Bai Le said blankly, "I drank a little, but I haven't smoked."
The doctor took a deep breath and prepared to give him a lengthy lecture, but Bai Le interrupted him just as he began.
"Hold on, hold on. What precautions during pregnancy? I haven't even decided whether to keep the baby yet."
The doctor finally looked surprised. "How could that be?" Male pregnancy was extremely rare, so how could anyone not want the baby? This was the first time he had encountered such a situation.
Bai Le scratched his head, unsure how to explain the complicated relationship to him.
Seeing his expression, the doctor misunderstood something and gently reassured him. "Is your family having financial difficulties?"
Bai Le was taken aback. He thought about Xi Yan's family background, then his own, and shook his head.
"Then did you have a fight with the baby's father?"
Bai Le flushed and hurriedly shook his head. "No, no." What was this doctor thinking?
The doctor hesitated, then asked, "Is it because this is your second child?"
Bai Le sprang to his feet, feeling that the doctor's guesses were getting more and more ridiculous. He stammered, "N-no... it's not because of any of those things."
Seeing how agitated Bai Le was, the doctor soothed him and told him to calm down. Once he had sat back down, the doctor continued, "In any case, go back and discuss it properly with the baby's father. You should think carefully about such a major decision."
Bai Le snatched up the report, tossed out an "I understand," and then bolted out of the hospital as if he were fleeing.
The weather outside was pleasant. After a shower, visibility had improved considerably, and sunlight shone directly down, though the winter sun wasn't very warm.
Clutching the report, Bai Le tilted his head to glance at the sun. Suddenly, he wanted to make a melodramatic observation: however warm the sun was, it couldn't warm his heart.
But the moment the words came to him, he cringed so hard he got goosebumps. He rubbed his arms, a mournful look on his face.
I'm done for. I've only just gotten pregnant, and I'm already not myself anymore.
He was in such a terrible mood that he didn't want to go home, so he wandered the streets with the report in hand.
Bai Le wore a black jacket over a white hoodie. Coupled with his fair, handsome face, it really made him look like a student as he walked along the streets near the university district.
His expression, however, was awful. His brows were tightly knitted, and one look showed that his mind was elsewhere.
A few girls watched him shyly for quite a while, tugging and nudging one another. Finally, the boldest of them, a short-haired girl, stepped forward first.
"Hey, handsome, which university do you go to? I go to S University. Want to be friends?"
Once she spoke up, the others all chimed in at once.
"Yeah, let's add each other on WeChat."
"Are you scanning my code, or am I scanning yours?"
Bai Le looked at the lively, adorable girls before him. In the past, he would have been overjoyed and eagerly whipped out his phone.
But now all he could do was say numbly, "I have a child."
His startling words gave the girls a fright. Clearly, none of them had imagined that this student who looked about their age already had a child.
"Ah... sorry... We didn't know you were married. We thought you were a student."
"We'll be going now... Please say hello to your wife for us."
The girls politely said goodbye to Bai Le. Watching them run off, he felt even sadder.
What wife? There's only a King of Hell.
He has a strange temper, his moods change without warning, and he holds a grudge over the smallest slight. Everyone who has offended him has come to a miserable end.
Bai Le sighed. Besides, to be honest, with a baby in his belly, he really couldn't bring himself to flirt with girls.
After wandering aimlessly around a few more times, he spotted a bookstore. He had meant to walk straight past it, but for some reason, his heart stirred, and he went inside.
Once inside, he pretended nothing was amiss as he entered the childcare section. After searching for quite a while, he finally found the books he wanted.
"Eighty-Eight Kinds of Harmful Effects of Abortion"
"How to Arouse Fatherly Love"
Bai Le tucked the two books under his arm with satisfaction. Right now, only these could help him resist the urge to abort the baby.
But as soon as he turned around, he bumped into someone. Bai Le hurriedly apologized, then looked up and saw Ye Feifei.
"President Bai?" she exclaimed in surprise. The surroundings were so quiet that everyone nearby looked over. When they saw that the person she had called President Bai was actually a very young man, they were somewhat surprised.
Bai Le noticed the gazes around him, and his face burned with embarrassment. He held the books under his arm even tighter, afraid they might slip out if he wasn't careful.
"What are you doing here?" Ye Feifei had noticed too, so she lowered her voice.
She looked around again and asked, puzzled, "This is the childcare..."
Before she could finish, Bai Le interrupted her. "Ah... my friend's baby is due soon, so I thought I'd buy him a few books as a gift, haha."
The explanation was passable on the surface, and Ye Feifei half believed him. His expression made it seem genuine, but did wealthy families really give such shabby gifts?
"Are you here to buy a book?" Bai Le hurriedly changed the subject.
Ye Feifei smiled. "I want to interview at one of your companies, President Bai. I'm planning to enter the entertainment industry as an artist, so I wanted to buy some books on acting to study."
Bai Le was somewhat struck by her words. This world really was different; in the original story, the female lead hadn't entered the entertainment industry.
But to be honest, he was fairly optimistic about Ye Feifei entering the entertainment industry. From the company's perspective, she was beautiful, smart and ambitious, and knew exactly what she wanted. She was indeed well suited to that circle.
"Then good luck. I can't pull strings for you," Bai Le teased.
Ye Feifei smiled. "Of course I know that. Besides, I don't believe there's any way I could fail even the first audition."
She had a radiant smile on her face as she said something so conceited, as though she truly believed it.