TFRLTOP Chapter 52 Part 1

Chapter 52 – The Educated Youth’s Long-Suffering Wife

◎ “The boy will be named Chen Tianye, the girl Chen Beixin.” (yeah, no) ◎

Holy crap.

Holy crap.

What the hell!

System!

System——

Save meeeee!

I don’t want to have a baby, wuwuwuwu…

Ming Ming sat at the edge of the bed, her whole being in an existential crisis.

In her head, the system tapped away like a wooden fish: dong, dong, dong. In its flat tone, it said, “I’ve suddenly realized… your Earth Buddhist scriptures actually have some merit.”

“Amitabha. Benefactor, may you find your own blessings.”

“Shut up!”

After a while, Ming Ming asked in a small voice, “I’m not really pregnant, am I?”

“I’m only twenty-one! A pure, innocent college girl! I’m still a baby myself—I don’t want a baby!”

The system didn’t even know where to start with that.

On the other side of the room, Yan Junsheng was packing up. “Come on, let’s go to the hospital.”

Ming Ming sat there, legs swinging, head tilted back, dead inside. “It could just be bloating.”

“The last time I washed your bloody underwear was more than two months ago!” Yan Junsheng froze mid-pack. “So that means… maybe it was that time in the fields… How about we name the kid Tianye then?”

Ming Ming hurled a pillow at him.

Junsheng chuckled, picked it up, and set it aside. Then he came over and wrapped his arms around her, rubbing his nose against her cheek, pecking lightly as he coaxed, “Let’s go check, hmm? Pity me. I need to know if I’m about to be a dad.”

“Oh!” He suddenly remembered. “Could’ve been that time with the tank top too… I told you, it looked good on you.”

“Get out,” Ming Ming said flatly.

Half-dragging her along, he pressed, “We’ll go get checked, then move into the new place today. It’s basically ready. We can live there now.”

He leaned his forehead against hers, whispering, “And once we’re there, I’ll cook for you every single day. Deal?”

Ming Ming finally perked up a little, sulking but agreeing. “Fine.”

When they went downstairs, Father Yan and Mother Yan were on the couch, faces dark. Ming Ming caught bits of “This can’t go on, we’ve spoiled them too much…”

When they saw the couple, Father Yan gave a loud huff. “You’ve gone wild in the countryside, no rules, no manners. Sit down—we need to talk.”

Mother Yan had stewed something for him, and the smell made Ming Ming nauseous. She covered her mouth to suppress the urge to throw up.

Noticing her discomfort, Junsheng lost all patience. “I was planning to have a chat about respect, but forget it. We’re moving out today.”

“What? Moving out?” Father Yan was shocked. “And where exactly do you plan to live?”

Ming Ming raised her hand. “I bought a house. Three stories. We can move right in. And no more banging pots and pans in the morning.”

Mother Yan’s face twisted, and she snapped, “I’ve never seen country folk so lazy—sleeping till noon every day!”

“Ah, well,” Ming Ming stroked her belly, looking innocent. “Maybe because I’m pregnant.”

Junsheng shot back coldly, “Exactly. So I’m taking my wife somewhere she can sleep till noon.”

Both parents panicked. “What? Really? If you’re pregnant, then all the more reason to stay here! You’re carrying a Yan family child, you can’t just—these young people, no idea how serious this is…”

Ming Ming bristled. “What do you mean, your Yan family child? This is my Chen family child. I’m the one carrying it, so it’ll have my surname.”

Junsheng nodded. “Yup. Her surname.”

The couple instantly synced up, leaving Father and Mother Yan isolated.

After a lon,g stunned silence, Father Yan finally sputtered, “Where did you even get the money for a house?”

Junsheng pointed at Ming Ming. “Her money.”

“Oh, and by the way,” he added, “the country house for the wedding? Also, her family’s money.”

“You just let her family pay for everything? What about a dowry? The three big wedding items? Did you buy her any of that?”

Junsheng admitted honestly, “No. Her dad covered all that.”

Father Yan was furious, clutching at his chest. “You worthless brat! We sent you down to the countryside for safety and training, and you turned into a freeloader instead?”

Junsheng shrugged. “What can I say? I only had five thousand to my name.”

“Five thousand wasn’t enough?” Mother Yan was aghast. “Yuehua always said you were stingy, and I didn’t believe her. But you couldn’t even spend that?”

Father Yan was in shock. “Where did I go wrong raising you? You contribute nothing—except yourself—at your own wedding…”

Ming Ming pressed a hand to her mouth, looking sick. But the slight tremor in her shoulders told Junsheng she was laughing.

He cut off his parents’ scolding. Right now, he needed to get his wife to the hospital.

And they refused to let his parents tag along.

Ming Ming muttered nervously, “What if it really is just bloating?”

“No worries. If it’s not real, we’ll make it real at the new place.”

“…!”

“Come on, no one’s home—we can test out the tank top again.”

“Scram!”

At the hospital, the tests confirmed what she had suspected: she was pregnant. And the timing lined up with Junsheng’s guess.

The young master was over the moon, practically glowing. He held her tight and said solemnly, “I’ve already picked names if it’s a boy, Chen Tianye. If it’s a girl, Chen Beixin. What do you think?”

Ming Ming: “???”

“Go to hell, Yan Junsheng! I’m not joking—you go die! My kid can grow up without a dad, I mean it!” she yelled, clawing and kicking at him. “What do I think? I think no!”

Junsheng just hugged her tighter, laughing.

…

Life afterward settled into a warm, if occasionally noisy, routine.

Ming Ming’s pregnancy symptoms were rough, so she begged the system for a cheat code to erase the pain.

“I don’t care! You never said pregnancy was still a thing in this world! It hurts too much, you have to help me!”

The system grumbled and cursed, but eventually gave in.

Meanwhile, Ming Ming kept checking on Bai Yuehua through the system. Whether she could scrape by with a passing grade in this world depended entirely on Bai Yuehua reaching her peak.

But over the next three months, all Ming Ming knew was that Bai Yuehua kept running farther and farther away.

“Wait—why’s she in such a remote place? She hasn’t been trafficked, has she?”

“…No,” said the system.

Then suddenly, it couldn’t detect Bai Yuehua at all.

“Why would she be shielded from you?”

The system was on the brink of collapse. “I—don’t—know!”

“Act normal, will you? You’re scaring me.”

At five months, Father and Mother Yan grudgingly moved into the house next door. That very day, they overheard Junsheng telling the neighbors in the courtyard, “Yeah, I’m their live-in son-in-law.”

Father and Mother Yan: “…”

What a disgrace!

As the months passed, Ming Ming grew more anxious—partly because she’d never given birth before, partly because she’d lost track of Bai Yuehua.

Meanwhile, the land she’d bought was suddenly rezoned for development, multiplying its value. Under her guidance, Junsheng started dabbling in real estate.

In this world, why struggle the hard way when you can take shortcuts?

Ming Ming wanted to be hands-on, but pregnancy limited her energy. Not wanting her to worry herself sick, Junsheng brought home several boxes of gold bars for her to count when she was bored.

At first, Ming Ming scoffed at the idea.

But when Junsheng added, “Don’t want to count gold? Then recite politics,” she suddenly became very enthusiastic about counting bars.

One week before her due date, the whole family accompanied her to the hospital. Ming Ming was both excited and terrified, so Junsheng cleared his schedule to stay by her side 24/7.

Her due date came and went with no movement. The doctors were puzzled, but everything looked normal. Ming Ming, belly in hand, mused, “What if it’s Nezha in here?”

Junsheng pressed his head to her stomach. “So, a boy-ball or a girl-ball?”

She smacked him on the head. “You’re the ball!”

But that smack somehow triggered a contraction.

She cried out in pain.

“What’s wrong?” Junsheng leapt up and saw that her water had broken. “I’ll get the doctor!”

Clutching the sheets, Ming Ming screamed for the system. “Turn on pain-block, ahhh I’m dying!”

“So annoying,” it muttered.

By the time Junsheng came back with the doctor, she was calm again, like nothing had happened.

“Still hurting? How many times?” the doctor asked.

“Nope. Not hurting anymore.”

The doctor blanched. “Not hurting? That’s bad! The baby could be in trouble. We need surgery right now.”

Ming Ming: !!!

“Ah! Ow ow ow ow, it hurts, it really hurts!” she yelped theatrically.

The doctor squinted at her.