---

As one day, two days, three days, a month, and then two months passed, and my belly began to show signs of pregnancy, Gu Yan still hadn’t appeared, and my hope completely died.

Alright, I guess I really am just cannon fodder.

I packed up my things, ready to leave.

As soon as I went downstairs, I saw Aunt Wu looking at me with red-rimmed eyes.

“Xiao Yu, please don’t go, okay? The Second Master must have encountered something these days, which is why he hasn’t come to see you. Why don’t you stay at home and wait for him?”

I knew Aunt Wu had long realized I wanted to leave, so I wasn’t surprised that she tried to stop me.

As for Aunt Wu’s claim that something might have happened to Gu Yan, I had considered that, too.

But no matter how busy he was, couldn’t he at least make a phone call?

Moreover, after I told him I was pregnant that night, he only hugged me at first but didn’t say a single word afterward. He simply took me back to the Imperial Garden in silence.

So, Gu Yan probably couldn’t accept me, a man, being pregnant, right?

Maybe, in his eyes, I’m just a freak, and his true love is Su Jin.

“Aunt Wu, I’ll come visit you again sometime.”

I smiled at Aunt Wu and, carrying my backpack, headed toward the door.

Before I could step outside, a Lamborghini pulled up in front of me.

Two people stepped out of the car: one was Lin Yu, one of Gu Yan’s few friends, and the other was a stranger—a man in a suit with glasses, holding a briefcase.

Lin Yu looked at me with a complicated expression and introduced the man beside him. “This is Lawyer Li.”

I stood there quietly, waiting for Lin Yu to continue.

“Lawyer Li and I are here on behalf of Gu Yan to bring you some things.”

Hearing Gu Yan’s name stirred a ripple in my otherwise calm heart.

But I kept my face cold and said, “I don’t need anything.”

I figured Lin Yu and the lawyer showing up like this was because Gu Yan had been watching me all along, just waiting for the day I would decide to leave so they could offer me some benefits.

Heh, I chuckled bitterly to myself, thinking how ridiculous I must seem.

I didn’t look at Lin Yu or the lawyer again and continued walking.

Lin Yu stepped forward, blocking my way, and shoved a file into my hands.

“Just sign this, and it’ll all be yours.”

“I don’t need it.”

I didn’t even glance at the file.

“Are you sure you don’t want it? This includes all the shares of the Gu Corporation, all of Gu Yan’s assets, both movable and immovable. Are you sure you don’t want any of it?”

There was an unsettling edge to Lin Yu’s voice.

I paused and turned back to look at him.

“Did something happen to Gu Yan?”

Movable and immovable assets, all the shares of the Gu Corporation… even if I were an idiot, I could sense something was wrong.

---

At the hospital, I stared through the glass at Gu Yan, who was still unconscious in the ICU, tears streaming down my face.

An hour ago, Lin Yu finally told me the truth after I pressed him for answers.

It turned out that Gu Yan hadn’t been avoiding me for the past two months, nor was he refusing to see me. He had gotten into an accident.

Lin Yu said that on the night Gu Yan brought me back to the Imperial Garden from the club, he got into an accident.

“It’s like he knew something was going to happen. He suddenly came to me, asking me to handle his assets. If he didn’t wake up within two months, he wanted me to give everything to you.”

Lin Yu paused before continuing, “It seems he knew you’d leave today.”

I wiped my tears and let out a bitter smile. “Yeah, he knew everything. He knew I would leave, but he left me in the dark, like a fool.”

Thinking back to all the times over the past two months when I had resented Gu Yan…

“Idiot!”

I couldn’t help but curse.

“Hey, don’t get too worked up. You don’t want to harm the baby,” Lin Yu said as he glanced at my belly, still not quite used to the fact that a man could be pregnant.

I was already five months along, but my baby bump wasn’t too obvious. Wearing loose clothes, no one could tell I was pregnant.

“I want to see Gu Yan.”

I knew the ICU didn’t allow visitors, but exceptions could be made.

Sure enough, Lin Yu soon called the doctor to make arrangements for me.

In less than ten minutes, I was dressed in a sterilized protective suit, walking into the ward.

As the door to the ward closed behind me, it felt like the whole world had shrunk to just me and Gu Yan.

Seeing him up close, I realized how much weight he had lost.

“Gu Yan.”

I sat down beside him and softly called his name.

Lin Yu had told me that after Gu Yan had made all those arrangements, he collapsed and fell into a coma. It was as if he had anticipated his own fate, and he specifically ordered that I wasn’t to be told about it.

After he fell into a coma, Gu Yan was rushed to the hospital. But two months had passed, and no doctor could figure out what was wrong with him.

“I’ve come to say goodbye.”

I touched my belly, my face expressionless as I looked at him.

I thought I would cry, but seeing Gu Yan like this, so fragile, I found no tears left to shed.

“Soon, I’ll be leaving Cloud City, going back to Yang City. I’ve always wanted to get as far away from you as possible, and now I can finally fulfill that wish. From now on, I won’t have to worry about you suddenly showing up and dragging me back.”

“And also, I’ll find another father for the baby in my belly. This child is destined to never have a mother, so to give them a complete life, I’ve decided to find a new dad for them. That way, they’ll have two fathers to love them.”

I watched Gu Yan’s face closely as I spoke, and sure enough, his eyelids twitched.

Suppressing the excitement rising in my chest, I continued, “How do you feel about your child calling someone else ‘Dad’? And I won’t even let the child know about you. You’ll just lie here forever, forgotten by both me and the baby…”

“Not allowed.”

Before I could finish, Gu Yan’s weak voice uttered two words.

I was overjoyed. It seemed my plan to provoke him had worked.