After ninety-nine online romances, I finally met my ex in person when school started.

"I'm pregnant!"

This statement was like a bombshell, exploding directly in the restaurant of the red brick building.

There was no smashing of plates or slamming of the table.

The air was deathly still.

Zhu Xun Chuan looked down at the woman beside him.

Fu Xinghe's once ethereal face was now deathly pale, his eyes bloodshot. She gripped his wrist tightly, her nails digging into his flesh, her chest heaving violently.

At the slit of the Suzhou-embroidered cheongsam, the legs that were always straight and slender when walking on the Peking University campus were now trembling uncontrollably.

She is the only daughter of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee Secretary. She is the youngest and most aloof professor at Peking University.

She received the strictest family discipline from a young age, and even had to be careful about how she spoke to men.

At this moment, in order to save a man's life, she personally destroyed her most cherished purity in front of her powerful father and influential mother.

A surge of indescribable heat rose in Zhu Xun Chuan's heart. It was a desire to conquer, but also a deep-seated desire to protect.

"Pregnant?"

Song Xingyao, who was sitting next to the main seat, stopped fiddling with the prayer beads.

The elegant and dignified wife of the municipal party secretary did not fly into a rage. Her all-seeing eyes swept over Fu Xinghe's flat stomach, and a mocking coldness curled at the corner of her mouth.

"Xinghe." Song Xingyao's voice was gentle, even carrying a hint of elder's helplessness. "Even if you're going to make up a story to fool me, you should at least make it more believable. Do you think the municipal party committee's special security detail is just sitting around doing nothing? What time you get off work every day, what time you rest, who you talk to and what you say are all recorded in your files."

Song Xingyao pulled out a tissue from the box on the table and slowly wiped his fingers.

"In the past six months, the longest you've spent alone with him in the office has been no more than forty minutes. The time you've spent in the car has been no more than twenty minutes." Song Xingyao tossed down a tissue. "Under such a tight surveillance network, how could you have found the time to cross that final line? Let alone have a child."

Extremely calm and logical analysis.

Exposing them without leaving any room for doubt.

Fu Xinghe felt a chill run through her body. This was her mother, who could always crush all her struggles with the most accurate data and the most rational attitude.

But Fu Xinghe did not back down.

Once a lie is told, there's no turning back. If we can't solidify this relationship today, Zhu Xun Chuan will face devastating consequences as soon as he walks out of this door.

"Surveillance?" Fu Xinghe gave a bitter smile, meeting his mother's cold gaze. His voice trembled but was resolute. "Your surveillance cameras can capture the office, they can capture the car. But can you capture the electrical distribution room in the National Museum's underground exhibition hall?"

Song Xingyao frowned.

"Two weeks ago, at the National Museum of China's night exhibition." Fu Xinghe's chest heaved violently, his eyes revealing a reckless madness. "The underground exhibition area experienced a power outage for forty minutes. The scene was chaotic, and the security guards couldn't get in at all. He and I stayed in the darkness of the power distribution room for a full forty minutes."

Fu Xinghe turned his head and looked at Zhu Xunchuan.

She bit her red lips, her eyes glistening with tears, and pressed her hands tightly against her lower abdomen.

"It was that time." Fu Xinghe's voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly to every corner of the restaurant. "Believe it or not, I'm carrying his child right now. If you want to harm him, if you want to put an end to this, you'll have to kidnap me to the hospital today and have this child aborted!"

Extreme madness.

The most traditional and conservative young lady from a prominent family declared her ownership in the most reckless way.

Zhu Xun Chuan looked at her.

He knew very well that although he had cornered her in the power distribution room of the National Museum that night and kissed her until she couldn't breathe, it was only a tug-of-war between their lips and teeth, and they hadn't gone all the way.

She was risking her reputation, even the honor of the municipal party secretary, and gambling with his life.

An eerie silence fell over the restaurant once again.

"Clatter."

A soft sound.

Fu Yuan, the municipal party committee leader who had remained silent, placed the ivory chopsticks back onto the jade chopstick rest.

He reached out, picked up the white porcelain soup bowl in front of him, took the soup spoon, scooped two spoonfuls of soup from the clear broth, and calmly took a sip.

Throughout the entire process, he still didn't look at Zhu Xunchuan, nor at his emotionally distraught daughter.

This composure, remaining unmoved even when Mount Tai collapses before you, exudes a sense of oppressive despair.

This means that, within the inner quarters, the wife has full authority to make this decision.

Song Xingyao understood her husband's statement.

She stared at her daughter's red, stubborn eyes for a full half minute.

Suddenly, the coldness on Song Xingyao's face vanished. In its place was the gentle smile unique to a noblewoman.

"Okay." Song Xingyao nodded and started fiddled with the small sandalwood prayer beads in her hand again. "Since you can even say such things, as a mother, of course I have to believe you."

Fu Xinghe was stunned.

She thought her mother would be furious and force her to go to the hospital for a checkup to expose the lie. But her mother actually agreed.

Before she could even catch her breath, Song Xingyao's next words plunged her into an ice cave.

"Now that you're pregnant, it's a top priority for the Fu family." Song Xingyao gave his instructions calmly and clearly, "Starting today, you're requesting a long leave from Peking University. Hand over your cell phone and all external communication devices. I will arrange for three professional nurses to provide 24-hour care."

Song Xingyao turned his head and looked at Zhu Xunchuan standing next to him.

"For the next ten months, she needs to stay home and rest during her pregnancy." Song Xingyao had a perfect smile on his face, but his eyes were extremely cold. "For the health of the fetus and her emotional stability, Xiao Zhu, you two absolutely cannot meet or have any contact during these ten months."

A single move to cut off the enemy's supply lines.

Go with the flow and use a counter-strategy.

Didn't you say you were pregnant? Fine, I'll use the excuse of "pregnancy care" to openly and legitimately place you under house arrest. I'll cut off all your communications and sever all contact with the outside world.

"Ten months from now," Song Xingyao said, his gaze fixed on Zhu Xunchuan, "if the sound of a baby crying comes from this house, I, Song Xingyao, will personally host a banquet, inviting all the prominent figures of Beijing to celebrate the baby's one-month birthday. You can enter the Fu family's gates at any time."

Song Xingyao abruptly changed the subject, his tone turning menacing.

"But if her belly is flat in ten months, Xiao Zhu, I won't even need to lift a finger. Just get out of Beijing yourself and never come back."

Older gingers are more spicy.

Song Xingyao didn't need to verify the truth at all. She simply used the tactic of "pregnancy isolation" to not only separate the two of them without bloodshed, but also to set an insurmountable dead end for this lie.

Unable to conceive after ten months, the lie falls apart, and Zhu Xunchuan is completely out of the game.

Fu Xinghe's face turned deathly pale.

She hadn't expected her mother to pull this stunt. Ten months of not being allowed to see her was more unbearable for them than killing her. Besides, how could she conjure a child after ten months?

"Mom! You can't do this!" Fu Xinghe exclaimed anxiously, wanting to step forward and argue.

"Old Li." Song Xingyao didn't give her a chance to speak and turned around to call out.

Li Guodong, the butler who had been waiting outside the door, pushed the door open and entered, bowing slightly.

"See the guest out." Song Xingyao picked up his teacup and didn't look at him again.

Li Guodong walked up to Zhu Xunchuan and gestured for him to come this way: "Mr. Zhu, this way."

Fu Xinghe panicked.

She gripped Zhu Xun Chuan's arm tightly, tears streaming down her face. She had told this colossal lie to protect him, but it had only trapped her in this small red-brick building.

"Xun Chuan..." Fu Xinghe's voice was filled with a helpless sob.

Zhu Xunchuan did not look at Li Guodong.

He turned around to face Fu Xinghe.

Looking at her tear-streaked face, at how she had abandoned all her dignity and pride for him, a chord deep within Zhu Xun Chuan's heart was plucked.

He reached out and cupped Fu Xinghe's cold, delicate face in his hands.

He gently wiped away the tears from the corner of her eyes with his thumb.

"Why are you crying?" Zhu Xun Chuan's voice was extremely gentle, without any sense of defeat or panic in the face of oppression. "Since your aunt has told you to take good care of yourself, you should rest at home."

"But..." Fu Xinghe wanted to shake his head. Ten months without seeing each other, and then their lie is exposed—what will they do?

"No buts." Zhu Xun Chuan's tone was calm, yet carried an undeniable sense of control.

He lowered his head, completely ignoring the municipal party secretary and his wife who were sitting beside him, watching coldly.

He leaned close to Fu Xinghe's ear, his warm breath hitting her reddened earlobe.

This is an extremely intimate gesture, imbued with a strong sense of possessiveness.

Fu Xinghe froze.

"Professor Fu," Zhu Xun Chuan said in a low voice, in a tone only the two of them could hear, "you just said that on the night the power went out at the National Museum, we did everything?"

Fu Xinghe's cheeks instantly burned. She bit her lower lip, not daring to make a sound.

"Lying comes at a price." Zhu Xun Chuan's fingers slid down her cheek and landed naturally on her slender waist, gently kneading it through the fabric of her cheongsam.

That familiar, tingling, trembling sensation instantly swept over Fu Xinghe's entire body.

"Your aunt has kept you here for ten months to rest and prepare for childbirth." Zhu Xun Chuan's deep laughter reached her ears. "Isn't this a reminder that time is running out, and we need to hurry up and make it a done deal?"