Chapter 447: Hubby, I Want a Child

Chapter 447: Hubby, I Want a Child

Donghai, 3:43 p.m. South District, CBD Tower 7.

Huancai Fashion, the president’s office.

“Mr. Wu.”

“Mr. Wu.”

Greetings sounded outside the door. A bodyguard pushed it open, and Wu Chen walked in, one hand tucked as usual into the pocket of his suit trousers.

Behind the desk, the two women reviewing documents side by side looked up at the door at the same moment.

“Qingying, you’re here too.” Wu Chen was mildly surprised.

Su Qingying was in Li Ruobing’s office as well.

“Hub—” The instant she saw him, Su Qingying started to call him “hubby” and came around the desk, but she stopped halfway through the word.

The office door was still swinging shut.

Only once it had fully closed did she go on.

“Hubby, hug…” Her heels clicked rapidly as she hurried over to him in quick little steps.

Wu Chen scooped her straight up in a bridal carry.

That actually made Su Qingying a little bashful. She had only meant to hug him… It was broad daylight, and this was Li Ruobing’s office.

Bashful or not, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

Li Ruobing watched Wu Chen carry Su Qingying toward the sofa. Her eyes narrowed slightly, but she said nothing and turned to tidying the documents on her desk.

She just found it strange.

She had known Su Qingying for a long time now, and lately they’d been seeing a great deal of each other. Huancai Fashion and Jinfu Group had finalized their partnership, so they were in frequent contact, both privately and for work.

The impression Su Qingying gave her was… exactly what the rumors said.

She was not a girlish woman.

In business, she could be very forceful.

She carried a deep, natural air of refinement and status.

It wasn’t an act.

That was simply who she was.

So why did she change the moment she saw Wu Chen?

Even now, Li Ruobing couldn’t understand where Su Qingying’s almost “uncanny” attitude toward Wu Chen came from.

Her becoming Wu Chen’s woman wasn’t strange.

But did she have to be this clingy?

At the sofa, Wu Chen set Su Qingying down, tossing her lightly onto the cushions, and sat beside her.

“Miss me?” He hooked a finger under her chin.

“Mm-hm.” Su Qingying nodded. Then something seemed to occur to her, and she blushed. She took his hand as though she meant to do something with it, stopped, and set it back down.

“When did you get back? Why didn’t you call first?” Li Ruobing finally asked. She had finished sorting her documents and was signing something.

“Just now. I drove straight back.” Wu Chen looked over at her.

He’d driven back at breakneck speed. Taking the expressway from Modu to Donghai normally took about four hours. He’d done it in under three.

And that was him taking it easy.

There was no real reason to hurry.

“I already called my mom. We just need to be home before dinner,” Wu Chen added.

“Hubby’s taking Ruobing home?” Su Qingying asked.

“That’s right.” Wu Chen looked at her and smiled. “Qingying, want to come along?”

“No.” Su Qingying shook her head with great decisiveness.

She’d known about this for a couple of days. Li Ruobing had told her. And she had long since thought it through: unless it became absolutely necessary, she would not meet his parents.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to.

It was her own parents. That side was very hard to manage.

Her relationship with Wu Chen could never be made public.

Besides, what she had with Wu Chen wasn’t a normal romance to begin with… so there it was.

Wu Chen had only asked in passing. He knew she wouldn’t go.

“Hubby, when will you be back?” Su Qingying asked, pressing her lips together.

“Tomorrow.” Wu Chen smiled.

“Then…” She started to say something, paused, glanced at Li Ruobing, then leaned close to his ear and whispered, “Hubby, I want a child.”

“Hm?”

Wu Chen’s smile turned subtle for a moment. Then he nodded. “Sure. But think it over. If you get pregnant, there’ll be at least a few months when you won’t have the energy to look after the company…”

“I’ve thought about that. Sooner is better than later. Once I’ve had the baby… I’ll be able to focus on my career better. Right, hubby?” Su Qingying said.

“Don’t wear yourself out.” Wu Chen smiled and stroked her hair.

He knew exactly what she was thinking.

Their relationship couldn’t be made public, and that wasn’t likely to change for several years. Meanwhile, Su Qingying was already twenty-seven.

Her father’s health was poor, but he could still hold on for now. She didn’t yet have to shoulder the running of the entire company alone.

Later on, there was no telling.

So, just as she’d said, sooner was better than later.

Su Qingying was every bit as driven as Li Ruobing.

She had her own plan for her life.

“What are you two whispering about over there?” Li Ruobing couldn’t help asking, seeing them murmuring so intimately.

Ordinarily, she couldn’t be bothered to ask when they whispered.

But Su Qingying kept glancing over at her while she talked.

“Guess.” Wu Chen looked up and smiled.

“I want to get pregnant as soon as possible and have hubby’s baby,” Su Qingying said, looking up too. She said it openly, without a trace of embarrassment.

Li Ruobing’s eyebrows rose slightly, but her expression barely changed, and she said nothing.

She went on working through her stack of documents.

“It’s almost four.” Su Qingying suddenly checked her watch, stood, and went to get her bag. “I’ve got a meeting at four-thirty. I need to go back and chair it. Ruobing, I have to run. Hubby… mwah!”

She kissed Wu Chen once more, then clicked away in her heels.

After Su Qingying left.

“Qingying’s in a hurry to have a baby. You’re not?” Wu Chen asked Li Ruobing with a smile.

“What do I have to hurry about?” Li Ruobing said, a little coolly. Then her tone shifted. She looked up at him with the smile of someone who already had victory in hand. “Have we ever used protection?”

For Li Ruobing, who was determined to be the principal woman, letting another woman have Wu Chen’s child first was obviously out of the question.

Yet just now, she hadn’t been the least bit worried.

Because she and Wu Chen had never once used protection.

She even suspected she might already be pregnant. It was just far, far too early to tell, and there wouldn’t be any symptoms yet.

For the next ten-odd minutes.

Wu Chen and Li Ruobing chatted idly.

They were well on their way to being an old married couple.

At last.

Li Ruobing finished her documents, wrapped up work for the day, and left her desk.

“I bought you some clothes. They’re inside.” She headed straight for the small lounge and gestured for him to follow.

Wu Chen got up and went in with her.

They showered together.

Changed.

Li Ruobing put on only light makeup. Not because they were short on time. She kept it simple on purpose. Brows and lipstick were enough.

She didn’t want to “scare” his parents.

Her usual makeup and her domineering CEO aura were more than ordinary people could easily take.

Around five, the two of them went downstairs together and left the company.

Li Ruobing had prepared everything, down to the car for meeting his parents.

A fairly understated Audi A8. The gifts had all been bought as well and were already in the car.

They set off.

A little over forty minutes later.

The Audi A8 came off the national highway and into the county seat where Wu Chen had grown up.

It wasn’t far from downtown Donghai, really. Just over thirty kilometers.

A few minutes more.

No. 67 Nongji Road, Sunshine Garden residential complex.

It was a very old complex, so old it didn’t even have property management. The gate stood open all the time, there were no management fees, and residents just paid the local community a small sanitation fee each year.

The Audi A8 drove straight in. Wu Chen was at the wheel. He found a spot where it wouldn’t be in anyone’s way and parked.

It was nearly six in the evening.

But it was the height of summer, and in Donghai it wouldn’t get dark until after seven. The sky had only just begun to dim.

Li Ruobing stepped out in a pale blue chiffon dress.

Wu Chen got out on the other side.

They met at the back of the car to get the things from the trunk.

Li Ruobing looked around the complex. There was only one building, very old, seven stories tall, its walls gone gray. It was wide, at least, with six entrances.

The courtyard was large. Seven or eight cheap commuter cars, worth anywhere from several tens of thousands to a little over a hundred thousand yuan, were scattered about, parked wherever there was room.

The courtyard was paved with red brick, nearly all of it blackened with age. No one knew how many years it had been there. The ground was uneven and potholed.

There were old-fashioned flower beds outside each entrance, but no flowers in them. Someone had planted greens and radishes instead.

All in all, the complex was… reasonably clean. That could count as a point in its favor.

“You grew up here?” Li Ruobing asked, drawing her gaze back.

“Yep.” Wu Chen lifted all the bags out of the trunk and swept his foot under the bumper. The trunk closed on its own.

“What, too humble for you?” he asked, half joking.

“What’s there to look down on? I just find it strange.” Li Ruobing slipped her arm through his and looked around again. “How did a place like this manage to raise my man to be so outstanding?”

“Maybe I’m a genius.” Wu Chen smiled.

Li Ruobing didn’t dignify that with a reply.

Wu Chen led the way.

Into Entrance Five.

Up to the third floor.

They stopped at last outside Apartment 301.

“Knock.” Wu Chen glanced at her with a smile. His hands were full, so he couldn’t.

“Mm…” Li Ruobing murmured. She raised her hand, then hesitated. Only after a deep breath to steady herself did she knock.

Knock, knock, knock!