A Straight Man's Unexpected Pregnancy with the British Duke's Baby - Chapter 2

The next day, Shi Yuan finished his morning classes, had a quick lunch, and rushed straight to the lab without a moment’s rest.

He slowly changed into his white lab coat, put on his safety goggles, and stood at the doorway with a troubled expression.

“Yuan, why are you sighing like that?” A brown-haired girl passed by Shi Yuan, stopping to show concern.

As a third-year undergraduate, Shi Yuan was the youngest junior in the lab. Everyone else was either a graduate student or a Ph.D., all his seniors.

They naturally looked out for this little junior, especially since he was good-looking, well-behaved, and sweet-talking—particularly popular among the senior sisters.

“Senior Ophelia, there’s someone inside I don’t like. I’ll go in after I’ve composed myself,” Shi Yuan said honestly, his expression pained.

Ophelia raised an eyebrow knowingly.

She knew Shi Yuan was referring to Senior Hawthorne.

Although Ophelia didn’t understand where Shi Yuan’s prejudice against Hawthorne came from. In her eyes, Hawthorne was aloof, steady, and rational—the only postdoc in the lab and the anchor of the entire team.

But even if Hawthorne was perfect in every way, if forced to choose between the two, she would still side with the universally adored sweetheart junior, Shi Yuan.

After all, seniors were a dime a dozen, but a treasured little cake like him was one of a kind.

However, Ophelia had no grudge against Hawthorne. In fact, she had once been interested in him, and he had always been helpful during experiments. So, she couldn’t show her support too openly, only expressing it privately to Shi Yuan.

Shi Yuan gave Ophelia a grateful look, took a deep breath, and pushed open the door to the lab.

As soon as he looked up, he saw Hawthorne standing sideways by the lab bench.

Hawthorne seemed to sense his presence. Through the transparent goggles, his emerald-green eyes glanced briefly at Shi Yuan, lingering on Ophelia for a moment.

Shi Yuan noticed this subtle movement and immediately straightened his posture, moving closer to Ophelia.

Yes, this was another part of his carefully planned revenge scheme.

He knew the seniors in the lab all liked him because of his pleasant personality and good looks—unaware that it was all an act.

Hawthorne was better than him in every way, except for one fatal flaw: his poor personality, his usual arrogance and condescension.

So, Shi Yuan decided to exploit this weakness, taking advantage of the situation by using his angelic, sweet Eastern persona to win over Hawthorne’s misguided supporters.

Ophelia was one of them.

She had once been blinded by Hawthorne’s impressive resume and harbored some secret feelings for him, only to be coldly rejected.

It was then that Shi Yuan seized the opportunity to cozy up to Ophelia, offering warmth, comfort, and solace…

Before long, they became close friends.

In Shi Yuan’s eyes, this was true competition between real men.

And this tactic had proven quite effective.

Shi Yuan noticed that whenever he and Ophelia got close, Hawthorne’s gaze toward them was sharp enough to kill.

Tsk!

Such a petty Brit.

Only allowing others to like him, but not letting them abandon the darkness for Yuan.

Ophelia nudged Shi Yuan’s arm. “Yuan, Senior really isn’t a bad person.”

Everyone in the lab knew that Shi Yuan’s roommate during his first year at Cambridge wasn’t originally Hawthorne. It was only because his original roommate had sexually harassed him, and there were no other available dorm rooms in the college at the time, that Shi Yuan was arranged to move into the spare room in Hawthorne’s two-person doctoral suite.

“You moved into a new dorm, and your senior is a proper gentleman,” Ophelia continued. “Isn’t that a good thing?”

Upon hearing this, Shi Yuan’s face turned horrified, and he shook his head repeatedly.

On the surface, it seemed fine, but in reality, it was a huge problem!

Many doctoral students at Cambridge were older and came with families, so the university often provided multi-person apartments.

Although Hawthorne was a doctoral student, he was young, had always lived alone, and was single. Plus, he and Shi Yuan were from the same college and the same major, making them senior and junior brothers—so it just happened to work out.

This gave Shi Yuan the constant illusion that he was Hawthorne’s accompanying family member, which had annoyed him for quite some time.

Seeing that Ophelia was about to speak again, Shi Yuan quickly cut her off: “Senior, don’t be fooled by his hypocritical appearance. This guy is secretly wicked. Lately, he’s been especially terrifying, often staring at me—it’s weird.”

In an instant, Shi Yuan recalled countless criminal cases from society and shuddered several times.

Ophelia tried to offer an explanation: “Is it possible that among the people around Senior Hawthorne, you’re the best-looking? Who else would he look at if not you?”

Shi Yuan was adamant: “Absolutely impossible.”

Hawthorne was just jealous of his good looks.

To this, Shi Yuan had thought of a solution: if there were a few more good-looking guys around, maybe Hawthorne’s attention would be diverted, and his own risk would be reduced, right?

That made sense in theory. The only problem was that in all of Cambridge, aside from himself, there wasn’t a single man more handsome than Hawthorne!

At this thought, Shi Yuan’s tail unconsciously perked up.

What did that mean?

It meant not everyone was qualified to be his rival.

At the very least, it had to be someone on Hawthorne’s level.

Shi Yuan became intoxicated again, his face glowing with pride.

Ophelia stared at Shi Yuan, slightly dazed: “If you were a woman, combining your genes with Senior Hawthorne’s, imagine how beautiful the child would be.”

“Wrong,” Shi Yuan immediately corrected her. “Your Brother Yuan is a peerless top.”

If anyone were to give birth, it would be Hawthorne.

Ophelia: “…” Is that the point?

The point should be that you two can’t even have a child, you little fool.

“Shi Yuan.” Hawthorne suddenly turned his head and glanced over.

Shi Yuan shuddered all over, and the tail behind him immediately drooped.

Hawthorne rarely called him by name. Whenever he did, it was always his full name, spoken clearly and in perfectly standard Chinese.

This troubled Shi Yuan immensely.

Every time Hawthorne did this, it was because Shi Yuan hadn’t done his experiment correctly that day and would be kept behind for a private tutoring session!

And it was a tutoring session in Chinese!

It was truly bizarre.

Hawthorne, a native-born Brit, could speak fluent Chinese, even more accurately than some of Shi Yuan’s own compatriots.

As soon as the lab session ended, the seniors and juniors all left. Ophelia gave Shi Yuan a sympathetic look, then gathered her things and dashed off like a dog chasing a rabbit, afraid of being kept behind by Hawthorne to redo the experiment, just like Shi Yuan.

Shi Yuan pouted, sitting at the lab table like a little mushroom, his head drooping, looking utterly pitiful and miserable.

Hawthorne glanced at him, rolled up his sleeves, and demonstrated step-by-step the procedure Shi Yuan had just done wrong.

He was talking so much that it was almost unrecognizable from his usual aloof demeanor in the dorm.

Kang University had a long-standing tradition: in addition to enjoying world-class faculty and teaching resources, undergraduates would receive one-on-one tutoring from doctoral students—each senior guiding three or four juniors—to answer questions and clear up doubts after class.

Unfortunately, Shi Yuan had fallen into Hawthorne’s clutches.

During their two years living together, they hardly spoke in the dorm. Besides their mutual dislike, another reason was that they had already exhausted all their words in the lab.

The only problem was, despite Hawthorne’s lengthy explanations, Shi Yuan hadn’t absorbed a single word.

His attention was entirely fixed on Hawthorne’s face.

How could someone be so perfectly proportioned? Western bone structure, Eastern skin—clearly, his nose, eyebrows, and eyes were all typical Western features, yet combined, he looked even more Chinese than a Chinese person, like a character model straight out of a fantasy novel.

Shi Yuan’s mind began to drift.

Ophelia’s words had indeed reminded him.

Since he couldn’t find a rival of equal caliber, the only solution now was probably for him and Hawthorne to have a child, merging their superior genes, to surpass the other in looks.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t give birth.

Shi Yuan lowered his head, staring at the bulge between his legs with unprecedented disdain.

You’re just unnecessary!

“Shi Yuan?” Hawthorne noticed he seemed distracted and called his name several times before Shi Yuan finally responded.

Shi Yuan: “Huh!”

Snapping back to reality, he realized Hawthorne’s handsome face was getting closer and closer. His ears flushed instantly, and he quickly took two steps back, putting some distance between them.

Hawthorne sighed and reluctantly started over.

Fortunately, today’s extra tutoring session didn’t last too long. It ended right on time, just as Shi Yuan needed to leave for his evening shift at the bar.

Shi Yuan felt he had been acting strangely all day. As soon as the tutoring ended, he wasted no time, packed his things, quickly changed his clothes, and rode his bike to the bar.

This job was the most satisfying one he had found in his three years of studying in the UK.

Rumor had it that the bar owner came from a mysterious, immensely wealthy family with impeccable taste. Not long ago, he had spent a fortune to buy the land where the bar was located. After the purchase, he didn’t bother managing it, yet all employees received high salaries. Even part-time servers like Shi Yuan earned an astonishing hourly wage of £100.

A dream job like this was hard to come by.

Normally, he would have needed ten part-time jobs to match the income from this one.

After all, working here for a day earned him £800. By working just two days a week, he could cover his tuition and living expenses for the entire academic year.

Shi Yuan thought the owner was practically running a charity.

Calling him a “wealthy boss” felt too vulgar.

He even spontaneously imagined a profile for this mysterious owner—most likely a kind-hearted, nearly ninety-year-old white-haired old man passionate about philanthropy.

Just as Shi Yuan had shaken off the bad mood Hawthorne had brought him and was ready to fully embrace his dream job, he turned around and saw Hawthorne sitting alone in a green leather booth, drinking glass after glass.

All his enthusiasm was instantly extinguished by the ever-present Hawthorne.

He was definitely being targeted!

Shi Yuan was suddenly furious, feeling an unprecedented surge of anger.

Originally, his strategy had been to face a worthy opponent, endure hardships, and wait for the right moment to settle the score.

But Hawthorne was practically performing a crime thriller right in front of him. In a couple more days, he might just go from being a guest in a foreign land to scattered fragments of a guest in a foreign land.

A Brit getting up in the face of a tough Chinese guy, acting this arrogantly—what the hell was he still lying low for?

Shi Yuan abruptly stood up and stormed toward Hawthorne, intending to lay everything out on the table.

But Hawthorne had already noticed him. Under his unblinking gaze, Shi Yuan’s bravado faded with every step.

Several times, he even wanted to turn around and flee, but thankfully, the innate backbone of a Chinese person kept him going.

When you’re away from home, you can’t embarrass the Chinese people.

With that thought, Shi Yuan walked straight up to Hawthorne, casually picked up the glass of wine on his table, and downed it in one gulp.

Alcohol really does embolden the timid.

Shi Yuan let out a loud “Hey-ha!” and struck a cool pose, looking down at Hawthorne from above, ready to deliver an important speech.

But just as expected, the unexpected happened.

Someone had left an empty wine bottle on the floor, and Shi Yuan stepped right on it, immediately taking a spectacular tumble.

As he fell straight toward Hawthorne, he closed his eyes and accepted his fate.

He’d aimed too high, damn it.

Shi Yuan landed softly and gracefully in Hawthorne’s arms.

Hawthorne’s thigh was hard as a rock, jabbing painfully into Shi Yuan’s butt, making his eyes water and his face flush red.

Falling into a Brit’s arms was embarrassing enough, but crying like a delicate flower in a Brit’s arms was downright humiliating.

Shi Yuan didn’t want to lose all face in front of Hawthorne forever, so in a flash of inspiration, he buried his face in Hawthorne’s neck.

Now his face couldn’t be seen.

A moment of humility in exchange for a lifetime of pride—total victory.

Victorious, Shi Yuan pressed himself tightly against Hawthorne’s chest and whispered softly, “Th-thank you, Senior.”

Hawthorne: “…”

Shi Yuan thought to himself how clever he was.

Even after falling into a Brit’s arms, he remembered to stay polite and didn’t embarrass the Chinese people.

Such an embarrassing reaction went unseen by the Brit—Chinese tough guys rule.

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