TSBDRA 12: You’re Really Pregnant

Xu Xishuang stood up with Dr. Xu, but suddenly felt his mind go fuzzy. The scene before him swayed violently, and his body tilted with it. If not for the shred of awareness that made him grab the edge of the table just in time, he would’ve collapsed to the floor.

Dr. Xu came over to support him, touched his forehead with a grave expression, then pulled a thermometer from a drawer and aimed it at Xu Xishuang. After a quick scan, he said, “Low-grade fever.”

He had Xu Xishuang sit back down, then lifted his injured right hand and began unwrapping the poorly bandaged wound. Inside was a small cut, but it was starting to fester.

“Don’t you know your own physical condition?” Dr. Xu’s voice was uncharacteristically stern. “Your immune system is practically useless. A wound like this might not look serious, but it could be deadly for you. Do you understand?”

“I’m sorry,” Xu Xishuang apologized sincerely. “I’ll be more careful from now on.”

He had indeed overestimated his physical condition. Last night, his mind had been a complete mess that he had momentarily forgotten just how fragile his body had become. Plus, he spent the whole night obsessing over his unexpected pregnancy, with no energy left to worry about the injury on his hand. That’s how it got infected and led to the low-grade fever.

“Let’s deal with the wound first,” Dr. Xu said.

Xu Xishuang nodded and held out his right hand, letting the doctor clean and re-dress it.

He cooperatively took the fever-reducing medicine and put the remaining pills in his pocket. When he looked up, he noticed Dr. Xu watching him with a skeptical gaze.

The look on Dr. Xu’s face made it clear that he suspected Xu Xishuang was hallucinating from the fever, and that his brain had gone a little haywire. Speechless, Xu Xishuang curled his lips and said to him, “Dr. Xu, I really do need to get a check-up.”

Dr. Xu didn’t want to argue with a feverish patient—it could upset him and lead to conflict. Besides, a check-up would clear everything up. He nodded and led Xu Xishuang out.

A few minutes later, as Xu Xishuang stared at the sign outside the department, he turned to Dr. Xu and said, “I’m not going to Psychiatry.”

Dr. Xu shrugged and led him in another direction.

Xu Xishuang added, “…Not to Neurology either.”

In the end, Dr. Xu brought him to the OB-GYN department. He’d originally intended for a specialist to examine Xu Xishuang, but the latter adamantly refused, so the all-purpose Dr. Xu had no choice but to do it himself.

After a urine test, a blood test, and an ultrasound… Dr. Xu even tried traditional Chinese pulse diagnosis, placing his fingers gently on Xu Xishuang’s wrist. The conclusion was inescapable—

Xu Xishuang really was pregnant.

Dr. Xu stared at the test results, utterly stunned, his face painted with existential doubt. His hair looked even thinner than before.

He was a well-traveled, experienced doctor but this, he had never seen.

Xu Xishuang’s expression wasn’t much better. Sitting at the edge of the hospital bed, he gently touched his slightly rounded belly, lost in thought.

After a long silence, Dr. Xu finally snapped out of it. Trembling, he asked, “Let’s clarify one thing first—you’re biologically male, with male anatomy. You’re not intersex, right?”

Seeing Dr. Xu’s expression—like he was hoping this was all a dream—Xu Xishuang suddenly felt a little better. Finally, someone more shocked than him. Remembering how Dr. Xu had once left him speechless, he decided to return the favor. “I’m…”

“Ohhh, that explains it,” Dr. Xu quickly recovered, calmly pushing up his glasses. “In that case, this is possible…”

“I’m a full-blooded man,” Xu Xishuang added flatly.

He read good, wholesome novels from Green River Net, not smut from Haitang.

Dr. Xu was caught completely off guard by the way Xu Xishuang broke up the sentence. The motion of pushing up his glasses froze mid-air, and he stood there like a statue.

Xu Xishuang waited patiently, yawning out of boredom, until Dr. Xu finally spoke again. “Now I kind of want to research male pregnancy. Maybe one day I’ll win the Nobel Prize in Medicine…”

Xu Xishuang: …

“I refuse to be your lab rat,” he said coldly. Then he asked the question weighing on his mind the most, “Can I get an abortion?”

Call him selfish, cold, or heartless—he just didn’t want to sacrifice his life for this child. Especially since, once he was gone, this child would be raised by Yan Yushan and Chi Siyuan. Just the thought of that left him inexplicably irritated.

Why should Yan Yushan, that bastard, and Chi Siyuan get to reap the rewards of his ten months of suffering and turn into a happy little family with the child?

What kind of saint would be at peace carrying a child to term just to die and hand it off to those two afterward? He wasn’t that selfless. So this child—he’d have to make some sacrifices.

“I’m not an expert,” Dr. Xu replied, “I need to consult with an OB-GYN. Don’t worry, I won’t mention your name. I’ll just show them the test results.”

“Alright.” Xu Xishuang nodded. “Thanks, Dr. Xu.”

Dr. Xu stood up, hesitated, then reached out to pat him on the shoulder. “Judging by your reaction, I’m guessing you didn’t know you could get pregnant before this? Your body is incredibly unique. I’ve never seen anything like it—it could go in a textbook.”

“No matter what your condition is, as your doctor, I’ll do everything I can to help you,” He continued, “Male pregnancy is unheard of, but with today’s advanced medicine, we’ll find a solution.”

Xu Xishuang nodded and gave him a grateful smile. Dr. Xu cleared his throat and left the room in search of more professional advice.

Once he was gone, Xu Xishuang pulled out his phone and rewatched the video of a gecko wagging its tail—the same one he’d found last night when he couldn’t sleep—to relax a bit.

By the fifty-sixth time he watched it, Dr. Xu returned, gently pushing open the hospital room door and looking at Xu Xishuang, who was still sitting by the bed.

His gaze was complicated, but he had no choice but to tell this young man—who wasn’t even twenty yet, whose features delicate, flushed cheeks, and promising future were unmatched nationwide—a harsh truth.

Dr. Xu took a deep breath, walked up to him, and said solemnly, “You can’t have an abortion. If you do, it’s a hundred percent fatal.”

“And,” he looked away, unable to bear it, “your chances of surviving the delivery are also very slim. Natural birth is basically impossible. Only a C-section might work but based on your current condition, conservatively speaking… you only have a one percent chance of surviving.”

Xu Xishuang blinked slowly. He had more or less expected this outcome. After all, the book’s settings weren’t easy to change. Since the author had cast him as a tool for childbirth, then he had to deliver this child before he could be written off and die.

Now, he finally understood why the original character ran away after discovering the pregnancy. He wanted to run too—to escape this reality, to find a place where no one knew him, live out the rest of his life in peace, and die quietly.

Maybe because everything was already set in stone, with death looming over him, Xu Xishuang felt calmer than ever. His emotions were like still water, his face chillingly composed. Dr. Xu was deeply unsettled, afraid he might do something drastic.

All Xu Xishuang did was ask calmly, “How much time do I have left?”

Dr. Xu paused, then quickly replied, “About nine months.”

“The most important thing right now is for you to build up your health,” Dr. Xu urged. “Your current physical condition is far too poor but if you can improve over the next nine months, your chances of survival will increase significantly. Xu Xishuang, don’t give up hope. For your own sake—you have to live, understand?”

“I understand,” Xu Xishuang said. “I won’t give up.”

It was just a plot device that looked unbreakable within the book but he had already transmigrated. With effort, maybe he could change his fate.

The original Xu Xishuang had wanted to escape, to quit the entertainment industry but he wouldn’t!

Since he had already decided to fight back against fate and the story’s script, Xu Xishuang wouldn’t run away. He would do the opposite of everything the original character had done. He would break the narrative.

He took a deep breath, as if expelling all the frustration and anger that had built up in him these past days. He felt much better. Then he stood up, smiled at Dr. Xu, and said, “Thanks for everything. I’ll head out now.”

“Wait,” Dr. Xu stopped him and stuffed a slip of paper into his hand. “It’s a prescription I got from the OB-GYN. No Western medicine, just traditional Chinese herbs to gently regulate your body.”

“If anything comes up—especially if you experience severe pregnancy symptoms—come find me right away,” Dr. Xu patted his shoulder. “Don’t carry it all alone. This isn’t easy.”

“Thanks, Dr. Xu.” Xu Xishuang accepted the care.

He went downstairs to get the prescription filled, and was surprised to learn that the pharmacy could brew the medicine for him, seal it in bags, and all he had to do was take a bag home and reheat it each day. It was very convenient so he waited two more hours at the pharmacy, received over a dozen bags of herbal medicine, and finally took a cab back to the hotel.

His low fever still hadn’t completely gone down. He already felt lightheaded in the car. After getting back to the hotel and putting away the medicine, he immediately collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep.

He didn’t know how long he slept. In the haze between sleep and wakefulness, he felt someone sitting beside him, gently placing a cold towel on his forehead. The person’s palm was broad and warm. When they patted his back lightly, it gave him a deep sense of comfort.

Xu Xishuang inhaled the pleasant woody scent on the person’s body, his tense expression softening, and drifted off once again.