The surgery was halted

Gu Wenze's hand suddenly froze around his phone, and shock flashed across his face.

Qiao Hua had no idea her thoughts had been exposed and continued grumbling to herself.

[Once I finish the abortion today, I'll finally be free.]

[I won't have to live in fear of Gu Wenze finding out anymore.]

[Come to think of it, I should thank Gu Wenze. If he hadn't insisted on helping me quit my job, I wouldn't have had time to come to the hospital for the procedure. A blessing in disguise, I guess.]

Gu Wenze's breathing grew almost imperceptibly uneven. "What did you just say?"

Thinking he hadn't heard her clearly, Qiao Hua repeated herself. "I said I'm getting a blood count."

Only Gu Wenze knew he wasn't asking about her answer, but about the thought he had heard.

Qiao Hua was pregnant?

When had that happened? How could he not know?

Just then, a woman's voice came from the other end of the line. "Miss Qiao, it's your turn."

Qiao Hua answered her, then quickly said into the phone, "I have to go for my test now. Talk to you later."

Before Gu Wenze could speak, she hung up.

Gu Wenze stood rooted to the spot, Qiao Hua's thought echoing in his mind. For a long time, he couldn't recover from the shock.

He suddenly remembered how Qiao Hua had inexplicably retched during that meal, and how she had complained of stomach pain after bumping into the couch that day.

It hadn't been a flare-up of her stomach condition. She had been pregnant.

Gu Wenze's fingers tightened around his phone, his knuckles cracking. Then something occurred to him. He raised his phone again and called his assistant. "Find out immediately what tests Qiao Hua had at the First People's Hospital on the tenth of last month. Send me the results, too."

His assistant worked quickly, replying in less than fifteen minutes. "President Gu, I found it. Miss Qiao went to the hospital that day to collect her pregnancy test results."

Gu Wenze's grip tightened sharply around his phone.

Just as he had suspected, Qiao Hua had lied to him.

She had said she was getting her stomach condition checked, but she had actually gone to collect her pregnancy test results.

Gu Wenze immediately opened the photo his assistant had sent. It showed Qiao Hua's pregnancy test report, with a line printed clearly in the results section: confirmed pregnancy, one month.

One month?

That meant it had happened the time he got drunk and slept with Qiao Hua.

That day had been the anniversary of Jiang Nan's parents' deaths. Gu Wenze had drunk quite a lot with Jiang Nan, then gone home and had sex with Qiao Hua. Under the influence of alcohol, he had forgotten to use protection.

After waking up, Gu Wenze had specifically reminded Qiao Hua to take emergency contraception, and she had readily agreed.

It turned out she hadn't taken it at all.

An emotion he couldn't name surged through Gu Wenze's heart, only to be quickly replaced by something else.

Qiao Hua hadn't said a single word to him about something this important.

She was even planning to go to the hospital and abort the baby behind his back.

At that thought, Gu Wenze picked up his phone and called the bodyguards, his low voice thick with menace. "Which hospital are you at right now?"

The bodyguard on the other end was taken aback. "What?"

"The hospital," Gu Wenze repeated curtly.

The bodyguard snapped out of it and quickly gave him the hospital's name.

After hanging up, Qiao Hua followed the nurse to change her clothes, then lay down on a hospital bed.

At the thought of finally aborting the baby in her belly, Qiao Hua felt as though she had won millions in the lottery.

Finally, she wouldn't have to carry Gu Wenze's child anymore.

Soon, Qiao Hua was wheeled into the operating room. Lying on the operating table, she could barely keep her eyes open beneath the glaring surgical light overhead. Watching the doctors and nurses bustle around her, she took a deep breath.

It was her first abortion, after all. She was a little nervous.

Noticing Qiao Hua's nerves, the doctor smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. You'll be under anesthesia, so it won't hurt. Just take a nap, and it'll all be over."

Qiao Hua gave the doctor a grateful smile. "Okay. Thank you, doctor."

The preparations were soon complete, and the medical staff gathered around Qiao Hua.

The doctor asked, "Miss Qiao, we'll ask you one last time. Are you sure you want to terminate this pregnancy?"

Qiao Hua nodded without hesitation. "I'm sure."

If her plans hadn't been interrupted over and over, she would have aborted the baby long ago.

Seeing how firm she was, the doctor asked no further questions and simply announced the start of the procedure.

Just as Qiao Hua was about to receive the anesthetic, a nurse hurried in and whispered something into the doctor's ear.

The doctor frowned and looked at the nurse. "Are you sure there hasn't been a mistake?"

The nurse looked entirely serious and nodded.

Hearing the commotion beside her, and with the procedure still not underway, Qiao Hua opened her eyes in confusion. The nurse and doctor were talking off to one side, both looking rather grave.

Qiao Hua asked in puzzlement, "Doctor, what's wrong?"

The doctor looked at Qiao Hua with an awkward expression. "Miss Qiao, we may have to halt the procedure."

Qiao Hua froze. "Why?"

The doctor didn't answer. Instead, the doctor ordered the procedure canceled and told the nurse to wheel Qiao Hua out of the operating room.

Still unable to grasp what had happened, Qiao Hua caught hold of the nearest nurse and asked what was going on. The nurse merely shook her head hesitantly without saying a word.

Was something wrong with her health that meant she couldn't have an abortion?

No, that couldn't be right. She'd had all the preoperative tests, and everything had been normal.

As Qiao Hua's mind raced, a familiar figure suddenly entered her field of vision. She looked up and froze when she saw his face.

Gu Wenze stood at the operating room entrance, his expression dark and forbidding.

Qiao Hua's heart jolted.

What was Gu Wenze doing here?

Gu Wenze strode toward her, the gloom radiating from him seeming to infect even the air around him. An oppressive atmosphere filled the entire corridor.

Watching Gu Wenze draw closer, Qiao Hua swallowed, her palms slick with sweat. "Why are you here?"

Gu Wenze looked down at her, his eyes fathomlessly dark. "Qiao Hua, what are you doing?"

Qiao Hua struggled to keep her expression calm. "Didn't I tell you? I came to the hospital for a blood count."

The moment she finished speaking, Gu Wenze suddenly seized her chin and said through gritted teeth, "Does a blood count require surgery?"

Alarm bells rang in Qiao Hua's mind. She forced a smile and immediately changed her story. "Well, since I was already here, I thought I might as well get a full checkup so I wouldn't have to make another trip."

"You still dare to lie to me!"

Gu Wenze all but snarled, even the rigid line of his jaw seeming to radiate a chilling fury. "You were planning to have an abortion behind my back!"