His Sunday Substitute - Chapter 53

Early in the morning, Su Yinuo woke up much earlier than usual. Since she had no idea where the servants had put the clothes she’d worn the day before, she had no choice but to rummage through Qin Wangxuan’s walk-in closet for something relatively fitted to change into.

Hearing the noise, Qin Wangxuan groggily kicked off the blanket and sat up from the couch. He shuffled into the walk-in closet and wrapped his arms around Su Yinuo from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder as she stood there in an oversized wool sweater. “Sorry,” he murmured. “Forgot to get you some clothes. After the hospital today, I’ll take you shopping.”

“Stop clinging to me. Get off!” Su Yinuo snapped irritably.

“Alright, alright,” Qin Wangxuan released her and straightened up, his gaze lingering on the expanse of fair skin exposed by the sweater’s wide neckline. A faint red mark from his chin still lingered there, and his mind began to wander.

Her skin’s so sensitive, just a little pressure leaves a mark. If I were to go a little harder during sex, wouldn’t her whole body turn red?

Stop! Don’t think about that!

He shook his head, but as Su Yinuo turned around, another thought suddenly struck him. “Hey, I don’t see any bra straps. Don’t tell me you’re not wearing one? Wow, that’s-”

Slap!

Su Yinuo’s palm struck his face.

Qin Wangxuan clutched his cheek but trailed after her with a grin, his heart racing. I’m not washing this sweater! I’m sleeping with it tonight!

An hour later, the two arrived at the hospital. Since the car was bugged, Qin Wangxuan had kept quiet the entire ride. Only after getting out did he finally ask, “So, how exactly are you planning to handle the prenatal checkup?”

Su Yinuo didn’t answer. Instead, she stood on tiptoe, scanning the crowd as if searching for someone.

“Did you arrange to meet someone?” Qin Wangxuan asked curiously.

“Yes,” Su Yinuo replied, looping her arm through his. “And don’t call me sister-in-law later. You’ll scare people.”

Though he wasn’t sure what she was up to, Qin Wangxuan’s heart swelled with glee. He patted her hand where it rested on his arm and grinned. “Then should I call you wife?”

“Whatever,” Su Yinuo rolled her eyes.

After a while, Su Yinuo finally spotted her target amidst the bustling crowd at the entrance of the outpatient building—a young woman she’d connected with the night before on a local forum. The woman, newly pregnant, wore a plain, well-worn black down jacket, along with the agreed-upon red scarf and black knit cap. She stood by the wall, shifting from foot to foot.

Su Yinuo tugged Qin Wangxuan along as she approached cheerfully. “Excuse me, are you ‘Winter Sunflower’?”

The woman, whose username was “Winter Sunflower”, nodded timidly, her expression cautious.

“I’m ‘Nuonuo,’ the one who posted yesterday. This is my fiancé,” Su Yinuo said with a smile. “Shall we talk somewhere quieter?”

Qin Wangxuan gave a smug wave. “Nice to meet you.”

The two led Winter Sunflower to a sparsely populated café on the west side of the hospital. Su Yinuo ordered her a cup of hot milk, and after some small talk, learned that her real name was Zhang Ying.

Su Yinuo handed her a card and got down to business: “Here, this is my medical card with a prepaid balance of five thousand. You can check the remaining balance when you make payments later. As I mentioned in my post, I can cover all the costs of your prenatal checkups. If five thousand isn’t enough, I’ll top it up later. But what I didn’t mention in the post were my conditions, which I could only discuss in person. My requirement is that you must use this medical card linked to my identity for all your checkups. When you register your maternity records, you must fill in the information I provide. Also, after you review any prenatal reports, you must hand them over to me. Understood?”

Zhang Ying took the card without asking any questions and nodded, saying, “Okay.”

Su Yinuo hadn’t expected her to agree so readily. Surprised and relieved, she exhaled softly.

Qin Wangxuan finally understood Su Yinuo’s plan and looked at her with admiration. However, he still had some doubts. “But honey, what about when Ms. Zhang gives birth? If she’s hospitalized, they’ll definitely need to verify her ID.”

“I won’t be giving birth here,” Zhang Ying quickly waved her hand, smiling shyly. “I’ll go back to my hometown for that. I’m just here with my husband while he works, but I’ll return home when it’s time to deliver. Right now, I just need to make sure the baby is healthy.”

After Zhang Ying left, Qin Wangxuan wrapped his arms around Su Yinuo and praised, “Wow, I never knew my wife was so clever! How did you come up with this idea?”

The term “wife” rolled off his tongue more smoothly each time he said it.

The restaurant was warm, and Su Yinuo had long since taken off her down jacket. Qin Wangxuan’s arms enveloped her slender frame, clad only in a thin wool sweater, and his hands began to roam restlessly over her waist through the fabric.

Su Yinuo pushed his face away as he leaned in too close and replied, “There are plenty of people in this world who need money. I thought of this because once, when I took my mom to the doctor, I accidentally used my own medical card. The doctor didn’t ask a single question, and all the reports were issued under my name.”

“You can use this method to delay things until delivery! I originally thought about bribing doctors but doing that too often would raise suspicions. Your idea is much better!”

Qin Wangxuan, like an overly affectionate big dog, nuzzled his head against Su Yinuo’s long hair and whispered in her ear, “But how many months are you planning to delay, honey? Can you find the evidence you need in just one or two months? If not, the pregnancy won’t stay hidden for long.” As he spoke, his fingers slipped beneath her sweater, tracing the warm, smooth skin of her waist.

Su Yinuo shuddered and instinctively raised her hand, but after glancing at the nearby waiter, she lowered it again and hissed, “Let go! Don’t make me slap you in public!”

Qin Wangxuan pressed his face against her still-raised hand, savouring the soft warmth of her palm, and grinned. “Go ahead, slap me.”

Su Yinuo froze for a moment before a wave of helplessness and frustration surged through her. She knew her influence was limited, no matter how hard she tried, bringing down Qin Weishu would be an uphill battle. To achieve her goal, she needed outside help, and right now, the only person she could rely on was Qin Wangxuan.

Pretending to be pregnant was never part of the plan to begin with, how could such a risky endeavour ever go completely according to plan? Now that things had come to this, the path ahead grew increasingly difficult. She simply couldn’t afford to fall out with him, couldn’t afford to sever ties, couldn’t afford not to endure his increasingly bold and presumptuous advances. And who knew, perhaps one day, for the sake of some goal, she might even have to…

If it truly came to that, even if she succeeded in the end, would she still be able to stay with Qin Cangye? Would Qin Cangye still want her?

At this thought, Su Yinuo’s tears spilled over.

No… he wouldn’t, would he? He definitely wouldn’t want me anymore. He wouldn’t want me anymore…

But he would have a stable life, a future worth looking forward to. For a long time to come, he would meet someone who made his heart flutter again, and he would enjoy the peace and happiness he had never known before.

Actually, that wouldn’t be so bad. Even if he didn’t want me anymore…

Su Yinuo’s tears fell like a dam breaking. Only now did she realize that the trajectories of her life and Qin Cangye’s, after briefly intersecting, would likely stretch toward distant horizons where they would never meet again.

Maybe we were never suited for each other from the start. We really weren’t…

Lost in her pain, Su Yinuo didn’t hear Qin Wangxuan’s frantic calls beside her. It wasn’t until he shook her shoulders and shouted her name that she fully snapped out of it.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I was wrong, please don’t be like this,” Qin Wangxuan kept apologizing in a panic. “It’s my fault, all my fault. If you’re angry, hit me however you want, just don’t be so upset.”

Qin Wangxuan was genuinely frightened. He hadn’t expected his little test to provoke such an intense reaction from Su Yinuo. The pain and despair pouring from those beautiful eyes had terrified him. If they hadn’t been in public, he would have dropped to his knees right then and there.

“Don’t cry, it’s my fault. I’m a scoundrel,” Qin Wangxuan wanted to hug her to comfort her but feared upsetting her further. Flustered, he pulled out tissues to wipe her tears, then suddenly remembered the video of Qin Cangye he’d received the night before. “Sis, let me show you something good, a video of my brother at the rehab center. Do you want to see it?”

Only then did Su Yinuo stop crying and look at Qin Wangxuan.

“The attending doctor reports to me weekly about my brother’s recovery progress…” Qin Wangxuan took out his phone, but before he could unlock it, Su Yinuo snatched it from him.

Clutching the phone tightly, Su Yinuo opened WeChat and immediately spotted the doctor’s profile picture amid the messy chat logs. She tapped it and saw the face she had longed for day and night.

Her head drooped, her long hair spilling down to shield both her face and the phone, as if isolating her and the image of Qin Cangye within into a quiet little world of their own.

Su Yinuo watched the less-than-three-minute video over and over, tracing her fingers across Qin Cangye’s image on the screen. After more than ten minutes, she forwarded the video to herself and returned the phone to Qin Wangxuan.

He’s doing so well.

A faint smile gradually appeared on Su Yinuo’s face, and certain convictions solidified once more in her heart: I’ll make sure he lives this well for the rest of his life!

“From now on, send me every weekly report and video,” Su Yinuo said.

“Alright, alright,” Qin Wangxuan quickly responded. Seeing Su Yinuo’s emotions stabilize, he breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, he felt utterly dejected. He lamented inwardly: I was originally planning to use these videos to ask for a reward.

After Zhang Ying finished her check-up, she returned to the restaurant and handed the medical records, blood test and ultrasound reports, and the medical card to Su Yinuo. With a shy yet unmistakable joy on her face, she said, “The doctor said the baby is very stable. Thank you both. The doctor also told me to come back in three months to set up a prenatal file. Should we stay in touch until then?”

“Of course, we’ll keep in touch on WeChat. Take care of yourself,” Su Yinuo replied with a smile.

After seeing Zhang Ying off, Qin Wangxuan took Su Yinuo to the mall and bought a mountain of things. He didn’t care about the price or the brand, if Su Yinuo’s gaze lingered on something for more than a few seconds, he would decisively make the purchase, leaving the sales assistants envious.

“How about catching a movie after dinner?” Qin Wangxuan had already decided to treat the day as a sweet date.

“No, let’s go back. There’s something important to do,” Su Yinuo mercilessly rejected him.

Qin Wangxuan, carrying over a dozen shopping bags in one hand, wrapped his other arm around Su Yinuo’s shoulders. He bent down slightly, a bit dejected, and whispered in her ear, “Then let’s eat out. I’ll find a quiet restaurant. Whatever your plan is, let me know so I can cooperate.”

Su Yinuo thought for a moment. Whether in the car or at home, there were always people watching. It was indeed more appropriate to talk outside, so she nodded in agreement.

Qin Wangxuan grinned happily and led Su Yinuo into an upscale restaurant.

The restaurant was sparsely populated. After handing the shopping bags to a waiter, Qin Wangxuan guided Su Yinuo toward a private room in the back. They had only taken a few steps when they heard an exclamation from behind: “Nuo Nuo?”

Su Yinuo turned around and saw Li Jinmiao standing at the entrance of a nearby private room, her face twisted in displeasure. Beside her were two familiar faces she hadn’t seen in a long time: Ji Wenjun and Zhang Yifeng.

Zhang Yifeng wore an awkward smile and waved at Su Yinuo. Ji Wenjun, after a brief moment of surprise, noticeably avoided her gaze in an unnatural manner.

Qin Wangxuan immediately picked up on the scent of a romantic rival. Without hesitation, he moved his hand from Su Yinuo’s shoulder to her waist, boldly asserting his dominance. With a smile, he said, “What a coincidence, Miss Li. Fancy running into you again.”