The Cold Side Character from a Male-Lead Novel is Pregnant - Chapter 4

“Taking my money to go hook up with someone else; does that make you feel good?”

?

Chen Kan was stunned.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that in the years since their breakup, Chen Kan had imagined Yan Yu being jealous over him more than once.

Perhaps it would be Yan Yu silently turning his face away upon seeing him walking side-by-side with someone else; or perhaps, assuming he had found a new love, Yan Yu would pretend not to know him and storm off.

He had never expected a scene quite like the one before him.

Yan Yu had actually raised his hand and slapped him; the burning sting on his cheek was undeniably real.

At this moment, Yan Yu was gripping his collar tightly. His eyes were rimmed with red, and tears fell silently. Those eyes, usually so cold they bordered on indifferent, were now brimming with moisture, possessing a breathtaking, soul-stirring splendor that was beautiful beyond words.

Chen Kan stared coldly at Yan Yu for a moment, and suddenly, he found himself unable to say anything at all.

Could Yan Yu have mistaken him for someone else?

Chen Kan managed a cold sneer, tentatively reminding a Yan Yu who didn’t seem fully awake: “Look closely. I’m your Ex-Number-One.”

The hatred in Yan Yu’s eyes burned even more vividly: “Bullshit. I’ve been with you for ten years; where would ‘Number One’ or ‘Number Two’ even come from?”

Chen Kan used his knee to pin Yan Yu’s slender yet resilient waist. He froze upon hearing those words.

“Yan Yu, where did we get ten years from?”

Chen Kan’s implication was clear: Had Yan Yu never taken their brief six months to heart? And was the so-called “first love” Yan Yu told him about back then nothing but a lie?

Slap!

Another slap came flying toward him.

This time, however, Chen Kan caught Yan Yu’s wrist in time. The blow landed only as a muffled thud against Chen Kan’s solid chest.

Yan Yu’s voice was as cold as ice, and his gaze was chillingly thin:

“Chen Kan, you had me wrapped around your finger before I was even of age. You tricked me into bed the very day I turned eighteen. We’ve played every game there is to play, and I’ve wasted my best ten years on you. Now you want to flatly deny it?”

Chen Kan frowned, realizing that Yan Yu’s memory had clearly become scrambled.

He took the opportunity to grasp Yan Yu’s left wrist, raising it to his eyes for a closer look.

The bloodline had already extended five centimeters, meandering past the elbow. The complex patterns resembled ancient totems, but the color had turned a dark, murky black. Yan Yu’s skin also gave off an unnaturally lustrous glow.

He suspected that Yan Yu was completely under the control of an Inner Demon, and the form it took was diametrically opposed to what was expected.

Before he could think further, Yan Yu grabbed his collar and gave it a violent yank.

Chen Kan was startled; he hadn’t expected he still had “scenes” to play.

Yan Yu’s thin body exploded with surprising strength as he dragged Chen Kan by the collar toward the foyer.

As they passed little Yuyuan, the Alaskan Malamute immediately picked up his leash, trotted over, and sensibly tilted his head up, offering one end of the leash to Yan Yu’s hand.

Yan Yu had no time for the dog right now.

Chen Kan glanced down at the dog and nimbly dodged the bulky creature, allowing Yan Yu to drag him by the collar to the foyer.

A second later, Yan Yu snatched a card from the foyer table, the very one Chen Kan had just gotten from the massage parlor, and slammed it hard against Chen Kan’s chest.

It was just as decisive as the way he had slammed the envelope onto the dashboard earlier that evening.

“Confess. When did you get this card?”

Yan Yu’s tone was like that of a superior interrogating a subordinate who had committed a grave error.

Chen Kan’s frown deepened. Although he felt a sense of déjà vu, he answered truthfully:

“Two hours ago.”

“How much money is in it? How much of my assets have you embezzled?”

“Three thousand. What do you mean ’embezzled your assets’?” Chen Kan蹙眉. “This is a massage card I got for you.”

“Heh, for me?” Yan Yu looked up at him, his eyes ablaze with fury. “Then why is the cardholder’s name Teng Pian?”

“Who is Teng Pian?”

“That little boy you’re hooking up with.”

Teng Pian, a little boy.

A flash of inspiration struck Chen Kan’s mind, and he suddenly remembered.

Wasn’t that name, which reeked of absurdity, a character from an audiobook that Zhu Que had recommended to him on a short-video app a few days ago?

Having reached middle age, Zhu Que did indeed have a habit of scrolling through short videos. He loved wandering through various platforms and would mass-share any audiobook he found interesting. Consequently, Chen Kan’s chat history with him was perennially filled with bizarre links ranging from Deep Analysis of the Annals of Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han to Introduction to Residential and Graveyard Feng Shui and even Postpartum Care and Efficient Breeding of Sows.

Suddenly one day, a recommendation for an audiobook titled Wealth is Finally Free, but the Money All Ran Away popped up. Chen Kan had thought the title was peculiar at the time and clicked it to listen to a short snippet.

He forgot the protagonist. He forgot the scumbag ex. He only remembered the “third wheel” was named Teng Pian because when combined with the dialogue of their arguments, the name sounded like “effervescent tablet.”

Unfortunately, Chen Kan hadn’t listened any further. To find it now, he would have to dig through thousands of Old Zhu’s shared records. So, he planned to soothe Yan Yu first and look for it slowly later.

“Do you still remember who you are?”

“Duh.”

“Then do you remember what you have to do at six tomorrow?”

Yan Yu’s stern expression wavered slightly. He stuffed the massage card into his pocket, clearly remembering he had an early shift. True to his personality, he checked the time: “I’m going to sleep. You stay home tomorrow and trim the dog’s nails. When I call after work, you’re coming with me to the bank to verify the cardholder information.”

Chen Kan: “…”

Chen Kan kept a cold face and didn’t raise any objections for the time being. While listening to Yan Yu’s arrangements, he tried to gather more useful information from his words. While being dragged around by Yan Yu earlier, he had already checked Yan Yu’s spiritual energy status.

Yan Yu’s spiritual energy remained as steady and weak as usual, with no abnormalities. Now, the only concern was Yan Yu’s mental state: whether he was dangerous, whether he possessed enough capacity to work, and whether he could make clear judgments regarding basic facts.

He followed Yan Yu to the guest bedroom.

As they walked, he asked, “Since you hate me so much, do you want to kill me?”

Chen Kan used this blunt, direct method of questioning to evaluate Yan Yu’s level of danger.

Yan Yu seemed to think he was being unreasonable. He turned back and looked at him coldly: “I suggest you return my property first, and then commit suicide.”

Chen Kan mentally checked a box. “Then do you remember the work you handed over to Xiao Yu and the others tonight?”

Yan Yu thought he was being bizarre and interrupted before he could finish: “What does the work I handed over to Yu Jing have to do with you? Do your own job and stay out of my business.”

He still remembered his subordinates’ names; it seemed the problem wasn’t too severe. Let’s ask about traffic rules next.

“If you were,” Chen Kan weighed his words, “driving up a narrow mountain road with no center line, and an oncoming vehicle was driving down, and both vehicles met at a curve where neither could yield. At that moment, who do you think should yield to whom?”

“Are you mental?”

Yan Yu was already lying in bed, having turned off the bedside lamp to sleep.

Yet here was a “telephone pole” nearly two meters tall standing by his bed, testing him on his driver’s license exam.

Had Chen Kan been dating that homewrecker for so long that his brain had turned to mush?

Yan Yu opened his eyes, which had already been closed, his gaze cold and furious. “Chen Kan, are you intentionally looking for trouble?”

Chen Kan stood there expressionlessly. Alarm bells were ringing in his mind, but his words were provocative: “You couldn’t possibly be ignorant of such basic traffic common sense, could you?”

Yan Yu suddenly grabbed a pillow and threw it irritably at Chen Kan: “Get out!”

Chen Kan nodded expressionlessly. He thought that Yan Yu might have forgotten some common sense and might not be able to care for himself effectively. So, while picking up the pillow, he said to Yan Yu, “Go to sleep. I’ll drive you to work at five-thirty tomorrow morning.”

And so, early the next morning.

Every on-duty staff member in the Criminal Investigation Detachment’s Forensic Lab witnessed Captain Chen, sporting two dark circles under his eyes, personally driving Director Yan to work in the Director’s own car.

“Eh? Is there a new case? How come you two came together?” Yu Jing探出頭. His question seemed innocent enough, but every ear in the forensic lab was pinned back.

Before Chen Kan could speak, Yan Yu’s icy voice came from behind him:

“He’s my newly hired driver.” As Yan Yu took off his coat and hung it up, he gave Chen Kan an expressionless glance. “He’s on probation. The main areas of evaluation are his mastery of traffic rules and his moral character.”

Chen Kan: “…”

With those obvious dark circles and his habitually expressionless, stern face, he looked exactly like a high-end bodyguard being exploited by an unscrupulous boss and not daring to speak up.

“Oh, a driver!” Yu Jing drawled, exchanging a “I get it, we all get it” look with Xiao Zhang.

Yan Yu didn’t bother with his subordinates’ meaningful glances and walked straight toward his office. A second before entering, he paused and threw a sentence over his shoulder without looking back:

“Be in the garage at five-thirty sharp to wait for me. I’ll deduct from your pay if you’re late.”

With that, there was a loud bang as the door shut. But Director Yan’s “deduct from your pay” echoed through the forensic lab corridor with a lingering, dramatic flair.

Meanwhile.

Chen Kan stood there with a grim face.

Since the Inner Demon had ensnared Yan Yu, they hadn’t kissed for over eight hours. Yan Yu’s spiritual energy was thin, and during pregnancy, he would likely need much more comfort.

But…

How was he supposed to tell the current Yan Yu something like that?

Facing the curious gazes coming from all directions, Chen Kan could only keep a straight face. He raised his hand to adjust his collar, which wasn’t actually messy. Unexpectedly, Yu Jing plucked up the courage to lean in closer, his voice low and his face unable to hide a grin as he teased:

“Ahem, Captain Chen, Director Yan’s ‘driver’ benefits sound pretty strict, huh? You even have to be tested on traffic rules and moral character? Tee-hee.”

Yu Jing特意在 “moral character” four words added emphasis.

Chen Kan stopped in his tracks and gave him a faint glance. “Yu Jing?” Chen Kan’s voice wasn’t loud, but it carried an unquestionable pressure. “Do you find yourself with too much free time?”

“No, no! I’m going to work right now!”

Scared by that cold face that showed no hint of a joke, Yu Jing quickly swallowed the rest of his teasing. He shrunk his neck and bolted faster than a rabbit.

Chen Kan’s gaze swept elsewhere, and the crowd instantly scattered like birds and beasts, leaving only a thick, suffocating air of gossip lingering in the hallway.

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