Hao Junli was in a depressed mood and had no regard for the fairer gender. If Chun Hua regarded him as a female, then he also didn't feel ashamed to continue pulling. The scalp on the other ended up being used as a stress reliever.
"Xiaocheng gege, why are you taking her side?! Didn't you tell me you would marry this Chun Hua? Tell this bitch that she should divorce!" Chun Hua bickered lawlessly.
Feng Mian's heroic brows condensed. "When did I tell you I would marry Chun Hua?.. And who even is Chun Hua?"
"That, the one you're holding is Chun Hua," Hao Junli explained.
"Huang Chun?"
Chun Hua stomped her feet in irritation, her eyes swelling up with glossy tears. "Why are you pretending you don't remember me Xiaocheng gege? Are you doing this on purpose?"
System 555 warned its host, "OOC level is twenty per cent Xiao Mian. Another ten and you'll be penalised."
555 telepathically relayed to 555, "Sorry baobei, I'm just not very good at remembering names ah."
Feng Mian took a deep gulp of air. "It's not that I don't remember you, I just don't want to remember you," she said casually to the mistress.
"What do you mean Xiaocheng gege?!"
"It means whatever you think it means."
"NO! You're lying to me!" Chun Hua's eyes whipped wildly towards Hao Junli and hissed spitefully, "It's her right?! She must have fed you lies to make gege hate me this much!"
It was hard to set such a proper villain straight.
"If miss Chun Hua really loves Xiaocheng that much then you should let him go," Hao Junli threw back her own words.
Chun Hua seethed. "You! Shut Up!"
Her hands tugged down harder. The insulation from the VIP ward was not soundproofed and the commotion caused a large wave of disturbance that travelled down to the other rooms that had shared the same wing and floor.
In the end, Hao Junli's personally assigned doctor had to come in and break the quarrelling trio apart. He gave a disapproving glare and beckoned the adults fighting to unclutch their hands from the tendrils of birds' nests they moulded from the hair under their grips.
Out of the three, Chun Hua looked the most roughed up. At one point in time, the pair of husband and wife had tag-team her and grabbed each side of her head of hair and pulled fiercely. Chun Hua retaliated by grabbing onto both Junli's and her beloved Xiaocheng's hair, unwilling to lose. The last time her fighting spirit had been this high was when she became the gold medalist at the school's sports festival for the two hundred metres sprint.
Hao Junli had only let go after the doctor's stern second warning. Feng Mian on the other hand gave one last pull before unlocking her metal grip claws. Chun Hua yelped but was promptly escorted out before the second round of catfight could happen.
It goes without saying that Hao Junli was 'transferred' back to their house to recuperate. From the hospital until the drive home, the air around Feng Mian's housemate was dark and unbearably gloomy.
Feng Mian watched the petite body sleeping on the couch in pity. This Hao Junli must have been in a lot of shock and overwhelmingly stressed. First, he arrived in a female's body, then he found out that the body was carrying a child and to top it all of, a grasshopper surnamed Huang or Chun rubbed it in his face. Really couldn't have been more unlucky.
Feng Mian lifted the covers on Hao Junlin a bit higher and lowered the air-conditioning of the room before leaving the bedroom.
Feng Mian: "Baobei, do you have a recipe for porridge? I think I'll go make one for Hao Junli."
System 555: "I do, but why bother? You plan on blowing up this house too?"
Feng Mian's HP dropped by seventy per cent and said dejectedly, "..... I'll go call deliveries."
***
When Hao Junli woke up, he was pertubingly silent. Sitting on the bed so stoically, the cross-legged figure resembled a mossing statue. The meditation wasn't f***ing working!
The delivery person had arrived some time ago and Feng Mian left to warm up the dishes around the time she estimated Hao Junli would be waking up. Just as she was about to call him to eat, she discovered that Hao Junli prostrating himself on the couch, knees tucked in and face digging into the crevices between the cushion.
Her feet paused. "Ummm, Junli ah… Do you want to eat?" she asked, unsure whether it was a good time to disturb him.
Hao Junlin gave a noncommittal grunt. "Feng Mian," he called out.
"What?"
"... Just now, I had a very weird dream."
Feng Mian plopped down to sit beside her now female housemate's camouflaged head. "What did you dream about?"
Feng Mian could hear his low spirits even through the muffled voice. "I dreamt that I became pregnant with a child. But that couldn't be because I'm a man, right?"
Hao Junli unscrewed his head from the couch to reveal tousled hair strands. He looked imploringly into her eyes, "Right, Feng Mian?"
Feng Mian stared into those bright unblinking orbs. Although the shape of the lids and the colour of them belonged to the former Wan Junli, the soul residing in them was undeniably one of her closest friend's. She did not have the heart to burst his bubble. "I've ordered abalone porridge for you. Do you want to go downstairs or should I bring it up for you?"
Hao Junlin saw Feng Mian's clear attempt at circumventing around the conversation and knew that he couldn't fool himself any longer. He bitterly rambled under his breath, "Li Xiaocheng, that bastard. Should've been castrated when he was born…."
Feng Mian listened to the long cussing rants. She even pitched in a few sentences and there to show support by offering a few more stabs to Li Xiaocheng's reincarnated soul.
"Yes, yes, a pig brained bastard with no brain cells."
"That surname Li has the brain capacity of a single amoeba."
"Let's pray for him to become a eunuch in the next life. No! Better be a seahorse that gives birth to a million eggs."
But no matter how hard Feng Mian tried to make him feel better about it, Hao Junlin had spent one whole week in a daze, out of touch with the world. Yesterday, he walked into a wall with his eyes opened. This morning he set the fire alarm off by burning an egg in a non-stick pan. Feng Mian grew concerned and ransacked her brain for ways to get richer before the seven months are up.
This was the first time the rich second-generation little miss was concerned about not having enough money.
That Sunday, the Li's family head, Li Xiaocheng's paternal grandfather, called their house after receiving the news.
Feng Mian felt one of her ears going deaf when the old man Li started speaking over the receiver. "You stinky brat! Why didn't you tell me your wife is pregnant? Are you going to hide my great-grandchild away from this old man, huh?!"
Turns out, the hospital was an affiliate of the Li family's industry. The Li family having received the news without Feng Mian announcing it was not peculiar.
"En, it's nothing like that. Junli's health hadn't been in the best state in the past few days, so we haven't thought about discussing it with the rest of the family yet grandpa."
"Tsk. You're not bullying my granddaughter-in-law are you brat? Forget it, a pregnant woman is just like that, you'll have to pay more attention. Come over to this old man's house then, there are more people to take care of her here."
"I don't know about that. Jun--"
"--Okay see you Saturday punk." The phone call ended just like that.
'This old man is so wilful.'
For the past week, Feng Mian had spent more time home than at work to take care of Hao Junli. He's someone who broods alone and wouldn't say his troubles out loud but Feng Mian knew that he was still depressed. Although she could take some liberties as the CEO, she couldn't actually earn money without going to work. Secretary Hong had already sent her a picture of the stack of twin towers full of paperwork needed to be signed.
***
The twenty-one year old law student had always hated Monday mornings because she wasn't the type to get things prepped beforehand. This was one of her shortcomings that got her into trouble with the professors most of the time. The chauffeur was already waiting downstairs and she has yet to pick out what to wear and what to bring.
Hao Junlin rapped on the master's bedroom door a few times before entering. He saw the image of Feng Mian running around like a chicken who lost its head as she scurried to look for a blazer and tie to wear and shook his head unsurprised.
He knew it.
Hao Junlin saw Feng Mian's hand reach out for the orange tie. "That doesn't match together," he said directly.
He dismissed the black blazer and flipped through Li Xiaocheng's formal wardrobe by hand. A hazelnut blazer was taken of its coat-hanger and chucked neatly to the bed. Hao Junlin also pulled out a darker shade of brown wool-coat and a scarf.
Feng Mian stepped sideways in a routine fashion and let Hao Junli pick and choose from her wardrobe.
In the end, Hao Junlin even ended up dressing Feng Mian who stood there like a mannequin.
Feng Mian looked at his busy hands and asked softly, "Are you feeling better Hao Junlin?"
The coat was all buttoned up, except for the on her lapels which Hao Junli left parted. "I am." His voice was casual as his warm fingers played with her cuff links.
"Feng Mian?"
"Humm?"
"Thank you." His voice was as warm as his hands and the two words carried a heaviness to them that Feng Mian could yet perceive for herself. His thankfulness is more than she knows.
Seeing that Hao Junli was feeling a lot better, Feng Mian was also cheerful. "No worries. I'll probably come home late today, call me if you need anything." Her tie was neatly fastened and tucked into place.
"Okay. You too, don't forget to eat."
As if reminded of something, Feng Mian pulled out her thick wallet and took a black credit card out. "Speaking of that, you should also have something nutritious for lunch. You can hold on to the card, We'll eat out for dinner when I come back."
Feng Mian took a quick glimpse at her Rolex and saw that she was running late. She dashed off to the front porch, slipping her shoes on briskly while bouncing to the car.
"I'm late! I'll get going now." Hao Junli sent her off at the doorstep and waved from the inside.
Feng Mian who was already in the car rolled down her windows and yelled out from the inside.
"Don't order pizza! Or fast food! I'm serious! Eat healthy!" she reminded Hao Junlin.
"I'll be checking for pizza boxes when I get back!" The executive car sped right off and Feng Mian was no longer in hearing range.
Hao Junlin who stood in front of the door smiled slightly.
Both of them were university students who hardly cook and would oftentimes prefer to order takeout or delivery instead while burning the midnight oil. Whenever she asked him what to order, Hao Junlin's choice had always been the pizza shop two blocks away from their place.
There was even a time where they were busy prepping for the semester-end exam and ordered pizza for an entire week. Feng Mian would complain endlessly that they were eating too much pizza and that he made her gain a full circle since living in with him.
"Wei, Hao Junli, don't you eat anything other than pizza? Are you trying to make this grandma fat so that you'll be the better looking one out of the two of us?" she would say. But her fingers still diligently pressed on the number dials she memorised by heart.
Hao Junlin clenched the black card in his hand before entering back into the house and closing the door shut.