WRA CH60

Chapter 60: “Do you have to hit the baby as soon as he’s born?”

Xiang Zhen could abandon his slightly injured husband at a time like this; Zhou Sicheng couldn’t think of any other reason. The only thing more important than a husband could only be a child.

The doctor had advised keeping emotions stable during the late stages of pregnancy, noting cases of premature birth triggered by shock.

Xiang Zhen had been shocked by his car accident. Did his stomach hurt just now? Was that why he turned and walked away, seeking Dou Manning to help deliver the baby?

Zhou Sicheng was so anxious he ignored the pain in his foot, hopping on one leg and pushing open the doors of the examination rooms one by one.

This was a private hospital. Zhou Sicheng had booked out this entire floor, intending to use it for Xiang Zhen’s checkups and eventual delivery at any moment.

The corridor was quiet. Hearing the commotion, medical staff came out. Seeing President Zhou frantically searching for something, they asked if he needed help.

Zhou Sicheng: “Have you seen my wife?”

Nurse: “No, I haven’t. I’ll get some people to help look.”

“No need.” Zhou Sicheng worried that a crowd would startle his wife during labor, making things worse. Being barged in on by strangers halfway through delivery would frighten both parties.

What if his wife had a difficult labor—

Zhou Sicheng could only search himself, pushing open the door to an empty examination room: “Zhenzhen?”

“Wifey, are you in here?”

Goddamn it, he was going to sue the at-fault driver for causing his wife’s premature labor!

In despair, Zhou Sicheng let out an angry, anguished roar: “Xiang Zhen! You promised to let me be there when you give birth!”

…

Xiang Zhen was in a massive hurry, practically teleporting to the stairwell with Dou Manning. As they pushed open the fire door, a high-definition security camera pointed right at them.

Xiang Zhen paused: “There’s a camera here too.”

Dou Manning: “The only places in the entire hospital without cameras are the restrooms.”

Xiang Zhen hesitated: “The restroom?”

He didn’t mind it himself, but Zhou Sicheng would probably mind his son being born in a restroom.

Dou Manning took off his jacket, crouched his legs, and leaped high, draping the jacket over the camera lens: “Done.”

Xiang Zhen took off his trench coat, handing it to Dou Manning to hold. He leaned against the corner of the wall and closed his eyes.

The sunflower seed baby could have been born yesterday, but Xiang Zhen saw how much Zhou Sicheng loved kissing his belly—treating it like a precious pearl he was afraid would melt in his mouth, kissing it all over with utmost care.

Zhou Sicheng was also very gentle in bed, never going wild and making Xiang Zhen cry.

That was why he had decided to let the sunflower seed baby stay in there a few days longer.

“Come out, baby.”

Suddenly, a furious, despairing roar echoed through the air.

Xiang Zhen snapped his eyes open.

His heart skipped a beat, and his legs turned to jelly.

“Wait, Manning, if I give birth here, hubby will scold me.”

Dou Manning: “Then should we go back to your hubby’s room? There are no cameras there either.”

Xiang Zhen: “Okay.”

He had already prepared to transform, but Zhou Sicheng’s roar had turned his legs to absolute jelly. Loosely covering his belly with the trench coat and leaning on Dou Manning’s arm, he managed to climb a few steps.

Dou Manning pushed open the fire door. The two slender-waisted, long-legged beauties emerged from the stairwell into the corridor. Having taken off their outerwear, their milky-coffee-colored shirts hugged the slim curves of their lower backs.

The nurse station was just around the corner. Seeing Xiang Zhen, the nurse said, “Sir, President Zhou is looking for you.”

“Oh!” Hearing this, Xiang Zhen hurriedly quickened his pace. Was hubby waiting for him to help him to the restroom?!

Right at that moment, having finished searching an examination room, a frantic Zhou Sicheng hopped out while clutching the doorframe.

Turning his head, he saw his wife perfectly fine. The adrenaline coursing through his entire body instantly plummeted.

Wait, this isn’t good either. Why is he being supported by Dou Manning?

For a split second, Zhou Sicheng forgot about his foot injury and lunged forward. Piercing pain shot through his instep, and a cold sweat broke out over his forehead.

Standing at the door of the hospital room, Xiang Zhen poked his head in: “Hubby?”

Through gritted teeth, Zhou Sicheng said, “I’m right here.”

Xiang Zhen stood up straight and supported his husband: “Hubby, did you want to go to the restroom?”

“Restroom my ass! Where did you go?” Zhou Sicheng gripped the doorframe tightly with one hand—disabled exactly when he shouldn’t be disabled. “Does your stomach hurt? Are you about to give birth? Why didn’t you call me?”

Xiang Zhen bluffed: “I just went to confirm it. I’m about to give birth.”

Taking it for granted, Zhou Sicheng assumed Xiang Zhen was experiencing the frantic urgency of human childbirth, like water breaking and the baby engaging in the pelvis.

He immediately made a call to arrange for the medical staff to prepare for the newborn’s arrival.

Fortunately, he had prepared this floor’s rooms specifically for Xiang Zhen; everything needed was readily available.

Zhou Sicheng: “Hurry, lie down on the bed.”

Xiang Zhen: “No need to lie down. I’ll give birth standing up.”

Zhou Sicheng was about to frown when he noticed that both his wife and his brother-in-law had perfectly calm expressions; he was the only one panicking.

Xiang Zhen: “Hubby, just hold onto me.”

Zhou Sicheng reached out and wrapped his arms around his body.

Xiang Zhen: “Hubby, will you be scared?”

In the Greater Khingan Mountains, despite Zhou Sicheng’s relentless coaxing, Xiang Zhen had never agreed to show him his sunflower form.

This was also the reason why his first instinct had been to go give birth in the stairwell.

Zhou Sicheng: “I grew up with sunflowers since I was a kid. You are the most beautiful one of all.”

As soon as he spoke, a gentle breeze swept past.

There was no longer a golden-haired youth in his arms; in his place was a swaying sunflower, bearing a round flower disc, blooming brilliantly.

The sunflower hadn’t rooted in soil; its root system coiled around Zhou Sicheng’s feet, leaning against Zhou Sicheng’s embrace to barely stand steady.

Zhou Sicheng planted his right foot firmly on the ground as well, providing more anchors for his wife’s roots.

He lowered his head, rubbing the bridge of his nose against the edge of the petals. There was no astonishment in his eyes, only profound tenderness and heartache.

He had dreamt countless times of growing up alongside Xiang Zhen; he had long familiarized himself with every petal and leaf of his wife.

By some destined connection, Xiang Zhen looked exactly as he had imagined in his dreams.

No, even more adorable.

“Don’t be afraid. I see our child.”

Dou Manning approached, stood slightly on his tiptoes, and located the mature sunflower seed within the disc.

It was very conspicuous; after all, there was only one.

Dou Manning reached out, channeling warm sunlight power in his palm, pinched the sunflower seed, applied a bit of pressure, and plucked it cleanly.

Snap.

A pinprick-sized stem remained in the sunflower disc, marking where the flower and seed were once connected.

The sunflower seed had already cracked slightly. The thin husk had split open, revealing a plump, white seed embryo residing inside.

Looking at the sunflower seed, Dou Manning smiled gently: “Zhenzhen, it’s done.”

Zhou Sicheng’s brows locked in a dead knot, looking exactly like an unreasonable family member questioning the lead surgeon: “Done? Does the wound in my wife’s flower not need to be treated?”

Dou Manning: “Do you want me to stitch it up with a needle and thread?”

Zhou Sicheng choked on his words.

The next second, Xiang Zhen transformed back, leaning weakly into Zhou Sicheng’s arms.

His lips were a bit pale, and a faint stinging pain radiated from his lower abdomen. It was the wound left from plucking the sunflower seed, requiring a few days to heal.

That sliver of pain turned into a gentle smile curving on his lips the moment he saw the sunflower seed about to break out of its shell in Dou Manning’s palm.

He raised his hand, channeling his own sunlight power into it as well.

Hovering between the joined hands of his father and his Yao uncle, the sunflower seed continuously absorbed the sunlight.

The sunlight power urged the sunflower husk to crack further. With a crisp sound so faint it was nearly imperceptible, the sunflower embryo tumbled out.

The moment it landed in Xiang Zhen’s palm, it transformed into a newborn human infant.

The entire process took less than a minute.

The newborn little Yao’s hair was black. As he grew up and absorbed enough sunlight, it would gradually turn golden.

The little cub neither cried nor fussed, sleeping soundly wrapped in the trench coat. Thinking he was still confined within the sunflower seed shell, his arms and legs were tucked tight against his chest—a soft, white little ball. His eyelashes were tightly shut, his milky-white baby fat plump and protruding, rising and falling with his breaths, proving he had received abundant nutrition, rain, dew, and sunlight.

Dou Manning took the baby and wrapped him securely in a swaddle.

Zhou Sicheng hurriedly scooped Xiang Zhen up, laid him across the bed, twisted open a bottle of glucose water, popped a straw in, and slipped it into his mouth.

Dou Manning placed the little cub on the bed. The loosely wrapped swaddle fell open, revealing a chubby little baby.

Zhou Sicheng grabbed the little cub by his two feet. Pinching his right thumb and middle finger tightly, he released them with a snap, flicking the soles of the little cub’s feet hard twice!

“Waaaaah—”

The little cub instantly burst into a loud, bawling wail, his tender white face flushing red.

Xiang Zhen was stunned. He has to be hit right after being born?!

“Hubby, calm down,” Xiang Zhen looked at Zhou Sicheng pitifully, trying to save his son.

Zhou Sicheng tossed the loudly wailing newborn back to Dou Manning: “When human babies are just born, you have to make them cry to open up their alveoli.”

“Please carry him out to the nurses and keep an eye on them while they handle him.”

Dou Manning: “Okay.”

Only the two of them remained in the room.

Zhou Sicheng: “Should I call the doctor in?”

Xiang Zhen: “No!”

Zhou Sicheng’s chest heaved slightly. They could claim the baby was adopted, but his wife’s body returning to normal immediately post-partum would indeed be very difficult to explain.

Zhou Sicheng: “Are you really okay?”

Xiang Zhen: “I’m perfectly fine.”

Zhou Sicheng: “Then I’ll inspect.”

Without another word, Zhou Sicheng lifted Xiang Zhen’s shirt, revealing a tight, flat lower abdomen. There was no wound, not even a trace of having been pregnant. He gently rolled Xiang Zhen over, pulled down his pants, and put on disposable gloves.

Inside and out, everything was perfectly normal.

Zhou Sicheng discarded the gloves and asked softly, “Did it hurt?”

Xiang Zhen answered honestly, “That one moment hurt a bit.”

Zhou Sicheng’s eyes had been red ever since he saw Dou Manning pluck the seed. “Was it too big?”

His heart aching, Zhou Sicheng leaned over and loosely embraced his body: “You suffered, wifey.”

Compared to a sunflower’s 1.8-meter frame, a tiny sunflower seed was nothing at all—far better than animals. Xiang Zhen said, “I felt relieved right after.”

Xiang Zhen extended his hand. “Hubby, look.”

Zhou Sicheng lowered his gaze and saw two halves of a cracked sunflower seed husk, plumper and thinner-skinned than ordinary husks.

Zhou Sicheng picked them up and fitted them together; they aligned perfectly. There was a slight crack at the pointed end, seemingly forced open by the emerging embryo.

This was his son’s initial form.

Such a tiny sunflower seed had transformed into a baby roughly estimated to weigh five catties.

Xiang Zhen said proudly, “Thin skin, big filling, isn’t it?”

Zhou Sicheng: “…Good sunflower seed.”

Xiang Zhen: “Doesn’t he look just like you?”

With his emotions surging, Zhou Sicheng had only focused on smacking his son and hadn’t paid much attention to his looks. “He does. Looks like you too.”

As Xiang Zhen lay there, he suddenly realized something was wrong. He had given birth to the baby so he could take care of his hubby, not so his hubby could take care of him! His hubby’s complexion looked terrible, though his ability to stand on one leg was quite impressive.

He hurriedly sat up: “Hubby, you come lie down.”

Zhou Sicheng: “Rest properly.”

Xiang Zhen argued vehemently: “But I only gave birth to the baby because it was inconvenient to take care of you!”

Zhou Sicheng’s expression was practically bizarre: “So you didn’t have to give birth?”

Xiang Zhen: “Of course not.”

Then what was all that frantic rushing and hasty delivery—where he didn’t even get to use the nutrient soil—all about… Zhou Sicheng closed his eyes.

I’ll count it as my wife loving me.

A thought suddenly struck him: in Xiang Zhen’s heart, was he more important than their son?

Zhou Sicheng didn’t ask it out loud.

Because it was the most unreasonable question to ask; they were a tightly knit family of three.

Just thinking about it, however, made his heart feel like a shaken soda bottle, overflowing with sweet, fizzing bubbles.

Suddenly, a loud knock came at the door, and someone called out anxiously, “President Zhou! President Zhou!”

“What is it?” Zhou Sicheng went to open the door.

“I’m security.” A security guard stood at the door. Seeing Zhou Sicheng perfectly fine, he let out a sigh of relief. “It’s like this. The security camera in the stairwell on this floor was vandalized just now. I was worried about your safety.”

Since it happened to be on President Zhou’s floor, the security guard had been scared half to death.

Zhou Sicheng furrowed his brow: “Did you find out who did it?”

“We did. It was two young men.” Catching a glimpse from the corner of his eye, the security guard noticed one of them sitting right on the bed. He pointed him out rather awkwardly, “Uh, it was him.”

Zhou Sicheng turned his head, deep in thought.

The security guard held up a jacket: “And the other one is the owner of this jacket. They used the jacket to cover the camera.”

Xiang Zhen pursed his lips. He had forgotten to grab Manning’s jacket, and now they had alarmed security.

Zhou Sicheng took the jacket and placed it on the sofa.

So the two illiterates have even learned how to vandalize security cameras now.

He stared sharply at his wife: “What were you two doing in the stairwell?”

Xiang Zhen looked innocent: “Nothing.”

Zhou Sicheng propped both hands on the edge of the bed: “You weren’t… trying to give birth to the baby right in the stairwell, were you?”

Xiang Zhen: “No way. I just wanted to see if the sunflower seed could be plucked.”

Zhou Sicheng didn’t buy it. Right in front of him, he made a call to Dou Manning.

“Were you guys covering the camera earlier trying to deliver the baby? Security said they found a jacket and don’t know whose it is.”

Xiang Zhen’s eyes widened. The despicable capitalist is trapping the proletarian into confessing! It’s over.

Sure enough, Dou Manning didn’t suspect a thing: “Oh, that’s my jacket.”

Zhou Sicheng hung up the phone and let out a long breath. In the past, when the obstetrics department was overflowing, expectant mothers who couldn’t secure a room had to settle for extra beds in the corridor.

Phew. To think Zhou Sicheng’s wife couldn’t even manage that, wanting to give birth by simply laying a trench coat on the stairwell floor.

Zhou Sicheng forced a smile: “Wifey, where were you planning to give birth just now?”

Finding Zhou Sicheng’s tone terrifying, Xiang Zhen tried a quiet piece of sophistry: “The hospital.”

The hospital’s stairwell is still part of the hospital, isn’t it?