My Superstar Ex-Husband is a Yandere
Translator: Fuyu
Chapter 8 - How could she love something that hadn't given anything to her?
Su Jiao looked at her with utter disbelief. "Honey, Bestie, how can you tell such a bold-faced lie and sound so sincere? Your husband has to be from a rich family. If I didn't see you wearing the latest season's clothing every day, I would fall for it."
Li Shihui smiled. "I'm not lying. He's a year older than me. In… In my senior year of college, we got our marriage certificate."
She didn't know if it was because Jiang Minyun had gotten sick, or because she had brought up divorce, but their relationship had heated up after going through that rough patch two weeks ago. The most direct manifestation was she smiled more often, and she no longer brooded over their past.
"No wedding?"
"No."
"No buying a home?"
"No, we were living in a rented apartment at that time."
Later on, Jiang Minyun bought that apartment they had lived in.
Su Jiao clapped her hands. "So Brother-in-law started from nothing. You're so incredibly brave. You betted on a one-in-a-million odds and won."
Li Shihui felt a rare sense of sweetness. She had been married for so long, but she rarely shared details about her marriage. This conversation with Su Jiao was one of those rare exceptions.
Su Jiao's attention was drawn to Li Shihui's mysterious other half. Their university organized subsidized health and wellness retreats and family day events during winter and summer breaks, but Li Shihui either attended alone or didn't go to them. No one had ever met Li Shihui's husband.
Su Jiao's thoughts shifted as she looked at Li Shihui. She took a sip of her latte and asked in curiosity, "Hui-jie, you're almost 30. Are you not planning on having a little princess or prince with your husband? Ohh, I get it. Are you already trying for one? And that's why you didn't want to drink the latte?"
Li Shihui recalled the nights of the past week and blushed. With a regretful tone, she answered, "We have thought about it, but… it hasn't happened."
This was a sensitive topic. Su Jiao tactfully changed the topic and said with a smile, "It'll happen soon. It's just a matter of fate. Right now, I want to find a handsome guy like Zhicheng-ge and have a mischievous baby!"
"Okay." Li Shihui curled her fingers, lost in thought. "Let's put this aside until after the midterm assessments."
Mingcheng University's probationary tenure system followed a "3+3" contract model. In the third year, there would be a midterm assessment for young professors. Although there wasn't any mandatory dismissal rate, professors that didn't meet the mid-term standard would inevitably face increasing pressure during the remaining three years.
Li Shihui had worked hard for three years. She hadn't achieved any major accomplishments, but she had accumulated some minor ones, so she shouldn't have a problem passing the midterm assessment.
She thought; it was time to discuss having a child with Jiang Minyun. If they waited longer, there might be age-related risks?
When she pictured having a beautiful child that resembled Jiang Minyun, her heart melted.
—
"What are you thinking about?" Jiang Minyun sat very close to Li Shihui during dinner. He leaned over until his lips were about to touch her ear. "Are you facing a lot of pressure at work lately? Or did something else happen?"
It was only when Li Shihui felt his breath in her ear that she realized she had been lost in thought for so long. She bit her chopsticks and lightly smiled. "No, I was talking to a friend about trying for a baby."
She expectantly looked at him and asked, "What do you think?"
Jiang Minyun's right hand trembled, but Li Shihui didn't notice.
The red mole under his left eye twitched as he smiled and teased her, "We haven't been using protection, right? You might already be pregnant. How about you go take a test later?"
He paused before adding, "And if you're not pregnant, then I'll work hard tonight?"
Li Shihui's earlobes felt warm. She shyly smiled.
Because of her experience of living in her relatives' home, she desperately wanted to have a child after getting married. She believed from the bottom of her heart that only a family of three constituted a complete family.
When they got married, Jiang Minyun had already become quite busy with his work, but he still promised to fulfill her wish and said he could afford to raise a child.
For many years afterwards, they didn't use contraception, but she never got pregnant. In recent years, she graduated with her PhD and started teaching at Mingcheng University. She was overwhelmed with work, so her attitude towards having a child relaxed.
Su Jiao's advice prompted Li Shihui to once again have thoughts about having a child. Her renewed desire to start a family was like nature returning to full bloom in spring.
Li Shihui shook her head and answered, "Actually, I want to go to the hospital for a check-up." She knew going to the hospital would be inconvenient for him, so she held his left hand and explained, "I meant a check-up for me. It's strange that I haven't gotten pregnant after all these years…"
She didn't think there would be anything wrong with Jiang Minyun's body. As an actor, he had always been strict about managing his figure and health. Moreover, judging from his abilities in that area, he didn't seem to have any problems at all.
Jiang Minyun lowered his head and very naturally ate a bite of food. Suppressing his urge to vomit, he asked, "Don't we have a family doctor? The doctor can pay a home visit to check. Having a child, you can't force it."
"It's not the same. I need to do ultrasound testing and get x-rays and other stuff." She ladled a bowl of soup for him and placed the bowl by his hand. "If I need to get an injection for ovulation induction, it'll be very troublesome."
Jiang Minyun nodded. "I'll go with you. I know of a private hospital that's pretty good."
Okay." Li Shihui's eyes were bright.
And so, the discussion on this topic ended for now.
—
After dinner, Li Shihui was reading papers in the study, and Jiang Minyun was standing on the second-floor balcony and enjoying the breeze. He looked down to admire the large patches of tulips that were meticulously cared for by the property management.
A dirty, large stray chased a small, white, purebred dog into this area and pounced on her. They became one amidst that sea of pure tulips, utterly inseparable.
The scene was so vulgar. Why did the world have so many lowly beasts?
Wasn't Li Shihui a scientist? She spent every day studying things. Did she ever study this problem?
Jiang Minyun, who only had a high school diploma, rested his head in hands and deeply pondered. Could it be that these lowly beasts inherently carry vulgar, despicable, and selfish genes in their blood? So no matter how you educate them, try to influence them, dress them up, nothing would change.
On the contrary, such genes were incredibly resilient. They would be passed down from generation to generation without interruption.
How could such lowly beasts deserve to live?
He stared at the two beasts ruled by biology and sent a message to the property management.
The property management responded very quickly. When they came to chase the dogs away, the two dogs refused to separate.
The owner of the purebred dog also came over. With her hand covering her mouth, she persuaded, "Don't scare them! Let them separate on their own. My Snowy will get hurt!"
Jiang Minyun leaned against the railing and calmly watched the chaotic scene play out. As the stray was finally taken away, he was still wildly barking at the little white dog.
Was that useful?
A useless thing that only knew how to bark.
Get lost.
After a while, he took his phone out from his pocket and typed "ovulation inducing injection".
—
Li Shihui was sitting in the study with the door open. Next to her laptop, her phone suddenly lit up with a text message notification. After she started communicating with Jiang Minyun through text messaging, she hadn't disabled this function.
She checked her phone and saw that the message was from Lin Zhicheng. She had unblocked him after their last meeting.
His message included a link about a cutting-edge research group in the US that was recruiting PhD researchers. The group seemed to have a very close relationship with Lin Zhicheng and his old academic advisor.
He left her a message: compared to the life of an ordinary professor, you'll definitely find more interesting challenges working with Ramesh in the US. The future will undoubtedly belong to Embodied Intelligence.
How could she possibly be qualified for this position? Seeing Lin Zhicheng's "definitely" and "undoubtedly", Li Shihui laughed at his absurdity. Just as she was about to reply back with a refusal, she heard hurried footsteps outside the door, followed by the sound of vomiting.
Li Shihui dropped her phone, rushed out, and saw Jiang Minyun miserably hunched over the sink in the hallway bathroom and throwing up. It looked like he was about to empty his entire stomach.
"Honey, are you okay?" She went over, put her arm around his shoulder, and patted his back. She gently rubbed his not-so-soft abdomen with her other hand and could even feel his muscles twitching occasionally. She furrowed her brow in sympathetic distress and waited for his nausea to subside before filling a cup with water for him to rinse his mouth and wiping his face with warm water. She helped him slowly walk over to the study and sit down on the sofa.
"How about I go get my phone and ask the doctor to come over?" Distressed, she kissed his cheek to comfort him and herself. The image of him collapsing from two weeks ago was still vivid in her memory. And now, out of nowhere, he was throwing up. She felt so distressed.
She thought; Jiang Minyun had always been so healthy and strong. What was wrong?
"No… just sit with me. I'll feel better soon. "
Feeling awful, Jiang Minyun shook his head, grabbed her to stop her, and collapsed onto her as if his bones had been removed. His habit of seeking her for comfort whenever he felt pain had started from so many years ago.
When a person, who is about to freeze to death, is given the chance to embrace the sun, he would desire that moment of warmth and light even if he would be burnt to ashes in the next second.
Li Shihui reached into his clothing and gently massaged his stomach with her soft, warm hand. "Why did you suddenly throw up? Did you catch a cold from not wearing enough clothes at home?"
"How about I hold your hand to go downstairs? I’ll go make you some ginger tea?" She went on and on.
Jiang Minyun had been silent. Still resting his head on her shoulder to ease his pain, he suddenly interrupted her, "Why do you suddenly want a child?"
Li Shihui didn't think deeply. She thought it was just casual conversation. Hugging him, she shared her fantasy with him to distract him, "Don't you think our child will be so cute and loveable? They'll be as handsome and outstanding as you."
Jiang Minyun thought; no, not all. And it's impossible for them to look better than me.
His stomach was still throbbing with pain, as if a long needle had stabbed through his body.
The images he saw from searching "ovulation inducing injection" reminded him of that stuffy, humid summer. In that shady clinic, there was a dirty syringe and a tweezer lying scattered in a pool of dried blood. He was kneeling on the ground, too overcome with vertigo to stand up.
He could hear her continuing to say, "We can be with our child from birth to adulthood. We can bring our child to watch your movies, help our child with their homework, go on vacations together…"
He clutched her hand. Unsatisfied with her answer, he said, "It sounds like you'll treat them better than me."
He thought; you should leave the child to the nanny and the tutor. Feed me before you feed that child. Only go on vacations with me. Book the entire theater and watch my movies, just the two of us.
Stroked his firm, supple cheek, she gently smiled and said, "What are you talking about? We both have to treat our child well, especially well, the very best!"
She looked at him with the world's clearest eyes and said, "I believe we'll be even happier with a child!"
Jiang Minyun looked up at her with a calm expression while thinking; why do I keep being so permissive with you?
He shifted, hugged her back, and asked, "But what if you end up needing to get injections?"
He thought; this is the last chance I'm giving you. Think carefully before you answer. Have you seen that kind of needle? So long and thick. Are you willing to endure the pain of dozens or even hundreds of injections for the sake of inferior genes?
"That's alright." Li Shihui smoothed Jiang Minyun's stray hairs. "If I really have to get injections, then I'll prepare for them. I'm sure the treatment will be successful. Our child will see how much we love him or her and come to us."
She smiled so innocently.
For a moment, Jiang Minyun hated her. Why? Why should she expect him to love a lump of flesh? It was nothing to him. How could she love something that hadn't given anything to her?
It was a mere lump of flesh that hadn't even been formed yet, and yet it received an outpouring of preferential treatment and love. Then what was he? Was he just a tool she used to achieve her objective?
The words were on the tip of his tongue, but he suddenly didn't want to speak. Whatever, that thing would never appear.
Jiang Minyun smiled along with her, snuggled up to her, gently cupped the back of her head with his hand, and kissed her while looking up at her.
Didn't she seriously want to make a baby? Okay.
Jiang Minyun turned over and feasted on his first meal of the day on the sofa on the second floor.
Li Shihui's face was covered in sweat as she docilely responded to him.
Jiang Minyun's interest wasn't high, and he stopped after she came. He carried her to their bedroom.
"Is your stomach still feeling bad?" Even though Li Shihui was drowsy, she didn't forget to be concerned about him and placed her hand on his abdomen.
He thought; you only thought to ask after you finished enjoying yourself? What if he had thrown up on her halfway? Or perhaps, her concern was her bestowing a reward for his diligent efforts?
Once there was a kid and if they both got sick, then between him and the kid, her attention would be given to the kid, right? Even if he died of illness next to her, she wouldn't care.
"Are you worried?" He laid beside her. It felt as if there was a torrential downpour in his heart.
Li Shihui didn't notice his sarcasm. She massaged his abdomen and answered, "Of course."
Remembering something, she reached out to grab her phone, typed a few words, and showed him her phone.
"He sent me this message, and I've already refused. We're just in the same industry. You're not allowed to misunderstand anymore."
Li Shihui was like a little dog wagging her tail and yapping in his ear.
The phone screen was about to touch his nose.
Jiang Minyun took the phone and saw her reply: Thank you, but I'm planning on having a child. I don't intend to go abroad anytime soon.
Lin Zhicheng hadn't replied back yet.
The clouds dispersed, and the rain stopped.
Jiang Minyun stared at "having a child". Lost in thought, he didn't give her a relevant response. He only said, "My stomach doesn't hurt anymore."
Li Shihui couldn't be bothered to argue with him over his answer. It would be like trying to reason with a feline that had occasional fits of insanity. She turned over and closed her eyes.
"Sleep."
Jiang Minyun put his arm around her waist and disturbed her from behind, insisting on a response from her.
"My stomach doesn't hurt anymore," he repeated.
Exasperated, Li Shihui turned over, grabbed his ear, and hissed into his ear, "Go to sleep!"