Chapter 10: The House on Golden Avenue

After hearing Wang Zhao’s words, Li Zhenguan’s expression became even worse.

At the table earlier, Wang Zhao clearly hadn’t eaten much either. He had originally been enduring the discomfort and forced down one bite, but then the nausea came up, forcing him to make a trip to the bathroom, after which he couldn’t eat anymore.

Now that Wang Zhao had said those two words to him, he momentarily thought she was tired of him, and fell into self-blame.

Wang Zhao hadn’t noticed this yet. She walked ahead carrying the takeout box, paid the bill at the front desk, and only looked back at Li Zhenguan after taking a few steps out of the restaurant.

She found that his expression was very off, his face had even turned somewhat pale.

“What’s wrong?” Wang Zhao stopped and asked softly, “Still not feeling well?”

Li Zhenguan lowered his head without speaking. His fingers twitched, wanting to reach for Wang Zhao’s hand, but he didn’t dare.

Wang Zhao stood opposite him, unable to see the emotions in the man’s eyes. She furrowed her brow slightly, suppressing the slight annoyance in her heart, her voice still gentle.

Her treatment of Li Zhenguan now was mostly out of a sense of responsibility. Although he was within her aesthetic range, he was still too troublesome, making her somewhat uncomfortable.

“I wasn’t considerate enough earlier. You’re just at three months now, which is when morning sickness is at its peak.”

“Let’s go, we’ll talk more after we go downstairs,” she said.

Hearing this, Li Zhenguan glanced up at the woman, the paleness on his face now diminishing. He nodded.

In the elevator, Wang Zhao spoke up: “I’m not too full either. Is there anything else you want to eat besides Sichuan and Hunan cuisine?”

She added, “Nothing too heavy though. Before we left, uncle specifically reminded me to be mindful of the diet, and we have a prenatal checkup tomorrow morning.”

After get in the car, she put the takeout box in the back seat. Li Zhenguan finally said in a low voice that he wanted to eat noodles.

This surprised her a bit.

“What kind of noodles?”

“Clear soup silver thread vegetarian noodles,” Li Zhenguan said a bit embarrassedly. He added, “It’s a Sichuan snack.”

“I just suddenly had a craving for it,” he said, glancing at Wang Zhao again. But Wang Zhao’s face showed no expression, she just nodded and looked at her phone seriously. His eyelashes trembled a few times, clearly somewhat disappointed.

However, Wang Zhao didn’t notice this at the moment. She sat in the car checking her phone and found that there was a noodle shop not far from her home that happened to have a dish called exactly that. She couldn’t help but feel relieved.

She was afraid if they delayed any longer, it would be dark.

After finding this nearby noodle shop, she asked Li Zhenguan, and then drove there.

This trip took over an hour. The noodle shop was a very small restaurant. Wang Zhao was a bit worried at first, after all, Li Zhenguan was pregnant. But she found that although small, the restaurant was quite clean, so her furrowed brow relaxed a little.

However, she still decided in her heart that next time they went on a date, she should consider things more thoroughly and try to avoid eating out. Li Zhenguan seemed quite delicate.

By the time they finished eating, it was already very late. The original plan to go watch a movie was also cancelled, because the pregnant man needed to go to bed early, as staying up late was bad for his health.

Despite the pregnant man’s objections, she directly sent Li Zhenguan home. By then it was already past seven, and it was eight o’clock by the time she got home.

She replied to Li Zhenguan’s message saying she had arrived home. As soon as she opened the door, she heard movement from the living room.

Wang Xuechun and Zhang Ke were sitting in the living room watching TV. They looked over almost as soon as they heard the movement at the door, clearly waiting for her, otherwise the two would have already returned to their room.

“Did you send Zhenguan home?” Wang Xuechun asked.

Wang Zhao nodded.

Only then did Wang Xuechun make a sound of acknowledgment, and then didn’t know what else to say. The child had grown up, and she was habitually absent in playing a role in Wang Zhao’s life, so some words couldn’t be said.

Instead, it was the father who smiled and beckoned, “Zhao’er, come over here for a moment. We have something to tell you.”

Wang Zhao didn’t understand what it was about, but still walked over and sat on the single sofa in the living room. At this time, she looked up and saw an old-looking box placed on the coffee table in front of her. It looked quite ancient.

The box was already open, with some things inside that looked like contracts or documents.

She had some guesses in her heart and couldn’t help but look at the two people sitting on the sofa.

“Your father and I have discussed it and decided to tell you about the family situation,” Wang Xuechun spoke up at this time.

“These are the savings your father and I have accumulated over the years. We only have three to four hundred thousand in cash in the bank. Your father and I have bought some funds and other financial products, some of which can’t be withdrawn at the moment. We have two houses, besides the one we’re living in now, there’s another one on Golden Avenue.”

Wang Zhao looked at Wang Xuechun and Zhang Ke, falling silent for a moment. Even though she was a newcomer, without the affection of the original body’s years of interaction with her parents, she was still quite moved at this moment.

In her silence, the father also noticed his daughter’s expression and smiled, “This isn’t all of the savings your mother and I have. You don’t need to worry, we two old folks have still kept some pension money. When we’re old, we won’t need you to take care of us. Your mother and I aren’t so useless as to rely on you.”

“You’re starting a family now. Zhenguan’s family is well-off. You young people nowadays don’t like living with your parents. When you get married, you’ll definitely move out. You can take a look at the house on Golden Avenue when you have time. As for how to decorate it, you can discuss it with Zhenguan later. If you don’t want to live there, that’s fine too. You two young people can decide.”

“But you’re a woman after all, our side will definitely have to contribute more. We can’t let Li’s family have any complaints,” Zhang Ke said. “We’ve done what we should on our side. Your mother and I have only saved this much over the years. The rest will be up to you two to work hard for.”

Wang Xuechun told her the passwords for several bank cards and passbooks: “The property certificate for the house on Golden Avenue is in your name. These two bank cards have about 200,000 yuan. Now that you’re starting a family, you can’t be without some money in hand. But don’t spend it recklessly. Your father and I are quite at ease with your nature. As for the rest, it’s still with your father and me. You just need to have some idea of the family savings.”

Parents are generally the same all over the world. Those who don’t love their daughters and sons are in the minority. Even though the world has changed, with yin and yang reversed, parents’ love for their children will never change.

Wang Zhao still accepted the two bank cards. She only had seventy or eighty thousand in hand now. If she got married, Li Zhenguan’s child would be born, which would be a big expense.

Raising a child costs much more than raising an adult. Li Zhenguan was still a child himself, so in the end, it would all fall on her. The little money left by the original body wouldn’t even make a splash when thrown in.

However, of the money her parents gave for supporting the family, she only planned to keep thirty thousand in hand and invest the rest in financial products. Wang Zhao found that she seemed to have some knowledge of financial investment, and the original body had also been investing, having bought sixty to seventy thousand worth of financial products, which had earned quite a bit of money in two years.

Most of the original body’s money came from scholarships and part-time job wages during her studies, which had been saved and not spent much. Unexpectedly, it benefited her.

But thinking again, it wasn’t really benefiting her, after all, she would be raising the original body’s child.

Despite thinking this way, Wang Zhao still couldn’t sleep for a long time after returning to her room. The two bank cards under her pillow seemed to be a bit uncomfortable.

In fact, since she had arrived in this world, she had always been unsure how to interact with the original body’s parents. So apart from eating or sleeping, she spent most of her time away from home.

On one hand, it was to figure out what this world was all about, and on the other hand, it was to avoid the two elders at home. So since being discharged from the hospital, she basically didn’t stay at home, spending all her time in the library.

She touched the bank cards under her pillow and couldn’t help but smile bitterly. Humans are very complex animals. After spending time together, one can be moved by some inconspicuous things.

Affection comes from spending time together. Sometimes blood ties don’t play such a big role in relationships, at most serving as a connection.

However, no matter how chaotic her mind was, Wang Zhao still forced herself to sleep.

She was a self-disciplined person who had arrangements for her daily schedule. Early the next morning, she still had to pick up Li Zhenguan to go to the hospital for a prenatal checkup, so no matter how messy her mind was, she forced herself to sleep.

This prenatal checkup was to diagnose whether the fetus had any chromosomal diseases or deformities, also called an NT examination.

Li Zhenguan had told her about it a few days ago, also showing concern. Wang Zhao had comforted him several times, but it didn’t seem to help much.