Running Away While Pregnant with the Villain’s Child - Chapter 10

The sun rose lazily, and the sky brightened bit by bit. The surface of the sea escaped from the clutches of the dark night.

Luo Xingran wrapped herself in a small blanket; the sea breeze still carried a bit of a chill as it blew past. Pei Junzhuo wore only a short-sleeved shirt, yet she didn’t seem to shiver at all.

“It’s so cold. Why don’t you join me and squeeze in for a bit?”

Opening her small blanket, Luo Xingran “ao-wu”-ed and wrapped Pei Junzhuo inside the blanket with her.

Pei Junzhuo, who had been pretending to watch the seascape, suddenly fell into a warm embrace, and the corners of her mouth couldn’t help but curl upward.

“The blanket is a bit small; we really do have to squeeze,” Pei Junzhuo agreed, while secretly wrapping her arm around Luo Xingran’s waist to pull her closer into her arms.

Because the blanket was small, they had to be this close to stay warm.

The sudden hug caused the tips of Luo Xingran’s ears to turn pink. She momentarily wanted to shyly push Pei Junzhuo away, but then felt that such a reaction would be over the top. Besides, she found that she actually quite liked the feeling of this embrace.

As the sun climbed higher, the seawater was stained with its colors.

Holding Luo Xingran while feeling the sea breeze, Pei Junzhuo felt a sense of peace in her heart. She gently leaned her head against the crook of Luo Xingran’s neck.

“If only time could stop right here,” Pei Junzhuo sighed.

“If it stopped here, we wouldn’t be able to go play in other places,” Luo Xingran shook her head slightly in her arms.

To steal half a day of leisure from a floating life—this feeling was truly wonderful.

“Dad… Mom…” As soon as Luo Xingran arrived home, she saw her parents sitting in the living room with cold expressions.

If she had known, she would have come back even later. Sometimes, Junzhuo was right—if time had stopped, she wouldn’t have had to come back to face a scolding.

“So you still know how to come home!” Father Luo wore a look of fury, attempting to make his daughter feel intimidated.

“Alright, why are you shouting so loud?” Mother Luo didn’t give him any face at all. Father Luo felt as though he had been betrayed by his own ally.

“Are you sleepy? You stayed out so late playing; you must be exhausted. Hurry up and go to sleep.” Mother Luo patted her daughter’s backside and ushered her off to bed.

Once Luo Xingran had returned to her room, Father Luo looked at his wife with a look of grievance.

“Why is it always me playing the ‘bad cop’ while you play the ‘good cop’? Can we switch next time?”

Mother Luo snorted, refusing to cooperate. What a joke—nothing was going to shake her standing in her daughter’s heart.

On the other side, Pei Junzhuo had also arrived home.

Unlike the Luo household, Pei Junzhuo was greeted by a cold hrumph from Father Pei the moment she stepped inside.

“You brat, you actually know the way back!” Father Pei was clearly fuming, showering Pei Junzhuo with a face full of disdain.

“You didn’t even bring my daughter-in-law back with you, so what are you doing back here!?” After Father Pei finished speaking, his eyes were filled with unhideable contempt.

“Is that the point? You old geezer, take this seriously!”

Mother Pei looked at her unreliable husband, feeling speechless.

“You… your father and I aren’t completely unaware that you like Xingran. But you also have to consider her parents.”

“It’s one thing to sneak Xingran out to play, but why on earth did you post it in the group chat to tell her parents?”

“Isn’t that just advertising that you’re the one leading Xingran astray?”

“Aren’t you just being silly?” Mother Pei sighed after finishing her lecture.

Pei Junzhuo shook her head after listening and took her mother’s hand. “I didn’t want Luo Mama and Luo Papa to have unnecessary worries because I took Xingran out.”

“In those five years, they already lost so much. I didn’t want to make them sad again.”

After hearing this, Mother Pei simply pulled Pei Junzhuo into her arms and patted her gently. Her daughter always seemed to keep people at a distance on the surface, but her heart was incredibly soft.

“You always have your reasons. You should have just won her over first,” Father Pei shot her a disdainful look.

“Just like you did back then, right?” Mother Pei couldn’t help but poke fun at her husband.

At the mention of the past, Father Pei looked up at the ceiling as if they weren’t talking about him. After all, when it came to “abducting” a young lady, Father Pei’s tactics hadn’t been much different from Pei Junzhuo’s.

In fact, Father Pei had even secretly taught Pei Junzhuo how to win someone over, which places were the most fun, and which small restaurants had the best food.

You could say that a large part of the things Pei Junzhuo took Luo Xingran to eat and do five years ago were taught to her by Father Pei. After all, Pei Junzhuo didn’t usually pay much attention to such things, so she had to consult her father.

At that time, Father Pei only thought his daughter liked some boy. After expressing his disdain for the hypothetical boy, he shared all his knowledge.

Of course, once Father Pei and Mother Pei found out the truth later, they naturally felt like their world was splitting apart.

In the beginning, the Pei and Luo families had tried to intervene. It was only after Luo Xingran suddenly “disappeared” that the adults began to regret it.

From the moment Luo Xingran became “another person,” Pei Junzhuo had lived every day as if she were in hell. As parents, how could they not feel heartbroken? Now that five years had passed, they no longer opposed it. Father Pei had even found a way to comfort his conscience: How can a matter of mutual affection be considered “spoiling” the children?

Thinking of the past made Mother Pei feel uneasy. Back then, Xingran seemed like a different person. Her own child had been desperately seeking help from gods and medicine, and Pei Junzhuo had looked as if she had died once herself.

“My child, your father and I will help you with Xingran’s parents. However, there is one thing I must make clear to you first.”

“Five years have passed. If… if Xingran no longer likes you, Junzhuo, you must let go.”

“One should never use ‘love’ as an excuse to imprison the person they like.”

Mother Pei’s words left Pei Junzhuo frozen in place.

She was right. They had been apart for five years. Perhaps the happiness of the last few days had clouded her mind, making her nearly forget such a crucial point. Time is the most ferocious weapon; it is far too unpredictable…

Pei Junzhuo opened her mouth several times but couldn’t make a sound. Finally, she looked at her mother and nodded with a bitter smile.

“I won’t. I never will,” Pei Junzhuo’s voice was hoarse, filled with an unknown bitterness. “How could I bear to make her unhappy?”

Seeing his wife and child like this, Father Pei naturally felt uncomfortable too.

“Alright, alright, don’t be like this.”

“Meow.” A beautiful Ragdoll cat strolled past Father Pei’s feet.

“Here! Take Xiao Guai with you to provide some ‘assist.’ Wasn’t she raised by you and Xingran together? Maybe if she sees the cat, she’ll remember everything, and all our problems will be solved.”

The Ragdoll cat was scooped up with a look of utter shock on its face; clearly, it was quite speechless.

What on earth are these two-legged beasts doing! Where is that shoveler [owner] who used to engage in battles of wits and courage with me? She hasn’t come to see me for so long, and now she just tosses me here. Hmph, next time I see her, I’m definitely giving her a taste of my claws!

The cat’s inner monologue was incredibly vivid, but unfortunately, not a single person present was aware of its mental activity.

“Oh, right. Why did you suddenly decide to target Li Dan? Now that I think about it, it is strange—how did he manage to find so many loopholes to establish so many companies?”

“That kid seems to have some brains, but his heart is rotten to the core.”

“Any company that works on the same project as him usually ends up either being swallowed whole or going bankrupt. He’s done plenty of things that harm others without even benefiting himself.”

Father Pei thought of Pei Junzhuo’s classmate, and the expression on his face turned quite unpleasant. To be honest, he looked down on people like that. Growing a business shouldn’t rely on slandering or destroying your peers; it should be about healthy competition. Doing business the way Li Dan did rarely led to a good end.

“There is something strange about that man. Xingran’s sudden departure back then is definitely connected to him.”

Pei Junzhuo didn’t reveal everything she knew; she merely spoke enough to leave the rest to her parents’ imagination.

“What? Xingran’s disappearance is related to him?”

Mother Pei was the first to flare up. What a wonderful child Xingran was—to think she vanished because of someone like that. “How is he any different from a human trafficker!” Mother Pei said through gritted teeth.

“So, is that why you’re targeting him?” Father Pei was calmer; he wanted to understand his daughter’s true motive first.

“You could say that,” Pei Junzhuo didn’t deny it. “In school, he has five ‘close female friends,’ three childhood sweethearts, and on top of that, he wants to pursue Xingran.”

Pei Junzhuo remained perfectly composed, while it was now her parents who were losing their cool.

“That little brat! I’ll skin him alive!” This was the furious Father Pei.

“How could he ruin so many girls’ lives!” This was the equally angry Mother Pei.

To put it plainly, over all these years, they had long since come to view Xingran as their own child. Part of the reason they had opposed the two being together back then was that they didn’t want Xingran to be unhappy. How could such young children know if they could truly walk the path of life together? If things changed and someone else entered the picture, how would they face the Luo couple, or Xingran herself?

But now, their mindset had completely shifted. If the two children wanted to date, let them. If Pei Junzhuo ever liked someone else, they’d break her legs. As for Xingran moving on… that child probably wouldn’t. This blatant double standard was the current reality of the Pei couple.

“So, Mom, Dad—I won’t let go. I only want Xingran. I only want her to walk by my side for the rest of my life.” Pei Junzhuo kept her back ramrod straight, a picture of stubborn resolve.

They knew their own child; with Pei Junzhuo’s current attitude, she would absolutely never let go.

“Just get along well with her,” Father Pei nodded.

Mother Pei tossed aside her grey shawl and began pacing irritably. Oh boy, here we go.

“That little brat, actually having designs on our Xingran. I need to find a time to finish him off.”

Very well—the quiet, virtuous image Mother Pei had projected moments ago had completely vanished.

“Wait, honey, wait! We can’t do anything illegal!” Father Pei hurried after his wife, terrified she was heading to the garage to dig out her “equipment” from the old days.

Once upon a time, Mother Pei had been the top assassin in Italy. After becoming a mother, her personality had shifted.

Watching her parents’ retreating backs, Pei Junzhuo curled her lips into a smile. She knew them well; although they agreed to her being with Xingran, they still had lingering doubts. This was the perfect time to find something else to distract them.

That waste of space, Li Dan, was finally proving to be of some use.

The May Day holiday finally arrived. Luo Xingran’s original plans to go out were completely washed away by a torrential downpour.

“Do you want to come over to my house and see the cat?” Pei Junzhuo offered, seeing Luo Xingran’s dispirited look.

Feed a cat for a thousand days, use it for one moment of ‘assist.’

“A kitty?!” Luo Xingran started to look interested.

“Mhm, it’s a Ragdoll,” Pei Junzhuo nodded, her eyes gentle.

“Wow! That must have been really expensive!” Luo Xingran had heard that Ragdolls were pricey, but she couldn’t remember exactly how much.

“I picked her up [as a stray], but her ‘net worth’ is indeed not cheap,” Pei Junzhuo said, trying to pique her curiosity.

“Why? Why?” As expected, Luo Xingran was hooked; her curiosity was piqued.

“When I found Xiao Guai, she was just a kitten and was very seriously ill. To treat her, I think it cost over 20,000 yuan.” Pei Junzhuo took out a photo of Xiao Guai and handed it to Luo Xingran.

“So cute!”

“But 20,000 yuan… that shouldn’t be very expensive for you, right?” Luo Xingran asked, looking puzzled.

“It’s not very expensive for me now,” Pei Junzhuo didn’t argue. But for the two of them back then, 20,000 yuan was their entire life savings—money they had saved up in case they eventually had to leave home. They were afraid their parents would never agree, so they had started working part-time jobs in secret very early on to save their own money.

Later, when they found Xiao Guai, all that money was squandered at the pet hospital because the cat relied on its cute face. They could have told their parents, but because of Xingran’s poor health, the adults in both families refused to let them have pets, fearing germs would make Xingran fall ill more frequently.

So, for a long time, Xiao Guai was a secret kept between the two of them.

“Meow! Meow-meow-meow-meow-meow!”

The moment Xiao Guai saw Luo Xingran, she opened her cat-mouth. Clearly, the kitty was highly dissatisfied that this human had disappeared for so long, and her opening statement was a flurry of cat-language “insults.”

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