Chapter 325

Chapter 325

Business at the storefront had been slow lately.

We had more than thirty properties sitting on our books, all unsold.

Several days passed without a single client asking to view one.

With nothing else to do, we could only go out and distribute flyers, but even that produced few results.

Ever since we returned from Lincheng, Song Xiaotian had gone back to avoiding Pan Xiaorou. He would not even answer her calls, which meant I once again received calls from her every day.

The day before Elder Song’s birthday, Pan Xiaorou came to our storefront again.

But this visit was different from the others. She wore a strange expression. After coming in and greeting us, she called Song Xiaotian outside.

We had no idea what they discussed, but judging by their expressions, the conversation was not pleasant.

They did not speak for long. Pan Xiaorou handed Song Xiaotian a sheet of paper. I could not see what was written on it, but after reading it, he seemed to turn to stone.

Pan Xiaorou then got into her car and left.

Meng Yifan and I watched anxiously, uncertain what had happened between them.

Both of us hoped Song Xiaotian and Pan Xiaorou would end up together. It was not because we wanted to benefit from their relationship. Pan Xiaorou was genuinely a good woman. Apart from having been married before, we almost felt that Song Xiaotian was the one reaching above his station.

And these days, a previous marriage was hardly an insurmountable obstacle.

“Do you think Pan Xiaorou finally got tired of his cold attitude and broke up with him?” Meng Yifan looked at me.

I said that seemed unlikely. Pan Xiaorou liked him so much that she had actively pursued him. How could she simply end things?

“He’s treated her like this despite the fact she’s the chairwoman of an entire group. She has her dignity too.”

Meng Yifan analyzed the situation. “Do you think that paper was a breakup agreement? Maybe it includes a few million in breakup compensation. Think she’d let the two of us split some of it? Heh…”

I told him that was ridiculous.

Pan Xiaorou understood Song Xiaotian’s character. She would never insult him with money.

While we were discussing it, Song Xiaotian walked back in, still holding the paper.

He looked as though he had suffered a devastating blow. He clutched the paper tightly and did not hear us despite being called several times. He walked straight into the office.

The more we watched him, the more alarmed we became. We hurried after him and shut the door.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Did she really dump you?”

The moment we finished asking, the paper slipped from Song Xiaotian’s hand and fluttered to the floor.

Meng Yifan and I picked it up and drew sharp breaths.

It was a prenatal examination report!

Pan Xiaorou was… pregnant!

“Holy shit!”

I stared blankly at Song Xiaotian. “Brother Tian, are you about to become a father, or did someone else make you one…?”

Song Xiaotian sat there in a daze, utterly lost. His eyes had even turned red.

When he spoke, I could hear him choking up.

“She hasn’t slept with her ex-husband in two years. It’s mine…”

“Mine…”

It really was his.

For a moment, I had no idea what to say.

Song Xiaotian had never wanted to be with Pan Xiaorou in the first place, and now she was pregnant. This had to be a devastating blow for him.

Meng Yifan sighed and said seriously, “Things have already reached this point, so what are you still agonizing over? You’re so hung up on the fact that she was married before. Why not let go of that prejudice? She likes you so much, and everything else about her is excellent. You don’t know how fortunate you are.”

“There is no such thing as a perfect romance. You’re too much of a perfectionist.”

Song Xiaotian looked deeply conflicted. Frowning, he said, “I’ll be honest. She isn’t the kind of woman I want. I may not be as wealthy as she is, but I’m no slouch in other respects. I’m not insisting on finding some flawless woman either. But I’ve never been married, and I simply can’t accept marrying a divorced woman.”
“I’m not discriminating against divorced women. I just don’t want to marry one. Do you understand?”

“I like pears, but someone insists on giving me a banana and telling me it’s the only fruit I can eat for the rest of my life. Of course that makes me miserable!”

I understood now. He still looked down on Pan Xiaorou because she had been married before.

He probably had some kind of purity obsession.

Meng Yifan was speechless. “Then what are you going to do now? She’s already pregnant. You have to accept it, whether you want to or not. You can’t tell her to abort the child and then break up with her. Put yourself in her shoes. Would any decent human being do that?”

I reminded him from the side, “If you make her abort the baby, both of you will suffer bad luck for the rest of the year, and you’ll lose Hidden Virtue.”

Song Xiaotian was so anxious that he did not know what to do. “I don’t know what to do either. I know that would be going too far, but… even if I force myself to accept her and we get married, what happens afterward? Reluctant acceptance turns into indifference, then regret, then resentment, and finally endless arguments. What meaning would a marriage like that have? If a child were born into that kind of family, wouldn’t that be irresponsible toward the child?”

I thought he had already been irresponsible toward Pan Xiaorou, yet here he was worrying about whether he would be responsible toward the child.

“You still need to make a decision, don’t you?”

“Dragging this out won’t help either of you. You can’t wait until her belly starts showing before telling her to get an abortion.”

Song Xiaotian’s face turned red with frustration. He sighed several times. “I haven’t made up my mind yet. I want to sound out my family first. Tomorrow… help me test my father and grandfather’s attitudes. But don’t tell them she’s pregnant…”

…

Early the next morning, we skipped the storefront. After picking up Seventh Master, we all went to Song Xiaotian’s home again.

Today was the old man’s eightieth birthday. I had to admit, he was remarkably down-to-earth. He did not hold a lavish banquet at a hotel or accept cash gifts. He simply hired a professional catering team to prepare the feast at his home.

I had assumed only a handful of friends and relatives would attend. But when we arrived, I discovered the Song family had an astonishing number of connections. There were probably enough guests to fill fifteen or twenty tables.

The courtyard residence was truly bustling today. We even spotted a few people in our line of work among the crowd. These “peers” were not real estate agents like us, but people in the same profession as Seventh Master.

Song Xiaotian was visibly anxious and kept urging Meng Yifan and me to sound out the old man and Uncle Song.

After much difficulty, we finally found an opening and called the old man and Uncle Song away from the guests they were receiving.

We could not let the guests overhear something like this, so Meng Yifan and I gave them a concise account of the ill-fated relationship between Song Xiaotian and Pan Xiaorou in extremely hushed voices.

Both father and son darkened when they heard the story.

Song Xiaotian had specifically warned us not to mention Pan Xiaorou’s pregnancy. But for some reason, Meng Yifan added at the very end, “Oh, right. Pan Xiaorou is pregnant. Here’s the prenatal examination report.”

I looked over and discovered he had even stolen the report.

After Elder Song and Uncle Song read it, their faces darkened another two shades.

Uncle Song turned to leave. When I saw his fist clench, I hastily grabbed him. “Uncle, what are you going to do?”

Through gritted teeth, he said, “Get my Septwolves belt and beat that little bastard to death!”