Chapter 78

Chapter 78

At the question, Pei Yuming’s expression changed instantly. The hand holding the documents was visibly trembling. His lips moved several times, but in the end, he said nothing.

Cao Lei narrowed his eyes and continued, “What exactly is your relationship with Su Jin?”

“I, I…” Pei Yuming grew visibly nervous, so frightened that even his earlier dejection and despair vanished. “We’re just ordinary colleagues…”

“Are you?” Cao Lei picked up another report and this time flipped it straight to the last page for him. “Then why is Su Jin pregnant with your child?”

Clatter!

Pei Yuming’s hand shook, and both documents fell to the floor.

Cao Lei kept his gaze fixed tightly on his face, as if he hadn’t seen the papers drop at all.

“My child…” Pei Yuming was stunned. “I… Su Jin is pregnant with my child?”

Cao Lei said nothing. He only stared at him.

Pei Yuming looked innocent as he murmured, “I really didn’t know…”

Only then did Cao Lei stand and pick up the documents from the floor. Bracing one hand on the side of Pei Yuming’s chair, he slowly leaned closer, putting invisible pressure on him. “So what exactly happened between you and Su Jin?”

Pei Yuming swallowed. Every tiny shift in his expression was exposed under Cao Lei’s eyes. At last, he seemed to realize he had nowhere left to hide. He gave a defeated sigh and said with difficulty, “We… we were actually together for a while some time ago. It was just over a month ago, around when I first found out my wife had cheated on me. I was devastated. Su Jin and I worked in the same department, so we often left work together. That day, she noticed right away that something was wrong with me. At the time, I happened to need someone I could trust to talk to… One thing led to another, and we became close. But I never thought she would get pregnant… She never mentioned it to me…”

“And then you broke it off?” A faint, uncertain flash of inspiration surfaced in Cao Lei’s mind, but unfortunately, it soon disappeared.

“Yes.” Pei Yuming lowered his head, a trace of guilt passing over his face. “Because of my dad and my brother’s persuasion. Later, Bai Xue even apologized to me herself and promised she would never make that kind of mistake again. I went soft for a moment and forgave her. Since we were going to reconcile, Su Jin and I definitely couldn’t continue. I didn’t want to lie to her, so I told her the truth. She said she understood. After all, she knew Bai Xue had taken care of our whole family for so many years, especially my dad and my brother. They simply couldn’t get by without Bai Xue. So we parted peacefully and promised each other that we would treat that relationship as if it had never happened, and everything would go back to the way it was.”

“You said it was over, and it was over? Su Jin never tried to make you stay?” Based on Cao Lei’s understanding of her, he always felt Su Jin wouldn’t have let go that easily.

“No.” Pei Yuming shook his head and analyzed it honestly. “Maybe because Su Jin is a very considerate person. She knew asking me to stay would put me in a difficult position, so when I proposed ending it, she agreed almost without hesitation.”

At this point, even Pei Yuming himself felt that he seemed to have wronged Su Jin far too much.

And during the earlier Flashback, with everything in such chaos, she had still said nothing about being pregnant. She had just endured it all alone. What exactly had she been thinking?

Pei Yuming suddenly wanted to ask her in person. Had she really never thought about telling him and making him take responsibility?

After all these years, it seemed he had never once thought to truly understand this quiet junior colleague of his. He had grown used to it. Whenever he asked something of her, she would agree without hesitation. She had always stood not far behind him, silently watching him. And he had always forgotten to turn back and look at her.
Pei Yuming frowned and pushed the girl who had nearly squeezed into his arms to the other side, putting himself completely between her and the Man in Black. Then he took out his phone, found Su Jin’s contact, thought for a moment, and called her directly.

By the time he got off the subway, Su Jin had already arrived. She got out of the car and stood across the street, waving at Pei Yuming with a hint of delighted surprise.

Pei Yuming crossed the pedestrian walkway. When Su Jin saw him coming over, her happiness was plain to see. “Yuming, why did you ask to see me alone? Could it be…”

Pei Yuming gestured toward the car parked by the curb. “Get in. Find somewhere private. There are some things I want to talk to you about.”

Judging by her expression, Su Jin was clearly a little confused, but seeing how serious Pei Yuming looked, she did not ask any more questions.

In the end, Su Jin found a teahouse. After the two of them entered a private room, she finally could not help asking, “What’s going on? You called me out here alone. Are we still going to your place for dinner later?”

Pei Yuming shook his head. “We’ll see.”

He sat down on his own, not quite daring to look Su Jin in the eye, and even less sure how to ask the question.

Guilt was not an easy emotion to digest. Before he could face it calmly, he first had to confront the mistakes he had once made.

Pei Yuming had never been good at admitting fault. But when he thought that if he did not say it now, he might never get another chance, and that if he was no longer afraid even of death, what was there left that he did not dare to ask?

Pei Yuming gripped the translucent teacup. After hesitating for a few seconds, he finally raised his head. “Su Jin, I asked you here because… because I wanted to ask you. Are you pregnant?”

Su Jin had been using tea tongs to rinse the cups with hot water. At Pei Yuming’s words, her hand went slack, and the tongs and cup dropped onto the tabletop at the same time. The clear jade-like teacup rolled once across the table, then fell to the floor with a sharp crack, shattering instantly into pieces.

“What… what did you say?” Su Jin’s eyes widened in disbelief. “How could you…”

Seeing her reaction, Pei Yuming understood at once. “So it’s true? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Su Jin bit her lip, her eyes reddening, her voice trembling slightly. “How did you know? I haven’t told anyone about this. Why would you know?!”

Seeing how unstable she was, Pei Yuming quickly took the hand she had resting on the table and soothed her. “That doesn’t matter. Su Jin, you should have told me. At the very least, you should have asked me what we should do.”

“But you’ve already gotten back together with Bai Xue. What would be the point of telling you?” Su Jin pulled her hand back, disappointed. “You can’t leave her. I’ve already accepted that fact. I’ll take care of the child myself. Don’t get involved in this anymore.”

“No!” Pei Yuming stood and walked over, blocking Su Jin as she tried to leave. “This isn’t something that only concerns you. At the very least, tell me what you’re thinking, and what you want me to do.”

“And then what?” Su Jin suddenly grew agitated. “Will you leave her? Can you bear to? And what about your father and your brother? Would they agree to it?”

Hearing her say that, Pei Yuming did hesitate. But he was not hesitating because of the things Su Jin had mentioned. It was because he no longer had any chance to make amends for all of this. Everything they were talking about now was actually meaningless. Still, he wanted to know what Su Jin had really been thinking back then. Had she been terribly sad, terribly desperate? Had she, like him now, felt no attachment at all to the life ahead of her?

The moment Su Jin saw his expression change, she already knew the answer. Bitterly disappointed, she shoved Pei Yuming hard, grabbed the door handle, and was about to open the door.