Chapter 49 The One Who Got Pregnant Was

Chapter 49: The One Who Got Pregnant Was...

The numbers above the operating room door, marking the surgery's duration, ticked on relentlessly, heedless of human will. After counting along for just two seconds, Yang Yun was already fraught with tension. Among the complex emotions, anxiety claimed half. In his previous life, he had never set foot in a hospital. After coming to Shi Zai's side, he'd had his arm checked once. The other two times were now—early December and this moment—because Little Brother was pregnant.

It was amazing.

Now, it was Big Brother's turn to be pregnant—as Little Brother put it, "He lays the egg, Big Brother incubates it," even calling the ongoing surgery an "egg-transfer procedure." Little Brother had tried to name the baby "Eggie," but both he and Big Brother vetoed it. Eventually, they settled on the name Big Brother chose—"Wang Wang."

It sounded... well, certainly much better than "Eggie." Baby Wang Wang.

He was the family's first treasure, a little male treasure, hehe.

His mind wandered again to Big Brother, who was about to "incubate the egg," and he shivered. Today was January 16th. The "egg transfer" was originally scheduled for January 8th, but it was postponed by eight days because the school Little Brother was auditing went on winter break on the 15th. At two months and ten days, Little Brother was already showing—no need for him to pretend to be a frog to see the curve. He wondered what Big Brother would look like.

The curve would probably be smaller. Brother Yan Wei said women typically show more prominently around three to four months, but for men, it's different. The reproductive cavity is positioned higher and more outward, so the pregnancy shows earlier. But Big Brother was so tall, with hard abs, standing there like a fierce, imposing mountain. The baby, currently only slightly larger than a grape, probably wouldn't make much difference even if it did somersaults in Big Brother's belly.

What about when it grew bigger? A big, strong man carrying a little one in his belly, his iron-hard stomach bulging high. When not smiling, his face would be serious and intimidating, but the moment he looked down at Little Brother in his arms or the baby in his belly, he'd be nothing but gentle. Tsk, he didn't have any particular thoughts about it, but he guessed Little Brother would start talking crazy.

Maybe even try to touch him. Stop. He was being corrupted by Little Brother.

Beep, beep.

The quiet, high-end hospital room was only interrupted by the sounds of the monitors, indicating that the pup lying on the other hospital bed was still fast asleep... Shu Yangkuo sat by the bedside, kissing his beloved from the brows down to the chin with deep affection. How could he sleep this long?

The surgery took two hours, and it had been twenty-eight minutes since he came out.

The two who'd been through this said it was normal. Yan Wei had woken up after forty-five minutes back then. When the child was abruptly taken out of the pregnant person's body, it could quickly continue growing in a similar space. The person continuing the pregnancy could adapt quickly too, especially since the baby was still small. But the pregnant person would react more strongly, like a hen that just laid an egg whose egg was taken away before it could even warm it—naturally very displeased.

Stop. What hen. This was his manly man, his treasure.

Eggie. Oh no, Wang Wang—Shu Yangkuo took the small hand of the person in his arms and pressed it against his own slightly bulging abdomen. Since he wasn't born to get pregnant, they'd put in some amniotic fluid during the surgery to make it show more. But Shu Yangkuo wanted it to show; otherwise, his pup would wake up and cry or be unhappy, probably even scolding him, "How come the baby was big when I was pregnant, but as soon as it's in your belly, it shrinks?" In his own imagination, he defended himself—what was he supposed to do? A grape in the pup's hand was a grape, but in his own palm, it was like a tiny red bean. Naturally, the baby would appear differently in their two bellies. It wasn't his fault he was so tall and intimidating.

The small hand under his moved. Shu Yangkuo leaned closer to look—the slender, pale fingers indeed twitched. He felt happy, and he pressed the small hand tighter against his abdomen. Although the baby didn't have a distinct heartbeat yet, it was connected to the pregnant person. Letting Shi Zai get close to the baby might help his beloved wake up sooner. Shu Yangkuo curled his lips into a smile, guessing his treasure might need a few days to adjust since the "egg" had been snatched away by him.

Perhaps a fetal heart monitor would make it clearer. Shu Yangkuo got up to fetch it.

Beep, beep.

A weird dream—the one where the baby chose him as its tree—suddenly had the baby saying to Shi Zai, "Daddy, you haven't had enough fun yet. Go play." Shi Zai asked, "What about you?" The baby replied, "There's an old tree behind you. I'll hang on it to grow up. Come get me when you've had your fun and become stronger and more awesome." Shi Zai agreed, but he felt the old tree wasn't happy, so he quickly corrected the baby, "That's a big tree."

In the expectations of the big tree and the baby, Shi Zai went on a journey to the West for scriptures, ah no... to quickly make his dreams come true under the blue sky.

He definitely didn't want to be a little monk.

Ahhh, almost time to do it... When the man's belly got bigger, he could help hold it up, then ride him like a horse, hehe.

Just as he was helping hold the belly, before he could mount, where did the man go? Shi Zai's eyes snapped open, and he just stared.

The tall man had his shirt hanging open, still majestic like a mountain, with broad shoulders, solid muscles, and long legs standing tall. The moment his eyes met Shi Zai's, they went from stern to soft. But, weirdly, under the widely open shirt—was a bulging belly! It really was a pregnant belly!

The man walked step by step toward him until he was right in front. Looking up from below—the pregnant belly looked just as impressive as he did.

Shi Zai lifted his face to look at Shu Yangkuo, who used to be so old-fashioned, now his husband, and swallowed hard. He placed his hand on the man's abdomen:

"Husband, your belly... inside, is it the baby?"

"Yes."

With the low response, Shi Zai was suddenly lifted and seated on the man's thigh. Looking down, his own calf brushed against the small hill-like belly, making him shiver. His fingers, clutching the man's chest, curled slightly, and his heart was pounding. For a moment, he was speechless.

Shu Yangkuo let out a soft laugh, took his treasure's hand, and together they covered his abdomen. He placed one end of the fetal heart monitor under their palms and the other to his ear. Almost instantly—thump, thump—the life beneath their palms was vibrant, as lively as their own heartbeats.

With one nestled in his belly and one held in his arms, Shu Yangkuo didn't think it was weird at all. Instead, he felt deeply content, like he had everything he could ever want:

"Wife, can you hear it?"

"..."

Hearing no response, the person in his arms curled up, unusually quiet. Shu Yangkuo looked down and couldn't help but chuckle:

"Clean up your drool."

"...Ah!"

The interrupted dream resumed—he had been fantasizing while staring at the man's pregnant belly. Shi Zai, snapped out of it, wiped his mouth and immediately snorted. Since when was he such a pervert that he'd drool?! He couldn't help but squirm, only to be held firmly in place:

"What kind of behavior is this?"

"Wow—you're not even a dad yet, but you already reek of dad-ness?!"

"..."

Ears red and speechless, Shu Yangkuo didn't want to engage with that. He was going to be the father of the baby in his belly, not the daddy of the little one in his arms.

Both of them felt a subtle mood—they truly hadn't expected the "egg transfer" to actually succeed. Shi Zai's eyes never left Shu Yangkuo's abdomen, and his hand was placed back on it. Shu Yangkuo knew he wasn't used to suddenly not having the baby anymore. He reapplied the fetal heart monitor:

"Big Brother is yours, the baby is yours too. Don't panic."

"..."

Shi Zai shook his head, indicating he wasn't panicking. Feeling the heartbeat under the belly, Shi Zai's eyes reddened:

"The past is gone. From now on—you have vast skies and boundless clouds, I promise you a thousand years."

"..."

"...What are you laughing at?! So what if I used your line? Think I'm uncultured?!"

Shu Yangkuo hurriedly said, "I wouldn't dare." The person in his arms changed moods quickly, sometimes too fast for him to keep up. He kissed the smiling, bright eyes:

"Big Brother and the baby will need to rely on you to take good care of us during this time."

"Hehe, of course! I'll definitely raise Big Brother to be even taller and more radiant!"

"..."

Helplessly, he pinched the mischievous little hand. Shu Yangkuo didn't need to guess what his treasure was thinking when he said "radiant."

Shi Zai giggled.

The smile on the face in his arms was too brilliant. Shu Yangkuo couldn't resist kissing him again:

"Baby."

"Hmm?"

"Don't overthink it. Don't think Big Brother is great or anything. Big Brother already said—you see Big Brother as a responsibility, and Big Brother feels the same. You want Big Brother to be well, you can't bear to see Big Brother suffer, and Big Brother feels the same. Our Xiao Zai is the great one. Big Brother loves you very much, good boy."

When another confession came out of the blue, Shi Zai’s heart felt full to bursting. He lifted his hand to hook around the man's neck and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

He wasn’t being overly sentimental, nor did he always need to be the one giving, but when emotions surged, he just wanted to feel tender for a moment. After all, even that gruff man could get teary-eyed when he worried about him—why couldn’t he learn to say something reserved like Shu Yangkuo? Heehee. Being reserved was pretty fun too.

Noticing the man was still quietly watching him, Shi Zai blinked:

"Ge’s really amazing though…"

"Don't say…"

"Let me finish! Ge is amazing. Soon you’ll be carrying the little one and still have to make me feel good—how great is that, mmm!"

Always spouting nonsense, Shu Yangkuo covered the mouth of the person in his arms, releasing him after a second, only to hear him burst into laughter again.

Being with someone so cheerful and quick to laugh, just chatting casually made any heavy mood vanish. Shu Yangkuo kissed the tip of his nose, pressed the call button, and summoned two doctors just before the forty-five-minute mark, along with Yang Yun, who’d been waiting impatiently.

Yang Yun rushed in but, too anxious to stay still, had to wait for Yan Wei and Zheng Yuan to check for any adverse reactions first.

After a round of examinations with the equipment, everything was fine. Some devices were removed, and before leaving, Yan Wei shot Zheng Yuan a look—quite the expert at sharing tips with his buddy, huh? Even went as far as arranging a medical-grade bed.

As soon as the two stepped out, Xiang Xiang slipped in through the gap between their legs. Zheng Yuan didn’t manage to hold him back and, under his wife’s gaze, let go of the hand that had been reaching out. He grumbled inwardly—they both seemed to be adjusting well, did they really need his son to comfort them? Seriously.

In the hospital room, on the sofa, Shu Yangkuo sat with his legs spread wide, leaning back. The shirt buttons he’d just fastened were undone again, leaving his abdomen exposed helplessly, with a medical fetal heart monitor pressed against it. Shi Zai, Yang Yun, and Xiang Xiang took turns eagerly listening to the fetal heartbeat… Looking down, Shu Yangkuo turned his head away after just a glance.

Like a bunch of little rascals.

He was reminded of an idiom out of nowhere—children and grandchildren gathered around one’s knees. Well, there was still one in his belly.

A small hand sneakily pressed against the tall man’s belly before quickly pulling back, and Xiang Xiang covered his mouth to giggle. He used to be afraid of this uncle—so tall and having teased him once—but now he seemed gentler. As soon as Xiang Xiang looked up, he was caught, but mustering courage, he asked:

"Uncle, are you carrying Zaizai gege’s baby?"

"…"

Shu Yangkuo’s eyelid twitched instantly.

"Xiang Xiang, don’t be scared. Maybe you should call him big brother…"

Before Xiang Xiang could respond, a voice full of energy, completely unlike the man’s usual style, rang out from the doorway: "Good!"

The room erupted in laughter.

In the end, what finally softened the new expectant father’s expression was Shi Zai coaxing Xiang Xiang to call him "gan dad" and Shu Yangkuo "gan die."