After The Straight Guy Mistakenly Hooked Up With A Strict, Old-Fashioned Daddy, He Ended Up Pregnant - Chapter 1

On a fine, sunny afternoon on the campus of A University, passersby couldn’t help but pause for a second or two as they passed a local café.

Sitting by the window was an exceptionally handsome young man. He had cool white skin, a tall and lean frame, and a pair of striking peach-blossom eyes set into features as exquisitely carved as a sculpture.

Right now, however, there wasn’t a trace of warmth in his eyes as he stared coldly at the girl seated across from him.

“Breaking up?”

“Yes.” Lili was wearing a simple white shirt and jeans, her wavy ponytail resting on her shoulder as her eyes met Chen Zao’s head-on.

Chen Zao searched Lili’s eyes for guilt or unease. Unfortunately, there was none. He found the situation absurdly laughable.

“Is there anything you asked for that I didn’t buy you?”

Chen Zao found it utterly baffling. “You wanted Dior lipsticks, Gucci bags, Cartier bracelets—didn’t I buy all of them for you? What could you possibly be dissatisfied with?”

“Yes, you did give them to me, but what good are they?”

Lili let out a soft laugh. “Chen Zao, I’m graduating this year. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a job right now? Can you get me a job?”

“I…”

“I know your family owns a company, but you’re just a student. What kind of say could you possibly have?”

A sharp, throbbing pain shot through his stomach. Chen Zao’s lips turned pale, and he involuntarily hunched his back. The coffee and soufflé on the table had long since gone ice-cold; he hadn’t taken a single bite, nor did he have any appetite left.

Lili self-absorbedly continued, “Dr. Qin is different. He’s a physician at a top-tier tertiary hospital with broad connections. As soon as I said I needed a job, he helped me find one immediately. I can start right after graduation.”

“So, while you were still with me, you were already cheating on me with him, right?” Chen Zao endured the pain, trying hard to ignore his aching stomach as he glared at Lili.

“Don’t make it sound so ugly—it’s called choosing the better option,” Lili shrugged. “To me, you’re more like a younger brother.”

“I’m leaving.” Lili slung her bag over her shoulder. “Take care of yourself.”

“Stop right there,” Chen Zao called out.

It felt as though a sharp stone were jumping around inside his stomach. A thin layer of cold sweat broke out across Chen Zao’s hairline. He gripped the edge of the table and stood up. “Return the stuff.”

Lili was taken aback. “What?”

Chen Zao repeated, “Return all the luxury items I gave you.”

“I mean…” Lili was somewhat reluctant, clutching her bag tightly. “There’s no need to be so stingy, is there?”

Stingy?

Chen Zao raised his head and glanced around. The café was quiet, with most patrons enjoying their afternoon tea.

He turned his gaze back to Lili. His peach-blossom eyes suddenly curved into a smile, and before Lili could figure out what was happening, he deliberately raised his voice, drawing the attention of everyone around them.

“So you’re allowed to cheat on me, but I’m not allowed to take back the gifts I bought you?”

Instantly, the café stirred with activity. Standing in place, Lili felt the scrutiny of dozens of eyes staring at her. Her face flushed pale and red by turns, but she dug her heels in. “Those were gifts from you…”

“When I gave them to you, were you already flirting with another man? Since you’re shameless enough to do that, why should I care about saving face for you? Hand it all back. Even if I throw it in the trash, I won’t leave it with you.”

Seeing that Lili was still unwilling, Chen Zao rallied the surrounding crowd. “Everyone, help me judge this! This woman has been with me for less than two months, and I’ve spent at least twenty thousand on her. Not only did she cheat on me and dump me the moment she found a better prospect, but she won’t even give my stuff back!”

“Little girl, that’s really uncalled for,” an auntie at the neighboring table chimed in. “Scamming him out of his feelings and his money! It’s generous of him not to take you to court!”

“That’s right, show some conscience!”

“Give him his money back!”

As the onlookers voiced their agreement one after another, Lili’s complexion turned completely sour. She pulled the items out of her bag and slammed them on the table, unclasped the necklace around her neck, and tossed her bracelet down as well. “Fine! From now on, we have nothing to do with each other!”

Just as she turned to leave, Chen Zao stopped her once more.

“What now?” She whirled around.

Chen Zao crossed his arms, raising his chin slightly. “Your bag—I bought that too.”

“…”

Lili walked away empty-handed to the sound of cheers and applause echoing around the room. Chen Zao sat back down, staring at the pile of luxury goods on the table as stomach acid surged in waves up his throat.

“That is beyond shameless!”

That evening, after listening to Chen Zao’s grievances, his cousin Chen Meng voiced her thoughts.

Chen Zao leaned back against his headboard, setting his tablet on his lap for a video call with her. “A doctor? Looks like a beast in fine clothing to me.”

Chen Meng added, “And a beast who steals other people’s girlfriends, no less!”

“So what are you going to do? Are you just going to let them off the hook like this?”

“Do you think that’s possible?” Chen Zao pulled his takeaway order onto the table, popped the lid, and took a whiff. Frowning, he pushed the takeout aside and pulled a half-eaten bag of potato chips from yesterday out of the cabinet.

“I’m going to give them a taste of their own medicine. Since I’m miserable, they shouldn’t expect to be happy either.”

Chen Meng praised him enthusiastically, “As expected of you! That’s the Chen Zao I know, haha! Got a plan yet?”

“Of course,” Chen Zao tossed the chips aside and pulled up a presentation file. “I’ve already asked my friend who is interning at A University First Affiliated Hospital to look into him.”

Chen Meng leaned closer to the screen and saw a magnified ID photo with a blue background on the slide.

The man in the photo was remarkably handsome, wearing an immaculate white lab coat with silver-framed glasses resting on his high nose bridge. He possessed a pair of narrow phoenix eyes that stared forward with an expression that was icy, distant, and intensely ascetic.

“Qin Er, Associate Director of Cardiology at A University First Affiliated Hospital. He’s a homophobic straight guy, and my friend once saw Lili with him.”

Chen Zao stared at Qin Er’s personal file on the screen, his peach-blossom eyes crinkling into a confident smile. “I’m going to cross-dress as a girl, seduce him, and make him fall in love with me!”

At A University First Affiliated Hospital.

Qin Er finished his surgery and returned to the department office. As he took off his white coat, his eyes behind the thin lenses swept over the coat rack behind the door. The stained, dirty white coats hung there in disarray, causing him to knit his brows slightly.

When Shen Muxin walked in, he saw Qin Er meticulously folding his lab coat before placing it inside his dedicated locker, tucking an antique pocket watch into his shirt pocket.

“Dr. Qin, do you remember the symposium we attended together last week?” Shen Muxin took off his own lab coat and casually hung it behind the door.

Qin Er walked over to the sink and turned on the tap. “Mm.”

Shen Muxin walked over. “My friend’s younger brother saw you and really liked you. He said you’re his ideal type and asked me to get your WeChat. Are you interested?”

After scrubbing his palms and the backs of his hands, Qin Er rubbed every single finger clean with liquid soap. “I don’t like men.”

Shen Muxin sighed, “Sigh, I knew it. What kind of women do you like then? I can introduce someone to you instead.”

Water rushed from the faucet. Qin Er rinsed his hands clean and wiped them dry. “You won’t be able to find one.”

“Huh?” Shen Muxin was baffled. “Find what?”

Qin Er didn’t answer. He retrieved his car keys and coat from his locker and left.

The weather was clear and bright, the sky a vivid blue. Traffic flowed steadily along the road, and two rows of street trees flashed past the window. The new real estate development project of the Qin Corporation soon came into Qin Er’s view.

Qin Er merely cast a faint glance toward it before looking straight ahead, letting the Qin Corporation sign sweep past.

The car turned into an upscale residential community.

After parking, Qin Er took the elevator upstairs. Upon entering his home, he put on his slippers, arranged his leather shoes neatly in the shoe cabinet, loosened his tie, and went into the bathroom to shower.

After showering, he changed into dark black silk pajamas, walked into the kitchen to pour a glass of water, and prepared to cook dinner.

On the kitchen countertop, beakers, test tubes, and balance scales of various sizes were lined up in neat rows.

Qin Er turned on the induction stove, his gaze behind his silver-framed glasses fixed on a cooking video playing on his tablet.

“Next, we add two small teaspoons of light soy sauce, which is about one milliliter…”

Qin Er glanced over the counter, picked up the soy sauce bottle, and pulled a 2 mL syringe from a drawer. Inserting the needle into the bottle opening, he pulled back the plunger to draw the dark liquid—exactly one milliliter, no more, no less.

“Add a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar, then stir the sauce…”

Sugar went on the left pan of the balance scale, salt on the right, until the scale rested in complete equilibrium. Only then did Qin Er stop, pouring the ingredients into a bowl.

Having prepared his meal with painstaking precision, he brought it to the dining table and sat down to eat.

Qin Er ate silently, without turning on the TV. He looked like a carefully programmed instrument, consuming his meal bite by bite according to schedule.

After washing all the bowls and pots, he cleaned the entire countertop until it sparkled. The rearranged condiment bottles were aligned as strictly as soldiers on parade before he finally retired to his bedroom to rest.

Freshly laundered clothes hung on the balcony. Qin Er glanced at his antique pocket watch—the hands had stopped five years ago, and the watch face bore old, faint black stains.

Qin Er drew a deep breath and carefully placed the pocket watch beside his bed.

The computer chimed with a notification. It was a message sent by the department director in the work group chat:

[Dr. Qin’s case report on this difficult medical condition was written impeccably. I’m sharing it here for everyone to study.]

Group members popped up like mushrooms after rain, showering Qin Er with praise for his skill and praising his perfection in everything he did.

Qin Er had heard such praise countless times throughout his career. Feeling nothing in particular, he shut down his computer and lay down in bed.

As night deepened, the entire room was enveloped in darkness.

Qin Er closed his eyes for half an hour, only to open them again. He couldn’t sleep—he couldn’t sleep at all.

Ever since he was young, he had demanded ultimate perfection in everything he did. Whether in his studies or his work, he executed tasks flawlessly, surpassing everyone else.

It was precisely because of this ability that almost everything came easily to him.

Yet there was one thing he could not obtain, something he had never even encountered:

A body that conformed to the Golden Ratio.

In his professional career, he had seen people who were fat, thin, tall, and short, but never once had he encountered a body with a perfect Golden Ratio.

This unattainable desire kept him awake night after night.

Qin Er kept his eyes open, his pupils gleaming with a cold light in the dark. On this long, endless night, he was destined to be accompanied only by solitude.

Once the seeds of hatred take root in a person’s heart, they grow deep and firm.

Chen Zao donated all the luxury items Lili had returned to him and spent a fortune enrolling in specialized training courses.

He hired a makeup artist to teach him cosmetics, took voice acting classes to practice altering his voice tone, and went to the gym to refine his posture and carriage.

Half a month later, he placed a video call to Chen Meng.

When Chen Meng accepted the call, she saw a tall, stunning beauty with long, straight black hair standing in front of the camera. Her legs were long and straight, her skin looking as pale and pure as jade against her short black skirt. Beneath her straight black bangs, her peach-blossom eyes looked at the camera with an innocent, pure expression, mixed with a hint of subtle, alluring charm.

“Holy shit…” Chen Meng’s jaw practically hit the floor. “You were truly wasted as a guy for the first twenty years of your life.”

“How is it?” Facing the camera, Chen Zao felt a bit self-conscious and pulled his skirt down slightly, trying to cover his upper thighs. “Does this skirt seem a bit too short?”

“Short is the whole point! Do you have any idea how insanely attractive that move you just did to cover your thighs was?! Forget about men—even I feel like I’m growing something that doesn’t exist!”

“…Restrain yourself, you’re my cousin.”

Chen Meng couldn’t contain her excitement. “This outfit of yours completely outshines your ex-girlfriend. When that Qin Er sees you, he’ll definitely fall for you! What goes around comes around—I can’t wait to see both of their worldviews shatter into pieces!”

Chen Zao burst out laughing. Chen Meng then asked, “By the way, how’s the apartment situation going?”

“Don’t worry, I’ve already signed the lease. I’m moving in next week.” Chen Zao took off his wig and used a pair of scissors to trim the strands.

It turned out that the apartment directly across from Qin Er’s unit was looking for a tenant. Chen Zao had paid double the price to secure the place over another competitor.

Hearing this, Chen Meng couldn’t help but marvel, “You really spared no expense. That’s a high-end complex; the rent must be outrageously expensive.”

Chen Zao put the wig back on and combed it smooth with a wide-tooth comb. “As long as I can make them pay the price, no matter how expensive it is, it doesn’t matter.”

“That’s my younger brother for you! I’ll always support you. Let that pair of scumbags go straight to hell!”

Chen Zao smiled softly, staring at Chen Meng with his pure yet seductive peach-blossom eyes. A sweet, girlish voice came naturally to him: “Sister, I’m hanging up now~”

Amidst Chen Meng’s repeated squeals about her phantom limb, he disconnected the call.

Chen Zao looked at his computer screen, where Qin Er’s photo was displayed. Those narrow, cold phoenix eyes seemed to be gazing back at him right through the screen.

Placing a fair, slender fingertip against Qin Er’s forehead in the photo, Chen Zao made a hand-gun gesture, the corners of his petal-soft lips curving into a playful smirk.

“Bang!”