Meeting a Friend

By the end of October, Zhao Danshi had been pregnant for over a month. The child in his belly was growing faster than an ordinary child. Though he was thin, his stomach had still begun to protrude slightly. If people did not look closely, they would probably assume he had put on a little belly fat.

Fortunately, the weather had turned colder, and it was not very noticeable beneath sweaters and coats.

After finishing his call with Ran Yuanyao, Zhao Danshi told his grandfather that he was going to visit that nonexistent girl.

"You should." The old man was quite pleased and prepared another box of local specialties for him. "Take some things over for the girl to nourish herself with."

Zhao Danshi did not want to carry such heavy luggage around and said helplessly, "We just mailed them a batch not long ago. How could she possibly eat that much?"

"She can. Pregnancy requires nourishment most of all; this little bit is not much." The old man stubbornly stuffed the things into his hands. "Besides, if she cannot finish them, that is fine. Just leave them there and eat them after the baby is born. These things will not spoil anytime soon."

Zhao Danshi had no choice but to mail them over according to the address Ran Yuanyao gave him.

He was feeling better now. His morning sickness had mostly disappeared, so for convenience, he specially bought a sleeper berth ticket and planned to sleep all the way to W City.

Perhaps because he had been eating more lately, his face had filled out a little. Still, he looked pale, and his lips were a light pink, making him look rather unhealthy.

Zhao Danshi had specifically told Ran Yuanyao not to come pick him up, but Ran Yuanyao still took leave on the day he arrived and waited at the train station exit. Only when Zhao Danshi's train was about to arrive did Ran Yuanyao message him on WeChat, telling him to meet at the exit and not walk past it.

They had not seen each other for over five years. The moment they met, both their eyes carried a sense of wistfulness.

Ran Yuanyao stepped forward and lightly patted his arm. "Come on. I'll take you to eat first. What do you want?"

"Something sour and spicy, maybe?" Zhao Danshi felt deeply embarrassed. "I've really been craving sour and spicy food lately."

"Then let's have Yunnan food." Ran Yuanyao led him to one side. "The car is over there."

Zhao Danshi carried his backpack and walked beside him, turning his head to secretly study him. More than five years had passed, yet Ran Yuanyao was still fair and thin, looking refined and handsome.

Ran Yuanyao turned his head, and Zhao Danshi was caught off guard as their eyes met.

Ran Yuanyao smiled at Zhao Danshi, his voice gentle. "How have you been these past few years?"

"Not the best, not the worst. I haven't run into any particular difficulties."

Ran Yuanyao's gaze swept over his unusually thick clothes and slightly protruding belly. He asked with some concern, "Are you sick?"

"No." Zhao Danshi pursed his lips and said softly, "I'm just pregnant."

Ran Yuanyao's smile froze. "What?"

Zhao Danshi shook his head, instantly chickening out and shaking it rapidly. "No, nothing."

Ran Yuanyao stopped walking, his gaze sharpening. "Come with me. We'll talk properly in the car."

Once they were back in the car, Ran Yuanyao did not start it. He looked at Zhao Danshi in the passenger seat and pressed, "What exactly is going on? Are you intersex?"

Some intersex men had two sets of reproductive systems. If they developed well, they could also bear children, though they might have been raised as boys since childhood and listed as male on their identification documents.

Zhao Danshi shook his head, his embarrassment practically exploding. "No, I'm just an ordinary man. It started with something that happened... Can I tell you tonight when we get back?"

Seeing the tips of his ears turn red, Ran Yuanyao paused, restarted the car, and took him to the highest-rated Yunnan restaurant on some ranking list.

At the restaurant, Zhao Danshi's appetite made Ran Yuanyao glance at him several times. When they were young, Zhao Danshi had only eaten one or two bowls of rice per meal. His family had often said he ate like a cat, and he had always been thin. Now, though, he had quite an appetite.

Meeting Ran Yuanyao's gaze, a flush rose again on Zhao Danshi's fair face. He forced himself to remain calm and said, "I get hungry really easily now. I'll probably need to eat something else later."

After dinner, Ran Yuanyao drove Zhao Danshi home, making a special detour to the supermarket to buy a pile of snacks.

Zhao Danshi gripped his seat belt and asked, "Don't you have work today?"

Ran Yuanyao glanced at him. "I took personal leave."

When they got home, Ran Yuanyao took his luggage and carried it into the guest room.

The two sat on the sofa in the living room. After pouring him a glass of water, Ran Yuanyao asked, "What exactly is going on? You can tell me now, right?"

Zhao Danshi hesitated. He very much wanted to tell him the whole story, but before speaking, he asked Watcher.

Watcher said in his mind, "Your friend cares deeply about you. The possibility of him leaking the secret is extremely low."

Zhao Danshi rubbed his nose and spilled everything, from Watcher to his hookup with Li Ping, as though pouring beans out of a bamboo tube. At the end, he summed up, "Actually, it was just an unfortunate coincidence. If I'd known beforehand, I definitely wouldn't have had this child."

Ran Yuanyao was nearly speechless with him. His sharp gaze seemed ready to flay a layer of skin off him. "Are you out of your mind? You knew what kind of person your senior was, but you still dared to hook up with him without knowing whether he was healthy or not? And you didn't even use protection?!!!"

Zhao Danshi retorted instinctively, "We used it at first!"

The moment the words left his mouth, his face reddened all the way to his neck. He stared at the floor and did not dare say another word.

Ran Yuanyao gestured for him to stand up. "Go to the room. I'll examine you and see what exactly is going on."

As soon as they returned to the room, Ran Yuanyao turned on the air conditioner, raised the temperature, and motioned for him to take off his coat.

It was Zhao Danshi's first time showing his stomach to someone else. He clutched at his clothes, feeling intensely uncomfortable.

Ran Yuanyao reached out to touch him and immediately felt the little life inside move gently beneath his palm. It seemed to sense his hand and was quietly playing with him. His heart sank.

Before touching Zhao Danshi's stomach, he had entertained many possibilities. Perhaps Zhao Danshi was under too much pressure and had developed mental problems, or perhaps another illness had caused fluid to build up in his abdomen. He had never expected Zhao Danshi to truly be pregnant, and as a man at that.

Ran Yuanyao sighed, pulled his clothes back down, tucked the blanket around him, and asked, "Have you had any examinations since you became pregnant?"

Zhao Danshi shook his head and said quietly, "No. There really weren't any conditions for it, but Watcher said there was no problem."

Ran Yuanyao was furious at his foolishness. "It says there's no problem, and you think there's no problem?! If something is wrong when the child is born, who are you going to turn to? You conceived this child after drinking, and you normally don't take care of yourself. What if something happens?!"

Zhao Danshi was scolded into silence. Watcher defended itself softly in his mind, "There will not be a problem. The Gestation Sac itself has screening and inspection functions. If there had been a problem, this pregnancy would never have succeeded in the first place."

Ran Yuanyao said helplessly, "Tomorrow, I'll draw several tubes of blood from you and send them to our hospital for testing. I'll also ask around to see whether I can quietly arrange an ultrasound for you. We can slowly work out the rest later. Right now, the most important thing is figuring out how to get this child out of you."

Zhao Danshi asked softly, "Is it very troublesome?"

Ran Yuanyao glared at him. "Troublesome or not, we have to do it! If we don't take it out, such a large foreign object in your abdomen could cause an abdominal infection. When that happens, your life may be in danger."

Zhao Danshi was filled with unease.

Ran Yuanyao said, "First, I'll examine the Gestation Sac and find out exactly what is going on. I'll do my best to keep this secret for you. If that really doesn't work, I'll have to ask my teacher for help. Compared to anything else, your life is far more important."

At this point, Ran Yuanyao sighed. "You really do trust me. You told me such a huge secret."

Zhao Danshi replied, "If I can't even trust you, there's no one else worth trusting while I'm alive. There wouldn't be much point in living."

Ran Yuanyao froze, and his eyes softened.

Ran Yuanyao tucked the blanket around him. "You've been tired all day. Go to sleep early. I'll bring the snacks in for you. If you get hungry, get up and eat something tonight. I'll be in the room next door, so call me right away if anything happens."

Zhao Danshi truly was tired. Within minutes of putting his head on the pillow, he fell into a deep sleep.

It was Ran Yuanyao's first time encountering something like this. He was scared out of his wits and could not sleep at all. After returning to his room, he opened his computer and read papers for two hours.

He had rotated through obstetrics and gynecology before, so he should have had relevant experience. But performing surgery at home was far too difficult. One careless mistake, and both Zhao Danshi and the child in his belly could lose their lives.

And time was so tight that he had no room to think things through slowly.

Ran Yuanyao sighed and plunged back into the sea of knowledge.

The next day, Zhao Danshi had several tubes of blood drawn, and samples of his urine and stool were taken as well. Ran Yuanyao quietly brought them in for testing.

Pregnant as he was, Zhao Danshi had no desire to go out. He stayed at Ran Yuanyao's home, eating when he woke and sleeping after he ate. Every day, he spent over two hours reading, both books related to design and books on agriculture.

Ran Yuanyao could not stand it anymore and forced him out for a walk in the evening. "With your condition, you need to exercise more and improve your physical fitness."

Zhao Danshi sighed. "Actually, I was fine some time ago. I only had morning sickness. Lately, I've constantly wanted to sleep. Ever since I got pregnant, I haven't been normal at all."

Ran Yuanyao glanced at him. Just mentioning this filled him with anger. "Men getting pregnant isn't normal to begin with."

Seeing that he was about to get scolded again, Zhao Danshi quickly shrank his neck.

Ran Yuanyao sighed. "Stay at my place for the time being. Don't go back yet. Call the old man and let him know."

Zhao Danshi disagreed. "No need. You have work to do, and it's inconvenient for you if I stay here. Besides, there are still more than two months until the due date. There's plenty of time."

Ran Yuanyao snorted. "I've never seen a man carry a child before. If you go back to the countryside and something happens, what then? You won't even be able to find a doctor to save your life. Stay here obediently. Don't think about anything else."

Zhao Danshi rubbed his nose, feeling somewhat troubled. His family had just planted a new batch of vegetables, and he had rushed here without having time to explain many things to his grandfather. If he stayed here and left all those matters to the old man, how could he possibly rest easy?

"How about I go back after the examinations, then come here again? There's still quite a lot to do at home, and my grandfather is already eighty-two. It's not good to pile so much work onto him."

Ran Yuanyao still frowned, but this time he did not immediately refuse. He only said, "Let's talk after the examinations."

Author's Note:

Ran Yuanyao: Having a fool like this as a childhood friend is exhausting. ╮(╯＿╰)╭