"..." Feeling a little embarrassed in front of the guests, Shen Wuqiu raised her hand to support her lower back. This was a habit she had gradually developed since becoming pregnant; her lower back would feel uncomfortable after standing for a while, and she would subconsciously support herself with her hand. Then, she turned back and smiled at Shen Yan: "Please sit down first, I'll get you a glass of water."
“No need…” Shen Yan then noticed her slightly protruding belly and was momentarily stunned. “You…”
Shen Wuqiu followed his gaze to her stomach, hesitated for two seconds, and then said frankly, "I'm pregnant."
"..." Shen Yan's expression was somewhat complicated, and he didn't know what to say for a moment.
Just as the scene was becoming slightly awkward, Gu Lingyu spat out a bayberry seed, elegantly wiped her lips with a tissue, then looked at Shen Yan and suddenly smiled, "The child is mine."
Chapter 50 Sulking
Hearing her speak, Shen Yan subconsciously turned his head to glance at her, but quickly focused his attention back on Shen Wuqiu, forcing a stiff smile, "Congratulations."
Clearly, he didn't take Gu Lingyu's words to heart at all.
Seeing that he didn't care about Gu Lingyu's words, Shen Wuqiu swallowed the words that were about to be uttered to smooth things over, and instead said, "Thank you."
Shen Yan shook his head, then said, "Don't forget to invite me to the wedding."
Before Shen Wuqiu could answer, Gu Lingyu enthusiastically promised, "Don't worry, we will definitely invite you."
After he finished speaking, Shen Yan finally gave her a proper look. He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt that the unfamiliar woman in front of him was looking at him with hostility in her eyes.
After a moment, he asked Shen Wuqiu, "And who is this?"
Gu Lingyu also looked at Shen Wuqiu, full of anticipation for her answer.
Shen Wuqiu met her gaze. The question, which should have been easy to answer, suddenly became somewhat difficult. After hesitating for a few seconds, she looked away and said, "A very good friend, Gu Lingyu."
Upon hearing this, Shen Yan nodded to her, "Shen Yan."
The starlight in Gu Lingyu's eyes seemed to dim in an instant.
Just as Shen Wuqiu was worried that Gu Lingyu would speak recklessly again, Gu Lingyu said nothing, glanced at Shen Yan as if that was enough, and then continued eating bayberries.
Shen Yan didn't take her aloofness to heart, but he became interested in the bayberries on the table. "Did you buy these bayberries, or were they grown in the Western Hills?"
Shen Wuqiu was eager to get the conversation back to business, and she relaxed considerably. "The one from Xishan, I called you today about this. Do you want to try some?"
Shen Yan took one for himself, examined it for a few moments, and then put it in his mouth. After tasting it, he was pleasantly surprised: "This bayberry is even better than the ones from the Mars Rush Bayberry Base."
The Mars Rush Yangmei Base is the project that the county government is actively promoting.
"Really?" Shen Wuqiu hadn't learned about the quality of the bayberries at the base yet, only that the trees planted in Xishan and the fruit trees at the base were the same variety.
"The fruit from Xishan is a bit bigger than the ones from the base, and the taste is also better," Shen Yan said, eating another one.
"The same type of sapling should be pretty much the same."
Shen Yan waved his hand, "Before seeing these bayberries, I also thought the bayberries at the base were pretty good. Besides, although the bayberries at the base are sweet, they have a very bland flavor and don't taste like bayberries at all. In terms of taste alone, the fruit at the base is far inferior."
Hearing him say that, Shen Wuqiu had even higher expectations for her bayberry orchard, but at the same time she was also a little apprehensive: "To be honest, I didn't expect to have such a harvest in the first year... I don't know if it's because this is the first year that the quality of the bayberries is like this."
"There's no need to worry about that. As long as the weather is good, the quality of the bayberries should be about the same. By the way, I haven't been to Xishan yet. How's the yield this year?"
"It's alright. Uncle Zheng, who is in charge of that orchard, just came over and said that we can probably pick about 800 jin of bayberries before the Dragon Boat Festival."
Shen Yan did some mental calculations and said, "That's not bad. The second batch of trees planted at the base back then were about the same as yours. They were planted in mid-to-late March and most of them didn't bear fruit until the following year."
“I originally thought we wouldn’t be able to harvest until next year.” At this point, Shen Wuqiu simply got straight to the point, “I called today to talk to you about this batch of bayberries.”
"Hmm? You want the village to help promote your products and find sales channels?"
“Not entirely…” Shen Wuqiu organized her words, “This bayberry orchard in Xishan is neither very big nor very small. If we look for big buyers from other places, we are afraid that they will not be interested. But locally, it is probably difficult to find a big buyer who can consume so many. So I thought I would take advantage of the large number of people participating in the Dragon Boat Festival to promote this batch of bayberries before the Dragon Boat Festival.”
“Your idea is not bad.” Shen Yan agreed. “Dragon boat racing is not very popular in our city, but our town insists on it. In recent years, our town’s dragon boat races have become well-known, and more and more people are coming to watch.”
"I made this plan because I saw the potential influx of people. So I wanted to ask you, if I'm going to use this event to promote bayberries, do I need to report it to the town in advance?"
Shen Yan understood what she meant: "I'll talk to the town about it later. The country is now strongly encouraging the development and promotion of agriculture in rural areas. I'll see if the town can arrange a promotion site for you directly."
Shen Wuqiu meant this: the dragon boat race is organized by the government, and if the event can be promoted using the government's name, it will be more convincing.
"Then I'll have to trouble you."
"It's just a small matter, no need to be so polite."
After finishing their business, the two of them were momentarily speechless.
As for a certain bystander, who seemed oblivious to everything around him and only focused on eating bayberries, he actually had his ears perked up, noting down every nuance of Shen Wuqiu's tone of voice when he spoke to others.
After a moment of silence, Shen Yan composed himself and tried to lighten his tone: "You already have a child? Shouldn't the wedding date be set by now?"
"not yet……"
Shen Yan frowned. "Aren't you planning to have a wedding?"
Shen Wuqiu didn't know how to respond, so she raised her hand to smooth her stray hairs. "Maybe."
Shen Yan became somewhat agitated. "A wedding is a dream come true for so many girls, how can we not have one?"
Shen Wuqiu lowered her eyes, "I don't really care about these things."
After finishing the last bayberry in the fruit plate, Gu Lingyu continued to seek attention, "Don't worry, sister, our clan still values these etiquettes."
Hearing her strange words, Shen Yan glanced at her again.
Gu Lingyu also looked up at him, "Isn't that what they say, 'The emperor isn't worried, but the eunuch is'?"
"..." Her bright eyes seemed to see right through people. Shen Yan hurriedly looked away and explained, "I didn't mean anything by it. Wu Qiu and I grew up together. I just didn't want her to be mistreated."
The explanation is simply a cover-up, like trying to hide something obvious.
As her intuition proved correct, the person in front of her was indeed her love rival.
As Shen Yan spoke, he pretended to go to the fruit plate to get some bayberries, only to find that the fruit plate was empty, so he awkwardly withdrew his hand.
Seeing this, Shen Wuqiu quickly brought over a basket of bayberries that had been carefully selected from the kitchen. "Uncle Zheng didn't bring many today. Take these back and try them. We'll send some to your village committee another day."
Shen Yan stood up and declined, saying, "There's no need to be so polite."
Shen Wuqiu insisted on giving it to him, saying, "Take it, take it back and let your parents try it too."
It was hard to refuse such hospitality.
Most importantly, Shen Yan saw that she was working hard carrying the basket, so he took it from her.
Since the gifts for his guests had already been prepared, he took the opportunity to say goodbye. "The matter of promoting bayberries that you mentioned should not be a problem. I will give you an answer later. If there's nothing else, I'll be going now."
Shen Wuqiu didn't stand on ceremony to keep him, and stood at the door watching him go out through the iron gate before going inside.
Gu Lingyu sat on the sofa, sullen and annoyed. When she saw her come in, she said sarcastically, "Why didn't you just send him home?"
Shen Wuqiu was amused by her jealous expression: "I said, why do you have so many opinions about people?"
Gu Lingyu snorted and got up to go upstairs.
Mr. Shen happened to come out of the bathroom and, seeing her sullen expression, couldn't help but wonder, "What's wrong with this girl?"
Shen Wuqiu casually replied, "He's just going through puberty."
Mr. Shen asked casually, glancing around the hall. "Shen Yan is gone?"
Shen Wuqiu nodded. "Now that the matter is settled, we won't take up any more of their time."
"I was just going to the bathroom," Mr. Shen complained, then added, "I ran into Shen Yan's dad earlier, and he was joking that you two have gotten along well since you were little, so why don't you just get together?"
Shen Wuqiu's brows furrowed instantly. "What nonsense are you talking about..."
“I didn’t agree, why are you so nervous?” Mr. Shen paused. “However, I think Shen Yan might have a bit of a thing for you.”
"..." Shen Wuqiu was too lazy to talk to him anymore and went upstairs.
Mr. Shen nodded and then ignored it.
Shen Wuqiu went upstairs and was a little surprised not to see the cat lounging in her room. After hesitating for a moment, she knocked on the other cat's door again.
There was no movement, but the door was locked from the inside.
Clearly, the cat was deliberately ignoring her.
This little kitten may be clingy, but it can also have quite a temper.
However, Shen Wuqiu had no intention of indulging him and was too lazy to coax him if he couldn't get the door open.
To Shen Wuqiu's surprise, this time the cat really took her seriously and didn't try to climb into her bed that night.
By the next day, she had completely disappeared.
It seems he's really being stubborn with himself this time.
Shen Wuqiu felt a little uncomfortable when suddenly there was no clingy person by her side.
However, this discomfort was short-lived, because Shen Yan gave her a message the next morning that the town government strongly supported her plan to promote bayberries, but asked her to write a proposal for filing.
The plan was all in her head, and she couldn't delegate this to anyone else, so she had to do it herself.
When I get busy, I naturally don't have time to think about my cat.
She didn't have time to think about it, but Zhao Jiujiu did. She asked about them at breakfast, lunch, and before she even saw them for dinner, she started complaining about their parents, Gu Junshan and Daiying.
"I don't know how you parents are. Lingyu hasn't been seen for a whole day, and you don't seem worried at all."
Daiying wasn't in a hurry at all. She glanced at the listless white cat curled up on the sofa and replied casually, "Girls grow up and leave home, there's no use in being anxious."
"..." Zhao Jiujiu was too lazy to talk to her anymore, and turned to ask Shen Wuqiu, "Lingyu follows you around every day, and now that she's gone, aren't you worried?"
Shen Wuqiu also glanced at the white cat on the sofa, but unlike Daiying, she wasn't carefree. "Auntie, don't worry, she's fine."
"How do you know everyone's alright when we haven't even seen them?"
"...She's in the room."
Zhao Jiujiu didn't believe it and lost her appetite. "I went upstairs to check this afternoon, but I didn't see anyone."
As she spoke, Zhao Jiujiu put down her chopsticks and bowl. "Qiuqiu, she's a guest at our house. Her parents aren't worried, but you have to take it to heart. If she disappears, she might hold a grudge against you. I think we should go look for her after we finish eating."
Shen Wuqiu then realized that her aunt was also such a proud and arrogant person. Even though she was worried, she still made up so many excuses.
To avoid worrying anyone, Shen Wuqiu had no choice but to reply, "You probably didn't notice this afternoon, but she really is in the room. I'll call her down in a bit."
“I went upstairs to call her before dinner. Her room door wasn’t locked. I looked, but I didn’t see her.”
"...maybe in my room."