Lu Beichuan went home drunk that night.

The now four-month pregnant Ye Zhen detected the perfume that was not hers when she helped Lu Beichuan out of his clothes. A pregnant woman was very sensitive.

Ye Zhen, however, was also aware that Lu Beichuan, as the boss of a company, would need to network from time to time.

Ye Zhen held herself back that night. She let Lu Beichuan have a good night's sleep. She even kindly gave him hangover tea, rubbed him down, and helped him change. She did all these things herself instead of having someone else do them.

Granted, when Lu Beichuan woke up with a splitting headache the next morning, he was met with a smiling Ye Zhen.

His suit jacket from the night before was still hanging there by the bed.

The moment that Lu Beichuan caught sight of his jacket, he decided to tell Ye Zhen the truth.

“I ran into Shen Weiyin at the banquet last night. The Shen's are in trouble as of late, and she begged me to help her out. As such, it was inevitable that she tried to get close to me physically.”

Minus some of the details, Lu Beichuan told her more or less what had happened.

Ye Zhen gave him a smile that was not a smile. “Getting close to you physically huh?” She sniffed at a small corner of the suit. “The fragrance is quite dense. Do you still remember how long the two of you hugged?”

Lu Beichuan paused for a little, and his tone turned stiff without him noticing. He forced himself to look into Eye Zhen’s eyes squarely. “I was drunk. I don’t recall.”

“Drunk? Don’t recall?” Ye Zhen got close to him and looked at him with her eyes narrowed. There was open honesty and tenderness in his eyes. “Don’t recall or dare not tell me? The smell of the perfume was so strong. Did you roll in bed with her, Lu Beichuan?”

Lu Beichuan looked at her steadfastly, “No, I have nothing to do with her.”

Ye Zhen, with her protruding stomach, walked back and forth in front of the bed. She was taking advantage of the fact that she was a pregnant woman who was very much doted upon. “Is that so?”

“Of course.” Lu Beichuan asked her a question back, “Do you not trust me?”

And now the ball was in her court.

Ye Zhen looked Lu Beichuan up and down and finally pardoned him begrudgingly after a long while. “Fine. I will let this one slide this time. Stay away from those women next time. I am a woman too and I am well aware of their intentions. You come home with such a strong perfume smell next time, you can sleep in the study. Don’t crawl into my bed.”

Lu Beichuan chuckled and indulged her behavior and her tone. Rubbing her stomach gently, he whispered softly into her ear, “Have our babies been docile?”

“Not that docile. These two brats are much more troublemakers than Zhouzhou was. I had been feeling so nauseated in the last two days that I couldn’t stomach anything. Look,” said Ye Zhen as she stuck her face closer to him. “I have lost so much weight that you can see my cheekbones now.”

Her skin was alabaster, fine and flawless. She looked nothing like a pregnant woman.

Lu Beichuan gave her a kiss tenderly and said, “I’ll teach them a lesson after their arrival.”

Basking in the warm sun pouring throught the window, the two of them enjoy their rare moments of affection inside their room.

As she was pregnant with twins, Ye Zhen’s stomach was a little bigger than when she was pregnant with Zhouzhou. Granted, her pregnancy reactions were also worse than before. She couldn’t eat or sleep very well. Others would gain weight when they are pregnant, but she had been losing weight. There was nothing she could do to change that.

That made Mother Lu worried. Ye Zhen had two babies inside of her. She must eat something. Mother Lu tried her best to come up with delectable food for Ye Zhen. She had consulted quite a few renowned OBGYN doctors. but the situation still hadn't improved.

As such, meat and other strong-smelling food wasn't seen on the Lu family’s dinner table. Mother Lu and Lu Beichuan were fine, they would just think of eating vegetarian dishes as a form of cleansing. Zhouzhou, however, felt very wronged when there was no meat on the table. He pouted and asked for meat.

Mother Lu brought Zhouzhou with her to dine in the living room so that Ye Zhen’s appetite would not be affected by seeing meat. The little kiddo, however, thought he was so smart when he placed a chicken drumstick into Ye Zhen’s bowl as extra nutrients for her. “Mommy, eat more so my little brother and little sister can grow faster.”

The outcome was predictable. Looking at the greasy piece of drumstick, Ye Zhen rushed into the bathroom and almost puked her stomach out.

After her morning sickness had finally subsided, Ye Zhen’s stomach had become bigger and her appetite had gone up. Mother Lu sent nutritious food into her room like they were free and Ye Zhen had gained quite a bit of weight. Granted, Ye Zhen had been forbidden to go out and her range of activities had been limited to just within the mansion. All she could do day after day was to read some magazines and watch some television for entertainment. She would also call up Qin Zhiyun from time to time to stay up to date on the current state of the company.

“Mrs. Lu, there is nothing that you need to worry about at the company. You just focus on resting and staying healthy for the baby. What is it, hmm? Are you worried that I’ll embezzle all of your money?”

Ye Zhen was not bothered by Qin Zhiyun’s joke.

“If you have the ability to embezzle money then all the more reasons that I need to keep you. Alright, all jokes aside, I just watched the entertainment news. You’ve snatched Shen Weiyin’s endorsement?”

“Yeah, so? I can’t snatch her endorsements?”

“I seem to recall that… Shen Weiyin seems to be…"

“Oh, Mrs. Lu, even when you are staying home for the baby, you need to keep up with the news. The Shen family announced that they had gone bankrupt a while ago already. Haven’t you heard?”

“Bankrupt?” Ye Zhen was taken aback. She was plagued with morning sickness a while back and couldn’t really eat very well. As a result, she couldn’t summon up energy to do anything else. It made sense that she had missed out on some news. “When did that happen?”

“About two weeks ago. The announcement came out on the 7th.”

“What happened to Old Mr. Shen then?”

Qin Zhiyun sighed. “It was said that his health had diminished a lot ever since his heart attack and he had been resting at a hospital since. His family kept the news of bankruptcy from him. His sons had been the ones running the company for a while now. If I may say so, Shen Weiyin’s ability is much better than any of Old Mr. Shen’s sons.”

Even though Shen Weiyin was a competitor of theirs of sorts, she had also proven herself by being able to reign in the entertainment circle. It was a waste that she did not apply herself in what really mattered.

Qin Zhiyun smiled and said, “Without the backing of the Shen family, her status had diminished from what it was before. I’ve heard that the boss of a certain entertainment company had expressed interest in her, but she had turned him down. The boss was upset. I wouldn’t say he had gone as far as killing her career but he did explicitly state that he will not work with her anymore in the future. She had lost a lot of her endorsements that way. That being said, this Shen Weiyin surely has a lot of resources on hand. Almost as much as our company.”

Ye Zhen had no intention of learning too much about Shen Weiyin.

She had viewed Shen Weiyin as a strong competitor in the past because of Shen Weiyin’s background, her status in the entertainment circle, and her looks. As a woman who possessed so many wonderful factors, Shen Weiyin’s life should be a walk in the park.

Any man would naturally find such a woman attractive.

Now that Ye Zhen’s life had settled down, Zhouzhou was getting older, and her family life harmonious, she no longer perceived Shen Weiyin as a competition.

What was there to be petty about after all?

“Miss Qin, are you saying that our company doesn’t measure up?”

“Mrs. Lu, we had signed a lot of stars as of late and we need resources to appeal to them, am I right? We don’t want to become the laughingstock of others.”

“You can just reach out to Beichuan for resources, no?”

Qin Zhiyun was still joking around with her. “Are you kidding? I don’t dare to reach out to Boss Lu. I think he probably regretted starting an entertainment company by now and wish for us to go belly up.”

“Subtle.” Ye Zhen smiled and said, “Alright. I’ll go talk to him about it.”

“Thank you, Miss Lu. Oh right. There is something else that I want to talk to you about.”

“What is it?”

“Qinhuai's Riverbank has been invited to join next year’s film festival. As far as I can tell, it has also been nominated for best pictures. I have looked into our competitors. We have a shot at winning a lot of awards."

“Film festival?” Ye Zhen’s heart throbbed. “When next year?”

“Sometime in April.”

“Sometime in April…" Ye Zhen thought about it and frowned. “That will be within a month of me giving birth. I don’t think I will be able to make it.”

Ye Zhen was the producer of Qinhuai's Riverbank. She would love to be there now that her movie had been nominated for the film festival. She was a little disappointed that it didn’t look like she would be able to make it.

“Okay. I get it. Thanks for keeping everything in line. Let me know if you need anything. I am going to go now.”

Ye Zhen felt a little blue after she hung up on the phone. She stroked her protruding stomach as she thought about the film festival that was well-talked about among the entertainment circle.

What a bummer.

As the weather got colder, Ye Zhen’s stomach had also gotten bigger. For safety’s sake, Ye Zhen moved into the hospital a month before her due date.

That was when Ye Zhen got the best news from the doctor since the beginning of her pregnancy.

– She must have a cesarean section.

That was, undoubtedly, good news for Ye Zhen who was traumatized from when she gave birth to Zhouzhou. Once she was anesthetized, she would not be suffering for a long time.

Many came to visit her while she was staying in the hospital, but all of them were turned away by Mother Lu.

When Meng Jie got there, Ye Zhen had just finished up with a routine examination. She was getting closer to her due time, and the doctors and nurses took this more seriously.

“Qin Zhiyun mentioned to me that you have picked up a few movies and some endorsements. How do you have time to come over?”

“That’s silly talk. Everybody looks like they are so busy that they don’t even have a minute of free time. But, c’mon, you could always make time when you try. Anyone who says otherwise is just lying.” Meng Jie sat down next to the bed and looked at Ye Zhen’s protruding stomach. “Can I touch it?”

“Of course.”

As she stroked Ye Zhen’s protruding stomach and occasionally felt the movement of the baby, Meng Jie’s eyes were filled with envy.

“I am so envious of you. You are going to be a mother again. And twins this time? Is it a boy and a girl?”

Ye Zhen kept her guessing. “You will see after they come out. What about you? How have you been?”

“Running around from filming location to filming location. My days have been quite fulfilling.”

“You know that wasn’t what I was asking.” Ye Zhen frowned. “I mean in terms you’re your relationship. How’s that coming along?”

Meng Jie smiled and said, “You wanted to ask about You Jing and I, right?”

“I wasn’t asking about him.” Ye Zhen shrugged. “I figured that you had already booted him out of your life.”

“You are right about that. You Jing really is not part of my future. Specifically, there are no relationships in my future.” Looking at Ye Zhen, she smiled tenderly and said, “Thank you for giving me another opportunity to get back up. If it wasn’t for you, I would still be sitting in a dark room, being depressed. I would never have the courage to walk out of my situation.”

“You sure you won’t even consider it?”

Meng Jie shook her head, “Nah. It all feels so… pointless.”

Rubbing her baby bump, Ye Zhen looked at her quietly.

“Looking back, I was quite silly. Being in a relationship seemed to have brought me nothing but hassles. In fact, it almost made me lose everything I have right now. I am good where I am right now. All day long I will be filming, reciting scripts, or on my way to a filming location. My days are very fulfilling. I have no time for anything outside of work. I already have a career, money, and fame. Things couldn’t be any better so why would I want to repeat my mistake and be in a relationship?”

Ye Zhen thought about it some and agreed with her. “Makes sense.”

“See? I am envious of your life and your current state but I know full well that none of these are necessities for me, and that there is no need for me to waste too much time on them. I definitely have more freedom being single.”

“Is You Jing still pining over you then?”

“I guess so. I didn’t really pay that much attention. You had arranged an agent and bodyguards for me. They will block those who I don’t want to meet. I don’t need to worry about that.”

Ye Zhen raised her brows. She was happy for this confident and strong woman sitting in front of her.

She was like a whole different person than that one she had met four years ago.

“Do you know that I have been nominated for the film festival?” asked Meng Jie as she looked at Ye Zhen. “What do you think my odds are?”

Ye Zhen smiled. “100%”

“I think so too.”