Shi Yunyun's mother, Sun Ting, had just found out the news and scolded her harshly over the phone.
"Are you stupid or have you lost your mind? Nothing's settled yet, and you've already gone and gotten pregnant out of wedlock!"
"The Xiao Family is in deep trouble and needs a marriage alliance. Xiao Yu is clearly just playing with you, yet you're throwing yourself at him and getting pregnant. Are you really that desperate? Are you afraid you can't get married?!"
"Let me tell you, whether you're trying to use this child to climb into the Xiao Family or force your father to bail the Xiao Family out with money, neither is happening! I've spent over a decade in the Shi Family treading carefully just to keep our lives stable, and now you've gone and done something this shameful. You've completely humiliated me!"
Hearing her mother's accusations, Shi Yunyun sneered and fired back, "Mom, didn't you already lose all your dignity back when you became someone's mistress?"
After hearing her daughter's words, Sun Ting felt wronged and angry, "And who did I do that for?! Your good-for-nothing father left us with so much debt from his medical bills. He died and left it all behind, but I was the one stuck raising you alone. How was I supposed to pay it all off?"
"If it weren't for me, would you have been able to enter the Shi Family? Could you attend such a good school, wear such beautiful clothes, or grow up like a wealthy young lady?"
Remembering all the hardships she had endured, Sun Ting's eyes turned red and her voice choked with emotion.
"You heartless little brat, now that you've grown up, you're throwing my past in my face. You've never been a mother, so you don't know how hard it is for a mother to raise a child alone."
"Mom can compromise on other things, but not this. Unless Xiao Yu marries you and makes you Mrs. Xiao, you're coming with me to the hospital to get rid of that child while it's still early!"
By the time Xiao Yu arrived, Shi Yunyun's eyes were red and swollen from crying.
Originally, Xiao Yu had been furious that she had made her pregnancy public, leaving him no room to maneuver. But seeing Shi Yunyun in such a state, he couldn't bring himself to scold her further.
"A-Yu, are you here to make me abort the baby too? How could you be so heartless?" (T/N: A way to affectionately call someone, by adding A- before their name.)
Shi Yunyun's originally beautiful almond eyes were now clouded with tears.
"Even if none of you want this child, even if none of you care for it, I'm his mother and I must give birth to the child."
"I won't ask you to raise him. I have the ability to make money and I'll take care of the baby myself."
In the end, Shi Yunyun was the girl he had loved for years, and now that she was carrying his child, how could Xiao Yu not care?
But, the timing of this pregnancy really couldn't have been worse.
Thinking back to what Father Xiao had said at the company earlier that afternoon, the softness that had just emerged in Xiao Yu's heart was quickly suppressed again.
How can a 'fertilized egg' that has not yet taken shape and is not even a human being be compared with the Xiao Family's fortune?
With the Xiao Family's crisis at a critical point, he had no choice but to set aside matters of the heart for now.
Xiao Yu walked over and took Shi Yunyun's hand, then knelt before her, and looked at her intently.
"I didn't expect the baby to come so suddenly. This is our child, so how could I not like it?"
"But Yunyun, you know how things are with the Xiao Family right now."
"If we don't secure enough funding, the Xiao Family may not be able to survive this time. If that happens, I won't be able to give you or our child a good future."
"Yunyun, would you really want our child to wear cheap clothes, go to an average school, and grow up to be some overworked office drone slaving away their whole life?"
Xiao Yu's voice was deep and magnetic. It was the very sound Shi Yunyun had once adored.
But now, he was using that same voice to tell her something cruel.
He didn't want this baby.
It took Shi Yunyun a long moment to process his words. She placed a hand on her stomach, and tears kept streaming down her face.
"I know I don't come from a powerful family. I can't help you. If I'd been born into a rich household… if I were the only daughter of wealthy parents, you wouldn't be in such a difficult position now."
"But Xiao Yu, this is the proof of our love!"
Shi Yunyun desperately tried to remind Xiao Yu of their past, his promises, and the beautiful future he had once painted for them.
"You once said that if we had a son, we'd name him Xiao Yunshen, and if it was a girl, Xiao Yunlin. Have you forgotten all that?"
"As long as we're together as a family, what does it matter if we're not rich?"
Seeing that Shi Yunyun, who was usually so obedient and never gave him trouble, was so stubborn on this matter, Xiao Yu's patience began to wear thin.
Especially her first sentence, which made him think of Gu Mingting, who had just gotten engaged today.
Both of them were second-generation heirs, but Gu Mingting, a man who could do nothing but paint, was now engaged to the only daughter of the Shen Family.
Why?
Just because he had the Gu Family behind him. Because the Gu Family's name was on the rich list!
While people called it a marriage alliance between the Gu and Shen Families, those in the industries knew that it was just the Gu Family absorbing the Shen Family in disguise.
Shen Tinglan's future children would carry the Gu's name, and in the end, the Shen Family's fortune would just become another branch of the Gu Family's empire.
'Gu Mingting is obviously inferior to me in every way, but he had managed to land such a powerful match.'
'Life really wasn't fair!'
The more Xiao Yu thought about it, the more resentful he became.
When Xiao Yu remembered that he learned the news that his girlfriend was pregnant wasn't because she told him directly, but because Mingting called him to announce the good news, when he looked at Shi Yunyun again, there was some suspicion in his eyes.
"Yunyun, why did Gu Mingting know about your pregnancy before I did?"
Xiao Yu frowned slightly.
Xiao Yu wasn't blind, and he knew exactly what lay in Mingting's eyes whenever he looked at Shi Yunyun.
And Mingting's extraordinary concern for Shi Yunyun, how he always rushed to her rescue whenever she was in trouble, Xiao Yu was aware of all of it.
The three of them had been classmates since elementary school.
In the past, Xiao Yu had even felt proud of it, thinking Shi Yunyun had great taste for choosing him.
And seeing that Mingting couldn't get Shi Yunyun, he felt inexplicably happy in his heart.
But now, Xiao Yu couldn't help but wonder.
'Why did Shi Yunyun look for Gu Mingting first when she was pregnant? Shouldn't a woman share the joy with the father when she is pregnant?'
Xiao Yu was starting to feel like he might be wearing a green hat (T/N: Wearing green hat meant being cheated on.)
"I'm the father, yet I had to hear about my own girlfriend's pregnancy from someone else. Shi Yunyun, is this child… really mine?"
"Xiao Yu, you bastard!"
After hearing this, Shi Yunyun was stunned into silence.
Staring at the man before her, she suddenly felt like she was looking at a stranger.
"I gave you everything, and I only have you in my heart. How dare you doubt me? You, you…"
Overwhelmed with fury, Shi Yunyun fainted on the spot.