ACMS 42

Chapter 42 – Talking Past Each Other

“Shen Hechuan, do you like children?”

Qiao Le asked this question so suddenly that Shen Hechuan was briefly stunned. “Children?”

“Mm.” Qiao Le nodded and slightly avoided his gaze. “Do you like them?”

Shen Hechuan thought for a moment, then quickly answered, “I don’t have strong feelings about them.”

No strong feelings—meaning he didn’t particularly like or dislike them.

Qiao Le asked again, “Then would you want to have children?”

Before meeting Qiao Le, Shen Hechuan hadn’t even thought about marriage, let alone children.

But now, Qiao Le suddenly brought it up, which made him feel something was off. Shen Hechuan didn’t answer right away and instead asked, “Why are you asking this all of a sudden?”

Because I’m pregnant with your child.

Qiao Le answered silently in his heart. But when it came to actually saying it, he couldn’t help but feel timid. He was afraid Shen Hechuan would see him as some kind of freak.

Even he couldn’t accept this—how could anyone else?

When he didn’t reply, Shen Hechuan came closer again. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Qiao Le said. “I just… went to the hospital with Jiaxu today and saw a lot of kids, so I asked on a whim.”

Saw a lot of kids?

Could it be that Qiao Le was suddenly having a surge of paternal instinct and wanted a child?

Shen Hechuan frowned. The two of them couldn’t have children, and there was no way he’d let Qiao Le go find a woman to have one.

A strange sense of crisis crept in, and Shen Hechuan’s gaze darkened. He said, “Kids are noisy.”

Qiao Le had been wondering if he was being too abrupt with his question. When he heard that, he suddenly looked up and happened to catch the flicker of rejection on Shen Hechuan’s face.

His chest tightened, and he asked blankly, “You really dislike kids?”

But Shen Hechuan had always seemed fond of Xiao Man.

“It’s not that I hate them,” Shen Hechuan said. “I just don’t really care either way. To me, it’s not a big deal. If I had to choose, I’d rather not have them.”

Qiao Le: “…”

He carefully chose his words. “Then if you suddenly had a child—”

“Impossible.”

Shen Hechuan cut him off, speaking firmly. “I’m not going to have a child.”

He would never divorce Qiao Le in this lifetime—how could he have a child? Before their agreement ended, he planned to turn their fake relationship into a real one. If that didn’t work, he’d find a way to renew the contract when the time came.

Next time, he’d ask for a lifelong agreement.

But Qiao Le didn’t know what he was thinking. The two of them were talking completely past each other.

Shen Hechuan’s words made Qiao Le fall silent.

From what he said, it was clear he was absolutely certain about not wanting children.

Qiao Le hadn’t asked because he thought Shen Hechuan liking kids would mean he’d keep the child.

It was just—like Fang Jiaxu said—Shen Hechuan was the child’s other father. He had the right to know.

But hearing Shen Hechuan say that, Qiao Le still felt a little hurt.

This child… neither of his parents was looking forward to his arrival.

He felt like a mistake.

Fortunately, he hadn’t planned on keeping the baby from the start. Otherwise, it would have been too cruel.

A child who isn’t wanted can’t be happy.

“What’s wrong?” Shen Hechuan noticed something off in his expression.

Qiao Le forced a smile, pushing down the swirl of emotions. “Nothing. Our agreement still has five years left, right? I just didn’t want to delay you if you wanted a kid—”

“You can give birth?”

Shen Hechuan suddenly asked. “If you can, then we’ll have one.”

Qiao Le froze and reflexively said, “Of course I—”

Of course I can. I’m pregnant right now.

But the words caught in his throat. He stared blankly at Shen Hechuan. “If I can give birth, then you want the baby?”

“Mm.” Shen Hechuan nodded.

But I… don’t want it… Qiao Le thought to himself.

He didn’t know if Shen Hechuan was serious. If he really wanted the baby, then what would he do? Would he really have to keep it?

Shen Hechuan noticed the subtle change in his expression.

He cupped Qiao Le’s face in both hands and studied him. “You’re hiding something.”

“No, I’m not,” Qiao Le insisted. “I told you, it was just a random thought.”

“Do you want a child?” Shen Hechuan asked.

“No!”

His reaction was a bit extreme. Shen Hechuan was surprised. “Okay, okay, you don’t. Why are you so nervous?”

Qiao Le’s hand, hanging by his side, twitched slightly and clenched without realizing it. “Kids are pretty cute. I was just afraid you wanted one.”

Kids are cute. But he’d never thought about having one himself.

This whole thing was completely beyond his comprehension.

Unaware of the truth, Shen Hechuan said, “I don’t want children.”

He never even considered the possibility that Qiao Le could actually give birth. He went on, “If you really like them, we could adopt one. But you’re still young—let’s wait until you graduate.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Qiao Le raised his hand and gently pushed Shen Hechuan’s hands away, thinking, Why would I need to adopt? I can give birth myself.

And besides, once he graduated, their contract would almost be over.

“I was just… asking randomly.” He gave Shen Hechuan a little push. “Go shower already. I’m going to bed.”

Shen Hechuan gave a casual response as he walked into the room. “You’ve really been into sleeping lately.”

Qiao Le: “…”

He remembered the doctor saying drowsiness was one of the early pregnancy symptoms. His head started throbbing again, and he snapped at the cause of all this, “People my age need a lot of sleep. You’re too old to understand.”

Shen Hechuan: “…”

Back in the bedroom, Qiao Le flopped onto the bed and reached for the teddy bear beside him, hugging it close—only to suddenly flip over and lie on his back.

Had he just… squashed the baby?

With lingering fear, Qiao Le touched his belly. It still felt… flat.

Thank goodness it’s still flat.

He let out a sigh of relief.

Although he didn’t plan to keep the child, he couldn’t just crush it out of existence either.

Some things should be left to the professionals.

Qiao Le decided he still needed to make an appointment at the hospital and consult a doctor about what to do.

Once he made up his mind, he messaged Fang Jiaxu and asked him to accompany him to the hospital again.

Fang Jiaxu called back and asked when he wanted to go, suggesting tomorrow.

“Tomorrow won’t work.”

Qiao Le had choir rehearsal in the morning and a full day of classes. The day after was New Year’s Day, so his schedule was tight.

After thinking it over, he said, “Let’s go after New Year’s.”

That would also give him some time to mentally prepare. Something this huge needed time to process.

“No problem. Let me know when you’ve booked the appointment,” Fang Jiaxu said. “By the way, have you told Shen Hechuan yet?”

“Not yet,” Qiao Le sighed. “I don’t know how.”

He hadn’t even fully accepted it himself.

And Shen Hechuan said that if he could have a child, then he would want one—what if he actually meant it?

And what about Old Master Shen and the rest of the family—what if they also wanted the child once they found out?

Fang Jiaxu completely understood. If it were him, he wouldn’t be able to accept it so easily either. He offered, “Want me to tell him for you?”

“No need,” Qiao Le said. “I’ll find the right time to tell him.”

Even if he couldn’t say it now, it was still a matter between him and Shen Hechuan. It didn’t feel right to have someone else say it.

Since Qiao Le said that, Fang Jiaxu didn’t insist. He comforted him instead: “Don’t overthink it. The world’s full of weird stuff. Other people don’t have it, but you do—that just means you’re the chosen one. Your blessings are still on the way.”

“What the hell,” Qiao Le couldn’t help but laugh at his nonsense. “The chosen unlucky one, maybe?”

“That’s not the right way to look at it,” Fang Jiaxu said. “Didn’t the doctor say? You’re not the first man in history to get pregnant. It’s just that it happened suddenly, and the timing of this child’s arrival isn’t ideal. You just haven’t come to terms with it yet.”

His words got Qiao Le thinking. He couldn’t help but follow that line of thought.

If this child hadn’t come now, but later—when he was more mature, better able to handle everything—would he have accepted it?

Qiao Le couldn’t find an answer. It was all just a hypothetical.

But the child was real now, living in his belly, connected to him by blood and flesh.

“Don’t think too much,” Fang Jiaxu’s voice came through the phone. “And don’t worry. After you’re done with everything, we’ll go to the hospital and ask. We’ll find a solution.”

“Alright,” Qiao Le said.

After hanging up, he felt a little better. He had to admit, Fang Jiaxu’s words did help.

He opened his browser to look up information about men getting pregnant, but what popped up was a flood of “male pregnancy novels.”

Back in high school, Qiao Le was like any other student—he liked comics and novels, but he mostly read wuxia or leveling-up stories. He had never ventured into the wild world of male pregnancy fiction.

After taking a break from school and working to pay off debts, he hadn’t touched novels in a long time.

“MPreg,” “ABO,” “pheromones.”

These tags after “male pregnancy” left him confused. What did they even mean?

Curious, he casually clicked on one.

The opening scene exploded with two men in bed—moaning and panting filled the entire screen.

Qiao Le: “!!”

That was way too intense!

In shock, he scrolled down a page—still full of moaning. Another page—still the same.

After nearly twenty pages, Qiao Le was about ready to forget how to read “moan.”

He realized he had stumbled into full-blown smut.

But this was over the top—the main character went at it for three days and nights.

He and Shen Hechuan had done it three times and already felt like their backs were broken—if they went three days and nights, they’d be dead and buried!

Only in fiction—three days and nights, no problem.

He kept reading and saw that when the “action” ended, the top would “knot” to improve the chance of pregnancy.

Wait, do I have a reproductive cavity too?

Qiao Le looked down at his stomach. Could he actually be an Omega?

Just like Fang Jiaxu said—maybe he really was the chosen one.

Letting his thoughts run wild, he successfully made himself laugh, and kept reading. But after just a few more pages, the main characters were at it again.

Qiao Le: “……”

Of course, he’s the main character. Even Shen Hechuan would feel inadequate compared to him.

He accidentally roasted Shen Hechuan in his head and ended up laughing even harder.

Shen Hechuan walked in just in time to see him grinning at his phone, not knowing what he was so amused by.

“What’s so funny?” he walked over and asked.

Qiao Le was still immersed in the absurd scenes from the novel. The sudden voice startled him, and his phone slipped out of his hand, bounced off the bed, and landed on the floor.

Looking at Shen Hechuan approaching, with all those ridiculous scenes still in his head, Qiao Le suddenly blurted out, “Shen Hechuan, are you an Alpha?”

Otherwise, how else could you have gotten me pregnant?

“Alpha?” Shen Hechuan looked confused. “What does that mean?”

Realizing he’d said something weird, Qiao Le’s ears turned red. He covered his face and said, “Nothing. Just talking nonsense.”

It was all that smut’s fault—his brain had short-circuited from discovering a whole new world. Of course he knew Shen Hechuan wasn’t an Alpha.

Shen Hechuan bent down to pick up the phone, and his eyes happened to fall on the screen.

[…….he had nowhere left to retreat……]

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Shen Hechuan: “……”

He looked up at Qiao Le, a shadow of something unreadable flickering in his eyes.

“Was it good?” he asked.

“What?” Qiao Le hadn’t caught on yet. He looked down at the phone Shen Hechuan handed him—and saw the full screen of wild, blushing dialogue.

Qiao Le: “!!”

He snatched the phone back and quickly turned off the screen, then turned the blame around: “Tsk tsk, how could you be looking at that kind of stuff? Disgusting—”

Before he could finish, Shen Hechuan had already climbed onto the bed and pinned him down.

“Who was looking at that kind of stuff?” Shen Hechuan leaned over him, both hands on the bed. “Was it me?”

Qiao Le, refusing to back down: “The phone was in your hand. If it wasn’t you, who else could it be?”

Not bad at talking nonsense, huh?

Shen Hechuan gave a soft laugh but didn’t argue.

“Really?” he said.

Qiao Le blushed even more from his teasing, but his mouth stayed sharp: “What, not admitting it? I didn’t think you were like this—so proper on the surface, but such a beast in private. I’m truly impressed.”

Shen Hechuan silenced his chatter with a kiss, making Qiao Le’s head spin before he finally spoke slowly, “You’re mistaken. I don’t read it—I do it.”

Qiao Le: “……”

Shen Hechuan spread his legs to kneel between Qiao Le’s, grabbed the hem of his shirt, and pulled it off in one motion, tossing it aside. Then he lowered his head to kiss him again.

The buttons on his pajamas were undone one by one. Qiao Le felt the trail of kisses moving from his collarbone down, finally stopping at his bellybutton.

His bellybutton?

Qiao Le snapped back to his senses.

“No!”

He suddenly pushed Shen Hechuan away and instinctively covered his stomach with both hands.

Even if he didn’t plan to keep the child, he couldn’t let the baby’s father be the one to abort it!