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"What did you say?" Fan Hongshan really thought she had misheard.
But then she heard Zhou Yilang say impatiently again:
"Wife, you can’t force a man with no history of romance or marriage to know how to please his young wife."
Seeing the shocked look on his wife’s face, Zhou Yilang felt that he might really lack charm.
His wife, who had been married to him for almost ten years, had actually never realized that they were each other’s first marriage?
"You," could it be that Zhou Xuantong and Zhou Xushan were Zhou Yilang’s illegitimate children? Hence, their grandparents did not favor this pair of oldest granddaughters and grandson much?
For a moment, Fan Hongshan just widened her eyes in astonishment, various unfounded suspicions flashing through her mind...
"Wife, after being married for so long, have you never discovered that I have a deceased brother? Don’t you find it strange that the children don’t resemble me?" Zhou Yilang, seeing the little woman looking at him with an increasingly ’horrified’ expression, decisively questioned her. Find the newest release on novèlfire.net
Fan Hongshan was still thinking about how ’tragic’ the birth mother of the young lady and the little master must have been when she was startled by Zhou Yilang’s sudden and stern questioning, and she looked at the man with a gloomy face, confused and bemused...
"Throw away all the unreliable thoughts in your mind!" Zhou Yilang commanded sternly with a deadpan face:
"Wife, Tongtong and Shanshan are my brother and sister-in-law’s children, who passed away one after another in accidents... I couldn’t bear to see the children lose their parents at such a young age, so I always said they were my own."
"But, isn’t it only two brothers listed on the family register?"
"The family register you saw was applied for later. Originally, my name wasn’t on the family register at home. I was previously adopted by my uncle."
Fan Hongshan, still confused, didn’t know how to respond.
She had wondered why the girl and the boy seemed a bit old, and Zhou Yilang didn’t look like someone who would marry underage—
"Simply put, my own child is in your womb. Besides, do you think I’m a man with a disordered private life?"
No, you just can’t control yourself! Fan Hongshan instinctively retorted in her mind, then her little face gradually turned red with embarrassment because of the images in her head.
Zhou Yilang, seeing the coquettish change of expression on his wife’s face, finally confirmed that communication was effective.
At least the wife in his arms no longer had the cold, aloof face of an indifferent woman.
Her emotions were genuine now, and the expressions that surfaced were more lively and natural.
With that in mind, Zhou Yilang suddenly snapped out of his deadpan expression... Hmm, it seems he not only has to learn how to pamper his wife, but also make his expressions when facing her more animated.
Seeing his wife in such a delicate manner, Zhou Yilang felt very tempted.
Therefore, he immediately corrected himself and explained:
"Wife, please forgive me this once, I will definitely reflect on myself. Shall we go home? Tongtong and Shanshan have been crying for a long time after seeing the letters you sent home. They both like you very much and want to get close to you, but just don’t know how. I feel the same."
"I..."
"Um, no. We need to rest for a couple more days, you look weak, you can’t keep exhausting yourself." Zhou Yilang was always observing his wife’s expression, even though her face was blushing, but the sickness on her complexion could not be ignored.
Every time he thought about her currently being pregnant, he felt a bit of a misstep.
He had not anticipated that following Zhou Zhenghui would keep him so busy. Although he was very concerned about his wife’s illness, there were some matters that couldn’t be simply walked away from once entangled.
He could only instruct the people at the old residence to take extra care of his wife, but he didn’t expect her temperament to be so intense this time.
She had run away with the little tyke in tow!
"I, I..." Fan Hongshan pushed against his chest, softened her voice, and then said steadily, "Even if this incident is a misunderstanding, but, but we really aren’t quite compatible..."
Two people had lived together for nearly ten years without sparking any love; even if they had made accommodations for the sake of their child, such feelings wouldn’t last long—
"Madam, have you found another man you like?" Zhou Yilang, seeing the earnestness and seriousness on her face, asked her in a dark tone.
"What nonsense are you talking about?" As soon as Fan Hongshan heard his question, she became irate, forcefully pushing him away, and coldly said, "What kind of woman do you take me for? Let me go!"
"I won’t let go. Madam, don’t get upset. Let’s talk this out. If you truly don’t have another man you like, why are you insistent on divorcing me? And then making our child grow up in a single-parent home?"
"I—"
"I do have my faults. However, I am the child’s biological father, and only I will wholeheartedly provide genuine care for him. Moreover, I am loyal to my wife, she is the only woman for me, and my heart has never wavered. Or do you think that my sense of responsibility is insufficient, that I won’t be able to fulfill the role of a father in the future?"
"I," Fan Hongshan found herself at a loss for words in response to Zhou Yilang’s barrage of questions, especially upon hearing phrases like "biological father" and "loyal," her face’s resolute expression faltered.
"Madam, what does it mean to love?" Zhou Yilang abruptly looped back to the initial question between them.
For a moment, Fan Hongshan was quiet and silent.
"Madam, we’ve been married for nearly ten years. I have done all I can to provide you with a home, a stable living environment, loyalty, responsibility, respect, can’t these things be my love for you?"
Listening to Zhou Yilang put it this way, even Fan Hongshan felt like she was being unreasonable.
But clearly, before, the distance between her and him was like that of heaven and earth—
"Madam, could it be that you’ve only noticed my cold demeanor, and not the warmth and passion of the nights? If it weren’t love, how could we sleep curled up against each other—"
Fan Hongshan suddenly raised her hand to cover his mouth, murmuring "Shut up" with embarrassment.
Zhou Yilang saw the hesitation in his wife, but if they didn’t clarify everything today, this conversation would be for nothing. He never tolerated failure, and when facing his wife, he was just as resolute in his determination to win.
Therefore, under his wife’s wide-eyed gaze, he gave her palm a rare kiss, then wrapped his large hand around her smaller one, continuing the unfinished words:
"Madam, if a husband doesn’t love his wife, why would he be here, earnestly pleading for her to reconsider? There’s still a long future ahead of us, why not try to accept, a complete family?"
Zhou Yilang grasped his wife’s hand, his big hand overlapping hers, resting on her lower abdomen, gazing at her intently, and asked solemnly,
"You, you didn’t want to have my child, did you!" After saying that, tears began to fall from Fan Hongshan’s eyes.
Her heart had collapsed.
Her tears had fallen.
The mere thought of the man before her, the man who for years, had always prevented her from having his child, brought her immense pain, very immense pain...