The Popular Darling Says She’s Pregnant with My Child - Chapter 33

Xia Te frowned, asking in confusion, “What did you just say?”

Su Yan sighed and changed his tune. “Nothing. However… I still suggest you find a professional makeup artist and designer to take a look.”

Xia Te was defiant. Of course, she had worked with many professional makeup artists, but today’s look—with its bold use of color and uniquely tailored dress—was a masterpiece born from her own sudden spark of inspiration.

Seeing that Su Yan had no intention of coming along and lacked any sense of appreciation, Xia Te simply set off on her own.

To her surprise, Wen Shiyu was at the hospital alone, using her crutches somewhat awkwardly. She seemed to be intending to head out.

Seraphina was nowhere to be seen.

“Where is Seraphina?” Xia Te asked as she approached.

Wen Shiyu looked up. Her gaze lingered on Xia Te’s face for a moment, carrying a hint of unmistakable confusion.

“Something came up at home, so she went back first.”

She hesitated for a moment before pointing at Xia Te’s cheek. “Um… do you need to go wash your face first?”

Xia Te’s face instantly flushed crimson.

One after another, what was everyone’s problem?

She touched her face. Was the makeup she had so painstakingly designed really that unattractive?

However, the fact that Wen Shiyu looked ready to go out soon made her stop dwelling on the issue. Instead, she asked, “Where are you going?”

“I have to go to the school office,” Wen Shiyu explained.

She had just received a notice from the school saying there seemed to be a problem with her tuition payment.

A faint sense of unease settled in the pit of Wen Shiyu’s stomach.

She wondered if this was a sign that the Cavendish family had decided to terminate their deal.

Perhaps they had begun to believe that making her leave Seraphina would be better for Seraphina’s condition…?

The wording of the notice was vague, and Wen Shiyu knew she had to go and ask in person to find out the truth.

Beside her, Xia Te’s eyes lit up, and she chimed in almost immediately, “I’ll go with you.”

Her tone was brisk, and she didn’t even give Wen Shiyu a chance to refuse. She led her out of the ward without further discussion. “My car is downstairs; it’ll be very fast.”

Wen Shiyu, still on crutches, stumbled slightly as she was pulled along, leaving her no choice but to get into the eye-catching silver sports car.

Xia Te’s “helpfulness,” however, did not last long. When the car slid to a halt in front of the school administration building, she glimpsed the faint outlines of people nearby… some students had already returned to campus early.

Suddenly, she no longer wanted to continue moving with Wen Shiyu.

After all, she still remembered the previous discussions on the school forum. She wasn’t like Su Yan.

She only wanted to see Wen Shiyu flustered and lost; she didn’t want to appear too kind to her in front of others.

Wen Shiyu didn’t mind; she had intended to come by herself anyway.

She walked slowly with her crutches while Xia Te split off from her, heading directly for the main entrance of the teaching administration building. There was a beautiful, large automatic revolving door there.

Unexpectedly, because the hem of the high-slit long dress Xia Te was wearing was excessively flowy, a soft “rip” was heard just as she stepped inside. The edge of her skirt had been caught in the gap of the revolving door!

She let out a low cry of fright. Her whole body was jerked backward, and the entire hem of her skirt was violently torn open.

This was the lobby of the administration building, and there were already groups of returning students scattered about. There were also security guards.

The gazes of the onlookers felt like needles pricking her, and Xia Te’s face instantly burned red.

She was, after all, a young lady of status. She had never experienced such an embarrassing scene.

Time seemed to freeze for a moment, yet it also felt as if it were stretching out infinitely. Everyone was looking on coldly.

Xia Te clenched her palms. For a split second, the dark impulses in her heart surfaced—she truly wanted everyone who had accidentally seen her predicament to be expelled!

Just then, a coat carrying body warmth was draped around her waist, tightly and securely covering her embarrassment.

“It’s okay.”

It was actually Wen Shiyu.

She had rushed over from the side. Perhaps because she had hurried through those last few steps, her voice sounded a bit winded.

“Go to the restroom first,” Wen Shiyu whispered as she looked down to help her completely tear away the snagged hem. She reminded her gently, “Call someone to bring you a change of clothes.”

Xia Te looked at her blankly.

There was no excess emotion on Wen Shiyu’s face; she wasn’t flustered, nor did she show pity. She was simply handling the problem calmly.

This composure and kindness caused Xia Te to inexplicably calm down from her extreme emotions. She glanced around.

Actually, because the school term hadn’t officially started yet, there weren’t many people in the lobby. With Wen Shiyu’s coat covering her in time, only a few people had likely seen her blunder.

Xia Te nodded, clutched Wen Shiyu’s coat tightly around her waist, and walked quickly to the nearest restroom.

Inside the stall, Xia Te could only wrap herself in Wen Shiyu’s coat, which carried a faint, clean scent. She checked her phone and, sure enough, no one dared to post news about her. Hmph, at least they’re smart.

Inevitably, thoughts of Wen Shiyu surfaced in her mind again.

When Wen Shiyu sent the coat over just now, did she land on her injured foot? The one being humiliated wasn’t her, so why did she exert herself so much…?

Although her mind desperately tried to find some fault to dislike Wen Shiyu for, she actually had to admit that she didn’t seem to hate Wen Shiyu quite so much anymore…

As for the others, she was feeling uncharacteristically magnanimous and decided to let it go.

After waiting for a long time, a maid from her house rushed over with new clothes. Only then did Xia Te take off Wen Shiyu’s coat.

Perhaps because the dress had been such a failure, Xia Te became more subdued and took the opportunity to wash the makeup off her face as well.

When she walked out of the restroom, she saw Wen Shiyu standing quietly by the floor-to-ceiling window of the building lobby, looking outside.

Outside the window were the sparse branches of winter, and the sky was a dull grayish-blue.

Because Wen Shiyu had given her the coat, she was only wearing her thin hospital gown. As she stood there silently, the tip of her nose was red from the cold, and her entire face looked even more pale and clean under the cool light, like a silent sketch.

Xia Te had now forgotten about being seen by others. Instead, she walked over instinctively, her tone complex.

“Are you just standing here freezing?”

“I don’t have your contact information,” Wen Shiyu said truthfully. “Besides, I’ve already gone into the office to ask.”

She paused and sighed. “They said my tuition is indeed currently in arrears.”

It seemed the Cavendish family did intend to terminate the previous agreement.

Although her family’s crisis had been temporarily alleviated by the loan Seraphina provided earlier, they were still just barely getting by.

Asking her parents to scrape together this tuition fee now would likely not be an easy task for the family.

“So, you plan to let Seraphina pay for you?” Xia Te said knowingly, crossing her arms.

Wen Shiyu was looking down while putting her coat back on, and she froze upon hearing this. “How could that be possible?”

The tuition was not a small amount. How could she casually open her mouth to ask Seraphina for it?

Even if the tuition meant nothing to these young ladies, it was still a vast sum of money to Wen Shiyu.

Furthermore, if she accepted Seraphina’s financial aid, would she still be able to help the other woman recover from her phantom pregnancy?

She would likely only become more passive, forced to do whatever Seraphina said.

That might not necessarily be a good thing for Seraphina.

Xia Te watched Wen Shiyu worry and intentionally mocked her.

“Hehe, if I had known this earlier, you shouldn’t have been so hypocritical back when you made your wish to me about making Seraphina hate you. If you had kept that wish, I could help you pay this tuition now.”

Xia Te lifted her head proudly. In her eyes, the tuition fee really wasn’t much at all.

And yet, it was making things so difficult for Wen Shiyu.

For someone like Wen Shiyu, who had no background and was financially strapped, facing a situation where a life-saving bit of funding had vanished after being within reach should surely result in an expression of regret or resentment, right?

Wen Shiyu, however, shook her head. She didn’t seem to care about Xia Te’s words at all.

“If there’s no other way, I’ll apply for a leave of absence and go back home…”

She could return for her degree once she raised the money later.

She just didn’t know if Seraphina would be very upset without her there.

Her family had already taken action, wanting to drive her away. Perhaps… they already had a new solution for Seraphina’s illness?

Surely they wouldn’t want Seraphina to wake up from the phantom pregnancy while vomiting and fainting?

“What leave of absence?” Xia Te felt a sudden, inexplicable surge of frustration because of Wen Shiyu’s overly calm answer.

Why was she still acting so considerate, calm, and free of desire… after all this, she still hadn’t seen Wen Shiyu lose her composure.

Xia Te bit her lip and finally just blurted out, “Fine, I’ll pay for you!”

She couldn’t let Seraphina find out about this, otherwise, Seraphina would definitely pay without hesitation.

In that case, the connection between those two would only become tighter.

Conversely, if she were the one to pay… she could rightfully “control” Wen Shiyu.

Xia Te had actually already made up her mind.

“Just consider those ‘suggestions’ from earlier as free gifts,” Xia Te said, already pulling Wen Shiyu toward the office again. “Now, this counts as truly fulfilling the promise of that ‘flower.’ When I think of what wish I want to make… you absolutely cannot go back on your word.”

—

By the time Wen Shiyu returned to the ward, Seraphina was already there. She had even brought a wheelchair.

Upon seeing her, Seraphina immediately approached, her face showing obvious anxiety and displeasure.

“Where did you go? I arrived and you were nowhere to be found.”

“Your leg hasn’t healed yet; how can you go running around?”

Wen Shiyu had no choice but to explain, “The school office suddenly asked me to go over…”

Seraphina froze, her expression instantly turning to worry. “Did you encounter any problems?”

“It’s okay, it’s all been resolved,” Xia Te answered first from the side.

Seraphina sighed softly and asked Wen Shiyu in a low voice, “My family… they didn’t contact you, did they?”

Wen Shiyu hesitated for a moment but still shook her head. After all, they hadn’t contacted her directly; they had only indirectly cut off the funding.

Seraphina’s expression was grave. Clearly, her own return home this time had involved being “lectured” by her family, the themes being to stay away from Wen Shiyu and to give up the child.

But from her expression, she seemed determined to resist to the end.

She turned to Wen Shiyu and suddenly announced, “You should move directly into my dormitory.”

“Huh?” Wen Shiyu was startled.

“School is about to start. How can you live alone in your condition?”

If Wen Shiyu lived with her, she could also prevent her family from catching her off guard and sending Wen Shiyu away directly.

She felt this decision was perfectly reasonable.

Wen Shiyu, however, immediately felt a very heavy gaze coming from Xia Te behind her.

“Uh…”

She tried to decline. “It’s not necessary… I can manage on my own. These crutches are very convenient.”

“What if you fall?”

“There will always be classmates to help…”

Seraphina became unhappy. She felt Wen Shiyu was deliberately rejecting her.

Without saying another word, she pushed the wheelchair she had brought over.

“Sit down.”

“Eh?”

Seraphina pressed down on her shoulder with one hand, forcing Wen Shiyu into the wheelchair. Then she grabbed the handles and began to push Wen Shiyu out.

Wen Shiyu even felt the sensation of being pushed back into the seat, and her eyes widened involuntarily.

Seraphina had been particularly gentle and considerate these past few days, making her almost forget this young lady’s willful side.

The wheelchair was pushed straight toward the hospital entrance, where Seraphina’s car was already waiting.

“I haven’t picked up my luggage yet…” Wen Shiyu made a final struggle.

Seeing that she wanted to stand up, Seraphina leaned down and held her with both hands, firmly securing her in the back seat of the car.

Wen Shiyu only had one usable leg and was easily subdued.

Seraphina usually wasn’t as strong as Wen Shiyu, but at this moment, the corners of her mouth curled up slightly, as if she had found some kind of joy in this.

While buckling her seatbelt, her hand even carried a playful intent as she pressed down on Wen Shiyu’s healthy leg.

“Look at you, you have no strength right now. You can’t go anywhere.”

“You can only obediently rely on me.”

What was this… Wen Shiyu felt inexplicably embarrassed.

She clearly could have managed on her own… it was Seraphina who wouldn’t let her.

Xia Te stood at the hospital entrance in disbelief, watching the car carry the two of them away. Neither of them even looked back at her.

…It was as if they had forgotten her.

Xia Te stomped her foot in place out of anger, but she suddenly glimpsed another car slowly approaching and stopping not far away.

The person who got out of the car was dressed formally, and their face looked somewhat familiar.

She squinted to see more clearly and recognized that it seemed to be an assistant from the Cavendish family.

Hiss. It seemed Seraphina’s worries weren’t misplaced—was her family truly trying to drive Wen Shiyu away?

Xia Te pursed her lips, wondering what their plan was.

How could mere distance possibly stop Seraphina?

Besides, the phantom pregnancy would get better eventually, right? Why were they in such a hurry? It looked as though things were about to become even more complicated.

Xia Te brushed off her pants and also slipped away secretly. It was for the best that they didn’t know she was the one who helped Wen Shiyu pay the tuition.