My girlfriend isn't as cute as me.

Lin Jiu was a little reluctant before cutting Wang Yuting's hair, but Wang Yuting said that she would definitely be busy for a long time after having a baby, so it was better to cut her hair short first, which would reduce the time spent drying it after showering. Seeing that Wang Yuting was determined, Lin Jiu didn't stop her and cut her hair short. When he was about to cut his own hair short, Wang Yuting hugged Lin Jiu's waist, preventing him from doing so.

"Jiu'er looks beautiful with long hair!"

"...Seriously, you're the best."

Lin Jiu initially wanted to accuse Wang Yuting of double standards, but after thinking about it, he realized that Wang Yuting was the one who had it the hardest. If having long hair would make Wang Yuting happier, then he might as well grow his hair long, since he couldn't do anything about her anyway.

"Jiu'er, when I took the elevator today, someone even opened the door for me."

Wang Yuting lay half-reclined on the hospital bed, her back against the pillow, and spoke to Lin Jiu, who was cutting an apple for her.

Lin Jiu prepared apples, grapes, and kiwis. These fruits are especially good for pregnant women and babies, so it's fine to eat more.

"Eh...that's good."

"I always feel that people are very gentle with pregnant women. When I'm taking a walk, some strangers will ask me if I'm feeling well."

To conserve her energy, Wang Yuting would walk along the corridor every day, holding onto the railing. Occasionally, passersby would ask her about her health and whether she needed help contacting a nurse. This surprised her, and she would always reassure them that she was fine and not to worry.

“I saw news reports about pregnant women being assaulted or deliberately knocked over, and I was worried I might encounter someone like that. I’ve been very careful, but so far I haven’t met anyone like that.” Wang Yuting touched her belly. If she really did run into a bad guy, she would crouch down and cover her head in defense, because there was no way to escape. Right now, she even has difficulty maintaining her balance while walking, and if she falls while trying to escape, things could get even worse. She’s not afraid of getting hurt herself, but she’s afraid of something happening to her baby.

"Luckily you didn't encounter such a bad person..."

Lin Jiu tried to imagine it, and a murderous intent welled up inside him.

If that were to happen, he couldn't guarantee what he might do.

"Okay, don't get angry about bad things that haven't happened yet. Of course, I won't assume that bad things haven't happened to other people just because I haven't experienced them myself."

Wang Yuting beckoned to Lin Jiu, signaling him to come closer and stop being so angry.

"The media always prefers to talk about the little things that make people happy and anxious, because everyone feels that annoying people are everywhere, while good things are far away from them. This is what they call selling anxiety, gaining a lot of traffic by attracting attention, and in the end, everyone's blood pressure is raised, and the media makes a fortune."

"Ah... I understand now."

Lin Jiu sat in the chair and fed Wang Yuting the cut apples, as if she were feeding a small animal.

"However, it's not enough to just have some inspiring and positive things. There will always be people who nitpick, and it's easy to cause misunderstandings. It's dangerous to blindly believe what strangers say just because all the messages you receive are well-intentioned. No matter when or where, you can't blindly accept information from the outside world. You have to learn to use your own brain to think."

Lin Jiu has seen too many people get scammed, both in high school and at her current school.

The process of obtaining student loans is now extremely simple. Boys borrow money to improve their gaming skills, while girls, accustomed to a high-spending lifestyle, can't control themselves and succumb to the sweet talk of lenders. Naively believing they have enough ability to repay the debt, they shift the burden of debt onto their families when disaster strikes.

"In short, we must not let our guard down."

Lin Jiu smiled helplessly as he watched Wang Yuting's smiling face as she ate the apple.

"No matter when, there will always be bad guys, but not everyone is like that. If you meet a good person, you can't take it for granted; you should be grateful." Lin Jiu felt lucky. Although she had met many bad people while working, she had also met kind and honest people.

"Hmm~"

Wang Yuting swallowed the chewed apple and revealed a sweet smile.

"I am so lucky to have met you, and I will cherish you from now on."

"Idiot, that's not what I meant."

Lin Jiu puffed out her cheeks slightly, curled the ends of her hair, glanced at her briefly, and muttered, "If I had to say, meeting you is the luckiest thing that has ever happened to me. Otherwise, I don't know what I would have become. I never thought that I could have a family and welcome new family members. Marriage is too far away for me; I don't even dare to think about it."

Wang Yuting pursed her lips slightly. She knew Lin Jiu's family situation very well and naturally understood Lin Jiu's feelings.

"It may be a bit late to say this, but I think... my mother is really amazing." Lin Jiu said sincerely, "Under those conditions, she endured the anxiety and fear of pregnancy all by herself and gave birth to Yingying. She could have found someone to rely on, but she didn't. Instead, she raised Yingying on her own."

"yes……"

Wang Yuting thought of her mother, who wasn't good at expressing her emotions and often acted in ways that could be misunderstood because she overthought things. These days, Xia Mei often asked Secretary Liang to send over gifts, including food and warm clothes. Perhaps it was because Xia Mei had suffered a lot while pregnant with Yingying that she bought so many things for Wang Yuting, hoping her daughter-in-law would be safe and sound.

Lin Jiu smiled gently and murmured, "I originally thought I would never get married, and I even thought that if I had the chance, I would escape from this city and get as far away from my bad memories as possible, and find a place to live alone. Now my life trajectory has completely changed, and my previous thoughts have become the past. If you are not by my side, I will definitely be all alone."

"Me too."

Wang Yuting nodded seriously.

If she hadn't met Lin Jiu, if she hadn't walked into that convenience store, she couldn't imagine what she would be like now.

"That's incredible."

Lin Jiu recalled their impactful encounter, not as customer and employee in a convenience store, but on that rainy night when Lin Jiu stumbled upon a vicious thug and was rescued by Wang Yuting, who was on her way home from get off work and wanted to take a detour to see Lin Jiu.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a miracle.

Lin Jiu's gaze softened. He looked down at Wang Yuting's abdomen, wanting to reach out and touch it, but he was afraid of arousing her.

"It's okay."

Lin Jiu said softly, "Living in this world, you may encounter a lot of unfair treatment, or you may meet people who do bad things under the guise of doing what's best for you. You never know what scary things might happen. This world never treats anyone kindly, but you don't need to be afraid. You will definitely meet someone who treats you kindly in the future. You must persevere for that person."

Wang Yuting gently stroked her belly and said softly, "Before you meet that person, Mom and Dad will protect you."

Lin Jiu looked up and met Wang Yuting's gaze; they smiled at each other.

"But then again, the baby's gender hasn't been determined yet."

Wang Yuting was somewhat distressed. Every time she had an ultrasound, either the angle wasn't ideal, or the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's groin. According to the doctor, this position would make delivery more difficult. The child wasn't even born yet, and the parents were already facing a problem.

"Yes, and the due date is almost here, and we still haven't decided on a name for the baby." Lin Jiu held her head and pondered deeply.

"If it's a boy, he'll be called Shinji; if it's a girl, she'll be called Rei."

"Stop fooling around!"

Looking at Wang Yuting's smiling face, Lin Jiu knew that she was deliberately teasing him.

"A name is the first gift parents give to their child, and it will accompany the child through a long life. I want to give my child a name that he can accept and that sounds nice, not some strange name or a name that people will laugh at." Lin Jiu is very serious about this. He doesn't want his child to be bullied at school because of his name.

A colleague at the Tea Cat Cafe experienced this firsthand. His parents believed that a rustic name would bring longevity, so they named him Er Gou (meaning "Second Dog"). This resulted in him being ridiculed at school, suffering from depression several times, and only recovering after changing his name. However, these negative experiences still affected him; he became uncomfortable talking to people and always kept to himself.

A name is very important to a child.

“Names…some people do use their parents’ names, right?” Wang Yuting thought for a moment, then tried to suggest, “Yu Jiu? Jiu Ting? That sounds a bit like a Mary Sue story. How about Shinji? Or maybe Deng Wan?”

"Lindenwan...stop it!"

Lin Jiu puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction.

Wang Yuting couldn't help but laugh when she saw Lin Jiu's serious expression.

"what--"

Wang Yuting's smile froze as she vaguely heard a "pop" sound coming from inside her body.

A sharp pain shot through my abdomen, and a warm, wet liquid flowed between my legs.

"what happened?"

Seeing Wang Yuting's strange expression, Lin Jiu asked in confusion.

"It's broken." Wang Yuting's cheeks twitched slightly. "My water broke."

Lin Jiu's expression also froze.

At that moment, a storm raged in his mind.

The memory library nearly crashed, and the ability to think ceased to function.

"what!"

Lin Jiu took a deep breath, and her brain regained some clarity as it received a sufficient supply of oxygen, and her eyes regained some brightness.

Now is not the time to run away. We absolutely cannot run away from reality. Pull yourselves together!

Lin Jiu cheered herself up in her heart and tried her best to appear calm.

"I'll contact the doctor. Don't worry, I'm coming right now!"

Lin Jiu ran out clumsily.

"...Jiu'er, you're even more nervous than I am."

Seeing Lin Jiu's flustered state, Wang Yuting calmed down and even felt a little tempted.

If only she had her phone with her right now, she would love to capture Lin Jiu's animal-like expression on camera.

Lin Jiu hurriedly ran to find the doctor, who was frightened by Lin Jiu's extremely terrifying expression and followed her over.

The nurse helped Wang Yuting connect the equipment to measure her heart rate and blood pressure, checked her physical condition, and then breathed a sigh of relief.

Although my water broke earlier than my due date, it wasn't something I could control. The next 24 hours were crucial. When the pain became unbearable and the contractions became more frequent, I pressed the call button to summon a doctor to administer anesthesia and relieve the pain.

"We'll have to wait a while longer."

Wang Yuting lay paralyzed on the hospital bed, her voice weak and feeble.

Lin Jiu nervously gripped the intercom, sitting on the hospital bed, not daring to move an inch.

"Silly girl, relax. If you exhaust yourself now, what will you do after the baby is born? There will definitely be a lot of trouble after the baby is born. I won't have the strength to help, so you'll have to take care of it."

Wang Yuting wanted to reach out to Lin Jiu, but she couldn't lift her hand because of the pain. She lay on the bed, slowly inhaling and exhaling.

Lin Jiu placed his hand on the back of her hand. His hand was still trembling a little, but it gradually calmed down.

"Yes, leave it to me without worry."

"That's really reliable..."

Wang Yuting's complexion grew increasingly worse.

"I heard that the pain level of epidural analgesia is one-fifth that of natural childbirth. Is this level of pain only twenty percent? I feel like I've been hit by a jeep. I didn't intend to save the world, so why did they create me?" Wang Yuting felt waves of pain, her face pale, and she gasped for breath to stay conscious.

"Yuting, I..."

"Take the Clow Cards back."

"it is good……"

Lin Jiu obediently put the Clow Card back into his pocket.

Wang Yuting looked at Lin Jiu, who was so flustered that he stood still, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Luckily, I'm a woman."

Looking at Lin Jiu's body curves, Wang Yuting murmured, "If it were Jiu'er, I have a feeling it would be very dangerous..."

With a baby's size, wouldn't both the baby and the mother be in mortal danger?

And it hurts so much, thankfully I'm the one in pain.

Wang Yuting thought to herself that she felt she could get through this.