Chapter 62: Going to Push Her

Chapter 62: Chapter 62: Going to Push Her

Su Wan instinctively clutched her belly and took two steps back, frowning at Zheng Zhizhi, who was putting on a sudden show of weakness to pressure her.

She didn’t panic. Instead, she looked at the panting Zhang Yun who had just run over. "Xiao Yun, help her up. Is she kneeling to me because she thinks I’ve wronged her?"

The moment Zhang Yun heard Zheng Zhizhi was trying to cause trouble for Su Wan, her delight at seeing the woman kneel evaporated. She rushed over and yanked her to her feet.

Zheng Zhizhi was no match for her strength.

Halfway through a fake, pitiful sob, she was yanked up, nearly choking on a hiccup.

"Zhang Yun!" Zheng Zhizhi stomped her foot in humiliation and anger.

Noticing that Zhang Yun was manhandling her without any regard for appearances, pulling her dress askew, she seethed inwardly. Gritting her teeth, she whispered, "Aren’t you afraid that if things don’t work out with Liu Lang, I’ll go after Lu Zhengchuan?"

Zhang Yun’s grip on her instantly loosened.

"But you still can’t kneel to my sister-in-law and pressure her like that. Anyone who didn’t know better would think my sister-in-law was bullying you." Zhang Yun only loosened her grip for a moment before tightening it on her clothes again.

Zheng Zhizhi gritted her teeth and said in a voice only the two of them could hear, "I just want her to put in a good word for me so the military will approve my marriage report with Liu Lang."

"Then you should have just asked! My sister-in-law is such a nice person. If you weren’t so manipulative, she definitely would have agreed." Zhang Yun made no effort to lower her voice; her words were so loud that the curious soldiers and researchers looking over all heard her.

Zheng Zhizhi was so incensed by this that she nearly fainted.

’How did I never realize Zhang Yun was this stupid?’

"..."

Zheng Zhizhi decided to ignore her and turned to Su Wan, her eyes misty with tears, looking utterly pitiful. "Su Wan, I’m begging you. If you just write a letter of understanding, my marriage report with Liu Lang will be approved."

"Your marriage report with Liu Lang isn’t being approved, and that has nothing to do with whether I forgive you or not. It’s because someone in your Zheng Family—your older brother—committed a crime and is in prison. That’s why it’s being held up." Su Wan didn’t even need to investigate; she had asked Xiao Li directly and understood perfectly why their marriage report couldn’t be approved.

Zheng Zhizhi’s eyes widened. She blurted out, "Impossible!"

"What does my marriage to Liu Lang have to do with my brother?"

Su Wan looked at her with a complicated expression. "Don’t you know that when you marry a soldier, they do a background check on your family going back three generations? Only applicants with a clean record can pass."

"...I didn’t know." Zheng Zhizhi’s eyes immediately turned red, and this time, she truly started to cry.

She had been clinging to a sliver of hope, thinking that since her brother was already so miserable and in prison, how could these people be so heartless as to continue targeting her family?

"...Well, now you know. So, this has absolutely nothing to do with whether I write that letter or not." Su Wan remained relatively calm.

Ever since she became pregnant, getting worked up easily led to abdominal pain, which wasn’t good for the baby’s development.

As she spoke, her hand instinctively went to her belly in a protective gesture.

Zheng Zhizhi’s gaze immediately fell on her belly. At nearly four months, it was finally starting to show a slight curve, making it clear that she was truly pregnant.

A flash of jealousy crossed Zheng Zhizhi’s eyes. ’How wonderful it would be if that baby were growing in my belly instead.’

’Then I wouldn’t have to go through all this trouble. I could just marry Lu Zhengchuan and live a good life, and it would be Su Wan’s turn to be envious of me.’

Meeting Zheng Zhizhi’s complex and jealous gaze, Su Wan discreetly took two steps back, her guard fully raised.

The pain from the fall in her precognitive dream suddenly felt real again.

Zheng Zhizhi stared at her belly, then suddenly shoved Zhang Yun aside.

"Zheng Zhizhi, what are you doing?!"

"Quick, protect my sister-in-law!" Zhang Yun shrieked. She had been knocked to the ground and watched in horror as Zheng Zhizhi advanced on Su Wan.

Standing next to Su Wan were the researchers she worked with at the institute.

Several of them didn’t react in time.

"Comrade Su Wan, did you bully this woman? You’d better go sort it out. Don’t drag us into it!" a young woman with a single braid and wearing a floral dress suddenly said in a loud voice.

The researchers who had been about to protect Su Wan instinctively paused, thinking that what Gao Qiang said made sense.

In that brief moment of hesitation, Zheng Zhizhi was upon her.

Su Wan’s heart skipped a beat, but she was prepared. The moment Zheng Zhizhi reached out, her body reacted faster than her mind. With a quick turn, she dodged the hands that were identical to the ones in her memory.

Dodging those hands was a move she had mentally rehearsed countless times because of her precognitive dream.

But she knew that dodging this first shove was not the end.

Sure enough, Zheng Zhizhi staggered, nearly losing her balance, then instinctively lunged toward her with her whole body.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Su Wan turned and ran.

But unexpectedly, after just two steps, Gao Qiang suddenly blocked her path, cutting off her escape into the research institute.

"Comrade Su Wan, why are you running? We’re all here. How could a weak woman like her possibly bully you?"

"I’m pregnant! If I don’t run, am I supposed to just wait for Zheng Zhizhi to ram into me?" Su Wan’s chest ached with anger.

She shouted the last part as a deliberate reminder.

The researchers, who had been swayed by Gao Qiang’s words, finally came to their senses.

"That’s right, whatever the issue is, you can talk it out. Ramming into a pregnant woman is just wrong."

"What if she bumps into Comrade Su Wan and something happens to the baby?"

"Forget the baby, she could have a major hemorrhage and the mother’s life would be in danger too," an older female researcher couldn’t help but mutter, her worries running to more dire possibilities.

Zheng Zhizhi, who had only intended to vent her frustration, seemed to become possessed upon hearing this. Just as in the precognitive dream, once an idea popped into her head, her obsession with it was terrifying.

Her eyes lit up. She suddenly pretended to fall, stumbling toward the group of researchers, aiming primarily for Gao Qiang.

"OOF!" Gao Qiang cried out, the impact feeling as if it had nearly broken her back.

Zheng Zhizhi, for her part, fell directly to the ground.

In the chaos, the other researchers standing nearby also lost their footing and began to topple, about to crash into Su Wan, who was trapped in the middle of them all.

In grave danger, Su Wan instinctively crouched down to protect her belly, her eyes turning red with panic.

’Is what happened in my precognitive dream still going to happen?’

Just as she could feel someone falling toward her and despair settled in her heart, a sudden force grabbed her arm and yanked her out of the crowd.

She crashed into her rescuer’s chest, smelling a distinctly masculine scent.

Su Wan hadn’t yet seen who it was.

Then, a worried voice sounded by her ear. "Comrade Su Wan, are you all right?"

Su Wan steadied herself, her heart still pounding, and saw a pile of fallen people right where she had just been standing.

Gao Qiang was pinned at the very bottom. Su Wan didn’t need to imagine what would have happened; if Zhang Qiao hadn’t pulled her out, she would have been crushed under several people. The consequences were unimaginable.

Just as Su Wan’s face turned pale, another familiar voice rang out.

"What’s going on?"