Take her as my wife

Shen Yunqing had just finished her prenatal checkup for the day. The baby is already over six months old and developing very well. Basically, every checkup went smoothly.

However, Tan Yan did not accompany her to the hospital today. She carried her canvas bag alone and carefully went downstairs, avoiding the crowds.

Just as she reached the hospital entrance, her phone rang. It was an unaddressed number calling, and a fleeting look of panic crossed her face.

"Feed..." she tried to keep her voice steady, "Is something wrong?"

"Why didn't you tell me about your encounter with Jiang Ni yesterday?"

Shen Yunqing gripped her phone tightly: "I wasn't feeling well yesterday... I forgot. Sorry."

The person on the other end didn't say anything more and hung up the phone directly.

Shen Yunqing stood at the door for a long time until the baby in her belly kicked her, which brought her back to her senses.

After regaining his composure, he nervously dialed the number back.

The person on the other end answered the call but didn't say anything.

Shen Yunqing pleaded, "Tan Wen... please, for the sake of him being your brother..."

Touching her swollen belly, she changed her mind: "For the sake of my unborn child... please forgive him this time, no matter what he did?"

There was a long silence on the other end.

Tan Wen's voice was as cold as ice: "This is the last time, just this once. After this, you owe me nothing, and I will no longer care about you or the child in your belly."

After hanging up the phone, Tan Wen couldn't contain his hatred and anger and smashed the phone on the ground. The shattered screen lit up due to the malfunction, and several cracks appeared on Jiang Ni's "face".

Tan Wen bent down to pick up the phone, his guilt like swarms of maggots gnawing at his flesh.

He knew that Tan Yan's revenge on Jiang Ni was not "love turned to hate," but simply that Tan Yan, that bastard, wanted to use Jiang Ni to take revenge on him and torment him.

That's a really clever move.

Because if Jiang Ni were to be harmed, it would be far more terrifying and painful for him than if he were stabbed in the body.

After calming himself down, he took the broken phone out the door and found a shop to repair it.

Just as the repair was about to be completed, I suddenly received a call from Jiang Ni.

"Sister," his obedient voice held no trace of his recent outburst of anger, "Are you feeling better?"

Jiang Ni said, "It's nothing—I saw you, I'm diagonally across from you."

Tan looked in the direction she indicated, and saw her car parked on the side of the road with its hazard lights on. He heard her ask, "Want to grab a bite to eat sometime? I have something to tell you."

"Okay, wait a moment, sister. I'm fixing my phone, it'll be done soon."

A few minutes later, the shop owner handed him the repaired phone and said with a polite but sincere compliment, "Your girlfriend is very pretty, young man."

The screen is fixed, and Jiang Ni's wallpaper photo is indeed vivid and bright.

Because of that one sentence, Tan Wen scanned an extra 100 yuan and left the store. He then used his phone to change the wallpaper to a photo that came with the phone's system.

After getting into Jiang Ni's car, Jiang Ni casually asked, "Is your phone broken?"

He grunted in agreement: "It's a backup phone. I was packing things today, and it fell out of my bag, so the screen broke."

Jiang Ni seemed somewhat curious: "A backup phone? I've never seen you use one."

Tan took out the phone and showed it to her: "It's for playing games. This phone has a larger memory. I play with my roommates in the dorm during the holidays."

Jiang Ni wasn't an expert on digital products, so she simply said "Oh," and the topic ended there. She drove Tan Wen to a restaurant, ordered a small private room, and the waiter led them inside and to their seats.

She ordered her food, and Tan poured her tea, casually asking, "What does my sister want to talk to me about?"

Jiang Ni chose a dish she liked and one that Tan Wen liked, and added a soup. The waiter said "Please wait a moment" and left. Only then did Jiang Ni say, "I suspect that the person who kidnapped me last night was either Tan Yan or Shen Yunqing who hired him—I'm more inclined to believe it's Tan Yan."

Tan Wen didn't speak, and she continued her analysis: "Yesterday I kept thinking that the trial was about to start and that the Du family was going to cause trouble, but the message you sent me at noon today reminded me that my decision to have lunch and watch a movie with Tong Zhou yesterday was a last-minute one. Since the Du family wasn't monitoring me the whole time, they couldn't possibly know which movie theater I would be at. And yesterday I only ran into two familiar faces at the mall."

"Why does my sister think...it's my brother?"

Jiang Ni said, "Although I haven't had much contact with Shen Yunqing, I think she's not a bad person at heart."

Upon hearing this, Tan Wen smiled, a slight curl of his lips.

"Is my sister implying that my brother is essentially a bad guy?"

He couldn't agree more.

Jiang Ni's gaze was drawn to the corners of his lips when he smiled. How come she had never noticed before that his lips were so defined and beautiful when he smiled? In her dream, when they kissed, she would bite his lips again and again, and he seemed to be doing the same thing with a slight curve, waiting for her to kiss him haphazardly.

"Sister?" The touch of those lips brought her back to her senses.

Jiang Ni coughed lightly, then picked up her teacup and took a sip of water, feigning composure. "I don't want to define him; I just hope he can give me a reason for doing this."

Tan asked with a straight line: "If it really was him who ordered it, doesn't your sister just want an explanation and not hold him accountable?"

Jiang Ni remained silent for a while, then looked at him and said, "If it were anyone else, I would definitely make them pay the price. But Shen Yunqing is pregnant, and I hope that child can have a harmonious and happy family when he is born."

She's not a saint; it's just that her childhood experiences have made her obsessed with the word "family."

However, she quickly added, "This is a one-time thing. If he does something similar again, I will personally take him to court for trial."

Tan asked to refill her cup with water.

"So," he looked into Jiang Ni's eyes, "the main reason my sister asked me to come here today is because she's afraid I'll cause her trouble."

You never need to spell things out when talking to smart people.

Jiang Ni admitted, "Yes, I was afraid you'd act impulsively."

Tan asked her in return, "Why would I act impulsively? He's my own brother after all. Would I really turn against him for my sister's sake?"

Jiang Ni had already prepared an answer to his question: "Maybe. I think you have a better relationship with me than with him."

Lawyers really do have a silver tongue.

Tan Wen had no choice but to agree, "I understand, I won't cause him any trouble. Then I'll trouble you to withdraw the charges against the police. Those people who kidnapped you have a lot of criminal records, so even if you withdraw the charges, they will still be detained and punished."

"Okay." Jiang Ni nodded.

That was the end of that conversation, and just then the waiter brought the food to them.

Tan Wen put on gloves and began to skillfully peel shrimp for her, and Jiang Ni put one into his bowl.

"Oh, right."

Tan looked up, waiting for her to continue.

"You said you borrowed the car from your neighbor yesterday—did you rent a place off-campus?"

Tan paused in his act of peeling shrimp.

(For the complete 61 chapters, please see the author's note and for more details.)