Chapter 13: Isn’t that still a fake marriage?

“Think about it, if you’re okay with it, we can go get the marriage certificate as soon as possible.”

This couldn’t be Duan Jinhuai saying it wrong, it must be that she heard wrong.

Su Qingtan’s mind was blown to pieces. She sat on the bed, staring at Duan Jinhuai for a while before saying in a daze, “Mr. Duan, did I hear wrong?”

“No.” Duan Jinhuai denied it, then chuckled at Su Qingtan’s expression before looking up and saying the excuse he had come up with, “I didn’t originally plan to get married, but I wanted to find a mother for my child. It’s fate, I guess, I met you, and after I sent you to the hospital, I found out that your pregnancy time is about the same as my child’s mother.”

“So I thought, after we get married, we’ll announce to the outside world that they are twins or a boy and a girl—”

Su Qingtan’s shattered mind was gradually turning into mush. To avoid this, she interrupted Duan Jinhuai, “Stop!”

After Duan Jinhuai stopped, Su Qingtan took a while to pull together a thread, “You want to find a mother for your child? My pregnancy time is about the same as your child’s mother? Is that right?”

Duan Jinhuai nodded, suppressing the smile and a hint of nervousness that was about to surface.

Su Qingtan didn’t care about Duan Jinhuai’s psychology at the moment, her mind was still shattered. Seeing Duan Jinhuai nod, she asked, “Mr. Duan, I, a divorced pregnant woman, you’re going to marry someone like me, even if your child’s mother is worse, there’s nothing you can’t marry, right?”

Duan Jinhuai heard her belittle herself, the smile in his heart disappeared, his face became serious, “There’s nothing wrong with someone like you, I can’t marry my child’s mother.”

Su Qingtan didn’t think much about Duan Jinhuai saying there was nothing wrong with her, she listened to his words and asked in a low voice, “Surrogacy?”

“No.” Duan Jinhuai denied it and then said, “I don’t want too many people to know about my child. If you agree to marry me, I’ll tell you.”

Su Qingtan was choked again. She thought for a while and used Li Su’s words, “Mr. Duan, this isn’t going to the mall to buy things, can you not be so casual about it?”

“…It’s not really casual.” Duan Jinhuai was silent for a while before saying, “Then think about it carefully, just give me your answer before your belly shows.”

She really didn’t want to agree to marry Duan Jinhuai, but Little Douding—

Su Qingtan sighed softly and continued, “Will we just be a nominal couple?”

“No.”

Duan Jinhuai’s one word made Su Qingtan feel like her brain was turning into mush.

Duan Jinhuai wasn’t doing much better either, he unconsciously rubbed his left thumb against his index finger.

This was his little habit when he was anxious.

“My family situation is a bit complicated, if we’re just a nominal couple, my family will find out, and your situation and the child’s situation will become difficult.”

Duan Jinhuai said softly, “I’m very busy with work, and I can’t protect you all the time.”

“I also said just now that I didn’t originally plan to get married. It’s just that I sent you to the hospital today, and I suddenly felt that it would be very difficult for one person to raise a child, regardless of gender.”

Yeah, of course it’s hard.

Those people in the Duan family, none of them were easy to deal with.

In her previous life, Duan Jinhuai was busy, Little Douding didn’t have a mother to protect her, and she did suffer a lot of grievances.

Su Qingtan’s thoughts came together, and she felt that she understood Duan Jinhuai’s actions, but why didn’t Duan Jinhuai think about marrying a woman to be Little Douding’s mother in her previous life?

Su Qingtan couldn’t figure it out, and she couldn’t ask directly, so she said indirectly, “Mr. Duan, did you suddenly feel like marrying me?”

“It was sudden, but not impulsive.” Duan Jinhuai said, “Su Qingtan, female, twenty-three years old, graduated from the Wushu and Ethnic Traditional Sports major of Jincheng Sports University, was a national Tai Chi team athlete, retired in the middle of last year—”

Su Qingtan heard that Duan Jinhuai had figured her out, she immediately said, “That’s enough, Mr. Duan.” There’s no need to strip her bare like this in front of her.

Su Qingtan asked again, “You’ve stripped me bare like this, but I don’t know much about you.”

“Then let’s get to know each other.” Duan Jinhuai saw Su Qingtan’s softening, his eyes held a faint smile, “My name is Duan Jinhuai, twenty-seven years old, from Jiangcheng, graduated with a master’s degree in finance from NY University in the United States.”

“I work at the family company, for my health and safety, I exercise and practice martial arts every day, but my hobbies are drinking tea and sunbathing…”

Duan Jinhuai didn’t say it, but she really didn’t know which university he graduated from.

She had seen him exercise and practice martial arts, but only from afar, she didn’t know how much he practiced.

As for drinking tea and sunbathing, it was true, in her memory, when she reported to Duan Jinhuai about work, he always liked to drink tea in the sun.

And in her memory, besides being very busy, when he had time, he would stay at home with his younger brother and Duan Xun, he didn’t go out much, he could be considered a homebody.

And even if he was very busy, he would call Duan Xun and Duan Jiajia every day.

He wasn’t a qualified father, but he was trying his best to be a qualified father.

Duan Jinhuai stopped halfway through, noticing that Su Qingtan was spacing out.

When he stopped, Su Qingtan came back to her senses, and she was quite good at making up for it, “I wasn’t spacing out, I heard you, your family has your grandfather, your father and your father’s mistress, and the mistress’s son and daughter.”

“Your grandfather lives in the old house with your uncle’s family, your uncle’s family is simple, just the three of them.”

“Your father’s family lives in the villa next to the old house, that’s also your grandfather’s house.”

“You and your brother live together, they’re in the east of the city, you’re in the west of the city, it’s a long way apart.”

Duan Jinhuai nodded lightly, “That’s right, that’s my basic situation.”

The conversation had reached this point, and Su Qingtan gradually came back to her senses. She also believed that Duan Jinhuai had thought about giving her a suitable identity to protect Little Douding after meeting her, but—

“Duan Jinhuai, your proposal, are we going to be a real couple?” Su Qingtan asked.

Duan Jinhuai didn’t hesitate for a second, he nodded directly, “Yes.”

Su Qingtan was stunned, she looked at Duan Jinhuai in confusion.

Duan Jinhuai only looked at her for a few seconds before slightly averting his eyes, “We’ll live in the same room, be intimate with each other like a normal couple in public, but don’t worry, I won’t do anything to you.”

“Isn’t that still a fake marriage?” Su Qingtan breathed a sigh of relief.

Duan Jinhuai’s finger-rubbing action continued, he glanced at Su Qingtan, lowered his eyes to hide the slight displeasure in his eyes, “We’ll live in the same room, we can’t let outsiders see that our relationship is inappropriate.”

“If you think it’s a fake marriage, then it is.”

“Can you accept this kind of relationship?”

“I can.” Su Qingtan thought about it seriously and said, “But Mr. Duan, I think your proposal is not only hasty, but also a bad deal—”