"Mother!" Zhou Zhijun had not expected his mother to say such a thing. He had just sat down but abruptly stood up again.
"No, this child must be kept!"
Aunt Zhou looked up at him in surprise. "Zhijun, why would you think that? The child Chun Tao is carrying is..."
Before she could finish, Zhou Zhijun interrupted her.
"Mother, the child Chun Tao is carrying is mine. It is your own biological grandson..."
Aunt Zhou looked as though she had just heard pigs could fly. Her eyes widened sharply, and she stared at Zhou Zhijun in sheer disbelief.
"What did you say? Say that again!"
Zhou Zhijun crushed his cigarette butt on the nightstand, stood up, and helped Aunt Zhou sit down on the rattan chair.
"Mother, since things have come to this, I will not hide it from you anymore. I will tell you everything...
Chun Tao was not ruined by Wang Haichao and his gang. I was her first man. The child in her belly is of our Zhou family's blood!"
Aunt Zhou's body swayed slightly, almost imperceptibly. This was a truth she could never have imagined in her wildest dreams.
She had seen how good Zhou Zhijun was to Chun Tao, but she had only thought of it as an older brother's affection for a younger sister.
Who would have thought this boy had planted such a massive bombshell for her...
Aunt Zhou's heart was a tangled mess of mixed feelings, caught between joy and worry.
The joy was that her son finally had a woman he cherished, and she was carrying his child.
The worry was that this child came at the worst possible time. It was during the strict strike-hard campaign. If someone caught wind of this, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Zhou Zhijun was usually so cold and unsmiling. To think he could do something like this left Aunt Zhou not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
She had previously planned to find a chance to set Chun Tao up with Li Mingliang.
Now it seemed this goddaughter was going to become her own daughter-in-law.
She was not afraid of the villagers gossiping, but she feared Chun Tao was too thin-skinned to handle it, and she was even more afraid of causing further trouble.
Aunt Zhou clenched her jaw, unable to force out a single word for a long time.
Zhou Zhijun furrowed his brows and looked at Aunt Zhou. "Mother, if Chun Tao is really pregnant, I will take her away.
We will go somewhere no one knows us. I will earn money to support the family, and she can give birth in peace!"
"Go? Where can you go? A man and a woman without a marriage certificate cannot live openly and honorably anywhere!"
It was true. In those days, without a marriage certificate, a couple could hardly take a single step outside.
On top of that, family planning policies were strictly enforced, and they were right in the middle of a strike-hard campaign. Zhou Zhijun punched himself in the forehead. How could he have forgotten all these details!
Aunt Zhou sighed. "How about this: you send Chun Tao to your second aunt's house in Dongshan. Let her quietly give birth to the child there..."
Zhou Zhijun had originally thought that as long as Chun Tao got a divorce, he would never let her suffer the slightest grievance again, but now...
Seeing him frowning and silent, Aunt Zhou tried to persuade him further. "Dongshan is not in the same commune as us. It is a remote place. Sending Chun Tao there is the safest option.
Once the child is born, Wu Mingwei will be back too. You can ask him to help you get a household register and a marriage certificate. Later, you can figure out a way to bring the child back.
Family planning is so strict right now. Whether the first child is a boy or a girl, hide them first. We can always have more later!"
"Going to Dongshan... wouldn't that be a grievance to Chun Tao?"
Aunt Zhou glared at him reproachfully. "Now you know it is a grievance to her? Why did you not think about that earlier? You only cared about your own pleasure..."
Zhou Zhijun's ears burned hotly at her words. He said in a low voice, "Mother, I need to discuss this with Chun Tao..."
"Naturally!"
She looked at Zhou Zhijun, her tone softening and the sternness on her face fading a bit.
"Chun Tao has a lot on her mind, so she definitely cannot sleep well. You go sleep in the east room and discuss it properly with her."
Aunt Zhou knew Chun Tao was thin-skinned. If she went over and brought it up herself, the girl would certainly feel embarrassed. It was better to let Zhou Zhijun tell her himself.
Once they had agreed on a plan, she would give Chun Tao some proper advice.
Zhou Zhijun had thought that once his mother found out about this, he would inevitably be scolded.
He never expected that not only would his mother not scold him, but she would also help him come up with ideas and even let him sleep in the east room.
Ever since that time in the city, it had been over a month since he had touched her.
He had not even had the chance to hold her or whisper sweet nothings to her. His heart had long been itching with pent-up desire, leaving him unable to eat or sleep well.
Now that Chun Tao was divorced and his mother knew about it, he would no longer have to sneak around or hide his relationship with Chun Tao from his mother.
Zhou Zhijun felt a flush of excitement heat his entire body. He quickly stood up from the bed. "Mother, I will go then!" Saying that, he took a step toward the door of the inner room.
"Stop right there!" Aunt Zhou called him back, standing on her tiptoes to grab him by the ear.
"Tell me the truth. When you helped Liu Cuilan so much back then, were you already scheming for Chun Tao? And when you urged me to acknowledge her, was that out of your own selfish desires too?"
"Mother, you really have piercing eyes. Nothing can be hidden from you!" Zhou Zhijun grinned with a roguish smile.
Aunt Zhou curled her lips and let out a cold snort. "I am not as capable as you, otherwise I would not have been kept in the dark by you for so long!"
Her face darkened again, and she lowered her voice to warn him, "Chun Tao is pregnant now, and the baby is not stable yet. You must hold yourself back. No messing around!"
Zhou Zhijun was momentarily stunned, but he quickly understood his mother's meaning and nodded hastily. "Mother, do not worry. No matter how much of a bastard I am, I know what is important. I absolutely will not touch her!"
Aunt Zhou did not give him a pleasant look. "Go on. It is best if you two come to a decision tonight. We need to send Chun Tao out of Wangjiazhai early. We cannot afford any more mishaps!"
"Got it! I am heading over!" Zhou Zhijun crossed the threshold of the main room in two strides.
Watching his hurried back, Aunt Zhou could not help but laugh out loud.
This boy looked cold and hard, but his heart was warmer than his oldest and youngest brothers. He was someone who would cherish his wife.
Once he married Chun Tao, wouldn't he hold her in the palm of his hand and dote on her? Oh my, how wonderful! Next year, she would be holding a grandson. The more Aunt Zhou thought about it, the sweeter she felt inside.
However, she did not plan to tell her old man about this for the time being.
With his timid and fearful personality, if he knew, he would be up all night losing sleep over it.
As Aunt Zhou was thinking, Zhou Zhijun had already walked quietly into the east room. He bolted the door behind him and lifted the door curtain to enter the inner room.
No lamp was lit in the room. Moonlight spilled in through the window, draping everything inside in a layer of thin gauze.
An old mosquito net hung over the bed. Looking through the netting, he saw Chun Tao lying on the bed, her face pale and her lips pressed tightly together.
Her long eyelashes fluttered lightly like the wings of a butterfly, and two teardrops rolled down from the corners of her eyes.
Zhou Zhijun's heart felt as if it had been pricked by a needle, aching sharply. He wished he could slap himself across the face a few times.
Back then, for the sake of pleasure, he had gotten that useless sterilization injection, which completely failed to work.
If he had just honestly worn protection, Chun Tao would not have gotten pregnant, let alone have to go to Dongshan and suffer such hardship.
He slowly lifted the mosquito net and slipped inside. Standing by the bed, he raised his hand and carefully wiped the tears from her face.
Chun Tao's heart was in a mess of fear and confusion. She could not sleep at all; she had only been pretending to sleep earlier so Aunt Zhou would not worry.
In her daze, she suddenly felt a large, hot, and rough hand caressing her cheek.
She snapped her eyes open. When she clearly saw that the person was Zhou Zhijun and not Aunt Zhou, she was so frightened that the hairs on her arms stood on end.
Chun Tao struggled to sit up, but Zhou Zhijun pressed down on her shoulders. "Lie down properly. Do not move!"
Chuntao stared at him, her eyes filled with terror. "What are you doing? This is godmother's room..."
"Tao, don't be afraid. I'm going to hold you to sleep tonight..."
