Chapter 129: I Have Money

Chapter 129: Chapter 129: I Have Money

"A twin pregnancy is dangerous... Then we’re not having them," Lu Zhengchuan said without a second thought.

When Mother Su heard his response, her heart sank. She snapped her head up to look at his frowning face. "No, Zheng Chuan! Wanwan won’t give up on these babies."

"And I hope you won’t either."

"Mom, you said it yourself. Even saving one of them is very risky. We can always have another baby later. There’s no need to risk a twin pregnancy. One is enough," Lu Zhengchuan stressed.

"No, Wanwan will never agree to that." Mother Su clutched his arm, her voice pleading. "Zheng Chuan, please don’t worry. Your father and I came here to earn money for Wanwan and the babies. We’ll find a way to cover the hospital bills, I promise. You don’t have to worry about the cost."

Lu Zhengchuan froze. He hadn’t realized that’s what Mother Su was thinking, and a flash of anger went through him. "Mom, Wanwan is carrying my children. It’s my responsibility to pay. I don’t care about the money."

Mother Su patted his hand, relieved. "Zheng Chuan, I know you’re a good man. But if Wanwan wants to save both babies, it will cost at least two thousand yuan. That’s a huge amount of money. You’re a soldier—you have to follow the rules. You can’t run a business, and you definitely can’t do anything illegal. Where would you get that kind of money?"

Seeing her brows knitted with worry, Lu Zhengchuan realized she must have been agonizing over this for a long time.

"Mom, I have the money. I can get the two thousand yuan," Lu Zhengchuan said, patting her shoulder in a rare, slightly awkward gesture of comfort. "You and Dad don’t have to worry. I’ll take care of it."

"What? You have two thousand yuan? Where did you get it?" Mother Su was genuinely stunned. "Wanwan told me you gave her all your money. Where did you get so much?"

A sudden thought seemed to strike Mother Su, and she grabbed his sleeve nervously. "Zheng Chuan, you haven’t done anything crooked, have you?"

Lu Zhengchuan was at a loss for whether to laugh or cry, but he appreciated her concern. "Mom, I haven’t done anything wrong. I never told Wanwan this, but on a mission, I helped some people from overseas. They offered me a reward—a car. I didn’t plan on accepting it, but they insisted. On my superior’s advice, I left the car with the unit for temporary use."

"Now that we have an emergency at home, it won’t be a problem for me to ask my superior about selling the car to the military. It’ll be enough to raise the emergency funds we need."

Hearing his explanation, Mother Su was deeply impressed by Lu Zhengchuan’s caliber.

"Zheng Chuan, you make it sound so simple, but saving those wealthy foreigners must have been incredibly dangerous, right?"

Of course, Lu Zhengchuan wasn’t about to bring up the dangerous missions he had undertaken in the past.

Without those missions, he never would have become a battalion commander at such a young age. The military wasn’t a playground, after all.

Still, he had no regrets about the path he had chosen.

Especially now. If not for all his hard work in the past, he would be forced to stand by and watch something happen to Wanwan.

"Mom, where is Wanwan? I need to go see her."

"I’ll go to the hospital first to get a clear understanding of the situation with the babies before we make any decisions," Lu Zhengchuan said, refusing to act rashly.

Mother Su already found him dependable, and seeing that he wasn’t stubbornly insisting on terminating the pregnancy, her anxiety began to subside.

"Zheng Chuan, don’t be in such a rush. It’s almost noon, and Wanwan is at school. You can take her lunch to her. We don’t trust food from outside; we always cook nutritious meals for her at home to keep her strong."

"...Alright." As impatient as he felt, Lu Zhengchuan had no choice but to wait.

"Mom, what about your injuries..."

"It’s nothing. I’ll rub some medicated liniment on it and I’ll be fine. It’s not serious." Now that the issue with Su Wan was being addressed, Mother Su’s mood had improved significantly, and she paid no mind to her own minor scrapes.

She told Lu Zhengchuan to go get some rest.

Meanwhile, she hurried to tidy herself up and change her clothes.

Lu Zhengchuan joined Aunt Zhao in the courtyard, helping her trim green beans.

"Aunt Zhao, what happened to my parents-in-law?" Lu Zhengchuan asked.

Aunt Zhao shook her head and glanced worriedly toward the elderly couple. "Your parents-in-law have been here for almost a month. When I’m free, I help them sell their tea-leaf eggs, and there’s never been any trouble. Today was the first time."

"I see," Lu Zhengchuan said, nodding. ℴ

After finishing with the vegetables, Aunt Zhao moved nimbly into the kitchen and started cooking right away, not wasting a second.

Around eleven o’clock, Aunt Zhao had finished preparing a meal of four dishes and a soup.

The soup was a crucian carp broth with silken tofu. The fish meat itself had been removed so Su Wan wouldn’t have to worry about swallowing any small bones.

The dishes were braised potatoes and green beans, wood ear mushrooms with asparagus, stir-fried carrots with pork, and steamed pumpkin with red dates.

All the dishes were chosen to nourish the baby without causing the mother to gain excess weight.

Aunt Zhao packed the food into three large lunch containers, tied them securely with cloth strips, and placed them inside a tote bag.

"Zheng Chuan, I packed plenty, so you and Wanwan can eat together. If you don’t think it’s enough, I can add more for you?" Unsure of Lu Zhengchuan’s appetite, Aunt Zhao had packed a large container completely full of rice.

Lu Zhengchuan picked up the lunch and headed out the door. "That’s plenty, thank you. Mom, Dad, Aunt Zhao, please go ahead and eat. I’ll eat with Wanwan."

He got on his bicycle, rode out of the alley, and headed straight for Capital University.

Mother Su ran out after him for a few steps. "Oh dear, I forgot to tell Zheng Chuan which classroom Wanwan is in!"

"Come on back and eat, sister," Aunt Zhao called, unconcerned. "Don’t you worry. Zheng Chuan is a sharp man; he’ll just ask at the university."

Mother Su figured she was right and turned back to have her lunch.

While they were eating, the more Mother Su thought about it, the more something felt off. "Honey," she said to her husband, "do you think those thugs who hassled us today were hired by one of the other vendors? Someone jealous that our business is doing so well?"

"I don’t know." Father Su shook his head and focused on his food. He pulled a nail out of his pocket. "I kept this. If the police investigate, this is evidence."

"They deliberately punctured our tire. I don’t believe this was just about protection money."

Mother Su’s chopsticks scraped angrily against her bowl. "Hmph. We’ll see who’s behind this wicked scheme."

-

Lu Zhengchuan reached Capital University on his bicycle at just 11:20 AM. He signed in at the guardhouse, found out which classroom Su Wan was in, and headed straight there.

Su Wan was busy taking notes. She had been in class all morning, and even though she stood up to stretch for a bit during each forty-five-minute period, her lower back ached as if it were about to snap from sitting so long.

She kept glancing at the watch on her wrist.

When her watch finally read 12:10, she let out a huge sigh of relief.

Just as the second hand swept past the mark, a bell rang out across campus.

"Alright, that’s all for today. Class dismissed."

As soon as the professor finished speaking, students began to trickle out of the classroom, gathering their books and preparing to leave.

"Comrade Su Wan, you have a visitor."

Su Wan was leaning back in her chair, trying to rest for a moment, so she didn’t move right away.

When she heard her name called, she turned around instinctively. She saw Lu Zhengchuan thanking the student who had called her before striding toward her from the back of the room.