I'm Pregnant With My Arch-Nemesis's Child - Chapter 8

The outdoor air was much fresher, and most importantly, it was free from the noisy, suggestive comments heard inside.

Chi Yuan found a pavilion and sat down. He deliberately ignored the presence beside him, appearing to admire the garden scenery while refusing to spare even a glance for Lu Huai.

Lu Huai moved closer to Chi Yuan. Knowing him as he did over the years, he understood that the other man had no intention of engaging with him. He remained silent for a long moment, watching the deep gloom etched between Chi Yuan’s brows, before carefully opening his mouth.

“I…”

“Do not tell me you are actually here to have a heart-to-heart with me?” Chi Yuan interrupted him before he could finish. His face was lit with blatant mockery, his words as sharp as ever.

Chi Yuan stood up and walked toward Lu Huai. He swept a gaze over his face, then lowered his head to fiddle with the buttons on Lu Huai’s shirt, his tone playful. “You can put on an act in front of our parents, but for us…” He seemed to remember something and scoffed. “Do we have anything worth saying to each other?”

“Chi Yuan!” Seeing him turn to leave, Lu Huai raised his voice. He usually kept his emotions restrained, but at this moment, they seemed to be slipping. He frowned deeply and paused. “Why are you angry?”

Perhaps there had been too many games of mutual provocation between them that Lu Huai no longer found Chi Yuan’s words hurtful. He smiled with a hint of self-mockery, determined to get an answer. Perhaps he was not as rational as he imagined himself to be. He wanted to know if Chi Yuan truly cared about the loss itself, or if he cared that the loss was at Lu Huai’s hands.

The question Lu Huai had been unsure of earlier was now pointedly raised. Chi Yuan gritted his teeth, turned around in a rage, and retorted, “Are you humiliating me? Is it not enough for you to know you won? Must you force me to spell out exactly how much you beat me?”

Chi Yuan’s expression was like a blade. He stared at Lu Huai from two meters away, grinding his teeth. “Do not push your luck.”

Perhaps Lu Huai had anticipated this reaction before asking. Faced with the questioning and the other man’s fury, he simply gazed at everything before him with a calm expression, neither retreating nor avoiding the anger.

“Is that really it…”

Lu Huai laughed softly, hiding the flicker in his eyes. “There is give and take in business. You are not unaware of that principle. Are you truly bothered by me getting the Star River project, or are you bothered that I kept it from you?”

The latter part of the sentence was a desperate gamble that only Lu Huai understood. He locked his gaze onto Chi Yuan, watching as the man suddenly frowned.

The alcohol Lu Huai had forced himself to drink earlier to appease Chi Yuan’s father was burning in his stomach. The heat seemed to course through his body, coiling tightly around his frayed nerves. He looked at Chi Yuan with obsession.

That I kept it from you? The malice of that assumption was unknown, but as Chi Yuan’s sarcastic words reached his lips, they were forced back by the sight of Lu Huai’s bright eyes. He fell into a silent standoff, one that left him incredibly irritated.

He knew that deception and psychological maneuvering were the foundations of business. Why should anyone tell him about their company affairs? The fact that he learned of the partnership so early proved that Lu Huai had not tried to hide it. Why, then, did such a mundane event stir his emotions?

Chi Yuan pressed his lips together, unable to reconcile logic with Lu Huai’s persistence, making his expression even colder and harder.

“Hidden? Lu Huai, who do you think you are to define our relationship with the word trust? You have a rather high opinion of yourself.”

“So, you only care about the loss…” Lu Huai lowered his eyes, his lips curling into a faint, shallow shape, before he looked up with the disdain Chi Yuan knew so well. “Then President Chi’s capacity for tolerance is truly small.”

No matter how calmly things started, they always seemed to evolve into this.

Chi Yuan frowned, his tongue pressing against the roof of his mouth. He felt he was truly sick to have stopped just now because of Lu Huai’s shout, only to be insulted for no reason.

He irritably unbuttoned his cuffs, staring at Lu Huai with a mocking gaze. This time, he did not want the other man to leave.

“I am not like you. You can easily manipulate others, and even think of schemes like feigning defeat to throw people off the scent.” He laughed lightly. “Is losing not normal?”

Words he had previously avoided escaped his lips under the guidance of his anger. Problems he could not understand were solved the moment they were spoken, even if the person who said them remained oblivious. From beginning to end, he was simply angry that Lu Huai had played him for a fool.

He was full of fire but had to maintain a polished facade. Chi Yuan felt Lu Huai was a role model for hypocrisy. In his memories, no matter what happened, the other man never lost his composure. He was always like this, standing cold and aloof not far away, looking down on him as a perpetual victor, a stance that was nauseating.

When Lu Huai heard Chi Yuan’s words, he was stunned. Every implication in Chi Yuan’s sentences aligned with the apology he had prepared. However, looking at the back of the man walking away in a rage, he knew no words would keep him there. The previous conflict made any explanation seem ill-timed.

For a long time, Lu Huai buried his head and curled his lips in a bitter smile.

The suffocating atmosphere between them lasted until the end of the gathering.

After saying his goodbyes, Chi Yuan called Cheng Ye. He did not know where the other man was, but the background noise was so loud that Chi Yuan frowned and held the phone away from his ear.

“Hello? Brother Chi? Why are you calling me?” Cheng Ye knew the other man had been in a foul mood lately, as the news of his breakup with Fang Qiming had spread. Knowing he was close to Chi Yuan, Cheng Ye had been too afraid to bother him.

“Come out and drink.” Chi Yuan rested his head against the car window. The lights of passing vehicles created a flickering play of light and shadow across his handsome face, adding to his air of decadence.

“Finally looking for your brother?” Cheng Ye covered his other ear to listen clearly. He chuckled. “Are you done with Lu Huai? Didn’t you want to focus on work? It feels like the work of the entire world is on you two; you have half, and he has the other…” Cheng Ye said as he bid farewell to his group.

“Do not mention him to me.” Chi Yuan’s eyes were filled with deep hostility. He lowered his voice. “I want nothing to do with him.”

Rarely hearing Chi Yuan express such raw emotion, Cheng Ye paused but quickly played along. “Fine, I will just drink with you tonight! Where are you?”

Chi Yuan gave the driver a location and told Cheng Ye to meet him there.

Hanging up the phone, his mind felt muddled, as if soaked in the bubbles of fermenting liquor.

There were too many complicated things happening lately, Chi Yuan thought with a bitter smile. Fortunately, he had a thick skin. Sometimes he wondered if he and Lu Huai were destined to clash; for two years, everything had been calm, but as soon as the other man returned, life felt like it was full of unforeseen challenges.

He broke up with Fang Qiming, who had acted indecorously, yet it was Chi Yuan who ended up looking messy. Then there was this business deal where he thought he had won but ended up looking foolish. He had rarely experienced a sense of defeat in his life, but he had felt it completely at the hands of Lu Huai.

When did this entanglement start? Chi Yuan struggled to pull himself out of his intoxication, forcing himself to recall. The earliest memories were hazy, but the true ones began with rivalry; they were both born leaders, and neither would submit to the other. As for what happened later, it was just a natural continuation of their back-and-forth.

He did not know if it was his age or his recent exhaustion, but Chi Yuan felt a fire in his chest he could neither spit out nor swallow. He briefly entertained the thought of saying this is meaningless, which felt like a disguised plea for mercy.

So, he could only think: Forget it. He was willing to avoid Lu Huai, but Lu Huai might not be willing to let him go, even though it always seemed to be Chi Yuan who was picking a fight.

His eyes reflected the bustling traffic, the flickering lights merging into a deep, meaningful shimmer.

Cheng Ye exited and re-entered the app three times in disbelief before confirming that Chi Yuan had actually suggested a quiet bar. It was even playing violin music, which made Cheng Ye rub his newly dyed hair, feeling quite out of place.

But it only lasted a moment. Cheng Ye had survived the social scene for years on his thick skin. He sat at the bar in an outrageously fashionable outfit, ignoring the staff’s stares, and ordered several drinks with practiced ease, waiting for Chi Yuan to arrive.

He was just about to text Chi Yuan when he saw a prominent red dot on his WeChat. The name Lu Huai stood out at the very top.

He did not remember when he had added him, but the history was clear. Before today’s message, there was only a lonely “Hello” he had sent to Lu Huai.

What could we possibly talk about? Cheng Ye wondered, but before he could look closer, he saw Chi Yuan standing at the entrance, clearly searching for him.

He hurriedly shoved the phone into his pocket and waved to Chi Yuan. “Over here.”

“Why so dejected?”

Chi Yuan’s expression did not change as he grabbed the strongest drink and downed it. The ice cubes in the glass clinked together, prompting Cheng Ye to call out, “Slow down!”

Leaning against the bar, their conversation was fragmented. Chi Yuan picked the important parts. He looked at Cheng Ye and smiled sarcastically. “A few pieces of bad news, and a few pieces of good news.” He did not ask which one Cheng Ye wanted to hear first. Accompanied by the melodic violin, his voice was low.

“The bad news is that my parents know I was dating Fang Qiming.” Seeing Cheng Ye’s hesitation, he played the punchline himself. “The good news is that they do not need to worry, as we have already broken up.”

Cheng Ye sighed and patted his brother’s back as if to encourage him, then downed a drink with Chi Yuan.

“Did you not just sign a contract? Was it not snatched from that person?” Because he remembered Chi Yuan’s warning about not mentioning him, he swallowed Lu Huai’s name. “That counts as career progress, right?”

“Lu Huai…” Chi Yuan chuckled, his phoenix-like eyes lifted in mockery. “That was him half-willingly yielding to me. He has his own considerations.”

“Playing with me…”

It was still frustrating. Chi Yuan looked listless, glancing over the array of liquor bottles as if seriously contemplating his choice.

Cheng Ye did not know how to comfort him. He understood Chi Yuan; once he spoke this much, he had reached his limit. The man would never reveal his own vulnerability or awkwardness, so his comfort was useless.

He sighed and looked at Chi Yuan. “So, you went to dinner with Lu Huai’s family today?”

“Yes.”

Unable to watch his brother sink, Cheng Ye decided to voice the thought that had been circling his mind. He had been too afraid to confirm it, but he felt it was worth a try. If it were true, it might make Chi Yuan happy.

Chi Yuan seemed to remember something and found it funny himself. He glanced at Cheng Ye with a smirk. “Lu Huai is quite interesting. I think he must have studied linguistics abroad. How else could he combine provocation and disgusting behavior so perfectly?”

Cheng Ye was shocked, sensing something off. “What did he say?”

The alcohol began to set in. Chi Yuan’s eyes were watery, and everything in his mind was a tangled mess. He did not want to overthink it, so he gave a perfunctory answer: “He asked if I could not afford to lose or if I hated him for keeping it from me.”

“Him? Why would I be angry that he kept it from me?” The anger was obvious, but the speaker was oblivious, stubbornly insisting, “He was just taking a roundabout way to call me a sore loser.”

Cheng Ye was disappointed to hear sore loser, but upon hearing the latter half, he laughed. “Keeping it from you… for Lu Huai’s personality, asking that question is still quite interesting.”

“What is interesting about it? Is he mocking me?” Chi Yuan drank again, fierce and quick, clearly intending to get drunk. Cheng Ye was helpless but could not stop him.

“You remember it even when you are drunk, is that not caring?” Cheng Ye muttered. While Chi Yuan was still sober, he asked with hidden meaning: “Have you never thought that Lu Huai…”

“What about him?” Chi Yuan frowned impatiently. “Speak only half a sentence, and watch your tongue.”

Cheng Ye went for broke. “Does Lu Huai have a thing for you?”

“!” Chi Yuan sobered up instantly. He looked at the bottle, compared it to Cheng Ye’s head, and barked, “Do you know what you are saying?”

“Perhaps…” Seeing the man ready to fight, Cheng Ye’s momentum faded. He waved his hand. “Just a guess.”

“Then, hearing this hypothesis, do you feel disgusted?”

Chi Yuan’s brain had not caught up, and he really followed Cheng Ye’s line of thought. When he realized it, his expression darkened. “Why would I think of such a hypothesis? Are you normal, Cheng Ye?”

Cheng Ye gritted his teeth. “Then why did Lu Huai bother messaging me?” Even though he had not clicked it, seeing Chi Yuan’s state tonight and knowing their relationship, which started and ended with Chi Yuan, Cheng Ye felt his guess was likely correct.

“Messaging what?” Chi Yuan raised an eyebrow, genuinely doubtful.

Cheng Ye took out his phone.