Chapter 1: Becoming a Father

  Tell me, is there anything more annoying in this world than "being a father-in-law"?

  Two days ago, I shook hands with a girl named Xu Yan.

  Today, she called me solemnly and announced that she was pregnant.

  And besides, the child is mine!

  At first, I thought she was joking with me. But after a while, she cried, and the sadness of her crying was unbearable to hear.

  She cried and said to me: "Ah Peng, the child is yours, accompany me to the hospital!"

  Child? Is it mine?

  My god!

  Your father hasn't even slept with me? Where did you come from, kid?

  I'm not a good person, but I'm also a man who dares to take responsibility. If I had done this thing and accompanied her to the hospital, no matter how much money it cost, I wouldn't have minded. But since I didn't even do it, why should the child be mine?

  Isn't this treating me like an idiot?

  Anyone would be angry if this happened to them, I was furious at the time!

  "Xu Yan, can you still show some shame?" I spat out a mouthful of saliva and scolded over the phone. This was because she wasn't in front of me; if she were, I would have slapped her face long ago.

  Shameless girl, ruining Father's reputation!

  "Conscience tells you that I've never touched you, right? You slept with someone else and got into trouble, what's it got to do with me? We just met two days ago?"

  "Waaah!" Xu Yan continued crying, "That day... that night... you... you were drunk!"

  "Stop crying for now and talk to me properly, which night did I get drunk?"

  "The night two days ago when your class had a barbecue outside."

  "Wild camping at night?"

  Xu Yan said that the wild camping trip did happen. It was two days ago, near university graduation, classmates went hiking together, set up tents on the mountain overnight, and called it "wild camping".

  It was also on this evening that I met Xu Yan for the first time.

  Here's the translation:

  It needs to be clarified that Xu Yan is not from our class. Otherwise, I wouldn't have just met her two days ago. Our university is at the foot of the mountain, and many classes had gone hiking and camping overnight. Specifically which class she belongs to, I don't know either. All I'm clear about is that it was our class's beauty Jiang Qianqian who brought her to our campsite.

  The beautiful woman brought another beauty, which naturally attracted a lot of attention. After everyone introduced each other, I got to know the woman and found out that her name was Xu Yan.

  As for shaking hands with her, it was entirely because someone later suggested playing a game of holding hands in a circle, and that's when I shook her hand. And just for a second, I guarantee no more than five seconds.

  "Can you talk nonsense a bit more?"

  I recall what happened that night and I'm even more furious, I'd like to kick her a couple of times.

  "Drunk too much? Drunk my ass! Did I drink Coke that night? Can you even get drunk on Coke? You look so refined and elegant, but who knew you were such a shameless person inside!"

  I remember it clearly because we were going mountain climbing, and for safety reasons, no one brought any alcohol, not even beer. We only drank juice and cola.

  Xu Yan was scolded by me this time, she cried even harder.

  "Besides, there were so many boys in the class at that time, why should I say the kid is mine? Who knows who you slept with?"

  "Besides, how did you get my phone number? Are you taking advantage of me because I look honest and easy to bully, trying to frame me on purpose?"

  "I'm telling you, if you don't come clean about this matter, I won't let you off! I've seen shameless people before, but never anyone as shameless and brain-dead as you!"

  I clenched my phone in my hand, huffing and puffing again, scolding for a while, and then let out a heavy breath.

  Xu Yan listened to my scolding, she didn't hang up the phone or refute me, but just sobbed.

  "Ah Peng, the child is really yours! I'll be waiting for you at 2 pm this afternoon at the entrance of the Third Hospital. If you don't come, I can only die!" After a while, Xu Yan choked back tears and said another sentence.

  Then, Du Du's voice came from the phone, and the phone was hung up by Xu Yan.

  "Go die? Whatever! Mind your own business? Love to die however I want!" I was furious, put my phone in my pocket and muttered a couple of sentences under my breath.

  They say women's thinking is hard to understand, now it seems like they're really right. Holding hands and being treated viciously? This collision is truly like a monk hitting an umbrella - lawless.

  "It's better if she died, dying would be a relief for her. A woman like that is just wasting air by being alive!"

  "Even if I die, I'll still pollute the land!" I added another sentence to myself in a fit of pique.

  This thing annoyed me for a whole morning, until the afternoon. After taking a short nap, I felt a bit better, walked to the balcony and smoked a cigarette, calming down.

  Repeatedly thinking about Xu Yan's affairs again, and carefully recalling the events of that night from memory. It can be confirmed that on that night, I didn't do anything, just held Xu Yan's hand for a moment.

  In this way, Xu Yan's pregnancy has nothing to do with me at all.

  "Crazy woman, crazy woman! Shameless, too damn shameless, using this to swindle me!"

  I muttered to myself in a huff.

  "That night you didn't reject me, that night I hurt you..."

  This is my mobile phone ringtone, and it rang at this time.

  I took out my mobile phone and took a look, it was a text message.

  "Ah Peng, the child is yours! If I don't see you at 2 o'clock this afternoon, I'll hang myself!"

  As soon as I saw this message, I knew it was sent by Xu Yan.

  Hang yourself?

  Haha, are you kidding me? What's the point of playing this trick on me? You're not my woman, what's the use of crying and making a scene with me?

  It's useless! Not worth a fart! If you want to hang yourself, go ahead and hang yourself, serves you right if you die!

  I hummed angrily in my heart.

  I originally wanted to reply with another message and scold her, but I still endured it. Such a woman is too dirty, can't be bothered.

  I put the phone back in my pocket and took out a cigarette, quietly smoking alone...

  Kept smoking until one o'clock in the afternoon.

  I suddenly had an urge to go out and find Xuyan. I wasn't worried that Xuyan would hang herself, but just wanted to thoroughly understand this matter. She and I had no grudges or grievances, why did she want to frame me like this!

  "Shameless woman! If you want to see me, I'll go and meet you! When the time comes, if you don't hang yourself, I'll beat you to death!"

  I tossed the cigarette butt in my hand and let out a low hum, then picked up my wallet and headed outside.

  Xu Yan said that the Third People's Hospital is not far from where I temporarily stayed, but as a newly graduated college student, I don't have a car and can't afford to take a taxi, so I had to slowly squeeze onto the bus.

  As I slowly approached the gate of the Third People's Hospital, I lowered my head to take a glance at my watch, and it was exactly two o'clock in the afternoon.

  I lifted my head and looked around the hospital, seeing a girl wearing a red windbreaker and a white mask.

  As I was looking at the girl, the girl also shifted her gaze onto me.

  "You're here!" The girl's voice was very low and contained a hint of excitement.

  She slowly walked towards me, taking off her mask while walking.

  Xu Yan?

  It wasn't until I saw her face that I realized this girl was Xuyan, who claimed to be pregnant with my child. It's clear how estranged we are from each other.

  "Mm." She nodded, her cheeks streaked with tears, clearly having cried for some time.

  I originally wanted to meet her and scold her, to vent my anger. But seeing her like this, I suddenly couldn't open my mouth to scold her.

  "Tell me! What's going on?" I slowed down my tone and said as calmly as possible.

  "I'm pregnant with your child!" Xu Yan said in a low voice, her head bowed, uttering a sentence that was enough to infuriate and drive me mad.

  "Are you sick? When did I ever touch you? Not even a touch, and you can get pregnant with my child?"

  "That night..."

  "That night I was drinking Coke, there's no way I could have gotten drunk, don't try to disgust me with this!"

  "That night you held my hand!" Xu Yan didn't mention the fact that I was drunk, but instead changed the subject to me holding her hand.

  I shook my head, unsure whether I should cry or laugh!

  "Xu Yan, how old are you this year? Are you an adult?"

  "Twenty-three." Xu Yan hummed softly.

  "You're still so stupid at the age of 23? Can you get pregnant just by holding hands? Do you think I'm a three-year-old or are you treating yourself like a three-year-old?" I pursed my lips, staring straight at Xu Yan, waiting for her response.

  Wow!

  Xu Yan suddenly burst into tears.

  She burst into tears, and I got a bit flustered. The hospital entrance was crowded with people coming and going, and when I scolded her earlier, I had been keeping my voice down, afraid of drawing attention from others. Now that she's crying like this, several pairs of eyes turned towards us simultaneously.

  "Stop crying, damn it!" I noticed the gaze of people around me and lowered my voice to scold Xu Yan.

  Xu Yan didn't listen to me, buried her head and continued crying.

  "Aren't you ashamed? What are you crying about here? Go cry at your own home! If you keep crying, I'll leave!" I said irritably to Xu Yan.

  "The child is yours! You have to take responsibility!" Xu Yan cried out to me again.

  I don't know if she did it on purpose or not, but this time when she said that sentence, her voice was a bit louder than before, and the few people around us seemed to have already heard the content of our conversation.

  "Can't you stop talking nonsense?"

  "I'm not talking nonsense, the child is yours!" She raised her head and stared at me fiercely.

  "Bang!"

  I couldn't take it anymore, so I raised my hand and slapped her in the face.