The fact that Xiang Zhen could abandon his injured husband at a moment like this left Zhou Sicheng unable to think of any other reason—the only thing that could be more important than a husband was their child.

The doctor had warned that emotional stability was crucial during the third trimester, as sudden stress could trigger premature labor.

Xiang Zhen must have been shocked by his car accident. Did his belly start aching just now? Is that why he turned and walked away so abruptly, heading off to find Dou Manning to deliver the baby?

Zhou Sicheng grew so anxious he completely forgot about the pain in his foot. Hopping on one leg, he began pushing open the doors to the consultation rooms one by one.

This was a private hospital, and Zhou Sicheng had booked an entire floor so it could be used for Xiang Zhen’s checkups and delivery at any moment.

The corridor was quiet. Hearing the commotion, a few medical staff members stepped out. Seeing CEO Zhou frantically searching for something, they asked if he needed help.

Zhou Sicheng: “Have you seen my wife?”

Nurse: “No, I haven’t. Let me call someone to help look for him.”

“No need.” Zhou Sicheng worried that a large crowd might startle his wife during labor, making things worse. If a stranger barged in midway through the birth, both sides would be terrified.

What if his wife had a difficult labor—

Zhou Sicheng had to look on his own. He pushed open the door to an empty consultation room: “Zhenzhen?”

“Wife, are you in there?”

Dammit, he was going to sue the driver who caused the accident for triggering his wife’s premature labor!

In his despair, Zhou Sicheng let out a furious, desperate roar: “Xiang Zhen! You promised to let me be there for the birth!”

……

Xiang Zhen was in a tremendous hurry. He and Dou Manning practically teleported to the stairwell. The moment they pushed open the fire door, a high-definition security camera was pointing straight at them.

Xiang Zhen froze: “There’s a camera here too?”

Dou Manning: “In the entire hospital, the restroom is the only place without a camera.”

Xiang Zhen hesitated: “The restroom?”

He didn’t mind it himself, but Zhou Sicheng would probably mind if his son was born in a bathroom.

Dou Manning took off his jacket, leaped high into the air, and draped it over the camera: “That does it.”

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

The seed baby was ready to be born yesterday, but Xiang Zhen saw how much Zhou Sicheng loved kissing his belly—as if it held a night-glowing pearl too precious to melt in his mouth, kissing every inch with gentle care.

Zhou Sicheng was also very gentle in bed, never moving so wildly that he would bring Xiang Zhen to tears.

That was why he had decided to let the seed baby stay inside for a few extra days.

“Come into the world, baby.”

Suddenly, a roar filled with anger and despair drifted 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 shall we go back to your husband’s ward? There are no cameras in there either.”

Xiang Zhen: “Okay.”

He had been all set to transform, but Zhou Sicheng’s loud yell had left his legs completely weak. Veiling his belly with the trench coat, he held onto Dou Manning’s wrist and climbed up a few steps of the staircase.

Dou Manning pulled open the fire door. Two slender, long-legged beauties walked out of the emergency stairwell into the hallway, having removed their coats, their milk-coffee-colored shirts tapering neatly down their slender lower backs.

Around the corner was the nurses’ station. Seeing Xiang Zhen, a nurse said, “Sir, CEO Zhou is looking for you.”

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

Right at that moment, Zhou Sicheng finished searching another consultation room and hopped out through the door in extreme anxiety, supporting himself against the frame.

The moment he turned his head and saw his perfectly safe wife, the surging adrenaline through his body instantly drained away.

Wait, that wasn’t right either. Why was he being supported by Dou Manning?

For a fraction of a second, Zhou Sicheng forgot about his foot injury and charged forward. A piercing surge of pain shot through his instep, covering him in a cold sweat.

Xiang Zhen stood at the door of the ward, poking his head inside: “Hubby?”

Zhou Sicheng gritted his teeth: “I’m right here.”

Xiang Zhen straightened up and held onto his husband: “Hubby, do you need to go to the restroom?”

“Restroom my foot! Where did you go?” Zhou Sicheng gripped the doorframe tightly with one hand, crippled at the most inconvenient moment possible. “Does your belly hurt? Are you about to give birth? Why didn’t you call me?”

Xiang Zhen faked an answer: “I went to check, and yes, it’s time to give birth.”

Zhou Sicheng naturally assumed Xiang Zhen was frantically preparing, just like a human whose water had broken and the baby was descending into the pelvis.

He immediately called to arrange for the medical team to prepare for the newborn.

Fortunately, this floor of wards had been reserved for Xiang Zhen in advance, and all the supplies were fully prepared.

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

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

Just as Zhou Sicheng was about to frown, he noticed that both his wife and brother-in-law had perfectly calm expressions, leaving him as the only one jumping in panic.

Xiang Zhen: “Hubby, you just need to hold me.”

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

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

Back in Daxinganling, no matter how much Zhou Sicheng coaxed and pleaded, Xiang Zhen had never agreed to show him his sunflower form.

That was also why his first instinct had been to go to the stairwell to give birth.

Zhou Sicheng: “I’ve been accompanied by sunflowers since I was a child. You are the most beautiful flower of all.”

As soon as he spoke, a gentle breeze swept through the room.

The blond youth in his arms was nowhere to be seen; in his place stood a swaying sunflower, crowning a round flower head, blooming in all its brilliance.

The sunflower wasn’t rooted in soil; its root system wrapped around Zhou Sicheng’s feet, relying on his embrace to stay standing with effort.

Zhou Sicheng planted his right foot firmly on the ground as well, giving his wife’s roots more leverage to anchor against.

He lowered his head and gently rubbed the bridge of his nose against the outer petals, his gaze devoid of shock, filled only with tender heartache.

In his dreams, he had grown up alongside Xiang Zhen countless times; he was already intimately familiar with every single leaf and petal of his wife.

By some twist of fate, Xiang Zhen looked exactly as he had imagined in those dreams.

No, even cuter.

“Don’t be afraid, I see our child.”

Dou Manning stepped closer, rising slightly onto his tiptoes, and located the fully mature sunflower seed within the flower head.

It was very eye-catching—after all, there was only one.

Dou Manning reached out, a warm solar energy gathering in his palm. He pinched the sunflower seed, applied a bit of force, and plucked it cleanly away.

Snap.

A stem node the size of a pinhead was left on the sunflower’s head, marking where the flower and seed had once been connected.

The sunflower seed had already slightly split its shell, the thin outer skin cracking open to reveal a plump, snowy-white seed embryo inside.

Looking at the sunflower seed, Dou Manning let out a soft, light smile: “Zhenzhen, it’s done.”

Zhou Sicheng’s brows knitted tightly into a knot, looking like an unreasonable family member questioning the lead surgeon: “It’s done? Doesn’t this wound in my wife’s flower need to be treated?”

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

Zhou Sicheng choked on his words.

In the next second, Xiang Zhen transformed back, leaning limply into Zhou Sicheng’s arms.

His lips were a bit pale, and there was a faint, dull ache in his lower abdomen—the wound left behind by removing the sunflower seed, which would take a few days to heal.

The moment he saw the shell-cracking sunflower seed in Dou Manning’s palm, that minor pain turned into a tender, upward curl at the corners of his mouth.

He raised his hand, infusing his own solar energy into it as well.

The sunflower seed floated between the closed palms of the father and the demon uncle, continuously absorbing sunlight.

The solar energy urged the sunflower shell to split further. With a crisp sound so quiet it was nearly inaudible, the sunflower embryo popped out.

The moment it fell into Xiang Zhen’s palm, it transformed into a newborn human baby.

The entire process took less than a minute.

The newborn little demon had black hair; as he grew up and soaked up enough sunlight, it would gradually turn golden.

The little cub didn’t cry or make a fuss, sleeping soundly inside the trench coat. Believing he was still trapped inside the sunflower shell, his tiny hands and feet were curled up against his chest—a soft, white little bundle. His eyelashes were tightly shut, and his milky-white baby fat puffed out plumply, rising and falling with his breath, proving he was abundantly nourished and blessed with plenty of rain and sunlight.

Dou Manning took the child and wrapped him in swaddling clothes.

Zhou Sicheng hurriedly picked Xiang Zhen up, laid him flat on the bed, unscrewed a bottle of glucose, inserted a straw, and popped it into his mouth.

Dou Manning set the little cub on the bed. The swaddling blanket wasn’t wrapped tightly and loosened, revealing a chubby little cub.

Zhou Sicheng grabbed the little cub’s two feet, locked his right thumb and middle finger together, and gave the soles of the cub’s feet two hard flicks!

“Waah—”

The little cub instantly burst into a loud, wailing cry, his fair, tender face turning bright red.

Xiang Zhen froze. He had to be spanked right after being born?

“Hubby, calm down.” Xiang Zhen looked at Zhou Sicheng with wide, pleading eyes, wanting to rescue his son.

Zhou Sicheng tossed the loud-crying newborn to Dou Manning: “A human newborn has to cry when born to expand their lungs.”

“Please carry him out to the nurse and help me keep an eye on what they do.”

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. He could explain the baby by saying it was adopted, but his wife’s body returning to normal right after giving birth was indeed impossible to explain.

Zhou Sicheng: “Are you really okay?”

Xiang Zhen: “I’m doing great.”

Zhou Sicheng: “Then let me check.”

Without another word, Zhou Sicheng lifted Xiang Zhen’s shirt, revealing a tight, flat lower belly with no wounds or even a trace of ever being pregnant. He gently turned Xiang Zhen over, peeled down his pants, and put on a pair of disposable gloves.

Everything inside and out was completely normal.

Zhou Sicheng threw away the gloves and asked softly, “Does it hurt?”

Xiang Zhen answered honestly: “That single moment hurt a little.”

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

Heartbroken, Zhou Sicheng leaned down and held his body gently: “You suffered, Wife.”

Compared to a sunflower’s 1.8-meter-tall body, a tiny sunflower seed was nothing at all—much easier than what animals went through. Xiang Zhen said, “I feel so relieved now that I’ve given birth.”

Xiang Zhen reached out his hand, “Hubby, look.”

Zhou Sicheng lowered his gaze and saw two split sunflower seed shells, slightly plumper and thinner-skinned than regular ones.

Zhou Sicheng picked them up and fitted them together seamlessly, with a tiny crack at the pointed tip that seemed to have been pushed open by the embryo.

This was what his son had originally looked like.

Such a tiny sunflower seed had turned into a little baby roughly estimated to weigh five jin.

Xiang Zhen said proudly: “Thin skin and generous filling, right?”

Zhou Sicheng: “……A good seed.”

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

Zhou Sicheng’s emotions fluctuated wildly. He had been so focused on spanking his son that he hadn’t paid much attention to his looks: “He looks like me, and like you too.”

As Xiang Zhen lay there, he suddenly felt something was off. He had given birth to the baby so he could take care of his husband, not to be taken care of by him! His husband looked terrible, yet his ability to stand on one leg was remarkably strong.

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

Zhou Sicheng: “Just rest obediently.”

Xiang Zhen stood his ground: “But I only gave birth to the baby because it was inconvenient for me to take care of you!”

Zhou Sicheng’s expression turned positively strange: “It wasn’t something you had to do right now?”

Xiang Zhen: “Of course not.”

Then what was all that chaotic rushing, that hurried birth where even the nutrient soil didn’t get used for… Zhou Sicheng closed his eyes.

It was because his wife loved him.

A sudden thought popped into his head: 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 possible; they were a close-knit family of three.

Just thinking about it made his heart feel like a shaken soda bottle, bubbling over with sweet, effervescent fizz.

Suddenly, a loud knock rattled the door, and someone called out anxiously, “CEO Zhou! CEO Zhou!”

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

“I’m a security guard.” Standing at the door was a security guard who let out a sigh of relief upon seeing Zhou Sicheng completely fine. “It’s like this: the surveillance camera in the stairwell on this floor was vandalized just now, and I was worried about your safety.”

It happened to be the camera on the floor Zhou Sicheng was staying on, scaring the guard half to death.

Zhou Sicheng frowned: “Did you find out who did it?”

“We did, it was two young men.” The security guard caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye and noticed one of them sitting right on the bed. He identified him somewhat dryly, “Uh, it’s him.”

Zhou Sicheng turned his head, lost in thought.

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

Xiang Zhen pursed his lips—he had forgotten to take Manning’s jacket, and now the security guards were alerted.

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

Those two illiterates had even learned how to vandalize security cameras.

He fixed his wife with a sharp gaze: “What were you two doing in the stairwell?”

Xiang Zhen put on an innocent face: “Nothing much.”

Zhou Sicheng braced both hands against the edge of the bed: “You weren’t… trying to give birth to the child right there in the hallway, were you?”

Xiang Zhen: “No, I just wanted to see if the sunflower seed was ready to be picked.”

Zhou Sicheng didn’t buy it. Right in front of him, he called Dou Manning.

“Did you two block the camera earlier because you wanted to deliver the baby? Security said there’s a jacket and they don’t know who it belongs to.”

Xiang Zhen’s eyes went wide. Evil capitalist, tricking the words out of the proletariat! They were finished.

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

Zhou Sicheng hung up the phone and let out a long breath. Back when obstetrics departments were packed to capacity, mothers who couldn’t get a bed had to settle for temporary cots in the hallway.

Whew— Who knew Zhou Sicheng’s wife would be even worse, ready to deliver a baby just by spreading a trench coat on the floor of a stairwell?

Zhou Sicheng forced out a smile: “Wife, where did you want to give birth just now?”

Xiang Zhen thought Zhou Sicheng’s tone sounded terrifying, so he quibbled softly: “At the hospital.”

The hospital stairwell was still part of the hospital, after all.