TSBDRA 13: I’m Pregnant, the Child is Yours

…

Xu Xishuang was woken up by the heat.

The air conditioning in the room hadn’t been turned on. The cool hours of the summer morning had long passed, and now with the sun high in the sky, the whole room was stiflingly hot.

He reached out to touch his forehead and felt that the fever had subsided. There was no discomfort left in his body, aside from a slight dizziness in his head— nothing major.

He vaguely remembered someone helping him cool down last night. Gently and tirelessly pressing a cold towel to his forehead, wiping the sweat off his back.

He walked to the door and opened it, just in time to bump into Xiao Wang, who was reaching into his pocket for the room key. Xu Xishuang took the food box from him and said, “Thanks for taking care of me last night. I’ll ask Zhao-jie to give you a raise.”

Xiao Wang froze for a second. “No, Xu Xishuang, it wasn’t me. Director Yan was the one who took care of you last night.”

Xu Xishuang’s hand paused mid-motion as he was opening the food box. He asked, baffled, “Why would he take care of me? How did he get my room key? No, wait—how did he even know I had a fever?”

Xiao Wang answered each of his questions one by one. “Because Director Yan cares about you. He got the key from the hotel front desk. Last night, he saw that your room lights were still on but no one responded when he knocked. You didn’t answer your phone either, so he asked the hotel for a key and found you had a fever. He stayed and looked after you for most of the night. He only left after your fever went down.”

Xu Xishuang couldn’t describe how he felt at that moment. He didn’t understand why Yan Yushan did any of that.

Why wasn’t Yan Yushan off doting on Chi Siyuan? Why was he here taking care of him? Was this supposed to be some kind of favor?

Instinctively, he placed a hand over his belly, his expression shifting through several emotions before finally asking, “Is Yan Yushan on set today?”

“He is,” Xiao Wang replied. “Director Yan said you should take another day off. He’ll film scenes with other actors first.”

“No need,” Xu Xishuang said as he ate his porridge. “I’m fine now. I’ll head to the set in a bit.”

Xiao Wang initially wanted to convince him to rest, but seeing Xu Xishuang so determined, he had no choice but to pack up the empty food box and leave.

Xu Xishuang walked to the set while scrolling through his phone. There were 23 missed calls from Yan Yushan. Annoyed, he turned off his phone. The crew was on a break when he arrived at the filming location. Seeing him, everyone greeted him and asked about his condition.

He responded to each one of them and then saw Chi Siyuan running toward him. He forced a smile.

Chi Siyuan blinked at him with puppy eyes, about to say something sweet and clingy, but before he could even open his mouth, Xu Xishuang walked right past him and headed straight for Yan Yushan.

Yan Yushan stopped pretending to fiddle with the equipment, turned his head, and looked at the slightly flushed Xu Xishuang standing before him. “What is it?” he asked quietly.

“Thanks for last night,” Xu Xishuang said. “Sorry for the trouble.”

He wasn’t someone who couldn’t distinguish right from wrong. Gratitude was still gratitude. After all, the fatal pregnancy setting wasn’t something Yan Yushan imposed on him. No matter how much resentment he felt, he couldn’t direct it at someone who had taken care of him half the night—even if that someone was the man who got him pregnant.

“It wasn’t a trouble,” Yan Yushan quickly replied. “You don’t have to thank me. Are you… feeling better?”

“Yeah.” Xu Xishuang nodded. “I’m here to shoot. What scenes are we filming today?”

The assistant director, hearing his question, was about to hand over the script when he saw Yan Yushan pull over a chair for Xu Xishuang to sit next to him. The two of them leaned in to look at the script in Yan Yushan’s hand like there were no other chairs or spare scripts around.

Assistant Director: …Fine.

He silently stepped away, casting sidelong glances at the two of them, deep in thought.

Xu Xishuang was used to going over the script with Chi Siyuan, so he didn’t think anything of it and naturally sat down beside Yan Yushan. He listened to Yan Yushan’s magnetic voice speak next to his ear. “We’re filming this scene today.”

Xu Xishuang followed the director’s long and strong fingers to the page. This was his scene. In the drama, Yu Xiang, with Xia Qinglang’s help, was slowly becoming more open. Just as Yu Xiang’s alcoholic father got detained for causing trouble, leaving him home alone for a while.

Yu Xiang finally had a moment of freedom and relief. He pushed aside his bangs, revealing his face, and after class, he went to his teachers to ask questions and improve his grades.

Everything was starting to look up. The two boys seemed to have a bright future ahead—so close they could almost touch it.

“I got it,” Xu Xishuang said with a nod.

He had nearly memorized the whole script, not because he had a photographic memory, but because his memory was slightly better than most people’s. Maybe he really was suited to acting because it was always easy for him to remember lines.

Looking at Yan Yushan’s deep-set features, an idea suddenly popped into Xu Xishuang’s mind. The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. He didn’t even notice how long he had been staring at Yan Yushan’s face.

At first, Yan Yushan met his gaze steadily, but after a few seconds, he looked away first, his Adam’s apple shifting slightly.

“Director Yan,” Xu Xishuang’s voice was cool and still a little hoarse from the fever, “can I come see you tonight? I have something important to talk to you about.”

“Of course,” Yan Yushan replied immediately.

Then realizing his eagerness, he paused to cover it up. “I happen to be free tonight. You can come by anytime.”

The way his fingers clenched the edge of the script gave away his nerves, but Xu Xishuang didn’t notice. He simply nodded and walked off to get his makeup done.

After Xu Xishuang left, Yan Yushan quietly let out a breath. He didn’t know what Xu Xishuang wanted to talk about tonight, but he had a hunch—it was going to be something that would overturn everything.

Was it another thank-you for last night’s care? Or something more… His heart began to race uncontrollably. When he turned, he met Chi Siyuan’s hostile gaze.

Chi Siyuan was deeply shaken that Xu Xishuang had ignored him and instead spoke to Yan Yushan. He had sulked for a long while, blaming himself for sleeping too deeply last night and missing the chance to earn favor by caring for Xu Xishuang—only for that bastard Yan Yushan to swoop in.

When he saw Xu Xishuang sitting so close to Yan Yushan, looking at the script together with their arms almost touching, Chi Siyuan nearly crumpled the script in his hands.

It had to be that Yan Yushan forced Senior Xu! It had to be!

He looked at Xu Xishuang with eyes full of pity, then turned his hostile gaze on Yan Yushan only to be caught in a direct stare. Chi Siyuan flinched and looked away.

He gave Xu Xishuang a pitiful glance as he walked by, but the other clearly had something on his mind and didn’t notice, brushing past him to the makeup station.

Thanks to Dr. Xu’s careful treatment yesterday, the wound on Xu Xishuang’s right hand was starting to scab over, but it was still wrapped in bandages.

After discussing it with the crew, they decided to incorporate the bandage into Yu Xiang’s character—after all, it didn’t break immersion.

Even though Xu Xishuang wasn’t in the best mood, his professionalism as an actor still shone through. He brought to life the youthful hope and joy of a boy just beginning to escape the mire and run toward the light. Chi Siyuan’s naturally sunny disposition suited his character well too, and he was easily pulled into the scene by Xu Xishuang. The two quickly wrapped up their shoot for the day, and the crew wrapped early again.

Back at the hotel, Xu Xishuang showered first, then took out his medical reports from the bottom of the bag containing the herbal medicine. He read through each one slowly and carefully, then organized them and set them aside. Afterward, he picked up his phone and started watching the gecko tail-wagging video to relax.

Meanwhile, Yan Yushan had been distracted ever since returning to the hotel. At first, he sat by the door, then felt that looked too eager, so he moved to the couch, then to the bed, and finally settled at the desk where they had last met. He let out a slow breath, picked up his script, and tried to calm himself down.

At 8:00 PM, Xu Xishuang changed his clothes, took a deep breath, and opened the door, heading to Yan Yushan’s room.

When he knocked, Yan Yushan immediately set down his script, got up, and hurried to the door.

His heart beat faster as the door opened. Looking down at Xu Xishuang, who seemed freshly showered, he was suddenly reminded of that reckless night. He quietly swallowed and stepped aside to let him in.

Xu Xishuang walked in. His hair had grown out over the past month, matching Yu Xiang’s length now. Since he hadn’t blow-dried it, the black ends clung to the back of his neck. A droplet of water slid from his nape down his smooth, pale back—perfectly visible from Yan Yushan’s angle.

Feeling suddenly hot, Yan Yushan touched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, trying to suppress the feeling.

When he opened his eyes again, Xu Xishuang had already pulled out a stack of papers from the bag he’d brought and handed them over.

Yan Yushan looked at Xu Xishuang’s serious expression and instinctively reached out to take the stack of what appeared to be medical reports. Before he even had a chance to read them, he heard Xu Xishuang say, “I’m pregnant. The child is yours.”