just made with acrylic boards, and now it would have to be custom made again, and ti was running out.
"Be careful, work quickly," he nodded towards the damaged set, "Do you know how much it costs to custom make this piece again?"
The worker gave a compensation offer that was bearable and acceptable, but upon hearing the price, Lin Hanrui laughed, "Heh... with that attitude, there’s nothing left for us to discuss."
What had been said was completely unheard, and he put the phone back to his ear. "What did you just say?"
Liang Lei closed her eyes, saying, "Don’t ask, asking as if you could even solve it."
Lin Hanrui: "If you don’t say, how do you know I can’t solve it?"
Liang Lei: "I said, if we had a child, what would you do?"
Initially, he thought she was just ssing around, but after Liang Lei asked the sa question for the third ti, he couldn’t brush it off any more.
"Aren’t you a DINK?"
"""
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