That night, after Chen Lanfen was admitted to the hospital, her condition started worsening a few hours later. Tang Liren rushed in and out, searching for doctors and nurses, explaining Chen Lanfen’s condition to them.

Around four in the morning, Chen Lanfen was moved into the delivery room.

Tang Liren and Bai Nansheng sat on the bench outside the obstetrics department, waiting idly.

Tang Liren was old after all, and soon fell asleep.

Bai Nansheng stared at his mother’s beautiful but somewhat aged face for a while. He took off his outer coat and gently covered her with it, then stood up, walked to the corner of the stairs, took out a cigarette, and lit it.

He didn’t sleep at all.

Around seven o’clock, Bai Dongsheng rushed over with a bag of buns. As he reached the stairs, he saw his brother with a cold expression in the hallway.

“Where’s Mom?” Bai Dongsheng asked.

Bai Nansheng replied, “She’s asleep. You go ahead… let her sleep a bit longer.”

Bai Dongsheng nodded and asked again, “What about Chen Lanfen?”

“She had a complication, and was moved into the delivery room,” Bai Nansheng answered, then asked, “Have Dad and the others been settled?”

Bai Dongsheng nodded and briefly explained the situation: last night, he had taken his family to seek shelter with relatives. There were too many people, so they couldn’t be arranged properly. His relatives had secretly opened up a guest room and let them stay there. Early this morning, they found a vacant house in a courtyard. Bai Dongsheng immediately paid the rent, and now the family had been relocated and settled in.

“Lizi and the others are tidying up over there… the house has everything, and they can cook. Once things calm down here, we’ll have to send Mom over for a good rest,” Bai Dongsheng said.

Bai Nansheng nodded and remained silent for a long time.

Bai Dongsheng said, “You should eat the buns first.”

But Bai Nansheng asked, “Brother, do you love your wife?”

Bai Dongsheng froze.

“Do you love her?” Bai Nansheng pressed.

Bai Dongsheng became a little flustered. “My wife and I… we’ve been married for so long… what’s the point of loving or not loving!”

“Do you love her?” Bai Nansheng insisted.

Bai Dongsheng fell into a long silence.

After a while, he answered, “I know. You’re going through all this, and you must feel bad… If someone asked me if I love your sister-in-law, I wouldn’t want to answer that. But you’re my brother, so since you asked, I’ll answer. However, I’ll only say it once in this lifetime.”

“I do love her. I can’t live without her. I’m the oldest in the family, with parents depending on me, and younger siblings I need to support. She, though, is the youngest in her family. Since she was little, she’s had everything handed to her. Now that she’s with me, how much hardship has she had to face? But doesn’t she know the situation at our house? Doesn’t she know how heavy my responsibilities are? She knows, but she still married me.”

“At the beginning, to get your wife, the family had already gone bankrupt from the dowry. In the future, Lizi and Xingzi still need to get married, and their dowries need to be prepared. If the groom’s family doesn’t think highly of my sisters’ dowries, I won’t feel good about it! Not to mention, Taotao is still a foolish girl, and she might need me to support her for the rest of her life… Your sister-in-law is pregnant, and even if my siblings get married, I still have three little ones to take care of…”

“Nansheng, I owe no one but your sister-in-law! In the past, her parents, brothers, and sisters all supported her, but when she came into our family, she became the eldest daughter-in-law, needing to serve the elders and take care of the younger ones, doing all the heavy work! Nansheng, when I think about how helpless I am, unable to ensure she has enough to eat and warm clothes, it makes me…”

At this point, Bai Dongsheng’s eyes became slightly wet.

He couldn’t continue.

Nansheng had been listening attentively.

It was clear that his brother and sister-in-law had a good relationship, and that was unquestionable.

But, every word his brother said, he couldn’t relate to.

With Chen Lanfen’s complicated feelings, was it really love?

“Brother, do you think… I like Chen Lanfen?” This was the question that had troubled Nansheng all night.

Bai Dongsheng looked at him disdainfully. “What you feel isn’t love!”

“Your temperament is like a rough bully. You don’t notice any gentle, cultured girls, because you’re not that kind of person… but Chen Lanfen pulled you into the cornfield. Only then did you realize she wasn’t like the other refined girls. She’s like you, standing out from the crowd…”

“Plus, you’ve been away for so long. When she pulled you into the cornfield, wasn’t it like dry wood meeting fire, catching flame immediately?” Bai Dongsheng sharply pointed out.

Nansheng froze.

Bai Dongsheng continued, “At that time, you didn’t want to listen to anything we said, now that you’ve calmed down… haven’t you thought, she could pull anyone into the cornfield? Or do you think she pulled you in because she loved you so much at that moment?”

Nansheng’s face turned pale.

Bai Dongsheng added, “Whether she loves you, we don’t know. But you can’t even figure out whether you love her… Hey, brother, why don’t you understand? This is because you don’t love her, so you keep looking for evidence and getting caught in this dead-end!”

“It’s like this: a truly rich person never wonders if they’re poor. Only a poor person keeps thinking about whether they’re rich…”

The example his brother gave was a bit out of place, but Bai Nansheng still understood.

Last night, when Chen Lanfen had teary eyes and begged him softly for half the night, he had felt a pang of sympathy. He thought her words made sense, and she wasn’t asking for everything; she was a victim too.

But what he couldn’t understand was that the pain she had endured wasn’t caused by him. He too was a victim. Why should he forgive her just because she was pregnant? Did it have to be because he loved her?

Then, did he love her?

It didn’t seem like he did.

When his father had reluctantly agreed to his marriage to Chen Lanfen, he had set a condition: after they married, he must join the army.

He had agreed.

After marriage, his mother, Tang Liren, fearing that he might harm the child in Chen Lanfen’s womb through his lack of restraint, had warned him several times not to sleep with her… After all, from the time they were in the cornfield until their marriage, to him joining the army, up to now, the number of times he had slept with Chen Lanfen could be counted on one hand.

Chen Lanfen and him didn’t have too many tied, and he had left easily when he went to join the army.

After arriving at his unit, the heavy training left him no time to care for her. On rare occasions when he had free time, he thought of his parents, his younger sister, his nephews, but never really thought about Chen Lanfen.

Months passed, and he had even forgotten what she looked like.

Did he love Chen Lanfen?

But he couldn’t even remember what she looked like…

Was this called love?

At first, he had married her out of a sense of responsibility.

But now, he had found out the child in her womb couldn’t possibly be his.

What responsibility was he still supposed to bear?

Nansheng understood and nodded slightly. “Brother, I understand.”

Bai Dongsheng hesitated.

—This younger brother of his was really stupid. He had no idea what exactly he understood!

Bai Dongsheng sighed. “Mom and Dad are getting older, you should think about them more.”

Just then, the two brothers noticed Tang Liren waking up sleepily from the bench. She looked around, surveying the surroundings.

Bai Dongsheng seized the moment to speak. “…Now the whole family is paying the price for your impulsiveness. Look, Chen Lanfen is about to give birth. Our mom has been working non-stop and hasn’t had a good rest. Dad is still sick. If you mention divorce now, the Chen family is sure to cause a scene…”

Nansheng replied, “Don’t worry, I know my limits.”

Bai Dongsheng ignored him and walked over to Tang Liren with a bag of steamed buns. “Mom, you’ve worked hard. When Lizi arrives, you can rest for a while. Here, have a bun first. Did you eat last night?”

Tang Liren stretched her neck and tiredly said, “After handling her admission last night, I went to the cafeteria to buy food. There was only one portion left, so I gave it to Lanfen… Nansheng and I didn’t eat. Hey, Nansheng, did you have a bun?”

Nansheng responded, “Mom,you  eat first, I’m going to smoke.”

Tang Liren scolded, “Don’t smoke so much! Look at your dad… he didn’t take care of himself when he was younger. Now that he’s older, every winter he coughs, and no matter how much medicine he takes, it doesn’t help!”

Nansheng took out a cigarette, but after a moment, he put it away. “Okay, I won’t smoke anymore.”

Tang Liren was satisfied and took a bite of a bun. Suddenly, she froze and turned to look at her stubborn son with suspicion. What happened to this difficult boy… Why is he so easy-going all of a sudden?

Nansheng sat beside his mother, took a bun, and asked, “Mom, how did you find out about Chen Lanfen’s due date being wrong?”

Tang Liren sighed. “Well, I was going to tell you about this… but the family situation is complicated. With so many girls and kids at home, and Taotao…”

She paused and turned to her eldest son with a worried expression. “Dongsheng, how was Taotao doing last night? Was she restless? I didn’t want her to come, but I thought if the Chen family finds out and comes over here, we’re all here and there’s no one at home to protect the younger ones…”

Bai Dongsheng reassured her.

Tang Liren relaxed and then began explaining to Nansheng. “You asked me how I figured it out, well, here’s what happened…”

—That day, Xingxing’s mentioned that a reporter would come the next day to interview Bai Zhengqian and asked if they could take a photo of the family. That’s when Tang Liren had the idea to go early the next day and bring Chen Lanfen along for the picture.

So, before dawn the next day, she got up early, prepared, and went to Chen’s home. When she reached the village entrance, it was just getting light. There, she met Doctor Zhao.

Doctor Zhao was an OB-GYN from the town hospital. Her husband, Doctor Mo, was an orthopedic specialist, and Bai Zhengqian had been receiving treatment for his back injury from him. Tang Liren had also taken her daughters-in-law for prenatal check-ups at Doctor Zhao’s.

Tang Liren knew how to make people feel appreciated, so she always brought small gifts like mountain mushrooms or bamboo shoots when visiting the doctors or nurses.

Over time, the medical staff developed a good relationship with her family.

At this moment, Doctor Zhao, seeing no one around, pulled Tang Liren aside and gave her some important advice. “Today, Chen Lanfen is likely to give birth soon, you need to be cautious.”

Tang Liren was shocked, thinking wasn’t Chen Lanfen’s due date in August? It’s only May…

Doctor Zhao said, “Look at her belly. Does it look like someone only five months pregnant? I didn’t want to say anything before, since I know how difficult her family can be… Chen Lanfen is actually already full-term! Her due date is May 9th!”

Tang Liren did the math. Full-term? But Chen Lanfen had only been married to Nansheng for three months, and it had been five months since they went into the cornfields…

Tang Liren was stunned.

Doctor Zhao continued, “Also, the baby she’s carrying is a giant. I’m not wishing anything bad on her, but from a medical standpoint, this baby is at least eight or nine pounds! You can’t be careless. You must send her to the hospital for delivery. If her family tries to handle it at home, it’s a dead end!”

Tang Liren felt a chill run down her spine.

Before leaving, Doctor Zhao reminded her once more, stressing the need to get Chen Lanfen out of there. Then she quickly left.

Tang Liren stood there for a long time, thinking this matter needed to be discussed carefully with the family. Until she figured things out, she had to handle everything cautiously…

She still went to Chen’s house and knocked on the door.

It was early, so when the Chen family members opened the door, they were still half asleep. Tang Liren reacted and called out to Lanfen in a loud voice…

Chen Lanfen might have been dazed from sleep as well. She came out of her brother’s room with her hair disheveled, not only with bare legs, but also wearing her brother’s clothes???

Tang Liren was stunned.

When Chen Lanfen saw that the visitor was her mother-in-law, she let out a scream…

T/N: This is a lot. Just a lot…